1 '>66 PANJAJJ CASTES.
2 PART VI.— THE VAGRANT, MENIAL AND
3 ARTISAN CASTES.
4 564, Division of the subject. — Having disciisped the knd-uwnlng and [P. 305J
5 agraailturalj and tlie pries^tly, mercantile, and professional castes, I now
6 turn to the lowest strata of Panjab society, the vagrant and criminal tribes,
7 the gipsies, the menials, and the artisans. These classes form in many I'espects
8 one of the most interesting sections of the community. Politically they are
9 unimportant ; but they include the great mass of such aboriginal element as is
10 still to be found in the Panjab, their customs are not only exceedingly peculiar
11 but also exceedingly interesting as affording us a clue to the separation of the
12 non-Aryan element in the customs of other tribes, and while the industries of
13 the Province are almost entirely in their hands an immense deal of the hardest
14 part of the field, work is performed by them. At the same time they are precise-
15 ly the classes regarding whom it is most difficult to obtain reliable informa-
16 tion. They are not pleasant people to deal with and we are thrown but little
17 into contact with them, while the better class of native groups most of
18 them under one or two generic terms, such as ('huhra, Dum, or Nat,
19 and thinks it would degrade him to show any closer acquaintance with
20 their habits. I have roughly divided these castes into eleven groups. Pirst
21 I have taken the vagrant, hunting, and criminal tribes, then the gipsy
22 tribes, then the scavenger classes, tlie leather- workers and weavers, the
23 water-carriers, fishermen and boatmen, the carpenters, blacksmiths, stone-
24 masons and potters, the goldsmiths and saltmakers, the washermen, dyers,
25 and tailors, the oilmen, butchers, cotton scutchers, wine distillers, and
26 other miscellaneous artisans, the menials peculiar to the hills, and finally
27 the Piirbi menials of our cantonments.
28 These classes may be grouped in two different ways, according- as
29 the classification is based upon their ethnic and occupational affinities, or
30 ujjon their position in the industrial (economy of the country. I shall first
31 consider them from the former point of view.
32 565. Origin and evolution of the lov?er menials.— It appears to me that
33 stalling with an aljoriginal and vagrant stock, there are two continuous
34 series of gradations leading from that stock to the weavers at least on
35 the one hand and probably to the water-carriers on the other, and that
36 no line can be drawn anywhere in either series which shall distinctly
37 mark off those above from those below it. For specific instances of the
38 mauner in which these occupations shade off one into another I must refer
39 the reader to the following pages. But I will endeavour to eiemplify
40 what I mean by an imaginary series. Suppose an aboriginal tribe of
41 vagrant habits, wandering about from jungle to jungle and from village
42 to village, catching for the sake of food the vermin which abound such
43 as jackals, foxes, and lizards, and eating such dead bodies as may fall
44 in their way, plaiting for themselves rude shelter and utensils from the
45 grasses which fringe the ponds, living with their women very much in