The marriage customs of the caste follow the ordinary Hindu ritual
prevalent in the locality and are not of special interest. Before
a Kalar wedding procession starts a ceremony known as marrying the
well is performed. The mother or aunt of the bridegroom goes to the
well and sits in the mouth with her legs hanging down inside it and
asks what the bridegroom will give her. He then goes round the well
seven times, and a stick of kans [264] grass is thrown into it at each
turn. Afterwards he promises the woman some handsome present and she
returns to the house. Another explanation of the story is that the
woman pretends to be overcome with grief at the bridegroom's departure
and threatens to throw herself into the well unless he will give
her something. The well-to-do marry their daughters at an early age,
but no stigma attaches to those who have to postpone the ceremony. A
bride-price is not customary, but if the girl's parents are poor
they sometimes receive help from those of the boy in order to carry
out the wedding. Matches are usually arranged at the caste feasts,
and a Brahman officiates at the ceremony. Divorce is recognised and
widows are allowed to marry again except by the Byahut subcaste. The
Kalars worship the ordinary Hindu deities, and those who sell liquor
revere an earthen jar filled with wine at the Holi festival. The
educated are usually Vaishnavas by sect, and as already stated a
few of them belong to the Jain religion. The social status of the
Kalars is equivalent to that of the village menials, ranking below
the good cultivating castes. Brahmans do not take water from their
hands. But in Mandla, where the Kalars are important and prosperous,
certain Sarwaria Brahmans who were their household priests took water
from them, thus recognising them as socially pure. This has led to a
split among the local Sarwaria Brahmans, the families who did not take
water from the Kalars refusing to intermarry with those who did so.
While the highest castes of Hindus eschew spirituous liquor the
cultivating and middle classes are divided, some drinking it and others
not; and to the menial and labouring classes, and especially to the
forest tribes, it is the principal luxury of their lives. Unfortunately
they have not learnt to indulge in moderation and nearly always drink
to excess if they have the means, while the intoxicating effect of
even a moderate quantity is quickly perceptible in their behaviour.
In the Central Provinces the liquor drunk is nearly all distilled from
the flowers of the mahua tree (Bassia latifolia), though elsewhere
it is often made from cane sugar. The smell of the fermented mahua
and the refuse water lying about make the village liquor-shop an
unattractive place. But the trade has greatly profited the Kalars by
the influence which it has given them over the lower classes. "With
the control of the liquor-supply in their hands," Mr. Montgomerie
writes, "they also controlled the Gonds, and have played a more
important part in the past history of the Chhindwara District than
their numbers would indicate." [265] The Kalar and Teli (oil-presser)
are usually about on the same standing; they are the creditors of
the poorer tenants and labourers, as the Bania is of the landowners
and substantial cultivators. These two of the village trades are not
suited to the method of payment by annual contributions of grain, and
must from an early period have been conducted by single transactions
of barter. Hence the Kalar and Teli learnt to keep accounts and to
appreciate the importance of the margin of profit. This knowledge and
the system of dealing on credit with the exaction of interest have
stood them in good stead and they have prospered at the expense of
their fellow-villagers. The Kalars have acquired substantial property
in several Districts, especially in those mainly populated by Gonds,
as Mandla, Betul and Chhindwara. In British Districts of the Central
Provinces they own 750 villages, or about 4 per cent of the total. In
former times when salt was highly taxed and expensive the Gonds had
no salt. The Kalars imported rock-salt and sold it to the Gonds in
large pieces. These were hung up in the Gond houses just as they are
in stables, and after a meal every one would go up to the lump of salt
and lick it as ponies do. When the Gonds began to wear cloth instead
of leaves and beads the Kalars retailed them thin strips of cloth just
sufficient for decency, and for the cloth and salt a large proportion
of the Gond's harvest went to the Kalar. When a Gond has threshed
his grain the Kalar takes round liquor to the threshing-floor and
receives a present of grain much in excess of its value. Thus the
Gond has sold his birthright for a mess of pottage and the Kalar
has taken his heritage. Only a small proportion of the caste are
still supported by the liquor traffic, and a third of the whole are
agriculturists. Others have engaged in the timber trade, purchasing
teak timber from the Gonds in exchange for liquor, a form of commerce
which has naturally redounded to their great advantage. A few are
educated and have risen to good positions in Government service. Sir
D. Ibbetson describes them as 'Notorious for enterprise, energy and
obstinacy. Death may budge, but a Kalar won't.' The Sikh Kalars, who
usually call themselves Ahluwalia, contain many men who have attained
to high positions under Government, especially as soldiers, and the
general testimony is that they make brave soldiers. [266] One of the
ruling chiefs of the Punjab belongs to this caste. Until quite recently
the manufacture of liquor, except in the large towns, was conducted
in small pot-stills, of which there was one for a circle of perhaps
two dozen villages with subordinate shops. The right of manufacture
and vend in each separate one of these stills was sold annually by
auction at the District headquarters, and the Kalars assembled to bid
for it. And here instances of their dogged perseverance could often be
noticed; when a man would bid up for a licence to a sum far in excess
of the profits which he could hope to acquire from it, rather than
allow himself to be deprived of a still which he desired to retain.