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<p class="C1">&#65279BHALL&#256, a sub-division of Khatr&#299 (Pr&#257krit form <i>k&#7779triya</i>) caste, one of the four castes into which the Hindu society is divided. Khatr&#299s are further divided into four sub-groups, i. e. B&#257hr&#299, Khukhrain, Buñj&#257h&#299 and Sar&#299n; the Bhall&#257s belong to the Sar&#299n sub-group. According to a legend, once '&#256l&#257 ud-D&#299n <u>Kh</u>ilj&#299, the Muslim ruler of India (d. 1316), attempted to impose widow remarriage upon the Khatr&#299 class. The Khatr&#299s of western region of the Punjab sent a deputation of fifty-two persons, each representing a sub-group of the Khatr&#299s, to plead their case at the Emperor's court. These memorialists who were against widow remarriage came to be known as B&#257vañjai or Buñj&#257h&#299 from the number <i>bavañj&#257</i> or 52, comprising the deputation. Those living in the eastern part of the Punjab or B&#257r&#299 Do&#257b did not sign that memorandum and obeyed the royal dictum on widow remarriage. They came to be known as followers of <i>shar&#257'&#299n</i> (Muslim law) which subsequently got abbreviated into Sar&#299n. According to another view, <i>sar&#299n</i> is corruption of <i>&#347re&#7751&#299</i> or line or a guild of traders. The Ba&#7771&#257, or elder, Sar&#299n group which Bhall&#257s belong to comprises ten or, according to others, thirteen sections with whom they intermarry. Generally, they do not give their daughters outside their group, but take wives from Chho&#7789&#257, or junior Sar&#299n group, which comprises 108 sections. The Bhall&#257s trace their origin to a pious man, who being philanthropic and kind-hearted, was known as Bhal&#257, lit. a good person. It might be his name or an honorific. His descendants came to be known as Bhal&#257s or Bhall&#257s. This caste acquired sacred character among the Sikhs when the Gur&#363ship was conferred upon Gur&#363 Amar D&#257s, the third in line from Gur&#363 N&#257nak, who was born in a Bhall&#257 Khatr&#299 family and whose descendants are reverently called Bhall&#257-B&#257v&#257s.</p>
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BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Rose, H. A. , <i>A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province</i>. Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257, 1970<BR>
<li class="C1"> Va&#7751j&#257r&#257 Bed&#299, Sohinder Si&#7749gh, <i>Pañjabi Lokdh&#257r&#257 Vishav Kosh</i>, vol. II. Delhi, 1978<BR>
</ol><p class="CONT">S. S. Vañj&#257r&#257 Bed&#299<br></p><BR>
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