Distribution of the Bhars according to the Census of 1891 —coneld.

Bharadwaj.-(Sanskrit, Bhâradwâja, Bharadwâja, bringing or bearing food; a skylark.)-A small sept of Rajputs. It is a common appellation for Brâhmanical and other gotras.

Distribution of the Bharadwaj Rajputs according to the Census of

Bharbhûnja.-(Sanskrit bhrashtra, a frying pan; bhrij, to fry.)-The caste of grain parchers. They are also known as Bhuj, Bhujua, and Bhurji. As a purely occupational tribe their subdivisions are somewhat confused. At the last Census they were recorded under no less than three hundred and sixty-four subcastes for the Hindu and forty for the Muhammadan branch. These are of the familiar type. Some illustrate some real or supposed connection with other castes and tribes, such as the Bhadauriya, Chaubê, Chauhân, Kanjar, Kâyasth, Khatri, Lodhi, Râthaur, Baddhik, Teliyabans, and the like. Others are local subdivisions like Audhbâsi, Bâtham (of Srâvasti), Bhatnagar, Desi, Gangapâri, Hamîrpuriya, Kanaujiya, Jaunpuriya, Mathuriya, and so on. The last Census classifies them under the main heads of Bhatnâgar, Jagjâdon, Kaithiya, Kându, Râthaur, Saksena, and Sribâstab. Of these, by far the most numerous are the Kanaujiyas and Saksenas. The Bhatnagar are said to derive their name from the old town of

1 Based on local enquiries at Mirzapur and notes by the Deputy Inspector of Schools, Bareilly and Agra, Mr. W. H. O'N. Segrave, Basti, and Munshi Niyâz Ahmad, Fatehpur.

Bhatner in the Bikâner State; the Jagjâdons assert a connection with the Jâdon Râjputs; the Kaithiya with Kâyasths, as the Bhujâris of the Dakkhin say they are Kâyasths from Upper India; the Kându is usually treated as a separate caste; the Râthaur claim descent from the Râjput tribe of that name; the Saksena and the Sribâstab are said to be derived from the two ancient cites of Sankisa in the Farrukhâbâd District, and Srâvasti or Sahet-Mahet in the Gonda District. But this does not exhaust the list of the sub-divisions. Thus in Agra, they divide themselves into Saksena, Srivâstâvya or Sribâstab, Kându, Lakhautiya, Dhankûta or paddy pounders, and Sanksa, who are probably identical with the Saksena. In Mirzapur they are sometimes called Kându; but the two tribes are said not to be identical, as the real Kândus do not parch grain at all, and distinguish themselves from the Bharbhûnjas by calling themselves Madhesiya Kându, or those of "the middle land." Here, however, Bharbhûnjas regard Kândus as a sub-division of their caste, and say that they have really three main sub-divisions-Kanaujiya, Kându, and Dhimar. Kanaujiyas have again two sections, Purbiya or Eastern, and Pachhiwâha or Western, and to these the true Bharbhûnjas say they belong. These two sections admittedly intermarry; and it is alleged that quite recently, or even occasionally, at present, Dhîmars and Kândus intermarry. But this is more than doubtful. In Bareilly, again, there are said to be three endogamous sections, Saksena, Kabâriya, and Kandiya, while in Bânda the caste is known as Kândua, Renrkûta, or "pounders of the castor-oil seed," and Tilbhûnja, or "parchers of sesamum," and has three endogamous sections-Teliya, Bhunjua, and Dophansiya, or "two-noose men." It thus appears that the internal organisation of the caste is at present in a state of transition, and that the tendency is to break up into an increasing number of endogamous sections which will probably in time form a number of so-called separate castes.

Marriage customs.

The sections are, as has been said, almost certainly all endogamous, and they seem generally to practise the ordinary rule of exogamy which bars the line of the paternal and maternal uncle and aunt. Widow marriage by the forms known as sagái, káj, or karáo, and the levirate prevail.

Bombay Gazetteer, XVI., 60.

3. To the east of the Province they are usually of the Vaishnava sect and worship the Pânchon Pîr and Religion. Hardiya Deva or Hardaur Lâla, the cholera godling, whose worshippers at the last Census amounted to 5,034 persons; and worshippers of these two different deities are said usually not to intermarry. In Bareilly their tribal godling is Chanda Kartâl, of whom nothing appears to be known. In Bânda and Fatehpur they are said to be generally Sâktas and worshippers of Devi, Mahâdeva, and Mahâbîr. The offerings consist of rice, goats, spirits, flowers, and money. Devi and Mahâdeva are wor

shipped on Mondays, and Mahâbîr on Tuesdays.

Social customs.

4. They eat goat's meat and the flesh of deer and similar animals, except when they have been regularly initiated or have taken the vow of a Bhagat. All high castes can eat pakki from their hands, and Kahârs and Nâis will eat kachchi. They will not eat kachchi cooked by any caste but their own, and will take pakki cooked by any Brâhman, Kshatriya, or Vaisya. According to Mr. Hoey1 there are in Lucknow "three classes of grain parchers. The poorest are those who merely parch grain for those who bring it. They receive one paisa per ser on expensive grain and a quarter paisa per ser on cheap grain. A stage above these are grain-parchers, who buy grain and store it and sell parched grain. These are termed Charbanfarosh. Above both of these is a much more comfortable class who buy rice in the autumn and store it. They make lái, chiura, and khil, which are in daily demand, and also in special demand at the Diwâli and on occasion of fairs, etc. There are some Bhurjis especially well-off who have their oven in the immediate neighbourhood of large grain markets. Merchants who import grain treat these very liberally, and think nothing of flinging down a couple of sers of grain and taking in exchange half a ser of parched grain (chabena)." The work they do, and particularly the heavy part of it, which consists in sweeping up dry leaves for fuel, tends to lower them in popular estimation. It is a favourite curse to wish an enemy that he may some day come to stoke the kiln of a grainparcher, and a common proverb is Bharbhúnjá kí larki kesar ká tíká -the grain-parcher's slut with saffron on her forehead."

1 Monograph on Trades and Manufactures, 76.