Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.t1: § 50. Leather-workers
Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.t1
- Language
- German
Contents
- c48.s2.t1.6 — 4 parts
§ 50. Leather-workers
c48.s2.t1.1
This group, as was stated above, cannot be well distinguished from that which precedes it. It is the function of all the impure castes to deal with dead cattle, even if it be only to skin and to drag the carcasses away for burial. But there are grades and privileges involved. Some touch no bodies but those of the cloven-footed animal; others draw the line at cattle, and leave sheep and goats to their inferiors. Usually the hide is the perquisite of the menial, who, moreover, is not forbidden to indulge in the flesh after flaying. Indeed, when the market for leather is brisk, or when dissension is rife between the peasantry and the village menials, mortality amongst the cattle is apt to increase materially, and sometimes with a suddenness which attracts the judicial attention of the local authorities, and leads to the discovery in the thatch of the servile hamlet of the materials for an extensive study of rural toxicology. But though the castes in question remove the hides, it is only special sections of them which tan or curry them, and these, except in the north, are generally split off into a separate caste. Furthermore, the families which take exclusively to leather-work as their profession beyond the simple requirements of the cart, plough or water-lift, usually rise to a position superior to that of the tanner or currier, and ultimately, especially in towns, hold themselves aloof from the rest. On the other hand, where the caste furnishes virtually the whole labour supply of the village, the tanning branch sinks below those which only labour in the fields. In the latter capacity, the caste has to do whatever they are bid by the peasantry — within, of course, the strict bounds of tradition. They may never, however, take up their residence in the village or pass anything directly from their own hand to that of one of higher caste. It is a noteworthy fact that with centuries of such degradation piled upon them, the women of this class should be renowned for their good looks; so much so, that special arrangements seem to have been thought necessary by the Brāhmanic organisers of society to meet the results of intrigues and illicit connections between them and men of the upper classes. To this day men turned out of their caste on this account find refuge in some recognised mixed body, whilst the offspring of such mésalliances go to form the "fair-skinned Camār", the subject of more than one proverbial admonition on the country side. There is the possibility, of course, that in the very north of India some of the helot classes may be descended from early foreign races who were overwhelmed by subsequent invaders and reduced to servitude, but throughout the rest of the country these classes are now generally held to represent the Dasyu or darker tribes, displaced by the Ārya and Scythian invader north of the Vindhya, and by similar movements amongst Dravidian races and others, in the south and the great delta of the east.
c48.s2.t1.2
The great Camār caste is found all over the country except in the south, but in the tract where it is most numerous, between the east Panjāb and Bihār, it is not exclusively a leather-working caste as its name denotes. It supplies, as just pointed out, the main body of field labour, and receives its share of the harvest like the other village menials on the establishment. In this capacity, the Camār community is generally organised into distinct sections, irrespective of social subdivisions. Some work for individual patrons, but more often each is assigned to a certain association of landholders. The development of the leather industries upon European lines in some of the large towns of the north, such as Cawnpore and Agra, has attracted a large number of Camār away from their native haunts. Indeed, the demand for labourers along the railways and in the chief commercial centres of upper India is said to have had the effect of depleting to a considerable extent the supply available for the village field operations, and the Camār, like the Dhēḍ of Gujarāt, leaves home when he pleases, and returns with a full pocket and something of a "swelled head". In parts of Rājputāna and the southern Panjāb, the Camār does the coarse weaving undertaken further east by the Kōrī. The caste is subdivided minutely by function, locality and traditions as to origin, into endless endogamous sections, in a recognised order of precedence, and all under the regulation of a caste-Council which is said to be strict in its enforcement of ceremonial rules. In the central and eastern Panjāb a good many of the Camār are Sikhs by religion, though of course they occupy a position different from that of the Jaṭ. Comparatively few seem, from the Census, to have embraced Islām, but this is due to the use of the title of Mōcī by converts, especially in the west of the Panjāb, where they are nearly all Muslim. In other parts of India, the Mōcī is the subdivision, generally entirely distinct, which is engaged in shoemaking, usually in the larger towns. Even in the west Panjāb the Camār or Mōcī do not perform the same duties in the village as the Camār of the east, but only do the leather-work and tanning, thereby taking a higher position than their agricultural fellow. The Camār of other Provinces is a Brāhmanist in his faith, of much the same order as the lower masses of the population of the locality. In some parts he gets Brāhmans of a low grade to serve him, but, as a rule, they are only called in to nominate the most auspicious day for important domestic ceremonies. By reason of the connection of the caste with the exuviae of dead cattle, the Camār is held to be lower in rank than even the Brāhmanised section of a converted forest tribe which has abandoned the cruder elements of its daily diet. It does not appear, however, that this was always the case, as leather entered into the clothing of the early Vedic communities long before they could have reduced the Dasyu to servitude, so that the task of tanning and preparation must have been performed by members of their own race. The degrading character of the occupation, therefore, may have been imputed to it by the Brāhmanic censors of the new régime when it was established upon priestly initiative at a later date.
