Dhobi
Contents |
Dhobi
This section has been extracted from THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
NOTE 1: Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all posts in this series have been scanned from a very old book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot scanning errors are requested to report the correct spelling to the Facebook page, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be gratefully acknowledged in your name.
Origin
The washerman caste of Behar, entirely distinct from the Dhobas of Bengal and Orissa. Except the vague story that they are descended from Gari Bhuiya, one of the minor gods of Behar, Dhobis have no tradition respecting their origin, and the internal structure of the caste throws no light upon the sources from which it has been formed. Mr. Nesfield holds that the" washerman represents an impure caste, but are many degrees higher than that of the Bhangi, from whom he has sprung. Both are descended from the Dom, 'whose sole wealth,' according to Manu, ' must be dogs and asses.'l The Indian wasberman has always been associated with the indigenous ass, which carries the soiled clothes down to the bank of the river or tank and takes them back clean to the house. No Hindu of any caste, even the lowest, will wash his own clothes, and so the Dhobi has been formed into a caste which shall bear the impurities of all." It seems to me open to question whether this ingenious hypothesis is borne out by the very scanty evidence that is available. Dhobis and Doms, as I understand the argument, are alleged to be cognate races, because both are associated with the donkey. Now in the first place the use of donkeys by the Dhobi caste is so far from being I Manu. x, 52, speaks thus of the Chondf1ls, not of the Doms. There is nothing prima facie improbable in the view that both are derived from a common stock, but I doubt whether the evidence justifies the assumption of their identity. universal that it has given rise to the formation of a slightly inferior sub-caste called Gadhaya. Secondly, beyond the highly conjectural identification of the Doms with the Chandals spoken of by Manu, there is nothing to show that Doms have the faintest partiality for the donkey. On the contrary, the Magahya Doms of Behar, as is explained in the article on that caste, will not touch a donkey, and regard the Dhobi with very special aversion, in explanation of which they tell a curious story. So far as my knowledge extends, neither the physical characteritics nor the exogamous divisioos of the Dhobi caste suggest any conclusion at all regarding the origin of the group; and for the present at any rate all that can be said is that it is probably a functional group evolved under the pressure of social requirements from whatever elements happened to be at hand in any particular locality. The tendency, no doubt, would be to relegate the ceremonially objectionable work of a wasberman to the non¬Aryan races; and in Orissa, as has been pointed out in the article on Dhoba, some evidence has survived to show that this has actually taken place. But it would be hopeless to attempt by any mode of analysis to trace the various elements which may have been combined in a large functional caste.
Internal structure
The Dhobis of Behar are divided into the following sub-castes : Kanaujia, Maghaya, Belwar, Awadhiya, Batham, Gorsar, Gadhaya(keep donkey), and Bangia (immigrants from Bengal). There is also a class of Mahomedan Dhobis known as Turkia. Magahya Dhobis have exogamous sections (muls) of the territorial type. The other sub-castes appear to have no sections, and to regulate their marriages solely by the standard Behar formula regarding prohibited degrees.
Marriage
The usual practice among Dhobis is to marry their daughters as infants at ages ranging from five to twelve years; but cases sometimes occur in which a girl is married after puberty owing to her parents being too poor to arrange for her marriage before. The preliminary negotiations are conducted by a match-maker (agua) , who mayor may not be a relative of the bride. A small customary prioe (tilak) is usually paid to the parents of the bridegroom. The ceremony is of the ordinary type. Polygamy is supposed to be prohibited, but a man may have two wives without inourring censure; and as a rule no one is rich enough to be able to keep more. A. widow may marry again by the sagai form, in which the ritual consists of smearin 0' vermilion on the parting of the bride's hair with the bridegroom9s left band, and presenting to her a lac armlet. If her late husband has left a younger brother or younger cousin, it is considered the right thing for the widow to marry him some four or five months after her husband's death. A divorce may be obtained with the assent of the cate panchayat when a woman is taken in adultery with a member of the caste or for incompatibility of temper. Sexual interocorse with an outsider belonging to a lower caste would involve expulsion; but I infer from the caseoited below that a woman would incur no social penalty by becoming the mistress of a man of high caste. A divorced woman may marry again by sagfli. The man whom she marries is expected to give a feast to the members of the caste.
