Burud.

109. The Buruds (200) are practically confined to the Khamgaon taluk. They are makers of baskets and matting.

Chambhar.

110. The Chambhars (8000) are leather workers. The Harale (or Marathe) Chambhars claim the highest rank. In religion they are devoted to Mahadeo, whom they worship on a Sunday in the month of Shrawan. The sadhu, who acts as guru to his flock, makes a visitation once every four or five years. They will eat pork but not beef, and drink liquor. They dye leather, and make shoes, mots and pakhals. They will not use uhtanned leather, nor will they work for Mahars, Mangs, Jingars, Buruds, Kolis or Halalkhors. If one of these buys a pair of shoes, they will ask no indiscreet questions, but they will not mend the pair as they would for a man of higher caste. Their womenkind work the silk pattern which adorns the native shoes.

Dhangar.

111. The Dhangars number 18,000 and the Hatgars 1067. In the Malkapur taluk the Dhangars number 6585. The Dhangar caste, to which the Holkar family belongs, are hereditary tenders of sheep and goats, corresponding to the Gadarias elsewhere. They are also weavers of woollen blankets, and a large number have settled down to agriculture. The Hatgars or Bangi Dhangars, that is, shep-herds with spears, were originally a division of Dhangars, but having adopted military service they became a, separate caste. They also have settled down to agriculture.

Dhobi.

112. The Dhobis (4000) otherwise known as Warthf and Parit are village balutedars. Besides the grain at harvest time they also receive presents when a child is born to any of their employers. As a rule the Dhobi considers a; monthly wash to be sufficient for an ordinary villager.

Dohor.

113. The Dohors (2500) are principally found in the Chikhli and Mehkar taluks; They are one of the most important divisions among the leather-working castes, and probably immigrated into this District from Khandesh. They worship chiefly Mari Mata and sometimes Bhawani. Their spiritual interests are in the care of Bhats or Thakurs. They will work for all castes except Mangs. They dye leather and make shoes, but not mots and pakhals. The men do not wear dhotis as do the Harales; the Harale women again wear lugras which bind round the waist, whereas the Dohor women wear lahengas, which tie round like a petticoat. The dead are usually buried and mourned for three days. Those who die married, if well-to-do, are burned.

Gaoli.

114. The Gaolis (1300) include the Ahirs, Gaolans and Gawaris which are synonymous names. They are a pastoral caste, but have taken to agriculture and other pursuits. They are supposed to be an old Indian or half Indian race, who were driven south and east before the Scythian invaders. Like the Jats and Gujars they retain the Scythian custom whereby the younger brother takes the widow of the elder brother to wife. Before the Christian era they were near the north-west frontier of India: they passed down through Upper to Lower Sindh, and thence to Gujarat; ' when the Kattis arrived in Gujarat in the eighth century they found the greater part of the country in the possession of the Ahirs'; meanwhile part of the tribe had journeyed east. They are spoken of as settled in Khandesh. And an inscription in one of the Nasik Buddhist caves shows that early in the fifth century the country was under an Ahir king: and ' in the Puranic geography the country from the Tapti to Deogarh is called Abhira, or the region of cowherds.' It seems probable that they were connected with the Yadavas, who were in power in the eighth, and again appear as the rulers of Deogiri or Daulatabad in the twelfth and thirteenth century. ' The Ahirs or cowherd kings', says Meadows Taylor, ' ruled over the wild tracts of Gondwana, and parts of Khandesh and Berar, and had possession of fortresses like Asirgarh, Gawilgarh and Narnala, and other mountain positions, where they remained secure and independent, tributary however to the Yadavas of Deogarh, or to the Hindu dynasties of Malwa as long as they existed, and afterwards acting independently,' Berar was in those days a trouble-some border country, and the Ahirs seem to have fallen into a secondary position before the influx of Kunbis.

Ghisadi.

115. The Ghisadis (300) are practically confined to the Chikhli and Mehkar taluks. They sometimes claim a Rajput origin. They are, inferior blacksmiths and do rough work only. Among them large bride prices varying from Rs, 300 to Rs. 500 are paid in cash to the parents of the girl before the performing of the betrothal ceremony. The marriage is performed after the Maratha ritual, and widow-marriage is also practised, but divorce is not allowed on any ground. An unmarried girl puts a round patch of vermilion on her forehead, but after her matriage this is replaced by lines. The caste generally buries its dead and some ghi (clarified butter) is put in the mouth of a corpse before it is buried. The Ghisadis are worshippers of Khandoba, Ambamai and Mhasoba. They take freely spirituous drink and eat the flesh of a goat, fowl, and deer, but abstain from pork.

