The Gazetteers Department

OF THE SCHEDULED CASTES: Bhangis work mainly as scavengers in Municipalities. Traditionally Cambhars are leather workers. Dhors are tanners; Mahars are village servants doing all types of low manual work; Mang-garudis was once a criminal nomadic tribe, and Mangs who include a number of subdivisions work as cattle-dealers, cobblers, rope-makers, musicians and snake-charmers.

Bhangis.

Bhangis or nightsoil men are returned as numbering 441 in Kolhapur district and are found in towns and cities where they work as scavengers in municipalities. They have two endoga-mous divisions among them as (1) Muslim Bhangis and (2) Kathevadi Hindu Bhangis who are called ' Halalkhors'.

In 1947 [Social Survey of Kolhapur City. Vol. III, p. 215 N. V. Sovani.] in Kolhapur city there were about 75 families of the community with a population of about 300. About 40 families belonged to the Malkane Panth and were natives of the Kolhapur territory. The rest were called Pardeshis, who belonged to the Lalvili division and were recent (1905) migrants from Gujarat brought from Bombay to break a local strike. Bhangis speak an incorrect Hindustani at home and Hindustani and Marathi outside. They live in houses which are very simple, mainly tin sheds, built away from other caste Hindu localities. In Kolhapur city they live in Municipal chawls built at different places. Both males and females smoke tobacco. With the introduction of prohibition the habit of drinking which was fairly common had to be given up.

In religion Bhahgis are half Muslims, half Hindus, repeating prayers from the Koran and at the same time worshipping Hindu gods. Pardeshi Bhangis maintain contact with their native villages and often visit them. Marriages, however, do take place locally as well as outside. Almost all from the community keep to their traditional occupation of scavenging and sweeping. The Pardeshi Bhangis have no Pancas. [Social Survey of Kolhapur City. Vol. III, page 215 N. V. Sovani.] They elect a covdhari, a jamadar, a patel and a pyada from among themselves for settling caste disputes. Among the local Bhangis the office of Meheter and Gadkari were hereditary. They settled caste disputes, marriages etc. and imposed fines for misconduct. Recently, however, the younger generation has tended to disregard these traditional hereditary caste elders. Bhangis rank as the lowest of all Hindu castes. Literacy among them is very low; there is no improvement in the old method of scavenging and hence other Hindus never try to mix among them freely for any purpose, social or religious.

Chambhars.

Cambhars (leather workers) are returned as numbering 19,089 and are found generally in every village in the district. They claim descent from Aralaya, one of the sons and great worshippers of Siv, who incurred siv's displeasure by making a pair of shoes of his own skin which he presented to the god. As a punishment he was doomed to be a cobbler for life. They have no memory of any former home. In Kolhapur district they belong to two divisions, Haralis and Cevalis. Though they neither eat together nor intermarry, these two classes are similar to one another in every respect. As a class Cambhars are fair, middle-sized, a little round-shouldered, and weak, with large gray eyes, gaunt cheeks, thin lips, and lank head and face hair. Their women are well built with regular features and often not very dark skinned. They speak Marathi and live in one-storeyed houses with mud and sun-dried walls and tiled or thatched roofs, with a small open veranda and courtyard where they tan hides and work in leather. Besides their working tools and a store of hides, their house goods include metal and earth vessels, quilts, low stools, and blankets. They rear cows and buffaloes and poultry. Their staple food includes millet bread, pulse, and a pounded mixture of onions, garlic and chillies. They eat flesh except beef and pork. As a class the main business of the community is to prepare boots, shoes and sandals, etc. In villages Cambhars are to some extent engaged in tanning business also. They prepare leather bags, purses, belts and other petty leather articles. A few earn their living as husbandmen. Cambhars worship all Hindu gods and goddesses, chiefly Mahadev, Vithoba and Yallamma and keep the usual feasts and fasts. Their priests who are Brahmans name the lucky day for marriages and conduct the ceremony. They make pilgrimages to Singanapur in Satara, to Yallamma in Belgaum and to Jotiba's hill in Vadi-Ratnagiri nine miles north-west of Kolhapur. They have a religious teacher to whom they pay a yearly money tribute but whom they do not ask to settle social disputes which are referred to Pancayat (council of elderly castemen). In Kolhapur city (1947) the majority of the community was found engaged in the traditional occupation of making leather goods. The heads of 15-20 families were working as clerks or teachers in Government offices and schools; some were in the local police force and some had been recruited in the army during World War II. The whole community acted as a Pancayat (caste council), enforced caste customs and rules and punished offenders by fines, excommunication etc. The community was generally very poor, educationally backward and literacy was very low.

