Kamar, Karmakara
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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Kamar, Karmakara
The Kamar combines the trades of the Hindustani Sonar and Lohar, having no scruples about working with any kind of metal.
As among other Dacca castes, there exists a tradition that they were brought from Upper India by the Muhammadan government. In the 'Ain-i-Akbari we are informed that there was an iron mine in Sarkar Buzuha, which included Dacca, and in later times Jagirs, called "Ahangar," were granted to the skilled workmen employed in smelting iron from the red laterite soil of the Dacca district. It is very probable, therefore, that the tradition referred to is founded on fact. At the present day, however, the Kamars are unacquainted with the art of smelting iron, and a local supply being unobtainable, they procure pig iron from Calcutta.
The Kamar, as above stated, works with all metals, including gold and silver, and being himself a clean Sudra, thoroughly despises the professional goldsmith, or Sonar-banik, who is unclean.
In Dacca the caste is said to occupy two hundred houses, and according to the census returns they number 12,072 persons in the district.
The Kansari, or brasier caste, is no longer met with in the city, the manufacture of the brass utensils, solely used in Hindu households, devolving on the Kamars, their only competitors being the Ghulam Kayasths, many of whom engage in this trade.
The majority of the Kamars are Vaishnavas, but a few follow the Sakta ritual, the Purohit being the same as the Brahman of the other Nava-sakha. They have no Paramanik, but a Panchait exists, at which the most influential person present presides.
They have only one gotra, the Aliman, and no titles. The caste has always been an illiterate one, its members at the present day only learning sufficient Bengali to enable them to keep accounts.
The Kamar makes an alloy with three parts of copper and four of zinc, called "Bhart," and with it manufactures cups, lotahs, and other vessels.
The "Panni-walah," or tin-foil maker, is always a Kamar; the tin is obtained in bars from Calcutta, and being run into moulds, is, while still soft, beaten out until thin enough to be cut into strips, which are then stained with lac and turmeric so as to counterfeit the colour of gold. The foil so produced is then sold to the Muhammadan Churi-walah to ornament his glass bracelets, and to the Malakar to embellish chaplets, tiaras, images of gods and goddesses, and the platforms paraded on gala days.
