Basket-making is the traditional occupation of the Kaikaris and
is still followed by them. They do not however make baskets from
bamboos, but from cotton-stalks, palm-leaves and grass. In the south
they are principally employed as carriers of stone, lime, bricks and
gravel. Like most wandering castes they have a bad character. In Berar
the Ran Kaikaris are said to be the most criminal class. [257] They
act under a chief who is elected for life, and wander about in the cold
weather, usually carrying their property on donkeys. Their ostensible
occupations are to make baskets and mend grinding mills. A notice of
them in Lawrence's Settlement Report of Bhandara (1867) stated that
they were then professional thieves, openly avowing their dependence
on predatory occupations for subsistence, and being particularly
dexterous at digging through the walls of houses and secret pilfering.