Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 5.djvu/53

 MUZBEE SIKHS. (237)

LTHOUGH the Sikhs professedly admit all classes of people to their religious belief and community in general, yet it seems to have been impossible, in the case of the Muzbees, to sink entirely the consideration of their previous low position in the social scale of caste, for they are not recognized as equals in position to Sikhs who may originally have belonged to the higher classes of Hindoo life. The head, or founder of the tribe, was one Jewan, who was admitted into the Sikh fraternity for his boldness and valour in carrying off from Delhi the body of Tegh Bahadoor, the ninth Sikh Gooroo, and father of Gooroo Govind, after his martyrdom by Aurungzeeb. Jewan thus gained the honour of the "Muzhab," or faith, and his descendants, as well as the tribe generally, recruited from the lower castes, have multiplied exceedingly. By being raised from outcasts, the Muzbees have improved, and have a pride in their tribe and association with the great Sikh commonwealth. They are a faithful and very industrious class, acting as village watchmen and police, and may be well termed the "navvies" of the Punjab, working, as they do, at railways, roads, canals, and the like, with great skill. They are found also in gangs, under their own head men, all through the North of India, and, indeed, as far as Calcutta, working for daily hire, or taking minor contracts under the railway contractors and officers of public-works. Some years ago a large body of them were engaged for plantation work in Ceylon; but they were dissatisfied with then treatment, and since then the experiment has not been repeated. The Pioneer Battalions of the Punjab and North-West Provinces are almost exclusively composed of Muzbee Sikhs, and at the siege of Delhi, and in other operations against the rebel Sepoys in 1857-58, they displayed admirable endurance and valour. About a century ago, a Muzbee, who had been admitted as a member of the Thuggee fraternity of India, returned to the Punjab, and initiated members of his caste into its horrible mysteries and practices. The system was largely adopted by the Muzbees, and their daring exploits were, perhaps, unsurpassed by any Indian Thugs. This crime, however, is now unknown