Chattarkhai

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This article is an extract from

THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. By H.H. RISLEY, INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE, OFFICIER D'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE. Ethnographic Glossary. CALCUTTA: Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. .

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Chattarkhai

A social group in Orissa made up of people who lost their caste in 1866 for eating in relief-kitchens (chattras). The Chattarkhai caste, as it may properly be called, is divided into an upper and a lower sub-caste¬the former comprising Brah¬mans, Karans, Khandaits, and Gop-Goalas; the latter of the castes ranking below these in the social scale. Members of each sub-caste marry within that that group, irrespective of the caste to which they originally belonged; but no in termarriage is possible between members of the two sub¬castes. All Chattarkhciis are entirely cut off from their original castes.