It is a singular fact that the Dhobis of Behar, like the Bauris and Bagdis of Bengal, admit int.o their community men of higher castes who have been expelled from their own group. I n such cases the head of the new member is shaved, and he is bathed in any sacred stream that may be available. He must also worship Sat Narayan, and give money and a feast to the Brabmans of the caste. A case of this kind occurred recently in Champaran. A Bhuinhar (Babhan) of Khartari, thana Dhaka, having been expelled from his own caste for eating and drinking with a Dhobi woman who was his mistress, was formally received into the Dhobi caste by the ceremony described above.
Religion
In all that concerns the worship of the greater gods the Religion of the Dhobis differs little from that of other castes of about the same social position. Siva, Vishnu, Kartikeya, or the Saktis are selected for worship, very much as the personal tastes of the worshipper may dictate. Maithil and Sakadwipi Brahmans are employed as priests, but these suffer in social estimation by serving so Iowa caste, and are distinguished by the opprobrious llame of Dhobi Brahman. Besides those profes-sional Jnwohits, a Dhobi who turns Bau.'agi may find employment as gun~ or spiritual adviser among the members of his caste. In addition to the minor gods common to them and other low castes of Behar, Dhobis pay especial respect to Gari, Bhuia, whom they worship on the 5th of Sravan with offerings of he-goats, betel-leaves, flowers of the u1'luil tree, cakes of flour, rice boiled in milk, ganja with a chilam ready for smoking, a dhoti, and a few coins. These offerings, with the exception of the gallja, are afterwards consumed by the members of the family. 'rhe dhoti and the money are given to Brahmans. In the Monghyr district Barham Ghasi appears to oocupy much the same position as Gari Bhuia does further north. On the last day of A.sharh, Ghos i Pach{li n is propitiated in very similar fashi.on. Some Dhobis are said to worship their fiat iron (istiri) , but I have been unable to find out the precise form of ritual appointed for such occasions. Jhunki Gosain and Ram Thakur are also reckoned among their gods.
Social status and occupation
In point of social standing Dhobis hold but a low place among . the castes of Behar, being classed with Beldars Musahars Chamars and the like. Brahmans of course cannot take water from their hands. They are not very particular about their food, and in some districts they are known to eat field -rats-a fact which suggests non-At-yan affinities. Most of them adhere to their traditional occupation of washing clothes, and only a few have taken to agriculture as non¬occupancy raiyats. Some, however, work as cartmen, and others have taken to selling milk. In North-West Shababad, says Mr. Grierson,l the village Dhobi receives as his perquisite ten sers of grain for every plough in the village. This is called jam•a. In the same part of the country he also receives an armful of crop, known as kharwan or kera, according as it is large or small. In the North-Western Provinces, and probably also in Behar, the Dhobi gets a special fee in cash or kind at child-birth and on the day when the mother first leaves her room. According to the same high authority1 :¬
"The honesty of the washerman and his tenderness for the clothes committed to his care are not considered of much account in Behar, and there are numerous proverbs coined at his expense, e.g., dhobi pm' dhobi base, tab kapm par sab!ttl prl1'e,-no soap ever touches clothes unless many washermen live together (when owing to com¬petition they wash well). Again, dhobik bap ker kicchu u nahifiphtit,¬nothing belonging to a washerman's father is ever torn by him (i.e., those are the only clothes about which he is careful). It is also a wise precaution, which according to Behar ideas should universally be adopted, to disbelieve a washerman when he says the clothes are 'nearly' ready. A washerman'sdonkey is n. bye-wol'd, as in the proverb .qadha ken na dosa1' gowinyan, dhobiya ken na dosa1' pa1'olwn,-an ass has only one master (a washerman) . and the washerman has only one steed (adonkey). Again, dhobi, naii, dm'ji i tinu alga1ii, -there are three careless people, the washerman, the barber, and the tailor."
The following statement shows the number and distribution of the Dhabi caste in Behar and Chota Nagpur during 1872 and 1881:¬
