1 RELIGIOUS, PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER CASTES. 263
2 of Nepal. The Piirsis are the Zoroastrian class of that name who have come
3 from the Bombay Presidency into the Panjab as merchants and shop-keepers.
4 The Bangiilis are the Bengali Baboos of our offices. They are I believe for
5 the most part either Brahmans or Kiiyaths, Bengali Ijeing of course a
6 purely geographical term. They are only found in offices and counting-
7 houses.
8 560. The Kayaths (Caste No. 90). — The Kayath is the well-known writer
9 class of Hindustan. He does not appear to be indigenous in the Panjab, and
10 is fouml in decreasing numbers as we go westwards. He is only to be found
11 in the administrative or commercial centres and is Ijeing rapidly displaced, so
12 far as Government service is concerned, by Panjabi clerks. His origin is
13 discussed in Colebrook's Essays-
14 But in the Panjab hills Kayath is the term of an occupation rather than
15 of a caste, and is applied to members of a mixed caste formed by the inter-
16 marriage of Brahmans and Kayaths proper, and even of Banyas who follow
17 clerkly pursuits. Their caste would be jNIahajan (Pahiiiu) and their occupation
18 Kayath. Mr. Barnes says : " The Kayath of the hills is not identical with
19 the Kiiyath of the plains. He belongs to the Vaisya or commercial class, and
20 is entitled to wear the janco or sacred thread. The Kayath of the plains is
21 a Sudra, and is not entitled to assume the janco} " (See also Pahiiri
22 •P. 245. Maliajan, page 294.*)
23 561. The Bishnoi (Caste No. 106).— The Bishnois are really a religious
24 sect and not a true caste. Their tenets and practice have been briefly sketch-
25 ed at page 12o in the Chapter on Religion. Almost all the followers of this
26 sect are either Jats or Tarkhans by caste, and come from the Bagar or
27 Bikaner prairies ; but on becoming Bishnois they very commonly give up then-
28 caste name and call themselves after their new creed. This is, however, not
29 always so ; and many of the Bishnois will doubtless have returned themselves
30 under their caste names. I do not know whether the Jat and Tarkhau
31 Bishnois intermarry or not. But a Bishnoi will only mari-y a Bishnoi. They
32 are only found in Hariana, and are all Hindus.
33 562. The Chazang (Caste No. 138).— This again is not a true caste, for it
34 is confined to the Buddhists of Spiti, among whom caste is said to be tinknown.
35 The word Chahzaug means nothing more or less than '' land-owner, " from
36 chdh " owner'' and zang " land, " and includes all the land-owning classes of
37 Spiti, where everybody owns land except Hesis and Lobars. These people are
38 by nationality Tibetan, or as they call themselves Bhoti, and should perhaps
39 have been returned as such. Mr. Anderson says : •' Cliahzang means the
40 " land-holding class, and the j^eople towards Tibet, Ladakh, and Zanskar are
41 '' known as Chahzang. It appears to be used in a very wide sense to mean
42 " all that speak Bhoti, just as Monpa means 'the people that do not know,'
43 " that is; the Hindus. "
44 563. The Kanchan (Caste No. 96).— Tliis again is hardly a caste,
45 Kanchan simply meaning a Musalman pimp or j)rostItute, and being the
46 Hindustani equivalent for the Panjabi Kanjar. The figm-es for Kanjar, ex-
47 cept in the Dehli, Hissar, and Ambilla divisions, have been included under this
48 heading (see section 590) . The word kanchan is said to mean "pure and
49 " illustrious. " The Hindu prostitute is commonly known as Ramjani and
50 'This last assertion is contested in a pamphlet called Kayastha, £<A»oZ<)yy (Luckuow, 1877),