ABSTRACT
The Bha_tiárá is either an eating-house keeper, or an inn-keeper; in the former capacity selling bread, eggs, rice, and ‘kabáb,’ or balls of meat roasted on skewers, and contracting to feed stangers for a certain period, and at a fixed rate, usually three anas (4½ d.) for two meals daily; while in the latter he is a far more important individual. He keeps a Musáfir-khánah (lit., traveller’s abode), or Bhatiárkhánah, where travellers are housed and fed. There are no Saráes in Eastern Bengal at the present day, and the Katras, originally built for the accommodation of travellers, have been converted to other uses. These inn-keepers feed travellers for three anas a day, and on paying one paisa additional they receive a mat and are allowed to sleep on the ground in a corner of a thatched hut. The bill of fare provided by the Bha_tiárá is limited to rice, bread, fish, or meat, curried (sálan), and a richly-seasoned stew, known as ‘do-piyáza’. These inns are shunned by many because, in case of sudden death, the bodies of travelers are handed over to the police and buried by the Dôms. Should the wayfarer, therefore, be poor and friendless, he prefers going to one of the charitable Musáfir-khánas, supported by rich Muhammadans, where he will be housed and fed gratis for three days, and in the event of death his body will receive decent burial.
