Only about thirty per cent of the Ahirs are still occupied in breeding
cattle and dealing in milk and butter. About four per cent are domestic
servants, and nearly all the remainder cultivators and labourers. In
former times the Ahirs had the exclusive right of milking the cow,
so that on all occasions an Ahir must be hired for this purpose even
by the lowest castes. Any one could, however, milk the buffalo, and
also make curds and other preparations from cow's milk. [28] This
rule is interesting as showing how the caste system was maintained
and perpetuated by the custom of preserving to each caste a monopoly
of its traditional occupation. The rule probably applied also to the
bulk of the cultivating and the menial and artisan castes, and now
that it has been entirely abrogated it would appear that the gradual
decay and dissolution of the caste organisation must follow. The
village cattle are usually entrusted jointly to one or more herdsmen
for grazing purposes. The grazier is paid separately for each animal
entrusted to his care, a common rate being one anna for a cow or
bullock and two annas for a buffalo per month. When a calf is born
he gets four annas for a cow-calf and eight annas for a she-buffalo,
but except in the rice districts nothing for a male buffalo-calf, as
these animals are considered useless outside the rice area. The reason
is that buffaloes do not work steadily except in swampy or wet ground,
where they can refresh themselves by frequent drinking. In the northern
Districts male buffalo-calves are often neglected and allowed to die,
but the cow-buffaloes are extremely valuable, because their milk is
the principal source of supply of _ghi_ or boiled butter. When a cow
or buffalo is in milk the grazier often gets the milk one day out
of four or five. When a calf is born the teats of the cow are first
milked about twenty times on to the ground in the name of the local
god of the Ahirs. The remainder of the first day's milk is taken by
the grazier, and for the next few days it is given to friends. The
village grazier is often also expected to prepare the guest-house for
Government officers and others visiting the village, fetch grass for
their animals, and clean their cooking vessels. For this he sometimes
receives a small plot of land and a present of a blanket annually
from the village proprietor. Malguzars and large tenants have their
private herdsmen. The pasturage afforded by the village waste lands
and forest is, as a rule, only sufficient for the plough-bullocks and
more valuable milch-animals. The remainder are taken away sometimes
for long distances to the Government forest reserves, and here the
herdsmen make stockades in the jungle and remain there with their
animals for months together. The cattle which remain in the village are
taken by the owners in the early morning to the _khirkha_ or central
standing-ground. Here the grazier takes them over and drives them out
to pasture. He brings them back at ten or eleven, and perhaps lets them
stand in some field which the owner wants manured. Then he separates
the cows and milch-buffaloes and takes them to their masters' houses,
where he milks them all. In the afternoon all the cattle are again
collected and driven out to pasture. The cultivators are very much in
the grazier's hands, as they cannot supervise him, and if dishonest he
may sell off a cow or calf to a friend in a distant village and tell
the owner that it has been carried off by a tiger or panther. Unless
the owner succeeds by a protracted search or by accident in finding
the animal he cannot disprove the herdsman's statement, and the only
remedy is to dispense with the latter's services if such losses become
unduly frequent. On this account, according to the proverbs, the Ahir
is held to be treacherous and false to his engagements. They are also
regarded as stupid because they seldom get any education, retain their
rustic and half-aboriginal dialect, and on account of their solitary
life are dull and slow-witted in company. 'The barber's son learns to
shave on the Ahir's head.' 'The cow is in league with the milkman and
lets him milk water into the pail.' The Ahirs are also hot-tempered,
and their propensity for drinking often results in affrays, when they
break each other's head with their cattle-staffs. 'A Gaoli's quarrel:
drunk at night and friends in the morning.'