5. The caste an offshoot from Brahmans. Kayasths are looked down upon by those who have improved their position in more important branches of Government service. Kanungo, as explained, is a sort of head of the patwāris; and Bakshi, a post already noticed as held by a Kayasth in the Central Provinces, is the Muhammadan office of paymaster. Similarly Mr. Crooke states that while the higher members of the caste stand well in general repute, the village Lāla (or Kāyasth), who is very often an accountant, is in evil odour for his astuteness and chicanery. In Central India, as already seen, they are Kanungos of Districts and patwāris of villages; and here again Malcolm states that these officials were the oldest settlers, and that the later comers, who held more important posts, did not intermarry with them.1 In Gujarat the work of collecting the revenue in the Surat tract was entrusted to Kayasths. Till 1868, in the English villages, and up to the present time in the Baroda villages, the subdivisional accountants were mostly Kayasths.2 In the Central Provinces the bulk of the patwāris in the northern Districts and a large proportion in other Districts outside the Maratha country are Kayasths. If the Kayasths were originally patwāris or village accountants, their former low status is fully explained. The village accountant would be a village servant, though an important one, and would be supported like the other village artisans by contributions of grain from the cultivators. This is the manner in which patwāris of the Central Provinces were formerly paid. His status would technically be lower than that of the cultivators, and he might be considered as a Sūdra or a mixed caste. As regards the origin of the Kāyasths, the most probable hypothesis would seem to be that they were an offshoot of Brahmans of irregular descent. The reason for this is that the Kayasths must have learnt reading and writing from some outside source, and the Brahmans were the only class who could teach it them. The Brahmans were not disposed to spread the benefits of education, which was the main source of their power, with undue liberality, and when another literate class was required for the performance of 1 Memoir of Central India, loc. cit. 2 Hindus of Gujarāt, p. 60. II THE CASTE AN OFFSHOOT FROM BRAHMANS 413 duties which they disdained to discharge themselves, it would be natural that they should prefer to educate people closely connected with them and having claims on their support. In this connection the tradition recorded by Sir H. Risley may be noted to the effect that the ancestors of the Bengal Kayasths were five of the caste who came from Kanauj in attendance on five Brahmans who had been summoned by the king of Bengal to perform for him certain Vedic ceremonies.1 It may be noted also that the Vidūrs, another caste admittedly of irregular descent from Brāhmans, occupy the position of patwāris and village accountants in the Maratha districts. The names of their subcastes indicate generally that the home of the Kāyasths is the country of Hindustan, the United Provinces, and part of Bengal. This is also the place of origin of the northern Brāhmans, as shown by the names of their most important groups. The Rājpūts and Banias on the other hand belong mainly to Rājputāna, Gujarat and Bundelkhand, and in most of this area the Kayasths are immigrants. It has been seen that they came to Malwa and Gujarat with the Muhammadans; the number of Kayasths returned from Rājputāna at the census was quite small, and it is doubtful whether the Kayasths are so much as mentioned in Tod's Rajasthan. The hypothesis therefore of their being derived either from the Rajputs or Banias appears to be untenable. In the Punjab also the Kayasths are found only in small numbers and are immigrants. As stated by Sir H. Risley, both the physical type of the Kayasths and their remarkable intellectual attainments indicate that they possess Aryan blood; similarly Mr. Sherring remarks: "He nevertheless exhibits. a family likeness to the Brāhman; you may not know where to place him or how to designate him; but on looking at him and conversing with him you feel quite sure that you are in the presence of a Hindu of no mean order of intellect." No doubt there was formerly much mixture of blood in the 1 Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Bengal Kayasth. The Kayasths deny the story that the five Kayasths were servants of the five Brahmans, and say that they were Kshatriyas sent on a mission from the king of Kanauj to 2 the king of Bengal. This, however, is improbable in view of the evidence already given as to the historical status of the Kayasths. 2 Tribes and Castes, ibidem. caste; some time ago the Kayasths were rather noted for keeping women of other castes, and Sir H. Risley gives instances of outsiders being admitted into the caste. Dr. Bhattacharya states that, "There are many Kayasths in eastern Bengal who are called Ghulāms or slaves. Some of them are still attached as domestic servants to the families of the local Brāhmans, Vaidyas and aristocratic Kayasths. Some of the Ghulāms have in recent times become rich landholders, and it is said that one of them has got the title of Rai Bahadur from Government. The marriage of a Ghulam generally takes place in his own class, but instances of Ghulāms marrying into aristocratic Kayasth families are at present not very rare." Further, the Dakshina Rārhi Kayasths affect the greatest veneration for the Brāhmans and profess to believe in the