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This article is an extract from <br/>

PANJAB CASTES <br/>

SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. <br/>

Being a reprint of the chapter on <br/>
The Races, Castes and Tribes of <br/>
the People in the Report on the <br/>
Census of the Panjab published <br/>
in '''1883''' by the late Sir Denzil <br/>
Ibbetson, KCSI <br/>

Lahore: <br/>

Printed  by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, <br/>

1916. <br/>
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[[Category:India|D]]
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==The Dum and Mirasi== 
Caste No. 25

Under this head have been 
included both Dum and Mirasi, the former being the Hindu and Indian and 
the latter the Musalman and Arabic name, and the whole class being commonly 
called Dum-Mirasi by the people. It fact no one of my divisional offices 
separated the two entries, and the two words are used throughout the Province 
as absolutely synonymous. The Dums, however, must be carefully distinguish
ed from the Dom or Domra, the executioner and corpseburner of Hindustan, 
and the type of all uncleanliness to a Hindu ; as also from the Dum of the 
Hill States, whom I have classed as Dumna and not as Mirasi, as I understand 
that the word Dum is there applied to workers in bamboo. The class is 
distributed throughout the Province, but is most numerous in the Amritsar, 
Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Multan divisions, and in Bahawalpur and the other 
States which mareh with them. On the lower Indus many of them would 
seem to have returned themselves as Jats — see Abstract No. 72 
The word Mirasi is derived from the Arabic mirds or inheritance ; and the 
Mirasi is to the inferior agricultural cases and the outcast tribes what the 
Bhat is to the Rajputs. Even Jats employ Mirasis, though the hereditary 
genealogist of many of the Jat tribes is the Sansi ; and, as just stated, 
Rajputs often employ Mirasis in addition to Bhats. But the Mirasi is more 
than a genealogist ; he is also a musician and minstrel ; and most of the men 
who play the musical instruments of the Panjab are either ]Mirasis, Jogis, or 
faqirs. The Dum does not make a good servant, nor a fiddle-bow a good 
weapon.^' 

The social position of the Mirasi, as of all the minstrel castes, is exceed
ingly low, but he attends at weddings and on similar occasions to recite 
genealogies. Moreover there are grades even among Mirasis. The outcast 
tribes have their Mirasis who, though they do not eat with their clients and 
merely render them professional service, are considered impure by the Mirasis 
of the higher castes. The Mirasi is generally a hereditary servant like the 
Bhnt ; and is notorious for his exactions, which he makes under the threat 
of lampOoning the ancestors of him from whom he demands fees. 

These 
four were not born on giving day ; the Mulla, the Bhat, the Brdhman,  
the Dum.'The Mirasi is almost always a Musalman. The few Hindus 
returned from the hilly and sub-montane districts are very possibly Dumnas 
returned as Dums. I have included under the head of Mirasi the following 
schedule entries j Dhadhi, 37 in Ambala, 478 in Multan, and 77 in the 
Derajdt ; Kbarialaj 37 1, and Sarnai, 3 in Jalandhar ; Rababi, 109 in 
Labore. Besides tbcse numbers  the above terms, as well as Naqarehi, bave 
all been included witb Mirasi in the offices of one or more divisions. The 
last three are simply words meaning players upon the flageolet, the flute, and 
the kettle drum. The Dhadhi appears only to sing and not to play any 
instrument, and in the Derajat at least is said not to intermarry with the Dum, 
so probably he should not have been included. The Khariala is said to be a 
sort of Mirasi, but I have no further information concerning him. The two 
largest tribes returned for Mirasis seem to be the Chunhar with 13,493, and 
the Kalet with 4,897 persons. The detailed tables of clans will, when publish
ed, give complete information on the subject.