Note 61 — Volume II.

6. Of the tribe in the Dûn Mr. Baillie writes61:—“The Mahras are the aboriginal inhabitants and occupy all the unhealthy villages in the Eastern Dûn, where no one else can live. These are also Râjputs, and are closely allied to the Bhoksas of the Rohilkhand Tarâi, and Thârus of the Oudh Tarâi. They are clearly all one and the same race. The Mahras have few traditions, except that their ancestors were Râjputs. They present many points of resemblance to the Bhoksas, though neither will acknowledge any connection with the other. They are of settled habits, dwellers in swamps and cultivators of rice, and are proof against malaria. They do not admit outsiders into the caste. They are timid and averse to intercourse with strangers. They generally marry on attaining puberty. They are in their habits and customs Hindus of the ordinary low caste type, and Gaur Brâhmans are employed by them as priests for marriage and funeral ceremonies. Remarriage of the widows is permitted. The widow is not obliged to marry her husband’s elder or younger brother. They eat pork and fowls, and drink spirits like most of the dwellers in the Tarâi swamps. Some of them are hunters, and catch game, and others are good fishermen.” The traditions which point to a Râjput origin are, of course, as baseless as those of the Thârus and the allied races.