==============+========
District. |Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Muzaffarnagar | 30
Meerut | 85
Bulandshahr | 5,244
Aligarh | 2,177
Mathura | 423
Agra | 106
Farrukhâbâd | 75
Mainpuri | 6
Etâwah | 3
Etah | 783
Bareilly | 424
Bijnor | 6
Budâun | 1,261
Morâdâbâd | 1,022
Shâhjahânpur | 2
Pilibhît | 150
Cawnpur | 6
+~~~~~~~
Total | 11,803
==============+========
Chero.—A Dravidian race of labourers and cultivators found in the hill
country of Mirzapur where they number according to the last Census
4,881. The word may be possibly of non-Aryan origin. It has been
connected with the Hindi chela (Sanskrit chetaka, chedaka “a slave”).
Sir G. Campbell’s [235] theory that that Chero-Khero, Kharwâr is not
probable. The ethnology of the Cheros has been to some extent obscured
by the fact that they are in Bengal perhaps the most advanced of the
Dravidian races. Colonel Dalton calls them the last Kolarian tribe
dominant in the Gangetic Provinces. [236] They are said in Shâhâbâd to
have been rulers of the country extending from Charanadri, the modern
Chunâr, to Gridhaya kot (Giridhi), and from the Ganges to the hills
which now form the boundary of South Bihâr, including the entire extent
of the country in the Patna division south of the Ganges. The names of
the Kol Râj and the Chero Râj are now discriminately applied by the
natives of the South Bihâr to the kingdom of the aborigines. [237]
According to Dr. Buchanan Hamilton they extended as far as Gorakhpur or
Kosala, and destroyed the family of the Sun in Ajudhya, as well as that
of the Moon in Magadha. [238]
2. A tradition recorded by Mr. Forbes [239] states that Kesho Nârâyan
Sinh, a Bundya Râjput, and Râja of Garhgûmti, in Bundelkhand, was
blessed with an only daughter: being anxious to learn the future that
was in store for her, he sent for a learned Brâhman and requested him
to draw her horoscope. The Brâhman did so, and declared it was ordained
that the young girl, if married at all, could wed no other than a Muni,
or one to all intents and purposes dead. On learning this the Râja
determined to go to some holy shrine and offer (sankalpa) his daughter
to the first Muni he could find. He started accordingly taking his
daughter with him, and when passing through the Morong, [240] he one
day encamped in a tope of trees near to which there was a mound.
Enquiring from the people what this mound was, he learned that it was
the living sepulchre of a very pious Muni Chamman Muni Rishi. The Râja
immediately called for spade and shovel, unearthed the holy man, and
made the girl over to him. From this marriage sprung the Chero or
Chauhânbansi Râjputs. Their son was Chet Râê, who expelled the Râthaur
lords of the country. After him the following Chero Râjas ruled
Kumâun—Chhattardîs Râê, Udit Râê, Udand Râê, and Choân Râê, whose son,
Phûl Chand, conquered Bhojpur or South Bihâr. The Cheros entered
Palamau in 1612 A.D., and ruled the district for nearly two hundred
years, when they were expelled by the British.
3. General Cunningham accepts the account that they were conquered by
the Saura tribe in Shahâbâd and Benares. In Shahâbâd, the ancient
Karusha Desa, all old buildings are ascribed to them. Even as late as
the time of Akbar a Chero chief is said to have kept possession of
Chayanpur, one of the chief towns in the district. General Cunningham
thinks their power must have ceased before the accession of the Pâla
dynasty. One ancient chief or ruling family among them appears to have
been known as Chero Chai. [241]
4. There are no Cheros now in Ghâzipur; but Dr. Oldham describes those
on the Ghâzipur frontier as honest, industrious cultivators, not
differing from Hindus of the agricultural classes. The family records
of the Hayobans Râjas, formerly of Bihiya, and now of Haldi, notice a
conflict between the Chero and Hayobans chiefs which lasted for
hundreds of years, and terminated in the triumph of the Râjputs. As
late as the reign of the Afghân Emperor Shîr Shâh the power of the
Cheros was formidable, and on his overcoming Maharta, a chief of the
tribe, he indulged in transports of delight. On the Kaimûr plateau the
last famous robbers were Nora and Kora, who were captured in 1858.
