_Darzi, Shimpi, Chhipi, Suji._--The occupational caste of tailors. In
1911 a total of 51,000 persons were returned as belonging to the caste
in the Central Provinces and Berar. The Darzis are an urban caste and
are most numerous in Districts with large towns. Mr. Crooke derives
the word Darzi from the Persian _darz_, meaning a seam. The name Suji
from _sui_, a needle, was formerly more common. Shimpi is the Maratha
name, and Chhipi, from Chhipa a calico-printer or dyer, is another
name used for the caste, probably because it is largely recruited from
the Chhipas. In Bombay they say that when Parasurama was destroying
the Kshatriyas, two Rajput brothers hid themselves in a temple and
were protected by the priest, who set one of them to sew dresses for
the idol and the other to dye and stamp them. The first brother was
called Chhipi and from him the Darzis are descended, the name being
corrupted to Shimpi, and the second was called Chhipa and was the
ancestor of the dyers. The common title of the Darzis is Khalifa, an
Arabic word meaning 'The Successor of the Prophet.' Colonel Temple
says that it is not confined to them but is also used by barbers,
cooks and monitors in schools. [509] The caste is of comparatively
recent formation. In fact Sir D. Ibbetson wrote [510] that "Darzi,
or its Hindi equivalent Suji, is purely an occupational term, and
though there is a Darzi guild in every town, there is no Darzi caste
in the proper acceptation of the word. The greater number of Darzis
belong perhaps to the Dhobi and Chhimba castes, more especially to
the latter."