Rajputs: Allied castes (Punjab)
This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on Lahore : Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. |
Castes Allied
The Thakar, Rathi, and Rawat (Caste Nos. 60, 39, and 82) The figures for these castes are given in Abstract No. 71 on page 219.The Rawat has already been describcxl in section 445. The Thakar (or, as I beheve it more properly should be, Thakkar) and Rathi, are the lower classes of Hill For the greater part of the description of the Rajputs of the Jalandhar district, I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Barkley, who has given me access to a most valuable collection of MS. notes made when he was Deputy Commissioner of that district.
Rajputs who, though they are admittedly Rajputs and give their daughters to Rajputs, who are styled by that title, do not reach the standard defined in section 456 which would entitle them to be called Rajput, but are on the other hand above the Rawat. The line Ijetween Rajput and Thakar is defined, so far as it is capable of definition, in the following section. The line between Thakar and Rathi may be roughly said to consist in the fact that Rathis do and Thakurs do not ordinarily practise widow-marriage ; though the term Rathi is commonly apphed by Rajputs of the ruling houses to all below them. Again the line between Rathi and Kanet is exceedingly difficult to draw : in fact in Chamba Rathi and Kanet are considered identical and are said to eat and marry together and it is said that Rathi is in Chamba and Jammu only another name for the same people who are called Kanet in Kulu and Kangra. Thus no Kauets but numerous Rathis are returned from Chamba. On the other hand, no other of the Hill States returns either Thakars or Rathis, having probably included the former with Rajputs and the latter with Kanets. Even Mr. Lyall says : Our Kangra term Rathi is a rough word to apply to any but the lowest class ;and speaking of Kulu, he says : The children of a Brahman or Rajput by a Kanet wife are called Brahmans and Rajputs, the term Rathi being often added as a qualification by any one who himself pretends to unmixed blood
Mr. Barnes writes thus of the distinction between Thakar and Rathi
The Rathis are essentially an agricnltural class, and prevail thronughout the Nurpur and Nadaon parganabs. The Rathis and the Ghiraths constitute the two great cultivating tribes in these hills ; and it is a remarkable fact that in all level and irrigated tracts, wherever the soil is fertile and produce exuberant, the Ghiraths abound ; while in the poorer uplands, where the crops are scanty and the soil demands severe labour to compensate the husbandmen, the Rathis predominate. It is a- rare to find a Rathi in the valleys as to meet a Ghirath in the mors, secluded hills. Each class holds possession of its peculiar domain, and the different habits and associations created by the different localities have impressed upon each caste a peculiar physiognomy and character. The Rathis generally are a robust and handsome race ; their features are regular and well-defined ; the colour visually fair; and their limbs athletic, as if excercised and invigorated by the stubborn -oil upon which their lot is thrown. On the other hand, the Ghirath is dark and coarse featured ; his body is stunted and sickly ; goitre is fearfully prevalent among his race ; and the reflection occurs to the mind that, however teeming and prolific the soil, however favourable to vegetable life, the air and climate are not equally adapted to the development of the human frame.
The Bathis are attentive and careful agriculturists. Their women take little or no part in the labours of the field. In origin they belong neither to the Kshatriya nor to the Sudnx class, but are apparently an amalgamation of lioth.Their ranks are being constantly increased by defections from the Rajputs, and by illegitimate connections. The offspring of a Rajput father by a Sudra mother would be styled'a Rathi, and acceptixl as such by the brotherhood.' The sects of the Rathis are innumerable ;' no one could render a true and faithful catalogue of them. They are as numerous as the villages they inhabit, from which indeed their distinguishing names are generally derived. A R.athi is cognizant only of the sects which immediately surround him. They form a society quite sufficient for his few'wants, and he has little idea of the extent and ramifications of his tribe. The higher sects of the Rathis are generally styled Thakars.
