Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.31.1

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.