1 316 PANJAB CASTES.
2 The Mahar and Gola do not intermarry. The Kumhars of Sirsa are
3 divided into two great sections, Jodhpuria who came fi'om Jodhpur, nse
4 furnaces or hhattis, and are generally mere potters ; and the Bikaueri or Dese
5 who came from Bikauer and use pajamas or kilns, but are chiefly agricultural,
6 looking down upon the potter's occupation as degrading. The Kumhars of
7 those pai'ts are hardly to be distinguished from the Bagri Jats. The two t^- ^^''J
8 sections of the caste appear to be closely connected.
9 WORKERS IN OTHER METALS AND MINERALS.
10 633. Workers in other metals and minerals.— Having discussed the
11 blacksmiths, stone-masons, and potters, I next turn to the group for
12 which figures will be found in Abstract No. 103 on the opposite page*. It is *P. 318-
13 divisible into four classes, the Sumir, (he Nyaria, and the Daoli who ^^
14 work in the precious metals, the Thathera who works in brass, bell-metal
15 and the like, the Agari, Niingar, and Shoriigar who make salt and saltpetre,
16 and the Churigar or glass-blower and bracelet-maker. The workers in precious
17 metals are found all over the Province, though they are less numerous
18 among the nistic and comparatively pour population of the Western
19 Plains, and most numerous in those districts which include the great cities,
20 and in the rich central districts- The salt-workers are naturally almost
21 confined to the eastern and south-eastern portions of the Province and to
22 the great grazing plains of the Multiin division, where the saline water of
23 the wells, the plains covered with soda salts, and the plentiful growth of
24 the barilla plant afford them the means of carrying on their occupation.
25 The salt of the Salt-range is quarried ready for use, indeed in a state of
26 quite singular purity ; and the work of quarrying and carrying is per-
27 formed by ordinary labourers and does not appertain to any special caste
28 or calling.
29 634. Tlie Sunar (Caste No. 30).— The Sunar, or Zargar as he is often
30 called in the towns, is the gold and silver smith and jeweller of the
31 Province. He is also to a very large extent a money-lender, taking jewels
32 in pawn and making advances upon them. The practice, almost universal
33 among the villagers, of hoai-ding their savings in the form of silver bracelets
34 and the like makes the caste, for it would appear to be a true caste, an
35 important and extensive one ; it is generally distributed throughout the
36 Province, and is represented in most eousLderable villages. The Suuiir is
37 very generally a Hindu throughout the Eastern Plains and the Salt-range
38 Tract, though in the Multan division and on the frontier he is often a
39 iMusalman. In the central division there are a few Sikh Sunars. The Sunar
40 jjrides himself upon being one of the twice-born, and many of them wear the
41 janeo or sacred thread ; but his social standing is far inferior to that of the
42 mercantile and of most of the agricultural castes, though superior to that of
43 many, or perhaps of all other artisans. In Dehli it is said that they are
44 divided into the Dase who do and the Deswale who do not practis^e karewa,
45 and that the Deswala Sunar ranks immediately below the Banya. This is pro-
46 bably true if a religious standard be applied ; but I fancy that a Jat looks
47 down upon the Sunar as much below him.
48 635. Tlie Nyaria (Caste No. 131) .—The Nyaria or refiner (from nydra
49 " separate ") is he who melts the leavings and swcejjings of the Simar and
50 extracts the precious metal from them. In the west of the Punjab he seems
51 to be known as Shodar or Sodar : and as one of the Sunar clans is called