Golak.

116. The Golaks (100) are almost all found in the Chikhli taluk. They are a class of inferior Brahmans; the offspring of a Brahman father and a Brahman widow. Pure Brahmans neither eat nor marry with them.

Gond.

117. The Gonda (300) are practically all found in the Jalgaon taluk. They mostly belong to the labouring class.

Gondhali.

118. The Gondhalis (800) are a sect of wandering beggars recruited from all castes. They are especially attached to the temples of the goddess Tukai at Tuljapur and the goddess Renukai at Mahur. Hence arise the two great divisions of the caste, the Renurai and the Kadamrai, who do not intermarry. Other divisions are known as Maratha, Kunbi, and Mali Gondhalis: these are the descendants of children of the castes named, offered in fulfilment of vows at the shrine of the goddess. The Gondhalis perform what is known as the Gondhal ceremony at the houses of Brahmans and Sudras. The chief occasions are the worship of Bhawani at the Dasahra, and the worship of Tukai and Renukai on Hanuman's birthday. The ceremony is held at night. The Gondhalis are previously feasted: they eat flesh and drink liquor. The image of the goddess is placed on a stool and a sacred torch is lit. By the side of the idol a pot filled with water is placed, betel-leaves are put around its mouth, and a cocoanut is placed on them. The rest of the stool is covered with offerings of fruits and spices. The Gondhalis now worship the goddess, wave the lighted torch around their bodies and chant monotonous hymns 'in honour of the deity all through the night. At other times of the year the Gondhalis subsist upon alms by reciting ballads called povade. They wear a string of cowries round their necks: this string is put on at the time of marriage, and marks the wearer's right to per-form the gondhal, a right forbidden to the unmarried.

Gosawi.

119. The Gosawis (Gosains)(1900) are mostly religious mendicants, but a few are engaged in agriculture, trade and money-lending.

Gurao.

120. The Guraos (1600) are attendants in the temples of Maroti and Siva, and sellers of bel leaves for offerings to the idol. They receive the food offered to the idol. As trumpeters they were formerly employed in the Maratha armies. They are to some extent mendicants but they do not wander.

Jangam.

121. The Jangams (300) are mostly found in the Mehkar taluk. Thev are priests of the Lingayats.

Jat.

122. The Jats (200) are mostly found in the Mehkar taluk. Most of them are agriculturists but a few are weavers. They claim a Rajput origin.

Jirayat.

123. The Jirayats (200) chiefly occur in Malkapur and Jalgaon taluks. They are said to be immigrants from the south. The majority of them are ironsmiths whose speciality is fine work, but Here and there one is found following some other handicraft than that peculiar to the caste. Infant marriage prevails in the caste, and the parents of a girl attaining puberty before marriage are excommunicated temporarily from the caste. Liquor and flesh of sheep or goat are permitted. Persons eating fowls or pork are outcasted, but can be readmitted into the caste after providing a feast. The caste can eat food cooked by a Brahman, Kunbi, Rajput and Phulmali.

Jogi.

124. The Jogis (500) or Yogis (lit., contemplative saints) are Sivite beggars.

Joshi.

125. The Joshis (100) are beggars and astrologers.

Kalal.

126. The Kalals (1700) are mostly agriculturists, only a small number being engaged as liquor distillers and sellers, which is their traditional occupation.

Kasar.

127. The Kasars (2000) take their name from the; bell-metal (kansa) in which they work, and rank high among artisans.

Kayasth and Parbhu.

128. The Kayasths and Parbhus number 200 persons in the District, and are the wellknown writer class. The former trace their descent from Chitragupta, the recorder of Yama, and the latter from King Chandrasen.

Khatik.

129. The Khatiks (500) are Hindu butchers, and by reason of the impurity of their calling rank very low in the social scale.

Kolhati.

130. The Kolhatis (600) are most numerous in the Malkapur taluk. They are a wandering tribe of acrobats, and their women are generally prostitutes.

Koli.

131. The Kolis (9000) are principally found in the Malkapur taluk. Little is known regarding their origin. They are said once to have been soldiers and guardians of the Berar hill passes, and their hereditary occupation is said to be that of fishing. There are a large number of Ahir Kolls in the Malkapur taluk, immigrants from Khandesh. They are said to be frequently employed as watchmen, and to work ferries and grow melons in the beds of rivers. They eat pork but not beef, and they drink liquor.

Koshti.

133. The Koshtis (900) are the well-known weaving castes. Their speciality is white cotton clothes with coloured borders.

