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JULY, 1874.)
NOTES ON CASTES IN THE DEKHAN.
185
easily be imagined that a Wanjâri “tánda" (caravan) was no easy nut for the boldest Pindaris to crack.
2. The Lanbanis are a very similar, some say an identical, race, who take the same position in the South Maratha Country as the Wan. jâris further north. They speak a language differing from Marathi-Telugu, I fancy; and their women do not-that I have observed - wear the horned head-dress of the Wanjarins. Orme mentions their having supplied the Comte de Bussy with store cattle and grain when besieged by the Nizâm's army in the Chår. mahal at Haidarâbâd ; and his description of their roving and predatory habits would suit them well enongh at this day. For some reason or other, a good many Europeans call them "Gypsies."
3. The Wadâris, or wandering navvies, have two divisions-Gå d-Wadâris, or quarrymen, named from the little carts upon which they carry stones, and Mat- Wadâris, who deal only in earthwork, as their name implies. They speak a dialect of Telugu among themselves. They are great dog-fanciers, have a particular taste for English breeds, and are bad neighbours to the kennel, but otherwise an industrious, honest, peaceable set of people. The two divisions eat together, but do not intermarry.
4. The only people who will eat Wadâris' bread are the Kaikadís, of whom there are three divisions-(1) Gawrâni, who are baskettakers; (2) Kunchekari, who make weavers' brushes; and a third whose distinguishing name and trade I have forgotten. None of the three eat together or intermarry. They are all great thieves, occasionally sportsmen.
5. The Bela dârst are wandering stonecutters, in appearance and trade resembling the GAD-Wadârîs, but holding themselves distinct.
6. The Mehamjogis or Warh â dis trade in buffaloes. I have only once seen them in the Dekhan.
7. The Kolintis are the most repulsive
"In the Dekhan and South India, a widely distributed cute of very low status, whose chief oocupation is to cart and sell rough stones for building purposes. In the Dekhan they are of unsettled habita, congregating where building operations are being carried on: they are also excavators or well-diggers, and mill-stone makers: some are known as thieves, and their general habits are those of rade, ignorant, intemperate, and superstitious race. Their diet is indiscriminate, and is noted for including such vermin as the field-rat. Buchanan describes them as of Telinga origin, and as also being engaged as carriers of,
scum in existence. They are nominally basketmakers; the women are all prostitutes, and the men all thieves; but their distinctive industry is that of kidnapping female children, who are sold to bawds in Bombay and Haidarabad. Some of the women are wonderfully good. looking, considering their way of life.
8. The Vaidyas or Hakims are the caste who exhibit snakes and the like. They also profess a knowledge of simples, but their chief practice in that line is the compounding of intoxicating draughts. Two very different nar. cotics are called Kusůmba : one is simply opium and water; the other a decoction of a bean (Canavalia virosa) found in the Konkan. The Vaidyas are great at the preparation of both. They are also good at snaring small game and poisoning fish; and all manner of living things are pure to their palates, except a rat, which is curious, as all the other wandering tribes are very fond of field-rats, which they dig up and eat, stealing his store of corn.
9. The Phansi. På rad his are famous for their wonderful skill in capturing animals with horsehair nooses. I have myself known them to catch everything, from a quail to a sâmbar (Cervus Rusa), and they say themselves that they could catch a tiger or a bison if he was worth the risk and trouble. They have also special excellence in digging through or under the wall of a house to rob it, and are--both as thieves and poachers--looked upon with little favour by sporting så hebs.
10. The Bhâ matyas have two divisions, of which the only one known to me is the Patharwat caste. These are supposed to make mill-stones; but their real trade-never concealed but when they can conceal their caste-is that of petty theft. I once asked a Bhåmatya prisoner “What's your trade?" "Hench chorichen" ("Just this of stealing ") was the answer; and he took his fifty lashes without a sound. The Bhâmatyas do not wander in gangs, but singly or in small parties and in the disguise of Marâthâs. There are some wanderers who call themselves and traders in, salt and grain. The old and infirm live in huts near villages, while the vigorous youth of both sexes travel about in caravans with oxen, male buffaloes, and assen, in pursuit of trade and work: their families accompany them, and all live in rude hats made of mats and stick..." Trans. Med. and Phys. Socy. ut supr 1, pp. 246-7.
"A caste of low status in the Dekban, occupied in dig. ging wells, blasting rocks, and working on the roads M bricklayers, &c."-Trans. Med. and Phys. Socy. ut supra, p. 198.
