________________
HONORIFIC CLASS NAMES IN THE PANJAB.
MAY, 1882.]
ment has left behind it many family surnames or appellatives. These are restricted to such Sikh families as were specially distinguished by the presence in them of former Gurûs or Sikh leaders. Of these I may mention-though doubtless others exist-the Bâwâs or descendants of the second Guru Angad, formerly held in high respect, but now much deteriorated. The Sodhis or descendants of the fourth Gurû Râm Dâs, the Bhals or saints and their descendants' and the Gurûs or descendants of Bâbâ Nanak himself, and lastly the Bêdîs or "caste" of Gurû Nânak." Similarly the chief families of the followers of Sakhi Sarwar Sultan are called Sulțânîs.
An enquiry into such family names might lead to much useful and curious information being unearthed.
These family honorific adjectives or titles may be the commencement of a system of surnames, which in Europe were apparently originally nothing more than appellative adjectives and are not so old as one would suppose. They began, of course, with the territorial. family appellatives of the ruling classes, and something of the same kind seems to be commencing in India.
In the Panjab, many of the great Sikh families, or perhaps more correctly groups of families, besides having such names as those already quoted above, have regular territorial surnames much like our Scotch and Welsh clan Such These are very numerous. surnames. are Phûlkian, (whence spring the Mahârâjâs of Patiâlâ, the Râjâs of Jhind and Nabha and the Sirdars of Kalsiâ), Laudgharia, Kalsiâ, Sabâdia, Majithiâ, Nalwâ, Bhaikian, Singhpuriâ alias Faizullapuriâ alias Gujrâtiâ, Ahlûwâlia, (whence the Kajâs of Kapurthala,) Šiâlbâ, Kaleka, Sukaṛchakiâ, (the family of Ranjit Singh and Mahârâjâs of Lâhor), Ramgarhia, Landawâlâ, Bûrin, Narwâriâ, Krora-Singhiâ, Wazîrâbâdiâ, Malod, Bhadaurià, Kaliâñwâlâ, Râmpuriâ, Kot-Dânâ, Diâlpuria, Badrukhâu, Jiûndân, Maghariâ, Mansàhiâ, Jullâwaliâ, Kanhaiyâ, Golêriâ.20
Tho Bhais of Kaithal have played a prominent part in Sikh history. See Griffin, passim.
All these surnames as it were precede the individual distinguishing names-Christian names as we call them, but it should be remembered that Hungarian surnames do the same, thus Deak Ferenz, not Francis Deak as we should write it, was the name of the celebrated patriot.
As the name signifies, this is the younger branch of the Phûlkian family, whence the Gümti, Diâlpuria, Rampuria and Kot Dûnê Sikhs, who though not terri
121
The above may be called Territorial Names, but there exists also, I have no doubt, a regular class of geographical caste names which would be well worth enquiring into. M. Barth, Religions of India, (Trübner's ed.) pp. xvii. says: "A man who is a member of a caste is a Hindu: he who is not is not a Hindu," and I think most students of modern Indian reli
gions will agree with him. Caste names will therefore be derived from many sources :-they will be historical, local, mythical, territorial, geographical and what not, and an enquiry into their etymology would doubtless be a valuable contribution to the ethnology of the Hindus. For instance, a man in court gave me as his "caste" Chandert, Chandariâ or Chandelt. On further enquiry it turned out he was a Kahar by caste, and that the tribal name he gave had reference to the real or supposed migration of his caste from Chanderî-now a decayed town or fort in Sindhia's territory, but once a place of great importance. It might also have happened that his caste migrated from the Chandauli District near Banâras. Now, on turning to Carnegy's Kachahri Technicalities, article "Chandeli," I find that "chandeli is a very fine cotton fabric, so costly as to be used only in native courts. It is made exclusively of Amrâotî cotton, and every care is taken in its manipulation. The weavers work in a dark subterranean room, of which the walls are kept damp to prevent dust from flying about. The chief care is bestowed in the preparation of the thread, which when of very fine quality sells for its weight in silver. It is strange that women are allowed to take no part in any of the processes. Chandelîs derive their name from Chanderi on the left bank of the Betwâ in Sindhia's Territory." This account makes the caste Julâhâs rather than Kahârs and the tribal name purely geogra phical. An examination of Sherring's long lists of Brahman and Rajpût Tribes in vol. III pp. xix-lxviii of his Hindu Tribes and Castes shows undoubtedly that many of the tribal names are geographical. I know from my own
torially great or independent are noble and marry into the royal families of Patiala, Jhind and Nabha. Griffin, p. 279.
10 This final i, properly tô, is, the natives say, a corrup tion of the vocative case (?) and is used in many parts of the Panjab for any dweller in another part, thus Firospuri de kol ja, Go to the Firozpurite, would be used in Ambâlâ. It is not confined to Sikhs, as there is a wellknown "caste" of Sayyids in the Ambâlâ district called Siânia or Siwânia.
