1 288 PANJAB CASTES.
2 when a Nat woman marries, tbe first cliili] is either given to the graiulmother
3 as compensation for the loss of the mother's gains as a prostitute, or is redeem-
4 ed by payment of Es. 30. But this is perhaps the custom with the Pernas
5 rather than with the Nnts (see below). Another, and more probnble account
6 is, that the first wife married is one of the tribe, and is kept secluded ; after
7 which the Musalmau Nat, who is usually to be found in the towns, will
8 marry as many women as he can procure by purchase from the vagrant tribes
9 or otherwise, and these latter he prostitutes.
10 589. The Perna (Caste No. 164).— The Pernas are also a vagranl tribe of
11 gipsies, exceedingly similar to tlie N.ats or Bazigars. But there is said to be
12 this great distinction, that the Pernas haliitually and professedly prostitute
13 their women, which the Nats do not.' The Perna women are said to ^ be
14 jugglers and tumljlers, and generally perform their acrobatic feats holding
15 a sword or hnife to their throats ; but their characteristic occupation is dancing
16 and singing rather than tumbling. Tlie men apparently do not perform, but
17 merely play the drum for the women to dance to. It is not quite clear that
18 the word is' anything more than the na)ne of an occupation like Bazigar, for
19 some Pernas are said to be Chuhra by caste. It is possible that they are a true
20 caste, but like many of the vagrant tribes will admit strangers to their frater-
21 nity on payment. They are almost all ^lusalmiins, and are said to marry by
22 nihah. They are said to be divided into two classes, idratdh and teratdli,
23 from the sort of music to which they dance, tdl meaning a " beat " in music.
24 If so, the music with thirteen beats in a bar must be worth listening to as
25 a curiosity. They iire probably found almost all over the Province except in
26 the frontier districts ; but in tlie Lahore division they have been included
27 with Bazigar, and perhaps the same has happened elsewhere, though my
28 papers do not show it.
29 590. The Kanjar (Caste No. 135). — I have taken a liberty with these
30 figures which is I think justified by my information. The Kanjar of the
31 Dehli territory, or as he seems to be called in the Ambala division tbe
32 Jallad, is a wandering tribe very similar to the Perna ; and in that part of
33 the country a pimp or prostitute is called Kanchan or by some similar name,
34 anil never Kanjar. In the remainder of the Panjab the word Kanchan is not
35 used, the wandering tribe of Kanjar? is apparently not found, and Kanjar is
36 the ordinary word for pimp or prostitute. Thus I found Kanchan and Kanjar
37 (including Jallad) separately returned for the Dehli, Hissar, and Ambiila
38 divisions, and Kanjar only for the rest of the Province. Now prostitutes are
39 found all over the Province. Accordingly I classed the Kanchan of the three
40 divisions just named, together with the Kanjar of the remainder of the
41 Panjab, under the head Kanchan (Caste No. 9ii), and left only the Kanjar of
42 the Dehli territory under the head we are now discussing. The Kanchans are
43 almost all Musalmans, while the Kaujars are all Hindus except in Sirsa ; and
44 it is probable that the Musalman Kanjars shown for Sirsa should also have
45 been classed as Kanchan, and that the Hindus shown as Kanchan are really
46 Kanjars.
47 The Kanjars of the Dehli territory are a vagrant tribe who wander about
48 the country catching and eating jackals, lizards and the like, making rope and
49 other articles of grass for -le, and curing boils and other disea*,^.. They parti'
50 •'■J.'r. Cliristie, oi tlic other hand, who is a good anthority, says that the fact is exactly the
51 reverse of this.