Watermen, Boatmen, and Cooks (Punjab castes)
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. Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees |
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Watermen, boatmen, and cooks
the figures for this great group, in which I have included the Jhinwar, the Machhi, the Bhatyara, the Bharbhunja, and the Mallah. It is generally be lieved that all these men are of the same caste, Kahar being their usual name in the North-West Provinces, Jhinwar in the east of the Pan jab where they are for the most part Hindu, and Machhi in the west of province where they are mostly Musalman. Being essentially fishermen and watermen, they are most numerous in proportion to total population in the western and central district which are traversed by the rrrcat panjab rivers, where too they assist largely in acjricultural labour, besides finding more extensive occupation as cooks among a Musalmsin population with no prejudices against eating food prepared by others. On the frontier proper, like most of the occupational castes, they are few in number. In the Eastern Plains and hills these people are returned as Jhinwars ; west of Lahore as Machhis. They are one of the pleasantest and most willing of the menial classes, and the Bhishti is proverbially a good servant. Bhatyara, Bharbhunja, and Mallah are names of occupations merely, br.t of occupations which are followed almost if not quite exclusively by the Jhinwar caste.
The Jhinwar
(Caste No. 15)
The Jhinwar, also called Kahar in the east, and Mahra'. where a Hindu, in the centre of the Province, is the carrier, waterman, fisherman, and basket-maker of the east of the Panjab. He carries palanquins and all such burdens as are borne by a yoke on the shoulders ; and he specially is concerned with water, insomuch that the cultivation of water-nuts and the netting of water fowl are for the most part in his hands, and he is the well-sinker of the Province. He is a true village menial, receiving customary dues and performing customary service. In this capacity he supplies all the baskets needed by the cultivator, and brings water to the men in the fields at harvest time, to the houses where the women are secluded, and at weddings and other similar occasions. His occupations in the
centre and west of the Province are described below under the head Machhi. His social standing is in one respect high ; for all will drink at his hands. But he is still a servant, though the highest of the class.
I have included under Jhinwar such men as returned themselves as Bhfshtis, Mallahis, or Saqqahs, the terms for Musalman water-carriers. It is just possible that some of these men may be of other castes than Jhinwar But the number of such will be exceedingly small. The numbers so included are given in the margin, except for the Amritsar division which made no separate returns.
Divisions of Jhinwar, Machhi, and Mallah
The sub-divisions of both Jhinwar and Machhi are very numerous. I show one or two of the largest in the margin, adding the figures for Mallahs. These tribes do not appear to be found in any numbers among the Bhatyara and Bharbhunja, and we must wait for the detailed tables of clans before we can compare the sub-divisions of those castes, and thus throw light upon the question of their identity or diversity.
1 Mahra seems to be a title of respect, just as a BhiBbti is often addressed as jamadar.
Mahdr is a synonym for cbief in tbe south-west of the Province.
The Machhi and Men
(Caste No. 28)
Machhi is, as I have said, only the western name for the Mnsalman Jhinwar. In the Amritsar division those returning themselves as Machhi have been included under Jhinwar. In the Lahore and Rawalpindi divisions both names are used ; and in the western districts both, Where used at all, are applied indifferently to the same person. But in parts of the Central Panjab, where the eastern Hindu meets the western Musalman, the two terms are generally used dis tinctively. The Machhi occupies in the centre and west the same position which the Jhinwar' fills in the east, save that he performs in the foimer parts of the Province a considerable part of the agricultural labour, while in the east he seldom actually works in the fields, or at least not as a part of his custom ary duties ; though of course all classes work for pay at harvest time, when the rice is being planted out, and so forth. But besides the occupations already described for the Jhinwar,the Machhi is the cook and midwife of the Panjab proper. All the Dayas and Dayis, the accoucheur, midwife, and wetnurse class, are of the Jhinwar or Machhi caste. So too the common oven which forms so important a feature in the village life of the Panjab proper, and at which the peasantry have their bread baked in the hot Aveather, is almost always in the hands of a Machhi for Musalmans and a Jhinwar for Hindus. In some parts he is also the wood-cutter of the village.
In the Derajat he is sometimes called Manjhi or Manjhera, more particularly when following* the occupation of a fisherman ; and the name Men is often given him under the same circumstances in the rest of the Central and Western Panjab, along the banks of our great rivers. Both these castes, where returned separately, have been classed as Machhi, as have also the Sammi or fisherman and quail-catcher, and the Mahigir, Machhahra, Machhiyania, or fisherman. The details are given below. Of the Mens in the Lahore division, 7,0.35 are in Lahore and .3,095 in Gujranwala, while of those of the Multan division all but 180 are in Mont gomery. Thus the Mens seem almost confined to the middle Satluj. On the lower Indus, in Gujarat and lower Sindh Machhi seems to mean nothing more than fisherman. The figures of Abstract No. 72 (page 224*) show that many of the Machhis of the Derajat have returned themselves as Jats.
