1 RELIGIOUS, PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER CASTES. 229
2 Their head-quarters used to be at Amrltsar, where they assumed the direction of religious ceremonies
3 and tlie duty of convoking the council of the Khalsa. They were dreaded even by the Silih Chiefs
4 for their fanaticism and turbulence, and often levied offerings by force. They were warrior-
5 priests, and political rather than religious, and the order is now fast dwindling sway. Their
6 present head-quarters are said to be at Anandpiu' in Hushyarpur. They stUI pride themselves upon
7 the purity mth which they preserve the original ordinances of their religion, rejecting all Hindu
8 rites even in their marriage ceremonies. They still bear in their memories the ancient glory of the
9 Sikhs, and an Akali who wishes to imply that he is alone will say that he is ' with 125,000 Khalsa.'
10 The Diwana Sadh or " mad saints " wear uncut hair, a necklace of shells, and a very large
11 feather in their turbans. They are chiefly recruited from low casles, and are for the most part
12 married. lu their habits they resemble Sikhs, but they revere the Adi Granth only. My
13 figures show 495 males and 346 females, most of whom are in the Kangra district.
14 523. The Musalman order of ascetics — The Bharai (Caste No. 48).— The Bharais, or Pirhais
15 or Pirahis as they are often called, are the priests of Sakhi Sarwar Sultan, and have been already
16 alluded to in section 221 in the chapter on Ueligiou. The Bharais of the Lahore division were
17 included under Shekh iu the divisional ofiice ; they number 1,444 in Lahore, 2,256 in Giijranwala
18 and 1,646 iu Firozpur. The Bharais are almost confined to the central and sub-montane districts
19 and slates, where the Sultani belief is most prevalent. There are however a few in the districts of
20 the Western Plains. They go about beating a drum and begging in the name of Sakhi Sarwar,
21 and conduct parties of pilgi'ims to the shrine at Nigaha. They also receive the offerings of the
22 local shrines. They circumcise boys in the western districts, and often act as llirasis with whom
23 they are sometimes confused. Indeed on the lower Indus they supersede the Nai as clrcumcisors,
24 and are said to take their name from the fact that the Prophet gave his coat (pairdhan) to one of
25 their ancestors as a reward for circumcising a convert after a barber had refused to do so ! The
26 real origin of the name is probably to be found in the fact that the pilgrims to Nigaha call each
27 other Pir bhra or " Saint-brothers."
28 The Madari caste No. 63). — The Madaris are followers of Zindah Shah Madar, the cele-
29 brated saint of Makaupur in Oudh. His name was Bazi-ul-din Shah, and he was a converted Jew
30 who was born at Aleppo in A. D. 1050, and is said to have died at Makanpur at the mature age
31 of 383 years after expelling a demon called Makan Deo from the place. He is supposed by some
32 to be still alive (, whence his name), Mahomet having given him the power of living without
33 breath. His devotees are said never to be scorched by tire, and to be secure against venomous
34 snakes and scorpions, the bites of which they have power to cure. Women who enter his shrine
35 are said to be seized by violent pain as though they were being burnt alive. To the figures of
36 Table VIII A must be added 20,968 males and 17,476 females, of whom some 5,700 are in Ambala,
37 5,400 in Liidhiana, 6,600 in Jalandhar, 2.000 in Hushyarpur, 3,200 in Amritsar, 2,300 in Sialkot,
38 and 1,500 in Firozpur. Thus they are very generally distributed throughout tha eastern half of
39 the Panjab. In the four western divisions they seem to be almost unknown. They wear their
40 hair matted and tied iu a knot, and belong to the be shara section of Mahomedsn orders who regard
41 no religion, creed, or rules of life, though they call themselves Musalman.
42 The Malang are said to be a branch of the Madari. My tables show only 851 males and
43 659 females under that head, mostly in Patiala, Maler Kotla, Jalandhar and Firozpur.
44 The Benawa (Caste No. 111). — The Benawa faqi'rs are the followers of Khwajah Hasan
45 Basri; but who he is I cannot say unless he be the same asi Hasan Basri of Basra near Baghdad, the
46 founder of the Sarwardia order. To the figures of the table must be added 2,483 males and 2,153
47 females. The Benawa are almost entirely confined to the Jumna districts and Kohtak.
48 The Darvesh (Caste No. 136). — Darvesh is simply another word iox faqir, and means one
49 who begs from door to door [dar " door "). But the Darvesh of our tables, to the figures of which
50 84 males and 106 females, chiefly from Sialkot must be added, are a peculiar class found only in
51 Batala and Pathankot and in Amritsar a^d Kapiirthala. There seems to be a colony of these
52 men who are distinguished by the title of Darvesh. They cultivate a little laud, play musical
53 instruments, beg. make ropes, go to a house where there has been a death and chaunt the praises
54 of the deceased, hang about mosques, and so forth. They are hardly ascetics, yet the small
55 number of women seem to show that they have not yet formed into a separate caste, and are still
56 recruited from outside.
57 The Jalall (Caste No. 143). — The JaUli order was founded by Saiyad JaUl-ul-din of
58 Bukhara, though the Panjab Jalalis are sometimes said to be followers of Sher Shah Saiyad .lalal
59 of Uchh, himself a Ja,\il\faqi'r. To the figures of the table must be added 2,322 males and 1,928
60 females, mostly from the Jalandhar, Amritsar, and Lahore divisions. Candidates for admission to
61 the orders shave completely, burn their clothes, and are branded on the right shoulder. The Jalalis
62 ai'e common in Central Asia.
63 The Husalni (Caste No. 160).— The Husainis are confined to Gurgaon, and present the
64 peculiarity of having more females than males among their numbers. I have no information re-
65 garding them. They may perhaps be Husaini Saiyads,