1 CASTE IN THE PANJAB. 33
2 held and a scheme of entries decided npon and prescribed for the guidance of all euumeratora. I
3 have discnseed the danger of all such attempts in my section on Difficulties and Suggestions in
4 Chapter XIII under the head ' Discretion to be allowed in enumeration. ' Educated natives are
5 almost more apt than we ourselves to go \vrong in such mattersj for we at least are free from
6 prejudice and are ready to admit our ignorance ; and a committee composed of the Tahsildars and
7 Extra Assistants of a district with power to decide upon the entries of castes and tribes, wonld
8 ensure with absolute certainty the ruin of a caste Census as an independent means of acquiring
9 information.
10 366. Inherent difflcultlra of a record of caste.— But even supposing that I had not made
11 any mistakes in my instructions and examples, and supposing that they had been rigidly followed
12 according to then- intention, the difficulties inherent in the case are still so enormous that a really
13 accurate rtcord which should be correct in all its details would have been quite beyond hope of
14 attainment. I have attempted to show in the preceding pages that it is almost impossible to
15 define a caste and difficult to define a tribe, and that it is often impossible to draw a clearly marked
16 line between two castes of similar standing. In fact the tribe proper is a far more definite and
17 permanent unit than the caste, ilr. Steedman, who has criticised the scheme more severely
18 and at greater length than any other officer, sets forth the difficulties so ably and completely that
19 I quote the passage in full -. —
20 " With the exception of the three columns relating to caste no difficulty was found in filling
21 " the schedules up. It will be understood that my remarks regarding these three columns are
22 " solely applicable to the Western Panjab. 1 have had no experience in the Panjab east of the
23 " Kavi. Having spent three years in Gujrat, 3J in Jhang, and 2 in Dera Ismail Khan, I think
24 " that my remarks will apply to the Mahomedan population of most districts west of the
25 " Chenab.
26 " These three columns assume, as Mr. Fiulay very truly «Tote, that the zemindars know far
27 " more about their ancestry and tribal divisions that they actually do_. I do not deny that the
28 " three columns could be tilled up correctly for each caste by an inteUigtnt enumerator who
29 " understood exactly what was wanted, and who was acquainted with the tribes whose members
30 " he had to enumerate ; but the Census economy prohibited the emploj-ment of men of this stamp.
31 " There are a considerable number of Mahomedan Kajpiits in the Western Panjab, known as Syals
32 " or Chaddhars in Xbang, Janjiihas, Bhakhrals, Bndhals, Satis, Dhunds, Alpials, Jodras, &c., &.c.,
33 " in the Rawalpindi Division. Now any member of these tribes if asked what his ' kaum ' was,
34 " would reply Bhakhnil or Sati, &c., as the case might be. Or he might very probably give the
35 " sub-division to which he belonged. A Syal would be sure to answer thus. You would in nine
36 " cases out of ten have to put some distinctly leading question before you ascertained whether he
37 " claimed to be a Rajput or not. The result is that sometimes Rajput the ' asl kaum, ' some-
38 " times ' Syal ' the clan, and sometimes Chachkana the sept or family, is entered in the first of the
39 " three sub-divisions of column 7 : I noticed many entries of this description. In fact most of
40 " the Rajputs of this district would give Rajput as their ' ^ro*, ' placing their tribe as the ' asl
41 " kaum.' Entries of this description naturally depreciate the tabulation results considerably.
42 " Similar errors crept into the entries of the village artisans. A man may ply the trade of a
43 " weaver, oil-presser, or shoe-maker without being a weaver, oil-presser, or shoe-maker, by caste.
44 " In Jhang woa\'ing had been taken to as a livelihood by many persons who were not
45 "of the weaver tribe. Tet many of these I have no doubt will be put down as weavers
46 "in the 'asl kaum' column. Agam men of these low castes are very fond of claiming
47 " relationship with the higher tribes, especially those of Rajput origin. I save many entries
48 '' such as these —• asl kaum' Mochi ' zat ' Janjuha, Bhatti, Awan, &c. Now Janjuhas and
49 " Bhattis are Rajputs. If the Mochi was a Janjuha originally his ' asl kaum ' is Rajput,
50 " his zat Janjulia, and shoe-making is his trade. If he is a Janjuha by fiction then
51 " Janjuha must bo put down as he states. Shekhs, i.e. converted Hindus, or men of low caste
52 " who have risen in the world, also advance most ungrounded claims in the way of descent
53 " Apparently there is no escape from these difficulties in the c^ise of village artisans, Shekhs, and
54 " other similar tribes ; but in the case of agriculturists I thiiiU more definite instructions would
55 " have left the tabulation entries much more trustworthy.
56 " I now venture to criticise some of the specimen entries attached to the enumerator's in-
57 " structions. The entries opposite the name of M;iliomed Ibrahim are 1, Rajput ; 2, Syal ;
58 '' 3, Panwar.^ I can confidently assert that not one man in a hundred of the Syals is aware that
59 ■' he is a Panwar Rajput. I wonder if there are ten men who have heard they are descended from
60 '■ this got of the Rajput tribe. I know exactly what answers an enumerator would get from a
61 ■' representative Syal zamindar. Question. — What is your tribe (fcawm)? Answer. — Bharwana :
62 •' Question.— \fhat is your clan (zdt) ? Answer. — Syal. Question. — What is your family i^ot or
63 '' shdlch) ? Answer.— God. only knows. He will inevitably give his sub-division as his a»l Icaum
64 ' This is one of the mistakes I have already referred to. The entry should have been " S.dj-
65 ptif — Pumcdr — Siil."