‘REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1882-83.’ [‎66r] (140/498)

lr*"^
%
l8 82-83.] DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS, 77 Chap. I.
POLITICAL.
ruffffed and hilly parts of the district. In the Deccan the Berads and Bamoshis, who are Population ani>
of probable aboriginal descent, have become cultivators and settled inhabitants of the plain Census.
villages of the eastern table-land.
If the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. proper be alone considered, the number of castes, or separate social castes,
divisions, seems to be about 830, omitting the most prevalent synonyms of a single caste. This
distribution includes not only the Brahmanical Hindus, but the forest tribes and the Jains
w ho are also sub-divided in almost exactly the same manner as the orthodox. The Muhammad
ans too, most of whom are local converts, have also preserved to a great extent their former
Hindu divisions. Under these circumstances the term has been applied to all well-defined and
recognized sub-divisions of all four races. Such sub-divisions sometimes take the name of the
place where they first separated from their parent stock, as amongst the Grujarat Brahmans
and traders ; sometimes from the trade, as the Sonars, Sutars, and so on; sometimes, again,
when the separation is merely on account of an internal dispute, the name of the caste is
preserved, but the separating families take the designation of a fraction, as the tenth, twen
tieth fourth, or fifth, prefixing this title to the caste name. Of the four main divisions of the
Brahmanic community, according to the current tradition, only the Brahman and Kshatria
are preserved. There are strong grounds for thinking that the other two, the Yaishia and
Shudra never had any recognized existence in fact, and, as far as this Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. is concerned,
have most certainly no place in the social system of the present day. The Brahmans are
returned under nearly 150 sub-divisions, but most of them come under one or the other of 14
main tribes. The most minute sub-division of this class is found in Gujarat; but the Maratha
section is the widest spread, and probably the most true to the ancient traditions of the order.
The Kshatria or Bajput element is far more numerous in Gujarat, where it has a settled posi
tion as the chief landholding race; but the Maratha chiefs and some of the older cultivating
families of the Deccan have an undoubted strain of the warrior blood; and it is curious, too, to
find that almost the only other races that can reasonably lay claim to the same honour are the
forest tribes of a portion of the ghat range, and two or three classes of educated writers
settled in Broach and other parts of Gujarat, and the well-known Prabhus, who occupy a
similar position in Bombay and Thana. Apart from the indigenous Kshatria clans, there are
considerable numbers of this class from the Northern Provinces of India who have settled in
the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. from some generations back, or are merely sojourners in the capacity of soldiers
and messengers, or guards. In the south of the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. there are traces of an immigration
from the south and south-east, as well as from the north, but the caste definition of that tract
is less known and studied than that of the Maratha and Gujarati districts.
Begarding the numerical distribution of the different castes, it is first to be noticed that
of the 830 sub-divisions 24 contain no less than 73 per cent, of the population now uncler^ con
sideration, and which comprises 98 per cent, of the inhabitants of the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. Division.
By far the largest caste is that of the Maratha, or Kunbi, of the Deccan and Konkan, which
returns over 3,403,000, and of whom 61 per cent, reside in the Deccan, 25 per cent, in the
Konkan, 8 in the Karnatak, and 5 in Bombay, with a few representatives in Gujarat. The
village menials, called Mahars in the Marathi-speaking districts, and Dheds in Gujarat, form
the next caste in point of number, and show more than 850,000, more equally distributed
according to the entire population of the five divisions. There are four other castes in addi
tion to these that number more than 250,000, of which the first is the Koli of Gujarat; the
next, the shepherd or Dhangar of the Deccan; with the cultivating caste of the Karnatak returned
probably in deficient numbers at 288,000, under the denomination of Panchamsali, as the
rest of the class are probably included in the indefinite title of Lingayat. Lastly, come the
Mali, or gardeners. Of the Brahmans the most numerous caste is the Deshasth, indigenous
to the table-land, but found in the Konkan also. Its strength is given at 242,800, but it
doubtless includes some sub-divisions known in the Morth Deccan and Konkan under special
names, as Maitrayani, Palse, and the like. There are no less than seven other castes number
ing over 100,000, which belong to the village community, and the first of these is the oilman,
or Teli. After this come, in order, the Chdmbhar (which is, it may be mentioned, by far the
most numerous caste in the whole of India) ; the Mdng, a depressed caste; the Ilajam, or
barber; the Sonar, or goldsmith; and the Sutdr, or carpenter. The Darji (tailor) with the
Weaver, Blacksmith and Washerman come in the next class, numbering between 50,000 and
100,000. The Kumbhdr (potter) is also the brick and tile maker, and though his occupation
of making almost the only household vessels prescribed as pure by Hindu tradition is on the
wane, owing to the introduction amongst most classes of the more expensive and durable metal
ware, it is comforting to him to find that the increased well-being that thus deprives him of
one branch of his hereditary occupation works to his benefit in the increased demand for
materials of his handiwork for a better style of building : so his caste is still amongst the first
in numbers amongst the artisans. The weavers, too, might be expected to be a decreasing
caste, owing to the spread of the use of European textiles; but it must be remembered Brat
though spinning cotton yarn was always a home industry amongst several castes, if not the
majority, weaving has been always specialized amongst the three of four castes named after
their occupation, so that the whole of the demand for coarse strong cotton fabrics of a sort
which has hitherto defied European competition passes through the hands of the Koshti, Sadi,
and Khatri, which in the aggregate number over 150,000 souls. Amongst the artisans that
show less prominently in the returns are the Masons (29,000), the Brass. and Coppersmiths
(27,600), the Shoemakers, who do not also tan or make leather articles used in agriculture, and.
are mostly of Hindustani origin (21,600).
b 594—20