Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.t1.2

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.