1865.] On the Boksas of Bijnour. 157 



of these pumh/'ts, and found two of them apparently most ignorant 

 and stupid^ while the third was fairly intelligent, sensible and com- 

 municative. 



A considerable proportion of the tribe follow Ndnafc Mathd, i. e, 

 have adopted the Guru of the Sikhs as theirs, indeed they are 

 called Sikh by their brethren, and not Ndnak slidhis as followers of 

 Nanak are in Hindustan generally. The ordinary Boksa does not 

 ''take Nanak's name" at all. In some of the villages, including 

 Bngnalli which is by far the largest of all, the proportion of Sikhs to 

 the others is very nearly or quite equal, but in some especially of the 

 western villages, there are few or no Sikhs. 



Among so rude a people as the Boksas, it would be vain to expect 

 to find any elaborate set of religious tenets either held or understood by 

 such a sect as these Sikhs, and accordingly their one distinctive mark is 

 avoidance of spirituous liquor, opium and cliarras, which the Boksas 

 in general use freely. The Sikhs will not even smell spirits vo'tmtarily, 

 nor will they use the hookah or eat in the house of one who has 

 smoked on the same day. It is said that the purohits also adhere to 

 the latter rule. Tobacco is lawful to the followers of Nanak, and 

 they, and the rest of the tribe intermarry without restriction, the 

 wife and children as above mentioned invariably following the man's 

 sect. 



The Boksas bear an excellent moral character. I have no definite 

 information as to their intimate domestic and social relations, but 

 for three years at least, not one of the tribe had been a party 

 in either a civil or criminal suit in the district courts. Any 

 disputes that occur are referred to the village elders, and in extra- 

 ordinary cases, it would appear that the pudhdn of one of the more 

 important villages (Bagnulli or Chuttroowali) is called to adjudicate, 

 but such quarrels of any moment are extremely rare. 



Their indolence and ignorance are fully as remarkable as their 

 inoffensiveness. They have a strong objection to all labour which is 

 not absolutely essential to provide means for subsistence ; for example, 

 near some villages immense quantities of manure, of which they well 

 know the value, were lying unused, the trouble of taking it to their 

 fields being too much for them ; and they assigned as the reason for 

 not collecting Kino (MrakMgond) in the forest that it would be 

 barri ?nehnat } although it is really very light work. 



