The Dhimar's connection with water has led to his becoming the
water-carrier for Hindus, or that section of the community which
can afford to employ one. This is more especially the case in the
Hindustani Districts where women are frequently secluded and therefore
cannot draw water for the household, while in the Maratha Districts
where the women go to the well no water-bearer is required. In this
capacity the Dhimar is usually the personal servant of the village
proprietor, but in large villages every house has a _ghinochi_, either
an earthen platform or wooden stand just outside the house, on which
four or five earthen water-pots are kept. These the Dhimar fills up
morning and evening and receives two or three annas or pence a month
for doing so. He also brings water for Government servants when they
come to the village, and cleans their cooking-vessels and prepares
the hearth with fresh cowdung and water in order to cleanse it.
If he cleans the malguzar's vessels he gets his food for doing so. When
the tenants have marriages he performs the same duties for the whole
wedding party and receives a present of one or two rupees and some
clothes if the families are well off, and also his food every day
while the marriage is in progress. In his capacity of waterman the
title Baraua is used to him as an honorific method of address; and to
his wife Baroni. In a hot country like India water is revered as the
source of relief, comfort and life itself, like fire in cold countries,
and the waterman participates in the regard paid to his element.
Another business of the Dhimar's is to take sweet potatoes and
boiled plums to the fields at harvest-time and sell them. He supplies
water for drinking to the reapers and receives three sheaves a day
in payment. On the fifteenth of Jesth (May) the Dhimar goes round
to the cultivators, throwing his fishing-net over their heads and
receives a small present.