1 11
2 206 PANJAB CASTES.
3 mimerons thau in Kangra. The Gaddi are a simple and rastie people. The \
4 proverb says : " The Gaddi is a good uatui'ed fool ; ask for his cajD and he gives 1
5 " you his coat." And again : " In no-man's-land one makes fi-iends with i
6 " Gujars and Gaddis."
7 FOREIGN RACES. ]
8 409. Foreign Races. — I have called the groups of which the figures are
9 given on the next page* in Abstract No. 87 Foreign Races, because they bear *P. 2<
10 titles properly foreign to India and for the most part lay claim to foreign
11 origin. It will presently be seen how little real right many of them have to
12 the names they bear. The Saiyads might have been included in the group, but
13 they have been classed with the priestly castes. The present group is divisible ^
14 into three sections, the Arab and Shekh, the Turk and Mughal, and the (
15 Ghulam and Qizilbash. The last two and probable many of the Arabs and
16 Turks are true foreigners, and have a good claim to the names they bear ; but j
17 the Shekhs and JMughals are for the most part mere pretenders. What Rajput '<
18 is to the Hindu, Sheikh, Saiyad, and in the west of the Panjab Mughal, are j
19 to the IMusalman ; and every convert of low caste who wishes to glorify himself !
20 assumes one of these titles, while tribes whose origin is lowly or has been for- [P. 2"^
21 gotten, trace their descent fi'om the people of the Prophet or of one of the
22 Mahomedan conquerors of India. As Mr. Thompson puts it : " Pride of race ,
23 " leads to the invention of some royal progenitor, and pride of religion is a '
24 "perpetual inducement to escape from the admission of an idolatrous ancestry.''
25 500. The Arab (Caste No. 140). — Arabs are returned in the Panjab
26 chiefly from the Multan and Peshawar divisions. They are probably Arab j
27 merchants from Bombay, where I believe men of tiue Arab extraction are !
28 somewhat numerous. That they have not come direct from Arabia is shown :
29 by the language table, in which Arabic is returned as the mother-tongue of
30 only 63 persons. More than half the Arabs in the Panjab are to be found in ■
31 Peshawar itself. This is hardly to be wondered at, for Peshawar is a \
32 city in which may be found representatives of almost every Eastern nation, !
33 and is the half-way house between India and Asia. It is possible that some of :
34 our Shekhs, whether truly or falsely so called, may have returned themselves as 1
35 Vrabs, )jut I do not think it likely. The true Shekhs are of course of Arab [p. 275
36 origin ; but I believe that such men when their settlement in the Panjab is of
37 any long standing, always call tliemselves Shekh or Qureshi, and not Arab. ,
38 501. The Shekh (Caste No. 17) . — Shekh is an Ai'abic word meaning an
39 elder or Chief, and probably coiTesponds very closely among the tribes of
40 Ai-abia with Chaudhri among those of the Panjab. Thus the title should
41 properly be confined to, and is very generally assumed by tribes of true Arab
42 descent. But it has been degraded to a much more vulgar use. If a Rajput
43 or Jat turn Mahomedan he retains his caste name, and is still a Rajput or
44 Jat ; though I have known Musalman Rajputs who had faUen in life and
45 taken to weaving call themselves Shekhs, though still recognized as relations
46 by theii' brethren of the village whence they came. So if an outcast or
47 man of impure calling becomes IMusalman and retains his occupation, or at
48 least substitutes for it another oul}' slightly less degrading, he also retains
49 his caste name or is known by an entirely new one, such as Dindar or
50 Musalli. But the class which lie between these two extremes, and are
51 neither so proud of their origin as to wish, nor so degraded by their occupa-
52 m as to be compelled to retain their original caste name, very generally
53 idon that name on their conversion to Islam and adopt the title of Shekh.
54 /;