A  MATHUR  WELFARE  TRUST  &  REFORMS  -  1865  A.D.

(For private circulation through Newsletter of  Mathur Association Bombay)

(Not to be reproduced, wholly or partly without the author’s specific permission)

(By: Krishna  Murari)

       Will a Mathur today believe that a “Mathur Community Committee” ( a sort of Mathur Association) was in existence and functioning more than 140 years ago in a town in India.

      There may have been some others too, but  this one which I know of (with documented record still available), was at Aligarh in U.P., set up in the year 1865, a full 20 years before  even the Indian National Congress was born. Poverty and unemployment were rampant then and people (including a large number of  Mathurs) were unable to fulfill even the most essential social obligation of a child’s  marriage as the traditional marriage ceremonies needed a lot of money. The main agenda of the said Committee therefore, was  alleviation of the sufferings of the impoverished amongst Mathurs,  badly needing help in the performance of marriage of their children.

         In order that a reader appreciates the circumstances leading to the formation of the Committee, first a background, poignant as it is, of the then prevailing conditions (some learnt from our old Biradri Buzurgs of yesteryears, and some others recorded in the delebrations of the Committee’s meeting) is given in para 1 below:

1. Background:

a)       Economic & Financial conditions:

      In an article, “Great Mathur Migrations (MAB Newsletter of  Jan-2004,  available on MAB website  http://www.geocities.com/bombaymathurs ) it was stated that the Mathur star shone the brightest during the Mughal period (1526-1857) in India.  However, as the Mughal empire started crumbling the bright star also started loosing its shine. Well before its final end in the year 1857 the empire had greatly shriveled, with a nominal control  limited only to areas around Delhi and some part of  west U.P. An Urdu poet had aptly described the then situation as   “Hukumat-e-Shah Aalam,  Dilli taa Palam”

     The period of a couple of decades before and after the crucial year 1857 (end of Mughul rule & beginning of British Raj)  is said to be one  of grave, general economic crisis as  Mughals had gone and British were still in process of settling down. It was worse particularly for the service class Mathurs,  many of whom had not received their salary for years from the bankrupted Mughal treasury. Large scale abolition of posts and fanatically motivated retrenchments were the order of the day.  Self employed lawyers, Mukhtyars, Katibs  (writers) etc., had no job as many Courts in major cities were disband. Zamindaris and Jagirs bestowed upon many were revoked and hereditary  Wazifas (recurring grants) and pensions to many were suddenly cancelled or put on indefinite hold, some by the outgoing Mughals themselves and some subsequently by the British.  Incidentally, Mirza Ghalib, the celebrated Urdu poet was also deprived of  his  Mughal  pension  and  passed  his last days at Delhi in extreme poverty.     This situation, though overall, was  worst  in the greatly shriveled Mughal controlled area mentioned above which later fell direct from Mughals to British,  as distinguished from the princely states and other areas which had  already come under British sovereignty. It  may  perhaps not have been that  worse in far-flung regions of  Eastern U.P, Bihar, Bengal, Hyderabad  etc, which by then  had already become  virtually independent of the Mughals under  the local Governors.  

    Talking of  Mathurs in the aforesaid ‘shriveled’ area and in the climate prevailing as above, a large number were left with practically no source of income. Some fell back on  income from the still held Zamindari or on rent from inherited holdings like lands in villages and houses or shops in cities.

 With expansion of families and division of such properties to smaller and smaller units,  the  net per family income from these sources had already shrunk to ever  smaller  values. Cash savings, if one had any, got  evaporated. in due course. Next came gradual sale or mortgaging (never able to retrieve back) of  properties if any,  sale or pawning of  family heirlooms, jewelry, etc., and even of the surplus household utensils in some extreme  cases.  Many  migrated to other places in search of jobs or to stay with relatives elsewhere.

      Last resort for some was to take household necessities on credit from known shopkeepers  or seeking Qarz (loan) from money lenders, wishfully  hoping to repay on   return of better days when, by some miracle,  the unpaid salaries or withheld pensions may be  released, or new employment opportunities  come up. Nothing of the sort ever happened.  Some  Mathur Havelis were put on forced auction, rendering the owners homeless. To save themselves from the humiliation of being dragged to Court, some sold off their properties on their own  at  throw away prices to clear the debts.  In many cases loans are said to have been  cleared by  second or third generation descendents, the original borrower having died without being able to repay in his lifetime. In  some  cases  occasional  help came from extended family members who helped only as long as they could. In some other instances, it is heard,  where a Mathur family  had generations-long  patronage and good  relations with some Mohalle-wale shopkeepers and milkmen,  the later were good enough to continue at a limited scale their services and supplies free of cost, just out of past respect and for old times sake.

