[September 2, 1878

236 THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE. [September 2, 1878. KASHMIR. dans are mostly Sunis, the number of Shias being very small. Some Sufies exist and an old sect called Ch&k. ^ Surgeon-Major G. C. By Ross, The Pandits and Mullahs are ignorant and the people sunk Bengal Medical Service. in the grossest superstition. to It ( Continued from page 209.) Language.?The language is peculiar Kashmir. contains Sanscrit to in a the amount of twenty-five words People.?The Kashmiris are remarkably handsome one hundred, forty fifteen Hindustani, and robust race. Their physique, character being Persian, physically ten Arabic, Thibetan, &c. It is marked by its form a very marked contrast to the rest of Turki, uncouth rusticity, yet the people are eminently musical, the races of British India. the songs of the boatmen especially being extremely Kashmiris proper may be divided into Mahomedans and melodious. the " Pundits," who are the Hindu remainder, who have Government.?The Monarch is the ultimate court of escaped conversion into Mahomedanism. They are all and Kashmir is ruled by a Dewan or Governor, Brahmans. appeal, assisted by high officers of State?a Financial and The Mahomedans are divided into several classes,?the " Revenue Commissioner and an Accountant General. The boatmen Hanjies," shawl weavers, goldsmiths, metal Chief Court is presided over by a Judge assisted by a workers, &c.; there is also the Batul caste, which is pro- Naik. The jurisdiction of this Court is restricted to bably a non-Aryan aboriginal relic. They are the workers Civil and Criminal cases only, Revenue suits going to in leather, musicians and nautch girls. the Governor. The different grades of Courts are?Tehsil- The Mahomedans and Hindus are an Aryan race of light 24 ; Wazirs or Commissioners, five, assisted complexion, robust and handsome. dars, Deputy by a Revenue and a Judicial Assistant, the City Court The clothing consists of a long loose gown, made of and the Sudder Adawlat. home-spun wool, short pyjamas and a skull cap with The TehsiJdar has 200 to 400 sepoys under him ; the turban. Coolies and shikaries wear a cummerband and to The an account of " Thanadar 40 50. Kardar, who keeps knickerbockers with putties"?bandages?round the leg. the crops, is allotted a certain number of villages ; the The ordinary shoe is worn in the towns ; and in the Mokaddam over each village, who keeps an account of the country grass chupplies made of rice straw. crops, with the Putwari, a Pundit. In each village there Every Kashmiri, no matter what age, condition, or sex, are 1 to 4 Shagdars, who watch the crops while growing, carries about in the cold weather a portable stove, called a Sargaul is over these Shagdars, one to every ten a Jcangri. This is a small earthen pot enclosed in wicker villages, a Hindu generally. And finally a Trazadar, who work, with a handle and filled with charcoal; they slip weighs the grain and a Hurkara or Police constable, one one arm inside out of its sleeve and hold the Jcangri to every twenty villages ; he is over the Dims or police- underneath their great loose gowns, then squat down. men, one in each village, who are quartered on the This arrangement is very efficacious, but productive of inhabitants. The above is a sketch of the method of severe burns and epithelioma. revenue collecting and general government. Their character is very pronounced, but Englishmen Serious crimes are infrequent. Security of life and only come across the trade and servant class who are property is very remarkable throughout His Highness's cowards and Yet are notoriously liars, noisy. they dominions. cheerful, excellent ser- hard-working, very intelligent, Capital punishment does not exist; there are two jails vants and clever at handicrafts, and as mountaineers the in Srinagar ; the prisoners are employed mainly at husk- villagers and shikaries are probably unequalled. ing rice, carpet-weaving, cotton cloth, &c. The scale In connection with the races of Kashmir the Dogra of diet is one seer of rice with dhall and vegetables and Sikh must be mentioned, who form the soldiery. daily and meat once a week. The seer is one-fourth less There is also another some- foreign element, although than the British. a what blended, Durdni-Pathan settlement in one of Education?is restricted to Persian, Sanscrit and Ara- the valleys?Machipura. bic. Great ignorance and superstition exist. The hills are grazed upon the flocks and herds by Medical.?There is a dispensary at Srinagar with two of the race of Gujers, who exist here as well as in other Hospital Assistants in it, educated at Lahore, but the parts of India. people wont go to it, whereas the attendance at the Language, and Literature.?The has Religion, religion Medical Mission is nearly 200 daily. been changed. In remote years it was that repeatedly Postal.?A post exists between Murree and Srinagar, of the or Snake-gods. Budhism was introduced Nagas half of the British charge for India being extracted, and Asoka in 250 B. C., and castes adapted his by by Jaloka, 1 anna on each English or Europe letter. successor. I Revenue?is derived from all sources; no product The Brahminical or Hindu was into religion brought being considered too insignificant, no person too poor to B. 0. 