Lodhi
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From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India
By R. V. Russell
Of The Indian Civil Service
Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces
Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner
Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.
NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.
Lodhi
Lodhl, Lodha
An important agricultural caste resid- ^"^l. . ing principally in the Vindhyan Districts and Nerbudda valley, whence they have spread to the Wainganga valley and the Khairagarh State of Chhattlsgarh. Their total strength in the Province is 300,000 persons. The Lodhis are immigrants from the United Provinces, in whose Gazetteers it is stated that they belonged originally to the Ludhiana District and took their name from it. Their proper designation is Lodha, but it has become corrupted to Lodhi in the Central Provinces. A number of persons resident in the Harda tahsll of Hoshangabad are called Lodha and say that they are distinct from the Lodhis.
There is nothing to support their statement, however, and it is probable that they simply represent the separate wave of immigration which took place from Central India into the Hoshangabad and Bctul Districts in the fifteenth century. They spoke a different dialect of the group known as Rajasthani, and hence perhaps the caste-name did not get corrupted. The Lodhis of the Jubbulpore Division probably came here at a later date from northern India. The Mandla Lodhis are said to have been brought to the District by Raja Hirde Sah of the Gond-Rajput dynasty of Garha-Mandla in the seventeenth
century, and they were given large grants of the waste land in the interior in order that they might clear it of forest.' The Lodhis are a good instance of a caste who have obtained a great rise in social status on migrating to a new area. In northern India Mr. Nesfield places them lowest among the agricultural castes and states that they are little better than a forest tribe. He derives the name from lod, a clod, accord- ing to which Lodhi would mean clodhopper." Another suggestion is that the name is derived from the bark of the lodJi tree,^ which is collected by the Lodhas in northern India and sold for use as a dyeing agent.
In Bulandshahr they are described as " Of short stature and uncouth appearance, and from this as well as from their want of a tradition of immi- gration from other parts they appear to be a mixed class proceeding from aboriginal and Aryan parents. In the Districts below Agra they are considered so low that no one drinks water touched by them ; but this is not the case in the Districts above Agra." "^ In Hamlrpur they appear to have some connection with the Kurmis, and a story told of them in Sanger is that the first Lodhi was created by Mahadeo from a scarecrow in a Kurmi woman's field and given the vocation of a farmservant.
But the Lodhis themselves claim Rajput ancestry and say that they are descended from Lava, the eldest of the two sons of Raja Ramchandra of Ajodhya. In the Central Provinces they have become landholders 2. Position and are addressed by the honorific title of Thakur, rankino: 11? '^^*^ , •' ' "^ Central with the higher cultivating castes. Several Lodhi land- Provinces, holders in Damoh and Saugor formerly held a quasi- independent position under the Muhammadans, and subse- quently acknowledged the Raja of Panna as their suzerain, who conferred on some families the titles of Raja and Diwan. They kept up a certain amount of state and small contingents of soldiery, attended by whom they went to pay their respects to the representative of the ruling power.
" It would be difficult," says Grant,^ " to recognise the descendants of the ' Colonel Ward's Mandla Settle- * Raja I-achman Singh's j9;//:/;/^j/;a^r ment Report, p. 29. Aleiiio, p. 182, quoted in Mr. Crooke's ^ Brief Vieiv of the Caste System, Tribes and Castes, art. Lodha. p. 14. ^ Narsint^hpur Settlement Report •^ Symplocos racemosa. (1866), p. 28. VOL. IV I
peaceful cultivators of northern India in the strangely- accoutred Rajas who support their style and title by a score of ragged matchlock-men and a ruined mud fort on a hill- side." Sir B. Fuller's Danioh Settlement Report says of them : " A considerable number of villages had been for long time past in the possession of certain important families, who held them by prescription or by a grant from the ruling power, on a right which approximated as nearly to the English idea of proprietorship as native custom permitted. The most prominent of these families were of the Lodhi caste.