c48.s2.t1.3
In the lower Himālayan valleys of the Panjāb there is the Mēgh caste, who perform much the same duties as the Camār of the plains, but are rather higher in social esteem because they are largely weavers, and leave the dirtier offices of the village to lower castes, such as the Kōlī and Dāgī. The latter do the leather work in some parts, but elsewhere they put it on to the Kōlī or Canāl. All are of about the same class as the Camār, some even being subdivided under that title, and represent the earlier tribes of the locality, reduced to servitude by the later comers from the south or west. They resemble the lowest castes of the plains, too, in acting as pipers and drummers at village processions. South and west of the Vindhya, the caste is still known by the names of Cāmbhar, or Khālpō, but is quite unconnected with the northern communities of the former name. The leather work, too, is detached, more or less, from the menial offices, and is not intimately bound up with the village staff.
c48.s2.t1.4
In the Dekkan and Telugu country, the Camār gives place to the Māng or Mādiga, both of which names are apparently derived from Mātangī, the caste goddess, a synonym of Kālī. The Mādiga takes a prominent part in the festivals of the S'akti worshippers, probably of Dravidian origin incorporated into the Brāhmanic pantheon as circumstances demanded. From this as well as from the part it plays in the marriage ceremonies of some of the higher castes, it may be inferred that the caste is one of the earliest of the uplands, and thus more likely to propitiate the local gods than the more reputable but more recent arrivals now in occupation. Both Māng and Mādiga employ their own priests, Gāruḍa or Dāsari. Where the Māng is found alongside of the Mahār in the Dekkan there is always rivalry and occasionally strife, but the Mahār takes precedence of the other in the village. In the Tamil country the principal leather-working caste is the S'akkiliyan, vulgarised by Europeans into Chuckler. It is an immigrant body, as several of its subdivisions bear Telugu or Kanarese titles, and many of its members still use those vernaculars. It may be added, too, that its name does not occur in any of the older inscriptions in Tamil. It is probably, therefore, an offshoot of the Mādiga, moved south, importing with it its traditional rivalry with the village serf, for there is constant bickering between the S'akkiliyan and the Paraiyan, public opinion being in favour of the labourer, as in the Dekkan. It may also be noted that the leather-workers are here, as in the north, remarkable for the beauty of their women, and in those stages of Şakti worship at which the presence of a living representative of the Female Energy is necessary, a S'akkiliyan girl is always selected for the part.
c48.s2.t1.5
It is only the simpler leather work, as was mentioned above, that is done by the village Camār, and though he can cobble shoes, he does not generally make any but the roughest kinds. The Mōcī takes up the higher branches of the craft, but in Bengal, as in the west Panjāb, this caste does a good deal of the village labour, and in the former tract his shoes are said to be inferior to those of the Camār of Bihār. In Rājputāna the Bāmbhi seems to be the shoemaking branch of the latter, and in 1891 some 207,000 of them were returned, but as in 1901 they were reduced to 1100, it is probable that the rest are included in the main Camār caste. In several parts of India, the Mōcī of the towns are divided into functional sub-castes, such as that of saddlers, embroiderers of saddle-cloths, makers of leather buckets for ghī (clarified butter), of spangles, shields and scabbards, rising in rank as their calling entails greater skill or more costly materials, always tending towards endogamy within the craft.
c48.s2.t1.6.1
§ 51. **Watchmen** (3,639,900). There are few countries, possibly none, in which the old counsel to set a thief to catch a thief has been more widely and conscientiously put into practice than in India. In the case of more than one of the castes already passed under review it has been pointed out that a portion of the community in question was avowedly detached for night work of one sort in order to counteract the enterprise of its comrades in simultaneous operations of another. In several of the older lists of the castes of a locality, too, there may be found opposite a title, the terse description, "Thieves and watchmen". The combination is obviously appropriate in tracts interspersed with hills and forests, or containing the broken ground, frequent in India, in which the facilities of both functionaries for evading observation are united: or, again, where tribes of hunting and fowling propensities have settled down to village life. But even in the open and well-cultivated plains the need of a night-watch over cattle, grain and other movable property is generally recognised, although the underlying notion of blackmail may be absent. In the latter case, however, the duty is performed by a local caste in which it is not the traditional or even the principal mode of getting a living.