[242] Their village was Chirvi, called after the tribe, as are the
Cherand Pargana and Cherand Island in the Sâran District. [243]
5. But in spite of their Brâhmanical traditions and extensive conquests
they are undoubtedly, as Dr. Buchanan Hamilton asserted, of Dravidian
origin. [244] Colonel Dalton remarks that in Chota Nâgpur their
physical traits have been considerably softened by their alliances with
pure Hindu families. He describes their features as of the Mongolian,
or, as he should rather have said, of the Kolarian or Dravidian type.
They vary in colour, but are usually of a light brown. They have, as a
rule, high cheek bones, small eyes obliquely set, and eyebrows to
correspond; low, broad noses, and large mouths with protuberant lips;
[245] in other words, they are not appreciably different from the other
Dravidian tribes, like the Kols, Majhwârs, etc. This is further shown
by the fact that in Mirzapur they are popularly known as Baiga, the
devil priest, which is the special business of the non-Aryan races.
[Internal structure.] 6. There is no trace in Mirzapur of the division
into Bârahhazâr and Terahhazâr of Palamau. [246] South of the Son they
have two exogamous sections, Mahto and Chaudhari: others call these
sections Nâgbansi, and pretend that they are like their brethren in
Chota Nâgpur, descendants of the Nâg or dragon, [247] and Pandobansi,
who say they are connected with the five Pandavas; another statement of
the sections shows the composite character of the race—Kol, Chero,
Hardaha (from the hartu tree, adina cordifolia), Kariha, Panariha,
Kutaha, Sinduraha (“those who use red lead”). Some of these are
possibly of totemistic origin. The Census Returns give another
list—Bardbansi, Bardhân, Bârubansi, Gaya, Khar, and Sûrajbansi.
[Exogamy.] 7. Their custom of exogamy even is uncertain. By one account
first cousins on the father’s side cannot intermarry, while marriage of
cousins on the mother’s side is permitted, and a paternal uncle’s son
can marry a maternal uncle’s daughter, but not vice versâ. On the other
hand, the more Hinduised Cheros profess to regulate exogamy by the
stock formula—chachera, mamera, phuphera, mausera, which bars the line
of the paternal uncle, maternal uncle, paternal aunt, maternal aunt.
There can be very little doubt that until comparatively recently they
used to intermarry with Bhuiyas, as is proved by numerous local
traditions. The Bhuiyas, on the other hand, say that they have given up
intermarrying with Cheros since the Cheros have taken to intermarry
with Kols, and the Cheros at any rate give Kol as one of their
sections. South of the Son it is generally asserted that Bhuiyas and
Cheros are the same. From all which it would appear that Kols, Cheros
and Bhuiyas are of one parent-stock, and have separated by a process of
abscission in comparatively recent times.
[Marriage rules.] 8. There is no trace of polyandry among them. It is
noticed as peculiar to the Cheros that, unlike the allied Dravidian
tribes, whenever they go any distance from home, as to the jungle after
cattle, to pay their rent, etc., they always bring their wives with
them. It is a tradition among them that formerly the custom was that if
a man remained six months absent from his wife, she was at liberty to
form a fresh connection: but it is said that this is now obsolete. The
standing price for a bride is five rupees, and it is entirely a
question of means how many wives a man has. Monogamy appears to be the
rule. Some Cheros admit that concubinage is allowed, and that a widow
or divorced woman may go and live with anyone she likes; but this
custom, too, appears becoming gradually discredited. Girls are said to
be allowed little liberty before marriage; but it seems certain that
many marriages are carried out when pregnancy is the result of an
ante-nuptial intrigue, [248] in which case the alliance is recognized
on her father giving a tribal feast (bojh bhât); but if her paramour be
of another caste she is permanently excluded. Like those in Chota
Nâgpur [249] the Mirzapur Cheros profess to marry their children
between the age of five and ten. Any relation may act as the negotiator
(agua). Though her father receives the bride-price it is spent on the
marriage, and he is expected to give her a dowry as far as his means
will allow. The customs regarding divorce, widow-marriage, the
levirate, and succession, are the same as among the Kols. The
Gharjaiyân marriage, where the youth serves for his bride on probation
in the house of her father, is common. [250]
[Relationship.] 9. The general scheme of relationship agrees with that
of the Kols. A father is bâba, dâda; father’s brother, kâka; mother,
dîdi; sister, bahin; father’s mother, âji; elder paternal uncle’s wife,
barki kâki, younger paternal uncle’s wife, chhutki kâki; elder
brother’s wife, bhauji; younger brother’s wife, dulhin; or bride, son’s
wife, patohiya; maternal uncle, mâmu; mother’s mother, nâni; mother’s
sister, mausi; mother’s father, nâna; mother’s grandfather, parnâna;
wife’s father, mahto, or “leader;” wife’s father’s wife, mahtoâin;
sister’s husband, âr (yâr, friend); brother-in-law’s father, mahto;
younger brother of wife, bâbu. A man names his wife by his son—Lallu ki
mahtâri—“Lallu’s mother.” A father is sometimes addressed as bhaiyya or
“brother.” They remember genealogies only to three generations, and in
the case of females only as far as the grandmother. They call clansmen
living in the same village ganwân bhâi.
