The proper occupation of the Kahar is that of doli or
litter-bearer. When carts could not travel owing to the absence of
roads this was the regular mode of conveyance of those who could
afford it and did not ride. Buchanan remarks: "Few or none except
some chief native officers of Government keep bearers in constant pay;
but men of large estates give farms at low rents to their bearers, who
are ready at a call and receive food when employed." [238] A superior
kind of litter used by rich women had a domed roof supported on eight
pillars with side-boards like Venetian blinds; and was carried on
two poles secured to the sides beneath the roof. This is perhaps the
progenitor of the modern Calcutta ghari or four-wheeler, just as the
body of the hansom-cab was modelled on the old sedan-chair. It was
called Kharkhariya in imitation of the rattling of the blinds when in
motion. [239] The palki or ordinary litter consisted of a couch slung
under a long bamboo, which formed an arch over it. Over the arch was
suspended a tilt made of cloth, which served to screen the passenger
from sun and rain. A third kind was the Chaupala or square box open at
the sides and slung on a bamboo; the passenger sat doubled up inside
this. If as was sometimes the case the Chaupala was hung considerably
beneath the bamboo the passenger was miserably draggled by dust and
mud. Nowadays regular litters are so little used that they are not
to be found in villages; but when required because one cannot ride
or for travelling at night they are readily improvised by slinging
a native wooden cot from two poles by strings of bamboo-fibre. Most
of the Kahars and Dhimars have forgotten how to carry a litter,
and proceed very slowly with frequent stops to change shoulders or
substitute other bearers. But the Kols of Mandla still retain the art,
and will do more than four miles an hour for several hours if eight
men are allowed. Under native governments the privilege of riding in
a palanquin was a mark of distinction; and a rule was enforced that
no native could thus enter into the area of the forts in Madras and
Bombay without the permission of the Governor; such permission being
recorded in the order book at the gates of the fort and usually granted
only to a few who were lame or otherwise incapacitated. When General
Medows assumed the office of Governor of Bombay in 1788 some Parsis
waited on him and begged for the removal of this restriction; to which
the Governor replied, "So long as you do not force me to ride in this
machine he may who likes it"; and so the rule was abrogated. [240]
A passage from Hobson-Jobson, however, shows that the Portuguese were
much stricter in this respect: "In 1591 a proclamation of the Viceroy,
Matthias d'Albuquerque, ordered: 'That no person of what quality or
condition soever, shall go in a palanquy without my express licence,
save they be over sixty years of age, to be first proved before the
Auditor-General of Police ... and those who contravene this shall
pay a penalty of 200 cruzados, and persons of mean estate the half,
the palanquys and their belongings to be forfeited, and the bois or
mouços who carry such palanquys shall be condemned to His Majesty's
galleys.'" [241] The meaning of the last sentence appears to be that
the bearers were considered as slaves, and were forfeited to the king's
service as a punishment to their owner. As the unauthorised use of
this conveyance was so severely punished it would appear that riding
in a palanquin must have been a privilege of nobility. Similarly to
ride on a horse was looked upon in something of the same light; and
when a person of inferior consequence met a superior or a Government
officer while riding, he had to dismount from his horse as a mark of
respect until the other had passed. This last custom still obtains
to some extent, though it is rapidly disappearing.
As a means of conveyance the litter would be held sacred by primitive
people, and Mr. Crooke gives an instance of the regard paid to it:
"At the Holi festival eight days before Diwali in the western Districts
the house is plastered with cowdung and figures of a litter (doli) and
bearers are made on the walls with four or five colours, and to them
offerings of incense, lights and flowers are given." [242] Even after
passable roads were made tongas or carts drawn by trotting-bullocks
were slow in coming into general use owing to the objection felt by
the Hindus to harnessing the sacred ox.