1 230 PANJAB CASTES. I
2 The Qadlri (Caste No. 175).— The Qadiri are the followers of the celebrated Saiyad Abdul
3 QAdir Pir Dastagir, whose shriue is at Baghdad ; most of the Sunni divines of the North-West
4 Frontier are Qadri, and the Akhiind of Swat belongs to the order. To the numbers shown in
5 Table VIII A must be added 2,710 males and 2,181 females, for the most jiart in the AmbSla,
6 Amritsar, and Lahore divisions. They sit for hours repeating the following declaration : '' Thou
7 " art the guide, thou art the truth, there is none but thee !"
8 The Naqshbandia are followers of Khwajah Pir Muhammad Naqshbaud. My figures only J
9 show 287 males and 219 females, chiefly in the Amritsar Division. They worship by sitting per- ;
10 fcctly silent and motionless, with bowed head and eyes fixed on the ground.
11 The Sarwardia. — (See above under " Bennwa"). — " They are the followers of Hasan Basri
12 of Basra near Baghdad. They worship seated, chaunting at short intervals and in measured tones
13 the word Alldliu, %vhich is articulated with a suppressed breath and as if ejaculated by a powerful
14 effort. The devotee often faint-; with the exertion.
15 The Chishti. — (See Section 518 ahove). — Besides those classed under Chishti, my figures give
16 2,329 males and 2,014 females, almost all in the eastern half of the Province. The Chishti/ajiVy
17 are the followers of Banda Nawfiz whose shrine is at Kalbargah. They worship by leaping up
18 and gesticulating, and repeating ' Allih Td-alld-Tiu,' till they work themselves into a frenzy and
19 at last sink down exhausted.
20 MINOR PROFESSIONAL CASTES.
21 524. The minor professional castes. — I have felt great doubt as to how
22 I should class and where I should place the castes which I have included in
23 this group, and the distribution of which is shown in Abstract No. 90 on the
24 next page.* Jklany of them are in some measure allied to the priestly classes, # p
25 they have functions to perform in connection with weddings and similar 33.
26 ceremonies, they receive customary fees for the pef ormance of those functions,
27 and they are invested with a sort of 5'7<«si-saered character. On the other
28 hand, they have many points in common with the menials ; their social
29 .status is very low, and many of them are retained by the villagers on
30 the same footing as the ordinary village servants, their rights and duties being
31 regulated by custom. The castes of the group may be divided into three
32 ■ classes, the Nai, Bhat, and Mirasi who are real village servants though of a
33 very special character ; the Jogis and Riiwals who are for the most part
34 astrologers and semi-religious ; and the Bahrupias and Bhands who are actors
35 and story-teller.=, and purely professional.
36 525. Th2 Nai (Caste No. 21). — The Nai is the barber of the country, and [P. 288]
37 when a Musalman, and in the cities, is often called Hajjam. In respect of
38 his being a barber he is a true village menial, and he shaves and shampooes
39 the villagers, prepares tobacco for the village rest-house, and attends upon
40 the village guests. But he is much more than a barber. He is the heredi-
41 tary bearer of formal messages from one village to another, such as news of
42 auspicious events, formal congratulations, letters fixing the dates of weddings,
43 and the like. News of a death is never carried by him, however, but always
44 by a Chiihra. He forms moreover, in company with a Brahman, the
45 embassy sent to conclude a betrothal, and he is generally the agency through
46 which the preliminaries of match-making are conducted. At wedding cere-
47 monies too he plays an important part, next indeed to that of the Brahman
48 himself, and on all these occasions receives suitable gratuities. He is also the
49 leech of the country, the Jarrah or surgeon is usually a Nai by caste, and circum-
50 cision is commonly performed by a Nai. Notwithstanding all this he is one of
51 the impure castes,'standing much on the same level as the washerman, far above
52 the Cham&, and somewhat below the Lobar, for his occupation as a barber [P. 289]
53 proper is considered degrading. At the same time every N^i is not prepared