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GON

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CHAPTER

11.

THE PEOPLE. Population— Brahmana, Chhattris, AWrs, Kahars, Pasis, Chai and Kewats— The Blianda^ Aboriginal tribes— The Barw&s, their origin, religion, thieving customs— Trades and manufactures— Eight of inheritance Rights of residents in a village— Principal landed proprietors, and how assessed— Division of property among the castes and Construction of dwelling-houses Clothing Diet Freedom from povertytribes Language Literature Religion, deities and superstitions Places of pilgrimage Various castes and their customs Local measures, weights, trade.

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total population of 1,167,816 is

distributed over 2,818 demarcated and 8,628 hamlets or detached gpu a ion. homesteads. The average per cultivated acre over the whole district is l'o7, and varies from 2'12 in Nawabganj to eight in Tulsipur. Population gradually decreases in density from the extremely high average of 730 to the square mile in the south-western pargana of Guwarich, to 161 in Tulsipur; the average over the whole district being 444'5. Three souls occupy a single house, and 4'6 eat from one hearth. .

towns and

villages,

To a hundred males the agricultural Hindus have 929 females, while among the agricultural Muhammadans the proportion is 95 o. In the towns the percentage of Hindu females is slightly higher, and of the Muhammadan rather less. As is the case almost e%'erywhere, the difference is confined to the children the adult females being a little in excess There are only 88 Hindu girls to 100 boys, while of the adult males. there are 319 women for 318 men. There are good grounds for thinking The Rajthat female infanticide, if not unknown, is comparatively rare. puts of the district are few in number, and not of TheBrahmans. ruinously higli families. Brahmans are by far the most numerous caste, heading the list with 203,149. They are almost all of the Sarwaria (Sarjuparia, citra Gogra) division, with a slight sprinkling of Gaurs, Kanaujias, and Sangaldipis. Though not quite so high in general estimation as the Kanaujias, they excel them in strictness of life, and Their gotras have the entirely reject the use of the huqqa or tobacco. same names as those of other divisions of the caste Pandes, Tiwdri, few of the curious gotra TJpaddhia, Chaube, Dube, Ojha, and the rest. of Tirghnaits which I had thotight peculiar to Partabgarh formed part of the army of colonists which Ali Khan brought into Utraula. The Brahmans of Gonda have long been famous for their turbulence and military efEciency, and they were not the least important element in the Their inbred love of fighting still shows forces of the great Bisen rajas. itself in the constant riots which are the despair of our district officers. "With the exception of the Pathans of Utraula, the The Chhattris, ruling classes are everywhere Chhattris, of which the the Kalhans of Chhedwara and Babhnip^ir, the are families principal Bisens of Gonda and Manikapur, the Bandhalgotis of Manikapur and Nawabganj, the Janwars of Balrampur, and Goraha Bisens of Mahadewa. With the exception of the latter, none of these families have very numerous representatives, and the great majority of the 49,313 Rajputs of the

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