[Birth ceremonies.] 10. The Cheros mark their approach to Hinduism by
having puberty ceremonies which are not usual among the allied
Dravidian races. On each occasion they sacrifice to Durga Devi and the
collective village gods (deohâr). Cocks, hens, pigs, goats, and liquor
constitute the offering which is made by the village Baiga, who first
bathes and then before the platform of the deity makes a cowdung fire,
into which he pours a mixture of sugar, butter, sesamum and rice, and
says,—Dih bâba hamâr kâraj toharê kirpa se ho gail; se jânab; ham
manaulê rahlê, so leh—“Village Lord! Our business has been completed
through thy favour! Know this! Accept the offering we owed.” After this
he sacrifices the victim, which the brethren divide, the head being the
Baiga’s perquisite. The worship is supposed to keep evil spirits from
the mother and her expected baby. The other birth ceremonies are the
same as among the Kols.
[Betrothal.] 11. The binding part of the betrothal ceremony is the
payment of the bride-price, five rupees. If the father of the girl
annul the engagement he is forced to return the bride-price, and is
severely dealt with by the tribal council besides.
[Marriage.] 12. There are three varieties of marriage,—Charhauwa, which
is the respectable form; dola, which is used by poor people and in
which the ceremonies are done at the house of the bridegroom, and
sagâi, for widows. The ritual is the same as among the Kols, but the
Cheros make more use than they do of Brâhmans in fixing the lucky time,
and even now in respectable families Brâhmans attend, but do not carry
out the service. Such people are clearly in rapid progress towards
complete Hinduism.
[Death.] 12. Similarly in the case of funeral ceremonies they are
beginning to employ Brâhmans and to do the regular srâddha, while they
still retain some of the non-Aryan practices noticed in the case of the
allied Dravidian races.
[Religion.] 13. Their chief deities are Sairi, a vague female form
sometimes known as Devi, Sîtala, the goddess of small pox, and the Dih,
or aggregate of village gods, which are worshipped both by men and
women. Fowls, goats, and pigs are sacrificed to the Manes, the victim
being fed on some rice and marked on the head with red lead in the name
of the sainted dead before being sacrificed. During the period of
mourning they do worship to the disembodied spirit (pret) with an
offering of a young pig. For their special worship in the Hindu form
they employ a low body of Sarwariya Brâhmans. The worship of the
village gods is done by a Baiga of their own tribe, and this local
priest is generally the president of the village tribal council. The
Baiga pretends to great personal purity, and is supposed to fast on the
day he makes the offering. They have apparently quite abandoned the
system of triennial sacrifices which prevails among the Eastern branch
of the tribe; [251] but their tribal traditions show that their
discontinuance is comparatively recent. The site of the Chero shrine
(deohâr) is usually under a nîm tree where rude earthenware images of
horses are collected. The offering very often takes the form of what is
called newaj, balls of sweetened flour fried in butter. These after
being offered are eaten by the family of the worshipper and the Baiga.
All their sacrifices are done in public, except those to Dulhadeo, the
godling of marriages, who is little more than a household deity, and
whose worship is in the hands of the women.
[Festivals.] 14. Their festivals are the Anant Chaudas, on the 14th day
of the light half of Bhâdon; the Jiutiya, during the fortnight sacred
to the dead (pitra paksha), in Kuâr, when women fast for a day and
night to procure long life (jiw) for their sons and husbands; and the
Phagua or Holi. Some Sundays are consecrated to the spirits of the
dead, and are called pretak, when a fast is imposed, and on Sundays
generally as well as at the Anant Chaudas, they do not eat salt. They
do the Phagua like ordinary Hindus. In the Pitrapaksha for ten days
they pour water on the ground in the name of the dead, and on the
eleventh day shave and put on clean clothes. On that day each family
gives the Brâhman two and a-half sers of uncooked grain (sîdha). The
only family festival is the Jiutiya, which some observe to bring good
luck on the family, and some in the hope of male offspring. One
platform in the house is the residence of the sainted dead and the
Devi. They are much afraid of the ghosts of persons drowned (bûrna),
and whenever they pass a place where such an accident occurred they
raise hands in an attitude of supplication.
