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^ CHAP. I THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 7 The central tract in the plains stretching from the The Jats of Jhelum to Hansi, Hissar, and Panipat, and lying to the t^^. central north of Khushab and the ancient Dipalpur, is irSiabited ^^^^"^ chiefly by Jats; and the particular country of the Sikh people may be said to lie around Lahore, Amritsar, and even Gujrat to the north of the Sutlej, and around Bhatinda and Sunam to the south of that river. The one tract is pre-eminently called Manjha or the middle land, and the other is known as Malwa, from, it is said, some fancied resemblance in greenness and fertility to the Central Indian province of that name. Many other mixed with people are, however, intermixed, as Bhutis and Dogras, Gujars, mostly to the south and west, and Rains, Rurs, and p^|^"*^' others, mostly in the east. Gujars are everywhere g^d ^others, numerous, as are also other Rajputs besides Bhutis, while Pathans are found in scattered villages and towns. Among the Pathans those of Kasur have long been numerous and powerful, and the Rajputs of Rahon have a local reputation. Of the gross agricultural popu- Relative lation of this central tract, perhaps somewhat more proportions than four-tenths may be Jat, and somewhat more than of some ^"'^'^^p^^ one-tenth Guiar, while nearly two-tenths may be Raiputs more or less pure, and less than a tenth claim to be Muhammadans of foreign origin, although it is highly probable that about a third of the whole people profess the Musalman faith. In every town and city there are, moreover, tribes of religionists, or soldiers, or traders, or handicraftsmen, and thus whole divisions of a provincial capital may be peopled by holy Brahmans^ or as holy Saiyids, by Afghan or Bundela soldiers, by Kshattriyas, Aroras, Kshattriand Banias engaged in trade, by Kashmiri weavers, and ^^^^^"'^ Aroras of by mechanics and dealers of the many degraded or in- the cities. ferior races of Hindustan. None of these are, however, so powerful, so united, or so numerous as to affect the surrounding rural population, although, after the Jats, the Kshattriyas are perhaps the most influential and enterprising race in the country.^ 1 See Appendix II. In the Punjab, and along 1;^e Ganges, Brahmans have usually the appellation of Missar or Mitter (i.e. Mithra) given to them, if not distinguished as Pandits (i.e. as doctors or men of learning). The title seems, according to tradition, or to the surmise of well-informed native Indians, to have been introduced by the first Muhammadan invaders, and it may perhaps show that the Brahmans were held to be worshippers of the sun by the Unitarian iconoclasts. - 3 See Appendix III.