Kumbhar.

133. The Kumbhars (4000) are potters and brick and tile makers. They have no competition from outsiders to contend with in their caste occupation, and there are few instances in which Kumbhars have adopted handicrafts entirely foreign to the caste occupation.

Kunbi.

134. The Kunbis number 227,000 or 37 per cent. of the population. A full account of the caste has been given in the Yeotmal Gazetteer, and here a reference will only be made to the Deshmukhs and Pajne Kunbis. The Deshmukh was originally the manager or headman of a circle of villages, and was responsible for apportioning and collecting the land revenue. The office was hereditary and was usually held by members of the Tirole subcaste of Kunbis, though other castes such as Brahmans, Rajputs, Marathas, Mails and Muhammadans also shared the privilege. The Kunbi Deshmukhs have now developed into a sort of aristocratic branch of the caste and many among them-selves when matches can be arranged. They do not allow the marriage of widows nor permit their women to accompany the wedding procession. A Deshmukh sabha has been formed for Berar, one of its aims being to check intermarriage with ordinary Kunbis. Deshmukhs have also lately begun to wear the sacred thread, and in three generations of the family the latest member may be seen wearing it, while the two older members are without it. Some Deshmukhs now repudiate their Kunbi origin and prefer to he called Marathas, thus claiming through that name to belong to the Kshattriya clan. The sect of Kunbis known as the Pajne Kunbis is only found in Berar in the Malkapur taluk of this District, and deserves a separate notice. The Pajne Kunbis are found in about So villages near Khandesh, and number roughly 2000, Another local name for them is Rewas, which is apparently a variant of Levas who form the largest subcaste of Kunbis in Gujarat. They seem to have broken off from the parental stock so long ago (500 years) that they have forgotten all connection with it, and account for their names by somewhat curious folk-etymologies. The word Pajne is traced to Pawakhand which they say formerly formed a part of Gujarat, and Rewa is supposed to be derived from the river Rewa in Gujarat. In Gujarat, however, Leva is said to mean mild as opposed to Kadwa (bitter), another subcaste of Kunbis. The men of the Pajne subcaste wear a head dress like that of Gujarati Wanis and they 'themselves claim to be Wani immigrants from Gujarat afterwards repudiated by their caste fellows owing to their having mingled with the local Kunbis. The Leva Kunbis of Gujarat are really of Gujar origin, and the tecollection of the Pajnes is so far correct that they originally belonged to a different caste, but their claim to be Wanis is merely presumptuous. In religion they worship all Hindu gods, but there is a special sect called Malkari or Bhagvat panthi which confines its worship to Vithoba, Rama and Mahadeo. The gurus of Muktabai at Edalabad, Jnyaneshwar at Alandi, Tukaram at Dehu, Vithoba at Pandharpur, Nivrittinath at Trimbakeshwar, Yeknath at Paithan, and Sopandeo at Sachoie initiate disciples into the sect by bestowing upon them wreaths of beads of tulisu wood, at the same time advising them to observe ekadaski (fasting), to worship daily the tulsi plant in the angans, to offer daily prayers to god, and to attend with-out fail the Ashadhi and Kartiki fairs at Pandharpur with Pandharpur Patakas (flags). In their social customs and ceremonies the Pajne Kunbis follow generally the Tirole Kunbis, slight differences being that Pajne remales on the bridegroom's side attend marriages, and before the marriage ceremony takes place the bride and bride-groom are made to worship a dunghill. Pajne Kunbis cannot marry with other Kunbis., but inter-dining is not prohibited. Widow-remarriage is permitted. The marriageable age is for a girl seven years and for a boy eleven years. After marriage the woman wears in one ear an ear ornament called pachatur, a ring of gold with five corals and five beads of gold; the poorer women wear rings of corals only. The wearing of this ornament is a certain means of identifying a Pajne Kunbi. For some reason unknown the Chambhars of the Balaghat will not repair the shoes of Pajne Kunbis. Pajhe Kunbls are exclusively moneylenders or cultivators. Their education does not go beyond the 4th or 5th Marathi standard, but most of them know how to read and write and keep accounts. They have a reputation for economy; borrowing for marriage ceremonies is strictly prohibited, the expenditure being limited to a sum fixed alike for rich and poor by the community. They are very clannish and assist each other in need. They abstain from the use of alcohol and both socially and mentally they rank above the other Kunbis. Some of them are watandar patels.

