1 RELIGIOUS, PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER CASTES. 253
2 Khojahs are Kayaths. Now the Parachas also are MahomeJan traders ; and
3 there is at least a very definite section of them with head-quarters at Mukhad
4 on the Indus in Rawalpindi who are a true caste, being converted Khatrisj and
5 marrying only among themselves. But unfortunately the word Pariieha is also
6 used in the central districts for any petty Mahomedan trader. The fact seems
7 to be that in the Rawalpindi and Peshawar divisions, where Panichas are a
8 recognised and wealthy caste, Khojah is used for miscellaneous JJahomedan
9 traders, chiefly hawkers and pedlars, or at least petty traders ; while in the
10 eastern districts and in the Derajat, where Khojahs ai'e commercially import-
11 ant, Paracha is used for the Mahomedan pedlar. Thus in our tables the
12 divisional offices have in many cases included Paracha under Khojah and
13 Khojah under Paracha, and the figures cannot safely be taken sejjarately.
14 These Mahomedan traders, whether called Khojah or Paracha, are found
15 all along the northern portion of the Province under the hills from Amritsar
16 to Peshawar, and have spread southwards into the central and eastern districts
17 of the Western Plains, but have not entered the Derajat or Muzaffargarh in
18 any numbers ; though to the figures of Abstract No. 91 must be added those
19 of Abstract No. 72 (page 224!*) for these last districts. Their eastern boimdaiy
20 is the Satluj valley, theii' western the Jahlam-Chaniib, and they are found
21 throughout the whole of the Salt-range Tract. Probably it is hardly correct
22 to say of them that they have " spread " or " entered ;" for they apparently
23 include many distinct classes who will have sprung from different centres of
24 conversion. They appear to be most numerous in Lahore. A very interesting
25 account of a recent development of trade by the Kliojahs of Giijrat and Sialkot
26 is given in Panjab Government Home Proceedings No. 10 of March 1879.
27 It appears that these men buy cotton piece-goods in Dehli and hawk them
28 about the villages of their own districts, selling on credit tiU harvest time, and
29 the business has now assumed very large proportions. The Khojahs of the
30 Jhang di.strict are thus described by Mr. Monckton : " They do not ciiltivate
31 " with their own hands, but own a great many wells and carry on trade to a
32 " considerable extent. They arc supposed to have been converted from
33 " Hinduism. They do not practise cattle-stealing, but are a litigious race,
34 " and addicted to fraud and forgery in the i)rosecution of theii- claims."
35 The Parachas of the Salt-range Tract require a word of separate notice.
36 Their head-quarters are at Mukhad in Pindi, and there ai-e also large colonics
37 at Attak and Peshawar, whence they cany on an extensive trade with tlie
38 cities of Central Asia, chiefly in cloth, silk, indigo, and tea. They say that
39 theii- place of origin is the \'illage of Dangot in the Bannu district, and that
40 they moved to Mvikhad in Shahjfahan's time ; but another account is that they
41 were Khatris of Lahore, deported by Zaman Shah. They have seven clans
42 and give their daughters only to Parachas, though they will occasionally take
43 wives of foreign origin. They still retain the Hindu title of Raja. They will
44 not maiTT with Khojahs and have dropped the Hindu ceremonial at their
45 weddings, which they say the Khojahs of those parts still retain. They
46 account for their name by deriving it from pdrcha " cloth " one of the princi-
47 l^al staples of their trade. Some of the Parachas of Ambala seem to have
48 returned themselves as Pai'acha Khel, and to have been not unnaturally classed
49 as Pathiins by the tabulators. I cannot give separate figures for these.
50 CARRIER AND PEDLAR CASTES.
51 546. Carriers, Cattle-merchants, Pedlars, &e. — I have said that the
52 commerce of the Panjab was in the hands of the group just discussed, with
53 the exception of the trade in meat, liquor, and vegetables, the traflic in cattle,