Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Kolhapur District Gazetteer(1886))

Ambis, or Watermen, are returned as numbering fifty-one and as found in many river villages. They are ferrymen, taking passengers across the rivers when in flood during the rains for which they are partly paid by the grant of rent-free lands. During the fair season they act as husbandmen. Most of them are Lingayats with Jangam priests to attend their funerals and marriages, and settle their social disputes. Their manners and customs are the same as those of other Lingayats.

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Kolaba District Gazetteer (1883))

AGRIS, literally gardeners,  chiefly found along creek banks in Alibag and Pen, are divided into Mithagris,.salt makers and tillers of salt rice land, and Dholagris, called so from beating the drum, dhol. The Dholagris eat from the Mithagris, but they do not intermarry. Among Mithagris the commonest surnames are Mhatre, Thakur, and More, and among Dholagris, Thakur, Mhatre, Kotval, and Patil. Their small size and dark colour, their love of liquor, and their belief in devs or un-Brahman gods are almost marked enough to make them rank as a local or early tribe. According to one of their stories they are the musicians of Ravan, the demon king of South India, who, in reward for good service, were settled by him in the Konkan. The late, or Aryan element, which they claim and which appears in some of their surnames, was, according to their story, introduced into the Konkan from Paithan in the Deccan, when the Deccan Was conquered by the Musalmans at the close of the thirteenth century. The men are dark and stout, with lively eyes, somewhat flat noses, round face, and black hair. They wear the top-knot, and moustache but no beard. They do not shave the head oftener than once a fortnight, and sometimes once a month. The women, though somewhat fairer, are like the men short, stout, and round faced. They speak incorrect Marathi, using several peculiar words and phrases. The establishment of schools, their contact with Brahmans and other correct speaking people, and their reading of sacred books, potnis have of late improved the Agris Marathi. Those who can read are held in much respect, and the cheapness of printed books fosters a taste for reading. They are active, intelligent, honest, hospitable, and cheerful workers, but dirty and much given to drinking and smoking. Some are makers of salt and a few are sailors, but most grew salt-land rice. No class of husbandmen in Kolaba have greater or even equal skill in salt-land tillage. Besides house work the women are always ready to help their husbands in the field, They do not move from they own villages in search of work, Their houses are generally thatched, with walls of mud or unbaked brick, and surrounded by a wattle fence. They have a cooking room and central room, one side of which is set apart for cattle, and the other kept as a sitting room. They own cows, buffaloes and oxen, but seldom have any servants. Of late several of them have taken to build better houses with tiled roofs and walls of baked brick. Their cooking vessels are generally of earth, and their water-pots of copper or brass.

They eat fish, and, when they have the opportunity, goats, sheep, wild hog, hare, deer, domestic fowls, and the iguana or ghorpad. They drink liquor, chiefly fermented palm-juice, the men often to excess, even the poorest spending from 3d. to 6d. (2-4 as.) on liquor in two or three days. The women also drink but not in the presence of the men. The liquor is chiefly country spirits distilled either from muhuda flowers or from cocoa or brab-palm juice. The recent increase in excise duties is said to have lessened the amount of drunkenness, but to have encouraged the use of European spirits which some of the Agris strengthen by adding coarse Eau-de-Cologne. In the morning they eat rice and nachani bread, and, at noon and night, rice and fish curry. The holiday fare used to be rice-flour balls, but of late they have begun to use cakes and balls of wheat flour, butter, and sugar. On marriage feasts each guest is given a couple of pulse cakes. They generally ear, from one large earthen platter round which the whole party sit. In some families the men and women cat together; in ethers the women eat after the men have done. They are habitual smokers, boys often beginning when they are four years old. Among the women smoking is confined to the middle-aged and old. On all occasions, whether mournful or merry, drinking is part of the ceremony and bargains or other matters of business are generally sealed by a draught of liquor.

Some of the women wear no bodice, but most of them wear a bodice with long sleeves that covers both the back and the bosom. They draw the end of the robe over the right shoulder and let it hang in front, sometimes tucking it into the waistband. Perhaps because they have so much wet and muddy walking, they wind the rest of the robe so tightly round the waist and thighs as to leave the greater part of the leg bare. Out of door men wear a cloth round the head, a waistcloth, and a jacket with two front pockets, in one of which they keep tobacco and leaf cigarettes, and in the other a flint, a piece of steel, and a mango stone filled with the fibre that surrounds the seed of the silk-cotton tree. In wet or cold went her both men and women draw a blanket over their heads. No change has been lately made in their dress. Most of their clothes are of plain cotton. Few have silk-bordered waistcloth's or robes and turbans with gold ends. Their boys go naked until they are five years old, after which they wear a loincloth about three inches broad and sometimes a small waistcloth, or, if their parents are well-to-do, a coat waistcloth and cap. After five, until she is married, a girl wears round her waist a. piece-of white or red cloth, two or three yards long, The men wear gold earrings and silver finger rings, and round the waist a stout twisted silver chain. The women gather their hair in a knob at the back of the head, and generally wind round it, a chain of soapnut rithe, and often look their hair tastefully with flowers. They wear gold ear and nose rings, and glass beads and silver chains round the neck. They wear silver rings round their arms and wrists, and bangles of green or black glass. Besides these ornaments a newly married girl wears a silver waistbelt, kamarpatta. Some well-to-do women have of late taken to wearing gold ornaments in their hair, like high caste Hindus. The women and elder children help the men in the fields and salt-pans. Several of them send their boys to school, but the boys are very early made use of as cattle and crop watchers.

Among. Agris, after the birth of a child, the first ceremony is the worship of Sati on the fifth day. It is performed by women either married or widows. The next ceremonies are those connected with marriage. Boys are generally married between twelve and twenty-five, and girls between eight and fifteen. When an Agri wishes to get his son married, he asks a friend or a relation to go to some family who have a daughter likely to make a suitable match. On reaching the girl's house, the messenger says why he has come and asks the girl's father whether he is willing to give his daughter in marriage. If the father agrees, liquor is brought and drunk. A Brahman priest is asked whether the stars are propitious; and, if the reply is favourable, preparations begin. The first observance is the dej ceremony when the boy sends the girl ten mans of rice and �4 (Rs. 40) in cash. [This sum varies according to the circumstances of the parties. It is never less than �4 (Rs. 40), but sometimes rises as high as �20 (Rs. 200).] In the evening of the marriage day the boy, accompanied by men and women relations and music, goes on horseback to the girl's house. He is received by the girl's father, the priest repeats verses and the boy and the girl are married. Betelnut and leaves are handed round, and money and uncooked food are distributed among Brahmans. In the night a feast is held when rice, pulse, one or two vegetables, and pulse cakes are served. Little or none of the food is eaten, as the guests pass the whole night in drinking and often become uproarious. [Liquor is often the heaviest item a an Agri'a marriage If the guests are not satisfied with the quantity drunk, they try to get the host or one of the guests into a scrape. One accuses him of a caste offence, another supports the accusation, and all declare him guilty and fine him from 2s. to �2 (Re. 1-Rs.20] Agris allow widow marriage, and, if well-to-do, practise polygamy. Some burn and others bury the dead; but burial is more common than burning. They do not carry the body to the grave, till all near relations within seven or eight miles have come. At their funerals the cost of liquor varies from 2s. to �1 (Re. 1 - Rs. 10). A death is not considered to cause impurity. The guests not only touch the chief mourner and his family, but eat with him during the ten days of mourning. On their return from the burial the mourners all dine at the deceased's house, and others who go to condole with the mourner during the ten days of mourning do not leave it without dining. In religion they are nominally Smarts and Bhagvats, but their death and other customs show that they were once Lingayats. They worship all Hindu gods, particularly Khandoba and Bhaircba, and in their bouses have gold and silver embossed plates of their gods and goddesses.

Their priests are Palshe Brahmans whom they greatly respect. In the time of their monthly sickness women are not considered impure, and they call a Lingayat priest to perform their death ceremonies and observe a special rite, mahebin, on the second of Magh Shudh (February-March). In other respects their social and religious customs do not differ from those of Kolaba Kunbis.

Of late they have become more careful observers of the rules of the Brahmanic religion. Formerly there were no temples in small villages, but of late several temples have been raised to Maruti and Devi. They now keep religious books in their houses and read them to their wives and children, or go to hear them read and explained by Brahmans. They have taken to chant verses in their temples, accompanied by music, and perform bhajan suplahas, that is loud public prayers, which last for seven days. They make pilgrimages to Pandgarpur, Nasik, Trimbak, and Benares, and in very way, show a marked increase in their attention to religions matters.

