Parasara Das
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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Parasara Das
The Parasara Das is undoubtedly a branch of the Kaibartta class, but the highly respected and prosperous native gentlemen belonging to it repudiate this base origin, claiming from certain passages in the portion of the Padma Purana, called Brahma Khanda, and in the Vrihad Vyasa Sangita, to be descended from a Khatri father and a Vaisya mother, and, therefore, entitled to equal rank with the Baidya and Kayath. This pretension, however, is not acknowledged by the latter, who treat them as they do the Kaibarttas, as people with whom no social communion can be held.
The Parasara Das are also known as Halik Kaibarttas, and Sparsha2 Das, a name indicating that they are not impure to the "touch." The Sikdars, or poorer members, are cultivators, being identical with the Chasa Kaibarttas of Burdwan.
The majority of the Parasara Das of Dacca are writers, traders, and factors. The ordinary titles are Maulik, Rai, Chaudhari, Biswas, Sirkar, and Majumdar, the two first being assumed by the higher, or Kulin, families, the rest by the Mahapatr or Sikdar orders. By paying a marriage fee not exceeding three hundred rupees, a Sikdar may marry into a Kulin family, but this system of purchasing social advancement is discountenanced by the aristocratic families.
In the western parts of the Dacca district the clean Sundras drink from the water vessels of the Parasara Das,1 although they will not touch those of the Kaibarttas. In Silhet, where the caste is most numerous and influential, the same arbitrary distinction is observed.
In Silhet the caste has not attained to the high and genteel position of their Dacca brethren, but many are still labourers who come to Dacca, and set up as stonecutters, but return and spend their savings at their homes. Stone in blocks is brought from Patna, Mungir, and Mirzapur, and with chisels the Parasara Das make grindstones, currystones, and "Fil-payas," or stands for tables and bedsteads. In Silhet they will not cultivate land themselves, but assume to be pure Sudras, descended from Vyasa, the son of the Muni Parasara, and a Kaibartta damsel, and consequently entitled to the appellation of Vyasakta, which is adopted by all.
Wherever found, the Parasara Das have the Sudra Napit and Dhoba working for them, but the Purohit is distinct, although it is, maliciously asserted by natives that the Bhuinmali Brahman officiates for them.
The majority of the caste are strict followers of the Krishna Mantra, observing all the popular Sudra festivals, but they are unusually scrupulous regarding cooked food; for instance, the flesh of kids is prohibited from being prepared in their own houses, and rice cannot be boiled in the same pan as meat.
1 The seven salts are "Panga," sea salt; "Kala-namak," impure rock-salt; "Sendha," rock-salt; "Khar," impure carbonate of soda; "Sambhar," from the lake near Ajmir; "Lahori," from the city of that name, and "Chir-Chira," or ashes of the Achyranthes aspera.
2 This may be merely a vulgar pronunciation of Purasara, or from Sparsa, touching.
