BA RODA.
159
174,980, or 8 per cent., as Musalmans; 46,718 asjains; 771 Christians; and 28 ‘others.’ The percentage of males to the total
8118 Pirsfs population
Of
52'i5.
is
and 79,853 Rajputs.
the 1,954,390 Hindus, 138,506 are Brdhmans, The Baniyds or traders number 57,027.
number 482,928, the most numerous (391,984) ; fishing and boating castes number 14,835; artisans, 160,217; domestic servants, 32,671; labouring and wandering castes, 69,192; mendicant castes, 20,551 ; and ‘depressed’
agricultural or pastoral castes
being the
Kanbi's
110,040 Dhers. Of the 174,980 Musalmdns, 155,653 are Sunni's and 19,327 Shias. The agricultural population of the State, as in other parts of Guzerat, is mainly composed of Brdhmans of
castes, 191,461, including
the Bhdthela clan, Kanbis, Rdjputs, and Kolfs. cultivators
the
in
north
towards the south.
The
dominate.
In the
mercantile
and many
condition,
There are also Borah
and south, and Bhils
the wilder tracts
in
highly-cultivated parts, the
community
is
who
especially those
families,
Kanbis pre-
said to be in a prosperous in
acted as State bankers, are possessed of great wealth.
former times
In recent years
number of Brahmans, Marathas, and other natives of the Deccan and Konkan have permanently settled in Baroda territory. In the northern and eastern Districts the chief cultivators are Kolfs and Rajputs in poor circumstances. With these are interspersed Bhats, Charans, and religious mendicants of different descriptions, some of
a large
whom, such are
often
as the
the
Gosains,
who
inhabit monasteries called maths,
wealthiest
and most
Bombay and
Surat,
influential
land-owners
in
the
country.
Excluding
greater than in the Baroda territory. residing in
Baroda
city
and
first
hill forts
at other places, the Parsi population
is
5 miles from Surat, where they are said to settled with their sacred fire about 450 years ago. The two
collected at Navsari, about
have
number of Parsis is nowhere With the exception of about 175
the
1
of Songarh and Saler are worthy of notice.
Songarh, 43 miles
and a few miles south of the Tapti, commands a path much favoured by the bands which from time to time invaded the plain of Guzerat from the higher lands of Khdndesh, and was for many years east of Surat
the head-quarters of the Gaekwar’s power.
corner of the Baroda territory. District,
and
Saler
is
at the south-east
These two, which both
also the fort of Mulher, are
still
lie in
Navsari
garrisoned with militia.
Rupgarh, a hill fort 10 miles south of Songarh, is not garrisoned, but Wajpur on the Tapti river, once a strong place, has a garrison. Among other places of interest in the State may be mentioned Vohora Kathor, famous for the manufacture of the deep-red dye extracted from the roots of the moringa tree; Sojitra, celebrated for its knives; Dabhoi, where turbans and sdris are woven in large quantities; Pattan, well known for its knives, nut-crackers, and specially for its pottery, which is
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