NADIYA. 133 Madak, 19,747; Lohár, 19,241; Kumbhár, 19,177; Jaliya, 19,052; Sadgop, 18,174; Baniya, 17,706; Kalu, 16, 179; Tell, 16,150; Jugi, 15,775; Mal, 14,284; Kápilí, 13,308; Sunri, 11,796; Dhobi, 10,495; Barhai, 10,446; Tántí, 7807; Málí, 6898; Hari, 6415; and Sonár, 5918. The aboriginal and semi-aboriginal tribes, who are all returned as Hindus by religion, include-Chamárs, 61,058 ; Chandals, 43,780; Bagdi, 42,946; Koch, 15,335; Bhuiya, 703; Bhumij, 124; Santál, 29; and other aborigines, 14,350. Caste-rejecting Hindus number 21,384, of whom 21,330 are returned as Vaishnavs. Historically, the Vaishnavs are merely worshippers of Vishnu, who agree in recognising Chaitanya, the great Vaishnav reformer of the sixteenth century, as their spiritual founder. But many of them upon entering the sect renounce their family and friends, and form a community which is now generally recognised as a distinct caste. Starting from a basis of religious brotherhood and perfect equality, they have developed distinctions and class barriers among themselves, almost as stringent as those among the general Hindu community which they have quitted. The town of Sántipur, in the Ránághát Sub-division, is held sacred by them as the residence of the descendants of Adwaitya, one of the two first disciples of Chaitanya. The Vaishnavs derive their recruits mainly from the lower ranks of Hindu society. The sect has degenerated from its former high standard of faith and morals, and holds a very low place in popular estimation. A large proportion of them live by begging, and many of the females by prostitution. An interesting sect of Hindus has its home in Nadiyá District, namely, the Kartábhajás. The founder of the sect was a labourer named Rám Smaran Pál, a Sadgop by birth, who lived in the village of Ghoshpárá, about 3 miles from the present railway station of Kánchrápárá. Here the members of the sect hold their gatherings; assembling, in October and November, to the number of forty or fifty thousand, to pay homage to their spiritual head, or kartá. An account of the tenets of this sect will be found in the Statistical Account of Bengal (vol. ii. pp. 53-55). The Muhammadans of Nadiyá District exceed the Hindus in number, being returned at 1,146,603, or 56-8 per cent of the District population. Their social status is not high, and they are mostly cultivators. A few are petty landed proprietors or respectable merchants and traders; but the Hindus are generally better off than the corresponding class of Muhammadans. The existence of a large Musalmán population in Nadiya is accounted for by wholesale conversions at a period anterior to the Mughal Emperors, during the Afghán supremacy; and also to the fact that the District was the highway between the great Mughal capitals of Murshidabad and Dacca.