Every Agri village has its head or patil, who is generally chosen from the oldest, wealthiest, and most intelligent families. Meetings of the Agris of one village are called jamats, and, when the people of several villages come together, the assembly is called Kashi-got or Ganga-got. For the larger meetings invitations are sent in the name of patil or of some other respectable person, and the guests are told where the meeting is to be held and the reason for holding it. When all have come, earthen jars full of liquor are placed in the middle of the company. One among them fills a small conch-like shell [The point of the shell is tipped with brass. The drinker stretches himself back, till hit head is nearly parallel with the ground generally leans his neck on a bamboo rail. The liquor-server withdrawns his thumb from the point of the shell and lets the liquor pour into the drinker's mouth, till the shell is empty or till the drinker shakes his head, as a sign that he has had enough.] with liquor, and presents it to the patil or other leading guest, and then to the rest. When all have bad a draught the discussion begins, and while the discussion lasts liquor is handed round from time to time. After a draught, some mouthfuls of parched gram or peas are eaten. In this way as much as �2 (Rs. 20) worth of liquor is drunk. The accused, if found guilty, is generally fired from 2s. to �10 (Re. 1- Rs. 100). If he refuses to pay, he is put out of caste. The authority of caste has in no way declined. The Agris are a prosperous class. They have begun to take Government wood and ferry contracts. Several of them send their boys to school, and during the last ten or fifteen years they have risen steadily.

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Wardha District Gazetteer, Vol. A (1906))

The Bhoyars are a cultivating caste who have immigrated from the north through Betul, which is now their headquarters. In Wardha they number about 9000 persons or 2 per cent of the population and own 15 villages, while many are also substantial tenants. They live principally in the Arvi tahsil, the Karanja tract of which is locally known as Bhoyar-patti. The Bhoyars are of a light colour and have good features, and are strong and hardy; but they are locally considered to be somewhat more than ordinarily timid, and to be considerable simpletons. According to their own story they are an offshoot of Ponwar Rajputs, and they speak a dialect somewhat akin to those of Rajputana, but if they ever were Rajputs they have now abandoned all the customs and restrictions which distinguish high-caste Hindus. They eat fowls and drink liquor though they are not so much addicted to drinking in Wardha as in Betul. They do not employ Brahmans in their marriage ceremonies, their own elders serving as priests. But two days before a marriage, they take some rice and juar to a Brahman and ask him to consecrate it. At the ceremony these are mixed with turmeric and red powder and are placed on the heads of the couple, and the marriage is complete. Their period of mourning always ends on the next Monday or Thursday after the death. Thus a person dying on a Monday or Thursday is mourned for only on the day on which he dies while one dying on a Friday is mourned for four days. They permit widow-marriage. The Bhoyars are considered to be good cultivators.

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Baris, or Bari Tambolis, that is Bari betel-leafsellers, are returned as numbering sixty-eight. All are found in the city of Poona. They believe that they came to Poona about a hundred years ago from Barhanpur in West Berar. They are called Bari-Tambolis to distinguish them from Teli or Oilmen Tambolis, from Maratha Tambolis, and from Musalman Tambolis. The Baris surnames are Berad, Hage, Ikare, Makode, Musale, Povar, Panchod, and Tade, and persons bearing the same surname cannot intermarry. The names in common use among men are Ganpati, Mittraji, and Shivram; and among women Ambu, Lahani, Shita, and Sundar. They look like Marathas, being middle-sized and dark. The men wear the top-knot, mustache and whiskers, but not the beard. They speak Marathi without any peculiarities. Most of them live in houses of the better class, two or more storeys high, with walls of brick and tiled roofs. They keep their houses clean and have copper brass and earthen vessels, blankets, and carpets. They own cows and buffaloes, but almost none have servants. They are neither great eaters nor good cooks. There is nothing special or proverbial about their style of cooking or their pet dishes. Their staple food is millet, pulse, vegetables, and spices, and they eat rice, fish, and the flesh of goats, sheep, poultry, and occasionally eggs. They say they do not eat from the hands of any one but a Brahman. They drink both country and foreign liquor, smoke tobacco, and hemp flowers or ganja, and take opium. Their holiday dishes are oil-cakes and sugared milk. The men wear a waistcloth, shouldercloth, coat, waistcoat, Maratha turban, and shoes. The women wear a Maratha robe and bodice and glass bangles. They tie their hair in a knot behind the head, but do not deck it with flowers or use false hair. They have no special liking for gay colours. Their holiday dress does not differ from their every-day dress except that it is freshly washed. Except a brass, gilt, or gold ring for the ear called bhikbali worth 1s. 3d. to 2s. (Re. ⅝-1), the men seldom wear any ornaments. The women's ornaments are a gilt or gold buttoned lucky necklace or mangalsutra with glass beads worth 2s. to 2s. 6d. (Rs. 1-1�), queensmetal bracelets called yella and got worth 2s. to 4s. (Rs. 1-2), and queensmetal anklets called jodvi and viravlya worth 3d. to 6d. (2- 4 as.)

They are hardworking, frugal, and orderly. They deal in betel leaves, buying them from Tirgul Brahmans, Malis, and Marathas at 2s. to �1 16s. (Rs. 1-18) for a kudti of about 16,500 leaves. Betel leaves are of four kinds: navatis worth 2s. to 10s. (Rs. 1-5) the kudti of 16,500 leaves; [The details are: In each kudti 37 kavlis and in each kavli 450 leaves, that is a total of 16,650.] talachis worth 2s. to 4s. (Rs. 1-2) the kudti; gachis worth 6s. to �1 4s. (Rs. 3-12) the kudti; and shidis worth 6s. to �1 16s. (Rs. 3-18) the kudti. They keep no holidays and work steadily without busy or slack seasons. They generally work from six in the morning to twelve, and from two to nine. The women help the men by turning the leaves. A family of five spends 10s. to �1 (Rs.8-10) a month on food and �1 to �1 10s. (Rs. 10-15) a year on clothes. They live in hired houses paying 9d. to 1s. 3d. (6-10 as.) a month. A birth, whether of a boy or of a girl, costs 10s. (Rs. 5); a marriage of a boy �5 to �7 10s. (Rs. 50 - 75), and of a girl �4 to �6 (Rs.40-60); and a death �1 to �1 4s. (Rs.10-12). They have house images of Ganpati, Mahadev, and Maruti, and their family goddess is the Bhavani of Tuljapur. Their priests are generally Deshasths. Their fast days are Mahashivaratra in February, nine days of Navratra and Ramnavmi in April, Ashadhi Ekadashi in July, Gokul-ashtami in August, and Kartiki Ekadashi in November, and their feasts are Shimga in March, Padva in April, Nagar-panchami in August, Ganesh-chaturthi in September, Dasara in October, and Divali in November.

They have no guru or teacher and profess to disbelieve in witchcraft, soothsaying, omens, and evil spirits. For cutting the child's navel cord they pay the midwife 7�d. to 1s. 3d. (5-10 as.), and feed the child for three days on honey and castor oil. On the evening of the third day the child takes the breast and the mother is fed on butter, wheat, and molasses. On the night of the fifth they draw redlead figures on the wall in the mother's room and in front of the figures place methi, that is fenugreek or Greek hay, and rice or millet bread, and the mother with the babe in her arm bows to the figures and retires. The same ceremony is repeated the next night in honour of the goddess Satvai. On the evening of the twelfth day the child is named and wet gram and packets of betelnut and leaves are presented to married women. The javal or hair-cutting takes place on any day after a child is four months old and before it is a year and a quarter old.