An excellent account of the Kunbis as a class given by an anonymous writer [Notes on the Agriculturists of Aurangabad quoted in Mr. Kitts' Berar Cestui Report of 1881, p. 111 foot note.] is deserving of reproduction. ' The Kunbi is a harmless, inoffensive creature, simple in his habits, kindly by disposition, and unambitious by nature. He is honest, and altogether ignorant of the ways of the world. He knows little of the value of money, and when he happens to earn any, he does not know how to keep it. He is satisfied with very little, and is contented with his lot, however humble. His passions are not strong, he is apathetic, and takes things easily, is never elated with success, nor is he readily prostrated by misfortune. He is patient to a fault, and shows great fortitude under severe trials. He is a thorough conservative, and has a sincere hatred of innovations. He cherishes a strong love for his watan (hereditary holding and rights), and whenever any trivial dispute arises in connection with these he will fight it out to the very last. He will often suffer great wrongs with patience and resignation, but his indignation is aroused if the least encroachment be made upon his personal watandari rights, though they may yield him no profit, but happen on the contrary to be a tax upon his purse. If the regulated place be not assigned to his bullocks when they walk in procession at the Pola feast, or if he has been wrongfully preceded by another party in offering libations to the pile of fuel, that is to be fired at the Holi, the Kunbi at once imagines that a cruel wrong has been done him, and his peace of mind is disturbed. He will haunt the courts of the taluk and District officials for redress, and, neglecting his fields, will pursue his object with a perseverance worthy of a better cause. "The Kunbi's domestic life is happy and cheerful; he is an affectionate husband and a loving father. He is a stranger to the vice of drunkenness, and in every respect his habits are strictly temperate. He is kind and hospitable towards the stranger, and the beggar never pleads in vain at his door. In short, the Kunbi, within the scale of his capacities, is endowed with most of the virtues of mankind, and exhibits but few vices. We cannot, however, accord to the Kunbi the merit of energy. Industrious he is, he rises early, and retires late; in the hottest time of the year he works in the field under the burning rays of the sun; at other seasons he has often to work in the rain, drenched to the skin; he is to be seen in the fields on a bitter winter morning,, defying the cold, clad only in his simple coarse kambi (blanket). Thus his life is one of continued toil and exposure. But, while admitting all this, it cannot be denied that he works apathetically and without intelligent energy of any kind. The Kunbi women are very industrious, and are perhaps more energetic than the men. Upon them devolves the performance of all the domestic duties. They have to carry water from the river or well, grind corn, prepare the meals, sweep the house and plaster St with liquid clay or cowdung, clean the cooking vessels, wash the linen, and attend to their children. For a part of the day they are also employed on light field work. Be-sides getting through these multifarious duties, the women of the poorer classes generally manage to find time to gather a headload of either fuel or grass, which they carry to their own or any other adjoining village for sale. From these hardly acquired earnings they purchase salt, oil, and other necessities for household use, and a little opium, a minute quantity of which they invariably administer to their children as a narcotic. Indeed the Kunbi woman takes an honest pride in supplying opium to her children from her personal earnings. If all the women in the family have not enough work on their holdings, some of them go out to labour in the fields of other holders, and their earnings form no mean addition to the income of the Kunbi cultivator. The women work as hard as the men, and fortunate is the cultivator who is blessed with a number of female relatives in his family, for, instead of being a burden, their industry is a steady source of income to him. With a heavy load on her head, an infant wrapped up and slung to her back, the Kunbi woman of the poorer classes will sturdily tramp some six or seven miles to market, sell the produce of her field there, and from the proceeds buy articles for household consumption; she will then trudge back home in time to prepare the evening meal for the family.' Regarding their treatment of children the Deputy Commissioner, Akola, writes: ' For the first day or two after birth a child is given milk; and then it is allowed to take the mother's milk; if this is insumdent a wet-nurse is called in. A low caste woman or a Musalman may thus suckle a Brahman child. Until the child is six months' old, its head and body are oiled every second or third day, and the body is well hand rubbed and bathed. The rubbing is to make the limbs supple, and the oil to render it less susceptible of cold. They are very kind to their children, never harsh or quick-tempered. This may in part be due to constitutional lethargy. They seldom refuse a child anything; but, taking advantage of its innocence, will by dissimulation make it forget it. The time arrives when this course of conduct is useless, and then the child learns to mistrust the word of its parents. This evil effect is intensified by the dissimulation and reticence necessary among members of large families who wish to live together peaceably. Children thus learn not to repeat what they have seen or heard, and hence arises a tendency to dissimulation.'

Lad.

