Only a trifling number of Bhands are shown by the census as belonging to the Central Provinces.

Mr.Crooke remarks: "The Bhand is sometimes employed in the courts of Rajas and native gentlemen of rank, where he amuses the company at entertainments with buffoonery and a burlesque of European and native manners, much of which is of a very coarse nature.

The Bhand is quite separate from and of a lower professional rank than the Bahrupia.

The bulk of the caste are Muhammadans, but they have exogamous sections, some of which, as Kaithela (Kayasth), Bamhaniya (Brahman), Gujartha (Gujar), Nonela (Lunia), and so on, are derived from those of Hindu castes, and indicate that the caste is a heterogeneous community recruited from different sources.

There are two recognised endogamous subcastes--the Chenr, which seems to mean little (Hindi, _Chenra_), and the Kashmiri.