Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.31
Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.31
- Language
- German
c48.s2.31.1
§ 45. **Fishing, Boating and Porter castes** (6,825,400). Of the large and numerous castes which look back to fishing as their traditional occupation comparatively few now exercise that calling as their principal means of subsistence, and these are localised, of course, on the coast and along the larger rivers. Those communities which have abandoned fishing have become, generally speaking, separate subcastes, which regard themselves as superior in position to those who remain faithful to the net. In this process of refinement, the first stage is usually the restriction of the ancestral connection with the water to boating and sea-faring. In the many tracts where fish is not a staple food among the masses and where there is an insufficient opening in the boat and ferry line, the fisher castes took to the porterage of such burdens as can be conveyed by poles across the shoulder, such as packages and large jars, or travellers by palki. It is probable that in the days when the latter mode of communication was the only alternative to walking or riding it fell to the bearers to provide the means of quenching the thirst of their fare in mid journey. At all events, nowadays, except in South India and the Dekkan, water brought by those castes or subdivisions which no longer catch fish is accepted without cavil by the highest classes.
c48.s2.31.2
As water is the element above all through which personal contamination can be conveyed, the privileged position thus conferred upon the castes in question became assured, and the next step forward was the admission of the caste into domestic service in the house. This was followed by the recognition of the fisher caste as public cook, to the extent of parching grain and preparing sweetmeats for the community at large, and selling them in shops. Thus, in the north and east of India to which the above remarks mainly apply, the fisherman basis is found in the Bhadbhunja, the Kāndu and the Bhaṭiārā, or cook of the Panjāb, all of which, with a few others of similar trade, are now, for all practical purposes, entirely distinct castes. Elsewhere, the separation has been equally exclusive, though manifested only by subdivision of the main caste. The Jāliyā or Mecho Kaibartta of Bengal, for instance, the chief fishing community of the coasts of that province, stands lower than the Hāliyā, or ploughing division. The Kōḷi, too, of the west coast, is distinct from the Talabdā, or agricultural section of this caste, and is called Māchī, or fisher, along-side of a separate caste of that name, one of whose main subdivisions is called Kōḷī. The Bhōī, again, has two separate sections, the freshwater fisherman and the porter or servant.
c48.s2.31.3
The Bōya, of Telingāna, which appears to be the nucleus of the caste, is divided into a village or settled section, which fishes and engages in service and porterage, and a nomad, or hunting section, living by fowling and the sale of jungle-produce. The same distinctions are found in some form or other among the great fishing castes of the Ganges valley, above the Delta. It seems probable that these all spring from some Kōl tribe of the north Vindhya, which spread from the hills down the rivers. A great number of the fisherman are returned at the Census under the general title of Mallāh, which, being Arabic, must have been conferred upon them at a comparatively recent date. Its subdivisions include many who are elsewhere returned under what are usually considered to be distinctive caste titles, such as Tiyar, Mālo, Kēvat and the like, with their endless subsections. One of the castes thus split up, the Pāṭnī, appears to be of a north-Gangetic origin, possibly descended from some sub-Himālayan tribe like the Dōm. The Mālo, also found principally in north Bihār, holds an almost equally low position. The Tiyar comes between the Mālo and the Jāliyā Kaibartta. The Kēvat in Oudh and Bihār, though probably of the same Vindhyan origin as the Mālo and Tiyar, is largely engaged in cultivation, and takes his stand, accordingly, above the sections of the caste which carry loads or engage in domestic service, as well as above those who still live on the river.
c48.s2.31.4
In the Central Provinces, the Kēvat has not abandoned the traditional occupation, and is found mainly along the Mahānadī and its affluents. There is a colony of this caste in east Bengal, where, however, they do not catch fish but buy up and re-tail the haul of the Kaibartta, whom they therefore consider their inferiors. Above the tract occupied by these castes, the Kahār, or Dhīmar, is by far the most important of the group, and with it comes the Jhīnvar of the Panjāb, still higher in position. All these are closely connected both by rank and functions. The latter are numerous and varied. The Kahār or Jhīnvar is a valuable member of the permanent village staff, and receives his share of the crops. Though low in relative rank he is pure, to the extent that he can bear water to all, and enter all but the inner penetralia of their houses. Indeed, in parts of Hindustān, one of the subdivisions is called Mahrā, because he is allowed inside even the women's apartments in the execution of his domestic duties. The Kahār is often a cultivator in the east, but to the west, he fishes, sinks wells, makes baskets, carries burdens and above all, provides the water for the refreshment of the peasant in the field. He has a special branch of cultivation under him, to wit, the growth of water-nuts (trapa bispinosa), in the village tanks. His wife, too, as has been mentioned above, is, the midwife of the Jāṭ and Rājput.
c48.s2.31.5
The Māchī is the counterpart of the Jhīnvar in the west of the Panjāb and performs the same duties, with the exception of carrying burdens, the shoulder-pole and palki not being customary in those parts. There is also a keen demand for his services as village cook, because in the hot weather the village usually gets its meals from a common kitchen or oven. Down the Indus, however, and on the west coast, the Machī is a fisherman only, and the same may be said of the Mohāno, a lower caste of the Sindh waters, which is probably an occupational body.