Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s5.3

c48.s5.3

**§ 71. Earthworkers and Well-sinkers** (1,284,300). Socially speaking, there is a noteworthy gap between the pastoral castes and the rest of the nomads, of whom the navvies or earthworkers by profession stand first. Indeed, except for their dirty habits and their addiction to rats and other unclean food, these last would occupy the place to which their skill and industry entitle them. They are practically of one origin under various titles. In the Dravidian country, where they are most numerous, they are called Oṭṭan in Tamil, and Vaḍḍar in Telugu and Kanarese. It is by the name of Ōḍ or Ōḍiā that they are known north of the Dekkan, up to the Panjāb. The derivation usually accepted in the south is from Oṛiya, formerly Ōḍra, and now Orissa, as it was from that region that these gangs are said to have first emanated. Their appearance shows that they belong to the darker race, and their language, though modified by distance into a variety of local dialects, has a Telugu basis. In the south, the Vaḍḍar are generally found in two subdivisions, which do not eat together or intermarry. The first, and higher section are the Kallu, or stone quarriers, who are stationary, and abide by their quarries. The others, called Maṇṇu, or earthy, Vaḍḍar, are migratory, and seek jobs upon large undertakings, working together in their own gangs, by the piece, in the manipulation of which standard they show marvellous resource and ingenuity. They are adepts with their large spades, and no unskilled labour can touch them in the output, either on the flat or in well-sinking. The Ōḍiā reached the Panjāb through Rājputāna, and seem to have gradually worked their way up by stages, until they found a supply of work which maintains them throughout the year. Thus they do not, like many of the migratory tribes, return to their native country, but settle in the Province. In the upper parts of the Jamnā valley, for instance, they seem to have given up their traditional pursuit and taken to weaving coarse cotton wrappers, with a little cultivation thrown in. Here, too, they have assimilated the local religion, and with the exception of a few details and ritual, do not keep up their own peculiar customs. Amongst other refinements, they have raised the standard of their diet, and abjure pork, one of their favourite meats in the south. In the Panjāb a good many have been converted to Islām, especially those on quarry work. There is one other caste which shares with the Ōḍiā the work of the navvy, *viz.* the Bēldār, or the wielder of the Bēl, or mattock. This caste too, works at both stone and earth, and it seems probable that it is a branch of the Ōḍiā, detached locally, for the Bēldār of Bihār and Oudh has an Ōḍ sub-caste, and also eats rats. In the Panjāb, too, the two communities are considered to be identical, Bēldār being merely a functional title. On the other hand, in Bihār and its neighbourhood it is thought that the Bēldār is a branch of the Nūniyā, or saltpetre-maker, which, in turn, is an offshoot of the labouring caste of the Bind. The Bēldār of Bengal works to a great extent in the coal-mines. Like the Ōḍiā, he carries on his head the earth excavated, and will not degrade himself by putting the basket upon his back or shoulder. The Kōṝā, on the contrary, his only rival in this class of work, despises the Bēldār for not using the shoulder-pole and carrying two baskets at once. All the same, the Bēldār holds the higher position and employs a better class of Brāhman. The Kōṝā, or Khairā, a sub-tribe of the Muṇḍā race, is closer to his tribal associations, and the Brāhmans who minister to this caste are put out of communion by their kind. A few other castes have taken to earth-work as their profession, but they are chiefly small subdivisions of a larger tribe, such as the Bāvariyā, who traditionally follow other callings.