Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.38

c48.s2.38

Two castes of western India may be here mentioned, which are dedicated generally to the same functions as most of the castes just reviewed. One of them, indeed, the Mahār of the Dekkan, is probably allied, as stated above, to the Māla of Teliṅgāna. The distinction, however, in these tracts between the depressed castes and the rest of the village community is more definite than in the south, partly, no doubt, because racial differences are greater or have been less obscured by time. The Mahār, for instance, belongs to a far earlier race than the Marāṭhā peasantry, and enjoys a notable prestige amongst them for knowledge of the boundaries, and for influence with the goddesses of cholera and small-pox. The caste, too, has its own priests, but near the larger towns as often or not a Dēśasth or local Brāhman is called in. This is, however, a modern practice, introduced since the labour market on railways and large public works brought grist to the Mahār mill. Formerly, and perhaps even now in some tracts, the Mahār had to wait for a ceremony amongst the higher castes, and then bring his own party up to just beyond the prohibited range, so that the sacred texts could be heard, with the fiction of the impure listener being out of earshot. The Mahār is as a rule, a labourer, and those who take to trades separate themselves from their fellows. The caste, like the Paraiyan, holds a low but important and useful place in the village staff, and receives shares of all the main crops, and, in some places, a considerable piece of the land. The Dhēḍ caste of Gujarāt, on the other hand, is not one of the recognised community of the village, except in the south, and even there he is not regarded as one of the old stock, and has no special knowledge of the boundaries or of the idiosyncracies of the local gods. In fact, he is apparently what he claims to be, an immigrant against his will from Rājputāna, though the tradition of the movement is no longer definitely retained. In the north of the province, the menial work of the village is done chiefly by the Bhaṅgī, a lower caste, and the Dhēḍ was until recently, a weaver of coarse cotton goods. When factories were established in Bombay and the chief towns of Gujarāt the Dhēḍ lost much of his custom, and took to working under the new régime at the machine-made article, whilst others took to day labour. North of the Narbada, the families of this caste are often found attached to the estates of the larger Kaṇbī or Rājput landholders, by whom they are supported. In the south a special sub-caste has been formed of those who have taken to domestic service with Europeans, here again following the same lines as the Paraiyan. Either on account of this adaptability or because of the thrift displayed by the caste in its various callings, the Dhēḍ is credited in a local proverb with having profited above others by British rule, and to have waxed fat and kicked accordingly against his Brahmanic betters. Though the caste employs only low caste priests it is credited with great orthodoxy and assiduity in its religious duties, as well as with strictness in the observance of the rules of the caste, enforced by local councils.