Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.17
Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.17
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c48.s2.17.1
§ 37. **Specialised cultivators** (5,968,700). The majority of the castes coming into this category are branches of the great agricultural bodies, separated from them, as stated above, in view of the inferiority in rural esteem of the produce they cultivate as compared with cereals and other crops grown on a large scale. Thus, the Arāīn are of the same stock as the Kambō; the Mālī, Kāchī and Murāō, are all derived from the Kurmī, and the Saiṇī belongs to the Mālī. In contradistinction to the growth of roots and vegetables, the care of the bitel-vine has no disgrace attached to it. This may be partly due to the use of vegetable manure only, and partly, no doubt, to the consideration that the presentation of a little packet of the leaf with areca nut is an important formality in social intercourse. In the greater part of India the bitel-vine is grown by a special caste called Barāī, Bāruī or Bārī. The last title, however, is only used south of the Vindhya, and in the north is applied to a lower caste of different occupation. Apart from linguistic distinctions, the Barāī is much subdivided into endogamous sections, and most of them hold a good position in society. In the Dekkan and Karnatic there is a small caste of Brāhmans, the Tirgūḷ, who have taken to growing the bitel-vine, and the Bārī are said to be immigrant from Central India.
c48.s2.17.2
In the Tamil country, the Sēṉaikkūḍaiyāṉ do what most of the Barāī avoid, that is, sell the leaves themselves, instead of making them over to another caste for the market. This caste has the further peculiarity of belonging to the Left-hand in the local distribution, thereby grouping itself with the artisans, a position which does not, however, militate against its respectability, or prevent the Brāhman from sharing with Veḷḷāḷan the priestly ministrations required in the caste. The Koḍikkāl, another bitel-vine growing caste is only a subdivision of the Veḷḷāḷan, based, apparently, upon its occupation. As the areca-palm only flourishes in certain localities, its cultivation is undertaken by the ordinary agricultural classes. Reverting to the market gardener, the Arāīn of the Panjāb is a true caste in the north and east of the Province, but in the west the title is purely occupational, like Jāṭ in the same tract. The community seems to have come up the Indus from Mūltān or north-west Rājputāna, and settled along the Ghaggar river, then probably of an irrigational capacity it has long since lost. Thence they spread across the Jamnā into Rohilkhand, and northwards into Jalandhar, which is still one of their principal seats. Here they are not only gardeners but general cultivators of considerable reputation for skill and industry. They are, as stated above, akin to the higher caste of the Kambō, but with a far greater inclination to accept Islām.
c48.s2.17.3
The Māliār of the north-west, who are entirely Muslim, are lower in position than the Arāīn, though they appear from the names of their subdivisions to be a branch of that caste. The Mālī get their name from the garlands it was their mission to prepare for the decoration of the temple deities and to throw round the necks of honoured guests at social ceremonies. They have long branched out into all kinds of garden cultivation, and their numerous subdivisions are frequently based upon the produce to which they are respectively devoted. Those who grow flowers, for instance, do not intermarry with the vegetable-growers, and the latter draw a distinction between themselves and the branch which grows onions, turnips or turmeric. The Kāchī has taken in upper India to the poppy and leguminous edibles, leaving roots to his poorer relative the Murāō, who is said to take his name from the radishes he grows. Some sections of the Kāchī, again, abstain from cultivating the sugarcane or chillies. The Saiṇī, another branch of the Mālī, are found in the east Panjāb and in Rohilkhand, where they are as much general cultivators as gardeners. In the former tract a good many of them are Sikhs, but the more prosperous claim Rājput blood. They stand high in their calling and seem to be living down the taint of the garden.
c48.s2.17.4
In the Peninsula, south of the sphere of the Mālī, the only specialised cultivator in addition to those already mentioned, is the Tigaḷa, now located in Mysore and the south Dekkan. This seems to be one of the few castes which have moved northwards from the Tamil country, but they have retained neither the customs nor language of their origin.