II OTHER OCCUPATIONS 511 right elbow in token of respect. Maid-servants also frequently belong to the Dhimar caste, and it often happens that the master of the household has illicit intercourse with them. Hence there is a proverb, 'The king's son draws water and the water-bearer's son sits on the throne,' similar intrigues on the part of high-born women with their servants being not unknown. The Dhimar often acts as a pimp, this being an incident of his profession of indoor servant. оссира Another occupation of the Dhimar's is to sell parched 11. Other grain and rice to travellers in markets and railway stations tions. like the Bharbhūnja and Dhuri. This he can do because of his comparative social purity, as all castes will take water and cakes and sweetmeats from his hands. Some Dhimars and Kewats also weave hemp-matting and gunny-bags, but such members of the caste rank lower than the others and Brahmans will not take water from them. Another calling by which a few Dhimars find support is that of breeding pigs. One would think it a difficult matter to make a living out of the village pig, an animal abhorred by both Hindus and Muhammadans as the most unclean of the brute creation, and equally abjured by Europeans as unfit for food. But the pig is in considerable demand by the forest tribes for sacrifice to their deities. The Dhīmar participates in the sacrifice to Nārāyan Deo described in the article on Mahār, when a pig is eaten in concert by several of the lower castes. Lastly, the business of rearing the cocoons of the tasar silkworm is usually in the hands of Dhimars and Kewats. While the caterpillars are feeding on leaves and spinning their cocoons these men live in the forests for two months together and watch the kosa-bāris or silk-gardens, that is the blocks of trees which are set apart for the purpose of rearing the caterpillars. During this period they eat only once a day, abstain from meat and lentils, do not get shaved and do not visit their wives. When the eggs of the caterpillars are to be placed on the trees they tie a silk thread round the first tree to be used and worship it as Pat Deo or the god of silk thread. On this subject Mr. Ball writes: "The trees which it is intended to stock are carefully pollarded before the rains, and in early spring the leaves are stocked 1 Jungle Life in India, p. 137. 12. Social status. with young caterpillars which have been hatched in the The social status of the Dhimar is somewhat peculiar. Owing to his employment as palanquin-bearer, cook and household servant he has been promoted to the group of castes who are ceremonially clean, so that Brāhmans in northern India will take water and food cooked in butter from his hands. But by origin he no doubt belongs to the primitive or non-Aryan tribes, a fact which he shows by his appearance and also by his customs. In diet he is the reverse of fastidious, eating crocodiles, tortoises and crabs, and also pork in the Maratha Districts, though in the north where he is employed by Brahmans as a personal servant he abstains from this food. With all this, however, the Dhimars practise in some social matters a pharasaical strictness. In Jubbulpore Mr. Pancham Lal records that among the four subcastes of Rekwār, Bant, Barmaian and Pabeha a woman of one subcaste will not partake of any food cooked by one of another division. A man will take any kind of food cooked by a man of another subcaste, but from a woman only such as is not mixed with water. A woman will drink the water held in the metal vessel of a woman of another division, but not in an earthen vessel; and in a metal vessel only provided II SOCIAL STATUS 513 that it is brought straight from the well and not taken from the ghinochi or water-stand of such woman's house. A man will take water to drink from the metal or earthen vessel of any other Dhimar, male or female. In Berar again Mr. Kitts states that a Bhoi considers it pollution to eat or drink at the house of a Lohar (blacksmith), a Sutār (carpenter), a Bhāt (bard), a washerman or a barber; he will not even carry their palanquins at a marriage. 