Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 3.djvu/58

 KISAN.—BAREILLY. (122)

HIS photograph represents a man of the Kisan caste. They are Hindoos of low rank in the social scale, and devote themselves mainly to agriculture, rarely following any other occupation.

The word Kisán, in Sanscrit, signifies husbandman, peasant, or farmer, and is applied in a general sense to those who cultivate another person's land, paying rent, and supporting themselves on the profits. The term is local, and does not extend to other parts of India, where the same tenure exists under different appellations—distinct, however, from that of the actual proprietor of the land. "Kisán" can hardly be said to express a "caste:" it is more properly the term applied to a pecuhar tenure and occupation. But following the example of other Hindoo occupations, the Kisáns, by intermarriage, and by observing the same ceremonies, and very possibly by uniting themselves under the spiritual guidance of some local or religious teacher, have virtually resolved themselves into a local sect. In reality they are Hindoos of the Soodra, or lowest caste division; and their mode of life and religious belief does not differ from the same classes of the purely agricultural population elsewhere.

The costume of the figure represented is a small white turban, a mirzaee, or short jacket of cotton cloth, and a dhoti, or waist cloth, also of cotton. Over his shoulders he has cast his ruzzai, a light quilt of padded cotton cloth, printed in the country.