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Jijñāsā
The community of Bārot chroniclers is mainly involved in maintaining and updating the family history of the people of different communities. Every community has its own Vahīvañcā Bārot (Barot chronicler). They maintain the records of not only names, birth and death of people, but also the entire social history of the family, consisting of the details of the marriages, their Gotras (the lineage), the donations made in the marriages etc. They used to meet the families in persons to record the details and enter the data in the Vahis. Thus, the Bārot remained travellers, roaming all round.
Vahis means a record book. It was made of hand made papers. It was bound with leather and tied from the middle with a strong string. The details were recorded with hand made ink. The Vahis weighed about three the four kgs. The community people used to worship the Vahis by placing it on a plank, and then the details of the family were read in public. All members of the family used to gather during such worship. Below mentioned is the analysis of certain relevant information about the social life of India found in different Vahis.
Documentary Value:
"The chronicler's Vahis were used as authentic proofs for the legal purposes in the courts, hence - their testimony as regarded highly. There are even instances of the officers' countersigning the Vahis
for their authentic use during the pre-independence era. For instance, we find in a Vahis of the Khadia Caste Cāran, which was presented before the police officer of Nakhatrāņā for the purpose of some revenue case, which reads as: Ani nakal revenue kāmmāndākhal karel che Aşād sud pāñcham, so. 1946"
Dayāśankar
Thāņādār Nakhatrānā (The copy of this has been entered into the revenue case on the 5th day of the Ashād Month of 1946 (Indian Calendar))
(Police Officer, Nakhatrana) In another land case of Jhala Darbar community of Cūdā, the Vahi of the chronicler of the community was presented before the court, and a copy of it was also signed by the police officer of Bhoikā. The names of the ancestors of four generations of the chronicler are also mentioned in it:
"Bārot catrabhajnā dikrā Keśarīsingh, teņā dikrā himrāj, tena modjīna copdamanthi batāvā pramane lakhu che" The copy of this document has been presented in the case of Pra Ke. 33190-5-6, of 5/9/1906
Police Officer, Bhoika (Signature in English)
Effulgent Examples of the Tradition of Donations:
The hosts used to donated cash, ornaments and dresses to the chronicler after getting the name inscribed in the Vahi
We come to know from this the manner in which the chroniclers were treated in the society. The following examples denote this:
