Kadera, Kandera, Golandaz, Bandar, Hawaidar. [233]--A small
occupational caste of makers of fireworks. The Kaderas numbered
2200 persons in 1911, and were most numerous in the Narsinghpur
District. They consider themselves to have come from Bundelkhand, where
the caste is also found, but it is in greatest strength in the Gwalior
State. In former times Kaderas were employed to manufacture gunpowder
and missiles of iron, and serve cannon in the Indian armies. The term
Golandaz or 'ball-thrower' was also applied to native artillerymen. The
Bandar or 'rocket-throwers' were a separate class, who fired rockets
containing missiles, the name being derived from van, an arrow. With
them may be classed the Deg-andaz or 'mortar-throwers,' who used
thick earthenware pots filled with powder and having fuses attached,
somewhat resembling the modern bomb--missiles which inflicted dreadful
wounds. [234] Mr. Irvine writes of the Mughal artillery as follows:
"The fire was never very rapid. Orme speaks of the artillery firing
once in a quarter of an hour. In 1721 the usual rate of fire of
heavy guns was once every three hours. Artillery which fired once
in two gharis or forty-four minutes was praised for its rapidity of
action. The guns were usually posted behind the clay walls of houses;
or they might take up a commanding position on the top of a brick-kiln;
or a temporary entrenchment might be formed out of the earthen bank
and ditch which usually surround a grove of mango-trees." Hawaidar
is a term for a maker of fireworks, while the name Kandera itself
may perhaps be derived from kand, an arrow.