Page:A Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of the District, or Zila, of Dinajpur.djvu/107

Rh Sandilyo, Batsyo, and Savornyo, and on that account all their descendants, who now form by far the greatest portion of the sacred order in Bengal, are called Ponchogotros, or the five tribes. The wife of Adisur had a son named, whose father was supposed to be the Brohmaputra river, who, for the purpose of impregnating the queen, assumed the convenient form of a Brahmin. Whether or not Adisur knew of this circumstance, and was of so easy a temper as to overlook the liberty of the Brohmaputra, or whether it was not divulged until the favourable time when Bollalsen became a lawgiver, even in the nice affairs of caste, and might wish for the authority of divine origin, I cannot take upon myself to say, both being probable; but it is generally allowed by the Brahmins here that Adisur left the quiet possession of his kingdom to Bollalsen. In his reign the five families of Brahmins had multiplied so fast, that they not only had become numerous, but had obtained settlements in two of the provinces, Rarhi and Barondro, which as usual among Hindús, who delight in subdivisions, had produced a complete separation of caste. It even became advisable to separate each division into different ranks, and to assign different customs for each. This I confess appears to me inexplicable. Were I allowed to suppose, that the original colony was more numerous, or that Bollalsen was not the immediate successor of Adisur, but followed after an interval of some hundred years, as imagines, the difficulty would be removed; but the tradition is positive against both these suppositions.

However this may have been, the Rarhi Brahmins are divided into Kulin, Bongsoj, and Srotriyo; and the Barondros are divided into Kulin, Kap and Srotriyo. These divisions took place according to the merits of the persons, at the time when they were formed. The most virtuous Brahmins of each province were made Kulins, those next in merit were made Bongsoj or Kap, and the remainder were classed in the lowest rank called Srotriyo. The pre-eminence however is now hereditary, so far at least as the Brahmins of the same province are concerned; that is to say, a Barondro Brahmin must respect a Barondro Kulin, however ignorant or knavish, more than the most learned and virtuous Srotriyo of Barondro. This however by no means extends to the other province. A Barondro Brahmin estimates all the three kinds of Rarhis according to the respective personal merit that each individual possesses. The Rarhi in the same manner respect his own provincials by their birth, but he values Barondros and all other Brahmins according to their virtues. Although Dinajpúr be in Barondro land, yet Brahmins of Rarhi are also numerous in this district, probably in the proportion of 6 to 10 Barondros. I must therefore give some account of each.

A Kulin Brahmin of Barondro cannot marry above three or four wives, the fathers of Barondro not choosing to pay for unreasonable undertakings; for the husband always gets money with each wife, more and more in proportion to the lowness of her birth; and he seldom gives himself any trouble about maintaining his wives or children, but leaves these duties to the care of his father-in-law. If the family happens to consist of sons chiefly, the maternal grand-father has great profit, because he receives money for each at his marriage; but, if there are many daughters, he has made a bad speculation: and unless very rich, is ruined, as he must not only sell every thing, but even borrow and beg to the utmost of his power, in order to procure them husbands. They have, however, a greater indulgence than the lower orders, for a Kulin girl continues marriageable at all ages, although it is considered as very disgraceful for the father to keep her long waiting; and he is even very apt to incur still greater disgrace, by her forgetting the laws of chastity, which these girls, brought up in the full expecta-