[Ancestor worship.] 15. Ancestor worship is fairly well established,
but not universal. It can form even the subject of a joke as in a
proverb common among these people—châr kawar bhîtar, tab deota
pitar—“First eat four mouthfuls, then think of the godlings and the
sainted dead.” Sickness in a family is attributed to the anger of the
ancestral ghosts: in such cases fowls and goats are sacrificed in the
house, and a few drops of liquor are poured on the ground. On the tenth
day after a death the more Hinduised Cheros give the family priest
(purohit) a pair of loin-cloths (dhoti), a drinking vessel (lota), a
tray (thâli), and grain always in the ratio of one and-a-quarter sers,
maunds, measures (paseri). The ghosts of the dead if not propitiated
appear in dreams and prescribe the necessary offerings. If the
injunctions given by them in the first dream are not obeyed, the next
time they sit on the chest and squeeze the throat of the offender.
Ghosts (bhût) habitually haunt cremation grounds. Neglect of funeral
ceremonies does not necessarily involve the spirit becoming a Bhût, but
those who are killed by a Bhût invariably become Bhûts themselves.
Tattooing in its present form is little more than ornamental; but it is
clearly connected with puberty, [252] and is based in case of women on
a religious motive. If a woman die without being tattooed, Paramesar
will tattoo her himself with the thorns of acacia (babûl). Women pay
special reverence to the fig tree (pîpal), and bow when they pass near
it. They have the usual meeting omens. They do not follow Hindus in
giving two names to children. They swear by touching a cow-tail or the
feet of a Brâhman or by standing in water while they make a solemn
assertion to speak the truth. Poverty, leprosy, or loss of children
follows a broken oath.
[Witchcraft.] 16. Many of these women have a reputation for witchcraft
and the power of casting the Evil Eye. Such people are hated by the
Baiga, who gets them out of the village if he can. It is believed that
these witches specially select young men and children as their victims.
The head-quarters of the Ojhas who deal with such cases are at two
places called “the house of God” (Deoghariya), in Nagar Untâri,
District Lohardaga; people attacked by witchcraft visit these Ojhas
with trays of flowers. There are also local Ojhas usually of the
Kharwâr, Majhwâr, or Bhuiyâr tribes, who prescribe in cases of
witchcraft and instruct disciples. A favourite method of injuring an
enemy is to measure his footsteps in the dust with a straw, and then to
mutter a spell over it. This brings on wounds and sores in the foot.
There is a special word for this, pângna. [253] Disease is popularly
believed to be due to demoniacal agency, [254] and people are
particularly cautious to destroy cuttings of their hair, nails, etc.,
lest they should come into the hands of witches, who would thus obtain
control over their victims. [255]
[Social customs.] 17. The only meat from which Cheros habitually
abstain is that of the cow, and the prohibition of its use is based on
religious motives. Their taboos are the same as those of the Kols. Men
and women eat apart. They salute Brâhmans and other superiors in the
pâêlagi form, to others they salâm. When they meet a superior they very
often take off the turban and stand on one leg. They will eat food
cooked in butter (pakka khâna) only from the hands of Brâhmans. They,
in fact, affect a good deal of ceremonial purity like the Cheros of
Palamau and the Kharrias. [256] Kalwârs and all the wandering Banyas
who go about the country for grain will eat pakka khâna and drink water
from their hands. Their usual occupations are cultivating, ploughing
for others, cutting wood, collecting lac and other jungle produce. They
will not breed silkworms, which is considered a most disreputable
occupation and left to Bhuiyârs and Chamârs. They have an elementary
communal organisation (eka) in which the residents of three or four
villages join for general business. But this seems to be on the
decline. There is no trace of a periodical distribution of fields, but
only the lands near the village site are habitually cultivated. The
others are under a system of biennial fallow. In all but the cleared
and cultivated lands the right of pasturage is unrestricted. Cheros
have a reputation for honesty and good conduct, and they are liked in
villages better than Bhuiyas or Bhuiyârs: but they are lazy
cultivators.
