Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s4: D. Urban Castes
Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s4
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D. Urban Castes
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frères avoid. Both employ the same caste of Brāhman and follow to a great extent the teachings of Rāmānanda, and in Bihār, the Nānakpanthī doctrines. In the Dekkan and west, the Gāndhī is not a separate caste, but merely a petty trader of the Vāniā caste. Subsidiary to this group may be mentioned the Kūnjrā, or green-grocer of the north. It is not a caste, properly so called, except, perhaps, in Oudh and along the upper Ganges, where the sellers of vegetables are all Muslim and have banded themselves into an apparently endogamous community. It was stated in connection with the growers of the bitel-vine that the importance of the "bīḍ" or "bīṛā" in society was held to entitle those connected with it to a quite respectable position, above that indicated by the ancestry or wealth of the castes in question. The Tāmbōlī is the caste which sells the leaf in almost every province except in the south. In Bengal and Bihār, the caste is supposed to be connected with the Banya and in the Dekkan with the Kunbī, but in upper India it appears to be a branch of the Barāī or grower of the vine, and in some places the latter sells the leaf he grows. This, however, is exceptional, but the names of the subdivisions of the two castes indicate former relationship if not identity. Occasionally the Tāmbōlī extends his dealings to snuff and tobacco, and even to grain and lime. In Bengal some of them hold land, but cultivate through hired labour. In those tracts it ranks lower than up the river, where it sticks to the shop, and is considered equal to the middle-class peasant in position.
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§ 61. **Grain-parchers and Confectioners** (1,645,200). Both these are important functionaries in town life in Bengal and upper India, but are in comparatively little request south of the Vindhya, where the diet and rules connected therewith are different. The origin of these castes is not clear, except in the Panjāb, where both the Bhaṛbhūñjā, or grain-parcher, and the Bhaṭhiārā, or public cook, are of the Jhīnvar, or water-bearing caste. The Bhaṭhiārā is only found in the Muslim tracts, except in the larger cities, since the Brāhmanic rules of living do not admit of the common oven. The grain-parcher is of more mixed origin. In the north, one of the sub-castes is connected with the Kayasth, and the same relationship appears in the communities of Bihār and the Dekkan. On the other hand, the Bhaṛbhūñjā is often held to be only an elevated branch of the Kahār, a view that coincides with the known facts further west, and is corroborated by the existence of sub-castes connecting the community with the Goṅṛhī, a fishing caste of quite a different part of the country, and with the Kāndū, the sweetmeat maker. In Bihār, in fact, the Bhaṛbhūñja, is considered to be a sub-caste of the Kandū. Towards Agra, however, the latter takes a higher place, and is almost equal to the Banya, exclusively engaged in the traditional pursuit of confectionery; but of its numerous sub-castes, some, like the Goṅṛhī, work in stone, and others parch grain, like the Bhaṛbhūñja. It seems probable, therefore, that both the castes originated amongst the fishing and porter community, and have been reinforced by occupational subdivisions formed locally to meet a demand for their services. The Ḥalvāī, another caste of confectioners, is entirely distinct, and, in upper India, is often Muslim. It is a composite body with a good many endogamous sub-castes. One of these shares the name of the Gōḍīyā, or Gūṛīā, the confectioner caste of Orissa, though without any other connection. In Bengal, the Mayarā caste is like the Kāndū of the north, recruited from various bodies and is subdivided, accordingly, into both Brāhmanic gōtra and totemistic exogamous sections. Some of those castes have betaken themselves to husbandry, but in that capacity, curiously enough, they will have nothing to do with the cultivation of the sugarcane or the preparation of molasses, the stock-in-trade of the rest of the caste. In connection with this group of castes it may be remarked that the upper and middle classes of Brāhmanical society, wherever the caste-system is strictly maintained on the northern Indian model, are prohibited from eating anything but parched grain or sweetmeats when on a journey away from their domestic cooking-place; and this rule may have a good deal to do with the consideration which is allowed to communities of such mixed or dubious origin as those which purvey these convenient provisions.
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§ 62. **Butchers** (701,800). No such credit, however, is attached to the sale of meat, which, naturally, is chiefly in the hands of a flesh-eating community like the Muslim. It is not to be supposed, from this that Brāhmanists are universally either vegetarians or fish-eaters. Customs differ in this respect in different parts of the country and amongst different castes. Beef and pork, indeed, are eaten by none but the lowest of the community, but in the middle classes, especially in the Dravidian country, the consumption of mutton and goat is considerable, though the mediation of a professional salesman, except in the towns, is comparatively rare. In Vedic times, the Ārya were apparently accustomed to eat meat, and acquired the vegetarian habit as they got acclimatised to the tropics. Nowadays, the only butcher caste not Muslim is the Khāṭik, and this community, though breeding pigs in the north, only slaughters sheep and goats, the skins of which are tanned by its household. In the south, the Khāṭik is merely the professional title of the Muslim mutton butcher. The Kasaī, or Qasāb, of upper India is almost exclusively Muslim, and in the Panjāb is merely a functional branch of the Tēlī, or oilman. Further east there are subdivisions, and that which deals in mutton holds itself above the beef-butcher. This last is, of course, anathema to the Brahmanic world, and in some places is "boycotted" by tradesmen, so that it is obliged to make its purchases through the intermediary of one of the lower Brāhmanic castes.