legend that traces their descent from the five menial servants who accompanied the five Brahmans invited by king Adisur. The Uttara Rārhi Kāyasths or those of northern Burdwān, on the other hand, do not profess the same veneration for Brahmans as the southerners, and deny the authenticity of the legend. It was this class which held some of the highest offices under the Muhammadan rulers of Bengal, and several leading zamīndārs or landholders at present belong to it.2 It was probably in this capacity of village accountant that the Kayasth incurred the traditional hostility of one or two of the lower castes which still subsists in legend. The influence which the patwāri possesses at present, even under the most vigorous and careful supervision and with the liability to severe punishment for any abuse of his position, is a sufficient indication of what his power must have been when supervision and control were almost nominal. On this point Sir Henry Maine remarks in his description of the village community: "There is always a village accountant, an important personage among an unlettered population; so important indeed, and so conspicuous that, according to the reports current in India, the earliest English functionaries engaged in settlements of land were occasionally led, by their assumption that there 2 Ibidem, pp. 375, 380. 1 Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 155. 3 See articles on Ghasia and Dhobi. II THE SUCCESS OF THE KĀYASTHS 415 must be a single proprietor somewhere, to mistake the accountant for the owner of the village, and to record him as such in the official register.1 In Bihār Sir H. Risley shows that Kayasths have obtained proprietary right in a large area. the and their present It may be hoped that the leading members of the 6. The Kayasth caste will not take offence, because in the dis- success of cussion of the origin of their caste, one of the most interest- Kayasths ing problems of Indian ethnology, it has been necessary present to put forward a hypothesis other than that which they hold position. themselves. It would be as unreasonable for a Kayasth to feel aggrieved at the suggestion that centuries ago their ancestors were to some extent the offspring of mixed unions as for an Englishman to be insulted by the statement that the English are of mixed descent from Saxons, Danes and Normans. If the Kayasths formerly had a comparatively humble status in Hindu society, then it is the more creditable to the whole community that they should have succeeded in raising themselves by their native industry and ability without adventitious advantages to the high position in which by general admission the caste now stands. At present the Kayasths are certainly the highest caste after Brāhman, Rājpūt and Bania, and probably in Hindustan, Bengal and the Central Provinces they may be accounted as practically equal to Rājpūts and Banias. Of the Bengal Kayasths Dr. Bhattacharya wrote: "They generally prove equal to any position in which they are placed. They have been successful not only as clerks but in the very highest executive and judicial offices that have yet been thrown open to the natives of this country. The names of the Kayastha judges, Dwarka Nath Mitra, Ramesh Chandra Mitra and Chandra Madhava Ghose are well known and respected by all. In the executive services the Kayasths have attained the same kind of success. One of them, Mr. R. C. Dutt, is now the Commissioner of one of the most important divisions of Bengal. Another, named Kālika Dās Datta, has been for several years employed as Prime Minister of the Kuch Bihar State, giving signal proofs of 2 1 Village Communities, p. 125. 7. Subcastes. his ability as an administrator by the success with which he has been managing the affairs of the principality in his charge." In the Central Provinces, too, Kāyasth gentlemen hold the most important positions in the administrative, judicial and public works departments, as well as being strongly represented in the Provincial and subordinate executive services. And in many Districts Kayasths form the backbone of the ministerial staff of the public offices, a class whose patient laboriousness and devotion to duty, with only the most remote prospects of advancement to encourage them to persevere, deserve high commendation. The northern India Kāyasths are divided into the following twelve subcastes, which are mainly of a territorial character: (a) Srivastab. (c) Bhatnagar. (d) Ambastha or Amisht. (g) Mathur. (h) Kulsreshtha. (a) The Srivastab subcaste take their name from the old town of Sravāsti, now Sahet - Mahet, in the north of the United Provinces. They are by far the most numerous subcaste both there and here. In these Provinces nearly all the Kayasths are Srivastabs except a few Saksenas. They are divided into two sections, Khare and Dūsre, which correspond to the Bisa and Dasa groups of the Banias. The Khare are those of pure descent, and the Dūsre the offspring of remarried widows or other irregular alliances. (b) The Saksena are named from the old town of Sankisa, in the Farukhābād District. They also have the Khare and Dūsre groups, and a third section called Kharua, which is said to mean pure, and is perhaps the most aristocratic. A number of Saksena Kayasths are resident in Seoni District, where their ancestors were settled by Bakht Buland, the Gond Rāja of Deogarh in Chhindwara. These constituted hitherto a separate endogamous group, marrying among themselves, but since the opening of the railway negotiations |