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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1907.
III. - History of Migrations. 8. The following table will show when a tribe or its sub-division migrated to the hills and the history of such migration :
Table of the sections of the Hiu Brahmans.
No.
Original Caste.
Present Name of the Caste.
Real Home.
Brâhman ...
Gaur ...
Gan(Bengal). The Deccan.
SArgut...
Do.
...
Bhardwaj Kanoj... Kên Kobj Balramt Bhat ...
Do.
Do.
Bengal.
The Brahmans are generally divided into Shukal and Krisban. The Shukal Brahmans are considered the superior. They do not cultivate land with their own hands, and devote most of their time to worship and prayer, performing the rites of marriage or death according to the Hindu Scriptures. They take alms only when offered at marriages, but not those given at deaths. They do not take any alms given for the sake of the dead. The Krishan Brahmans are those who accept the alms offered at the time of death, and those offered to propitiate evil stars, such as Raha and Sani. The Shukal and Krishan Brahmans do not intermarry, and the rest of their rites are not alike. A Krishan Brâhman can eat the food prepared by a Shukal Brahman, but the Shukal Brâbman does not even drink water which has been touched by a Krishan Brahman.
It is said that the Balrami Brahmans were the first to come and settle in the hills. In reality the Balrami and Bargut Brâhmans are one and the same. The Balramis are so called, because those living near the temples founded by Balramji state that they were set there by Balrâmjf himself, They also worship Balramji as their god, and are quite a distinct tribe nowadays. They consider themselves to be of the highest caste. They mix with the Särsut and the Gaur Brahmans.
The Gaurs, Bhardwajis, the Kan Kobjas and the Bhats have social relations with one another. But they do not take into their brotherhood any man who has been excommunicated on religious grounds. They came to the hills in company with the Rajputs who migrated from Bengal. It is said that a part of Bengal was called Gaur, therefore the Brahmans of that place were known by the name of Gaur, and to-day they are to be found in every part of India. The Gaur family of the Brahmans came after the fall of the Rajas of Bengal,
The Sarsuts lived, in the baglaning, on the banks of the Indus and the Saraswati. They migrated from there and settled in the hills. The name Sursut is derived from the Saraswati.
Coming to the hills the Rajpats became the Thakurs, while the Ranas, the Rajas and Brahmang became their priests. History tells us that Shababa'd-din Ghori conquered Delhi and appointed his slave Kutbud-din as Viceroy there. One of his officers, named Bakhtiar Khilji, attacked Bengal and usurped the country from the Rajpûts. At that time many Brahmans and Râjas fled to Prag, now called Allahabad, and thence went to different places.
* [l'his probably representa
division into Bailas and Vaishnavn.- ED.)
