travelling together often occupying one chamber. The chamber usually consists of a wretched straw hut, seven or eight cubits long and five or six wide, and is in general totally destitute of furniture; a few only afford a little straw or a mat to sleep on; but some kept by obliging nymphs have bedsteads, where favourites are received. The Bhathiyâras or keepers are low Muhammadans, such attention to strangers being incompatible with Hindu reserve. Each keeper, according to his means, has a number of chambers, which are usually disposed in a row (alang); and in most inns are several keepers whose rows of chambers surround squares or wide lanes, in which the cattle of carriages of the travellers stand. Hindus pay from one to two pice a night for each chamber, and Muhammadans pay double because the Bhathiyârin cooks for them. The keeper generally retails fire-wood, tobacco, and the charcoal balls used in smoking, and purchases for his guests whatever other article they want. Some of them also retail earthen ware and shoes. Hindus of the highest rank can sleep in such places, when no pure person will give them accommodation; but they, of course, can receive little or no assistance from the keeper, who cannot bring water that his guest will use, nor can the Brâhman cook in the inn. He must go to some pure place, and for that purpose usually selects the side of a river which in this country is the most common abode of Cloacina." In these inns the Bhathiyâra women are said often to act as go-betweens (saparda). Some add to their income by keeping pony or bullock carts (ekka, bahli).

Distribution of the Bháthiyáras according to the Census of 1891.

Distribution of the Bhâthiyâras according to the Census of 1891 —concld.

V Bhatiya. A tribe of money-dealers and traders found in these Provinces only in Mathura. Of those in the Panjâb Mr. Ibbetson writes: "The Bhatiyas are a class of Râjputs, originally coming from Bhatner, Jaysalmer, and the Rajputâna Desert, who

1 Entirely based on a note by Munshi Atma Râm, Head Master, High School, Mathura

Punjab Ethnography, 297.

have taken to domestic pursuits. The name would seem to show that they were Bhâtis (called Bhatti in the Panjâb); but be that as it may, their Râjput origin seems to be unquestioned. They are numerous in Sindh and Gujarât, where they appear to form the leading mercantile element, and to hold the place which the Aroras occupy higher up the Indus. They have spread into the Panjâb along the lower valleys of the Indus and Sutlej, and up the whole length of the Chenâb as high as its debouchure into the plains, being indeed most numerous in Sialkot and Gujarât. They stand distinctively below the Khatri, and perhaps below the Arora, and are for the most part engaged in petty shop-keeping, though the Bhatiyas of Dehra Ismail Khân are described as belonging to a widely-spread and enterprising mercantile community. They are often supposed to be Khatris, and in Jahlam they are said to follow the Khatri divisions of Bhari, Bunjâhi, Dhâighar, Chârzâti, etc. They are very strict Hindus, far more so than the other trading classes of the Western Punjâb; and eschew meat and liquor. They do not practise widow-marriage."

Mathura Bhatiyas.

2. The Bhatiyas of Mathura claim to be descended from a Tribal tradition of the personage called Bhâti Sinh, from whom they take their name. He was the founder of the city and kingdom of Jaysalmer. It is related that the Yaduvansis, or descendants of Yadu, engaged in a deadly intestine quarrel, and of them only two escaped the general destruction-Odhu and Bajarnâbh. The latter lived at the time at the house of his maternal grand father, Râja Bânâsura. In return for the services which Sri Krishna, himself a Yaduvansi, had once rendered to Râja Parikshit, in protecting him while still in his mother's womb, the latter brought Bajarnâbh from Bânâsura's house and delivered to him the kingdom of Mathura and Indraprastha. Bajarnâbh ruled wisely and protected his subjects, and raised a temple in honor of Sri Krishna at Dwârika. Eighty of his successors ruled in succession at Mathura; but during the reign of the last, Râja Jay Sinh, Râja Ajaypâl of Biyâna invaded Mathura, and, in the battle which ensued, Jay Sinh was killed, and his three sons, Bijaypâl, Ajây Raj, and Bijay Raj, fled to Karauli. Bijay pâl, the eldest of the three, gained the kingdom of Karauli, but he quarrelled with his brothers, and they retired to a forest in the neighbourhood of Karauli, where they devoted themselves to the worship of Ambâmâna Devi. At the end of a year of devotion, when they failed to propitiate the goddess

they determined to gain her favour by offering their heads to her in a furnace (bhatti). Pleased with this final act of piety the deity appeared to them and desired them to crave a boon from her. They answered that as Kshatriyas they needed a kingdom. Whereupon the Devi ordered Ajay Râj to go towards the West and found a kingdom in the Rajputâna Desert, and henceforth to call himself Bhâti Sinh, as he had been saved from the burning fiery furnace. He followed her orders and founded the kingdom of Jaysalmer, and there established his tribe under the name of Bhattis or Bhatiyas.