They marry their girls between five and nine and their boys between twelve and twenty-five. Their asking and betrothal ceremonies are the same as those of Maratha cultivators and their guardian or devak is their house goddess. On the day before a marriage they give their house gods to a goldsmith to clean at his house. When they are clean they bring the gods home with music and install them with much ceremony, worshipping them with great pomp, playing music, and offering them abundance of sweet-smelling flowers. Oil-cakes are prepared and a feast is held; The boy and girl are rubbed with turmeric at their houses. Either on the same day or on the day after relations and friends are feasted. On the marriage day the boy goes on horseback to the girl's house with kinsmen and kinswomen, friends, and music. At the girl's water and rice are waved round his head, he is taken into the house and made to stand either on a low wooden stool or in a new bamboo basket facing the bride, and a cloth is held between them. Brahmans repeat marriage verses and at the end throw grains of red rice over the heads of the boy and girl, and they are husband and wife. The skirts of the boy's and girl's robes are tied together, and they are seated in the marriage booth and the sacrificial fire is lighted. They are taken before the marriage gods and bow low before them. Their garments are untied, and the boy and the girl repeat one another's names in couplets. On the following day presents of clothes are exchanged between the two houses, and, in addition, the boy is given a plate or thala of queensmetal, a brass or copper water-pot called tambya, and a brass lamp. The relations on both sides throw finger rings and copper and silver coins into the plate for the girl. The girl's parents take the girl in their arms, and saying to the boy's parents, ' All this while she was ours, now she is yours,' place her in the boy's arms. The boy's mother puts a little sugar in the girl's mouth, sticks a rupee on her brow, and looks in her face. The skirts of the boy's and girl's robes are tied and they are seated either on a horse or in a carriage, and, accompanied by kinspeople and friends, go in procession to the boy's house. Before entering the house the boy's mother waves cooked rice and bread over their heads and throws the rice and bread away. The boy and girl go into the house, throw grains of rice over the heads of the house and marriage gods, bow before them, and retire. On the following day, if well-to-do they give a feast of sweet cakes or puran-polis, or if poor distribute betel-nut and leaves. This ends the marriage ceremony. When a girl comes of age she is seated by herself for three days, bathed on the fourth, presented with a new bodice and robe, and her lap is filled with plantains, guavas, dates, pomegranates, oranges, and wheat or rice. In the evening the girl and afterwards  the boy are taken to a room set apart for their use. This is done either at the boy's or the girl's. If at the girl's the boy stays for a couple of days and then goes home either with or without his wife.

When a Bari is on the point of death rice or wheat grains are distributed in his name to beggars and a tulsi leaf is laid in his mouth. When he dies, bamboos worth 6d. to 7�d. (4-5 as.), two earthen pots worth about 1� d. (1 anna), a white cloth worth 2s. to 5s. (Rs. 1 -2�), and cowdung cakes worth 7s. to 14s. (Rs. 3�-7) are bought. The body is brought out of the house, hot water is poured over it, and it is wrapped in the new cloth, and laid on the bier. If the deceased is a widow her brow is marked with abir on sweet-scented powder. If her husband is alive she is dressed in new green robe and bodice, her brow is marked with redpowder and turmeric, glass bangles are put on her wrists, and her lap filled with grain dry cocoa-kernel and dates, and she is laid on the bier. The bier is carried on the shoulders of four near relations and the chief mourner walks in front with an earthen pot containing burning cowdung cakes. Half-way to the burning ground the bier lowered, a few grains of rice and a copper are laid by the side of the road near the corpse's head, and each mournes drops two or three the pebbles over the copper. The bearers change places and carry the corpse to the burning ground, dip it in a stream river or pond, and the chief mourner dashes on the ground the pot containing the burning cowdung cakes. A few cowdung cakes are placed over the burning cakes, a pile is raised, and the dead body is laid on it. The chief mourner first sets fire to the pile and then the other mourner When the skull splits the chief mourner takes another earthen jar full of water on his shoulder and walks thrice round the pyre beating his mouth with the back of his right hand. When the body is burnt to ashes they bathe and return to the chief mourner house carrying nim leaves. At the mourner's house, a lamp is kept burning on the spot where the deceased breathed his last. The mourners take a look at the lamp, sprinkle nim leaves round it, and return to their homes. On the third day, accompanied by a couple of near relations, the chief mourner goes to the burning ground, gathers the ashes, and throws them into the river or stream, sprinkles cow's urine, turmeric, redpowder, and flowers on the spot where the body was burnt, burns frankincense, and offers parched rice grain and sweetmeats to the spirit of the dead. He gathers the unburnt bones in an earthen jar, puts them somewhere in hiding, and returns home. The chief mourner is considered unclean for ten days. At the end of the ten days he either buries the bones in the jar or throws them into water. On the tenth day he feasts the four corpse-bearers with a dish of wheat and molasses called thuli and curry. A flower dipped in butter is drawn from the shoulders to the elbow of each of the corpse-bearers, and they retire. [This rite is called khande utarne, literally the shoulder taking-away, meaning apparently the taking away of the uncleanness, that is of the unclean spirit, which. settled on their shoulders in consequence of their having borne the body.] On the eleventh day the chief mourner goes to the burning ground, sets twelve or thirteen wheat balls in a row, drops redpowder and flowers over them, and throws them into water. On the twelfth day, the chief mourner and his family priest go to the burning ground and make a three-cornered mound and set three earthen jars on it. Over each jar is placed a small wheat cake and a rice ball and at each corner of the mound is planted a flag six or eight inches long. The mourner retires to some distance and waits for the crows to come, and when a crow has come and touched one of the balls he bathes and goes home. The Brahman who accompanies him is presented with a pair of shoes, an umbrella, a dining plate or tat, and a water-pot or tambya, and 6d. to 1s. (4-8 as.) in cash. On the thirteenth day the chief mourner fills a plate with food and throws it in a stream or river. The caste is feasted and treated to a dish of sweet cakes or puran-polis. A near relation presents the chief mourner with a turban and the mourning or dukhavta is over. The Baris allow child-marriage, widow-marriage, and polygamy, but not polyandry. They have a caste council and settle social disputes at meetings of the castemen. They send their boys to school for a short time. They are a steady class.

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Ahmednagar District Gazetteer(1884))

Bangdis, or Blanket-weavers, are returned as numbering thirty-two, and as found in Karjat and Shrigonda. They have no memory or tradition of any earlier home. Their names and surnames are the same as those of the local shepherds or Dhangars. Their home tongue is a corrupt Marathi, and they are dark, strong, and robust and like Dhangars in face. They live in one-storeyed houses with mud walls and terraced roofs, and their house goods include low stools, quilts, blankets, and metal and earth vessels. When they are on the move they live in small tents or pals. They are great eaters, and their staple food is millet bread, onions, and vegetables. They eat flesh except beef and pork and drink liquor. The men dress in a waistcloth, a shouldercloth, a blanket, a turban, and a pair of sandals or shoes; the women dress in the backed and short-sleeved Maratha bodice and the full Maratha robe without passing the skirt back between the feet. They are hereditary blanket-weavers. Those without capital mend old blankets and sell river fish. They live from hand to mouth. They worship Khandoba, Mariai, Tulja-Bhavani, and Pirs or Musalman saints. They do not keep images of their gods. When they visit their gods' temples they throw handfuls of water at the feet of the god, bow, and withdraw. Their priests are local Brahmans whom they ask to conduct their marriage ceremonies. They make pilgrimages to Alandi, Benares, Jejuri in Poona, and Tuljapur in the Nizam's country. They keep the regular Hindu holidays and fast on the lunar elevenths or Ekadashis in every fortnight, and on Shivratra or Shiv's Night in February. They believe in witchcraft, soothsaying, and evil spirits. Early marriage, polygamy and widow marriage are allowed and practised, and polyandry is unknown. They perform birth marriage and death ceremonies with the same details as those observed by the local Dhangars. They have a caste council, and settle social disputes at meetings of the castemen. Breaches of discipline are punished with fines which generally take the form of caste feasts. They do not send their children to school, take to no new pursuits, and are poor.

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Berads, Bedars or Baidarus, apparently Hunters, are returned is numbering eighty-seven and as found in Poona, Haveli, and Indapur. They appear to have come from the Karnatak districts where they are found in large numbers. [Details are given in the Belgaum Statistical Account, 163. 165.] They speak Marathi and live in huts with little furniture except a few earthen vessels, a brass dining plate and water-pot, a blanket, and a few quilts or vakals. Their staple food is millet bread and pulse. They eat mutton, fish, for fowls, and several kinds of game. They drink to excess. They are a poor quiet tribe doing no harm. They are fond of sport and are sail to be fearless in attacking the wild boar. They are watchmen, husbandmen, labourers, and beggars. Their gods are Janai Jokhai, and Khandoba. They have a great respect for Brahmans and for Brahman gods and have no images in their houses. They say they do not want gods in their houses; they have them in numbers in the waste lands, every tree hill and watercourse is full of gods. They ask a Brahman to name their child. They marry their girls after they come of age and their boys before they are twenty-five. They bury their dead, or as they say leave him in the bush to become a spirit. They allow widow marriage and poly gamy, one man sometimes having as many as five or six wives. Polyandry is unknown. They have a headman who settles social disputes in consultation with other members of the caste. They do not send their boys to school as they are afraid they will leave them and join some high caste. They are badly off.

