1 324 PANJAB CASTES.
2 not unseldom carries on the hanilicrafts of the Lilari and Eangrez also. In
3 his capacity of washerman he is, like the Dhobi and under the same circum-
4 stances, a recognised village menial, receiving customary dues in exchange for
5 which he washes the clothes of the villagers. In Bahawalpur he has been
6 returned as Dhobi.
7 645. The Darzi (Caste No. 61).— Darzi, or its Hindi equivalent Suji, is
8 purely an occupational term, and though there is a Darzi guild in every town
9 there is no Darzi caste in the proper acceptation of the word. The greater
10 number of Darzis belong perhaps to the Dhobi and Chhimba castes, more
11 especially to the latter ; but men of all castes follow the trade, which is that of
12 a tailor or scmpster. The Darzis arc generally returned as Hindu in the east
13 and Musalman in the west.
14 MISCELLANEOUS AJITISANS.
15 646. Miscellaneous arlisans. — A group of miscellaneous artisans com-
16 pletes tlie artisan and menial cla.^s. It includes the Penja or cotton scutcher,
17 the Teli or oil-presscr, the Qassab or butcher, and the Kalal or spirit-distiller.
18 The figures are given in Al:)stract No. lO.j on the next page.* The first three .p 326.
19 form a fairly coherent group, inasmuch as they very often belong to one caste. 27 '
20 The last is quite distinct. The distribution of each caste will be noticed under
21 -its separate head.
22 647. The Penja, Teli, and Qassab (Castes Nos. 83, 23 and 38).— The
23 Penja, as often called Pumba or Dhunia,'and in the cities Naddaf, is the
24 cotton scutcher who, striking a bow with a heavy wooden plectrum, uses the
25 vibrations of the bow-string to separate the fil>rcs of the cotton, to arrange
26 them side by side, and to part them from dirt and other impurities. The Teli
27 is the oil-presser; and the Qassab the butcher who slaughters after the
28 Mahomcdan fashion, dresses the carcase, and sells the meat. But while the
29 Tell appears to be a time caste, the Qassiil) and Penja are only names of occu-
30 pations which are almost invariably followed by Telis. In JMultan and the [P. 334] |
31 Derajat the Teli is commonly called Chaki or Chakani, and a quaint story con- 1
32 cerning hini is related by Mr. O'Brien at page 93 of his MuUdni Glossary. The
33 Teli,mcluding the Penja and Qassab, is very uniformly distributed over the
34 Province save in the bills proper, where oil and cotton are imported and the
35 Hindu population need no butchers. He is naturally most numerous in great
36 cities, while on the frontier he is, like most occupational castes, less common. j
37 In the Derajat, however, many of the Qassabs would appear to have been re- }
38 turned as Jats (see Abstract No. 73, page 224t). + p. loe-j
39 The numbers returned for Gurgaon under the head Qassab seem extra- "^^"
40 ordinarily large ; but I can detect no error in the tables.^ The Teli is almost
41 exclusively a Musalman ; and the Hindu Penja of the eastern districts is said
42 to be kno^vn by the name of Kandera, a word, however, which appears to be
43 applied to Musalman Penjas also in Rajputana.
44 ^ The Teli is of low social standing, perhaps about the same as that of the [P. *^]
45 Julaha with whom he is often associated, and he is hardly less turbulent and
46 -r 1- 0 ' ^l}^ possible that a large portion of the Gurgaou Jnlahas have returned themselves as 1
47 lehs i Ihe Julahas are not nearly as nnmerons in Gurgaon as one would expect. Mr Wilson i
48 suggests that the very numerous cattle-dealers or Beoparis who are found about l^irozpur Jhirka
49 in the south of the district, and who are perhaps Meos by ca-ste, may very probably ha^-e returned
50 themselves as Qassabs. He points out that so much of the weaving in Gurgaon is done by ^1
51 Chamars that Julabas would naturally not be very numerous. >|
52 'ft
53 I
54 «