Mahars.

Mahars are returned as numbering 1,01,720 and are found in considerable numbers all over the district. The community has no memory of any former settlement. In the older generation the names in common use among men are Kondunak, Limbnak, Masnak, Ramnak, and among women Bhimi, Jji, Rani, Taini, and Yelli. Like South Konkan Mahars the men take nak, apparently a corruption of naik (leader), after their names. There is documentary evidence to say that in the Maratha regime Mahars took part in battles and showed good fighting qualities.

Social Organisation.

Of the many divisions into which Mahars say they are divided, thirteen are represented in Kolhapur. They are: Andvan (virgin-born) Beles (broom, basket and mat makers) Jhades (sweepers), Ghadsis (musicians) Ghatkamblis, Gondvans, (beggars), Hedsis, Kabules, Kudvans, Ladvans, Pans (flute-players), Sonkamblis and Saladis. These divisions once neither interdined nor intermarried but the restrictions are now relaxed, though to some extent, they may be observed regarding marriage. Within these divisions the community had two endogamous divisions, namely Bhat and Dhegu-megu. The Bhat used to preside over marriage, funeral and other social ceremonies and also served as messengers carrying news of social incidents to relatives. The ancestors of the Dhegu-megus were said to have brought megh (rain) by prayer and they were gurus (teachers) of the community. Both these divisions now identify themselves with the community and intermarry. There are also a number of exogamous divisions known as Kuls (surnames) in the community, some of which are Abbute, Ambedkar, Gayakwad, Ingle, Jadhav, Kamble, Pawar, Vaghmare etc. A caste organisation presided over by a panca called mehatar once closely bound together the members of each endogamous division. Breaches against caste rules were punished by putting the offender out of caste. A nimb twig was thrown on the offender's house and all were enjoined to keep aloof from the offender's family on pain of losing caste. These caste organisations have now become loose. Mahars were once held to be impure by caste Hindus. The village barber would not shave them nor were they allowed to draw water from the village well. Such inhibitions which the community once had to suffer along with other ' untouchables' have now been legally removed by specific provisions in the Constitution of India.

Except those living in the villages bordering on Kannada country who speak Kannada, most Mahars speak an incorrect and oddly pronounced Marathi. When a Mahar meets a man of his own caste he greets him with " namastu" (a bow to you); to others he says, "johar". They are generally dark with irregular features and flat noses. They live in the outskirts of towns and villages in special quarters known as maharwada, generally in untidy and ill-cared for houses of sun-burnt brick or stone and mud walls and tiled or thatched roofs. Mahars once considered it wrong to live in a house for which rent has to be paid. In villages the men dress in a loincloth or waist cloth, a blanket as a shoulder-cloth, a coat or smock and a Maratha turban. The women plait their hair in a braid which hangs down the back and wear the full Maratha sari (robe) without passing the skirt back between the feet and a coll (bodice) with short sleeves and a back.

Religion.

Mahars consider themselves as Brahmanic Hindus. They cannot tell whether they are Bhagvats or Smarts. Some Mahars have Brahman Gurus; some have also gurus (teachers) of their own caste. Some who are followers of Cokhamela (varkaris) wear necklaces of tulsi, beads and make periodical pilgrimages to Alandi and Pandharpur. They worship all gods and goddesses, their favourite deities being Bahiroba, Khandoba, Mhasoba and Vithoba. Their peculiar deities are Mari-the cholera goddess, Pandhar-the village site goddess, and Thal- the settlement place spirit. They also worship their ancestors' brass images as house gods, and they have generally faith in soothsaying, sorcery and witchcraft. Some Mahars have recently adopted Buddhism as their religion.

