1805.] On the Boksas of Bijnour. 155 



the dominant tongue. It is evident that, if my supposition is correct, 

 all the traditions which assign to the Boksas a Rajput origin are 

 haseless, hut precedent are not wanting of tribes, assuming traditions 

 in accordance with the history of their new co-religionists. Indeed, 

 such traditions sometimes arise even where the smaller tribe has 

 not adopted the religion of those who surround it. This is the case 

 of the Nilgiri Todas whose ancestors are now represented to have 

 been the palanquin-bearers of Kunya-Swami, a Hindoo deity, though 

 the Todas, far from being Hindoos, seem to have no religious beliefs 

 or ceremonies whatever. 



To the question, whence the Boksas came, and, if they are of 

 Turanian origin, to which of the great tribes of that race are they 

 nearly allied, the information at my disposal does not enable me to offer 

 any definite answer. It may be, that they sprang from the same 

 source as the Bheels, Gronds, Coles, and other so-called " hill tribes" 

 of Peninsular India, relics of the original Tamulian inhabitants of the 

 country, still subsisting in the out-of-the-way corners into which they 

 were driven by the Aryan influx. But it appears to be indicated by 

 the fact of a series of analogous tribes occupying segments of the 

 Sub-Himalayan forest-belt from Assam to the Jumna, and seems on the 

 whole more probable, that the Boksas are the furthest authors of the 

 stock whence sprung the aborigines of the northern part of the 

 Malayan peninsula. In any case, if they are really non- Aryan, the 

 complete substitution of Hindustani for their original language, and 

 the thorough assimilation of their faith and customs to those of the 

 surrounding race may form insuperable obstacles to their true relation- 

 ships ever being found out. Here, however, I shall leave this subject 

 to be discussed by those who are better qualified to handle it, in order 

 to revert to less theoretical matters. 



The Boksas conform to the Hindoo religion in an ignorant, un- 

 meaning way, S,nd the usual rites of that faith are performed on the 

 occasion of births, marriages, and deaths. Marriage, as among the Hin- 

 doos, takes place at 8 to 10 years, and at this ceremony the purohii receives 

 a fee of about four annas. After a birth, he gets from four annas to one 

 rupee four annas. The bodies of the dead are burned at the Ram- 

 gunga, or other neighbouring large stream, and the plml (ashes) are 

 earned to Hurdwar, there to be consigned to Grunga ji, by a Brahmin 



