1 107.
2 VAGRANT, MENIAL, AND ARTISAN CASTES. 313
3 626. The Dhogri (Caste No. 153) . — These are the iron miners and smelters
4 of the hills, an outcast and impure people, whose name is perhaps derived from
5 dhonkni " bellows ," and it is possible that their name is rather Dhoukri than
6 Dhogri. Their status is much the same as that of the Chamar or Dumna.
7 They are returned only in Kaugra and Chamba.
8 627. TheTarkhan (Caste No. 111). —The Tarkhau, better known as Barhai
9 in the North-West Provinces, Barhi in the Jamna districts, and Khati in the rest
10 of the Eastern Plains, is the carpenter of the Province. Like the Lohiir he is a
11 trae village menial, mending all agricultural implements and household
12 fm-nitui-e, and making them all except the cart, the Persian wheel, and the
13 sugar-press, without payraeut beyond his customary dues. I have already
14 jwiuted oat that he is in all probability of the same caste with the Lohax ; but
15 his social position is distinctly superior. Till quite lately Jats and the like would
16 smoke with him though latterly they have begun to discontinue the custom.
17 The Khati of the Central Provinces is both a carpenter and blacksmith, and is
18 considered superior in status to the Lobar who is the latter only. The Tarkhan is
19 very generally distributed over the Province, though, like most occupational
20 castes, he is less mimerous on the lower frontier than elsewhere. The figures of
21 JE\ 106- Abstract No. 73 (page 224*) must however, be included. In the hills too his
22 place is largely taken by the Thavi {q. v.) and perhaps also by the Lobar.
23 I have included under Tarkbiln all who returned themselves as either Barhi or
24 Khati J and also some GOO Kharadis or turners, who were pretty equally
25 distributed over the Province. I am told that in the Jamna districts the
26 Biirhi considers himself superior to his western brother the Khati, and will
27 not intermarry with him ; and that the married women of latter do not wear
28 nose-rings while those of the former do. The Tarkhan of the hills is alluded to
29 in the section on Hill Menials. The Raj or bricklayer is said to be very gen-
30 erally a Tarkhan.
31 The tribes of Tarkhan are
32 numerous, but as a rule small.
33 I show some of the largest in the
34 margin, aiTanged in the order as
35 they occur from east to west.
36 No. 1 is chiefly found in the Dehli
37 and Hissar divisions ; Nos. 2 and 3 in Karnal, the Ambala and Jitlandhar
38 divisions, Patiala, Nabha, Faridkot, and Firozpur ; No. i in Jalaiulhar and
39 Sialkot ; No. 5 in Amritsar ; No. 6 in Ludhiana, Amritsar, and Lahore ;
40 No. 7 in Hushyarpur j No. 8 in the Rawalpindi division ; No. 9 in Gurdaspm-
41 and Sialkot; Nos. 10 and 11 in the Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Multan divisions ;
42 No. 12 in Hazara. The carpenters of Sirsa are divided in two great sections,
43 the Dhaman and the Khilti proper, and the two will not interman-y. These are
44 also two great tribes of the Lobars {q. v.) ■ The Dhamans again include a tribe
45 of Hindu Tarkhans called Suthar, who are almost entu'ely agricultural, seldom
46 working in wood, and who look down upon the artisan sections of their caste.
47 They say that they came from Jodhpui, and that their tribe still holds villages
48 and revenue-fi-ee grants in Bikiiner. These men say that the Musalmaa
49 Multani Lobars described in section 621i originally belonged to their tribe ;
50 the Suthar Tarkhans, though Hindus, are in fact more closely allied with the
51 ]\Iultaui Lobars than with the Khatis, and many of their clan sub-divisions
52 are identical with those of the former ; and some of the Lobars who have
53 immigrated from Sindh admit the community of caste. Suthar is in Siudh
54 Tbibes op
55 Taekuaxs.
56 1.
57 JLangra
58 ... 9,518
59 7. Xetal ..
60 2,764
61 2
62 Dliamiin
63 ... Vl,519
64 8. .lanjiia ..
65 12,576
66 3.
67 Khatti
68 ... 19,071
69 9. Tharu ...
70 2,822
71 4.
72 Siawau
73 ... 1,932
74 10. Kbokhar...
75 27,534
76 5.
77 Gade
78 ... 2209
79 11. Bhatti ...
80 18,837
81 6.
82 Matharu
83 ... 6,971
84 12. Begi Khel
85 2,212