_Chitrakathi, Hardas._ [479]--A small caste of religious mendicants
and picture showmen in the Maratha Districts. In 1901 they numbered 200
persons in the Central Provinces and 1500 in Berar, being principally
found in the Amraoti District. The name, Mr. Enthoven writes, [480]
is derived from _chitra,_ a picture, and _katha_, a story, and the
professional occupation of the caste is to travel about exhibiting
pictures of heroes and gods, and telling stories about them. The
community is probably of mixed functional origin, for in Bombay
they have exogamous section-names taken from those of the Marathas,
as Jadhow, More, Powar and so on, while in the Central Provinces
and Berar an entirely different set is found. Here several sections
appear to be named after certain offices held or functions performed
by their members at the caste feasts. Thus the Atak section are the
caste headmen; the Mankari appear to be a sort of substitute for the
Atak or their grand viziers, the word Mankar being primarily a title
applied to Maratha noblemen, who held an official position at court;
the Bhojni section serve the food at marriage and other ceremonies;
the Kakra arrange for the lighting; the Kotharya are store-keepers; and
the Ghoderao (from _ghoda_, a horse) have the duty of looking after the
horses and bullock-carts of the castemen who assemble. The Chitrakathis
are really no doubt the same caste as the Chitaris or Chitrakars
(painters) of the Central Provinces, and, like them, a branch of the
Mochis (tanners), and originally derived from the Chamars. But as the
Berar Chitrakathis are migratory instead of settled, and in other
respects differ from the Chitaris, they are treated in a separate
article. Marriage within the section is forbidden, and, besides this,
members of the Atak and Mankari sections cannot intermarry as they are
considered to be related, being divisions of one original section. The
social customs of the caste resemble those of the Kunbis, but they
bury their dead in a sitting posture, with the face to the east, and
on the eighth day erect a platform over the grave. At the festival
of Akhatij (3rd of light Baisakh) [481] they worship a vessel of
water in honour of their dead ancestors, and in Kunwar (September)
they offer oblations to them. Though not impure, the caste occupy a
low social position, and are said to prostitute their married women
and tolerate sexual licence on the part of unmarried girls. Mr. Kitts
[482] describes them as "Wandering mendicants, sometimes suspected
of associating with Kaikaris for purposes of crime; but they seem
nevertheless to be a comparatively harmless people. They travel about
in little huts like those used by the Waddars; the men occasionally
sell buffaloes and milk; the women beg, singing and accompanying
themselves on the _thali_. The old men also beg, carrying a flag in
their hand, and shouting the name of their god, Hari Vithal (from
which they derive their name of Hardas). They are fond of spirits,
and, when drunk, become pot-valiant and troublesome." The _thali_
or plate on which their women play is also known as _sarthada_, and
consists of a small brass dish coated with wax in the centre; this is
held on the thigh and a pointed stick is moved in a circle so as to
produce a droning sound. The men sometimes paint their own pictures,
and in Bombay they have a caste rule that every Chitrakathi must have
in his house a complete set of sacred pictures; this usually includes
forty representations of Rama's life, thirty-five of that of the sons
of Arjun, forty of the Pandavas, forty of Sita and Rawan, and forty
of Harishchandra. The men also have sets of puppets representing the
above and other deities, and enact scenes with them like a Punch and
Judy show, sometimes aided by ventriloquism.