Asrhaf, Asraph

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This article is an extract from

THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. By H.H. RISLEY, INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE, OFFICIER D'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE. Ethnographic Glossary. CALCUTTA: Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. .

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Asrhaf, Asraph

Noblemen, persons of rank. In Behar the designation is assumed by the more respectable classes of both Mahomedans and Hindus, and in particular by high-caste cultivators, who receive in virtue of their social status a remission of rent, variously known as mafi, chhuti, Kamsare, reaet, marawati, kami, and inam. 'The word is the plural of Ar. sharif, 'noble,' but, like many similar forms, is used in the Indian vernaculars as a singular.