135. The Lads (700) who claim to be a subdivision of the Wani or Bania caste are most mimerous in the Malkapur taluk. They are immigrants from Gujarat and take their name from Lat, the classic name of the southern portion of Gujarat.

Lohar.

136. The Lohars (2800) or Khatis when balutedars of their villages do the iron work of the agricultural implements and perform the necessary repairs.

Mahar. Customs and ceremonies.

137. The Mahars number 70,000 persons and constitute 11 per cent. of the population. The Old local religion, as might be expected, survives more markedly among Mahar and Mang castes than among those higher in the social scale, although the Brahmans have impressed the mark of their creed upon the more important occasions of life. The auspicious day for a marriage is ascertained from the village Joshi, a Brahman, who receives a fee for his information. And although some peculiar custom may here and there be kept up, as when a Mahar bride-groom drops a ring into a bowl of water, which the bride picks out and wears, or as when a Chambhar bride twice or thrice opens a small box which her future spouse each time smartly shuts again, still the ceremony is conducted, as far as possible, according to the ordinary Hindu rites. Furthermore, as the Joshi will not come to the marriage, it can only take place on the same day as a marriage among some higher caste, so that the Mahars may watch for the priest's signal, and may know the exact moment at which the dividing cloth (antarpat) should be withdrawn, and the garments of the bride and bridegroom knotted, while the bystanders clap their hands and pelt the couple with coloured grain. The identity of time and the proximity of position multiply the opportunities and the temptation to copy the marriage rites of the higher castes. So, too, after a death, the chief mourner mourns for ten days and observes the general rule of abstinence from all sweet or dainty food during the days of mourning. If a Mahar's child has died he will, on the third day, place bread on the grave; if an infant, milk; if an adult, on the tenth day, with five pice in one hand and five pan leaves in the other, he goes into the river, dips five times, and throws them away; he then places five lighted lamps on the tomb, and after these simple ceremonies gets himself shaved as though he were an orthodox Hindu.

Religion.

138. No outcaste is allowed to approach a temple; to it his touch would bring pollution. Occasionally they worship Khandoba, or Devi in one of her more terrible forms. They worship also Dawal Malik and Rahman Dula. The new moon and the full moon of every month are days held sacred to Vetal, Mahishasur, Satwai and the Asuras, and to male and female ghouls. Marai Mai, Meskai and Bhairava are worshipped when sickness befalls. The goddess Winai is worshipped on the ninth day of Ashwin (Dasahra). The chief Mahar of the village and his wife, with their garments knotted together, bring some earth from the jungle, and fashioning two images set one on a clay elephant and the other on a clay bullock. The images are placed on a small platform outside the village site, and worshipped; a young he-buffalo is bathed and brought before the images as though for the same object. The patel wounds the buffalo in the nose with a sword, and it is then marched through the village. In the evening it is killed by the head Mahar, buried in the customary spot, and any eyll that might happen during the coming year is thus deprecated, and, it is hoped, averted. The claim to take the leading part in this ceremony is the occasion of many a quarrel and an occasional affray or riot. The only other Hindu festival which the Mahars are careful to observe is the Holi or Shimga. Of the confusion which obtains in the Mahar the ogony the names of six of their gods will afford a striking example. While some Mahars worship Vithoba, the god of Pandharpur, others worship Varuna's twin sons Meghoni and Deghoni, and his four messengers, Gabriel, Azrael, Michael, and Anadin, all six of whom they say hail from Pandharpur! Among others of their deities they enumerate Kali Nik, Waikach, Sari, Gari, Mai Kaus, and Dhondiba; the four Bhairavas, Kal, Bhujang (snake), Samant and Audhut; the heroes Bhima, Arjun, Lachman Bala, Chhatrapati (Sivaji), Narsingh, Munda, Bawan, Raktia, Kaktia, and Kalka; and the demons Aghya and Jaltia Vetal. A certain Choka Mela was a saint of note among Mahars; and certain saintly mendicants, who abstain from flesh and from social intercourse with their castemen, are still named after him. In their worship some are said to officiate naked: others with their clothes wet and clinging. Their offerings consist of a red thread to which is attached a small packet of sandal-powder and red-turmeric with flowers of oleander, swallowwort and chameli: country liquor, yellow-coloured grains of juari and urad, red-lead, frankincense, plantains, limes, pieces of cocoa or betelnut, unripe dates, rice, curds, fried cakes of pulse or wheat, five coloured thread or silk: all these are used as offerings, as also at times a kid, a fowl or an egg.

Superstitions.