[Houses.] 18. Like all these jungle races they keep their houses
separate from each other, partly through fear of witchcraft practised
by neighbours, to avoid infection, the work of evil spirits, and with
this object sick people constantly change their houses, partly through
fear of fire, as their houses are very inflammable. This is also the
rule with the Bhîls. [257]
Chhîpi. [258]—(Hindi, chhâpna, “to print,” Sans: kship, “to pour”).—The
caste of calico printers and chintz stampers, of whom there are both a
Hindu and a Muhammadan branch. The Hindu branch have a tradition that
they were once Râthaur Râjputs. In the same way the Bhavsârs or
calenders of Bombay have a tradition that when Parasurâma was
exterminating the Kshatriya race they were Râjputs living at Mathura,
and, fearing the same fate as their brethren, became followers of one
Râmdevji, a mendicant, and came to Mârwâr. This Râmdevji being a
calender his followers at first were called Chhîppas. Their present
name they derive from the fact of their having placed faith (bhâv) in
this mendicant. [259]
The Eastern Chhîpis refer their origin to a place which they call Dheri
Avarerachh, somewhere in Bundelkhand. Dheri is a village in the Samthar
State which lies between Jâlaun and Jhânsi, and Avarerachh is a
corruption of Irichh or Erichh, a town in Pargana Moth, of the Jhânsi
District, which is even to the present day noted for its manufacture of
chintz. [260]
[Internal structure.] 2. The internal structure of the caste is very
intricate. In Mirzapur they name seven endogamous sub-castes—Palhariya
(from palihanda, the stand on which the dye-pots are placed); Bulbulha
(from bulbul, the nightingale); Dunsua (said to mean “a large needle”);
Sâdh or “saints,” who pretend to special purity and will not eat meat
or kill animals; Sûrajbans, “children of the Sun”; Kanaujiya or
Kanaujiha, who say they come from Kanauj; and Pariya, or “those who
keep young buffalo calves.” These are the explanations current among
the members of the caste, and must, of course, be accepted with
caution. In Fatehgarh there are two endogamous sub-castes—Reli or
Dilwâri, that is Dehliwâl or “residents of Delhi;” Gola, “mixed,” or
Mârwâri or Sanganeri, who take their name from a place called Sanganer,
which is said to be somewhere near Jaypur. These, again, are divided
into a number of sections. Thus of the Reli are named the Milku;
Chhuriyapel; Ajudhiya; Nauchhirak; Sunawâr; Pânisap; Kupendiya;
Kachhot; Banawâr; Gadhaiya, and many others. The Golas are said to have
seven hundred and fifty sections, such as the Dharâvnê; Dûsayê;
Mertwâr, and Gothalwâr. In Fatehgarh the rule of exogamy appears to be
that a man cannot marry in his own section nor in a section in which a
near female relation is already married. In Bulandshahr they are
reported to have three endogamous sub-castes—Jeni or Jaini, Reliya, and
Tânk, and they do not marry in their own family or in that of the
maternal uncle. The Eastern Chhîpis state that they follow the standard
formula chachera, mamera, phuphera, mausera, which bars the line of the
paternal uncle, maternal uncle, maternal aunt, and paternal aunt.
3. According to the Census lists which record two hundred and two
sub-divisions of the Hindu and twenty-one of the Muhammadan branch,
their sections follow the rule so common in these occupational castes.
Some are of local origin and others imply some real or supposed
connection with other tribes. Thus among local terms we find
Ajudhyabâsi, Chhatarpuriya, Deswâri, Kanaujiya, Mârwâri, Mathuriya,
Pachhâin, Panjâbi, Purabiya, Sribâstav; while in the second class come
Agarwâl, Agrahari, Bais, Baiswâr, Bâgri, Chamâr, Chauhân, Chhatri,
Chiryamâr, Chûrihâr, Darji, Dhakarya, Jâdu, Kachhiya, Koliya, Kori,
Râjput, Râthaur, Râwat, Ruhela, Sakarwâr, Sûrajbansi, Tânk, Tomar, and
Ummar, most of which are derived from the names of tribes and
sub-castes or septs of Banyas and Râjputs.