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Nashik District Gazetteer (1883))

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Bhils are returned as numbering 376 and as found mostly in Junnar. A few are returned from Khed, Shirur, Haveli, and Poona. They are wandering labourers going from place to place in search of work. They live in thatched huts and resemble Kunbis in food, dress, calling, and condition.

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Nashik District Gazetteer (1883))

BHILS seem to have come into the district from the Dangs. In  the north they are found in Kalvan, Baglan, and Malegaon, and in the south they are settled in some of the richest sub-divisions. [In Kalvan Bhils number 17,156 or 26.01 per cent of the total population of the sub-division, in Baglan 9285 or 19.6 per cent. in Malegaon 6504 or 9.7 per cent, in Chandor 3800 or 7.5 per cent. in Nandgaon 2240 or 7.4 per cent, in Savargaon 2657 or 4.4 per cent. in Sinnar 2360 or 3.0 per cent, and in Niphad 2059 or 2. 3 per cent. Mr. H, E. M. James, C.S., Bhil Memorandum 14th July 1875, 2.] They are a strong active race, bad husbandmen but good watchmen, occasionally given to plunder and living chiefly by gathering such forest produce as honey and lac. Though settled they are still under police surveillance, and are not allowed to move from place to place without giving notice to the village authorities. Unless stimulated by other classes, Bhil forays are prompted by love of excitement or revenge rather than with a view to plunder. In 1869, when the Baglan moneylenders were pressing their debtors with the view of gaining a hold of their land, armed groups of Bhils went from village to village plundering moneylenders' houses of bonds. Their spirit of discontent and sense of hardship and wrong showed itself in open acts of outrage, and it was feared that the spark of violence, once lighted, would spread among the cognate tribes of the Sahyadri and Satpuda hills, and rise into a Same of rebellion that would take long to stamp out, [ Mr. James' Memorandum, 7.]

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Kolaba District Gazetteer (1883))

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Bha'vsa'rs, or Dyers, are returned as numbering 307 and as found over the whole district. They say they came about seventy or eighty years ago from Mungi-Paithan about fifty miles north-east of Ahmadnagar. They have no subdivisions. Their surnames are Banchhod, Lale, Lokhande, Modgare, and Parpate; people bearing the same surname do not intermarry. The names in common use among men are, Bhau, Rama, Sahkharam, Thamaji, and Vithoba; and among women, Jita, Lhani, Rama, lambai, and Thaku. They are short, stout, and regular-featured. The men wear the top-knot and moustache, shaving the cheeks and chin. They speak Marathi They live in middle-class houses with walls of mud and bricks and tiled roofs. A Bhavsar's house can be easily known from the straining bag or zoli and the turbans hung in the veranda to dry. Their daily food is Indian millet bread, split pulse, and vegetables. They eat rice about once a week, and fish and the flesh of goats and sheep when they can afford it. They do not object to eat hare and deer, but they do not eat poultry, pigeons, partridges, or geese. They drink both country and foreign liquor, smoke tobacco and hemp, and drink hemp. A. family of five spend �1 to �1 10s. (Rs. 10-15) a month on food and 6s. to 10s. (Rs. 3-5) on liquor. Their feasts of cakes cost �2 to �2 10s. (Rs. 20-25) for a hundred guests including women and children, �2 14s. to �3 10s. (Rs. 27-35) for a feast of gram or bundi balls, and �1 4s. to �1 10s. (Rs.12-15) for a feast of wheat bread and split pulse. The men dress either like Marathas or Deccan Brahmans in the waistcloth, coat, waist-coat, shouldercloth, turban, and shoes. The women wear the backed-bodice and the robe hanging like a petticoat without drawing the skirt back between the feet. Their ornaments the same as those worn by Deccan Brahman women except that the older women wear a pearl or moti in the nose instead of the nath or nosering. A family of five spends �2 10s. to �310s. (Rs.25-35) year on clothes. They are hardworking, sober, thrifty, and orderly. They prepare colours and print and dye cloth charging 2s. to 8s. (Rs. 1-4) for dyeing a turban red or abashdi, orange or narangi, and scarlet or pomegranate gulhenar, and 6d. to 1s. (4-8 as.) for dyeing it motiya or blush. About one-fourth of the charge is profit they buy dyes from Gujarat Vanis at �3 to �4 (Rs.30-40) the pala of 240 pounds (120 shers). Papadkhar or impure carbonate of soda costs them 2s. (Rs. 1) for eight pounds; and lemons 3d to 6d. (2-4 as.) the hundred. Their appliances are earthen pots or kundis, two metal pots called satals or tapelas and a cloth bag or jholi hung on a four-legged wooden frame through which they strain their colours. They are in easy circumstances. They consider themselves Shudras and do not know whether they are Shaive or Vaishnavs. They have house images of the usual Deccan gods out their chief objects of worship are Balaji or Krishna and Hinglajmata. They keep the usual fasts and feasts and believe in the power of spirits and ghosts. Their priest is a Deshasth Brahman whom they greatly respect. On the evening of the fifth day after the birth of a child in the mother's room a grindstone or pata is laid near the mother's cot, and on the stone a picture of the goddess Satvai or Mother Sixth is traced with grains of rice, and a small silver or gold metal plate called tak with an image of Satvai impressed on it is set close by. A goat is killed in front of the plate and its head is laid beside the tracing of Satvai on the grindstone, and all are worshipped. A feast is held but no liquor is drunk. The house women watch the whole night so that the goddess may not take the child away. Then till the eleventh day no ceremony is performed but the mother is considered unclean and is not touched. On the eleventh day the house is cowdunged, and the mother, child, cot, and clothes are washed and the uncleanliness ceases. On the twelfth day either five or seven pebbles are set in a line in the house or on the roadside in front of the house and worshipped by the mother, who offers rice, curds, and wheat bread. Girls are named on the twelfth and boys on the thirteenth day after birth, the name being given by the women in the house. The expense during the thirteen days after a birth varies from �1 4s. to �4 10s. (Rs.12-45). They shave a boy's head when he is one to three months old, and girls who have a brother not more than three years old have their hair shaved along with the boy. If a girl is not born until after the brother next to her has been shaved only a few of her hairs are cut with scissors on her wedding day. On the hair-cutting day the child is seated on its father's or mother's knee, and the barber sits in front and shaves the head and is paid 2s. 6d. (Rs. 1�). The hair-cutting ends with a dinner to near relations, the expenses varying from 6s. to �1 (Rs.3-10). Girls are married from the time they are in the cradle till they are ten or twelve, and boys from ten to twenty or twenty-five. 

The boy's father looks out for a wife for his son. When he has found a suitable match he takes with him a couple of near relations or friends and formally asks the girl's father if he will give his daughter in marriage to his boy. If the girl's father agrees the boy's father asks his family priest to name a lucky day, and on that day he goes to the girl's taking a few near relations and friends and his family priest. After they are seated the girl is called and takes her seat near the priest. The priest marks her brow with redpowder, presses her brow with a silver coin generally a rupee, and gives the coin into her hands. Sweetmeats worth 4s. to 8�. (Rs. 2-4) and betel packets are served and the guests retire. This is called the redpowder rubbing or kunku-lavne; it costs the boy's father 10s. to 14s. (Rs. 5-7). Their asking or magni is the same as the Kunbi asking and the turmeric-rubbing lasts five to seven days. The boy and girl are rubbed with turmeric at their homes. On the first day five married women grind turmeric and rub it on the boy's body, and, taking some to the girl's house with a new green robe and bodice, accompanied by kinswomen and music, rub the girl with it, dress her in the new clothes, and return with a present of a turban and sash for the boy. The turmeric rubbing is repeated both at the boy's and girl's during each of the next five or six days, and during those days no other ceremony is performed. Marriage booths are built at both the houses and an earthen altar is set up at the girl's with five earthen jars ranged round it. Their marriage guardian or devak is the leaves of four figs, Fiona religiose, F. glomerata, F. indica, and. F. infeotora, and of the mango. In the evening of the marriage day, accompanied by kinspeople and friends, the boy goes on horseback to Maruti's temple in the girl's village and takes his seat on the veranda. The girl's party come to the temple, present the boy with a turban and sash, put new shoes on his feet, and bring him to the girl's. Before the boy enters the marriage hall an elderly woman waves rice and curds round his head and throws them on one side. The girl's father leads him into the marriage hall and makes him stand en a wooden stool, blanket, or carpet, in front of the girl, and a cloth is held between them. The priest repeats verses and at the end throws grains of rice over their heads, and the boy and girl are husband and wife. Their right wrists are tied with seven rounds of yellow cotton or kankan thread to which a piece of turmeric root is fastened. The sacred fire is lit on the altar by both the boy and girl, and fed with butter and parched rice. The boy's father presents the girl's brother with a turban. He ties together the skirt of the boy's and girl's robes and they are led to the village Maruti's temple, bow to him, and return. The day ends with a dinner. Next evening exchange presents of clothes are made between the two houses and the boy takes his wife in a procession accompanied by kinspeople, friends, and music, to his father's house. A marriage costs the boy's father �15 to �35 (Rs. 150-350), and the girl's father �5 to �10 (Rs. 50-100) When a girl comes of age she is seated by herself for four days. On the morning of the fifth she is bathed, presented with a new robe and bodice, and her lap is filled with betelnut and leaves, plantains, almonds, and rice or wheat. The girl's mother presents the boy with a turban and sash and the girl' with a robe and bodice. The observance ends with a dinner to near relations and friends. A girl's coming of age costs her husband's father �1 to �3 (Rs. 10-30) and her own father 16s. to �1 12s. (Rs. 8-16). They have no ceremony during a woman's first pregnancy. They try to keep her pleased and feed her on a variety of dishes. 

