1 VAGRANT, MENIAL, AND ARTISAN CASTES.
2 295
3 In Sirsa the uouverted Cluihra is (.-allal Diudar or " faithful " a? a term of
4 respect, or Khojah, a eumioh, in satirical allusiou to his circumcision, or, as
5 sometimes interpreted, Khoja, one who has found salvation. But it appears
6 that ui many parts the Miisalmau Chiihra continues to be called Chiihra so
7 long as he eats carrion or removes night-soil, and is only promoted to the
8 title of Musalli on his relinquishing those habits, the Mnsalli being considered
9 distiuctlv a higher class than the Chiihra. On the other hand the Musalli of
10 the frontier towns does remove night-soil. On the Peshawar frontier the
11 Musalli is the grave-digger as well as the sweeper, and is said to be some-
12 times called Shahi Khel, though this latter title would seem to be more
13 generally used for Chiihras who have settled on the upper Indus and taken to
14 working- in grass and reeds like the Kutanas presently to be described.
15 Kutana, or as it is more commonly called in the villages Kurtana',
16 is the name usually given to a class of Miisalman sweepers who have settled
17 on the bank of the lower Indus, have given up scavengering and eating
18 carrion, and taken to niaking ropes and working in grass and reeds ; though
19 the word is also applied to any Mahomedan sweeper. Some of the Kurtanas
20 even cultivate land on theii- own account. So long as they do no scavenger-
21 ing the Kurtanas are admitted to religious equality by the other Mahomedans.
22 I think it is not impossible that the Kurtanas of the Indus banks are a distinct
23 caste from the Bhaugi and Chuhra of the Eastern Paujab. The detailed
24 table of clans will doubtless throw light on the point.
25 600. Divisions of the Chuliras. — The Chuhra divisions are very
26 numerous, but the larger sections
27 returned in our schedules only include
28 about half the total number. Some of
29 the largest are shown in the margin.
30 The greater number of them are evi-
31 dently named after the dominant tribe
32 whom they or their ancestors served.
33 The Sahotra is far the most widely
34 distributed, and this and the Bhatti
35 and Khokhar are the principal tribs in
36 the Multan and Rawalpindi divisions.
37 The others seem to be most largely returned from the Lahore and Amritsar
38 divisions. Those who returned themselves as Chiihras and Musallis res-
39 pectively showed some large tribes, and the above figures include both. The
40 Kurtanas returned no large tribes.
41 601. TheDiianals (CasteNo. 43).— The Dhanak is found only in the
42 Dehli and Hissar divisions and the eastern portion of the Phiilkian States.
43 He is essentially a caste of Hindustan and not of the Panjab proper. Sir
44 H. Elliott says that they are most numerous in Behar, and that they are
45 fowlers, archers, and watchmen, besides performing other menial service.
46 He says that the Aheri tribe of huuters is an offshoot from the Dhiinaks, and
47 Wilson derives the name from the Sanskrit dhanusJika, a bowman. The
48 Panjab Dhanaks, however, are not hunters, and the only difference between
49 their avocations and those of the Chiihras would appear to be that the
50 Dhanaks, while they will do general scavengering, will not remove night-
51 Chuhra tbibes.
52 Saliotra
53 .. 79,551
54 Sindbu
55 22.895
56 Gil
57 .. 77,613
58 Chhapribaiid
59 1S,872
60 Bhatti
61 .. 44,486
62 Uiitnal
63 18,781
64 Khokliai-
65 39,751
66 Kaudabari
67 17,623
68 JIattu
69 .. 36,746
70 Han-i
71 13,234
72 Kharu
73 .. 36,654
74 Khosur
75 13,180
76 Kaliyaua
77 - 25,814
78 Burat
79 12,535
80 Ladhar
81 . 24,199
82 Dharinal
83 5,617
84 ' Tbere U said to be a respectable agricultural caste of this name in Derah Ismail Khan, who
85 must be distinguished from the sweeper Kurtana.