(“account book”) Bahi Hereditary pilgrimage priests' pilgrim records are known by this name (pandas).
Each panda family at each holy site (tirtha) has the privilege to serve pilgrims whose ancestral houses are in a certain location, regardless of whether the pilgrims currently live there.
- The Marwari panda, for example, will always serve a family from the Marwar area of Rajasthan, even though the family has not resided in Marwar for centuries.
- During each visit, pilgrims record the date, the names of those who came, and the cause or reasons for their visit in their panda's pilgrim register.
- These data are written on a large sheet of paper that is approximately ten inches broad by three feet long, and each page may include several entries.
- A string may be threaded through the holes punched in one of the thin edges of the page to bind a number of similar sheets together.
- When not in use, these bahis are rolled into a circle and knotted, allowing the panda to compile registers for a single town or family.
- These registers serve as not just a record of pilgrim trips, but also as unmistakable proof of a panda's hereditary relationship to a pilgrim family.
The majority of pilgrims will want to see the entries for their forefathers and mothers as evidence that a priest is their hereditary panda.
- This typically occurs after a long period of time has passed between trips, and the pilgrims may have never seen their panda in person.
- The bahis of a panda are therefore the only evidence of his privileges to a certain pilgrim group, making these records highly precious.
- Most pandas protect their bahis with enthusiasm, knowing that anybody possessing a copy may claim the pilgrims within.
- The significance of the bahis also lends them a high market value.
- They may be used as collateral to get a loan or sold outright.
- This second path is very uncommon, since bahis are not just a source of income for working pandas, but also a family legacy.
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