The Katias are a caste of cotton-spinners, the name being derived from kātna, to cut or spin. But hand-spinning is now practically an extinct industry and the Katias have taken to weaving or ordinary manual labour for a subsistence. The Kanjars and Berias are the gipsy castes of India. They are accustomed to wander about carrying their grass-matting huts with them. Many of them live by petty thieving and cheating. Their women practise palmistry and retail charms for the cure of sickness and for exorcising evil spirits, and love-philtres. They do cupping and tattooing and also make reed mats, cane baskets, palm-leaf mats and fans, ropes from grass- and tree-fibre, brushes for the cotton-loom, string-net purses and balls, and so on; and the women commonly dance and act as prostitutes. There is good reason for thinking that the Kanjars are the parents of the European gipsies, while the Thugs who formerly infested the high-roads of India, murdering solitary travellers and small parties by strangulation, may also have been largely derived from this caste.[81]
41. Derivation of the impure castes from the indigenous tribes.
It can only be definitely shown in a few instances that the existing impure occupational castes were directly derived from the indigenous tribes. The Chamār and Kori, and the Chuhra and Bhangi, or sweepers and scavengers of the Punjab and United Provinces, are now purely occupational castes and their original tribal affinities have entirely disappeared. The Chamārs and Mehtars or sweepers are in some places of a superior physical type, of comparatively good stature and light complexion;[82] this may perhaps be due to a large admixture of Hindu blood through their women, during a social contact with the Hindus extending over many centuries, and also to the fact that they eat flesh when they can obtain it, including carrion. Such types are, however, exceptional among the impure castes, and there is no reason to doubt their general origin from the non-Aryan tribes, which in a few instances can be directly traced. Thus it seems likely that the Kanjars, Berias, Sānsias and other gipsy groups, as well as the Mirāsis, the vagrant bards and genealogists of the lower classes of Hindus, are derived from the Dom caste or tribe of Bengal, who are largely employed as sweepers and scavengers as well as on ordinary labour. The evidence for the origin of the above groups from the Doms is given in the article on Kanjar. Sir H.M. Elliot considered the Doms to be one of the original tribes of India. Again, there is no doubt that the impure Gānda caste, who are weavers, labourers and village musicians in the Uriya country and Chhattīsgarh Districts of the Central Provinces, are derived from the Pān tribe of Chota Nāgpur. The Pāns or Pābs are a regular forest tribe, and are sometimes called Gānda, while the Gāndas may be alternatively known as Pān. But the section of the tribe who live among the Hindus and are regarded as impure have now become a distinct caste with a separate name. The Bhuiya tribe were once the rulers of Chota Nāgpur; they still install the Rāja of Keonjhar, and have a traditional relation to other ruling families. But in parts of Chota Nāgpur and southern Bihār the Bhuiyas living in Hindu villages have become a separate impure caste with the opprobrious designation of Mūsahar or rat-eater. The great Mahār caste of the Marātha country or Bombay are weavers and labourers, and formerly cured hides, like the Chamārs and Koris of northern India. They are regarded as impure and were the serfs or villeins of the Kunbis, attached to the land. An alternative name for them is Dher, and this is supposed to be a corruption of Dharada a hillman, a name applied in Manu to all the indigenous races of India. Though the connection cannot be traced in all cases, there is thus no reason to doubt that the existing impure castes represent the subjected or enslaved section of the primitive non-Aryan tribes.
42. Occupation the basis of the caste system.
It has been seen that the old Aryan polity comprised four classes: the Brāhmans and Kshatriyas or priestly and military aristocracy; the Vaishyas or body of the Aryans, who were ceremonially pure and could join in sacrifices; and the Sūdras or servile and impure class of labourers. The Vaishyas became cultivators and herdsmen, and their status of ceremonial purity was gradually transferred to the cultivating members of the village community, because land was the main source of wealth. Between the last two there arose another class of village menials and craftsmen, originating principally from the offspring of fathers of the Aryan classes and Sūdra women, to whom was left the practice of the village industries, despised by the cultivators. In spite of the almost complete fusion of races which the intercourse of centuries has effected, and the multiplication and rearrangement of castes produced by the diversity of occupation and other social factors, the divisions of the village community can still be recognised in the existing social gradation.