b)       Customary obligations & marriages

           Under the saga described above, it can well be imagined that for a Mathur with hardly any means in hose days, providing  marriage expenses would have been like walking through fire. Many girls in such families were growing above the marriageable age (then around 11 years) with embarrassed parents unable to raise funds for the marriage or find matching grooms. Though a good “Khandaan” (family) was an important asset and criterion for seeking alliance, money was needed even by a  Khandani.  Marriage standards, albeit without any norms, had got set earlier in good, prosperous times. For those who could still afford, the standards were higher or highest - no low or lower. “Lakh jaay, per saakh na jaay”, was their idea of showmanship. Others too strove to perform at their very best, never minding going much out of the way just for Khandani Izzat (family’s prestige) even by selling off properties, if required. For them, one daughter married off often meant one Zamindari village or another property gone. And large broods in a family with many girls lined up for marriage were nothing uncommon in those days. Many not-so-well off families, despite their once lofty, Khandani heritage, started being marginalized in the Biradri,  subjecting them to unbearable feelings of inferiority complex..  

      Though there was no Dowry system amongst Mathurs then (and thankfully is still not there, which many other communities concede enviously even today), yet in real trouble were the less fortunate ones who had hardly any means to perform even a simple marriage. It is creditable, so it is heard, that no Mathur was known to have ever begged or cried in public or resorted to any unfair or unlawful means or compromised his self-esteem even under trying situations. It has been an age-old belief that a Mathur, howsoever poor, inherits by birth a high sense of self-respect and dignity, which he traditionally likes to maintain at all cost, and under all circumstances.  Our old Biradri Buzurgs of  yesteryears used to say:

“Museebat   mei(n)   bhi   Mathuro(n)   ki   sharafat kam nahi(n)  hoti                                               karo soney   ke   sau   tukde,   magar   qeemat   kam   nahi(n)   hoti”

2. A think  tank -  and solution:

         From  the  situation around the year 1857 described above at length, let us come to the year 1865 AD. During  all these years some  Mathur minds were  working hard to find  a solution by which  common Mathurs  could  at least perform their children’s marriages in a simple way yet with due dignity. For this, three  conditions  were considered absolutely necessary. First, socially all Biradri members, irrespective of  financial or social status, be considered as equal. Second, any solutions found should be fully acceptable to and binding on all, rich or poor, big or small in the entire Biradri of the region. Third, if funds can not be produced, marriage expenses  must be cut down by canceling unnecessary ceremonies and reducing expenses on the necessary ones to the minimum.

     Informal, serious  group discussions  on these lines by Mathur elders  developed into  formation of a  “Mathur Community Committee” at Aligarh in the year 1865, headed by one  Babu Har Gobind Sahai Sahib  (1839-91), a  respected  Biradri Rais & Vakil of the town.  In those days the British in power were highly suspicious of launch of any Committee or similar movement by Indians  (lest its hidden agenda may be against  British interest) which were not allowed without their prior scrutiny and  permission by specific orders. The  Committee therefore explained its aims and objectives (e.g., totally non-political, only for social reforms within their own  community without interfering with other ones, etc.) to the District Collector at  Aligarh and the Divisional Commissioner at Agra.

      After convincing them and obtaining their permission (referred to as ‘orders’), the Committee had its first public (Mathur) meeting at Aligarh on the 7th September, 1865 in which carefully drafted  regulations, deletions and amendments to the then existing marriage ceremonies, fixing limits on expenses etc., were read out and unanimously agreed upon. Copies of these agreed drafts were  sent to Biradri members in 17 districts of Agra, Bareilly and Meerut Divisions (which then contained sizable Mathur  population in the region) for their opinion and  comments. There must have been  long series of criss-cross discussions, agreements / disagreements,  deliberations and hiccups  in number of meetings at all these places to build up a final, popular opinion on all items of  the crucial draft.  It was, thus only in the final joint meeting held at Aligarh on  2nd December, 1881 ( i.e., full 16 years after initiation of the debate) that  the regulations were  finalized, including the opinions / comments received from the Biradri members of the other cities and unanimously adopted to be  binding on all community members in the region. 

      These were published in the form of a 48-pages  booklet entitled “ZAWABAT – e - SHADI (Regulations for marriage) in highly Persianized Urdu, the language  prevalent amongst Mathurs of those days  It contained the names (with parentage and A’ll )  of about 150  participants from places far and wide, (besides Aligarh) , like Agra, Amroha, Bareilly, Bayana, Farrukhabad, Moradabad, Narnaul, Pilakhna,  Rohtak,  Saharanpur,  Sherkot  and, one each from Delhi and Ferozpore..

