Rafugar
Rafugar
This section has been extracted from THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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A professional shawlmender; generally a Mahomedan.
Last century, it is said, that from five to six hundred Rafu-gars, or darners, found employment in the different European factories in and around Dacca, but now their number does not exceed a hundred and fifty. They have always been esteemed one of the most respectable classes of Muhammadams, their chief bearing the honorary title of "Mihtar Ji." Formerly, they never intermarried out of their own circle, but now, through poverty, are obliged to be less particular.
The following curious custom is observed:�They instruct only the sons and grandsons of the male line in the mysteries of their handicraft, declining to teach their daughters' children; but so long as marriages were confined to their own clique this practice could have had little meaning. In former days an expert Rafu-gar earned from ten to twelve rupees a mouth; the less expert about eight.
Their occupation was to examine the webs of muslin, and extract any threads that were broken, replacing them by new ones. This operation was called "Chunna," to pick, or choose. The Rafu-gar was a confirmed opium smoker, his skill being most striking when under the influence of that drug. The female Rafu-gar is often as dexterous as her husband, but she generally works at embroidery. Formerly the hemmer (Maghzi) was distinct from the darner, but now the Rafu-gar is reduced to hem as well as darn.
Closely connected with the darner was the "Purza-gar," generally a woman, who cut the threads connecting the flowers on Jamadani muslins, and arranged them on the reverse side of the cloth.
