1 223 PAN JAB CASTES.
2 Saiyads, of Bukhara, the words Piijavi and Bukharl being identical if written
3 without dots. They are found only in Jalandhar, Lahore, and Amritsar, the
4 three great commercial towns.
5 515. The Saiyads (Caste No. 24).- The true Saiyads are the descendants
6 of Ali, tiie son-in-law of Mahomet, and I believe that the word properly in-
7 cludes'only those descended from him by Fatima, Mahomet's daughter. But
8 there are Ulavi Saiyads who are said to be descended through other wives.
9 Our tables show 248,102 Saiyads in the Panjab, but it is impossible to say
10 how many of these are of true Saiyad stock. Certainly an immense number
11 of those returned as such have no real claim to the title. The saying_ is
12 " Last year I was a Julaha ; this year I am a Shekh ; next year if prices
13 rise I shall be a Saiyad ; " and if " generation " be substituted for " year ,"
14 the process is sufficiently common. The Saiyads are found scattered through-
15 out the Province. In the eastern half of the Panjab they form a compara-
16 tively small element in the population, except in Dchli itself. These men
17 for the most part came in with the Mahomedan conquerors or under their
18 dvnasties, and were granted lands or revenue which their descendants sf
19 hold and enjoy. The Bara Saidat of the Jamna-Ganges Dodh, with
20 manv of these Eastern Saiyads are connected, enjoyed considerable ,e
21 importance during the latter days of the Mughal empire. But r'^^^'er
22 meridian of Lahore is passed the Saiyads form a markedly 1p: thaTto
23 the population, being largest of all on the Patlian front' ■ The Gaur
24 range Tract, and only slightly smaller on the lower t,; <„;;\°;^»^«<*,
25 Pathan tribes, such as the Bangash of Kohat and the M.\\hc grahe white
26 origin, and it may be that some of these have returned tl^^t cow.
27 instead of as Pathans. The Apostles who completed ti>'-ime respects rp „„„,
28 Pathans to Islam were called Saiyads if they came f-om t'"/J,^" '^^y ^ ' ^^^^
29 if from the east, and it is probably to the descendants of I ^oj,^^ ^^^
30 false claims to Saiyad origin set up most commonly in a made at an
31 tract, that the large number of Saiyads in the north-west P^ ciutk^
32 due. At the same time the Biloches, who were originally /^''^.'^J^t
33 called "the friends of Ali," reverence and respect Saiyads f>os3e..se(i
34 those bigoted Sunnis the Pathans ; and I am surprised to fincPilJago)
35 numerous among the latter than among the former. The SaF|*^^8
36 who came into Hazara with Saiyad Jalal Baba hold the whole
37 valley, and the Saiyads of the Multan district occupy a promi..^3j._
38 and will be found described at length in Mi. Eoe's Settlement lay
39 abject state of bondage in which the Saiyads and other holy riie
40 frontier races has been described in the Chapter on Religion, '.
41 The Saiyad is, no less than the Brahman, a land-owner and culti
42 large scale. Indeed, while the Brahman is by birth a priest, or at
43 Levite, the Saiyad as such is neither ; though he makes use of _hi^
44 saintliness, at any rate in the west of the Panjab, to compel offeriug\
45 the ordinances of his religion give him no sort of claim. The \
46 Karnal is thus described in my Settlement Eeport. *' The Saiyad isl
47 " cally the worst cultivator I know. Lazy, thriftless, and intensely \
48 '= and conceited, he will not dig till driven to it by the fear of starvai
49 " thinks that his holy descent should save his brow from the need o1
50 " ing. At the best he has no cattle, he has no capital, and he grind
51 "his tenants to the utmost. At the worst he is equally poor, dirty, a.
52 " He is the worst revenue payer in the district ; for to hima lighter asisc