3. Here it may be noted that the Jaysalmer tradition is different from this.1 "Pryâg or Allahâbâd was the cradle of the race, after which Mathura remained the seat of the Yaduvansi power for a long period. On the death of Sri Krishna, the deified leader of the Jâdons, from whom the Bhatti Râjputs claim descent, the tribe became dispersed ; many of them abandoned Hindustân, among them two of the sons of Krishna, who proceeded northward along the Indus, and settled there. Some time after this one of their descendants being defeated and killed in a battle, the tribe was driven southward into the Panjâb, where Sâlivâhana, son of Gaj, founded a town called after his name, and conquered the whole region. His grandson was named Bhatti; he was a great warrior and conquered many of the neighbouring princes, and from him the patronymic was changed, and the tribe was henceforth distinguished by his name. Shortly after this the tribe was again driven southward by the King of Ghazni, and crossing the Sutlej found refuge in the Indian Desert, which was henceforth to be their home. This traditional account may represent in outline the early migrations of the Bhatti tribe, which may be supposed to have entered India from the northwest under heroic leaders now deified as the sons of Krishna, and to have settled for some time in the Panjâb. One of the grand expeditions of Mahmûd of Ghazni was against the city of Bhattia, also called Bhera, which place is now said to have been on the left bank of the Jahlam, opposite the Salt Range. Mr. E. Thomas considers that the four last Hindu Kings of Kâbul, before the Ghaznavis, may have been Bhatiya Rajputs."

4. The Mathura story runs that when the Bhatiyas left their Western home and came to Mathura they had considerable difficulty in finding allian

Internal organisation.

Rajputna Gazetteer, II., 170.

ces for their children, because having by this time taken to trade the Rajputs of the neighbourhood were unwilling to intermarry with them. They accordingly convened a meeting of the caste at Multân, and there consulted learned Brâhmans and the books of the law, and it was after great discussion decided that a man might marry within his own tribe in a family removed from himself by forty-nine degrees, and that the families thus removed should each form a nukh or exogamous group. These nukhs were designated after some person, village, or occupation, such as the nukh Râêhariya was named after Râê Hari Singh; Râê Gajariya after the village Gajariya, and Râê Tâmbol after a Tâmboli or seller of betel. This story describes in a very interesting way the manner in which new exogamous and endogamous groups are formed.

5. The following are the names of the Mathura gotras with the nukhs which each includes :

Râê

(1) Parâsara gotra including twenty-three nukhs: – Râê Gajariya; Râê Panchloriya; Râê Palîja; Râê Gagla; Râê Sarâki; Soni; Râê Suphla; Râê Jiya; Râê Mogaya; Râê Ghaga; Râê Rika; Râê Jaydhan; Râê Korhaiya; Râê Kova; Râê Rariya; Râê Kajariya; Râê Sijballa; Râê Jiyâla; Râê Malan; Raê Dhava; Râê Dhîran; Râê Jagta; Râê Nisât.

(2) Sanras gotra containing eleven nukhs as follows :-Râê Dutaya; Râê Jabba; Râê Nâgobabla; Râê Suâra; Râê Dhawan; Râê Danda; Râê Dhaga; Raê Kandhiya; Râê Udesi; Râê Bâdhûcha; Râê Balâyê.

(3) Bharadwaj gotra with the following eighteen nukhs: - Râê Hariya; Râê Padamshi; Râê Maidaya; Râê Chandan; Râê Khiyâra; Râê Thula; Râê Sodhiya; Râê Bora; Râê Mochha; Râê Tâmbol; Râê Lakhanbanta; Râê Dhakkar; Râê Bhudariya; Râê Mota; Râê Anghar; Râê Dhadhâl; Râê Degchanda; Râê Asar.

(4) Sudharvans gotra with the following eight nukhs:-Râê Sapta; Râê Chhachhaiya; Râê Nagara; Râê Gâthababla; Râê Parmala; Râê Potha; Râê Ponrdhagga; Râê Mathura.

(5) Madhobadhas gotra including the following eleven nukhs :Râê Ved; Râê Surya; Râê Gugalgandhi; Râê Nâêgandhi; Râê Panchal; Râê Phurâsgândhi; Râê Parêgândhi; Râê Jujargândhi; Râê Praima; Râê Bibal; Râê Povar,

(6) Devdâs gotra including the following nine nukhs :-Râê Ramaiya; Râê Pawâr; Râê Râja; Râê Parijiya; Râê Kapûr; Râê Gurugulâb; Râê Dhâdhar; Râê Kartari; Râê Kukaur.