73 and vogue by Abhimanyas, ; snake-worship I contribute'to the State. It amounts now, it is said, to again revived under Gonerda III. ?400,000. The Kashmiris that Mahomedanism was say intro- All land is the property of the ruler, three-fourths of the duced 700 antecedent to that years ago?a period of produce being appropriated by him; two-thirds taken in the first Mahomedan ruler. Shams-i-din, kind and one-third in money. There are now several sects of Hindus. The Mahome- The Government share of grain is lodged in store-houses, September 2, 1878.] KASHMIR.?BY SURGEON-MAJOR G. C. ROSS. 237 of men?16 where it is sold at Government rates. No cultivator is The army consists 20,000 batteries, 2 of 24 Regiments of one of allowed to offer the produce of his farm at a lower rate, Regiments Cavalry, Infantry, and Miners, and Irregulars. or often to sell it at all, until the Government corn has Sappers of and been sold. The army is mostly composed Dogras Punjabi and hill-men. In addition to the money taxes on the different Hindus, some Ghilgities grains, armed a there is also another which is It drills and is not badly ; quantity of levied annually upon each well, " Sniders and Enfields been the house in the Dehat" of from 4 to 20 annas. Of fruit having presented by English Government. three-fourths of the annual produce is taken by Govern- The revenue is collected by the soldiery. ment. There is an annual tax of 1 anna per head on sheep principally The is 9 chilkies a month,?four being stopped for and goats, and from all villages producing over 500 pay rations and but the men live in the kharwars of grains, two or three are taken annually and equipment, generally villages at free quarters. half their value returned in coin?one pony and one looi The powers of the are not they or home-spun blanket are also taken annually under the fighting army great, dread active service in the and did not same conditions. For each milch cow half a seer of ghee is hills, distinguish themselves in 1857 at Delhi for but taken ; from one to ten fowls are taken from each house, anything looting. History.?From the year 266 B. when it is said that according to the number of its inhabitants. 0., the physical aspect of the valley was to A. D. In the Lidder and Ward wan, two-thirds of the honey pro- changed, 1014, the country was governed by Hindu and Tartar duce are taken. Tame bees are kept by the zemindars there. In 1015 Mahmud of Ghazni Kashmir. The produce of the waters also belongs to Government. princes. conquered In 1305 a Hindu prince was on the throne. In 1326 an The singara nut yields a very large revenue, which is army of Turks invaded, and the Hindu farmed out, and fishing without a license is prohibited. dynasties perished in the person of a Queen who committed suicide rather The reeds of the Anchar produce, it is said, 4,000 chilkies than marry her conqueror Shums-u-din. annually. In Thibet, Oabul and were added to The stamp duty on shawls is 26 ?/0 of the estimated 1356, Kashgar the of Kashmir ; about this period Sikander value. The import of wool is taxed, and a charge made kingdom surnamed Bhutshikan, the Iconoclast, destroyed the upon every shop or workman connected with the manu- beautiful Pandu The was in its facture of 37 per head. temples. country prime in 1423 under who built en- All trades are taxed?butchers, bakers, boatmen, vendors Zein-ul-abdin, Srinagar, arts, commenced the shawl trade, papier mache, of fowl, sweepers! public notaries, even the prostitutes. couraged paper-making, &c. All Mahomedans pay taxes except the tailors; most of glass-making, But from his that of Solomon in the the necessaries of life are Government monopolies?salt, reign?resembling misrule which followed?to 1537 and tea, kot (the aromatic costus) brick-making. 25 ?/0 ad-va- anarchy, intrigue murder and the Delhi Emperor turned lorem is levied on all boats being built; even the wretched prevailed, Humayun his attention to the but until Akbar's time no coolie impressed for the travellers' baggage is mulcted country; was made.

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