Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.36

c48.s2.36

Amongst the Dhānuk, for instance, a caste spread over the Jamna valley as well as north Bihār, the position is apparently higher in the latter tract, and might fairly entitle the caste to be ranked with the minor landed classes. This is not the case, however, elsewhere, and the fact that the most esteemed subdivision in Bihār is that in domestic service, and to a great extent born on the premises of the employer, seems to indicate that the peasant section also is one of "new men". From the name of the caste, which means Archer, like that of some of the corresponding castes in the Dravidian country, it may be conjectured that the Dhānuk were once a local militia, reduced in circumstances, for in the Agra province, they are the village trumpeters, and their wives share with those of the Barber the office of midwife. In Gujarāt there is a similar case, that of the Dhōḍiā or Dhūṇḍiā, a tribe of Kōl origin left on the plains, which is rapidly passing from the labourer into the occupant, whilst the Dūblā, its congener, who fell at an early stage into the hands of the cultivating Brāhman, is still in a state of practical servitude on the farms of the latter. It is true that in the great "cotton years" of 1863--66, the Dūblā took to free labour, but, for the most part, they found it more haunting the jungles and collecting wild produce, which they bring for sale into the villages. One of the reasons given in Bihār for employing men of this caste to watch crops in the fields is worth noting, viz that the Musāhār is alone able to keep off the older gods, who have been driven away by the plough and resent the intrusion of the alien peasantry. West of the Musāhār is found the Bhar, now holding a higher rank than his neighbour, but bearing in his physical appearance manifest signs of his descent from a similar dark race. The Bhar is said to have once held the land on which he now labours, but was ousted by the Rājputs when they in turn fled before the Muslim. As the tribe has no tradition of migration, it is probable that it was formerly in a better position than now, but it must always have been of unsettled habits, as even now its favourite occupation is breaking up fresh land; and when a village area has once been brought fully into cultivation, the Bhar is inclined to leave it for the nearest virgin soil. The Bhar of western Bengal seems to be of higher position, and employs Brāhmans where his northern namesake uses no priest at all. The latter, too, retains the rites customary among the Kōrī and Camār, and owns no connection with the others down the river. In Rājputāna there is a small caste, the Dhākar, which seems to be of fairly good position, and is employed upon the estates of Rājputs; but the field labour generally, both here and in the Panjāb, has fallen into the hands of the leather-working and impure castes. It is the same, for the most part, south of the Vindhya, as far as the Dravidian country, and some sections of the Kōlī are the only castes which can be said to be specially field labourers of a superior grade. The contamination which follows upon the use of the same implement, drinking out of the same vessel or of the same water, or smoking the same hukkah, is avoided, of course, by a strict demarcation of the various operations in the field, by the use of differently shaped lotahs, and by denoting the pipe of each caste by a differently-coloured rag tied round it.