_Chadar, [439] Kotwar._--A small caste of weavers and village
watchmen resident in the Districts of Saugor, Damoh, Jubbulpore and
Narsinghpur. They numbered 28,000 persons in 1911. The caste is not
found outside the northern Districts of the Central Provinces. The
name is derived from the Sanskrit _chirkar_, a weaver, and belongs
to Bundelkhand, but beyond this the Chadars have no knowledge or
traditions of their origin. They are probably an occupational group
formed from members of the Dravidian tribes and others who took to the
profession of village watchmen. A number of other occupational castes
of low status are found in the northern Districts, and their existence
is probably to be accounted for by the fact that the forest tribes
were subjected and their tribal organisation destroyed by the invading
Bundelas and other Hindus some centuries ago. They were deprived
of the land and relegated to the performance of menial and servile
duties in the village, and they have formed a new set of divisions
into castes arising from the occupations they adopted. The Chadars
have two subcastes based on differences of religious practice, the
Parmesuria or worshippers of Vishnu, and Athia or devotees of Devi. It
is doubtful, however, whether these are strictly endogamous. They
have a large number of exogamous septs or _bainks_, which are named
after all sorts of animals, plants and natural objects. Instances of
these names are Dhana (a leaf of the rice plant), Kasia (bell-metal),
Gohia (a kind of lizard), Bachhulia (a calf), Gujaria (a milkmaid),
Moria (a peacock), Laraiya (a jackal), Khatkira (a bug), Sugaria
(a pig), Barraiya (a wasp), Neora (a mongoose), Bhartu Chiraiya (a
sparrow), and so on. Thirty-nine names in all are reported. Members
of each sept draw the figure of the animal or plant after which it
is named on the wall at marriages and worship it. They usually refuse
to kill the totem animal, and the members of the Sugaria or pig sept
throw away their earthen vessels if a pig should be killed in their
sight, and clean their houses as if on the death of a member of the
family. Marriage between members of the same sept is forbidden and
also between first cousins and other near relations. The Chadars say
that the marriages of persons nearly related by blood are unhappy, and
occasion serious consequences to the parties and their families. Girls
are usually wedded in the fifth, seventh, ninth, or eleventh year
of their age and boys between the ages of eight and sixteen. If an
unmarried girl is seduced by a member of the caste she is married
to him by the simple form adopted for the wedding of a widow. But
if she goes wrong with an outsider of low caste she is permanently
expelled. The remarriage of widows is permitted and divorce is also
allowed, a deed being executed on stamped paper before the _panchayat_
or caste committee. If a woman runs away from her husband to another
man he must repay to the husband the amount expended on her wedding
and give a feast to the caste. A Brahman is employed to fix the date
of a wedding and sometimes for the naming of children, but he is only
consulted and is never present at the ceremony. The caste venerate the
goddess Devi, offering her a virgin she-goat in the month of Asarh
(June-July). They worship their weaving implements at the Diwali
and Holi festivals, and feed the crows in Kunwar (September-October)
as representing the spirits of their ancestors. This custom is based
on the superstition that a crow does not die of old age or disease,
but only when it is killed. To cure a patient of fever they tie a
blue thread, irregularly knotted, round his wrist. They believe that
thunder-bolts are the arrows shot by Indra to kill his enemies in the
lower world, and that the rainbow is Indra's bow; any one pointing at
it will feel pain in his finger. The dead are mourned for ten days,
and during that time a burning lamp is placed on the ground at some
distance from the house, while on the tenth day a tooth-stick and water
and food are set out for the soul of the dead. They will not throw the
first teeth of a child on to a tiled roof, because they believe that if
this is done his next teeth will be wide and ugly like the tiles. But
it is a common practice to throw the first teeth on to the thatched
roof of the house. The Chadars will admit members of most castes of
good standing into the community, and they eat flesh, including pork
and fowls, and drink liquor, and will take cooked food from most of the
good castes and from Kalars, Khangars and Kumhars. The social status
of the caste is very low, but they rank above the impure castes and
are of cleanly habits, bathing daily and cleaning their kitchens
before taking food. They are employed as village watchmen and as
farmservants and field-labourers, and also weave coarse country cloth.