_Lohar_, _Khati_, _Ghantra_, _Ghisari_, _Panchal._--The occupational
caste of blacksmiths. The name is derived from the Sanskrit
_Lauha-kara>_, a worker in iron. In the Central Provinces the Loharhas
in the past frequently combined the occupations of carpenter and
blacksmith, and in such a capacity he is known as Khati. The honorific
designations applied to the caste are Karigar, which means skilful,
and Mistri, a corruption of the English 'Master' or 'Mister.' In 1911
the Lohars numbered about 180,000 persons in the Central Provinces
and Berar. The Lohar is indispensable to the village economy, and
the caste is found over the whole rural area of the Province.
"Practically all the Lohars," Mr. Crooke writes [100], "trace
their origin to Visvakarma, who is the later representative of the
Vedic Twashtri, the architect and handicraftsman of the gods, 'The
fashioner of all ornaments, the most eminent of artisans, who formed
the celestial chariots of the deities, on whose craft men subsist,
and whom, a great and immortal god, they continually worship,' One
[101] tradition tells that Visvakarma was a Brahman and married the
daughter of an Ahir, who in her previous birth had been a dancing-girl
of the gods. By her he had nine sons, who became the ancestors of
various artisan castes, such as the Lohar, Barhai, Sunar, and Kasera."
The Lohars of the Uriya country in the Central Provinces tell a similar
story, according to which Kamar, the celestial architect, had twelve
sons. The eldest son was accustomed to propitiate the family god with
wine, and one day he drank some of the wine, thinking that it could
not be sinful to do so as it was offered to the deity. But for this
act his other brothers refused to live with him and left their home,
adopting various professions; but the eldest brother became a worker
in iron and laid a curse upon the others that they should not be able
to practise their calling except with the implements which he had
made. The second brother thus became a woodcutter (Barhai), the third a
painter (Maharana), the fourth learnt the science of vaccination and
medicine and became a vaccinator (Suthiar), the fifth a goldsmith,
the sixth a brass-smith, the seventh a coppersmith, and the eighth a
carpenter, while the ninth brother was weak in the head and married
his eldest sister, on account of which fact his descendants are known
as Ghantra. [102] The Ghantras are an inferior class of blacksmiths,
probably an offshoot from some of the forest tribes, who are looked
down on by the others. It is said that even to the present day the
Ghantra Lohars have no objection to eating the leavings of food of
their wives, whom they regard as their eldest sisters.