1 RELIGIOUS, PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER CASTES. 215
2 little to choose between the Hindu and the Musalmdn as regards the sph-itual
3 bondage in which their superstition enfolds them ; and indeed that if either
4 has the advantage, it is the former rather than the latter. The classes includ-
5 ed under the present group are by no means pui-ely priestly ; they are also
6 laro-e owners and cultivators of land. But their most distinctive characteristic
7 is their saintly character, and I have therefore separated them from the land-
8 owning and agricultural classes. At the same time the distinction between
9 the Saiyad and the Qm-eshi Shekh as regards the spiritual reverence paid them
10 is probably, at least in the south-western districts, exceedingly small.
11 512. The Brahman (Caste No. 3). — The Brahman or Levite of the Hindu
12 caste system is the third most numerous caste in the Panjab, outnumbering
13 all but Jats and Rajputs. I shall not attempt to discuss his origin and
14 theoretical position ; much has been written and published concerning him, the
15 first hundred pages of Shcrring's first volume and the whole of the second
16 volume of Wilson's Indian Caste are devoted to him alone, and Cole-
17 brooke's Essays contain much valuable information on the subject. The
18 figures of Abstract No. 88 showing the distribution of the caste in the Panjab
19 are very striking. The propoiilon of Brahmans to total population reaches its
20 maximum in the hills of Kangra and Simla, the most Hindu portion of
21 the Province, where It rises as high as from 13 to 15 per cent. Throughout
22 the remainder of the Panjab the proportion steadily changes with the prevailing
23 religion. It is highest In the sub-montane and Jamna tracts where the people
24 are essentially Hindus ; It gradually decreases from east to west, being
25 markedly smaller in the central and Sikh districts ; it is still smaller in the cis-
26 Indus Salt-range Tract ; while in the Western Plains and beyond the Indus
27 the Brahmans may be said ompaj'atlvely speaking to disappear. The
28 Brahmans have no territorial organisation. They accompany their clients In
29 their migrations, settle with them in their new homes, and receive grants of
30 land to hold or cultivate
31 The function and position of the Brahman in his sacerdotal character have
32 been ah-eady described in the Chapter on Religion, section 236. He concerns
33 himself but little with the spiritual guidance of the people, but he Is consulted
34 as to omens and auspicious names, dates, and events, and he officiates at all
35 ceremonial functions. These duties however employ, except perhaps In the
36 west of the Province, but a small proportion of the total number ; and the
37 remainder are pure Levites, ready to be fed or receive offerings in the name of
38 God, but their sacerdotal functions being pm-ely passive. These men supple-
39 ment the offerings of their clients by practising agriculture very extensively ;
40 and it may be said that wherever the Brahmai.s are numerous they are, ex-
41 cepting only the educated Pandits or Padhas, land- owners and cultivators.
42 They are poor husbandmen, for their pride of caste and the fact that a large
43 part of theli- subsistence comes to (hem without the necessity of toil render
44 them impatient of manual labour ; and like the Rajputs they look upon the
45 actual operation of ploughing as degrading, Insomuch that in the hiUs a
46 Brahman who ploughs Is scarcely recognised as a brother by the higher classes
47 of the caste. In social position the Brahman is of course pre-eminently first in
48 the Hindu portion of the Panjab, though he Is thought but meanly of on the
49 frontier. Yet even where his position Is most readily admitted he has failed to
50 make himself beloved. He is grasping, quarrelsome, and overbearing, inflated
51 with pride In his own descent and contempt for that of others, while he holds
52 himself aloof fi'om the clients whose pockets he preys upon, and declines to