1 RELIGIOUS, PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER CASTJSS. 245
2 strict Hindus of the Vaishnava sect. They seem to be numerous in the iSTorth-
3 West Provinces.
4 535. The Bohra (Caste No. 124). — The figures under the heading o,f
5 Bohra include two very distinct classes of men. Of the 3,665 Bohras shown
6 in our tables, 560 are found in the Dehli division, and .3,105 in the Hill States
7 of Kangra. The first are Brahman money-lenders from Mai'war, who have of
8 late years begun to settle in the districts ou the Jamna, and have already
9 acqiiired a most unevialjle notoriety for unscrupulous rapacity. There is a
10 rustic proverb : " A Bohi-a's ' good morning !' is like a mcssag^e from the angel
11 " of death ; " and another : " A Jat to guard crops, a Briihmau as a money-
12 " lender, and a Banya as a mler : — God's curse be on you \"
13 In the hills any money-lender or shop-keeper is apjjarently called a Bohra
14 (from the same root as beohur or " trade,"') and the word is used in the same
15 general sense in the south of Rajpiitana and in Bombay, taking the place of
16 the " Banya " of Hindustan, though in Gujrat it is specially ajiplied to a
17 class of Shiah traders who were converted to Islam some 600 years ago.
18 In the Panjab all the Bohras are Hindus. It will be noticed that in those
19 Hill States in which Bohras are numerous, Banyas ai-e hardly represented
20 in the returns, and vice versa ; and there can be little doubt that both the
21 Banvas and the Bohras shown for the Hill States are the same as the Pahari
22 Mahajans next to be discussed. The Hill Bohras are said to be exceedingly
23 strict Hindus, and to be admitted to intermarriage with the lower classes of
24 Rajputs, such as Rathis and Rawats. In Gurdaspur I am told that there
25 is a small class of traders called Bohras who claim Jat origin, and who are
26 notorious for making money by marrying their daughters, securing the dower,
27 and then running away with both, to begin again da cajm.
28 536. The Pahari Mahajans (Caste No. 112). — As I have just remarked,
29 the Banyas and Bohras returned for the Hill States should probably be
30 included with these people. They appear to be a mixed caste ^prung from
31 the intermarriage of immigrants from the plains belongiiig to the Banya
32 and Kayath castes and are generally either traders or clerks. /But the term
33 is in the hills really occupational rather than the name of any caste ; and it
34 appears that a Brahman shop-keeper would be called a Malmjan, while a
35 Mahajan clerk would be called a Kayath. Thus Mr. Barnes Bays that " the
36 " Kayath of the hills, unlike his namesake of the plains, belongs to the
37 " Vaisya or commercial class and wears the janeo or sacred thread," and
38 Major Wace writes of Hazara : " The Hill Brahraans or Mahajans keej)
39 " shops, cultivate, or take service, as well as act as priests." The tnio Banya
40 of Hindustan, who is found in the hills only as a foreigner, will not intermairy
41 with these Pahari Mahajans.
42 537. The Sud (Caste No. 75)*.— The Suds are almost entirely confined
43 to the lower hills, and the districts that lie immediately under them as far
44 west as Amritsar. Their head-quarters are at Liidhiana and the neighbom-ing
45 town of Slaehhiwara, and they ai'e, I believe, unknown outside the Panjab.
46 They are almost wholly mercantile in their pursuits though occasionally
47 taking service as clerks, and occupy a social position markedly inferior to that
48 of either the Banya or the Khatri. They wear a, janeo or sacred thread made
49 ' Mr. Bcames gives Wuhora as tbe true form of the word.
50 » I am iudebted to the kinduess of Mr. Gordon Walker, Settlement Officer of Ludhiaua, li/X
51 math o£ the iuformatiou recorded below.