Note 26 — Volume II.

Occupation. 11. They are usually employed as day-labourers and ploughmen. A few are tenants without occupancy rights. Some of them have rather an equivocal reputation. They are occasionally burglars and field thieves, and they have been known to combine for road robbery and dacoity. The Bhars of Bhadohi, in the Mirzapur District, are nothing short of a pest to their respectable neighbours at harvest time, and much of the labour spent on field watching is due to their depredations. Of the Oudh Bhars26 it is said—“In appearance they resemble low caste Hindus, Koris, and Chamârs; and I have not noticed any Mongolian traits in their physiognomy. They have, however, one striking peculiarity in common with the Thârus—their hatred of the cultivated plain. When land has attained a certain pitch of cultivation they always leave it for some less hospitable spot, and their lives are spent in wandering from jungle to jungle. They commence the struggle with nature, and after the first and most difficult victory over disease and wild beasts, leave it to the Kurmis and Ahîrs to gather the fruits of their desultory energy. They are very timid, very honest and keen sportsmen, untiring in pursuit, and excellent shots with their long guns. They show the influence of orthodox Hinduism in sparing the nîlgâi, but are fond of the flesh of pigs, washing down their feasts with copious draughts of spirits of rice or mahua.” They offer goats to Samai, and decapitate chickens before the snake god Kârê Deo. Their worship of Banspati Mâi is more Hindu in its character, and their pure offering of grain and clarified butter are handed over to be eaten by a Brâhman. The worshippers of Banspati Mâi according to the last Census returns amounted to 16,489 persons. Marriages are contracted without the intervention of a Pandit, and with the rites in use among other low castes, such as Koris and Chamârs. With a magnificent assumption of rights not recognised by our law, a bride’s father makes over in gift (sankalpa) to the bridegroom a small patch of forest to clear and cultivate.27