and the boy's father five annas, and with this sugar is bought and served round, after being offered to God and the Prophet. Next morning the girl's father returns home. Some time after the boy's father pays a visit to the bride and makes her a present of bangles (chúri), a suit of clothes (tul kapra), a bodice (choli), and some sweets. After a meeting of the tribesmen the wedding day is fixed. Poor people, however, send the girl beforehand to her husband, and any ceremony they can afford to do is done at his house. On the day before the wedding is the ratjaga, when the women sit up all night and spend their time making sweet cakes (gulgula). These are offered next morning to God and the Prophet, and to the spirits of the ancestors of the family. They are then distributed among the guests. The bridegroom is bathed and dressed in a yellow coat (jáma), trousers, and a turban. A large chaplet (sehra) hangs down from head to knee. He rides to the bride's house followed by his friends playing on the dafla. They halt under a tree near the village, and from there the boy's father sends a present of bangles, clothes, curds, oil, and henna. Then they come to the girl's house, where the service is read by some old man of the tribe who can read or repeat the words. Some sugar is put close by which is distributed among the guests, and the marriage feast, consisting of sugar, rice, and curds, is served. This is known as shakarána, or "the sugar feast." Next day the bride's father gives presents to her barber, bangle-maker, water-woman, and the village watchman, and then starts for the place where the bridegroom's party are staying, with a basket containing vessels, grain and anything else he can afford to give as the dowry of his daughter. He places these before the father of the bridegroom, and asks his forgiveness for not being able to give more. The bridegroom's father says the same, and they exchange compliments. After this the dowry basket is passed round, and all the friends present contribute as far as their means will go. This is termed "the giving of the dowry" (jahez dilána). The husband then takes his wife away, and when he returns home he entertains his clansmen on curds, sugar, and rice, and next day gives them a regular dinner of bread and meat.

Every one present contributes two annas as dowry. After this the Ganga pujaiya is done, as already described at births, and the whole business ends with an offering of rice, curds, and sugar to Ghâzi Miyân, which is divided among the audience.

6. The funeral is carried out in the usual way of Muhammadans. When it is over the mourners assemble at the house of the deceased and drink sharbat.

Death ceremonies.

On the fourth day they again assemble, and some verses of the Qurân are read over a vessel containing some sweets (batásha), grain, and oil. This is known as kul parhan, and the contents of the vessel are divided among the audience. The clansmen are fed on urad pulse and rice, and the faqîr in charge of the grave is given a present. On the tenth and twentieth day bread and meat are offered to the spirit of the dead man, and on the fortieth day a final dinner is given, and next morning they put the clothes, beads, and water vessel (badhana) of the deceased on his bed and take them to his grave, where they are left for any one who wishes to carry them away. An offering of food is made to the family dead at the Shab-i-barât.

Religion.

7. Their tribal deities are chiefly Kâlika, Sahjâdi, and Ghâzi Miyân, three of the quintette of the Pânch Pîr. To Kâlika areoffered in the month of Sahjâdi is worshipped at the first Sunday in the month of Animal sacrifices are made,

Aghan bread and rice cooked in milk. same time. Ghâzi Mîyan's day is the Jeth, when his wedding is celebrated. and the meat is consumed by the worshippers. They also worship a number of local martyrs (shahid), and they are in great fear of various demons and ghosts.

8. The Dafâli is a beggar, and goes about with a wallet (jnori) in which he collects what he can get. But

Occupation. he also acts as a sort of hedge priest to the

lower class Musalmâns, and officiates at marriages, funerals, and the like, for people who cannot afford to pay for the services of the regular Qâzi. They beg in beats, and each house has its body of parishioners (jajmán). One of their chief duties is the exorcising of evil spirits by beating the drum, and driving the effects of the Evil Eye from children. When a man's children do not live he gets the Dafâli to tie a string (baddhi) round the neck of the baby. They are particularly conspicuous at the fairs of Ghâzi Miyân, whose shrines they tend, act as his priests, and receive the offerings.

