Indian Antiquary Vol 03

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 88

74
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MARCH, 1874.
tirely engaged in commerce. To my mind, they are physically much inferior to the races of Maharashtra ; the men usually gross in face and figure, and the women featureless and clumsy, especially when seen beside the Caryatides of the Dekhan.
4. The Bhatiyâs are also a Gujarati race, chiefly engaged in the cloth and cotton trade, They resemble the Gujarat Vanis in their reverence for animal life, and belong chiefly to the Vallabhacharya sect.
5. The Khattris are a caste from Gujarat and Rajputâna, generally distinguished by the title Sah in their names. They claim Rajput descent, eat flesh, and deal in cotton and cloth, and in Puna especially in gold and silver lace.
6. There are a few Sinde Vaishnavas, well known to Europeans as dealing in Kashmir cloth, Delhi and Sindh embroidery, and other fancy articles.
7. There is a caste belonging to the Dekhan which retains the old term of Vaisya. They engage in general trade, but are not numerous or well known. They are, I believe, eaters of
and have a separate (and more recent) history, literature, and architecture. I never saw or heard of a native Buddhist in Western India. The Jains are Sravakas or layinen, and Bhojaks or of priestly race, the latter being descended from certain Brahmans who adopted the Jain faith pet ke váste, and so got the name "Bhojaks" or " caters." The office of priest in some temples is reserved to the Osval tribe, which derives its name from the town of Osi in Rajputânî, and is also the most numerous and active in trade here. The Marvadi merchants deal in grain, groceries, cloth, precious metals, and cash, seldom in hardware or Europe goods. They have deservedly the reputation of being unscrupulous usurers in their dealings with external clients; but they are particularly exact in fulfilling their contracts with other business-men, though it bring them to ruin.
9. The caste of Agarwâlas is the subject of some confusion. The races of Maharashtra consider them "all same as Marvadi," i.e. Jain, and Dr. Hewlett, upon what authority I do not know, gives them in his list of Jain tribes. Mr. Javerilal Umiashankar, u good authority, places them among the 84 castes of Gujarat Vånis; and Mr. Sherring gives them a separate place, with a description which shows a descent similar to that claimed by Khattrîs and Prabhûs. My own knowledge of them is very slight, but leads me to agree with the lastnamed writer. They are general merchantsnot numerous, but nearly always rich and repectable.
10. Of the Simpis, & or Tailors, I know two divisions, the Asal or Dekhan Simpis, and Namdo v Simpis, and there are probably more. They somewhat resemble the Deshasth Bralımans in general appearance, but their features are coarser, and their expression less intelligent. In the wild Native States of the Dangs, and in the Mawas States north of the Taptî, the Karbhârîs or managers are chiefly Sinpis, generally unable to read or write, and only one degree more intelligent (though many less honest) than the half-savage Bhill
flesh.
8. The Marvadi merchants form a very notablo element in the business affairs of this Presidency, and may be divided as follows:
(a.) Marvå di Brahmans, comparatively few in number, and more inclined to live by religious beggary than by commerce, though some are thriving merchants.
(6.) Marvadi Vaishnavas, an exclusively mercantile race; also not very numerous.
(c.) Marvadi Jains, very numerous. These are to be distinguished from tho Jains of the Dekhan and Karnataka, who differ from them in many points of race and religious obscrvance, and who will be noticed as cultivators. Dr. Hewlett, in his paper accompanying the Bombay Census Report, has classed the Jains as a sect of Buddhists, a mistake unaccountable to me, the more so as he quotes Mountstuart Elphinstone, who certainly thought nothing of the kind. The Jains resemble the Buddhistst only in the same general way that Muhammadans do Jews,
• "A caste of v. "kers in silk, which they clean, dve, and weave; of middle rank, numerous in Southern India, found also in Gujarat and in the Konkan, where they lave long been settled (at Cheol, &c.). They are reported as of as fair complexion as the Brahmans, and much addicted to polygamy."-Trans. Med. & Phys. Socy. ut supra, p. 219.
+ On this vide ante, vol. II. pp. 15,16,194,197-200, 259-265. • The Oval Banias present the Bhojakas with a horse
and chauri on marriage occasions, and with a present of money (tyaga) when caste dinners occur.-ED.
"A caste of inferior status, tolerably numerous; some are Markthas, whers Telangis: their proper occupation is to sew clothes and dye cloth, preparing the colours, whether permanent or otherwise. One division of the caste sells cloth. and all occasionally engage in other trades."-Trans. Bled.
Phys. Socy. It supra, p. 940.