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SEPTEMBER, 1907.] A REPORT ON THE PANJAB HILL TRIBES.
the Védas ruled supreme in India. The people learnt them by heart, and the same practice is continued to this day. There is also mention of these treatises in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It seems that there was not much caste distinction in those days. The only distinction among the Brahmans, the Râjpûts, and the Kanaits was that they did not intermarry. Their food and customs were much the same. The few Kshatriyas and Brahmans had come from the plains and settled here. The Kanaits are said to be the aborigines of the hill-tracts, and were independent, brave, and given to marauding. They raided one another's villages. Small huts and caves served as their habitations. They slept much during the day and held agriculture in light esteem, while at night they committed dacoities. Every party in a village had its own head, known as the movanna (leader), who used to get his share of the plunder and a small tribute as his haq-i-sarddri. The whole mountainous country was divided in this way; the first quality of land being given to the gods as rulers, and the next to the movannds. The ruins of the houses of the movannds are to be found still, They are big castle-like buildings.
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(c) As regards the agriculture of that time, the kharif and rubi crops were cut at one time. The produce was scanty on account of excess of rain and snow. The people of the villages went armed for seed-sowing, owing to the fear of enemies. People, when going on business from one place to another, went armed in bodies of fifteen to twenty men. The women took part in agriculture and had much liberty. The Kshatriyas, who came up from the plains, were respected by the people on account of their skill in the arts of civilisation, and lands were granted to the Brahmans, who accompanied the Kshatriyas as priests. The Kshatriyas, by their tact and skill, got the upperhand and, driving away or destroying the movannas, took possession of their property. Thus the Kshatriyas became the masters of the whole country.
(d) There is no reliable source of information as to the time when and the place whence the Kshatriyas first came. But the tradition is that, at the time of the wholesale massacre of the Kshatriyas by Balrâmjî Balarâms, they left their country and settled in the hills. Many of them changed their caste and became Brahmans, Banias, etc. Some of their women were kept by the Brahmans and their children became known as the Khatris. The men who had saved their lives by changing their caste were named Rajputs or Chhatris. This is proved by the fact that the get (sub-division of a caste) of the Chhatris of the hills is similar to that of the Brahmans, and Brahmans of the same brotherhood are found up to the present time and have social relations with them. In short, the Brahmans came with the Kshatriyas as priests from various places in the south.
The Rajputs came from different localities, such as Bengal, Rajputânâ, Central India, etc., etc. The Vaisyas, consisting of Sûds, Baniâs, etc., came from the plains, and are very few in number.
The Sudras, such as the Kanaits, who, as above said, are considered to be the aborigines of this part of the country, are said to have obtained their name by the following legend. When the Brahmans and Rajpûts came from different parts of India and settled in the hills and took possession of the movannds, they saw that the rites and customs of the villagers were not in accordance with the Scriptures; that there was only one caste; that religious ceremonies were not performed; that neither marriage nor funeral ceremonies were observed; and that all the ancient Hindu customs had been forgotten. So they called the high castes among the indigenous tribes by the name of Kanait, which really represents Kunit, i.e., those who violate the law. Gradually they were acknowledged as high castes, and spread over all the hilly tracts. The castes inferior to them are considered low castes.
5.
All the tribes, except the Brahmans, the Kshatriyas, and the Vaisyas consider themselves to be the aborigines of the hills, and call themselves Kain (ancient inhabitants).
