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100
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUARY, 1908.
NOTES AND QUERIES. THE SAYYIDS OF KARNAL.
Name of Basti.
Nickname.
Saudhå welt. Dar-ul-Himaqat, MR. J. R. DRUMMOND, O. S., first mentioned to me that the Sayyids of certain villages in
house of foolishKarnal, who are of the Barl-Sa'adat, had a
Dess. curious system of clan-names, and subsequently Pimbora. I was furnished with an account of them by the
Sarai.
Bhatidrá, baker. kindness of Sayyid Iltaf Hussain, Honorary
Churiyáld.
Manihar, bangle. Magistrate at Karnal, of whose notes the follow
maker. ing is the gist :
Tassar.
Sweeper.
Sakrêra. The Bårs-Sa'adat have a curious system by
Owl. which the inbabitants of each hamlet or basts are
Muzaffarnagar. Eunuch. known by certain nick-names. These Sayyids are descended from Sayyid Abu'l-Farash Wasiti, At first sight some of these names look like son of Sayyid Dâûd or Sayyid Hussain, and it totems, and one is tempted to see in them traces would be of great interest to see if any other of Arabian totem-clans, which would be in Sayyids have a similar custom. A list of the accord with the claim to be descended from the bastle and nick names is appended :
tribe of Quresh. This, however, does not appear
to be the true explanation of the names, which, it Name of Bastk.
Nickname. should be noted, are called palwal, or counterSanbhalhêra, Kafandoz, or sewer of signs, by the Sayyids themselves. Moreover, shrouds.
the Bari-Sa'adat are all Shi'as, except those Mojhra. Confectioner,
who live in Lathêri village, and even they interMiranpor.
Sheep-butcher. marry with the Shi'as. Kethôráh.
Butcher. Tandhêrih. Bhutné, she-ghost. The nick-names given above appear to be Khojêråh. Ghost.
in reality relics of a system of initiation into Kakroli. Dog.
the degrees of a secret order, and are paralleled Behrah, Chamdr, scavenger or
in Turkey in the order of the Maulavis, in which leather-worker. the novice is called the scullion, and so on. The Morna. Camel.
Shi'as have always tended to become organized Jatwara. Pig.
into orders, or secret societies; and the Assassins Nagla. Barber.
of the Elburz formed in the Middle Ages the most Jangatha.
Chirimár, bird. | powerful and famous of these associations. They catcher.
also had a system of degrees into which their Ohitora. Mimic.
adherents were successively initiated. The Turis Kawal. Jariya, one who sets
of the Kurran Valley, who are or claim to be glass or stone in Sht'as, also have signs by which they ascertain if ornaments.
a man is straight, i.e., a Shi'a, or crooked, i. e., Jault. Telt, or oilman.
a non-Shi'a. Tasang.
Dim. SAlarpar. Chuttyd, fool.
If any reader of this Journal could refer me to Ghalibpur. He-ass.
works on the religious orders or sects of the Sedipar. She-a88.
Shi'as, it might be possible to trace further surKelandah. Kanjrd, greengrocer.
vivals of their organizations among the Sayyids, Bahårt. Goldsmith.
or in general among the Shi'as, of the Panjáb. Bahadurpur. Kangar, rustic. Bilaspur. Khumra, a cutter of
H. A. Rose, mill-stones.
Superintendent of Ethnography, Punjab. PAlrt.
Kamangar, bowman or bowmaker.
Simla, Aug. 15th, 1902.