They have developed tastes for sport and freebooting and have become decidedly the most troublesome item in the population. During the Mutiny the Lodhis as a class were openly disaffected, and one of their proprietors, the Talukdar of Hindoria, marched on the District headquarters and looted the treasury." Similarly the Ramgarh family of Mandla took to arms and lost the large estates till then held by them. On the other hand the village of Imjhira in Narsinghpur belonging to a Lodhi malguzar was gallantly defended against a band of marauding rebels from Saugor. Sir R. Craddock describes them as follows : " They are men of strong character, but their constant family feuds and love of faction militate against their prosperity.
A cluster of Lodhi villages forms a hotbed of strife and the nearest relations are generally divided by bitter animosities. The Revenue Officer who visits them is beset by reckless charges and counter-charges and no communities are less amenable to conciliatory compromises. Agrarian outrages are only too common in some of the Lodhi villages." ^ The high status of the Lodhi caste in the Central Provinces as compared with their position in the country of their origin may be simply explained by the fact that they here became landholders and ruling chiefs. 3. Sub- In the northern Districts the landholding Lodhis are divisions. (jivi(5ej into a number of exogamous clans who marry with each other in imitation of the Rajputs. These are the Mahdele, Kerbania, Dongaria, Narwaria, Bhadoria and others.
The name of the Kerbanias is derived from Kerbana, a village in Damoh, and the Balakote family of that District are the ' Nagpur Settkmejtl Report, p. 24.
head of the clan. The Mahdeles are the highest clan and have the titles of Raja and Diwan, while the others hold those of Rao and Kunwar, the terms Diwan and Kunwar being always applied to the younger brother of the head of the house. These titles are still occasionally conferred by the Raja of Panna, whom the Lodhi clans looked on as their suzerain. The name of the Mahdeles is said to be derived from the meJmdi or henna plant. The above clans sometimes practise hypergamy among themselves and also with the other Lodhis, taking daughters from the latter on receipt of a large bridegroom-price for the honour con- ferred by the marriage.
This custom is now, however, tending to die out. There are also several endogamous subcastes ranking below the clans, of whom the principal are the Singrore, Jarha, Jangra and Mahalodhi. The Singrore take their name from the old town of Singraur or Shrengera in northern India, Singrore, like Kanaujia, being a common subcaste name among several castes. It is also connected more lately with the Singram Ghat or ferry of the Ganges in Allahabad District, and the title of Rawat is said to have been conferred on the Singrore Lodhis by the emperor Akbar on a visit there. The Jarha Lodhis belong to Mandla. The name is probably a form of Jharia or jungly, but since the leading members of the caste have become large landholders they repudiate this derivation.
The Jangra Lodhis are of Chhattlsgarh, and the Mahalodhis or ' Great Lodhis ' are an inferior group to which the offspring of irregular unions are or were relegated. The Mahalodhis are said to condone adultery either by a man or woman on penalty of a feast to the caste. Other groups are the Hardiha, who grow turmeric {Jialdi), and_ the Gwalhare or cowherds. The Lodhas of Hoshangabad may also be considered a separate subcaste. They disclaim connection with the Lodhis, but the fact that the parent caste in the United Provinces is known as Lodha appears to establish their identity. They abstain from flesh and liquor, which most Lodhis consume. This division of the superior branch of a caste into large exogamous clans and the lower one into endogamous sub- castes is only found, so far as is known, among the Rajputs
and one or two landholding castes who have imitated them. Its origin is discussed in the Introduction. 4. Exo- The subcastes are as usual divided into exogamous gamous gj.Qupg q{ j-j^g territorial, titular and totemistic classes. Among sections named after places may be mentioned the Chandpuria from Chandpur, the Kharpuria from Kharpur, and the Nagpuriha, Raipuria, Dhamonia, Damauha and Shahgariha from Nagpur, Raipur, Dhamoni, Damoh and Shahgarh. Two-thirds of the sections have the names of towns or villages.