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§ 63. **Pedlars and Glassworkers** (424,100). There is a certain connection between these two apparently incongruous occupations. In the north, especially, there are several small castes which go round with beads, glasswork, bangles, and so on, which, if not made by themselves, come from the hand of those nearly related to them. Others deal in haberdashery, small hardware, soap and mirrors. Even if they were not castes at the outset, they all tend to become such, with subsections and regulations as to marriage and the like, independent of the communities to which they originally belonged. The Bisātī, a Muslim body, is an example of this tendency. The Rāmāiyā, or Bhaṭṛā, of the east Panjāb, however, seems to be a true caste, hailing from Mārwāḍ or the neighbourhood, and having conceded to it the rank of a low Brāhman. It is allowed to wear the thread and to take offerings at eclipses. Otherwise, the Rāmāiyā tell fortunes and invoke upon almsgivers blessings which have the reputation of being effective. They are by tradition petty traders, and in that capacity travel far and wide, even south of the Vindhya. The caste is much scattered and is only found in strength in the Bijnor district of Rohilkhand, far from its original home. But the Rāmāiyā always regard themselves as natives of the Panjāb, and most of them are Sikhs by religion, though
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employing Brāhmans as priests and Brāhmanist barbers in daily life, thus showing a considerable laxity in their faith. The Maṇihār is strictly the maker of spangles for the adornment of glass bangles, but in some places, as in the Panjāb, the caste make the bangles themselves. The Cūṛihār, who follows the same trade, is a separate community, but both travel about with their goods and do not keep shop. Both, too, are for the most part Muslim. The Kāncār, who also works in glass, takes the place of these castes in the Dekkan and west, and the Lākhērā, a northern caste, makes the same sort of ornaments in lac. In the Dravidian region, the corresponding caste is the Gāzula, a sub-caste of the Balija, of low position. In the Tamil country it is called Vaḷaiyal, and is taken as a subdivision of the Kavaṛai, the Balija colony of those parts. The Cūḍigār, generally a Muslim, is probably the Cūṛihār of the north settled in the Dekkan. On the Orissa coast is a caste called Pātrā, or Patōr, which peddles silken necklets and cords, like the Paṭvā in other parts. Finally, under this head may be included the makers of conch armlets, who are a caste only in Bengal, where they are called S'ankhārī. It appears that through the Subarṇabaṇik they have some connection with the goldsmith castes; but they deal exclusively in the armlets made from the conchs brought from the Gulf of Manar. Similar armlets are used in other parts of India, but they do not seem to be made by a special caste.
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§ 64. **Artisans.** a) **Tailors** (867,800). Throughout upper India the tailor’s craft is exercised by a composite body, nearly half of which is Muslim, recruited, judging from the titles of the subdivisions, from many sources, not all of the lowest. In the Panjāb the Darjī is merely a functional name, and in each large city the tailoring body is governed by a craft-guild. If any caste can be said to produce the tailor more than another it is the Dhōbī or washerman. In the Gangetic region the Darjī regulates his life on the model of the upper Brāhmanic castes, and one of the principal sub-castes bears the name of Kāyasth. But the caste is not popular, any more than it used to be in Europe, and is the subject of similar depreciatory proverbs. Its work is badly paid, but the Darjī rarely looks out for more lucrative employment. The general style of dress amongst the peasantry in the greater part of India renders the craft unnecessary, so the caste is mostly congregated in the cities. It is subdivided according to the general nature of the work undertaken, and is then split up into more minute sections. The repairer and darner is at the bottom, and amongst the Muslim, tent-making stands high, as being the occupation of Ibrahim (Abraham), the patron of the craft. Turban-making, too, is honourable. In the west, indeed, where the latter article of attire is more elaborate than in the north, and each caste has its own distinctive form of head-gear, the turban-folder is a separate community, and ranks high amongst the Darjī. In the Dekkan the S'impī is often a travelling piece-goods dealer, going from village to village with his pack upon his pony. He also traffics in small pecuniary advances, and this is perhaps the reason for his figuring in bad company in the village rhymes. One of the popular religious teachers of India, Nāmdēv, belonged to this caste, and several of the sections of the Darjī and similar castes are named after him. It seems as if the Dekkan tailor were more allied to the lower trading classes than to the rest of his craftsmen, and certainly he follows the traditional employment less than any of them. The Gujarāt Darjī, too, seems to have sprung from one of the lower classes of traders of west Rājputāna, to which locality he claims to belong. Like the S'impī, he lives after the manner of the upper middle classes, and is strict in his religious observances, though alleged to be addicted, like the goldsmith, to helping himself too freely to some of the material entrusted to him to make up. In the Dravidian districts there is no special caste of this sort, the tailors in the cities being all Muslim. The introduction of sewing-machines, and the growth of the fashion of wearing cut-out garments have tended to the advantage of the town Darjī, and even in villages the machine is often to be seen enstalled amid surroundings of apparently the most incongruous simplicity.