      It was a full compendium for  Mathur marriages with detailed explanations for the deletions, amendments  considered necessary in ceremonies.  Most important, it fixed four Categories of Mathur marriages, specifying very precise limits of amount (some in mere paisas) of expenses on the smallest of the various essential ceremonies in each of the four Categories.

       It thus brought great and  much needed relief to the Biradri as a whole; as by following it an ordinary  Mathur  could easily perform marriages most economically within his means, with due grace and honor, and most important, without the embarrassment of being looked down upon by others in the Biradri. Till as late as the 1940’s its provisions were followed as good practice and general guidance (though expense limitations had become a thing of the past) in most Mathur marriages in U.P

3. MATHUR  WELFARE  TRUST: 1865

The book contains  directive for formation of  Welfare Trusts   in various cities to provide and ensure financial help for marriage to the really  needy Mathur, briefly described in essence  as follows:

1.        In every Mathur marriage a donation of Rs.25 in Catagory-1 and Rs.10 in Catagory-2 marriages be taken from the groom’s side to build up the Trust capital. Well-off persons with better means may donate more as per their capacity  which will be appreciated as a gesture of  benevolence.

2.        The Trust  be managed by a Committee of five local respected, well-known and mature Biradri members of integrity, selected as per popular opinion.

3.        An amount of upto Rs.25 be given as an interest free loan to a Mathur in need if he performs marriage of  Category 3 or 4 and as per  the prescribed regulations.

                   Note  Nothing is mentioned about the method of recovery of loans. Also, there is no subsequent record about how the Trusts at various places worked. The author, however, had learnt from his grandfather (1870-1951) that the Trusts at Agra and Aligarh were effectively  working till around  the early  1900’s  before they got wound up, probably as conditions by then had improved and  people were no more in desperate need of  financial help in performance of marriages.        .

      The main purpose of this article is to point to the  significant and noteworthy feature of the book  that  brightly reflects   the glorious  Mathur culture and tradition of equanimity, equality, unity, brotherhood, adaptation  and most important, the spirit of serious,  fatherly and  sympathetic concern of the elder for the younger and of  the rich for the poor in the community -  140 years ago.

      The author has a printed copy (now browned and frail) of the original edition of the booklet issued in the year 1881. It  makes an interesting reading even today not only as it gives a deep insight of a phase of unbelievably pathetic  conditions of the Mathur community at that point of  time, but also as some of its contents are valid and thought provoking  even in the present times.

     It may be mentioned in passing  that the 1865 born  “Mathur Community Committee” at Aligarh  remained functional till quite late to oversee and guide the implementation of its regulations in Mathur marriages.  With  passage of time and gradual betterment of conditions  the  stringency of the  regulations gradually decreased in actual practice. It is not known when the Committee ceased to exist  formally.  However, it took a rebirth in the year 1938 in the form of “Mathur Association Aligarh”, later a body  registered  as “Mathur  Sahayak  Society”, an active Mathur organization at Aligarh  today.

4.       ANOTHER  MATHUR  MEETING  IN  1963

        This article will be incomplete without the mention of a meeting of the above mentioned  Mathur Sahayak Society of Aligarh held on 23rd June, 1963 which cites a reference to the 1865 meeting aforesaid and stipulates further reforms for  Mathur marriages, specially about the   deplorable way of  “girl-seeing” amongst Mathurs.  It also evolved and prescribed  a simplified form of  “Saya-Sagai”  paper in Hindi,

In most Mathur marriages in U.P., nowadays this simplified format is used. .In the earlier days the ‘Sagai’ paper  used to be a very lengthy  one and  in extremely flowery, pure  Persian language (format available in the 1865 booklet),  even  if  written in  Devnagri  script.

5.        IN  CONCLUSION:

a)       Some salient points from the recorded minutes of the aforesaid  1865 meeting (briefly translated  in essence in English) and of the 1963  meeting are described in an attachment to  this article. Today they may appear a bit strange (even amusing to some) but it should be noted that they were  carefully and painstakingly evolved by our ever thoughtful Biradri buzurgs as per  the  situation and  need of the respective times.  Many of these points can be seen as valid, in principle, even today.  

Note: Italicized additions are by the author just by way of clarification /added explanation.

b)  facsimile photocopies of the first page of the 1865 meeting  booklet in Urdu (with English translation by the author), cover page and  the first two pages, in Hindi, of the 1963 meeting  alongwith copy of the simplified  Saya-Sagai format, in Hindi, as mentioned above, are attachments to this article, .for  reader’s interest and use, if needed. 