Among titular names are Saulakhia, owner of 100 lakhs, Bhainsmar, one who killed a buffalo, Kodonchor, one who stole kodon,^ Kumharha perhaps from Kumhar a potter, and Rajbhar and Barhai (carpenter), names of castes. Among totemistic names are Baghela, tiger, also the name of a Rajput sept ; Kutria, a dog ; Khajuria, the date-palm tree ; Mirchaunia, chillies ; Andwar, from the castor-oil plant ; Bhainsaiya, a buffalo ; and Nak, the nose. 5. Mar- A man must not marry in his own section nor in that of riage j-^jg mother. He may marry two sisters.
The exchange of customs. - ... . , . ^ 1 -n-1- girls between families is only m force among the Bilaspur Lodhis, who say, ' Eat with those who have eaten with you and marry with those who have married with you.' Girls are usually wedded before puberty, but in the northern Districts the marriage is sometimes postponed from desire to marry into a good family or from want of funds to pay a bridegroom-price, and girls of twenty or more may be un- married. A case is known of a man who had two daughters unmarried at twenty-two and twenty-three years old, because he had been waiting for good partis, with the result that one of them went and lived with a man and he then married off ,the other in the Singhast ^ year, which is forbidden among the Lodhis, and was put out of caste.
The marriage and other ceremonies of the Lodhis resemble those of the Kurmis, except in Chhattlsgarh where the Maratha fashion is followed. Here, at the wedding, the bride and bridegroom hold between them a doll made of dough with 2 1 cowries inside, and as the priest repeats the marriage texts they pull it apart like a cracker and see how many cowries each has got. It is ' A small millet. Jupiter is in conjunction with the con- 2 Every twelfth year when ihe planet .stcllation Sinh (Leo).
considered auspicious if the bridegroom has the larger number. The priest is on the roof of the house, and before the wedding he cries out : * Are the king and queen here ? ' And a man below answers, ' Yes.' * Have they shoes on their feet ? ' ' Yes.' * Have they bracelets on their hands ? ' ' Yes.' ' Have they rings in their ears ? ' ' Yes.' ' Have they crowns on their heads ? ' ' Yes.' ' Has she glass beads round her neck ? ' ' Yes.' ' Have they the doll in their hands ? ' ' Yes.' And the priest then repeats the marriage texts and beats a brass dish while the doll is pulled apart. In the northern Districts after the wedding the bridegroom must untie one of the festoons of the marriage-shed, and if he refuses to do this, it is an indelible disgrace on the bride's party. Before doing so he requires a valuable present, such as a buffalo. When the girl becomes mature the Gauna or going-away 6. The ceremony is performed. In Chhattlsgarh before leaving her ^^emony home the bride goes out with her sister and worships a palds Fertility tree.^ Her sister waves a lighted lamp seven times over it, '^' ^^' and the bride goes seven times round it in imitation of the marriage ceremony.
At her husband's house seven pictures of the family gods are drawn on a wall inside the house and the bride worships these, placing a little sugar and bread on the mouth of each and bowing before them. She is then seated before the family god while an old woman brings a stone rolling-pin ^ wrapped up in a piece of cloth, which is supposed to be a baby, and the old woman imitates a baby crying. She puts the roller in the bride's lap saying, ' Take this and give it milk.' The bride is abashed and throws it aside. The old woman picks it up and shows it to the assembled women saying, ' The bride has just had a bab}-,' amid loud laughter. Then she gives the stone to the bride- groom who also throws it aside. This ceremony is meant to induce fertility, and it is supposed that by making believe that the bride has had a baby she will quickly have one. The higher clans of Lodhis in Damoh and Saugor pro-
- Buteafrondosa. - This is known as lodha.
7. Widow- marriage and puberty rite. 8. Mourn- ing impurity. g. Social customs. hibit the remarriage of widows, but instances of it occur. It is said that a man who marries a widow is relegated to the Mahalodhi subcaste or the Lahuri Sen, an illegitimate group, and the Lodhis of his clan no longer acknowledge his family.
