Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 7.djvu/29

 GOOJUR SIRDARS. (345)

HE Goojurs, a Hindoo tribe of the North-Western Provinces, have been already described and illustrated (vide ante Plates 148, 157, and 193); and in the article annexed to the latter Plate their general habits and character were given from the Official Reports, which are by no means of a flattering character. There are, however, sirdars or chiefs among them, and though the names of those represented in the Plate are not given, we may assume them, from the Political Agent's Report, to belong to the nobility of the Bhurtpoor state. "They have gained notoriety," it is recorded, "in the Bhurtpoor state owing to its being the custom, whenever a child is born, that a wet nurse is selected from their tribe; hence they have acquired great influence, and in the Bhurtpoor state are second only to the Jats, with whom they are not on terms of great friendship. In their marriage ceremonies they are the same as the Jats. They have very little education, and live to a great age."

There is no doubt, from their appearance, that these Goojur sirdars are well provided for, as their very gorgeous costumes of cloth of gold (kumkhab) and embroidered velvet amply testify; their turbans also are of fine muslin striped with gold tissue. Fine, stout, burly gentlemen truly, with broad chests and strong arms, warriors, too, no doubt; in their degree they are at least the equals of the Jat sirdars previously illustrated. Their attendant, whose figured coat may be cloth of gold, or possibly chintz, is also a remarkable figure, holding his silver staff; which is richly chased and ornamented. The staff itself is of wood, covered by plates of silver, which are ingeniously joined so as to bear the appearance of one mass. Beside him is a gorgeous hookah, which belongs to the figure on the left, and is a fine specimen of native art, the top, or cover, and bottom being evidently of silver and of graceful design; the long snake may be of black material wound round with gold thread, and the whole apparatus is very handsome. To those unacquainted with the hookah, the following brief description of it may be interesting—The short and long stems are made of hollow bamboo or strong reed,