1 RELIGIOUS, PROFESStONAL AND OTHER CASTES. 251
2 position is far inferior to tlieirs, partly no doulit because ht is looked down
3 upon simply as being a Hindu in the portions of thu Province whicb are his
4 special habitat. He is commonly known as a Kii'iir, a word almost synouy-
5 mons ^^^th coward, and even more contemptuous than is the nauje Banya in
6 the east of the Province. The word Kirar, indeed, appears tu be applied to all
7 the Western or Panjalii traders, as distinct from the Banyas of Hindustan, and
8 is so used even in the Kiiugra Hills. But the Arora is the person to whom
9 the term is most commonly applied, and Khatris repudiate the name altogether
10 as deroo-atory. The Arora is active and enterprising, industrious and tlirifty.
11 " When an Arora girds up his loins, he makes it only two miles (from Jhang)
12 to Lahore." He will turn his hand to any work, he makes a most admirable
13 cultivator, and a large proportion of the Aroras of the lower Chenab are purely
14 agricultural in their avocations. He is found throughout Afghanistan and
15 even Turkistsln, and is the Hindu trader of those countries ; while in the
16 Western Panjiib he will sew clothes, weave matting and baskets, make vessels
17 of brass and copper, and do goldsmith's work. But he is a temble coward,
18 and is so branded in the proverbs of the countryside = " The tliieves were four
19 " and we cightv-four ; the thieves came on and we i-an away. Damn the thieves !
20 " Well done us ! " And again : " To meet a Riithi armed with a hoe makes a
21 " company of nine Kli-ars feel alone." Yet the peasant has a wholesome di-ead
22 of the Kirar when in his proper place. " Vex not the Jat in his jungle, or the
23 " Kirar at his shop, or the boatman at his ferry ; for if you do they will break
24 " your head.'" Again : " Trust not a crow, a dog, or a Kirar, even when asleep."
25 So ao-ain : '^You can^t make a friend of a Kirar any more than a Satti of a
26 " prostitute." The Arora is of inferior physique, and his character is thus
27 summed up by Mr. Thorbui-n : " A cowardly, secreti\'e, acquisitive race, very
28 " necessary and useful it may be in their places, but possessed of few manly
29 "qualities, and both desjjised and envied by the great Mnsalman tribes of
30 Baunu." A few of the Aroras are returned as Musalman, some 7 per cent, as
31 Sikh, and the rest as Hindu. But many of the so-called Hindus, especially on
32 the lo-n'er Chanalj and Satluj, are really ]\Ixmna (shaven) Sikhs, or followers of
33 Baba Nanak, while the Hindu Ai'oras of the Indus worship the river. Further
34 details will be found in sections 241) and 264 of Chapter IV on the Religions
35 of the people.
36 544. Origin and divisions of tlie Aroras.— The Ai-oras claim to be of
37 Khatrl origin, and it will presently be seen that they follow some of the
38 Khatri sub-divisions. ' The Khatris however reject the claim. Sir George
39 Campbell (see section 539) is of opinion that the two belong to the same
40 ethnic stock. They say that they became outcasts fi-om the Kshatriya stock
41 during the persecution of that people by Paras Ram, to avoid which they
42 denied their caste and described it as Aur or another, hence their name. Some
43 of them fled northwards and some southwards, and hence the names of the two
44 great sections of the caste, Uttaradhi and Dakhana. But it has been suggest-
45 ed with greater probability that, as the Multan and Lahore Khatris are
46 Khatris of IMultan and Lahore, so the Ai'oras are Khatris of Aror the ancient
47 capital of Sindh, now represented by the modern Rori. The number of clans
48 is enormous, and many of them arc found in both sections. The Uttaradhi and
49 Dakhana do not intermariy, the section being endogamous and the clan, as
50 usual, exogamous. All Aroras are said to be of the Kasib gotra. The
51 - The detailed figm-es, when published, will show how far the identity of divisions extends.