1 282 PANJAB CASTES.
2 not prevent his being a professional thief. I extract the following deserli,-
3 tion of the caste from Major Powlett's Gazetteer of Alwar : —
4 "Minas were formerly the rulers of mucli of the couutry now held Ky the Jaipur Chief.
5 " They still hold a good social position, for Rajputs will eat and drink from their hands, and they
6 •• are the mo>t trusted guards in the .Taipur State. The Minas are of two classes, the ' Zemindari"'
7 " or agncultui-al, and the 'Chaukidari, ' or watchmen. 'J'he former are excellent cultivator-, and
8 "are good, well-hehaved people. ITiey form a large portion of the population in Karauli, and are
9 "numerous in .Jaipur.
10 "The 'Chaukidari ' Mina-;, though of the same tribe as the other class, are distinct from it.
11 " Tliey consider themselves soldiers hy profession, and so somewhat superior to their agricultural
12 " brethen, from whom they take, but do not give, girls in m.irriage. Many of the ' Chaukidari '
13 •' Minas take to agriculture, and, I believe, thereby lose caste to some extent. These Chaukidari
14 "Minas are the famous marauders. Thev travel in band.s, headed by a chosen leader, as far
15 "south as Haidarabad in the Deccan, where they commit daring robberies; and they are the
16 " principal class which the Thaggi and Dacoiti Suppression Department has to act against. In
17 "their own villages they are often charitable; and as successful plunder has made some rich,
18 " they benefit greatly the poor of their neighbourhoood, and are consequently popular But
19 " those who ha\e not the enterprise for distant expeditions, but steal and rob near their own
20 ■'homes, are numerous and are felt to be a great pest. Some villages pay them highly as Chauki-
21 "dars to refrain from plundering and to protect the village from others. So notorious are they
22 " as robbers that the late Chief of Alwar, Hanni Singh, was afraid lest they should corrupt
23 " their agriculturiJ hrethrea, and desirous {jf keeping them apart forbade their marrying or even
24 " smoking or associating with members of the well-conducted class.
25 "In April 1863, Major Inipey, then Political Agent of Alwar, issued orders placing the
26 " Chaukidari Minas under surveillance; and under Major Cadell's direction lists of them have been
27 "made out, periodical roll-iall enforced in the villages and absence without leave certificate
28 •' punished.
29 " I am not sure that, although speakii>g generally, Minas are divided into Chaukidari and
30 •' ZamLndari, there is any hard and fast line between the two classes. There is, I believe, an
31 " intermediate cla.s8, for Maharaja Banni Singh's attempts to keep the two apart were not very
32 " successful.
33 " There are said to be 32 clans of Minas. Out of 59 Minas apprehended for dacoity by the
34 Dacoity Suppression Department, I found that the Jeb clan furnished 17, the Kagot S, the Sira
35 8 and the Jarwal and Bagri 5 each. The Susowat was, I believe, formerly the moat powerful clan,
36 and that which held Ajmcre."
37 The Minas are the boldest of our criminal classes. Their head-quarteis,
38 so far as the Paujf'ib is concerned, are the village of Shahjnhanpur, attached
39 to the Gurgiion district bitt surrounded on all sides by Riljputiina territory.
40 There they till lately defied oiu- police, and even resisted them with armed
41 force. Their enterprises are on a large scale^ and they are always prepared
42 to use violence if necessary. In Marwar they are armed with small bows,
43 which do considerable execution. They travel great distances in gangs of
44 from I'l to ^0 men, practising robbery and dacoity even as far as the Deccan.
45 The gangs usually start off immediately after the Diwali feast, and often
46 remain absent the whole year. They have agents in all the large cities of
47 Rajpdtaiia and the Deccan who give them information, and they are in league
48 with the carrying castes of Marwar. After a successful foray they offer
49 one-tenth of the proceeds at the shrine of Kali Devi. The criminal Minas
50 are said to inhabit a tract of country about 65 miles long and 40 broad,
51 stretching fi'om Shahpurah 40 miles north of Jai])ur to Guraora in Gurgiion
52 on the Rohtak border, the most noted villages being Koti Putli^ Bhairor, and
53 Shahjahanpur, each of which contains some 500 robbers. Their claim to
54 Rajput descent is probably well-founded, though they are said to spring
55 from an illegitimate son of a Rajput ; and in woman^s slang one woman is
56 said to '• give Mina-" {mina dena) to another when she accuses her of illicit
57 intercourse.' They practise karcioa or widow-marriage. They have a
58 ' This is as I find the fact stated. But the word mihna or mahna seems to be commonly
59 u sed in the same sense throughout the Panjnb ; and it is very probable that the expression quoted
60 h as nothing to do with the name of the Mfua caste.