But if a girl's husband dies before she has lived with him she may marry again. The other Lodhis freely permit widow-marriage and divorce. When a girl first becomes mature she is secluded, and though she may stay in the house cannot enter the cook-room. At the end of the period she is dressed in red cloth, and a present of cocoanuts stripped of their shells, sweetmeats, and a little money, is placed in her lap, while a few women are invited to a feast. This rite is also meant to induce fertility, the kernel of the cocoanut being held to resemble an unborn baby. The higher clans consider themselves impure for a period of 12 days after a birth, and if the birth falls in the Mul asterism or Nakshatra, for 27 days. After death they observe mourning for 10 days ; on the loth day they offer ten pindas or funeral cakes, and on the 1 1 th day make one large pinda or cake and divide it into eleven parts ; on the 1 2th day they make sixteen /m^T^ia;.? and unite the spirit of the dead man with the ancestors ; and on the i 3th day they give a feast and feed Brahmans and are clean. The lower subcastes only observe impurity for three days after a birth and a death. Their funeral rites are the same as those of the Kurmis.
The caste employ Brahmans for weddings, but not necessarily for birth and death ceremonies. They eat flesh and fish, and the bulk of the caste eat fowls and drink liquor, but the landowning section abjures these practices. They will take food cooked with water from Brahmans, and that cooked without water also from Rajputs, Kayasths and Sunars. In Narsinghpur they also accept cooked food from such a low caste as Rajjahrs,^ probably because the Rajjhars are commonly employed by them as farmservants, and hence have been accustomed to carry their master's food. A similar relation has been found to exist between the Panwar Rajputs and their Gond farmservants. The higher class Lodhis make an inordinate show of hospitality at their ' The Rajjhars arc a low caste of farmservants and labourers, probably an offshoot of the Bhar tribe.
The plates of the guests are piled up profusely with food, and these latter think it a point of honour never to refuse it or say enough. When melted butter is poured out into their cups the stream must never be broken as it passes from one guest to the other, or it is said that they will all get up and leave the feast. Apparently a lot of butter must be wasted on the ground. The higher clans seclude their women, and these when they go out must wear long clothes covering the head and reaching to the feet. The women are not allowed to wear ornaments of a cheaper metal than silver, except of course their glass bangles.
The Mahalodhis will eat food cooked with water in the cook-room and carried to the fields, which the higher clans will not do. Their women wear the j-^7r/ drawn through the legs and knotted behind according to the Maratha fashion, but whenever they meet their husband's elder brother or any other elder of the family they must undo the knot and let the cloth hang down round their legs as a mark of respect. They wear no breast- cloth. Girls are tattooed before adolescence with dots on the chin and forehead, and marks on one hand. Before she is tattooed the girl is given sweets to eat, and during the process the operator sings songs in order that her attention may be diverted and she may not feel the pain. After she has finished the operator mutters a charm to prevent evil spirits from troubling the girl and causing her pain. The caste have some strict taboos on names and on 10. Greet- conversation between the sexes.
A man will only address '"S^/^"'^ ' method of his wife, sister, daughter, paternal aunt or niece directly. If address. he has occasion to speak to some other woman he will take his daughter or other female relative with him and do his business through her. He will not speak even to his own women before a crowd. A woman will similarly only speak to her father, son or nephew, and father-, son- or younger brother-in-law. She will not speak to her elder brother-in- law, and she will not address her husband in the presence of his father, elder brother or any other relative whom he reveres. A wife will never call her husband by his name, but always address him as father of her son, and, if she has no son, will sometimes speak to him through his younger brother. Neither the father nor mother will call their eldest
son by his name, but will use some other name. Similarly a daughter-in-law is given a fresh name on coming into the house, and on her arrival her mother-in-law looks at her for the first time through a guna or ring of baked gram-flour.
A man meeting his father or elder brother will touch his feet in silence. One meeting his sister's husband, sister's son or son-in-law, will touch his feet and say, * Sahib, salaam! II. Sacred The higher clans invest boys with the sacred thread thread and either when they are initiated by a Guru or spiritual pre- status. ceptor, or when they are married. The thread is made by a Brahman and has five knots. Recently a large landholder in Mandla, a Jarha Lodhi, has assumed the sacred thread himself for the first time and sent round a circular to his caste-men enjoining them also to wear it. His family priest has produced a legend of the usual type showing how the Jarha Lodhis are Rajputs whose ancestors threw away their sacred threads in order to escape the vengeance of Parasurama. Generally in social position the Lodhis may be considered to rank with, but slightly above, the ordinary cultivating castes, such as the Kurmis.
