The chief castes in the two provinces are— Each of these castes has a history, but the limits of this work preclude notices. The Arakh, Bhar, and Cheru, now small broken tribes in very humble avocations, were dominant even since the Muhammadan times. The Chamar aboriginals have largely adopted the Satnami monotheism, and the Tags or Tyagia claim to have been cultivators of the lands before the Jat settled.
The Gujar, now a predatory race, once ruled, and gave their name to Gujerat.
The in Oudh, are the chief land holders. About 160 talukdars hold under direct grant from the British Government, and are entitled to seats in the viceregal darbar ; and the first 45 or so of these claim the royal Hindu titles of raja, rana, or rao.. They follow only arms or agriculture, or serve as semi - military personal retainers, peons, overseers, bailiffs, rent collectors.
The Khussia generally call themselves Rajputs. They are the oldest inhabitants of Garhwal, in which district they form half the pupulation. They are peculiar to the hills. Their name is derived from Khusdes, the ancient name of Kamaon.
Bisnoi or Beshnoi, a sect of Hindu religionists who worship only Vishnu. They were originated about A.D. 1460 in Bikanir, in Marwar, by a reformer named Jhamji. They do not now make any converts, are exclusive as to their food, abstaining from eating food touched by any other sect. Until recently they saluted each other with the Muhammadan greeting, Us-salam alaikum, and bad such Muhammadan names as Ghulam Muhammad, Faiz Muhammad. They bury their dead.
The Bisnoi of Garhwal are turbulent, and dis liked by the other inhabitants of the N.W. Provinces. The caste is common in the Morad abad district, where they combine Muhammadan and Hindu customs. They are there a quiet, industrious people, generally carpenters.
lliewati, a predatory tribe of cultivators who seem to have come from somewhere in Rajputana, and are found here and there along the S.W. borders of the N.W. Provinces of India. The Alwar country near Dehli seems of late to have been called M e wat, but they extend farther east than the Gujar, and in Malwa are common as regular soldiers and depredators. They are supposed to be mostly Muhammadans.
Boksa, a forest tribe in Western Rohilkhand, and in part of the forests or Siwalik Hills of Debra Doon and Terai. They are of short stature and spare habits, with broad faces, depressed noses, prognathous jaws, thick lips, very scanty beard and moustaches, but not darker in colour than the ordinary Hindus of the country. They are reputed to be skilful in witchcraft. They are very ignorant and indolent, but simple, inoffen sive, mid good-humoured. They have a scanty, rude cultivation, and collect forest produce and wash for gold, but they have no caste, eat almost anything. They have no separate language. They are supposed to be dying out. They are said to enjoy a wonderful inununity from the effects of malaria.
In the Terai they claim to be Powar Rajputs, and claim to be addressed as Thakur. They seem to have come from Dharanuggur about the 11th century. Tharu or Tarooa state they came from Chitore, after its third sack, that by Akbar about A.D. 1560. They rear fowls.
The Boksa and Tharu are alike superstitious, truthful, addicted to drink, not very chaste. Both are to an extent migratory, exhausting the land, and moving to fresh soil. They frequently consult their medicine men, who are called Hamra.
The Gahartvar and Dungra are other occupants of the Terai.
A tith, Saiva sectarians, followers of the doctrinal teachings of SankaracharTa (A.D. 850). Ho had ten disciples, each of whom founded a house, and are known as the Dasnami; 6} houses have since dissented (atitha, passed away from worldly cares); the remaining 31, known as the Dandi, because they carry a staff, adhere to Sankara's views.
The vagrant, mendicant, and predatory races are the badhak, baWari, bhand, bhantu, bharthi, bhat, bhaurupia, birjbasi, dalera, gandhila, gujar, kaparia, khangar, nat, natak, sunoria.
The forest and hill tribes and fowlers are the bahelia, bandi, bhotia, boksa, cluiyar, dhanuk or dosadh or darkar, dom, dungra, gaharwar, khun jar, passiah, raji or rawut, and sansia.
The religious mendicants are the aghora, atith, bisnoi, fakir, gosain, joghi, paramahansa, sanyasi, and satnami.
Infanticide of female children has been a crime amongst several of the races of the south and east of Asia from prehistoric times. Muhammad denounced it among the Arabs ; and in the 19th century, in India, the British have striven to put it down. It has been practised by the Bedi amongst the Sikhs, by Rajput races of Rajputana, by the Jharijah Rajputs of Cutch, by the Toda mountaineers of the Nci]gherries, but notoriously to a large extent by Rajput tribes in the N.W. Provinces and Oudh, and the Government of India published Act viii. of 1870 for its suppres sion. In this Act, certain tribes, chiefly Rajputs, were proclaimed. The total number of persons belonging to castes suspected of the practice is 7,247,503, but the average number 'proclaimed' amounts only to 357,419. These latter have been carefully watched for the last five years, 'and a census taken annually. The present percentage of females is 39.3, and of males GO.7, while the general return for the whole population shows 48 per cent. of females. The present• census shows an increase in the proportion of females, but this is due, Mr. White says, to the superior accuracy of the present report, and not to the suppression of the practice of female infanticide. There is little beyond 'surmise known as to the laws regulating the production of the sexes; but it has been suggested (Report, p. 45) that in the N.W. Provinces and Oudh more boys are begotten than girls, and tho following are the births registered among the proclaimed castes:— Also, the 1881 census report gives the males and females of 193 castes in the N.W. Provinces and Oudh, 164 of whom had more males than females.
It is not solely among the proclaimed castes of this province that females are fewer than the males; all the races and sects have fewer women :— Grand total, 22,912,556 21,195,343 44,107,869 It is only in the Madras Presidency and Bengal Province that the females exceed the males. Ratio per 1000 to total nonulation The census report (p. 35, par. 46) puts forth the opinion that the increase in the proportion of females at the 1881 census is not due to the decrease of female infanticide, and this seems a legitimate deduction from the following details:— In the 1872 census, it is supposed that there had been a large concealment of girls under twenty years of age. In 1872, the girls under ten were 4,135,097, and in 1881 they numbered 4,094,684, a decrease of 40,469.
In the feudatory province of Garliv,-al, the males are returned as 170,755, and the females 174,874.