139. Although their theology is a greater medley, and their religious system grosser than among the higher castes, the Mahars seem in some respects to be less superstitious and less fettered. They repeat mantras if a man is possessed by an evil spirit, or stung by a snake or scorpion, or likely to be in danger from tigers or wild boars: and the threat to write a Mahar's name on a piece of paper and tie it to the scavenger's broom is used in the Morsi taluk of Amraoti District with potent effect by their creditors: but they have not the same reverence for omens. Nor is the younger brother prohibited, though he is not obliged, to marry the elder brother's widow. The touch of a dead dog or pig, or of a dead or living donkey, entails a pollution which can only be removed by shaving their moustaches and giving a caste dinner: but other dead animals are not unclean. A bitch or cat having young in a Mahar's house, or any one throwing a shoe on the roof, is supposed to pollute the place: meat of any kind, except pork, they may eat: and tari as well as mahua liquor may be drunk. They are indeed themselves generally employed as tari drawers: and the impurity of then-touch compared with that of the Kalal is the reason why so many castes drink mahua who will not touch tari.

Somas Mahar and other divions.

140. One division of the Mahars is called Somas or Somavansi, and claims to have taken part with the Pandavas against the Kauravas in the war of the Mahabharat, and subsequently to have settled in the Maharashtra.

After the Somas Mahars the three most important divisions are the Ladwan or Ladsi, the Andhwan and the Bawane or Baonya. The latter sometimes become Manbhaos: they have the same scruple as the Balahi has to grooming a stranger's horse; they will not eat with any other division of Mahars, The total number of sub-divisions is 12½ the half caste being sometimes given as the base-born and sometimes as the religious mendicants. Illegitimate children are more often than others consecrated to divine service, and hence the confusion. The Gopals arc sometimes looked upon as the half caste of Mahars. The Bankar, Goski, Holar and Lotwal castes are also Mahars. Other divisions of the caste are given as Kachore, Kharse, Nimari, Malwi, Kathalya, Dharkia, Peudaria and Ghatole.

Social life and village duties of the Mahars.

141. The men among the Mahars wear a black woollen thread around their necks: their women share the common aversion to shoes with pointed tops.

Adultery is of rather common occurrence, and the illegitimate issue arc admitted into caste, although the woman is not allowed to cook food or to eat in the same dish. As fourth balutedar on the village establishment the Muhar holds a post of great importance to himself and convenience to the village. The knowledge gained in his official position renders him a referee on matters affecting the village boundaries and customs. To the patel, patwari and the 'big men' of the village, be acts often as a personal servant and errand runner: for a. smaller cultivator, he will also at times carry a torch or act as escort. To the latter class, however, the Mahar is. an indirect rather than a direct boon, inasmuch as his-presence saves them from the liability of being called upon to render the patel or the village personal service.

For the services which he thus renders as pandhewar the Mahar receives from the cultivators certain grain-dues.

When the cut juari is lying in the field the Mahars go round and beg for a measure of the ears (bhik paih).But the regular payment is made when the grain has been threshed. The amount of the due and the mode of calculation vary greatly, almost from village to village. The calculation is sometimes made upon the total area of land cultivated (e.g. one seer per acre cultivated), but in other parts land cultivated with edible grain is alone liable to the payment (e.g., 11/2 or 2 seers per acre of edible grain). Another duty performed by the Mahar is the removal of the carcasses of dead animals. The flesh is eaten and the skin retained as wage for the work. The patel and his relatives, however, usually claim to have the skins of their own animals returned: and in some places where half the agriculturists of the village claim kinship with the patel, the Mahars feel and resent the loss. Another custom, which occasionally obtains, gives one quarter of the skin to the Mahar, one quarter to the Chambhar, and a half to the patel. A third duty is the opening of grain-pits, the noxious gas from which produces at times asphyxia. For this the Mahars receive the tainted grain. They also receive the clothes from acorpse that is laid on the pyre, and the pieces of unburnt wood which remain when the body has been consumed.

Mali.

