1 DiTisiONS or Nais.
2 1. Gola ... 10,981 ' 4. Baligu ... 2,555
3 2. Bhaubheru ... 14.816 I 5. Bhatti ... 16,221
4 3 Basi 1,605 j 6. Khokhar ... 12,026
5 RELIGIOUS, PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER CASTES. 231
6 to handle everybody's poll. The outcast tribes have their own Nais, for a
7 Nai who had shaved a Chuhra would not be permitted to touL-h a Jat. 1
8 believe that all our own barbers are IMusalraans because a HLadu Nai who shav-
9 ed a Christian would be considered as polluted. The Nais are popularly known
10 as a class of great astuteness^ and the proverb says : " the jackal is the shai-pest
11 '' among beasts, the crow among birds, and the Nai among men." The Nais
12 are very uniformly distributed over the Province, being least common in the
13 Derajat, where however some of them appear to have returned themselves as
14 106- Jats (see Aljstract No. 72, page 224'*). They are apparently Hindu among
15 Hindus and ilusalman among Musalmans, and in a less degree Sikh among
16 Sikhs. On the whole about 55 per cent, are Musalmans, 6 per cent. Sikhs, and
17 the remainder Hindus. A Sikh barber would appear a contradiction in terms ;
18 but besides the functions enumerated above, he shampooes, cuts the nails, and
19 cleans the ears of his patients. He appears to be known as Jajak in the west
20 of the Province, and as Kangera or " comb-man " in the Hills. In Gurgaon
21 Musalman barbers are sometimes called Ustan, as well as by the more common
22 term Hajjam.
23 The Nai tribes and elans are very numerous. I show a few of the largest
24 in the margin. The fost two
25 are most numerous in the Dehli
26 and Hissar divisions, the next
27 two in the central districts, and
28 the last two in the west of the
29 Province. The Musalman Nais of Karnal are said to be divided into two
30 sections, the Turkia who came in with the ^Mahomedan conquerors and the
31 Gagrel or converts from Hinduism, so called because their women wear or
32 once wore the Hindu petticoat or gdgra.
33 526. The Bhat (Caste No. 62) . -The Bhat or Bhat as he is often called in
34 the Panjab is, like the !Mirasi, a bard and genealogist, or as some pe'^ple call
35 him panegyrist. But he is a bard of a very superior sort, and far removed
36 above the level of the Mirasi. He Is par excellence genealogist of the Rajputs
37 and Brahmans, though he performs the same office for some Jat tril^es ; he is
38 himself of admitted Brahman origin ; and he is found in largest numbers in
39 the eastern and sub-montane districts where Hindu Rajputs form the largest
40 proportion of the population. The Hill State of Nahan indeed retui-ns Bhats
41 as forming 11'4' per cent, of its total population, butthis seems hardly possible,
42 though the entry in the original table is clear enough.
43 I have included under the head of Bhiit the following entries — Charan,
44 13 in the Hissar division; Madho, 217 in the Ambala division ; Jaga, 13 in
45 the J alandhar division ; Rai, 202 in the Rawalpindi, Multan, and Peshawar
46 divisions. Rai is a mere honorific title for a Bhat. The other three entries
47 are names of great Bhat tribes ; and it appears that while the Jiiga or Bhat
48 proper is the genealogist and historian, the Charan and Birm Bhats are bards
49 and heralds and compose verses in honour of the ancestors of great men — so at
50 least say Sherring and Elliott, both of whom give a good deal of information
51 concerning the caste. The Jiiga or Bhat genealogist, to which class the great
52 mass of our Bhats belong, is a hereditary servant, each local clan having its
53 own Bhat who pays them periodical visits, writes up its genealogies to date,
54 and receives his fees. At great weddings he attends and recites the history
55 and praises of ancestors, and the genenlogy of the bridegroom. But as he
56 often lives too far off to be summoned to ordinary weddings, a Mirasi or Diim