.

     Much water has flown in the holy Ganges since 1865, and  by grace of God, most Mathurs today are back in a position to  perform glittering, (even  “Mega” and “Farm House” in some cases) marriages, with many ceremonies,  once willingly  deleted,  now happily restored - all  well within their own means.

     Let the bright Mathur star of the 16th & 17th Centuries A.D., shine again in the 21st Century with its  glorious, traditional culture  o f  sharafat  and  Mathuryet.

                                                                                                                                              Krishna Murari

 Panvel (New Mumbai)                                                                                                   Ph: (022) 2746 8573

24-11-2006                                                                                                     em: murarikm@hotmail.com                    

  Attachment to article “A MATHUR WELFARE TRUST & REFORMS – 1865

 Translated  gist  of a  few points from the 1885 Mathur Committee meeting regulations

1. The main aim of  these regulations is the betterment of our Community.  The intention of fixing the four  Categories of marriage  (without  meaning to create any degrading  classifications in the Biradri) is that nobody may have to go in for expenses beyond the prescribed limits,  and that the intended category is mutually decided beforehand to avoid  undue expectations by either side.

2. The present times are extremely hard. Expenses on marriage ceremonies are coming upto three or four hundred rupees nowadays. It is, therefore necessary to limit the number of Baratis, cancel  ceremonies considered unnecessary, and reduce expenses on the others, limited to the amounts given below for each of the four Categories.

                Marriage categories and approved expenses on ceremonies (in Rupees)

                           Sr.   Marriage Category     Boy      Girl   Baratis (max.no.)

                            1.                First                   300       500        100 

                            2.                Second               200       250          50

                            3.                Third                  100       125           25

                            4.                Fourth                  50         75           15

                                  Barat shall stay for a maximum of  four days

      Note: The above  amounts are exclusive of Barat expenses, food, and bride’s trousseau.

       3.   Presently  25 sets of  Teeyals & Bagheys are given. This is now reduced to 15 for    

            Cat.1,  9 for Cat.2  and  5 for Cat. 3 & 4  marriages.

4.  Many alliances  are fixed on the basis of hearsay information only which are  not honored .later.. After tallying of horoscopes, independent enquiries must be made by both parties to full satisfaction and consent of concerned  family members,  before finally fixing the alliance.

5. Once  an alliance is fixed, it should not be broken, except only for the following reasons, if came to be known after alliance fixation:

a)  if the boy or the girl is suffering from some serious / contagious disease

b)       if the boy is illiterate, uncultured or of  bad character, likely to bring  disrepute to the family.

6. Always bear in mind that : “ Honor and self respect of either side is equal”. Boy’s side should not have a demanding attitude nor show over enthusiasm (expectations) in dealing with the girl’s side.

7. Feast for ladies should be held in daytime so that they are back to their homes before evening.  8.General Feast for  men may be held at night but without liquor or meat as it usually has guests from vegetarian communities also. Liquor and meat can be served the next  day in the exclusive feast, even  if vegetarian guests are present.

9. Marriage expenses to be well within your means to save you from future misery. Undue show work  may render you liable for scrutiny of your resources by the authorities  and you may be suspected for illegally begotten wealth, bribe, etc., as happened recently in a case in Delhi.

                                                         -------------------------------------

        Translated gist of a few points from the minutes of the 1963 meeting:

          1.  Of late a very disturbing trend  about ‘girl-seeing’ has come up in the Biradri. The boy’s side now insists upon the girls - not one, but many one after the other - to be ‘shown’ at fixed places (expensive restaurants,  to a multi-member  party from the boy’s side) and then reject the proposal on some pretext or the other. The Committee strongly feels  that  this  gives unnecessary stress and tension  to the girl and her family and often results in defamation of the girl’s side.    It  urges that this practice be stopped and that the boy’s side should ask to see the girl only after all enquiries have been made (to due  acceptance  level)..

      (The context was  that earlier the girls used to be ‘seen’ at a temple,  a mutual relative / friend’s house or in a market place etc., simply, without much fanfare and without  subjecting the girl’s side to huge expenses just in ‘showing’ the girl). 

2. If ladies accompany an outstation Barat, prior intimation should be given to the girl’s side and due arrangements for their  accommodation  ensured beforehand.

3.A simplified format in Hindi is prescribed for  the Saya – Sagai  paper which goes before marriage from the bride’s side to the groom’s side after receipt of the groom’s side “Fehrist” (list  of names)

                                                 ------------------------------------------           

Please see the facsimiles of pages from the two meetings below