142. The Malis number 47,000 persons or 8 per cent. of the population. They are found in strength in the taluks of Malkapur (14,074), Jalgaon (10,990) and Khamgaon (9104) but are less numerous in the taluks of Mehkar (8275) and Chikhli (4,476). The word Mali is derived from Sanskrit mala (a garland). The caste cannot be said to be a very old one. Generally speaking it may be said that flowers have scarcely a place in the Veda. Wreaths of flowers are used as decorations, but the separate flowers and their beauty are not yet appreciated. That lesson was first learned later by the Hindu when surrounded by another flora. Similarly among the Homeric Greeks in spite of their extensive gardening, and their different names for different flowers, not a trace of horticulture is yet to be found. The caste is chiefly engaged in raising vegetable and garden crops. The chief subdivisions of the caste are Phulmalr, Jire, Ghase, Kosaria, Baone and Lonare. The Phulmalis who take their name from phul (flower) are considered the highest The Jire are the cumin-seed growers; the Kosarias derive their name from Kosala, the classic name of Chhattisgarh; the Raones are named after Berar, 'the revenue of which was fifty-two (bawan) lakhs as against six lakhs only obtained from the Jhadi or hill country; and the Lonare are the residents of the country round about Lonar lake which is about 12 miles south of Mehkar. The Phulmalis will neither cultivate nor boil turmeric. The reason alleged is that in the turmeric flower is the outline of a small cow tied with a rope, to which in boiling turmeric damage might ensue. The Jire Malis will both grow and boil turmeric for which they are despised, but they will not grow onions. From his dealings in flowers which are used in worship and on all ceremonial occasions the sight of a Mali is considered lucky. In social characteristics the Malts resemble the Kunbis. The Phulmalis take the flesh of a goat, but abstain from liquor and the flesh of fowls; the Ghase Malis have no objection to taking spirituous drink and eating eggs and fowls. The caste performs the marriage ceremony according to the Maratha ritual. Widow-marriage is also practised and divorce allowed. The Malis are the votaries of Devi and Kal Bhairava and also worship all the gods of the Hindu pantheon. They stop their ordinary work on the day of Nag Panchami festival and offer worship to their trade implements on Dasahra.

Manbhao.

143. The Manbhaos (500) are a local Vaishnava sect and some of them are religious mendicants. The caste is steadily decreasing.

Mang.

144. The Mangs (11,500) are a menial caste ranking only above Bhangis There are many customs and legends connected with the Mang caste which prove them to be of very long standing in the country. The first Mang, Maghya, was created by Mahadeo to protect Brahmadeo from the winged horses which troubled him in his work of creating the world. The devotion of the Mangs to Mahadeo is noticeable: it shows the kind of religious conceptions once current in the country, which that name has been made to cover. The Mangs still worship Man Mata, Asura and Vetal or Brahma. Like the Mahars they worship no graven image : the visible representations of their deities are round stones daubed with vermilion. Occasionally they worship Dawal Malik, and Khandoba, but no god belonging strictly to the higher Hindu pantheon. Meghya Mang waxed proud and was humbled by being ordered by Mahadeo to castrate oxen for the Kunbis, an office still performed by the village Mang who receives six or eight annas or four or, eight seers of grain per job. At the Naoratra a Mang woman is still sometimes worshipped, a custom, the origin of which dates according to the legend, from the time of Parasuram,

A Mang is the born enemy of the village Mahar, whose grain dues are three times his own, and who disdains to receive food which the latter has prepared, or to beat the drum in his funeral procession.

The Mangs beg during an eclipse. Rahu, the demon who swallows the moon and thus causes her eclipse, and his companion Ketu were both Mangs, and it is to appease them that grain is given to their caste men.

Status in village.

145. The Mang is a balutedar: formerly he acted as hangman when necessary, and occasionally as watchman: his wife acts as midwife. At marriages he beats the drum and plays the crooked horn. His salutation is ' Farman ' as that of the Mahar is ' Namastu,' He swears by the dog. He uses a slang language, some of the words in which are of Dravidian origin. Those of the caste who deal in the black art worship demons and goblins (bhut, pisach) on every new moon; those who revere Dawal Malik abstain from eating pork. The Mangs are men of strong passions, and generally have a bad name among the more respectable castes and among the police. In robbery they are said to respect the person of a woman, a bangle-seller, a Lingayat Mali, and a Mang.

Subdivisions.

146. There are nominally 12½ divisions in the caste, but the names given differ in different parts, and are often merely descriptive of their residence or occupation. Thus the Ghatole Mangs are Mangs from the Satmala Ghats: the Madhige division are probably Telugu Madigas: the Uchles are pickpockets, and the Pendari Mangs are highway robbers; Pungiwalas play on the fife, and Daphlewalas on the tom-tom. The different divisions sometimes contract prejudices which tend to perpetuate the distinction. The Berar Mangs and the Buruds (who are reckoned as the half caste in the enumeration) make baskets of bamboo and use a knife known as the bhal, while the Dakhani Mangs will not touch this knife, and work with date-palm leaves.

Customs and religious observances.

147. The ordinary trade of a Mang is to prepare brooms or date-palm matting. On the Akshayatritiya, when offerings to the dead are paid, the Mang supplies a new broom to each of the more important houses in his villages.