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§ 65. b) **Dyers and Calenderers** (495,000). The calico-printers, calenderers and dyers appear to be connected remotely with the Darjī castes, except in the Panjāb, where the Chīpā is an offshoot of the Dhōbā or washerman, who occasionally does the work of dyeing in madder, though he leaves indigo to the Muslim Rangrēj. Elsewhere, the Chīpā stands higher, and in upper India claims to be descended from some Rājput or kindred tribe in Mālva. The Bhausār of Gujarāt, too, admits his connection with Rājputāna; but, though not disowning the Chīpā of Agra, asserts his origin to have been through a Vāniā caste of the west, and will not acknowledge relationship with the Chīpī of his present province. The Bhausār, like the Vāniā, has a Jain as well as a Mahēśrī, or Brāhmanic, sub-caste, and lives much on a par with the trading classes. In the Ganges valley a good many of the Chīpā are followers of Nāmdēv, the Dekkan S'impī, a fact which indicates something more than merely sectarian sympathies, considering the restricted social field of the acceptance of these doctrines. The Rangrēj, Rangārī, or Nīlārī, workers in indigo, are chiefly Muslim in the north. In the Panjāb this is due, as above indicated, to the abhorrence of the Brahmanist of those parts for the unlucky colour, blue. In Bihār there is not this prejudice, and the Liluā works in the local material. In the Marāṭhā country, too, the women wear blue in preference to any other colour, but here, again, the dyer is usually a Muslim. In Gujarāt, the taste is in favour of more varied colours, and the Bhausār works impartially in all, except indigo, which is the monopoly of the Gaḷiāra sub-caste. The Muslim engaged in the occupation began, no doubt, as a functional body, but are now, it is said, closing their caste to outsiders, and keeping to their own sectional divisions. In the Dravidian country there seem to be no special dyeing castes, the work being done in the Telugu country by Marāṭhā Rangārī. Plain white with a simple coloured border is the usual colour worn by the women in both the Tamil districts and in lower Bengal.
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§ 66. c) **Cotton-scutchers** (760,600). Those who follow the occupation of cleaning cotton are mostly Muslim, under the functional title of Penjā, Pinjārī, Dhuniyā, Bēhnā, or even the Persian, Nadāf. They are mostly converts from Brāhmanic castes like the Tēlī or oil-pressers, and those who have remained in their former creed follow the teachings of Nāmdēv, the S'impī, like the Tailors and Dyers, and in the Panjāb, the Dhōbā. In the north, where the calling has become the work of a caste, those who do not engage in it keep shops for the sale of haberdashery, spangles, bangles, caste-marks and so on. The Muslim, as in similar cases of other castes, have not altogether abandoned their Brāhmanic customs or worship, and follow the traditions of their neighbourhood in this respect.
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§ 67. d) **Distillers and spirits-sellers** (1,725,000). The traditional connection of these castes with the provision of a forbidden article, places
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them very low in society, in fact, little above the oilman. On the other hand, since the regulation of the liquor trade has been undertaken by the State the restriction upon sales has thrown a good many of the caste on to other occupations in which they have prospered far more than if they had kept to distillation. In the wholesale trade in piece-goods, timber, salt, etc., the Bengal Suṅrī is said to have reached quite the top of the tree, and being ambitious of a commensurate rank in society, is forming a separate caste calling itself S’āhā, or Sāhā, in order to sever itself as far as possible from the branch which still deals in liquor and serves in the State distilleries, or takes licenses for the sale of intoxicants. Others of the caste engage in the boating trade, but will only ply on craft which are manned exclusively by their own comrades. In spite of the rise in their worldly circumstances, the Suṅrī have been unable to conquer the prejudice against them, and have to maintain barbers and washermen of their own, since the Nāī and Dhōbī decline to serve them. Even the Bhūīnmālī, who will sweep for them, refuses to accept food from their hand. In upper India there is the same subdivision of the Kalāl caste; those who have taken to trade severing themselves from those who stick to the traditional calling. But the Kalāl in Bengal will make, but not sell, liquor, whereas in the north the caste does both. In all probability, in Bengal the castes are both composite, created as the need for their services became pressing, whilst in the Panjāb and its neighbourhood the caste is older and more homogeneous. The Sikh connection of the Kalāl or Kalvār, in the Panjāb, gave the caste a great lift, and one of the most powerful leaders of that faith, before the rise of Ranjīt Singh, belonged to the Kalāls of Āhlū, and laid the foundations of the well-known State of Kapurthāla. Hence a good many of the Kalvār of the province use the title of Āhlūvālīa for their caste. On the other hand, in the west and central Panjāb they have preferred to throw in their lot with the Paṭhān, and have elongated their name into Kakkezai. The trading branch in those parts deals in boots and shoes, bread and vegetables, articles which the ordinary Khatrī considers beneath him. In the south, the Kalāl is found in comparatively small numbers as a distiller, but here he has to compete with the local Pārsī in both making and selling spirits.