[Marriage customs.] 4. They marry their children in infancy. To the
east polygamy is allowed to the extent of having two wives at one time
if the first be barren. To the west, though polygamy is tolerated, it
is said to be rare. There is nothing peculiar about their marriages,
which are conducted in the orthodox way. Intertribal adultery seems to
be little regarded, but an intrigue with a stranger involves expulsion
from caste. There is among the Hindu branch at least no regular form of
divorce, but a man with the leave of the tribal council can expel his
wife for infidelity. Divorced women can marry again with permission of
the tribal council. The levirate is recognized, but is not compulsory
on the widow.
[Religion.] 5. To the east of the Province they very seldom belong to
any recognised Hindu sect. Devi and the Pânchonpîr are their tribal
deities. Devi is worshipped on the 14th of Phâlgun with an offering of
cocoanuts, sweets (batâsha, halwa), cakes (pûri) and garlands of
flowers. The Pânchonpîr are honoured with sweet cakes (malîda) and
loin-cloths, which the worshippers put on after offering them to the
godlings. To the West the Relis are Nânakpanthis and the Golas
Vaishnavas. The Relis worship Nânak especially on the Ganga Sâtwîn and
at the Basant Panchami, when the halwa sweetmeat is offered to him and
then distributed among the worshippers. Women especially worship Shaikh
Saddu. In Bulandshahr they worship Mâta or the small-pox goddess, Mîrân
Sâhib, and Châmar Devi. Their tribal saint is Nâmdeva, of whom they
know nothing save that he was the first printer. One person of this
name is one of the authors of the Sikh Granth and another or perhaps
the same is regarded by the Marâthas as their oldest poet, and is said
to have been a contemporary of Kabîr, and to have lived in the twelfth
or thirteenth century. Of the Nâmdeopanthis who recorded themselves to
the number of 10,358 at the last Census, the unity of the deity and the
uselessness of ceremonial appear to be the leading characteristics of
the creed. Like Râêdâsi Chamârs and Senapanthi Nâis, the Nâmdeopanthi
cotton printers have been separated from their caste-fellows by the
superior purity of their belief, and now form a separate sub-caste,
shown in the caste returns as Nâmdeobansi. [261] They employ Brâhmans
as their priests; to the east these are usually Sarwariyas; to the west
Saraswat, Kanaujiya and Gaur Brâhmans serve them. They burn their dead
in the orthodox way, and throw the ashes, if possible, into the Ganges
or one of its tributaries. On the day of the Diwâli they worship the
dies with which they stamp the cloth as fetishes. The more careful
perform the annual srâddha during the pitrapaksha or fortnight sacred
to the sainted dead in the month of Kuâr.
[Occupation and social status.] 6. The great centres of the calico
printing trade in these provinces are Lucknow, Fatehgarh, Bulandshahr,
and Mirzapur, where it is largely in the hands of a colony of Sâdhs
from Fatehgarh. In Lucknow, according to Mr. Hoey, [262] there are
three different classes of cotton printers who pass under the same name
and use similar dyes. The first class is the stamper of real or
imitation gold or silver leaf on coloured cotton fabrics for use as
palanquin covers, curtains (parda), bed covers (lihâf), quilts, etc.
The process is simple but ingenious. The Chhîpi makes a mixture of gum,
chalk, and glue. He stamps the pattern on the fabrics with this mixture
by means of a wooden die. He then lays strips of silver leaf over the
pattern traced in this way, and taps it gently with a pad. The leaf
adheres to the gummy lines of the pattern stamped, and comes away from
the unstamped surface. The process of stamping an imitation of silver
differs. The Chhîpi in this case mixes pewter (ranga), gum, glue, and
chalk and stamps the pattern right off. After it dries he rubs it over
with a piece of wood (mura), and this gives a gloss to the inferior
metal. The second class mark patterns on muslin for embroiderers
(chikandoz), and the third prints cotton fabrics in fast colours for
use as quilts, sheets, bed covers, table cloths, etc. The Chhîpi, as a
rule, ranks fairly high in social estimation. To the east of the
Province he does not drink spirits or eat any meat. All Hindus,
including Brâhmans will, it is said, eat pakki cooked by him, and
tribes like the Kahâr will eat kachchi prepared by him. In Fatehgarh he
will eat pakki prepared by Agarwâla Banyas, and kachchi by Gaur
Brâhmans. Water they drink from the vessel of a Brâhman or Banya, but
they will smoke only from the pipe of a member of the tribe. Brâhmans
will eat pakki prepared by them; Nâis and Mâlis will eat kachchi cooked
by them, and drink from their vessels.