1 246 tANJAB CASTES.
2 of tlvvee instead of six strandi?, and many of them practise vvldow-mamage.
3 ^i^-h the exception of a few who are Silvhs they are ahnost all Hindu,
4 bvit are, in comparison with the other n>erc:Lntile castes, very lax in Uie
5 ol.servance of then- religion. They indulge freely in meat and wine,
6 and in liahits, customs, and social position resemble very closely the Kayaths.
7 The tribe is apparently an ancient one, but I can obtain no dcliuitc informa-
8 tion as to its origin. Various fanciful derivations of the tribal name are
9 current, for the most part of an opprobrious nature. I attempted to make
10 inquiries from some leading Suds; but the result was the assemljling of a
11 Pauchayat, the ransacking of the Sansla-it classics for proof of tlieir Kshatriya
12 origin, and a heated discussion in the journal of the Auiuman.
13 ° They are divided into two main sections, the Uchiiu dia or Slid of the
14 hills and the Newandia or Slid of the plains. I find however that some of
15 the Siids of Hushyilrpur trace their origin from Sarhind. They also dis-
16 tinguish the Siids who not do practise widow-marriage from those who do,
17 calling the former /:/umi, and the latter and their offspring gola, doghla
18 (hybnd) or chichcUi. These two sections, of which the latter corresponds
19 exactly with the Basa and data Banyas already described, do not intermarry.
20 The Suds forbid marriage in all four gots, and here again show how nmch less
21 their tribal customs have been affected by their religion than have those of the
22 Banyas and Khatris. They are of good physique, and are an intelligent and
23 enterprising caste with great "power of combination and self-restraint ; and
24 they have latelv made what appears to be a really successful effort to reduce
25 their maniage expenses by general agreement. The extensive sugar trade of
26 Liidhiana, and generally the agricullui-al money-lending of the richest pai-t
27 of that district, are almo"st entirely in their hands. They are proverbially
28 acute and prosperous men of business, and there is a saying : " If a Slid is
29 " across the river, leave your bundle on this side." The husbandman of the
30 villages is a mere child in their hands.
31 °538. TheBhabra (CasteNo. 88).— The Bhabras appear to be a purely
32 Panjab caste, and have their head-quarters in the towns of Hushyarpur and
33 SiiLlkot. They occupy very much the same ten-itorial position as do the Siids,
34 except that thev do not penetrate so far into the hills, and extend as far
35 west as Rawalpindi instead of stopping short at Araritsar. Indeed there
36 seems to be some doubt whether the word Bhabra is not as much a [P. 295]
37 religious as a caste term, and whether it signifies anything more than
38 a Sud, or perhaps a Banya also, of the Jain religion. No Suds have
39 retm'iied themselves as Jains; and though some 11 per cent, of the
40 Bhabras have retm-ned themselves as Hindus, yet, as already explained
41 in Part l\ of the Chapter on Religion, they belong almost exclusively
42 to the Swetamljara or more lax sect of the Jains, and consider themselves
43 Hindus fii-st and Jains af terwai-ds. A precisely similar diihculty with re-
44 gard to the significance of the term Oswal is discussed in section 259. As
45 a fact I beheve that all Bhabras are Jains. Some of them are said to be
46 Oswals ; but whether this means that they ai'e Oswal Banyas by caste or
47 Swetambara Jains by religion I cannot say. They are all traders. Further
48 information regarding this caste is greatly needed I have only come across
49 two facts -ivhich seem to throw light on their origin. The Bhilliras of Hnsh-
50 yai'pur make annual pilgrimages to a village called Fattahpui- in the hills,
51 some 20 miles fiom Hushyarpur, where there are remains of a very ancient
52 aad extensive town, and there worship at an ancestral shrine. The Bhabras