Banjara, Banjari
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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Banjara
Banjari : the term is most usually applied to a grain and cattle merchant, who, with a more or less numerous party of the same calling, moves about to different markets and specially accompanies bodies of troops to supply them with corn. It is specially applicable also to a nu¬merous tribe spread along the foot of the mountains from Harid¬war to Gorakhpur, and forming various subdivisions, many of whom are stationary and follow agriculture. They comprise both Hindus and Mahomedans, ack¬nowledging a common origin and affinity.
The most migra¬tory are the Bahurupa Banjaras, of whom there are five branches, four of whom assume the well-known appellations of the chief Rajput tribes, or Rahtor, Chau¬hiin, Powar, and Tumar. The fifth, called Barka, is snid to be descended from a Gaur Brah¬ man. Each of these is infinitely subdivided. The R6htor branch, for instance, splits into four families, and these comprehend 138 sub-branches. Some of these Banjar6s have the privileges of the Charan and Bhat, q.v., their persons being sacred and ac¬cepted in guarantee of engage¬ments. The origin of these people is obscure. If they were primarily a distinct race, they are now much intermixed.
