Note 1 — Volume II. (continued 3)

Châi,1 Châin, Châini.—A cultivating, fishing, and thieving caste found in Oudh and the Eastern Districts. Nothing certain is known as to the origin of the name. It has been suggested that they are the representatives of the Chârya,2 a degraded Vaisya class, or that the word is totemistic (meaning the seed of a tamarind; Sanskrit, chârmika, “leather”). Mr. Risley3 writes of them:—“They are probably an offshoot from some non-Aryan tribe. They are found in Oudh, where Mr. Nesfield connects them with the Thâru, Râji, Nat, and other broken and gypsy-like tribes inhabiting the base of the Himâlayas, and traces in their physiognomy features peculiar to Mongolian races. Mr. Sherring, again, in one place speaks of them as a sub-caste of Mallâhs; in another as a class of jugglers, thimble-riggers, and adventurers, who attend fairs and other festivals like men of the same profession in England. A sub-caste of the Nuniyas bears the name Châin, but the Nuniyas do not admit any affinity. Mr. C. F. Magrath, in his Memorandum on the Tribes and Castes of Bihâr, published in the Bengal Census Report of 1872, says they closely resemble Binds in their occupation, being chiefly boatmen, who also engage in fishing. Châins are thickest south of the Ganges, while Binds are most numerous in North Bihâr. Mr. Magrath adds that their reputation as thieves, impostors, and swindlers, is in his experience not altogether deserved, as the men whom the common people, and even the police of Bihâr, describe as Châins, usually turn out on enquiry to be Maghaiya Doms, Nats, or Rajwârs.” Their customs, according to Mr. Risley’s account, do not differ from those of Mallâhs.