1902.] Mahamahopadliyaya Haraprasad Shastri— Balkan. 
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Balkan--By Mahamahopadhyaya Haraprasad Shastri. 
[Read 5th March, 1902.] 
There are ia Beliar and in Benares a class of men known as 
Babhans or Bhui-hars. Their position in Hindu society is extremely 
anomalous. They claim to be Brahmans but no good Brahmans such 
as the Kanojia and Sarayupariya treat them on equal terms. They 
would neither inter-marry with them nor eat with them. On seeing a 
Brahman a babliana makes his obeisance, saying: “ Paon lagi , M (I touch 
your foot), the Brahman does not nod in return but pronounces a benedic¬ 
tion as he would do to an inferior caste. 
The high position attained by some members of this class, such as 
the Maharajas of Hatna, Tikari, Betia, and in the North-Western Pro¬ 
vinces of Benares has raised them in the estimation of the Hindus, 
and some of them now claim to be Brahmans and profess to be stu¬ 
dents of Yajurveda. But the professors of other Vedas too are not 
rare. 
The anomalous position held by these has long attracted the atten¬ 
tion of scholars. The Pandits think that they are Murdka-bhisiktas a 
class between Brahmans and Ksatriyas. So they bow to the Brahmans 
and Brahmans pronounce benediction on them. They offer a curious 
problem to these engaged in the investigation of castes and occupations 
of Indian people. 
I was struck the other day to find in the Asoka inscriptions, the 
term Babhan used several times as a corruption of the word brahman a 
in the pillar inscriptions. In one place it is used with the Aji vikas a 
well-known sect of ascetics in ancient India whom Kei identifies with the 
Bhagavatas. In another place it is used in connection with the f ramanas, 
Buddhist monks. 
Now the question is, why is the Asoka corruption, i.e., Buddhist 
Corruption, of the word Brahman be the proper name of a peculiar 
class of men who claim to be Brahmans, whose claim is not admitted by 
Brahmans ? 
In Hindu Sanskrit works we often hear of Brahmana f ramanas, 
