The bodies of children under five and of persons dying from smallpox, snake-bite or cholera are buried, and those of others are cremated. In Chhindwāra they do not wash or anoint the corpses of the dead, but sprinkle on them a little turmeric and water. On the day of the funeral or cremation the bereaved family is supplied with food by friends. The principal deity of the Kāchhis is Bhainsāsur, who is regarded as the keeper of the vegetable garden and is represented by a stone placed under a tree in any part of it. He is worshipped once a year after the Holi festival with offerings of vermilion, areca-nuts and cocoanuts, and libations of liquor. The Kāchhis raise all kinds of vegetables and garden crops, the principal being chillies, turmeric, tobacco, garlic, onions, yams and other vegetables. They are diligent and laborious, and show much skill in irrigating and manuring their crops.
[1] Crooke’s Tribes and Castes, article Kāchhi.
Kadera
1. Historical notice.
Kadera, Kandera, Golandāz, Bāndar, Hawāidar.[1]—A small occupational caste of makers of fireworks. The Kaderas numbered 2200 persons in 1911, and were most numerous in the Narsinghpur District. They consider themselves to have come from Bundelkhand, where the caste is also found, but it is in greatest strength in the Gwālior State. In former times Kaderas were employed to manufacture gunpowder and missiles of iron, and serve cannon in the Indian armies. The term Golandāz or ‘ball-thrower’ was also applied to native artillerymen. The Bāndar or ‘rocket-throwers’ were a separate class, who fired rockets containing missiles, the name being derived from vān, an arrow. With them may be classed the Deg-andāz or ‘mortar-throwers,’ who used thick earthenware pots filled with powder and having fuses attached, somewhat resembling the modern bomb—missiles which inflicted dreadful wounds.[2] Mr. Irvine writes of the Mughal artillery as follows: “The fire was never very rapid. Orme speaks of the artillery firing once in a quarter of an hour. In 1721 the usual rate of fire of heavy guns was once every three hours. Artillery which fired once in two gharis or forty-four minutes was praised for its rapidity of action. The guns were usually posted behind the clay walls of houses; or they might take up a commanding position on the top of a brick-kiln; or a temporary entrenchment might be formed out of the earthen bank and ditch which usually surround a grove of mango-trees.” Hawāidār is a term for a maker of fireworks, while the name Kandera itself may perhaps be derived from kand, an arrow.