CENSUS OF INDIA 1961 MONOGRAPH SERIES Volume XIX Part V-B SCHEDULED CASTES IN DELHI s. R. GANDOTRA. OJ the Indian Administrative ·Service Director oj Oensus Operf!;tions, JJelh~ \ \ Statements made, views expressed or conclusions drawn in this report are wholly the responsibility of the author alone in his personal capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of the Government. FOREWORD The Indian Census has had the privilege of presenting authentic ethnographic accounts of Indian Communities. It was usual in all censuses to collect and publish information on race, tribes and castes. The Constitution lays down that "the State shall promote with sp;cial care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sec­ tions of the people and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation". To assist states in fulfilling their responsibilities in this regard the 1961 Census provided a series of special tabulations of the social and economic data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are notified by the President under the constitution and the Parliament is empowered to include or exclude from the lists any caste or tribe. No other source can claim the same authenticity and comprehensiveness as the Census of India to help the Government i:a taking decisions on matters such as these. Therefore, besides the statistical data provided by the 1961 Census, the preparation of detailed ethnographic notes on a selection of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in each State and Union 'Territory was taken up as an ancillary study. Dr. B. K. Roy Burman, Deputy Registrar General, Handicrafts and Social Studies Division, assisted by Shri N. G. Nag, Officer on special duty is co-ordinating all these studies at the Central level. At the State level the Directors of Census Operations. and their staff are collaborating in conducting the field investigations and prepar­ ing the report. In the case of the Union Territory of Delhi this pub­ lication is the result of close collaboration at all levels between the staff of Director of Census Operations, Delhi and Office of the Reg­ istrar General, India. I avail of this opportunity to extend my warm thanks to all my colleagues who have undertaken various studies on different aspects of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of India. A. CHANDRA SHEKHAR RegistTaT GeneTal, India (iiI1 PR.EFACE As an adjunct of 1961 Census, preparation of ethnographic monographs on a number of selected Scheduled Castes. Scheduled Tribes and ethnic groups with special status, and ethnographic glos­ saries on all Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been taken up by the Census Organisation. In the Union Territory of Delhi 36 names figure in the list of Scheduled Castes. But actually speaking some of the communities separately mentioned such as Bhangi, Chohra (Sweeper), Chuhra (Bal­ miki) are synonyms for one and the same community. Similarly. there are other cases where the notified communities are actually synonyms. There are also cases where the name represents a religious- sect rather than a separate ethnic group such as Kabirpanthi which is notified as Scheduled Ca~te in the territory. On actual investigation it was found to be a religious sect embraced not only by some of the Scheduled Castes such as Julaha, Koli etc. but also by some Caste Hindus. Khat­ riya groups like Arora Khatris. In the present series 16 of the Schedul­ ed Castes have been covered. These are:- 1. Agri 7. Dhobi 13. Sapera 2. Balai 8. Kanjar 14. Dom 3. -Banjara 9. Khatik 15. Kachhandha 4. Bazigar 10. Koli 16. Adi-Dharmi 5. Bhil 11. Meghwal 6. Dhanak 12. Pasi In addition, on some of the scheduled castes such as Sikligar 'lnd Mallah separate monographs have been brought out by Census Orga­ nisation. Due to some unavoidable circumstances such as transfer of con­ cerned officials wanting on this project and Census Operations of 1971, the publication of this report has been delayed. But the fact remains that it is equally logical today and I do hope that this report will be quite useful in understanding the present socio-economic life of the Scheduled Castes in Delhi. The present monograph is a result of joint collaboration between the staff of the Director of Census Operations, Delhi and Office of the Registrar General, India. The names of the members of staff associated -with the preparation of Ethnographic Notes on various Scheduled Castes are given under the "acknowledgments" in the page over-leaf. This project was initiated under the supervision of my predecessor, Shri Baldev Raj, the then Superintendent of Census Operations, Delhi. Shri