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§ 68. c) **Domestic servants** (698,800). The majority of the castes which traditionally engage in service about the houses of those above them belong, as already stated, to the fishing and porter communities, whose touch does not contaminate. The households of the Christian or Muslim, again, are on a different plane, and must be served by Muslim or members of the impure castes. The water-bearers, too, who ply in the streets or from house to house, irrespective of caste, are usually converts to Islam, or of the fisher caste. If the former, they are known generally as Bihiṣtī, and form a caste of their own, with functional subdivisions, according to the water-bag they use or the beast of burden they employ. In some parts of India, again, there is a caste which lives by rice-pounding for large families, a work which elsewhere is done by the women of the family. The small community of Kūtā, in Rōhilkhaṇḍ, and of Gōla, in Gujarāt, are examples of these, but both are probably branches of some larger body, the Kūtā, perhaps, of the Banjārā, and the Gōlā certainly of a Rājputāna caste. The castes which distinctively belong to the group under consideration, however, are those which have grown up under the protection of the households they serve, and in most cases are in practice inseparable
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from them. The Rājput families, for instance, used to receive the daughters of lower castes around them, bring them up in domestic servitude, and practically own the offspring resulting from the relationship. The link was in some cases closer than in others, and the males were allowed to marry outside the household, especially in the Dravidian region. But the bastards usually became a caste by themselves, living on the bounty of their protector and employed in duties about his estate or Court. The Gōlā and Cākar of Rājputāna are of this class, though, as just remarked, some of the former have moved south and set up for themselves in Gujarāt as rice-pounders. The Khavās of the western peninsula are of the same origin and position as the Gōlā, but rank considerably above the latter, and are employed in posts of confidence which give them much influence in the neighbourhood. The girls serve the Rājputnī, and some of them are generally included as part of the dowry when their young mistress is married off. In Orissa, the Khaṇḍāit keep Cāsā girls, and the offspring ranks according to the caste of the father, as Khaṇḍāit, Kāyasth, etc., the whole body being known as Sāgirdpeṣā, with endogamous sub-castes determined as above. In Bihār, too, there are corresponding communities which are gradually forming themselves into separate castes. In Eastern Bengal there is a larger caste of this sort, known by the non-committal title of S'ūdra or S'udir, or, in some parts of the province as Ghulām or Bhāṇḍārī. They are descended from comparatively low castes which sold themselves to the Kāyasth, a relationship which, tacitly though illicitly still subsists. The caste is nominally endogamous, though amongst families which are still attached to Kāyasth households intermarriage with members of the latter caste is not uncommon, but the title of S'ūdra is dropped in the next generation in favour of that of Kāyasth. In the south, the Telugu Velama and landlords of other castes have a similar institution, the results of which are known as Khāsa, or private property, and are crystallising into a caste. In the south Tamil country, the Toṭṭiyan have families on their estates which are already a caste, known as the Parivāram, the members of which cannot marry without the consent of their lord. In this case, however, recruits are taken from Paraiyan and other low castes. The Kotāri of Kanara, also domestic servants in local families, are apparently of the Baṇṭa caste originally, though now severed owing to their connection with the landed interest. It must be remembered in connection with all these domestic classes that the status of slavery in which they originally dwelt no longer exists; nevertheless, as has been remarked above with regard to the predial serfs, the tie between them and the family they serve retains a great deal of its former character, and is perpetuated voluntarily by both personal attachment to the household and the benefits derived from the protection afforded, and also the general tendency of Indian communities to look upon what has once been as pre-ordained and hereditary. The position they hold is recognised and established, and in their eyes there is nothing to be gained by abandoning it for another, independent but precarious.
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§ 69. **Carriers** (897,800). The two great divisions into which this group naturally falls are those of the pastoral tribes and the Gipsies. The bulk of the former have been already mentioned in connection with the function of providing the vast number of cattle required by the village