Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/169

 BA RODA.

159

174,980, or 8 per cent., as Musalmans; 46,718 asjains; 771 Christians; and 28 ‘others.’ The percentage of males to the total

8118 Pirsfs population

Of

52'i5.

is

and 79,853 Rajputs.

the 1,954,390 Hindus, 138,506 are Brdhmans, The Baniyds or traders number 57,027.

number 482,928, the most numerous (391,984) ; fishing and boating castes number 14,835; artisans, 160,217; domestic servants, 32,671; labouring and wandering castes, 69,192; mendicant castes, 20,551 ; and ‘depressed’

agricultural or pastoral castes

being the

Kanbi's

110,040 Dhers. Of the 174,980 Musalmdns, 155,653 are Sunni's and 19,327 Shias. The agricultural population of the State, as in other parts of Guzerat, is mainly composed of Brdhmans of

castes, 191,461, including

the Bhdthela clan, Kanbis, Rdjputs, and Kolfs. cultivators

the

in

north

towards the south.

The

dominate.

In the

mercantile

and many

condition,

There are also Borah

and south, and Bhils

the wilder tracts

in

highly-cultivated parts, the

community

is

who

especially those

families,

Kanbis pre-

said to be in a prosperous in

acted as State bankers, are possessed of great wealth.

former times

In recent years

number of Brahmans, Marathas, and other natives of the Deccan and Konkan have permanently settled in Baroda territory. In the northern and eastern Districts the chief cultivators are Kolfs and Rajputs in poor circumstances. With these are interspersed Bhats, Charans, and religious mendicants of different descriptions, some of

a large

whom, such are

often

as the

the

Gosains,

who

inhabit monasteries called maths,

wealthiest

and most

Bombay and

Surat,

influential

land-owners

in

the

country.

Excluding

greater than in the Baroda territory. residing in

Baroda

city

and

first

hill forts

at other places, the Parsi population

is

5 miles from Surat, where they are said to settled with their sacred fire about 450 years ago. The two

collected at Navsari, about

have

number of Parsis is nowhere With the exception of about 175

the

1

of Songarh and Saler are worthy of notice.

Songarh, 43 miles

and a few miles south of the Tapti, commands a path much favoured by the bands which from time to time invaded the plain of Guzerat from the higher lands of Khdndesh, and was for many years east of Surat

the head-quarters of the Gaekwar’s power.

corner of the Baroda territory. District,

and

Saler

is

at the south-east

These two, which both

also the fort of Mulher, are

still

lie in

Navsari

garrisoned with militia.

Rupgarh, a hill fort 10 miles south of Songarh, is not garrisoned, but Wajpur on the Tapti river, once a strong place, has a garrison. Among other places of interest in the State may be mentioned Vohora Kathor, famous for the manufacture of the deep-red dye extracted from the roots of the moringa tree; Sojitra, celebrated for its knives; Dabhoi, where turbans and sdris are woven in large quantities; Pattan, well known for its knives, nut-crackers, and specially for its pottery, which is

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