Note 28 — Volume II.

Bharbhûnja.28—(Sanskrit bhrashtra, a frying pan; bhrij, to fry.)—The caste of grain parchers. They are also known as Bhûj, Bhujua, and Bhurji. As a purely occupational tribe their sub-divisions are somewhat confused. At the last Census they were recorded under no less than three hundred and sixty-four sub-castes for the Hindu and forty for the Muhammadan branch. These are of the familiar type. Some illustrate some real or supposed connection with other castes and tribes, such as the Bhadauriya, Chaubê, Chauhân, Kanjar, Kâyasth, Khatri, Lodhi, Râthaur, Baddhik, Teliyabans, and the like. Others are local sub-divisions like Audhbâsi, Bâtham (of Srâvasti), Bhatnâgar, Desi, Gangapâri, Hamîrpuriya, Kanaujiya, Jaunpuriya, Mathuriya, and so on. The last Census classifies them under the main heads of Bhatnâgar, Jagjâdon, Kaithiya, Kându, Râthaur, Saksena, and Sribâstab. Of these, by far the most numerous are the Kanaujiyas and Saksenas. The Bhatnâgar are said to derive their name from the old town of Bhatner in the Bikâner State; the Jagjâdons assert a connection with the Jâdon Râjputs; the Kaithiya with Kâyasths, as the Bhujâris of the Dakkhin say they are Kâyasths from Upper India;29 the Kându is usually treated as a separate caste; the Râthaur claim descent from the Râjput tribe of that name; the Saksena and the Sribâstab are said to be derived from the two ancient cites of Sankisa in the Farrukhâbâd District, and Srâvasti or Sahet-Mahet in the Gonda District. But this does not exhaust the list of the sub-divisions. Thus in Agra, they divide themselves into Saksena, Srivâstâvya or Sribâstab, Kându, Lakhautiya, Dhankûta or paddy pounders, and Sanksa, who are probably identical with the Saksena. In Mirzapur they are sometimes called Kându; but the two tribes are said not to be identical, as the real Kândus do not parch grain at all, and distinguish themselves from the Bharbhûnjas by calling themselves Madhesiya Kându, or those of “the middle land.” Here, however, Bharbhûnjas regard Kândus as a sub-division of their caste, and say that they have really three main sub-divisions—Kanaujiya, Kându, and Dhîmar. Kanaujiyas have again two sections, Purbiya or Eastern, and Pachhiwâha or Western, and to these the true Bharbhûnjas say they belong. These two sections admittedly intermarry; and it is alleged that quite recently, or even occasionally, at present, Dhîmars and Kândus intermarry. But this is more than doubtful. In Bareilly, again, there are said to be three endogamous sections, Saksena, Kabâriya, and Kandiya, while in Bânda the caste is known as Kândua, Renrkûta, or “pounders of the castor-oil seed,” and Tilbhûnja, or “parchers of sesamum,” and has three endogamous sections—Teliya, Bhunjua, and Dophansiya, or “two-noose men.” It thus appears that the internal organisation of the caste is at present in a state of transition, and that the tendency is to break up into an increasing number of endogamous sections which will probably in time form a number of so-called separate castes.