1 Once a year at the Muharram festival the Dhīmars will eat at the hands of Muhammadans. They go round and beg for offerings of food and take them to the Fakir, who places a little before the tazia or tomb of Husain and distributes the remainder to the Dhimars and other Hindus and Muhammadans who have been begging. Except on this occasion they will eat nothing touched by a Muhammadan. The Dhimar, the Nai or barber, and the Bāri or indoor servant are the three household menials of the northern Districts, and are known as Pauni Parja. Sometimes the Ahir or grazier is an indoor servant and takes the place of the Dhimar or the Bāri. These menials are admitted to the wedding and other family feasts and allowed to eat at them. They sit in a line apart from the members of the caste and one member of the family is deputed to wait on them. Their food is brought to them in separate dishes and no food from these dishes is served to guests of the caste. 2 Permanent expulsion from caste is inflicted only for marrying, or eating regularly, with a man or woman of some other low caste; but in the case of unmarried persons the latter offence may also be expiated. Temporary exclusion 3 is imposed for killing a cat, dog or squirrel, getting maggots in a wound, being sentenced to imprisonment or committing adultery with a person of any low caste. One who has 13. Legend of the caste. committed any of the above offences must be purified by the Batta of the caste, that is a person who takes the sins of others upon himself. The Batta conducts the culprit to a river and then causes him to bathe, cuts off a lock of his hair, breaks a cocoanut as a sacrifice, and gives him a little cowdung and milk to eat. Then they proceed to eat together; the Batta eats five mouthfuls first and declares that he has taken the sin of the offender on himself; the latter gives the Batta Rs. 1-4 as his fee, and is once more a proper member of the community. In Berar a Bhoi who has been put out of caste is received back by his fellows when he has drunk the water touched by a Brāhman's toe, and has feasted them with a bout of liquor. In towns the caste are generally addicted to drink, and no marriage or other social function is held without a sufficient supply of liquor. They also smoke gānja (Indian hemp). The Dhimars are proverbially of a cheerful disposition, though simple and easily cheated. When carrying pälkis or litters at night they talk continually or sing monotonous songs to lighten the tedium of the way. In illustration of these qualities the following story is told: One day when Mahādeo and Pārvati were travelling the goddess became very tired, so Mahādeo created four men from the dust, who bore her in a litter. On the way they talked and laughed, and Parvati was very pleased with them, so when she got home she told them to wait while she sent them out a reward. The Bhois found that they could get plenty of liquor, so they went on drinking it and forgot all about going for the reward. In the meantime a Mārwāri Bania who had heard what the goddess said, waited at the door of the palace, and when the servants brought out a bag of money he pretended that he was one of the Bhois and got them to give him the money, with which he made off. After a time the Bhois remembered about the reward and went to the door of the palace to get it, when the goddess came out and found out what had happened. The Bhois then wept and asked for another reward, but the goddess refused and said that as they had been so stupid their caste would always be poor, but at the same time they would be cheerful and happy. Dhoba.1-A small caste belonging to the Mandla District 1. General and apparently an offshoot from one of the primitive tribes. notice. They have never been separately classified at the census but always amalgamated with the Dhobi or washerman caste. But the Mandla Dhobas acknowledge no connection with Dhobis, nor has any been detected. One Dhoba has indeed furnished a story to the Rev. E. Price that the first ancestor of the caste was a foundling boy, by appearance of good lineage, who was brought up by some Dhobis, and, marrying a Dhobi girl, made a new caste. But this is not sufficient to demonstrate the common origin of the Dhobas and Dhobis. The Dhobas reside principally in a few villages in the upper valley of the Burhner River, and members of the caste own two or three villages. They are dark in complexion and have, though in a less degree, the flat features, coarse nose and receding forehead of the Gond; but they are taller in stature and not so strongly built, and are much less capable of exertion. divisions. The caste has twelve exogamous septs, though the list 2. Exois probably not complete. These appear to be derived gamous from the names of villages. Marriage is forbidden between the Bāghmār and Baghcharia septs, the Marātha and Khatnagar and Marālwati septs and the Sonwāni and 1 This article is partly based on an account of the caste furnished by Mr. H. F. E. Bell and drawn up by Mr. F. R. R. Rudman in the Mandla Dis- |