It has been seen also that occupation is the real basis of the division and social precedence of castes in India, as in all communities which have made any substantial progress in civilisation and social development. Distinctions of race, religion and family gradually disappear, and are merged in the gradation according to wealth or profession. The enormous majority of castes are occupational and their social position depends on their caste calling. Thus in the case of an important industry like weaving, there are separate castes who weave the finer kinds of cloth, as the Tāntis and Koshtis, while one subcaste of Koshtis, the Sālewārs, are distinguished as silk-weavers, and a separate caste of Patwas embroider silk and braid on cloth; other castes, as the Mahārs, Gāndas and Koris, weave coarse cloth, and a distinct caste of Katias existed for the spinning of thread, and the Muhammadan caste of Bahnas for cleaning cotton. The workers in each kind of metal have formed a separate caste, as the Lohārs or blacksmiths, the Kasārs or brass-workers, the Tameras or coppersmiths, and the Sunārs or gold- and silversmiths, while the Audhia subcaste of Sunārs[83] and the Bharewas, an inferior branch of the Kasārs, work in bell-metal. Each of these castes makes ornaments of its own metal, while the Kachera caste[84] make glass bangles, and the Lakheras make bangles from lac and clay. In the case of agriculture, as has been seen, there is usually a functional cultivating caste for each main tract of country, as the Jāts in the Punjab, the Kurmis in Hindustān, the Kunbis in the Deccan, the Chasas in Orissa, the Kāpus in the Telugu country and the Vellālas in the Tamil country. Except the Jāts, who were perhaps originally a racial caste, the above castes appear to include a number of heterogeneous groups which have been welded into a single body through the acquisition of land and the status which it confers. Various other cultivating castes also exist, whose origin can be traced to different sources; on obtaining possession of the land they have acquired the cultivating status, but retained their separate caste organisation and name. Other agricultural castes have been formed for the growing of special products. Thus the Mālis are gardeners, and within the caste there exist such separate groups as the Phūlmālis who grow flowers, the Jire Mālis cumin and the Halde Mālis turmeric.[85] Hindus generally object to cultivate sān-hemp,[86] and some special castes have been formed from those who grew it and thus underwent some loss of status; such are the Lorhas and Kumrawats and Pathinas, and the Santora subcaste of Kurmis. The āl[87] or Indian madder-dye is another plant to which objection is felt, and the Alia subcastes of Kāchhis and Banias consist of those who grow and sell it. The Dāngris and Kāchhis are growers of melons and other vegetables on the sandy stretches in the beds of rivers and the alluvial land on their borders which is submerged in the monsoon floods. The Barais are the growers and sellers of the betel-vine.
Several castes have been formed from military service, as the Marāthas, Khandaits, Rautias, Taonlas and Pāiks. All of these, except the Marāthas, are mainly derived from the non-Aryan tribes; since they have abandoned military service and taken as a rule to agriculture, their rank depends roughly on their position as regards the land. Thus the Marāthas and Khandaits became landowners, receiving grants of property as a reward for, or on condition of, military service like the old feudal tenures; they rank with, but somewhat above, the cultivating castes. The same is the case, though to a less degree, with the Rautias of Chota Nāgpur, a military caste mainly formed from the Kol tribe. On the other hand, the Pāiks or foot-soldiers and Taonlas have not become landholders and rank below the cultivating castes. The Hatkars are a caste formed from Dhangars or shepherds who entered the Marātha armies. They are now called Bangi Dhangars or shepherds with the spears, and rank a little above other Dhangars.
43. Other agents in the formation of castes.
The great majority of castes have been formed from occupation, but other sources of origin can be traced. Several castes are of mixed descent, as the Vidūrs, the descendants of Brāhman fathers and mothers of other castes; the Bhilālas, by Rajpūt fathers and Bhīl mothers; the Chauhāns, Audhelias, Khangārs and Dhākars of Bastar, probably by Hindu fathers and women of various indigenous tribes; the Kirārs of mixed Rajpūt descent, and others. These also now generally take rank according to their occupation and position in the world. The Vidūrs served as village accountants and ranked below the cultivators, but since they are well educated and have done well in Government service their status is rapidly improving. The Bhilālas are landholders and rank as a good cultivating caste. The Chauhāns and Khangārs are village watchmen and rank as menials below the cultivators, the Dhākars are farmservants and labourers with a similar position, while the Audhelias are labourers who keep pigs and are hence regarded as impure. The Halbas or ‘ploughmen’ are another mixed caste, probably the descendants of house-servants of the Uriya Rājas, who, like the Khandaits, formed a sort of militia for the maintenance of the chiefs authority. They are now mainly farmservants, as the name denotes, but where they hold land, as in Bastar, they rank higher, almost as a good cultivating caste.
Again, very occasionally a caste may be formed from a religious sect or order. The Bishnois were originally a Vaishnava sect, worshipping Vishnu as an unseen god, and refusing to employ Brāhmans. They have now become cultivators, and though they retain their sectarian beliefs, and have no Brāhman priests, are generally regarded as a Hindu cultivating caste. The Pankas are members of the impure Gānda caste who adhered to the Kabīrpanthi sect. They are now a separate caste and are usually employed as village watchmen, ranking with menials above the Gāndas and other similar castes. The Lingāyats are a large sect of southern India, devoted to the worship of Siva and called after the lingam or phallic emblem which they wear. They have their own priests, denying the authority of Brāhmans, but the tendency now is for members of those castes which have become Lingāyats to marry among themselves and retain their relative social status, thus forming a sort of inner microcosm of Hinduism.