This superiority in no way
arises from their origin, since, as already seen, they are a very low caste in their home in northern India, but from the fact that they have become large landholders in the Central
Provinces and in former times their leaders exercised quasi- sovereign powers. Many Lodhis are fine-looking men and have still some appearance of having been soldiers. They
are passionate and quarrelsome, especially in the Jubbulpore District. This is put forcibly in the saying that * A Lodhi's
temper is as crooked as the stream of a bullock's urine.' They are generally cultivators, but the bulk of them are not very prosperous as they are inclined to extravagance and
di.splay at weddings and on other ceremonial occasions. I. Legends Lohap, Khatl, Ghantra, Ghisari, Panchal.—The occu- ofthe national caste of blacksmiths.
The name is derived from caste. i the Sanskrit Lauha-kdra, a worker in iron. In the Central Provinces the Lobar has in the past frequently combined the occupations of carpenter and blacksmith, and in such a capacity he is known as Khati. The honorific designations applied to the caste are Karlgar, which means skilful, and
Mistri, a corruption of the English 'Master' or 'Mister.' In 191 I the Lohars numbered about 180,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berar. The Lobar is indispens- able to the village economy, and the caste is found over the whole rural area of the Province. " Practically all the Lohars," Mr. Crooke writes,^ " trace their origin to Visvakarma, who is the later representative of the Vedic Twashtri, the architect and handicraftsman of the gods, * The fashioner of all ornaments, the most eminent of artisans, who formed the celestial chariots of the deities, on whose craft men subsist, and whom, a great and immortal god, they continually worship.' One " tradition tells that Visvakarma was a Brahman and married the daughter of an Ahir, who in her previous birth had been a dancing-girl of the gods.
By her he had nine sons, who became the ancestors
of various artisan castes, such as the Lobar, Barhai, Sunar,
and Kasera," The Lohars of the Uriya country in the Central Pro- vinces tell a similar story, according to which Kamar, the celestial architect, had twelve sons. The eldest son was
accustomed to propitiate the family god with wine, and one day he drank some of the wine, thinking that it could not
be sinful to do so as it was offered to the deity. But for this act his other brothers refused to live with him and left their
home, adopting various professions ; but the eldest brother
became a worker in iron and laid a curse upon the others
that they should not be able to practise their calling except with the implements which he had made.
The second brother thus became a woodcutter (Barhai), the third a painter (Maharana), the fourth learnt the science of vaccina- tion and medicine and became a vaccinator (Suthiar), the fifth a goldsmith, the sixth a brass-smith, the seventh a coppersmith, and the eighth a carpenter, while the ninth brother was weak in the head and married his eldest sister, on account of which fact his descendants are known as Ghantra.^ The Ghantras are an inferior class of blacksmiths, 1 Tribes and Castes of the N.W. P. course with another.
The Ghantra and Ondh, art. Lobar. Lohars are thus probably of bastard ^ Dowson, Classical Dictionary, s.v. origin, like the groups known as half- ^ In Uriya the term Ghantrabcla castes and others wliich are frequently means a person who has illicit inter- found.
probably an offshoot from some of the forest tribes, who are looked down on by the others. It is said that even to the present day the Ghantra Lobars have no objection to eating the leavings of food of their wives, whom they regard as their eldest sisters. 2. Social The above story is noticeable as indicating that the of the°'^ social position of the Lobar is somewhat below that of the Lohar.
other artisan castes, or at least of those who work in metals. This fact has been recorded in other localities, and has been explained by some stigma arising from his occupation, as in the following passage : " His social position is low even for a menial, and he is classed as an impure caste, in so far that Jats and others of similar standing will have no social communion with him, though not as an outcast like the scavenger. His impurity, like that of the barber, washerman and dyer, springs solely from the nature of his employment
perhaps because it is a dirty one, but more probably because black is a colour of evil omen.