When a person dies, relations, friends, and castefellows are told, the body is brought out of the house and laid on the house steps, and warm water is poured over it. A piece of cloth is rolled round its loins; it is laid on a bier, and sweet flowers are strewn over the body. The bier is carried on the shoulders of four men, and the chief mourner walks in front carrying sin earthen pot with burning cowdung cakes. On the way to the burning ground, the body is rested and pieces of bread are left for the evil spirits to eat. At the burning ground a pile is raised, the body is laid on the pile, and the pile is kindled by the chief mourner. When the pile is completely burnt the chief mourner walks thrice round it with an earthen jar full of water. At the end of the third turn ho dashes the jar on the ground and cries aloud beating his mouth with the back of his right hand. The mourners return home. On the third day the chief mourner goes to the burning ground, removes the ashes, shaves his moustache, bathes, and sprinkles cow's urine and dung on the ashes. On the spot where the body was burned he sets three earthen jara filled with cooked rice curds honey and milk, and after bathing returns home. They mourn ten days and on the eleventh the chief mourner goes to the river side, prepares ten wheatflour bails, offers one to the crows, and throws the rest into water. On the eleventh or twelfth day the memorial or shraddh ceremony is perforated at the mourner's house, and either on the twelfth or thirteenth day the caste is feasted chiefly on sweet, cakes or puran-polis. The whole ceremony costs �1 to �4 (Rs. 10-40). They have a caste council and settle their social disputes at meetings of the castemen. The punishments vary from making a bow to the caste to giving them a feast. They send their boys to school, but do not keep them at school for any length of time. As a class they are fairly off.

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Bhois are returned as numbering 3477 and as found over the whole district. They are divided into Kadu, Kamathi, and Maratha Bhois. Of these the Kadus and the Marathas eat together; none of the three intermarry. The surnames of the Maratha Bhois, to whom the following particulars apply, are Bhokre, Dage, Gholap, Jadav, Kamble, Musle, and Povar; families bearing the same surname do not intermarry. The names in common use among men are Bapu, Dagadu, Ganoji, Gopal,and Kashiram; and among women, Dhondi, Ganga, Kashi, Lakshmi, Parvati, and Savitri. They are generally dark, strong, and middle-sized. The men wear the top-knot, moustache, and whiskers, but not the beard. Their home tongue is Marathi. Their houses are poor. Their house goods include metal and earthen cooking and water vessels, fishing nets, blankets, and perhaps a cot, a cradle, a box, and some she-goats. Their staple food is millet, fish, and pulse. Whenever they can afford it, they eat the flesh of sheep, goats, hare, deer,' and fowls, and drink liquor. Both men and women dress like Maratha Kunbis. They are hardworking, hospitable, and orderly, but dirty, and the women are quarrelsome. They are fishers, husbandmen, and labourers. They worship the usual Brahmanic and local gods and goddesses. 

Their family deities are Khandoba of Jejuri, Bhavani of Tuljapur, and Bahiroba Mhasoba and Satvai whose shrines are in the Konkan. Their priests are Deshasth Brahmans who officiate at their marriages. Their religious guides are the slit-eared or Kanphate Gosavis, whom they call Bavas. For her first lying-in a girl generally goes to her parents' house. On the fifth day after the birth, on a grindstone in the lying-in room, the midwife places river sand, pieces of nivdung or prickly-pear, rui leaves, and the knife with which the child's navel cord was cut; she also lays near it cooked rice, pulse, and mutton. On the door of the room she draws seven lines with a piece of charcoal and lays wet gram in front of the lines. In the evening five married men are asked to dine, and a fishing net is spread round the mother's cot to net the evil spirits that may try to go into the room to steal the child. The mother is impure for ten days. On the morning of the eleventh, her clothes are washed and the house is cowdunged. The mother sets five pebbles outside of the house, and lays rice pulse and cakes before them. Five married men are feasted. On the evening of the twelfth day the elder women of the house, in the presence of neighbour women, lay the child in a cradle and give it a name which is chosen by its parents or other elders of the family They cut a boy's hair for the first time between his sixth month and his third year. The maternal uncle seats the boy on his knee, cuts a few hairs, and puts them in a cocoa-kernel, and lays the kernel before the house gods. The barber shaves the boy's head leaving only the top-knot. The cocoa-kernel and the hair are thrown into a river or a pool. 

They marry their boys between sixteen and twenty-five and their girls between ten and sixteen. Except that at the marriage time they make the boy and girl stand face to face in bamboo baskets, their marriage customs are the same as those of Kunbi Marathas. 

They burn their dead. The pebble or life-stone, with which at the pile the water jar is broken, is tied in a piece of cloth near the deceased's door for ten days and is then thrown into water. So long as the life-stone is tied to the door the family consider themselves in mourning. On the third day the chief mourner goes to the burning ground, sprinkles milk curds butter cow's urine and dung on the ashes of the dead, and throws the ashes into water. He sprinkles cowdung and water on the spot where the body was burnt, and places two dough-cakes where the head lay and one where the feet lay, he leaves flowers and turmeric, bathes, and goes home. He rubs the shoulders of the corpse-hewers with oil and feasts them. On the tenth day he goes to the burning ground with eleven dough balls, throws ten in water, and sets the eleventh, for crows to eat. He does not return home till a crow has touched the ball. On the thirteenth, castefellows are asked to feast on fish mutton and cakes, and they present the chief mourner with a white cloth which he folds round his head and goes to the temple nearest his house. Bhois hold caste councils. A few send their boys to school, but as a class they are poor and show no signs of rising.

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Satara District Gazetteer (1884))

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Uchlia's, [From materials supplied by Mr. S. Kyte, Police Inspector of Poona City.] or Lifters, also called Bha'mta's and Gantha'chors that is Bundle-thieves, probably number about 2000. They are found in Bhimthadi, Haveli, Khed, and Sirur. The nucleus of the Poona Uchlias seems to have come from the Telugu districts either of Madras or of the Nizam's country. Their home speech is a broken Telugu, and many of their names have a southern or eastern form. They are found spread through the Deccan, the Berars, Gujarat, and other parts of Western India. They have no idea when and why they left their native country and no memory of having belonged to any other class of Hindus. Some, apparently correctly, state that they have been living in villages round Poona for four or five generations. The Poona Uchlia though called Bhamtas, are not true Bhamtas. The proper Bhamtas come not from the east or south-east but from the north. They are of Rajput descent. Their features are regular and pleasing, their skin is fair, and they an, generally well-made, sturdy, and active. They adopt many disguises. Even in their own villages, one dresses as a Marwar Vani, another as a Gujarat Shravak or Jain, a third as a Brahman, a fourth as a Rajput. They keep to some particular disguise for years and often travel hundreds of miles entering and stealing from the houses of the class of people whose dress they adopt. They sometimes give a false name for themselves and their village and take service with a merchant or trader of the caste to which they profess to belong. They act honestly for a time and take advantage of their employer's trust in them to make away with some large amount of property. Sometimes two or three Bhamtas visit a large fair and go to the river-side which is crowded with bathers and worshippers. One of the party dresses as a Brahman. He chooses a spot near the person whom he means to rob and while washing and repeating verses keeps his eye on the ornament he intends to steal. When the chance comes he moves close to the ornament and begins to spread out a cloth to dry. When he is near enough he catches the ornament in his toes, drags it with him, and buries it in the sand some distance off. The accomplices who are in waiting, walk close bye, loiter about for a time, and move on. When his victim misses his ornament and raises an outcry the Bhamta questions and grieves with him. He points out the accomplices and says he noticed them loitering about, perhaps it may be as well to look after them. The victim starts in pursuit, and the Bhamta digs the ornament out of the sand and makes off. At these holy bathing places women generally tie their ornaments in a bundle or put them in a box and sit close bye and take their meals. When they see a woman sitting with a bundle close to her a couple of Bhamtas come up. One of them walks close to the woman, the other stops a few yards off and sits down as if to ease himself. The woman turns in the other direction and the comrade whips off the bundle and buries it in the sand. If a Bhamta is caught nothing is found and he has to be set free.