B. N. Mathur, Head Assistant, also helped at organisational level. The draft notes were scrutinized by Shri N. G. Nag, Officer on Special Duty. Office of the Registrar General, India. S / Shri Lal Krishan, A.D.C.O., S. P. Sharma, Sr. _Investigator and S. C. Arora, Tabulation Officer were also associated in finalization of this mono­ graph. Shri C. Lal Rohatgi took great interest in going through the proois of this publication. (v) \ Dr. B. K. Roy Burman, neputy Registrar General who is in­ charge of Social Studies in the office of Registrar General, India. provided technical guidance and advice for conducting the study at various levels. I am thankful to all my colleagues who collaborated in bringing out this monograph. I am extremely grateful to Shri A. Chandra Sekhar for the keen interest that he envisaged in this project and gave us necessary en­ couragement. S. R. "GANDOTRA Director of Census Operatio'ns, 26th June" 1974 Delhi I \ (vlJ ACKNOWLEDGMflNTS N arne of Scheduled Caste Field I nvel>tigation conducted and draft prepared by 1 Agri Miss Renu Anand 2 Balai Miss Renu Anand 3 Banjara Miss Indra Trikha 4 Bazigar Sh. Satish C. Arora 5 Bhil Miss Indra Trikha & Miss Nalini Ojha 6 Dhanak Sh. S.S. Vas ant & Miss Nalini Ojha 7 Dhobi Miss Renu Anand 8 Kanjar Sh. Satish C. Arora 9 Khatik Miss Renu Anand 10 Koli Sh. S.S. Vasant & Miss Indra Trikha 11 Meghwal "Miss T. Khatoon 12 Pasi Miss Indra Trikha 13 Sapera Sh. Kul Bhushan Lakhanpal 14 Dom Miss Indra Trikha & Miss N alini Ojha 15 Kachhandha lVliss Indra Trikha 16 Adi-Dharmi Miss Indra Trikha (vii) CONTENTS Page iii Foreword •• •• 00 Preface O. V Acknowledgments VIl Monographs 1 Agri .. •• ". '1 2 Balai 13 ·". 3 Banjara ·. 27 4 Bazigar 43 5 Bhil ·. 51 6 Dhanak 63 7 Dhobi o. 79 8 Kanjar 91 9 Khatik 99 10 Koli ·. 113 11 Meghwal 131 12 "Pasi 141 13 Sapera 163 14 Dom ·. 175 15 Kachhandha ·. 177 16 Adi-Dharmi ·. 179 (ixl THE AGRI Xl A Scheduled Caste woman in her traditional dress and ornaments. It's difficult for her to depart from her age~ old traditions. AGRI Name, Identity, Origin and History official-in-charge failed to make over his collections to the headquarters at Delhi even after repeated warn­ Agri is treated as a scheduled caste in the Union ings, the Moghul Emperor, as a last resort, sent one Territory of Delhi. This caste has been recorded in of his generals to reprimand the delinquent. The offi­ other states also. The traditional occupation of the cial-in-charge of the Embassy, however, gave fight Agris is salt-making though most of them are now en­ to this General of the Moghul Emperor and threw gaged in Agriculture in the Union Territory of Delhi. away the yoke of the sovereign power. Nevertheless In many other states also the Agris are reported as the Emperor of Delhi with a firm determination, to salt-workers and cultivators. bring low his audacity, despatched another strong From the Marathi word 'Agar', we get the word detachment under an able General with instructions to 'Agri' and an 'Agari' in Marathi connotes one who seek, on his way to Sagargad, the help of one Raja works in 'Agar'. The word 'Agar' means either a plan­ Bimba then ruling at Meengi Paithar. The Emperor tation of palm trees or a 'salt-pan'. This word is used also wrote under his own seal to Raja Bimba who left more commonly in the sense of those 'who depend his capital with a big force and joined the Moghul upon salt-pans for their maintenance'. The name 'Agri' armies at Thana. With a carefully set out plan these has thus come to have a functional origin. They are combined armies then proceeded further to complete also called 'Noongars', 'Noon' means salt. their mission. According to Dharkar, the mythological origin of As soon as the Moghul armies launched their attack the Agris is as follows:- on Sagargad from the west, Raja Bimba advancing "During the course of their usual talk in the lighter from the eastern side stormed the Sagargad fort, im­ vein as Lord Shiva and his wife Parvati were reposing prisoned the local chief and took the recalcitrant offi­ on the heights of the Kailas mountain. Parvati re­ cial of the Moghul Embassy into his custody. After quested her husband Lord Shiva, to explain to her the peace and order had been restored in the territory, the origin of the eighteen castes and colours (varnas) pre­ Moghul General left for Delhi taking the war captives valent on the face of the earth. Lord Shiva remarked with him. that he was the cause of the creation of the eighteen Raja Bimba now styled himself as the ruling prince castes and he was responsible for their present con~ of Sagargad. Raja Bimba appears to have been a tinuance also.