1 CASTiE IN THE PANJAB. to
2 Similarly^ all words denoting male relations by marriage are commonly
3 used as terms of abuse ; as, for instance, susra, sdla, bahnoi, jamdi, or father-
4 in-law, wife's brother, sister's husband, and daughter's husband. Of these the
5 first two are considered so offensive, that they are seldom used in their ordi-
6 nary sense. '
7 358. Social intercourse between castes. — The rales regulating social inter-
8 course between different castes as they exist in the Janma districts are given
9 in the following quotation from the Karnal Settlement Report.
10 " Broadly speaking, no superior trilie will eat or drink from the hands or vessels of an inferior
11 " one, or smoke its pipes. But the reputed purifying iuflucnce^; of fire especially as exercised upon
12 " qhi and sugar, and the superior cleanliness of metal over earthen vessels, are the foundation of a
13 " broad distinction. .\11 food is divided into paiki rati, or fried dry with gli, ai.d Icai-lichiroli, or
14 " not so treated. Thus, among the Hindus a Gi'ijrati Brahman will eat pakki, but not Icichchi
15 " rati from a Gaur, a Gaur from a Taga, any Brahman or Taga from a Rajpiit, any Brahman,
16 " Tao-a or Riijput from a Jat, Gujar, or lior. Excepting lirahmans and Tagas, each caste will
17 " drink water from a metal vessel if previously scoured with earth {mlinjna^, and will smoke from a
18 " pipe with a brass bowl, taking out tlie >t<'m and using the hand witli the fingers closed instead,
19 " from the same people with wliom tliey will eat pakki bread ; but they will not drink or smoke
20 '' from earthen vessels, or use the same pipe-stem, except with those whose kachchi bread they can
21 " eat. Jats, Gii.iars, Rors, Rahbiiris and Ahirs eat and drink in common without any scruples.
22 " These ao-ain will eat a goldsmith's pakki bread, but not in his house ; and they used to smoke
23 " with carpenters, Init are ceasing to do so. Musalmans have lately become much less strict about
24 •' these rules as governing their intercourse among themselves, and many of them now eat from
25 " any respectable Musalmiin's hand, especially in the cities. And, subject sti'ictly to the above
26 '' niles any JIusalmau will eat and drink without scruple from a Hindu ; but no Hindu will touch
27 " either pakki or kachchi from any Musalmau, and will often throw it away if only a Musalmau's
28 " shadow falls upon it. partly perli.ips because Musalmans eat from earthen vessels, which no
29 " Hindu can do unless the vessel has never been used before. This affords an easy mode of tolling
30 " whether a deserted site lias been held by Musalmans or Hindu<. If the latter, there will be
31 " numbers of little earthen saucers (n'^ifii's) fouud on the spot. Brahmans and Rajputs will not
32 " eat from any one below a Jat, Gujar, or Ror, ndiile these three ti'ibcs themselves do not as a
33 " rule eat or drink with any of t)ie menial castes ; and the following castes are absolutely impui'e
34 " owing to their occupation and habits, and tlieir mere touch defiles food ; leather-maker, washer-
35 " man, barbel', blacksmith, dyer (chhmpi), sweeper, diim, and dh'inak. The potter is also looked
36 '■ upon as of doubtful purity. 'J'he pipes of a village, being often left about in the common rooms
37 " and fields, are generally distinguished Ijy a piece of something tied round the stem — blue rag for
38 " a Musal\n,in, red for a Hindu, leather for a Chamdi; string for a sweeper, and so forth j so that
39 " a friend wishing for a smoke may not defile himself by mistake.
40 " Out- and most sweetmeats can be eaten frum almost anybody's hand, even from that of a
41 " leather-worker or sweeper; but in this case they must be whole, not broken."
42 The extraordinary state of matters in the hills is described under the
43 lieads Hill Menials, and Kolis and Dagis. In the west of the Province, where
44 all caste restrictions are so lax, nny Musalman will eat from the hands of any
45 respectable member of the same faith, while even Hindus are much less strict
46 than in the east. -So in the Sikh tract also; but here the rale against a
47 Hindu eating from the hand of a ^Musalmau seems to be even more strict than
48 in the east. In all parts of the Province and among all classes any soi-t of
49 intercourse with the impure castes, whether polluted by their occupation or by
50 the nature of their food, is scrapulously avoided.
51 Community of food is formally used as an outward and visible token of
52 community of blood ; and any ceremony in which the tribe, clan, or other
53 agnatic group takes a part as such, generally includes some sort of formal
54 1 Mr. Wilson writes : " There is a very general rule against speaking of one's wife's father as
55 "'father-in-law' (siJs;-aV The Musalmans of Sirsa call him 'uncle' (tdiia or chaeha) ; the
56 " Brahmans of Gurgdon, ' Pandit Ji ' or ' Misr Ji ; ' the Kiiyaths, ' Bai Sahib ; ' the Banyas, ' Lata
57 '■ Sahib ' or ' Sah Ji ; ' the Meos, ' Chaudhri ' or ' Muqaddani ' or — a specially Meo usage — dokra
58 " or 'old man' (see Fallon) ; insomuch that if you call a Meo woman dokri, she will fly at you
59 " with ' Do you call me your mother-in-law !'; while if you address her as bwht/i, which really
60 " means exactly the same thing, she will reply ' Very well, my son ! Very well ! ' "