Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/123

 110 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [Aran, 187&. Dekhan, they show a great approach to that character, especially in the northern part of the district, where they are least numerous; and throughout it they are known asDekhams, in exactly the same way as the Rajputs of Junnar, &c. are called Pardesis. Although one can hardly say that their character is modified, still its shrewd unscrupulousnesa is perhaps more often highly developed among these descend- ants of emigrants and invaders than farther sooth ; while the Rajputs, on the other hand, w-liu are pretty numerous north of theTapti,are generally peaceable agriculturists, much more nearly resembling the Gujar Knnbis, who dwell beside them, than the smart and hardy de- cendants of imperial armies in the Dekhan, or the martial Kshatiiya of Hindustan. Many of them are jtdfils and cltaiidrig of villages; and of these a few enjoy among their own people the titles of * l Rawat" and " Rawal," and some- thing-of the status of petty chieftains. These, of course, retain something of the military character of the race. These cultivating Raj- puts are never called Pardesis in Khandesh. The Solahkhi, or Chalukya clan, is the most numerous. The name is here pronounced and written ' Saluhke,' which is also the Maruthi name of the common Maind (firaculus religlomte), but whether there is any connexion between the bird and the clan I do not know. The Gnjar Kunbis are very numerous throughout most part of Khandesh, and in the north-west the land is almost entirely in their hands. They are skilful agriculturists, and, being fully a match in acnteness and roguery for their countrymen the Wants, are more free from debt— and indeed more apt to have others in theirs — than any other body of cultivators that I know. There are several castes of them not easily distinguishable, but the following are the chief divisions ; — The Re w a s derive their name from the goddess-river Rewa or Narma- da, whom they reverence exceedingly. They are, I believe, identical with the caste called 'Lews' in Ahmadiibad, but inquiries made in 1872 proved them to he free from the practice of infanticide, of which these last are accused. The P a z n i s claim to be a branch of the Re- was, which the latter do not admit. Neither of these eat meat; a third caste, the Do dhe Gu- jars, do — in some villages, at any rate. The Therol Kunbis profess to be immi- grants from a place called Therol, in Hindustan, which I have never been able to identify. There is a place of this name on the Puma river in the Edalabad Peta of Khandesh itself. They also eat meat, and are not so strongly distin- guished from the Marathas as are the three castes of Gujar Kunbis. The late Major Forsyth, in his Report upon the Settlement of Nimdr, published by the Go- vernment of the Central Provinces, alludes cur- sorily to this caste, but also mentions another of the same name, descended from a colony said to have been imported by the Pesw&S from the Dekhan "in 600 carts ;" of whom some settled in what is now British Nimar, and some near Kargund, in Holkar's territory. These were probably T il u r i Kunbis, a race well known in the North Konkan, but not (as far as I am aware) found above the Ghats. I have already mentioned* that some villages on the Tupti are inhabited and cultivated chiefly byNahavisor barbers, and some on the Girna by P a r i t s or washermen. In both cases they are supposed to be immigrants from Hindustan or Central India, and in both they have become much as- similated to their agricultural neighbours. None of these cultivating races care much about the service of Government, cither military or civil. A peculiar race called Aiwa las cultivate the At (Morinda cUrifvlia) and nothing else. I do not know much of them personally, but there is a full account of them in Major Forsyth's Report already quoted. The M il 1 i s are the same here as in the Dekhan, and there are no Lii'iga- yat or Jain cultivators in Khandesh. Rathod Rajpilts from Marw&r ; Mak- ranisj Arabs, Rohillas, and Fathans from the Panjab and Afghanistan are found in the employ of merchants as treasure- guards. The Sixth Sarga. Some time afterwards a son was born to Mu» laraja, named Cham and Raja. From his THE DVAIASHARAYA. (Continual from p. 77.) childhood this prince was very clever, and was fond of going to the Rudra Prasada,t where the ' elders assembled, that he might hear the M t The Rudra M&1& Temple at Siddhupur.
 * lad. Ant. tol. IIL p.^&