The city of Poona is infested with Uchlias or southern Bhamtas. They are also found in the villages round Poona chiefly in Vadgav, Bhatgav, Karja, Phugya's Vadi, Pabal, Bopudi, Kanersar, Kondve, Mundhav, Talegaon, and Dhamari. Their numbers vary as some of them are always on their travels. A rough estimate of the Uchlias of these villages gives about 250 at Vadgav, 200 at Bhatgav, 150 at Karja, 75 at Phugyachivadi, 300 at Pabal, 50 at Bopudi, 150 at Kanersar, 20 at Kondve, 50 at Mundhav, 75 at Telegaon, and about 100 at Dhamari, or a total strength of about 1420. All Poona Uchlias belong to one of two clans, Gaikvad and Jadhav. Except such low castes as Mangs, Mhars, Chambhars, Dhors, Buruds, and Telis, Uchlias admit all Hindus and Musalmans. In well known cases, Brahmans, Marwar Vanis, Sonars, Shimpis, and other upper and middle class Hindus have joined the Uchlias. If a good-caste Hindu or a Musalman wishes to become an Uchlia he makes a friend of some leading member of the caste and tells him that he wishes to become an Uchlia. If the Uchlia cares to have the candidate as a member of his family he takes him himself or he makes him over to any person who cares to have him. The candidate passes through two ceremonies, admission to the caste and adoption into a family of the caste. If an Uchlia who is a Jadhav takes the man who is to be initiated into his family, the new-comer claims to be and becomes a Jadhav; if the new-comer is taken into a Gaikvad family he claims to be and becomes a Gaikvad. They cannot explain how they came to be divided into Gaikvads and Jadhavs. Their forefathers, they say, may have been Maratha members of those two clans, or they may have taken service with Gaikvad and Jadhav Maratha chiefs and adopted their patrons' clan names. When an Uchlia agrees to adopt an outsider he calls a caste meeting and tells the castemen that if they allow the outsider to become an Uchlia he will adopt him into his family. The castemen fix the admission fee which generally varies from �1 10s. to �2 10s. (Rs. 15-25) and retire. Next day musicians are called, the candidate is bathed and dressed in new clothes, and, in proof of admission into the caste, one of the elders, without repeating any text or verse, drops turmeric and sugar into the candidate's mouth. A feast follows during which two or three of the caste elders sit with the novice and eat from the same plate with him. This completes the admission ceremony. Unless the new member is adopted into some family no Uchlia will give him his daughter in marriage. If the new-comer is adopted by a Jadhav a Gaikvad will give him his daughter, and if a Gaikvad adopts him he will get a wife from the Jadhavs, for Uchlias of the same clan-name may not intermarry. The adoption ceremony is performed by the person who adopts. He calls the caste to his house and in their presence seats the new-comer on his knee. The caste elders drop a pinch of turmeric powder or bhandar into his mouth and each of the other guests drops a little sugar into his mouth. Music is played and the guests retire with betel and leaves.

The names in common use among men are Bapu, Chinapa, Chandrya, Dolya, Dhagya, Ellapa, Gidapa, Gitu, Kushanna, Manku, Mukirya, Marya, Nathya, Phakirya, Parashya, Rama, Satpa, Satva, and Siralya; and among women Aku, Bhagi, Dolu, Dhondi, Elli, Jogi, Mukti, Mari, Manki, Navli, Rai, Rami, Rakhmi, Saki, Satvi, and Tuki. The Poona Uchlias are dark and of a Telugu or Dravid cast of face. People who know them say that their bodies are stiff from frequent beatings and that the water has been drained out of their eyes so that they cannot shed a tear. They have this saying regarding Uchlias because, even when caught in the act of thieving, no amount of kicking or slippering will draw a tear from the eye or a word from the tongue of an Uchlia except a profession of innocence.

