1 25& PANJAB CASTES.
2 for hive. Their proper home appears to be Bikiiner and the Rajput Ana
3 desert.
4 550. Untwal (Caste No. 144).— Tliis is a purely occupational term and
5 means notliing' more than a camel-man. Under this head have been included
6 Shutarhan and Sarl>an, l>oth words having the same meaning. But Malik
7 has been classed as Biloeh, as the title is chiefly confined to tlie Biloch
8 camelman. Indeed many of the persons returned as Biloches in the Central
9 Panjab would probably have been more properly described as Untwal, since
10 the term Biloch throughout the central districts is used of any Mnsalman
11 camelman. It will be noticed that the Untwals are returned only from
12 those parts of the Province where the real meaning of Biloch is properly
13 understood. In those parts they are said to be all Jats ; but -Tat means very
14 little, or ratlier almost anything, on the Indus.
15 551. The Maniar (Caste No. 47).— Here again we meet with an occu-
16 pational term, and with resulting confusion in the figures. The Maniar of
17 the eastern districts is a man 'who works in glass and sells glass bangles,
18 generally hawking them about the villages. Bi^t throughout the rest of
19 the Pali jab Maniar is any pedlar, manidri bcchhna being the common term
20 for tlie occupation of carrying petty hardware about for sale. Thus we
21 have Khojali, Paracha, Banjiira, and Maniai-, all used in different pai-ts and
22 some of them in the same part of the Province for a pedlar ; and the result
23 is that the figures have probably been mixed up. Tlie extraordinary number
24 of I^Ianiars returned for the Jahlam and llawalpindi districts in Table_ VIII A
25 is due to an unfortunate en-or, not detected till after the table was printed, by
26 which Maliar was read Maniar. These people are really vegetable-growers,
27 and have been classed in tlieir proper place in the Abstracts of this chapter.
28 552. The Bhatra (Caste No. 174). — The Bhittra is also a pedlar ; but
29 he lielongs to a true caste. He claims Brahman origin, and his claim
30 would appear to be good, for be wears the sacred thread, applies the lilal-
31 or forehead mark, and receives offerings at eclipses in that capacity. He
32 is probably a low class of Gujarati or Dakaut Brahman, and like them
33 practises as an astrologer in a small way. The Bhatras of Gvijrat are
34 said to trace tlieu- oi-igin to the south beyond Multiin. The Bhatras hawk
35 small hardware for sale, tell fortunes, and play on the native guitar, but
36 do not beg for alms. It is their function to pierce the noses and ears of
37 children to receive rings. Mr. Baden-Powell describes the instruments used
38 at page 268 of his Panjdb Manvfadures. The Ramaiya of the east of
39 the Panjab appears to correspond exactly with the Bhatra and to be the same
40 person under u different name, Ramaiya being-
41 used in Dehli and Hissar, Bhatra in Lahore
42 and Pindi, and both in the Ambala division ;
43 and I directed that Ijoth sets of figures should be in-
44 cluded under the head Bhatra. Unfortunately the
45 order was not can-ied out. The number of
46 Ramaiyas returned is shown in the margin. But
47 Debli diTision ... 419
48 HissSr division ... 19
49 Anib '(la division ... 16
50 454
51 in any case the figm-es are incomplete. The Bhatra is essentially a pedlar
52 and has probably been returned by one of the names for pedlars jn-^t re
53 f en-ed to more ' often than by his caste name. He is said to be called Madho
54 in Rawalpindi, but this is probably due to some confusion of Bhatra witli
55 Bhat.