The Bhatyara and Bharbhunja (Caste Nos. 92 and 108)
The Bhatyara is the baker and seller of ready-cooked food, who is to be found in all the caravanserais of our towns and encamping grounds. He is, I believe
I The carriage of burdens slung from a banffi or yoke seems to be almost unknown in the weat of the Panjab.
almost without exception; a Jinn war by caste ; and in many districts ttose wlio have returned themselves as Bhatyaras have been classed either as Jhinwar or as Machhi, so that our figures do not completely represent the entries in the schedules. They are said to be divided in the North-West Provinces at any rate into two classes, Sherrshuhi and Salimshahi, the women of the former wear ing petticoats and of the latter drawers. They date the division from the time of Sultan Sher Sluih and his son Salim Shah. Now that the railway has diminished then- trade, the Bhatyuras are said to have taken to letting out yekkas and ponies for hire ; and in the Derajat. they are said to be the donkey keepers of the district and to do petty carriage. This would connect them with the kiln rather than with the oven. In any case the name appears to be purely an occupational one, derivedfromhliatti, an oven or kiln ; but like so many occupational guilds, The Bhatyaras appear in some parts to many only among those following the same avocation.^ The same may be said of the' Bharbhunja, who is as his name implies a grain-parehcr. He too is almost always a Jhinwar, but a small section of the Bharbhunjas are Kuyaths. He does not appear to occur as a separate class in the west of the Province, where probably the grain parehing is done at the public oven of the Jhinwar or Maehhi. The Bharbhunja is also occasionally called Bhojwa, and on the Indus Chatari.
The Mallah and Mohana
(Caste No. 42)
The Mallah is the boat man of the Panjab, and is naturally found in largest numbers in those districts which include the greatest length of navigable river. It appears from Abstract No. 72 (page 224*) that on the Indus he has often returned himself as Jat. He is, I believe, almost invariably a Jhinwar by caste, and very generally a Musalman by religion ; though Mr. Wilson believes that in Sirsa most of the Mallahs on the Satluj are by caste Jhabel q. v. He gene rally combines with his special work of boat management some other of the ordinary occupations of his caste, such as fishing or growing water nuts ; but he is not a village menial. Under the head Mallah have been included those returning themselves as Mohana, Taru, or Dren, the figures for which entries are given on the margin. In Lahore and Peshawar no separate returns were made for Mohana. The Mohana is said to be the fisherman of Sindh ; but in the Pan jab he is at least as much a boatman as a fisherman. The word in Sanskrit means an estuary or confluence of waters. The Dren and Turu are found in the hills only, where they carry travellers across the rapid mountain torrents on inflated hides. The former are said to be Musalman and The latter Hindu. The word dren appears originally to mean the buffalo hide upon which the transit is made. In The Hill States 55 men returned as Daryai have also been included. Broadly speaking, it may perhaps be said that the Jhinwar
It is noticeable that all lliose returned u3 Bhatyara are Mnsalman ; probably because most Hindus, in tbe east of tbe Panjab at least, will not cat bread made and cooked by a jihnwar, Classed as Mallah. and Muclilu follow their avoeations on land and the Malluh and Mohana on water, all beloning' to the same caste.
The Dhinwar of the Jamma
Along the left bank of Jamna below Dehli are settled a certain small number of people who call themselves Dhin wars. They work as fishermen and boatmen and some of them as Bhar bhunjaS; and have returned themselves in the present Census, partly as Jhinwars, but mostly as Mallahs. They appear to have moved up the river from the neighbourhood of Agra, and to keep themselves distinct from the indigenous Jhinwars. They are much addicted to thieving, and it has been proposed to treat them as a criminal tribe. Violent crime is however rare among them. They cultivate and even own a certain area of land. They generally travel about in the disguise of musicians, singing, begging, pilfering, and committing burglary and theft on a large scale when opportunity offers. They apparently extend all along the banks of the river in Aligarh, Bulandshahr, and other districts of the North-West Provinces. Men of this class seem to travel all over the Pan jab, as they have been convicted even in the frontier districts. All Hindus drink at their hands,— a sufficient proof that they are true Jhinwars by caste.
