1 VAGRANT, MENIAL, AND ARTISAN CASTES. 3;37
2 aseJ at Hindu weddings. The woixl is perhaps more the name of an occupa-
3 tion than of a caste, and is derived from diha, the small jsiece of straw with
4 which he pins the leaves together ; but the Dosali is said not to raarrv out
5 of his caste. Probably many of them have been returned as Kolis. They
6 are a very low caste, but not outcast ; indeed if they were, articles made by
7 them would hardly be used for eating from.
8 661. The Hadi (Caste No. 185) .—This is also a hill caste, and returned
9 from Kaugra only. They would appeal' to be general labourers, to make
10 bricks,^ carry earth, vegetables, &c., for hire, and to be something like the
11 Kumhiir of the plains. But I have no detailed information regarding them.
12 662. The Ghai (Caste No. 151).— I am in absolute uncertainty regarding
13 this caste, even as to whether it is a caste at all. It was represeiated to me
14 as a separate caste called Ghasi or Ghai, who are the gi-ass-cutters of the hills.
15 But the derivation soimds suspicious. I can obtain no trustworthy informa-
16 tion about the caste, and I never heard of grass-cutting as a hereditary
17 occupation. I am not at all sure that the word is not simply Khas or Khasia,
18 the great branch of the Kanets, and probably the representatives of the
19 ancient Khas who once inhabited Kashmir and the western portion of the
20 lower Himalayas ; and that it has not been written with a p instead of a Ik by
21 an ignorant enumerator. Mr. Anderson tells me that the word Ghai is used
22 m Kangra for a grass-cutter.
23 PURBIA MENIALS.
24 663. The Purbia Menials.— The group for which the figures are given in
25 *P. 338. Abstract No. 107 on the opposite page* have little in common in their place of
26 origm, but much as they exist in the Panjiib. They are all immigrants fi-om
27 the North- West Provinces, who have for the most part come into the Panjab
28 with oui- troops. Some of them belong to castes which are properly agricul-
29 tural ; but these men have as a rule settled down to menial occupations or
30 taken to service, and they are almost coutincd to the Panjiib cantonments.
31 They are almost all Hindus. They will not need any lengthy description,
32 for they are essentially foreigners in the Panjab.
33 The Kori (Caste No. 99) is a great tribe of Chamars whose head-quarters
34 are in Oudh and the neighbouring country ; and it is probably identical with
35 the Koli of ihe eastern districts of the plains who have already been described.
36 The Kori Chamar seldom works in leather, rather confining himself to
37 weaving and general labour. In the Panjab cantonments the latter is his
38 occupation. He is a coolie and grass-cutter, and not unfi-equently takes
39 service in the latter capacity or as a groom.
40 The Kurmi (Caste No. 119) or Kiunbhi is a great caste of cultivators very
41 widely distributed over the eastern parts of Hindustan and the Deccan. " A
42 ^"^ good caste is the Kunbiu. With hoe in hand she weeds the field together
43 "with her husband." But in the cantonments of the Panjab they are
44 generally occupied, like other Piirbis, in cutting grass, weaving and serving
45 as grooms ; and they are even said to keep pigs. They are of coiu'se a very
46 low caste ; lower far in social standing than our indigenous agricultural
47 castes.
48 The Jaiswara (Caste No. 127).— Many of the north-western castes include
49 a tribe of this name ; more especially the menial and outcast classes, though
50 there are also Jaiswai'a Rajputs and Banyas. The name is supposed to be