1 296 PANJAB CASTES.
2 soil, and that a great deal of weaving is done by them in the villages. Like
3 the ChiihraSj they ai'e generally village menials proper, having customary
4 rights and duties. The Chuhras are said to look down upon the Dhanaks ;
5 but they are apparently on an equality, as neither will eat the leavings of
6 the other, though each will eat the leavings of all other tribes except Sansis,
7 not excluding Khatiks. There are practically speaking no Sikh or
8 Musalnian Dhanaks, and then- religion would appear to be that of [P. 320]
9 the Chuhras, as the only considerable tribe the Dhanaks have returned
10 is Lai Giuni, another name for Lai Beg the sweeper Guru. But they are
11 said to bum their dead. They marry by phera and no Brahman will
12 officiate.
13 602. The Khatik (Caste No. 87).— This also is a caste of Hindustan, and
14 is found in any numbers only in the Jamna zone, Patiala, and Sirsa. But
15 it has apparently followed our troops into the Panjab, and is foimd in most
16 of the large cantonments or in their neighbourhood. Many of these latter
17 have adopted the Musalman religion. They appear to be closely allied to the
18 Basis, and indeed are sometimes classed as a tribe of that caste. They form
19 a connecting link between the scavengers and the leather-workers, though
20 they occupy a social position distinctly infejior to that of the latter. They
21 are great keepers of pigs and poultry, which a Chamar would not keep. At
22 the same time many of them tan and dye leather, and indeed are not seldom
23 confused with the Chamrang. The Khatik, however, tans only sheep and
24 goat skins (so at least I am informed by some Lahore Khatiks and Cham-
25 rangs) using salt and the juice of the Madar [Calotropis procera), hut no
26 lime ; while the Chamrang tans buffalo and ox hides with lime, and does
27 not dye leather. It is probable, however, that Chamrang is more the name
28 of an occupation than of a caste. The Khatik is said sometimes to keep
29 sheep and goats and twist their hair into waistbands for sale ; and even
30 Occasionally to act as butcher, but this last seems improbable from his low
31 position, unless indeed it be as a pork-butcher. At the same lime the infor-
32 mation that 1 have received is very conflicting, and it may be that I have
33 put I he Khatik too low, and that he would have better been classed with the
34 leather-workers. So far as I can make out, the fact is that the Khatik of
35 the east is a pig-keeper and the Khatik of the west a tanner, the latter
36 occupying a higher position than the former (see further under Chamrang,
37 section 6u9). Mr. Chi-istie tells me that the Hindu Khatik pig-keeper is
38 a Purbi immigrant ; while the Musalman Khatik tanner of the Panjab proper
39 is nothing more than a Chamar who has adopted Islam and given up
40 working in cowhide.
41 THE LEATHEll-WOEKERS AND WEAVERS.
42 603. The leather-workers and weavers.— Next above the scavenger
43 classes in social standing come the workers in leather, and above them again
44 theAveavers. Abstract No. 100 on the opposite page* gives the distribution iSp. 298.
45 of both groups. I have taken them together ; for though there 's a wide 99
46 distinction between the typical leather-worker or Chamar and the typical
47 weaver or Julaha, yet they are connected by certain sections of the leathei--
48 working classes who have taken to weaving and thus risen in the social
49 scale, just as we found in the case of some of the scavengering classes. It
50 is probable that our ligm'es for Chamai- and Mochi really refer to the same
51 caste, while Chami-aug and Dabgar arc perhaps merely names of occupations.