Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/127

 PAR 119 Bihár, and Omar in tahsil Patti. These sects are entirely distinct, and neither eat and drink together, nor intermarry. I have heard it alleged (and the story is current, I believe, in parts of the Punjab), that once upon a time a certain rája had two daughters, named Chámu and Bámu. These married, and each gave birth to a son, who in time grew up to be pahlwáns or prodigies of strength. An elephant happened to die on the rája's premises, and being unwilling that the carcass should be cut up and disposed of piece-meal within the precincts of his abode, he sought for a man of sufficient strength to carry it forth whole and bury it. Chámu's son undertook and successfully per- formed this marvellous feat. The son of Bámu, stirred no doubt by jea- lousy, professed to regard this act with righteous horror, (personal contact with a corpse or dead animal amounting to defilement), and he thereupon broke off all relations with his cousin, and pronounced him an outcast. Chamárs are asserted to be descendants of the latter, and Baniás of the former, and hence the former in some parts, though admitting their moral degradation, have been known to assert that they are in reality possessed of a higher rank in the social scale than the latter. Kayaths.-The Kayaths are chiefly of the Sríbástab and Saksena branches, a few of the Mathur and Amisht being interspersed among them. A11 the qánúngos in the district are Sríbástab. There are no Káyath taluqdars; but the large muháls of Cháchámau and Salempur Bhairon belong to this class, who own altogether sixty-five villages and hamlets. The greater portion of the Káyath population are in service as patwáris, agents, writers, &c., at the same time, a not inconsiderable proportion, are addict- ed to agricultural pursuits. In his census report Mr. J. C. Williams, C.S., remarks that the Saksenas have two sub-castes called Khare and Dúsre. This favours the supposition that the Saksenas alone of the twelve sects possess these two subdivisions, whereas the Khare and Dúsre sub-sects are common to all. The origin of these sub-sects is thus traced by the Kayaths of this district. The twelve brothers, the founders of the twelve branches of Kayath families, married each the daughter of a deity (deota), Hearing this, the demons (Ráchchhas) determined not to be outdone, and persuaded each of the brothers to take to wife a Ráchchhas daughter also. The descendants of the deity came to be known as Dúsre and those of the demon as Khare (Sanskrit alias for Ráchchhas). Proportion of females to males.—The percentage of females on males as taken on the entire population is 96-9. In RAE BARELI. this respect the district of Partabgarh stands Total Hindus ... 100-9 third in the province: the other two districts of Agricultural Non-agricultural 1068 the division, viz., Rae Bareli and Sultanpur, being SULTANPUR respectively first and second. The same order is Total Hindus 98.8 maintained on taking the percentage on the Hin- Agricultural 1955 du population only, and a further analysis of the Non-agricultural agricultural and non-agricultural statistics of the PARTABGARH. Hindu community, as exhibited in Table I. of the Total Hindus Agricultural Oudh Census Report, affords details of adults and Non-agricultural ... 100-4 children. The proportion is almost invariably lowest among the agricultural classes; but as this seems to be in the main the casc also with regard to the Muhammadan 96.4 99-7
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