The social position of the Mahars is one of distressing
degradation. Their touch is considered to defile and they live in
a quarter by themselves outside the village. They usually have a
separate well assigned to them from which to draw water, and if
the village has only one well the Mahars and Hindus take water
from different sides of it. Mahar boys were not until recently
allowed to attend school with Hindu boys, and when they could not
be refused admission to Government schools, they were allotted a
small corner of the veranda and separately taught. When Dher boys
were first received into the Chanda High School a mutiny took place
and the school was boycotted for some time. The people say, '_Mahar
sarva jaticha bahar_' or 'The Mahar is outside all castes.' Having
a bad name, they are also given unwarrantably a bad character; and
'_Mahar jaticha_' is a phrase used for a man with no moral or kindly
feelings. But in theory at least, as conforming to Hinduism, they
were supposed to be better than Muhammadans and other unbelievers,
as shown by the following story from the Rasmala: [132] A Muhammadan
sovereign asked his Hindu minister which was the lowest caste. The
minister begged for leisure to consider his reply and, having obtained
it, went to where the Dhedas lived and said to them: "You have given
offence to the Padishah. It is his intention to deprive you of caste
and make you Muhammadans." The Dhedas, in the greatest terror, pushed
off in a body to the sovereign's palace, and standing at a respectful
distance shouted at the top of their lungs: "If we've offended your
majesty, punish us in some other way than that. Beat us, fine us, hang
us if you like, but don't make us Muhammadans." The Padishah smiled,
and turning to his minister who sat by him affecting to hear nothing,
said, 'So the lowest caste is that to which I belong.' But of course
this cannot be said to represent the general view of the position of
Muhammadans in Hindu eyes; they, like the English, are regarded as
distinguished foreigners, who, if they consented to be proselytised,
would probably in time become Brahmans or at least Rajputs. A repartee
of a Mahar to a Brahman abusing him is: The Brahman, '_Jare Maharya_'
or 'Avaunt, ye Mahar'; the Mahar, '_Kona diushi nein tumchi goburya_'
or 'Some day I shall carry cowdung cakes for you (at his funeral)';
as in the Maratha Districts the Mahar is commonly engaged for carrying
fuel to the funeral pyre. Under native rule the Mahar was subjected
to painful degradations. He might not spit on the ground lest a Hindu
should be polluted by touching it with his foot, but had to hang an
earthen pot round his neck to hold his spittle. [133] He was made to
drag a thorny branch with him to brush out his footsteps, and when a
Brahman came by had to lie at a distance on his face lest his shadow
might fall on the Brahman. In Gujarat [134] they were not allowed
to tuck up the loin-cloth but had to trail it along the ground. Even
quite recently in Bombay a Mahar was not allowed to talk loudly in the
street while a well-to-do Brahman or his wife was dining in one of the
houses. In the reign of Sidhraj, the great Solanki Raja of Gujarat,
the Dheras were for a time at any rate freed from such disabilities
by the sacrifice of one of their number. [135] The great tank at
Anhilvada Patan in Gujarat had been built by the Ods (navvies),
but Sidhraj desired Jusma Odni, one of their wives, and sought to
possess her. But the Ods fled with her and when he pursued her she
plunged a dagger into her stomach, cursing Sidhraj and saying that
his tank should never hold water. The Raja, returning to Anhilvada,
found the tank dry, and asked his minister what should be done that
water might remain in the tank. The Pardhan, after consulting the
astrologers, said that if a man's life were sacrificed the curse might
be removed. At that time the Dhers or outcastes were compelled to
live at a distance from the towns; they wore untwisted cotton round
their heads and a stag's horn as a mark hanging from their waists so
that people might be able to avoid touching them. The Raja commanded
that a Dher named Mayo should be beheaded in the tank that water might
remain. Mayo died, singing the praises of Vishnu, and the water after
that began to remain in the tank. At the time of his death Mayo had
begged as a reward for his sacrifice that the Dhers should not in
future be compelled to live at a distance from the towns nor wear
a distinctive dress. The Raja assented and these privileges were
afterwards permitted to the Dhers for the sake of Mayo.