1 'ZiO PANJAB CASTES.
2 The Gaur Brahman.— There has been much disjiute about the poBition of the Gaur from
3 wliich tliis section is nameil. Their traditional place of origin ia Hariana, and their present
4 home is the portiou of the North-West Provinces lying west of Ah'garli an.l Malbra. and the part
5 of the Panjiib defined above ; and they are separated from Bengal by other sections of the caste.
6 General Cunningham suggest^ that Gaur is the old name of Gonda, wliile Sir George Campbell
7 would make it another form of the word Ghaggar. The Gaur Brahmans are far more strict in all
8 caste observances than the Sarsiit lirabmaus, from whoso hands they will not eat broad, and upon
9 whom they look down.
10 The Sarsut Brahman is the Brahman of the Panjab Proper, and takes his name from the
11 Saruswati wliich lies near his eastern boundary. He is said to be less grasping and quarrelsome
12 than the Gaur, and he is certainly much less rigid in his oljservance of caste rules, eating and smok-
13 ing with most of tlie stricter Hindu castes, such as Bauyas, Kbatris, Suds, and Kayaths. He
14 gats flesh in the hills, and perhaps in some parts of the plains also.
15 The Gujarati and Dakaut Brahmans.— These men are scattered in small numbers all over
16 the Province. Tl;e Gujarati Brahmans probably belong to the Gurjara section already mentioned.
17 The Di^kaut or Dakotra Brahmans are fortune-tellers and astrologer.s, and came from Northern
18 Ea.ipulana. They belong to the Panj Gaur group, of which they are sometimes, in Ra.iputana
19 which is their home, reckoned as a separate section. The following description is taken from my
20 Karnal Report : —
21 " Offerings to Brahmans are divided into bar and graha for the days of the week, and two
22 " grahin for Eabu and Ket, the two demons who cause eclipses by attacking the sun and moon.
23 " These two are parts of a jin (Rakshas), who, when sitting at dinner with the gods and jins,
24 "drank of the nectar of the gods instead of tlie wine of the jins. The sun and moon told of him
25 " and Bhagwau cut him into two parts, of which Kabu, including the stomach and therefore the
26 " nectar, is the more worthy. When anybody wislies to offer to Brahmans from Ilness or other
27 " cause, he consults a Kriibman who casts his horoscope and directs which offering of the seven
28 ''jrsAi* should be made. Tlie grahins ave most commonly offered during an eclipse, that to
29 " iSahu being given at the beginning, and that to Ket at the end of the transit. Tlie Gaur
30 " Urabmans will not take any black offerings, such as a buffalo or goat, iron, sesame (til) or urad,
31 " black blankets or clotlies, salt, &c., nor oil, second-hand clothes, green clothe^, nor tatnaja,
32 " which is seven grains mixed with a piece of iron in them ; these belonging to the grahe whose
33 " offerings are forbidden to them. An exception, however, is made in favour of a black cow.
34 " The Gujarati or Bias Brahmans who came from Gujarat in Sindh are in some respects rp 2821
35 " tlie highest class of all Brahmans ; they are always fed first ; and they bless a Gaur when they '
36 '' meet him, while tliey will not eat ordinary bread from his hands. They are fed on the 12th
37 " day alter death, and the Gaurs will not eat on the 13th day if this has not been done. But
38 " they take inauspicious offerings. To them appertain especially the Rahu offerings made at au
39 " eclipse. They will not take oil, sesame, goats, or green or dirty clothes ; but will take old clothes
40 " if washed, buffaloes, atid sat ndj a. Tliey al<o take a special offering to Rahu made by a sick
41 " person, who puts gold in ghi, looks at hi* face in it, and gives it to a Gujrati, or wdio weighs
42 " himself against satndja and makes an offering of llie grain. A buffalo which has been possessed
43 " by a dcvU to that degi'ee that he has got on to the top of a house (no difficult feat in a village)
44 " or a foal dropped in tlie month of Sawan, or buffalo calf in Mag, are given to the Gujarati as
45 " being unlucky. No Gaur would take them. At every harvest the Gujarati takes a small allow-
46 " auce (seori) of grain from the thrashing floor, just as does the Gaur.
47 ''The Dakaut< came from Agroha in the Dakhan. Raja Jasrat, f.ather of Ramchandar,
48 " had excited the anger of Satm'day by worshipping all the other graha but him. Saturday
49 " accordingly rained fire on Jasrat's city of Ajudhia. Jasrat wished to propitiate him, but the
50 " Brahmans feared to take the offering for dread of the consequences ; so Jasrat made from the
51 " dirt of his body one Uaka Rishi who took the offerings, and was the ancestor of Dakauts by a
52 " Sudi'a woman, Tlie other Brahmans, however, disowned him ; so Jasrat consoled him by pro-
53 " raising that all Brahmans should in future consult his children. The promise has been fulfilled.
54 " The Dakauts are pre-eminent as astrologers and soothsayers, and are consulted by every class
55 " on all subjects but the dates of weddings and the names of childi-en, on which the Gaurs advise.
56 '' They arc the scape-goats of the Hindu religion ; and their fate is to receive all the unlucky
57 " offerings which no other Brahman will take, such as black things and dirt.v clothes. E-specially
58 " they take the offerings of Wednesday, Saturday, and Ket. Tliey are so unlucky that no Brah-
59 " man will accept their offerings ; and if they wish to make them they have to give them to their
60 '' own sister's sons. No Hindu of any caste will eat any sort of food at their hands, and at
61 •' weddings they sit with the lower castes ; though of course they only eat food cooked by a
62 ■' Brahman. In old days the,y possessed the jiower of prophecy up to 10-30 A.M.; but this has
63 '' now failed them. They and the Giijaratis are always at enmity, because, as they take many
64 «' of the same offerings, their interests clash."
65 The Pushkarna Brahmans take their name from the sacred lake of Pushkar or Pokhar
66 near Ajmcr. One section of them is said to have been origmally Beldars or Ods who were raised