The Bahrupia

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This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on The Races, Castes and Tribes of the People in the Report on the Census of the Panjab published in 1883 by the late Sir Denzil Ibbetson, KCSI Lahore: Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Secondly, this has been scanned from a book. You can help by sending the corrected version to the Facebook page, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be duly acknowledged.

The Bahrupia

Caste No. 128)

The Bahrupia is in its origin a purely occupational term ; it is derived from the Sanskrit bahu many and rupa, form,and denotes an actor, a mimic, or one who assumes many forms or characters. One of their favourite devices is to ask for money, and when it is refused, to ask that it may be given on condition of the Bahrupia succceeding in deceiving the person who refuses it. Some days later the Bahrupia will again visit the house in the disguise of a pedlar, a milkman, or what not, sell his goods without being detected, throw off his disguise, and claim the stipulated reward. They may be drawn from any caste, and in Rohtak there are Chuhra Bahrupias. But in some districts a family or colony of Bahrupias has obtained land and settled down on it, and so become a caste as much as any other. Thus there is a Bahrupia family in Panipat who hold a village revenue-free, though these men have apparently returned themselves as Shekhs. It is probable that the figures do not include all who follow the profession of acting in the Panjab, many of them having returned their time caste and not their occupation. On the other hand, it is certain that the returns for Bahrupias in Sialkot and Gujrat do not refer at all to what I here call Bahrupias, but are Mahtams, who are commonly known as Bahrupias in those districts — see section 494 on Mahtams. The exclusion of these figures reduces the total number of Bahrupias in the Province to 386, and I have altered the figures of Abstract No. 90 accordingly. The Bahrupias of Gurdaspur are said to work in cane and bamboo.

SeeThe Bhand