It is not improbable that the necessity under which he labours of using bellows made of cowhide may have something to do with his impurity." ^ Mr. Nesfield also says : " It is owing to the ubiquitous
industry of the Lobar that the stone knives, arrow-heads and hatchets of the indigenous tribes of Upper India have been so entirely superseded by iron-ores. The memory of the
stone age has not survived even in tradition. In con- sequence of the evil associations which Hinduism has attached to the colour of black, the caste of Lobar has not been able to raise itself to the same social level as the three metallurgic castes which follow." The following saying also indicates that the Lobar is of evil omen :
Ar, Dhar, ChucJikdr. In tinon se bachdwe Kartdr.
Here Ar means an iron goad and signifies the Lobar ; Dhdr represents the sound of the oil falling from the press and means a Teli or oilman ; CJiuchkdr is an imitation of the sound of clothes being beaten against a stone and denotes the Dhobi or washerman ; and the phrase thus runs, ' My Friend, beware of the Lobar, Teli, and Dhobi, for they
1 Punjab Census Report (i88l), para. 624. (Ibbetson.)
are of evil oinen.' It is not quite clear why this disrepute should attach to the Lohar, because iron itself is lucky, though its colour, black, may be of bad omen. But the low status of the Lohar may partly arise from the fact of his being a village menial and a servant of the cultivators ; whereas the trades of the goldsmith, brass -smith and carpenter are of later origin than the blacksmith's, and are urban rather than rural industries ; and thus these artisans do not commonly occupy the position of village menials.
Another important consideration is that the iron industry is associated with the primitive tribes, who furnished the whole supply of the metal prior to its importation from Europe : and it is hence probable that the Lohar caste was originally constituted from these and would thus naturally be looked down upon by the Hindus. In Bengal, where io.^ or no traces of the village community remain, the Lohar ranks as the equal of Koiris and Kurmis, and Brahmans will take water from his hands ; ^ and this somewhat favours the argument that his lower status elsewhere is not due to incidents of his occupation. The constitution of the Lohar caste is of a heterogeneous 3- Caste nature. In some localities Gonds who work as blacksmiths divisions. are considered to belong to the caste and are known as Gondi Lobars. But Hindus who work in Gond villages also sometimes bear this designation.
Another subdivision returned consists of the Agarias, also an offshoot of the Gonds, who collect and smelt iron-ore in the Vindhyan and Satpura hills. The Panchals are a class of itinerant smiths in Berar. The Ghantras or inferior blacksmiths of the Uriya country have already been noticed. The Ghisaris are a similar low class of smiths in the southern Districts who do rough work only, but sometimes claim Rajput origin. Other subcastes are of the usual local or territorial type, as Mahulia, from Mahul in Berar ; Jhade or Jhadia, those living in the jungles ; Ojha, or those professing a Brahmanical origin; Maratha, Kanaujia, Mathuria, and so on. Infant-marriage is the custom of the caste, and the 4. Mar- ceremony is that prevalent among the agricultural castes of "j^^^^" the locality. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and customs. ' Tribes atui Castes of Bengal, art. Lohar.
they have the privilege of selecting their own husbands, or at least of refusing to accept any proposed suitor.
A widow is always married from her father's house, and never from that of her deceased husband. The first husband's property is taken by his relatives, if there be any, and they also assume the custody of his children as soon as they are old enough to dispense with a mother's care. The dead are both buried and burnt, and in the eastern Districts some water and a tooth-stick are daily placed at a cross-road for the use of the departed spirit during the customary period of mourning, which extends to ten days. On the eleventh day the relatives go and bathe, and the chief mourner puts on a new loin-cloth. Some rice is taken and seven persons pass it from hand to hand. They then pound the rice, and making from it a figure to represent a human being, they place some grain in its mouth and say to it, ' Go and become incarnate in some human being,' and throw the image into the water. After this the impurity caused by the death is removed, and they go home and feast with their friends.
