The Ethnology of India. 5 



Though not so pure or characteristic as their Hindoo brethren, many 

 Mussulman Rajpoots and Jats are just as well known as such as the 

 Hindoos; while many whole tribes have become Mahommedans with- 

 out changing their tribal designations and occupations. Most of the 

 modern Sikhs in no way separate from their tribes, and are known as 

 1 Jat,' or ' Khatrie,' or ' Brainan Sikhs,' one member of a family 

 being frequently a * Sing,' while others are not. Jains, I believe, 

 are not ethnologically distinguished from Hindoos. Among the Bun- 

 neahs, it appears that some are Hindoos and some Jains, in the same 

 tribes and sections of tribes. Very puzzling in the South is the term 

 1 Lingaiyat' applied to those Ultra- Si vi tea who wear the Lingam, who 

 seem almost to form a caste, and who are generally spoken of as such. 

 So far, however, as I can gather, the term is really a mere religious 

 denomination, and the Lingaiyats are of various castes, which should 

 be distinguished. 



In all inquiries then, great care is necessary in sifting out tribal, as 

 distinguished from mere professional and religious denominations. 

 When we arrive at proper tribal titles, it is farther desirable to in- 

 quire into the aliases or varieties of title often possessed by the tribes; 

 for it may happen that while an obscure local title is in the most 

 common use, another, less frequently used, will at once indicate iden- 

 tity with some well known and widely spread caste. 



It is also very necessary to attend to the distinctions between great 

 caste titles, and the sub-divisions of those castes. All the great 

 castes have numerous gotes or sub-divisions ; and when a man is asked 

 to what caste he belongs, he will sometimes give the name of the 

 general, and sometimes of the special caste or gote. Some of these 

 sub-divisions really are or may be ethnological sub-divisions, others, 

 from the peculiarity of Hindoo laws, are not so. On the principle 

 which forbids the marriage of relations (carried by Hindoos to an 

 extreme) men of the Rajpoot and other castes cannot marry in their 

 own ' gotes,' but must seek their wives in other gotes. In blood 

 therefore such castes really form but one race — so far at least as the 

 intermarriages are carried — for there are many tribes claiming to be 

 Rajpoots whom the higher tribes will not recognize. Of other castes, 

 the primary sub-divisions keep altogether apart. I apprehend that 

 under the general term ' Bunneah,' are to be found many separate 