c48.s2.t1.6.2
It tends, however, like all else in India, to become hereditary in the families which take to it, and, if associated with a recognised dole out of the harvest, to be ultimately crystallised into a sub-caste. This seems to have been the case with the Dhānuk of the Ganges valley, though the branch of the caste which has found its way into the eastern Panjāb is treated as criminal without the saving grace of occasional watchmanship. The Mahār of the Dekkan, again, has recognised subdivisions of watchmen and the guardians of the village gate. There are also castes which are traditionally watchmen without any association with the predatory classes. Among these are the Barvālā and Batvāl, of the lower Himālayan valleys of the Panjāb, who, though chiefly watchmen and messengers, also perform many of the menial offices which in the plains are left to the Camār, but draw the line at dealing with skins and leather. They are not allowed however, to reside within the village site, and in this respect are on the level of the Mahār. The exercises its traditional functions of guarding the villages, it considers itself higher in rank than the other sub-division, the Zamīndārī, which has settled down to cultivation, and it used to take its brides from the latter without returning them. Now, however, the cultivator has advanced in prosperity and refuses to recognise the older section either as its superior or even as its equal.
c48.s2.t1.6.3
In this it was supported by a former Chief of Alvar, who did his best to sever the more reputable of his subjects from the contaminating influence of their turbulent fellow-tribesmen. In the south of Rājputāna the Mīnā hold a lower position than up north, and in Mārwāḍ some rank as village menials of the impure grade. In the neighbourhood of the hill tracts they are also hunters and fowlers, and everywhere their reputation is the basis of their employment on the village staff. Almost the same can be said of the Bhīl, who, in Gujarāt, serves as watchman, under the sub-title of Vasāvō, a name applied to his tribe in the western Sātpura. In Bihār and along the Ganges as far up as Mirzāpur, the large caste of the Dōsādh undertakes the duties of watchman. This community is very mixed. It has undoubtedly a strong strain of Mongoloidic blood, but it is peculiar in the extent of its formal recognition of members of higher castes who seek admission to its ranks. It employs degraded Brāhmans for ordinary purposes, but at the chief festival of the caste, that in honour of Rāhu, the demon of eclipse, one of its own number officiates. The Dōsādh used to furnish many recruits to the Muslim armies of Bengal, and it is said that a considerable proportion of Clive's army at Plassey was composed of this caste. Now, however, the Dōsādh has but a poor reputation for industry, whilst it is much addicted to crimes against property, entailing its employment as watchmen.
c48.s2.t1.6.4
The rest of the caste get their living by porterage and day labour. The Māl of western Bengal is largely engaged to watch crops and villages, as many of its sections are thieves and wandering pilferers. It belongs to a large and widely-spread Dravidian tribe now divided into numerous separate castes.
c48.s2.t1.7
A similar caste to the Dōsādh is found in the Bēraḍ, or Bēḍar, "fearless ones", of the south Dekkan. These were originally hunters and fowlers of the Karnatic, and were formed into militia by the Muslim Chiefs of Mysore and Haidarabad, in which capacity they served till a comparatively recent period. They are now watchmen and petty cultivators. Their faith is Brāhmanic, of the semi-Dravidian type, and they employ the Sātāni caste as their priests. Possibly they come of the same stock as the Bōya, one section of which pursues the same calling, or the Vēḍan of the Tamil country, who are still hunters and in the jungle phase of existence. In the Marāṭha country, especially near the Sahyādri range, the place of the Bēraḍ is taken by a kindred tribe, also from the south, known as the Rāmōśi, a title which is said to represent the Marāṭhi Rānvāsi, or forestdweller. They address each other, however, as Bōyali, indicating Telingāna parentage. They stand higher than the Bēḍar, and employ by preference, the Jaṅgam priests of the Liṅgāyat, with a Gōsāi for their religious and moral instructor. According to the caste reputation, the functions of this individual are more necessary than effective. By the age of seven, the Rāmōśi boy must have stolen something or he is disgraced. If caught and convicted, the halo thereby acquired renders him a prize in the marriage market for which an unusually high dowry has to be offered. Another peculiar tenet of this caste is that meat is not to be eaten unless it has been killed by a Muslim.