They are affronted at being called Rathis, although they do not affect to be Rajputs. The best famihes among the Thakars give their daughters in marriage to the least eligible of the Rajputs, and thus an affinity is established betwecn these two great tribes. The Rathis generally assume the thread of caste. They avoid wine, and are extremely temperate and Irugal in their habits. they take money for their daughters, or exchange them, — a practice reprobated by the Shastras II and not countei-anced by the highest castes. On the death of an elder brother tl'ie widow lives with the next brother, or, if she leaves bis household, he is entitled to recover her value from the husband she selects. Altogether, the Rathis are the best bill subjects we possess ; — their manners are simple, quiet, and unaffected ; they are devoted to agriculture, not unacquainted with the use of arms ; honest, manly, industrious and loyal.
Here he makes Thakars first class Rathis. Mr. Lyall on the other hand seems inclined to class Thakars as second ov third class Rajputs. Speaking of the caste tables which he appends to his reports, in which he classes the Hindu population under the heads of first grade Brahman ; second grade Brahman • first grade Rajput ; second grade Rajput ; Khatris, Mahajans, Kirars, &c. ; first grade Sudras, Thakars, Rathis, &c. ; second grade Sudras ; he writes : —
The Rajput clans of tho second grade might more properly ho called first grade Thakars : among the most distinguished and numerous of them are the Habrols, the Pathials, the Dhatwals, the Indaiu'ias, the Nanglos, the Gumbaris, the Ranes, the Hanials, the Ranats, the Mailes. They marry their daughters to the Mians, and take daughters in marriage from the Rathis. In the statements most of the Thakars have been entered as second class Rajputs, and a few as first class Sudras, Most of the Thakars entered in this last class might more properly have been classed as Rathis. The Nurpur Thakars are all no better than Rathis. A Thakar, if asked in what way he is better than a Rathi, will say that his own manners and social customs, particularly in respect of selling daughters, marrying brother's widow, &c , are more like those of the Mian class than those of the Rathis are. The best line of distinction however is the marriage connection ; the Mian will marry a Thakar's daughter, but not a Rathrs. The Rathrs daughter marries a Thakar, and her daughter can then marry a Mian. No one calls himself a Rathi, or likes to be addressed as one. The term is understood to convey some degree of slight or insult ; the distinction between Thakar and Rathi is however very loose, A rich man of a Rathi family, like Shih Dial Chaudhri of Chetru, marries his daughter to an impoverished Raja, and his whole clan gets a kind of step and becomes Thakar Rajput. So again a Raja out riding falls in love with a Pathial girl herding cattle, and marries her whereupon the whole clan begins to give its daughters to Mians. The whole thing reminds oue of the struggles of famihes to rise in society in England, except that the numbers interested in the struggle are greater here, as a man cannot separate himself entirely from his clan, and must take it up with him or stay where he is, and except that the tactics or rules of the game are here stricter and more formal, and the movement much slower.
And the quotation from the same report given on page 221^ may be referred to. The Rathi does not seem to be a favourite in Kangra. Here are two proverbs about him : The Rathi in the stocks, the barley in the mill /' and A Rathi, a goat, a devotee, and a widow woman ; all need to be kept weak, for if strong they will do mischief
Of the Thakars of Kangra 2,273 have shown their tribe as Phul, and 4,304 as Jarautia. In Gurdaspur 1,007 are shown as Panglana and 294 as Balotra, Some 6,000 altogether show Kasib as their clan, which is probably only their Brahminieal gotra. Among the Rathis of Kangra there are 1,078 Balotra, 1,716 Barhai, 3,029 Changra, 1,879 Dharwal, 1,632 Gurdwal, 1,113 Goital, 1,101 Mangwal, 518 Phawiil, and 1,774 Rakor. In Chamba there are 2,350 Chophal. Altogether 15,000 show themselves as Kasib. There is a local saying that there are as many clans of Rathis as there are different kinds of grass.
The Dhund and Kahut (Caste Nos. 74 and 103) These have been already discussed together with the Rajputs of the Western Hills in sec tions 453, 454.