The men wear the topknot, moustache, and whiskers, and sometimes a lock of hair over each ear. None wear the beard. Their home speech is a corrupt Telugu mixed with Marathi. No is lera, bread is impal, split-pulse papu, vegetables kura, butter nei, a turban talbata, a coat angi, the face nor, the nose muku, the lips lota, and the hair antkal. Why do you run is Yaduparav, Have you work to do Phani undaya, Are you going to dinner Impadati nimpaye, Don't get angry Siti gadak, What have yon brought Demti sakinasti, Have you forgot a rupee Rupayachi kaya. They live in houses built of stone or brick with tiled roofs. Some have two-storeyed houses and generally their dwellings are as good as those of an average villager. Their houses are clean. Their house goods include copper and brass vessels of which they have more than enough for their wants. Some have only a few boxes and a grindstone and earthen pots piled one on the other in which they keep grain and condiments. An ordinary country-made cot with a carpet and pillow and bedding is their sleeping furniture. They keep cows buffaloes, ponies, fowls, and hogs, and cowdung their houses once a week on Tuesdays, Fridays, or Sundays. When rich and successful they make no show of wealth. Their aim is to seem fairly off, so as neither to attract the special notice of the police nor to arouse the jealousy of their neighbours. They eat the usual kinds of animal food including the flesh both of the tame pig and of the wild boar. They rear pigs. Each Uchlia keeps a few pigs within walled enclosures or straying about the village. Pork is not used at caste feasts nor on religious or festive occasions it is kept as a delicacy for small feasts. They catch wild pig either by noosing them or with the help of dogs. When the pig is secured its legs are tied and it is killed either by stoning or by blows of a club below the ear. It is roasted over a slow fire, skinned, cut in small pieces, and served with salt and chillies. They never kill the cow and never eat its flesh. They drink liquor to excess. Their staple food is millet bread, vegetables, and spices. A family of five spends 12s. to 16s.(Rs.6-8) a month on food. Their only feasts are in honour of marriages when they make cakes of sugar and oil. They copy the dress and manners of the villagers among whom they live, so that strangers may take them for ordinary husbandmen. The men wear a coat, waistcloth, shouldercloth, shoes, and a loosely folded Maratha turban. The men's ornaments are the earrings called kudki and bali, the necklace called kanthi, the wristlet called kade, and the waistband called kaddora. The women dress like Maratha women in a bodice with a back and short sleeves, and a full robe whose skirt corner is drawn back between the feet. They mark their brows with redpowder but do not wear false hair or deck their heads with flowers. They have clothes in store for big days worth �2 to �3 (Rs. 20-30). The women's jewelry includes ear, nose, neck, arm, feet, and toe ornaments, worth �1 to �2 (Rs. 10-20). The Uchlias show an honourable loyalty to one another. They never rob each other or tell on each other. If the police find stolen property in an Uchlia's house and the property does not belong to the owner of the house, the real Uchlia owner will come forward and take the blame on himself. Another rule they are careful to keep is that if an Uchlia manages to escape from prison he must not come back among his friends lest he should bring them into trouble. An Uchlia is never guilty of housebreaking or of gang-robbery with arms. These forms of crime he leaves to the Mangs and Ramoshis. If an Uchlia takes part in an armed gang robbery he is at once put out of caste. They are professional thieves and pocket-slitters, stealing between sunrise and sunset. They do not rob or steal after nightfall. They will not steal from a man when he is asleep in a house nor will they steal by breaking into a house at night. At fairs and other large gatherings they mix with the crowd and thieve. They are not particular as to what they steal. They pick an ornament off the wearer's body either by cutting it or opening it. They slip it away so light-fingeredly that some time passes before the owner knows that his ornament is gone. A favourite find is a bundle in front of a booth, laid down by some one close by, whose energies are centered in beating the booth-keeper in bargaining. However poor and unpromising the bundle the Uchlia does not despise it. His principle is to neglect nothing that fortune throws in his way. Before a party of Uchlias start on a thieving trip they consult and follow the advice of their headman who is called Patil or Thelungya, apparently the head of the thal or sthal that is the camping ground, for the Uchlias used to be wanderers. On their return they hand him an eighth of the spoil or two annas in the rupee. If everything goes well and the theft is not traced the headman spends his share on a caste feast with plenty of liquor, or if one of the thieves is caught the headman's share is spent on feeing a pleader to defend the accused. Sundays and Tuesdays are bad days for thieving; Uchlas often let them pass without attempting a theft. If any friend of the tribe happens to be robbed he will get his property back if he satisfies the headman that he has befriended some one of the tribe. The man's plea of friendship is laid before a jury or panchayat. The jury will not admit the plea unless one of the tribe comes forward and declares that the claimant is a friend of the tribe. If some one comes forward the property is handed to the claimant, and the thief's loss is made good from public funds. Their code of honour is extremely high. Any breach of loyalty, any tale-telling against a brother Uchlia meets with the sharpest punishment. If one Uchlia charges another with telling against him the headman calls the caste men together. The accused is brought before the meeting and asked what he has done. If he can prove that the man he told was a friend of the tribe, even though the friend may be a constable, no notice is taken. If the tale-bearing is traced to spite, ill will, or jealousy, the informer is forced to pay the value of the property stolen and is marked as a traitor. If the accused denies that he told any one his innocence is tested by the oil-caldron or tel-kadai. Before the heads of the caste agree to refer the dispute to the oil caldron they make the accused enter into a written agreement that if the ordeal proves him a traitor, he will pay a fine to be fixed by the head of the caste. The fine is generally heavy, sometimes as much as �100 (Rs. 1000). When the caste-leaders agree to refer the matter to the caldron they ask a potter to make a kadai that is a large earthen caldron with a bowl-shaped body and a broad flat rim. For one kadai the potter is paid as much as 3s. (Rs. 1�). The reason of this high price is that the sacred caldron has to be made with the greatest care. The potter must wash before he begins to make it. He must bake it in a special kiln and see that nothing impure touches it. When the jar is ready the potter send word and the caste-council go to his yard and take it from his hands. The potter does not perform any ceremony on the caldron after it is baked nor does he tie anything round its neck. He is not recognized by the Uchlias as a priest nor does be perform any ceremonies for them in times of cholera. When the jar has been taken to the Uchlia's hamlet a quantity of sesamum-seed or til is brought and seven married women of good character are called They are made to bathe, are dressed in new clothes, and have their brows marked with redpowder, and their arms with turmeric powder. They sit in a line and clean the oil-seed fasting the whole day. When the seed is clean it is handed to the oil-presser or Teli. The oilman is made to wash himself, to clean his mil, and put in a new crusher, and for this he is paid 14s. (Rs. 7). When the oil is crushed the crusher is taken out, broken in pieces, and used as firewood for boiling the oil. The caste-leaders choose some lonely spot at which to hold the ordeal and a large body of the caste perhaps fifty friends of the accused and fifty friends of the accuser, both men and women, go to the spot accompanied by the accused, the umpires, and music. When the spot is reached the accused is seated by himself fasting in a tent or booth. A fire is kindled, the caldron is set on the fire, and the oil, which is never less than ten pounds (5 shers), is poured in. When the oil begins to boil the accused is called. He comes from the tent with music accompanied by the umpires. When the accused comes out of the tent, he bathes, but worships no god nor is any image of any god put near the caldron. When the accused comes close to the boiling caldron a round stone of the size of a pigeon's egg is dropped into the oil. The accused calls in a lond voice, ' If I have spoken the truth may the oil be to me as milk.' The accuser answers in a loud voice, ' If he has told a lie may the boiling oil be to him as fire or as worse than fire.' The accused plunges his arm into the oil and draws out the stone. He shows the stone to the head of the caste and throws it behind his own back. The fire is allowed to burn out and the accused is led to his tent and watched to see if he is suffering. After twenty-four hours the caste-leaders call on him to wash his hand with cow's urine, cowdung, and sand. When his hand has been washed it is closely examined. If it has taken no harm the accused is acquitted and brought back to the village. If the accuser is not satisfied that the hand has escaped unhurt a goat is killed and the accused is made to use his hand in pulling off the skin. During the time of the ordeal, which generally lasts ten to fifteen days, the accuser feeds one-half of the company and the accused feeds the other half of the company. At the end the person who wins the ordeal is paid all his expenses by the person who loses, and, at the same time, is presented with a lace-bordered shouldercloth and a turban together worth �12 to �24 (Rs. 120-240). The loser further pays the caste council a fine of �6 (Rs. 60), which is spent on a caste feast. Oil-ordeals come off sometimes twice sometimes as often as ten times in the year according as disputes happen to be many or few. Cases of injury from the boiling oil are rare. The accused almost always comes off unhurt.

Uchlias go thieving in couples or in bands of six to twelve, sometimes all men, sometimes all women, and sometimes half men and half women. They do not wait to strip a victim of all his ornaments. Even if it is a child one ornament only is taken. The stolen property is never kept by the man who stole it. It is at once made over to the thief's partner, and, with the least possible delay, without stipulating any value,' is left by him with some Marwar Vani or Brahman receiver of stolen goods. After a time the Uchlia comes to the receiver and takes what he gives him without a grumble, even though he is paid less than one-tenth of its value. This is the road which leads many a Marwari to wealth. Widows and other women who have no man to support them thieve. Women thieves, sometimes three or four together, attend fairs and big markets. They mark some child with ornaments and watch till the child's parents are in a throng watching a show or driving a bargain. Two or three Uchlia women come pressing up watching the show with their eyes, and, with their hands, or the lancet they carry in their mouths, loosening the ornament. The thief passes the ornament to her friend who makes off while the thief loiters about safe and unconcerned for if she is caught nothing is found. When they see no one about Uchlia women sometimes go into houses and take away clothes left to dry. If they find some one in the house they ask if so-and-so does not live here or where so and so lives. Most of the Uchlias are well-to-do. Almost none are in debt and only the few clumsy-fingered are badly off. In case of need they borrow from Marwar and Gujarat Vanis or from some one of their own caste. If they want money they seldom find it difficult to raise a loan. A few of them are moneylenders, lending money in a quiet way to their fellow-villagers. They have a good middle class social position. They are liked by their neighbour. They never steal from a house in their own village and many of the villagers directly or indirectly share in their gains. They claim and enjoy the standing of respectable Kunbis. Their humble-mindedness and wish to please win the favour of the office-bearers and of the other leading men of the village.

