1 264, PANJAB CASTES.
2 the caiTTing trade, and petty pedling and hawking. The sellers of meat
3 and liquor will be discussed under the head of miscellaneous artisans ; and
4 the group which I am now ahout to describe consists of the traders in cattle,
5 the carriers, and the pedlars and hucksters C)f the Province. I have divided
6 it into three sections, thougli I shall presently show that the first two overlap
7 considerably, and that the tliird is incomplete. The first section includes
8 the Banjilras, the Labiinas, the Rahbilris, and the Untwals ; and these castes
9 include most of the professional carriers and cattle-dealers, and some of the
10 pedlars of tlie Panjali. The second class consists of the Maniars, theBhatras,
11 and the Kangars, and includes the rest of the pedlars of the Province save
12 only such as lielong to tlie Klioja and Paracha castes just discussed. The
13 third class includes the Kunjras and the Tamliolis, both Greengrocers.
14 But it must be understood that, though there are no castes in the
15 Panjab besides those above mentioned whose hereditary occupation it is to
16 trade in cattle and carry merchandise, yet an immense deal of traffic in cattle
17 goes on quietly amonir the villagers without the interventioi of any outsider ;
18 while in the early months of the hot weather, when the spring harvest has
19 been cut, and before the early rains of autumn have softened the ground
20 sufficiently for ploughing to be possible, the plough o.x.en of the unin'igated
21 Eastern Plains find employment in carrying the produce of their villages to
22 the line of rail or to the great city marls, and in bringing l)ack salt and other
23 products not indigenous to the tract.
24 547. The Banjara (Caste No. 94). — This and the following or Labana
25 caste nre generally s;ud to lie identical, lieing called Banjara in the eastern
26 districts and Labana in the whole of the Panjab proper. But Banjara,
27 derived from banij " a trader " or perhaps from l/anj'i " a pedlar's pack " is
28 used in the west of the Panjalj as a generic term for " pedlar," and I have
29 therefore kept the figures distinct. Indeed it is to be feared that in that part
30 of the Province many persons have been shown as Banjara in consequence of
31 their occupation only.
32 The Banjaras of the eastern districts are a well-marked class, of whom a
33 long and very complete description will be found in Elliott's Baces of tlie.
34 A . /.''. P., Vol. I, pages -'iS-oG. They are the great travelling tradei's and
35 carriers of Central India, the Deccan and Rajputana ; and under the Afghan
36 and IMrighal Empires were the commissariat of the imperial forces. There is
37 a simile applied to a dying person ; " The Banjara goes into the jungle with
38 " his stick in his hand. He is ready for the journey, and there is no body
39 " with him. ■" From Sir H. Elliott's description they seem to be a very
40 composite class, including sections of various origin. But the original Ban-
41 jara caste is said to have its habitat in the suli-montane tract from Gorakhpur
42 to Hardwar. The Banjaras of the North-West Provinces come aimually into
43 the Jamna districts and P^astern States in the cold weather with letters of
44 credit on the local merchants, and buy up large numbers of catf le which they
45 take back again for sale as the summer approaches ; and it is principally these
46 men and the Banjara carriers fi-om Rajputana to whom our figures for Hindu
47 Banjaras refer. The Musalmau Banjai-as are probably almost all pedlars.
48 The headmen of the Banjara parties are called Naik (Sanskrit Nayaka
49 " chief ") and Banjaras in general are not uncommonly known by this name.
50 The Railway is fast destroying the carrying trade of these people except in the
51 mountain tracts. The word Banjara is ajjparently sometimes used for an