Karral
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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Karral
This name, of doubtful origin,1 is applied to an outcast subdivision of the great Chandal tribe which has become degraded from carrying on the business of fishmongers. Their kinsmen neither intermarry nor hold any social intercourse with them, but the same Brahman and servants work for both.
The Karral is to the Hindu population what the Mahifarosh, or Panjari, is to the Muhammadan, and men and women, though they never fish themselves, retail fish in the markets, and often make advances to fishermen.
The caste is more numerous in Farridpur than in Dacca, but all along the left, or Dacca bank of the Padma, small colonies are established, while inland individuals are employed as constables and messengers.
The Karrals are all Vaishnavas in creed, and united in one gotra, the Kasyapa. They confess to a partiality for spirits, but allege that they abstain from flesh, including pork, unless when the animal has been sacrificed.
1 The name may be derived from the Sanskrit Karala, great, formidable.