In the evening they make cakes of rice, and place them seven times on the shoulder of each person who has carried the corpse to the cemetery or pyre, to remove the impurity contracted from touching it. It is also said that if this be not done the shouldei will feel the weight of the coffin for a period of six months. The caste endeavour to ascertain whether the spirit of the dead person returns to join in the funeral feast, and in what shape it will be born again. For this purpose rice-flour is spread on the floor of the cooking-room and covered with a brass plate.
The women retire and sit in an adjoining room while the chief mourner with a few companions goes outside the village, and sprinkles some more rice-flour on the ground. They call to the deceased person by name, saying, ' Come, come,' and then wait patiently till some worm or insect crawls on to the floor. Some dough is then applied to this and it is carried home and let loose in the house. The flour under the brass plate is examined, and it is said that they usually see the footprints of a person or animal, indicating the corporeal entity in which the deceased soul has found a resting-place. During the period of mourning members of tion.
the bereaved family do not follow their ordinary business, nor eat flesh, sweets or other delicate food.
They may not make offerings to their deities nor touch any persons outside the family, nor wear head-cloths or shoes. In the eastern Districts the principal deities of the Lohars are Dulha Deo and Somlai or Devi, the former being represented by a knife set in the ground inside the house, and the latter by the painting of a woman on the wall. Both deities are kept in the cooking-room, and here the head of the family offers to them rice soaked in milk, with sandal-paste, flowers, vermilion and lamp-black. He burns some melted butter in an earthen lamp and places incense upon it. If a man has been affected by the evil eye an exorcist will place some salt on his hand and burn it, muttering spells, and the evil influence is removed. They believe that a spell can be cast on a man by giving him to eat the bones of an owl, when he will become an idiot.
In the rural area of the Province the Lobar is still a 5. Occupa- village menial, making and mending the iron implements of
agriculture, such as the ploughshare, axe, sickle, goad and
other articles. For doing this he is paid in Saugor a yearly
contribution of twenty pounds of grain per plough of land ^ held by each cultivator, together with a handful of grain at
sowing-time and a sheaf at harvest from both the autumn and spring crops. In Wardha he gets fifty pounds of grain per plough of four bullocks or forty acres. For making new implements the Lobar is sometimes paid separately and is always supplied with the iron and charcoal. The hand-
smelting iron industry has practically died out in the
Province and the imported metal is used for nearly all purposes. The village Lohars are usually very poor, their
income seldom exceeding that of an unskilled labourer. In
the towns, owing to the rapid extension of milling and factory industries, blacksmiths readily find employment and some of them earn very high wages.
In the manufacture of cutlery, nails and other articles the capital is often found by a Bhatia or Bohra merchant, who acts as the capitalist and employs the Lohars as his workmen. The women help their husbands by blowing the bellows and dragging the hot iron ' About 15 acres.
from the furnace, while the men wield the hammer. The Panchals of Berar are described as a wandering caste of smiths, living in grass mat-huts and using as fuel the roots of thorn bushes, which they batter out of the ground with the back of a short-handled axe peculiar to themselves. They move from place to place with buffaloes, donkeys and ponies to carry their kit.^ Another class of wandering smiths, the Ghisaris, are described by Mr. Crooke as follows
" Occasional camps of these most interesting people are to be met with in the Districts of the Meerut Division. They wander about with small carts and pack-animals, and, being more expert than the ordinary village Lobar, their services are in demand for the making of tools for carpenters, weavers and other craftsmen. They are known in the Punjab as Gadiya or those who have carts {gddi, gdri). Sir D. Ibbetson" says that they come up from Rajputana and the North- western Provinces, but their real country is the Deccan.
In the Punjab they travel about with their families and imple- ments in carts from village to village, doing the finer kinds of iron-work, which are beyond the capacity of the village artisan. In the Deccan ^ this class of wandering black- smiths are called Saiqalgar, or knife-grinders, or Ghisara, or grinders (Hindi, ghisdna, ' to rub '). They wander about grinding knives and tools."