Like the Mahars, the Mangs always bury their dead. They do not use a bier, and make no distinction of persons further than that the deceased, if married, is dressed in new clothes and mourned for ten instead of three days. On each of the three days succeeding the death, the mourners hold a feast, on the first two days generally at their own expense, but on the third day always at the expense of the chief mourner, who on the tenth day gets himself shaved and gives a caste dinner. Their marriages take place usually in the month of Asharh, the 15th of which month is sacred to their worship of the deity Mari Mata. Those of the girls who are not married before they reach the age of puberty become Muralis or Joginis, in other words mendicant prostitutes.

Maratha.

148. The Marathas number 6000 or 1 per cent. of the population. It is difficult to avoid confusion in the use of the word Maratha, which signifies both an inhabitant of the area in which the Marathi language is spoken and a member of the caste to which the general name has, in view of their historical importance, been specifically applied. The native name for the Marathi-speaking country is Maharashtra, which has been variously interpreted as ' the great country" or' the country of the Mahars.' Another, and perhaps the most probable, derivation is that it is named from the Rashtrakuta dynasty, which was dominant in the area for some centuries after 750 A.D. The name Rashtrakuta was contracted into Ratth; and with the prefix Maha, ' great,' might evolve into the term Maratha. The Marathas are a caste formed from military service, and it seems probable that they sprang mainly from the 'peasant population of Kunbis, though at what period they were formed into a caste has not yet been determined. The designation of Maratha first became prominent during the period of Sivaji's guerilla warfare against Aurangzeb. Several of the Maratha clans have the names of Rajput tribes, as Chauhan, Ponwar, Jadhao, Solanki and Suryavansi, and in 1836 Mr. Enthoven states that the Rana of Udaipur was satisfied from enquiries conducted by an agent that the Bhonsla and certain other families had a right to be recognised as Rajputs. But the general feeling does not admit this claim. The caste is of a decidedly mixed nature, as is apparent from its internal structure. In Buldana they are commonly spoken of as Maratha Kunbis. Indeed in the Berar census of 1881 they were amalgamated with Kunbis, and have only been recorded separately in the last two generations. They are not mentioned as a separate caste by Sir A. Lyall in the Berar Gazetteer. In Buldana the Marathas will take daughters from the Kunbis in marriage for their sons, though they will not give their daughters in return. But a Kunbi who has got on in the world and become wealthy may, by a sufficient payment, get his sons married into Maratha families and even be adopted as a member of the caste, just as a successful soap boiler in England occasionally becomes a peer and sets himself up with a complete portrait gallery of Norman ancestors. It seems a necessary conclusion that the bulk of the caste are of much the same origin as the Kunbis, though some of the leading families may have had Rajputs among their ancestors. The family of the jadhao Rajas of Sindkhed, from a daughter of which the renowned Sivaji sprang, is the leading Maratha family of Buldana and Berar, and claims to he of the purest Rajput blood. In 1870 Sir A Lyall notes that this family had recently made a show of great reluctance to permit a poor kinsman to espouse the Gaikuar of Baroda's daughter. A notable trait of this and similar families is the fondness with which they cling to their hereditary watans. In Buldana the Marathas are principally engaged in cultivation and money-lending, though many of them have taken up personal service and are also employed in Government service as clerks, peons. and constables. The caste eat the flesh of clean animals and of fowls and wild pig and drink liquor. Their rules about food are liberal like those of the Rajput. a too great stringency being no doubt in both cases incompatible with the exigencies of military service. They observe the parda system with regard to then women, and will go to the well and draw water themselves rather than permit their wives to do so; but the poorer Marathas cannot maintain the system, and they and their wives and children work in the fields. The men often in imitation of the Rajputs have their hair long and wear beards and whiskers. They commonly wear a turban made of many folds of cloth twisted into a narrow rope and large gold rings with pearis in the lower part of the ear. They assume the sacred thread and invest a boy with it when he is seven or eight years old or on his marriage though this is not strictly observed. Some Marathas do not wear the sacred thread at all, saying their forefathers never wore it. In appearance the men are often tall and well-built and of a light wheat-coloured complexion. The principal deity of the Marathas is Khandoba, a warrior incarnation of Mahadeo. He is sup-posed to have been born in a held of millet near Poona, and to have led the people against the Muhammadans in early times. He had a watch dog who warned him of the approach of his enemies, and he is named after the khanda or sword which he always carried. The Marathas are generally kind to dogs, and will not injure them.

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