Customs.

Like all Hindu communities in the region, Mahars worship Satvai Goddess on the fifth day after birth. A few spots of sandal and turmeric paste are daubed on the wall near the mother's cot and are offered worship. The woman is held impure for eight days after child birth and the naming ceremony is held on the ninth day. When the child grows old, its first hair are clipped by the maternal uncle.

Marriage within the same kul and with mother's sister's daughter or sister's daughter is not allowed. The custom of giving dowry to the bride is current in the community, but now-a-days the parents of the girl offer dowry to an educated or well-placed boy. On the day before the marriage day the boy is rubbed with turmeric paste and bathed, and his kins-people and friends take the rest of the paste to the girl's house, rub the girl with the paste, and present her with a sadi and a few ornaments. On that day a sapling of mango or saplings of Saundad, Apta, Umbar and Kalamb or Jambhul as per family custom are brought by the elder sister and her husband and then tied with wheat bread and an axe to the muhurta medha. The marriage ceremony takes place generally at the bride's place and the bridegroom goes there in a procession. At the time of marriage, the bride and the bridegroom stand in bamboo baskets filled with grains and with a grinding stone in it, or on pats (low wooden stools) with a curtain of cloth held between them. Formerly a person of the bhat sub-division of the community used to preside over the ceremony. Now-a-days he is often replaced by an elder or an educated person. He chants hymns, throws rice grains over the couple and removes the curtain. The assembled also shower rice grains over the couple and the bride and the bridegroom then garland each other and they are wedded. Divorce as well as widow marriage is allowed. However, a widow is not permitted to marry a member of the deceased husband's family.

Mahars bury their dead and mourn for three days. On the third day the chief mourner shampoos the bearers' shoulders and gives from food before any one of the family eats, and while the bearers are eating every one leaves the house.

Occupation.

The hereditary occupation of the community is village service and skinning dead animals. They act as guides and messengers to public officers travelling on duty, call landholders to pay the land assessment at the village office, watch boundaries and the village office, repair the cavdi (village office) and Ganvkusu (village gate) and sweep the village roads. To carry cowdung cakes to the burning ground and to dig graves is a part of their duty to the villagers. Most of them enjoy a small Government payment, partly in cash and partly in land. The chief source of their income is the balute (yearly grain allowance). [The chief dues for Mahars' services to the villagers allowed by the Muslim and Maratha Government were; Sitadevi or a port of a standing sugarcane crop; village or town gate offering; Holi food offerings on the full-moon of Phalgun; bendur grain gifts on the full-moon of Ashadh hides of dead cattle; hat-shekno (hand warning), a money gift for watching the fire made for boiling sugarcane juice ghar-takka (home-money), money paid for digging graves, grain lying on and about the thr shuig floor when the floor is used for the first time, grain at the bottom of a pev (grain pit the rice strewn on the two low stools which are set for the bride and bridegroom; a yearly pair of sandals for watching the village or town gate; rukka (marriage gift,, including two coppers in cash, a piece of cocoa-kernel and a handful of rice; oti-pati (lap-tax) that is handfuls of grain put into the laps of Mahar women at the first treading of the grain; money thrown into her platter when a Mahar woman comes to wave a lamp round the head of the bride's or bridegroom's mother; madhe-pade (carcass-tax); Manguli, that is gift for winding a string round the village on the no-moon of Ashadh and of Kartika ran-sodvan (forest-leaving) that is grain ears given to Mahars on the first cutting and stacking pendha (straw); and lagin takka or (marriage-rupee) that is 4 as. given to the village Mahar when the booth is raised.]

For their private services they are paid in cash or, what they like better, in cooked food. Of recent years complaints have arisen in villages near large centres of industry that mahars have been so depleted in numbers by migration to cities as to leave an inadequate staff for village requirements. As unskilled labourers they are employed in large numbers. In villages some are husbandmen and a few are bricklayers. Now-a-days with pieces of waste land assigned to them in villages they have proved good agriculturists. The community is making good progress in education and many have found employment in various branches of Government service.

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