VOL. II.

Q 2

Distribution of the Dafális according to the Census of 1891.

Dalera.-A tribe of basket-makers, day-labourers, and thieves

1 From notes by Pandit Janardan Datt Joshi, Deputy Collector, Bareilly, and Report, Inspector-General of Police, N.-W. P., 1869, p. 125, sqq.

found in Bareilly and the Tarâi. The name is derived from the Hindi daliya, "a basket." A common half humourous derivation is from diler, "venturesome." According to the tribal tradition a Bargûjar Thakur once violated a Kahâr woman and was excommunicated. His descendants are the present Daleras. They are supposed to be closely allied both to Khâgis and Mallâhs. Their head-quarters in Bareilly are at the village of Ginganwa, in Tahsîl Aonla. They are also found at Munjkhera, in the Bulandshahr District. They have no distinct traditions regarding their place of origin, except that they came from somewhere in the South about a hundred years ago. The Bareilly story is that they were driven from Meerut and Bulandshahr by a famine.

2. Their sections, of which the last Census Returns enumerate forty-four, do not throw much light on their origin. Many are derived from well-known tribes, as Bais, Barai, Bargûjar, Chauhân, Chiryamâr, Gurkha, Jâdubansi, Kânhpuriya, Mallâh.

Marriage rules.

3. Some of these are perhaps of totemistic origin, such as the Sirisiya of Bareilly, who will not cut or injure the siris tree (acacia sirisa). Their marriages are carried out according to the standard ritual in force among the higher Hindu castes.

Methods of thieving.

4. The Daleras will not thieve at night, and carry on their operations principally at fairs, bathing places, and the like. At such places a Dalera takes his seat near a pilgrim and pretends to cook. While his neighbour's attention is occupied, the Dalera steals his vessels or other property. When he steals a brass pot, he goes into the water and with an iron spike he carries, makes holes in it, which prevent the possibility of identification. Sometimes they make a mock disturbance in a bâzâr, and in the confusion snatch articles from shops which they rapidly pass into the hands of a confederate. Or they go dressed as Thâkurs or Brâhmans and make a boy steal while they keep the shop-keeper engaged. If the lads are caught they never give their correct age or address. The thief gets a double share of the booty, and most of the gains are spent in drink. If a boy is arrested his well-dressed companions intercede for him. In their methods of crime they closely resemble those of the Barwârs and Sanaurhiyas.

Distribution of the Daleras according to the Census of 1891.

Dângi. An agricultural tribe found chiefly in Jhânsi. The caste professes to deriveits name from a certain Râja Dang, a Raghubansi Rajput, from whom they trace descent; but the word probably means no more than "hill-man" (Hindi, dang, “a hill"). They profess to be immigrants from a place called Nirver, in the Gwalior State, with which, however, they appear to hold no connection by marriage or pilgrimage, selection of bards, priests, or barbers; and those at present resident in the Jhânsi District have come chiefly within comparatively recent times from the Datiya and Tikamgarh States. They have nothing in the way of a genealogical tree or traditions connected with ancient sites or monuments which would throw any clear light on their origin; but there seems good reason to suspect that they may be connected with the Gond and similar races of the Central Indian plateau.

2. They have no sub-tribes, but are divided into a number of exogamous gotras, among which we find in

Sub-divisions. Jhansi the Patra, Nirveriya, Disauriya, Chakauriya, Madhpuriya, Dhauriya, and Pariya. Of these the Nirveriya is derived from Nirver, their original settlement, and though local enquiries have failed to explain the meaning of the other terms, they are probably of similar local origin. Of the sixtyseven names given in the Census lists very few can be connected with those of other tribes, except perhaps the Basoriya, Luniya, Niyâriya, Pahriya, and Sarwariya. The others appear to be of purely local origin, and this would lead to the inference that the tribe has been little, if at all, exposed to foreign influence.

1 Based on a series of notes by Munshi Radha Raman, Deputy Collector, Jhansi.