1 36
2 Ziohdn — Lohdr,
3 Lohan, a tribe of Jcto, descended from an eponym, of Punwd,r R&jput orip’n,
4 belonging to Vikrauiajit’s family, and found in bidlkot, ine Ijonan
5 or Lohain are also found in Hiss^lr, where it is said that one of the
6 sons of Lohdiii was Chula, a bhagat who founded Ndirnaund, and is
7 now worshipped as the tribal god under tho form of an oblong
8 stone in his shrine there. His Brahmans are of the Indauria got and
9 are fed on the 1 1th siidi of each month.
10 Lohar, fern, -r, -an.— The Lolu'ir of the Punjab is, as his name implies, a
11 blacksmith pure and simple. He is one of the true village menials,
12 receiving customary dues in the shape of a share of the produce, in
13 return for which he makes and mends all the iron implements of
14 agriculture, the material being found by the husbandman. He is
15 most numerous in proportion to total population in the hills and
16 the Districts that lie immediately below them, where like all other
17 artisan castes he is largely employed in field labour. He is present
18 in singularly small numbers in the Multan division, the Derajat and
19 Bahdwalpur ; probably because men of other castes engage in black-
20 smith’s work in those parts, or perhaps because the carpenter and
21 the blacksmith are the same. His social position is low, even for a
22 menial ; and he is classed as an impure caste in so far that
23 and others of similar standing will have no socual communion with
24 him, though not as an outcast like the scavenger. His impurity, like
25 that of the barber, washerman, and dyer, springs solely from the
26 nature of his employment ; perhaps because it is a dirty one, but more
27 probably because black is a colour of evil omen, though on the other
28 hand iron has powerful virtue as a charm against the evil eye. It is
29 not impossible that the necessity under v^hich he labours of using
30 bellows made of cowhide may have something to do with his im-
31 purity*. He appears to follow very generally the religion of the
32 neighbourhood, and some 34 per cent, of the Lohdrs are Hindu,
33 about 8 per cent. Sikh, and 58 per cent. Musalmdn. Most of the
34 iron-workers in the Punjab are called Lohars, though Ahangar,
35 the Persian for blacksmith, Ndlband or farrier and Koftgar are
36 also used as translations nf the term lohdr or to denote special
37 branches of his calling. In Peshdwar the ironsmith is called taiidi
38 kdrigar as distinguished from the sari hdrigar or carpenter. In
39 the north of Sirsa, and probably in the Central States of the
40 Lastern Plains, the Lohdr or blacksmith and the Khdti or carpenter
41 are undistinguishable, the same men doing both kinds of work ; and in
42 many, perhaps in nn st parts of the Punjab, the two intermarry In
43 Hoshidrpur they are said to form a single caste called Lohdr-Tarkhdn,
44 and the son of a blacksmith will often take to carpentry and vice versa ;
45 but It appears tlmttlie castes were originally separate, for the joint
46 caste IS still divided into two sections who will not intermarry or even
47 Dhaman, from dhamna ‘ to blow,’ and the
48 la 1 lom ' wood. In Gujrdnwdla the, same two sections exist ;
49 and they are the two great n’arkhdn tribps also. In Karndl a sort
50 of connection seems to be admitted, but the castes are now distinct.
51 In Sirsa the Lohdrs may be divided into three main sections : the
52 * Colebrooke says that the Karraak4ra or blacksmith is in
53 the polluted tribes. as one