1 278 MNJAB castes.
2 Dogars of Firozpur, the Rajputs of Hushy^rpiir and Jdlaiulhar, and the Sodhls
3 of Aiiaiidpm-. Aliout 11 per cent, are returned as Musalmans and a very few
4 as Sikhs. The rest are Hindus, but they are of course outcasts. A slight
5 sketch of their religion is given in section 396. They trace their de.scent from
6 one Sans INIal of Bhartpur whom they still revere as their Guru, and are said
7 to worship his patron saint under the name of Malang Shah. Their marriage
8 ceremony is peculiar, the bride being covered by a basket on which the bride-
9 groom sits while the nuptial rites are being performed. They are divided into
10 two great tribes, Kiilka and INIalka which do not intermarry. They have a
11 dialect peculiar to themselves ; and theii- women are especially depraved.
12 The Sansis are the most criminal class in the Panjilb ; and it will be seen
13 from Abstract No. 97 on the next page'^ that they are registered under the *^g^^°'
14 Act in nine districts. Still though the whole caste is probably open to sus-
15 picion of petty pilfering, they are by no means always professional thieves.
16 The Panjab Government wrote in 1881: "Their habits vary greatly in
17 " different localities. A generation ago they were not considered a criminal
18 " class at Lahore, where they kept up the genealogies of the Jat land-holders
19 "and worked as agricultural labourers. In Gurdaspur on the other hand
20 " they are notorious as the worst of criminals.'^ Where they are professional
21 criminals they are determined and fearless, and commit burglary and highway
22 robbery, though their gangs are seldom large. The thieving Sansis are said
23 to admit any caste to their fraternity on payment except Dhcdhs and Mhangs ;
24 and the man so admitted becomes to all intents and purposes a Siinsi.
25 578. The Pakhiwara (Caste No. 117).— The Pakhiwaras are often said to
26 be a branch of the Sansis, whom they resemble in many respects ; Init this is
27 more than doubtful. They take their name from the word -pakhi, which
28 means a "bird," and also a " straw hut," either meaning being approjjriate,
29 as the Pakhiwiu-as live in straw huts and are hunters and fowlers. They are
30 found chiefly in the Amritsar division, Gujrat, and Multan, but especially in
31 Sialkot. They are all Musalmau, but eat vermin and are therefore outcasts.'
32 They are by hereditary occupation fowlers and hunters; but they seem to
33 have taken very generally to hawking vegetables about for sale, and in some
34 parts the word Pakhiwara is almost s^nionymous with iiuijra or "green-
35 grocer." They are a very criminal tribe, and in Siiilkot they are (see Abstract
36 No. 97) registered as such and have been settled by Govei-nment in small
37 villages and given land to cultivate. Excepting the persons so settled the
38 Pakhiwaras are essentially vagrant in their habits.
39 579. The Jhabel (Caste No. 107).— The Jhabel, or as he is often called Cha-
40 belj is said to take his name from Chaiuh, the Panjabi for a jhil or marsh. ^
41 Mr. O'Brien describes the Jhabel in his Glossary as a "tribe of fishermen who
42 " came originally fi-om Sindh, and still speak pure Sindhi among themselves ;
43 "and who are addressed by the title of Jdm, which is Sindhi for ' Prince.'
44 " They are Musalmiins and are considered orthodox, because they do not, like
45 " the Kehals and other fishing tribes, eat tmlles and crocodiles '." This refers
46 ' Mr. Christie says that, of the four great Sunni schools (see section 2S3), the Hambali are
47 most restricted as to what is lawful to eat, the Hanifi rules follow very closely the Mosaic customs
48 the Shafai teach that all animals which inhabit the water are clean, while tlie Maliki iironounce
49 everything pure, whether on. earth or in the water, and exclude only such animals as have been
50 specially declared unelean, as the dog, the pig, and birds that use their talons when feeding. He
51 tells me that all PakMwiras belong to the Maliki, and all Jhabels and Mallahs to the Shafai school.
52 ^Another derivation is from jham, the dredger used iu sinking wells.