Chaube of Mathura || Part 5 of 8

Chaubes are largely concentrated in one area of the city called Chaubiya Para whence they have spread toward and along the banks of the river Jamuna from Vishram Ghat to Bengali Ghat. In 1882 Growse (1979:3) noted their population was 6,000. My own rough estimate puts their number in 1978 at about 11,300.^[6] Some have owned significant pieces of land in and around the city, and they control many of the city's religious guest houses (dharmsala). From their territorial stronghold they dominate the Chhata Bazaar area of the city. Their unity against outsiders, their extroverted presentation of self, their often physically imposing wrestlers' bodies, and their public occupation as pilgrimage priests who constantly dun others for alms, cause locals to avoid, if not fear, them.

As pilgrimage priests, the Chaubes' main occupation is to guide pilgrims to the main temples and sacred spots, especially the holy waters of the river Jamuna, in and around Mathura. At the most important sites they offer a necessary prayer of dedication (sankalp^[*]) to sanctify a pilgrim's offering. More important, they are the guides for the Braj Caurasi Kos Parikrama.

This annual forty-day pilgrimage stops at the spots of Lord Krishna's miraculous, childhood deeds (lila) (see Lynch 1988). It moves like an army of about six thousand people complete with mobile police, post office, and shopkeepers. The journey through inhospitable jungle and around ripening millet fields is difficult and often trying; a treacherous thorn may infect an unprotected foot, or tainted water may attack a sensitive stomach. Only a solicitous Chaube guide can ease the way. The relationship between a Chaube and his clients is most often traditional and passed down through families. Trust in them is great, and women unchaperoned by men from their own families may be entrusted into a Chaube's care. In return clients give donations to their Chaubes who make return visits to clients during the year.

Pilgrimage priests outside of Mathura city in the rest of Brai are most often Gaur or Sanadhya Brahmans who, unlike the Chaubes, do not travel from station to station throughout the area. Thus, Chaubes compete for the donations of pilgrims, and their peripatetic rights in Braj have been resented to the point of occasional challenge in the courts. Sanadhyas resident in Mathuts city seem particularly resentful because the Chaubes have edged them almost totally out of Vishram Ghat and other sacred centers in the city.