Sarnakar, Sekra

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Sarnakar, Sekra

This section has been extracted 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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The working goldsmith and silversmith caste of Bengal, an artisan group, probably traceable to the Karmakar and wholly distinct from the Subarnabanik, who never work in metal themselves. Sarnakars are divided into four sub-castes : Brahman-desi, Dakhin-Rarhi, Khatangi and Uttar-Rarhi. They have five exogamous groups, three Brahmanical and two Sabanta¬Rishi and Sa-rishi, suggestive of less distinguished associations. Llirls are usually married as infants, but this is said not to be obligatory-a view which is to some extent borne out by the fact that a bride-price is paid, and the bridegroom-price characteristic of the full development of infant-marriage has not yet been introduced. The marriage ceremony is of the orthodox type; its essential and binding portion being the gift of the bride to the bridegroom and his formal acceptance of the gift. Widows may not marry again, and divorce is permitted only on the ground of the wife's adultery.

The religion of the caste is that of the average middle class Hindu-Sakta or Vaishnava as the case may be. The divine artisan, Viswakarma, is reverenced as the special patron of the caste. The women have a special ceremony called Kulai, which is performed during the rains without the assistance of any priest. Brahmans are employed for religious and ceremonial purposes, but these are not received on equal terms by those members of the sacred order who serve the higher castes. The dead are burned, and the srriddh ceremony performed one month after death. The caste believe the business of a goldsmith to be their original occupation, but some of them engage in agriculture. Their social status is low. None of the higher castes will take water from them, and they admit that they will take water and sweetmeats from any one except the very lowest castes, such as Hari, Muchi and Dom.