Another occupation of the Dhimar's is to sell parched grain and rice
to travellers in markets and railway stations like the Bharbhunja
and Dhuri. This he can do because of his comparative social
purity, as all castes will take water and cakes and sweetmeats
from his hands. Some Dhimars and Kewats also weave hemp-matting
and gunny-bags, but such members of the caste rank lower than the
others and Brahmans will not take water from them. Another calling
by which a few Dhimars find support is that of breeding pigs. One
would think it a difficult matter to make a living out of the village
pig, an animal abhorred by both Hindus and Muhammadans as the most
unclean of the brute creation, and equally abjured by Europeans as
unfit for food. But the pig is in considerable demand by the forest
tribes for sacrifice to their deities. The Dhimar participates in the
sacrifice to Narayan Deo described in the article on Mahar, when a
pig is eaten in concert by several of the lower castes. Lastly, the
business of rearing the cocoons of the tasar silk-worm is usually in
the hands of Dhimars and Kewats. While the caterpillars are feeding
on leaves and spinning their cocoons these men live in the forests
for two months together and watch the _kosa-baris_ or silk-gardens,
that is the blocks of trees which are set apart for the purpose of
rearing the caterpillars. During this period they eat only once a day,
abstain from meat and lentils, do not get shaved and do not visit their
wives. When the eggs of the caterpillars are to be placed on the trees
they tie a silk thread round the first tree to be used and worship it
as Pat Deo or the god of silk thread. On this subject Mr. Ball writes:
[545] "The trees which it is intended to stock are carefully pollarded
before the rains, and in early spring the leaves are stocked with young
caterpillars which have been hatched in the houses. The men in charge
erect wigwams and remain on the spot, isolated from their families,
who regard them for the time being as unclean. During the daytime
they have full occupation in guarding the large green caterpillars
from the attacks of kites and other birds. The cocoons are collected
soon after they are spun and boiled in a lye of wood-ash, and the
extracted chrysalids must then be eaten by the caretakers, who have
to undergo certain ceremonial rites before they are readmitted into
the society of their fellows. The effect of the boiling in the lye
is the removal of the glutinous matter, which renders it possible
to wind off the silk." The eating of the caterpillars is no doubt a
ceremonial observance like that of the crocodile at weddings. They
are killed by the boiling of the cocoons and on this account members
of good castes will not engage in the business of rearing them. The
abstention from conjugal intimacy while engaged in some important
business is a very common phenomenon.