Travels in India (Tavernier) 117.7

117.7

Among the particular castes there is one that is called Halálkhors, who only engage in cleaning-houses, each house paying them something monthly, according to its size. If a man of quality in India, whether a Muhammadan or an idolater, has fifty servants, not one of them will be willing to use a broom to clean the house, for he would consider himself contaminated by it, and one of the greatest insults that one can do to a man in India is to call him Halálkhor. It is proper to remark here that each of these servants having his own special duty, the one to carry the vessel of water for drinking by the way, another to have the pipe of tobacco ready — if the master asks one to perform the service for which the other is employed, that service will not be performed, and the servant remains as though he were immovable. As for slaves, they have to do whatever their master orders them. As this caste of Halálkhors is only occupied in removing the refuse from houses, it gets the remains of what the others eat, of whatever caste they may be, and it does not make any scruple about eating indifferently of all things. It is the people belonging to this caste, alone, who make use of asses, to carry the sweepings from the houses to the fields; while all other Indians will not touch this animal. It is otherwise in Persia, where asses are used both for baggage and for riding. It is also the Halálkhors in India who alone feed pigs and use them for food.