Guzerat. 
Towns and 
commerce. 
Inhabitants. 
Gracias. 
594 
The principal towns in-the province are Ahmedabad, 
Surat, Cambay, Baroche, Baroda, Dhuboy, Gogo, and 
Chumpanecr. They are generally.in a ruinous condi- 
tion, presenting, in their decayed palaces, tottering mi- 
narets and mouldering aqueducts, many vestiges of their 
former splendour. Their commerce has never been so 
flourishing as it was under the Mogul government, even 
in the times of its most violent convulsions. The prin- 
cipal trade of the province is carried ‘on with Bombay. 
The ‘chief exports are cotton, piece-goods, and grain ; 
and the imports consist mostly of sugar, raw-silk, pep- 
per, cocoa nuts, cochineal, woollens, and bullion. Al- 
most all castes in Guzerat, excepting the Brahmins 
and Banyans, occasionally follow the occupation of 
aveaving ; which, together with the labours of agricul- 
ture, employs the greatest number of the more indus- 
trions of the lower classes. Fortifications were for- 
merly very numerous in the province; and are still 
preserved in the more remote quarters. The natives 
every where live in towns or villages for security 
against banditti, and wild beasts, A single farm house, 
or separate cottage, is rarely to be seen ; and, at night, 
the cattle are always brought within the hamlet, which 
is commonly surrounded by a mud-wall or bamboo 
hedge. The larger towns are usually situated near an 
extensive lake, the banks of which are adorned with 
Hindoo temples and caravansaries, and its surface co- 
vered by the various kinds of lotus. The houses, espe- 
cially in the villages, are rarely built of brick, and pro- 
vided with tiled roofs, but chiefly constructed of mud, 
and thatched with straw or reeds, 
As many parts of Guzerat have never. been subdued 
by any invader, the natives there retain their original 
character unchanged ; but, in the maritime districts, in 
consequence of the many sea ports and commercial ad- 
vantages, which have attracted strangers of all descrip- 
tions, the province contains.a greater variety of castes 
and religions, than any other in Hindostan. It is com- 
monly believed among the natives, that the province 
was originally peopled by the rude castes which still 
exist, and which are known by the names of Cooles 
and Bheels; but neither record nor tradition remains 
respecting their religion or government in their prime- 
yal state. In the town of Rajpeepla, however, the Raj- 
poot successor is still formally invested with the nomi- 
nal sovereignty by a family of Bheels descended from 
their original chieftains. When the Rajpoots acquired 
the ascendancy, the most powerful of their princes re- 
sided at Neherwallah, (or Putten,) on the northern 
frontiers ; and three dynasties are said to have succes- 
sively occupied the throne, from which many of the 
modern Gracia families pretend to trace their descent. 
The Gracias are a numerous class of landholders in 
some parts of the province ; and. in others, only possess 
a sort of feudal authority over certain villages and dis- 
tricts. They are described as consisting of four castes 
or families, —the Coolees, the Rajpoots, the Seid Mahom- 
medans, and the Mole Islams or modern Mahommedans. 
The places principally occupied by the Gracias are 
Rajpeepla and Mandwee, the former south, and the lat- 
ter north of the Nerbudda river; Meagam and Ahmode 
between the Nerbudda ard the Myhi; and Mandowee 
or the Taptee. Many tribes of them also reside in a 
kind of independent state on the rugged banks of most 
of the rivers, and in different parts of the peninsula, 
Criminals, who fly to their haunts for refuge, are readi- 
ly incorporated among them; and all of them are ha- 
bitual plunderers, forming one half of the population 
north of the Myhi, Of all the banditti who infest the 
GUZERAT. 
province, the most cruel and untameable are the Coolees, 
~who maintain amidst their fastnesses ‘an armed inde- ; 
pendence, and plunder without distinction all who “"” 
travel without an escort, or whom they are able to mas- 
ter. They are taught to despise all approaches to ci- 
vilization ; and are said to hold cleanlinesss in the ut~ 
most contempt, as a mark of cowardice. They are well . 
mounted, and often roam in troops to a distance from 
their own settlements, to plunder villages or surprise 
travellers. ‘Their own villages, at the same time, are 
large and populous, their fields inclosed, and their lands 
in general in a state of good cultiyation. The Rajpoots Rajpoot: 
are of a high caste, and are well bred to the use of 
arms. They are athletic in their persons, faithful to 
their engagement, magnanimous and brave above most 
other natives of India, and make the most excellent 
soldiers. They chiefly inhabit the districts north of the 
Nerbudda ; and the great body of them occupy the 
province of Ajimeer, where they have never been sub- 
dued by the Mahommedans, and where they preserve 
in their strongholds and fastnesses the original manners 
of the Hindoo race. Their country is said to resemble 
greatly the more habitable mountainous tracts of Swis- _ 
serland, and to afford some of the grandest and most 
picturesque scenery in India. The Bheels are like the Bheels. _ 
Coolee, savage robbers, but generally poorer ; and in- 
habit chiefly the districts around Turcaseer, The high 
Moguls or Mahommedans, enpacialls those who inhabit 
the towns along the coast, are a polite and respectable 
people. In all the larger towns are found a-singular 
race, who are Mahommedans in religion, but Jews in 
features, manners, and dispositions. They are. called. 
Borahs, and form every where a distinct community, Borahs, . 
They profess a total uncertainty ef thei* own. origin; 
but Boorhanpour, in Khandesh, is the rendezvous of _ 
the seet, and the residence of their moulah or high 
priest. They are noted for their address in bargaining, — 
their minute parsimony, and constant attention to gain. _ 
They are the principal traders in the commercial cities, 
-and are found straggling over the whole province, and 
the other western partsof Hindostan, as itinerant pedlars. 
In Guzerat is found, also, the greater part of the Gabres 
or Parsees, or worshippers of fire, who inhabit the con- 
tinent of India, and who preserve the slender remains 
of the religion.of the Magi: (See Ganres.) Of the pro« 
er Hindoos there are many castes and sects in Guzerat. 
The different families of Brahmins, settled in the pro- 
vince, amount to 84 in number, and are named after the 
places of their ancestors nativity or inheritance. Each 
of these has several subdivisions, and innumerable dis- 
tinctions, which prevent the members of one from in« 
termarrying with another. The Banyans, or Vaneeya, Banyan; 
are very numerous in Guzerat, and are also separated 
into many subdivisions, They are all merchants, and 
frequently travel to-very distant countries, where they, 
remain for several years, in the prosecution of traffic, 
and then return to their families with the gains of their 
adventure. Their , the Guzeratee, which is 
nearly allied’ to the Hindee, is well known in all the 
great Indian markets, and forms the chief medium of 
mercantile intercourse in that continent. A singular 
custom among the Guzerat merchants may here be no- 
ticed, namely, that, when any of them finds himself 
failing in trade, he sets up a Bache light in his house 
or shop; absconds, till his creditors have examined. 
into the state of his property; and wears the tail of his 
waist-cloth tucked up, till they have acquitted him of 
all suspicion of dishonesty. Persons, who take this 
step in time, so as not to injure their creditors much, 
5 , 