Except that he seldom does any work, the home life of an Uchlia does not differ from that of an ordinary husbandman. The Uchlia's special life begins when he leaves his village for cities, market-towns, or fairs. After a few days' idling in the village one or two of them talk over the next big fair, agree on some thieving programme, and fix how the booty is to be shared. After making what they can out of the fair they generally spend much of their gains on liquor and return half-drunk to their homes. An Uchlia's expenses and his way of living do not differ from those of an ordinary Kunbi. A house costs �5 to �20 (Rs. 50-200) to build and 6d. to 1s. (4-8 as.) a month to rent. Their house goods vary in value from �2 10s. to �5 (Rs. 25-50); and the yearly cost of clothing a family of five varies from �1 10s. to �2 (Rs. 15-20). A birth costs 10s. (Rs. 5), a naming 8s. (Rs. 4), a hair-clipping 4s. to 6s. (Rs. 2-3), a boy's marriage �5 to �10 (Rs. 50-100), a girl's marriage �2 10s. to �5 (Rs. 25-50), a girl's coming of age 10s. to �1 (Rs. 5-10), a pregnancy 6d. to 2s. (Re. � -1), and a death 16s. to �1 4s. (Rs. 8-12). They worship the ordinary Brahmanic gods and goddesses. Their favourite deities are Bahiroba, Bhavani, Khandoba, Mariai, Mhasoba, Vetal, and Yellama; those who worship Bahiroba fast on Friday, those who worship Bhavani on Tuesday, and those who worship Khandoba on Sunday. The Bhavani of Tuljapur and Yellamma of Saundatti are most venerated by the majority of Uchlias. They have no particular form of worship. They visit the ordinary temples of these deities, bathe, and fall at the feet of the god and ask for health and good fortune. Their rites are performed under the guidance of the temple ministrant who gives them holy ashes or udi, and if they have been unsuccessful, advises them to offer a goat, give a feast, or be more regular in visiting the temple. They occasion-ally suffer from spirit-possession. When an Uchlia is attacked by a spirit the patient's friends call any one who is expert in casting out devils. Some Uchlias have a great name as devil-scarers. When one of these exorcists is asked to cure a person who is suffering from a spirit attack, he washes and puts on fresh clothes. He goes to the patient's house and drops in cense or ud into a fire in front of him. The fumes of the incense scare the spirit and make him say who he is and what he wants. If a promise is given that his wishes will be, granted the spirit generally leaves. They make pilgrimages to Alandi, Pandharpur, Jejuri, Bhimashankar, or wherever there is likely to be a crowd. They keep the usual Brahmanic and local fasts and feasts. For five days after the birth of a child the mother is held to be unclean and to make unclean any person or thing she touches. During each of these days the midwife rubs the mother and child with turmeric paste, oil, and scraps of cocoa-kernel bruised on a stone slab, bathes them in warm water, and lays them on bedding spread on the ground instead of on a cot. The time a mother remains apart varies from five days to a fortnight or even three months according to her husband's wish. During this time she is fed on rice and oil. On the fifth day a small silver plate with an embossed image of the goddess Satvai or Mother Sixth is laid in a new winnowing basket and in front of it are placed dry dates, a piece of turmeric root, a bit of dry cocoa-kernel, two betel leaves and a nut, and a little wooden box with redpowder. Some sweet food is laid before the image and all night long a lamp is kept burning before it. From this day the mother may move about the house and do the housework, but in well-to-do families she remains apart for several weeks. Instead of worshipping Satvai in the house on the fifth day some rub the mother's hands and feet with turmeric powder, cover her with a blanket, and take her to the village temple or some other spot where is a stone image of the goddess Satvai. The mother rubs red and turmeric powders on the goddess, offers seven different fruits, and bows before her with joined hands. On the twelfth day female friends and kinswomen are called and the mother and child are bathed and the child is presented with clothes, named, and cradled. The child's name is chosen by relations. Each woman present is given two betel leaves and a nut, a handful of gram, and grains of wheat boiled whole. In the third month the parents of the child with their friends and relations go into a grove or garden outside of the village and worship the goddess Ran Satvai or the Forest Satvai, who lives in seven stones placed under a babhul or gum acacia tree. In the grove or garden they kill a goat, cook it and worship the goddess. The seven stones are marked with turmeric-powder redlead and vermillion, a cocoanut and a pomegranate are set close to them, frankincense is burned, and rice mutton and Indian or Italian millet bread are laid before the stones. The party sit to dinner and when dinner is over return home. What remains of the dinner is generally left in the grove or garden. On returning they sit for a while at the host's house and go to their homes. When a boy or girl is two or three years old its hair is cut for the first time. Most mothers promise to perform a vow in honour of some deity, generally of Satvai, if the child is brought safe through the first two or three years of its life. If the child reaches the age named its parents visit the shrine and pay the vow. On their return they call a barber and he cuts the child's hair. Some goats are slaughtered and the dressed flesh is offered to the deity. The ceremony ends with a caste feast. Uchlia boys are married between ten and twenty and Uchlia girls between seven and sixteen. When a man thinks of marrying his son, his friends and relations go to a family who have a daughter likely to make a suitable match. If they like the girl, they ask her in marriage in the name of the boy's father. If he thinks the match favourable, the girl's father gives an evasive answer, and sends some friends and relations to see the boy. If they approve of the boy, the girl's father sends the boy's father word that he agrees to the march. The boy's parents start for the girl's with music and trays of fruit and betel leaf. At the girl's the caste are met and all the women of the caste rub the girl's forehead with redpowder. The boy's parents present the girl with a suit of clothes and fix the date for the marriage without asking an astrologer. The marriage settlement consists of the boy's father paying �5 (Rs. 50) to the girl's maternal uncle. Besides this the boy's parents have to pay the girl's parents �10 to �20 (Rs. 100-200). Unlike most Poona Hindus Uchlias never consult a Brahman; they never ask Brahmans to officiate at any of their ceremonies. When everything is settled and the marriage day is fixed, the boy's father goes with his party to the girl's village and stays at a janvas-ghar or lodging provided for him by the girl's father. After the boy's party reaches the village, two marriage booths are built, one at the bride's the other at the brides groom's. The booth is covered with a floor cloth, adorned with festoons of mango twigs, and consecrated by breaking a cocoanut and sprinkling rice and curds. On the turmeric-rubbing day a square of rice is traced by the male guests. The bride and bridegroom are made to sit in the square. They are rubbed with turmeric paste, and their brows are decked with flower wreaths. This turmeric-rubbing is repeated five times during the day. During each rubbing a Holar beats a drum and women sing. At six in the evening of the same day the boy goes in procession to the village temple of Maruti. He is then brought to the girl's where the boy and girl bathe in the booth. After their bath they are dressed in new clothes and made to sit on a blanket on a rice-traced square, the bride sitting to the left of the bridegroom. The brows of both are decked with tinsel chaplets and thread bracelets or kankans are bound round their wrists. While they are seated one of the guests asks the girl's father whether he has anything to say against the boy's parents; if he has nothing to say against the boy's parents the girl's father ties together the hems of the bride's and bridegroom's garments. The guests call out words like Nalekhal, telekhal, burekhal, sambandh batak, ichandagara, periyata, apparently, Tamil or Telugu, and throw yellow rice over their heads, and they are husband and wife. Copper coins are waved about their faces and given to the bridegroom's sister or karavli or to the women who sang during the marriage. At night the family deity is taken out of the house shrine and set in the booth, and a drinking pot filled with water is set before it. The mouth of the pot is covered with mango leaves and a cocoanut with an ear of millet is laid over the leaves. The guests and the married couple take their seats in the booth and Gondhalis perform the gondhal dance before the house deity. [A gondhal dance is described at p. 451. There is nothing special in an Uchlia's gondhal.] The Gondhalis sing hymns in praise of the goddess Amba-Bhavani, and amuse the audience with lavanis or love songs and pavadas or ballads. The Gondhalis stay the whole night singing and dancing. About daybreak the bridegroom stands before the house deity, holding a platter with a burning lamp. One by one, the guests wave a copper coin about the bridegroom's face and drop the coin into the platter; 2s. 6d. (Rs. 1) is added and the whole is handed to the Gondhalis. On the same day a feast is given when goats are sacrificed to the family deity and their dressed flesh is served to the guests. After dinner, the bride is hid in a neighbour's house and the bridegroom is made to search for her. When he finds her he lifts her in his arms and with music carries her to the marriage booth. In the booth nearly an hour is spent in watching the boy and girl rub each other with turmeric paste, in untying their thread kankans, and in bathing them. On the third day a caste feast is given and the bridegroom is allowed to return to his village with his bride and party. As the procession crosses the boundary of the bridegroom's village a cocoanut is broken and rice and curds are mixed together and scattered as an offering to evil spirits. His son's wedding costs an Uchlia about �30 (Rs. 300). He presents the girl with the manimangalsutra or luck-giving necklace, gots or silver bracelets, putlyachi mal or a gold coin necklace, todas or silver anklets, and three lugdas or robes of varying value according to the giver's wealth and perhaps each averaging about 16s. (Rs. 8). The girl's father gives the bridegroom a turban worth on an average about 12s. (Rs. 6), a coat worth 4s. (Rs. 2), a waistcloth worth 4s. (Rs. 2), and a pair of Maratha shoes. Uchlias allow widow-marriage and divorce.

When a girl comes of age she is held to be unclean for five days, and is made to sit by herself. During these five days she is fed on sweet dishes brought by her mother. On the fifth day she is bathed and dressed in new clothes. She and her husband are made to sit in a bower of four young plantain trees. When they are seated the boy's father presents the girl with a green robe and bodice, and the girl's father presents the boy with a turban and a waistcloth; and a married woman fills the girl's lap with five halves of cocoa-kernel, five dry dates, turmeric roots, betelnuts, rice, and a bodicecloth, a Holar all the time beating a drum. The ceremony is marked with a feast of wheat cakes stuffed with raw sugar; it costs �2 to �2 10s. (Rs. 20-25).

Uchlias burn the dead. When an Uchlia dies the body is washed and shrouded in a new white cloth. It is sprinkled with red-powder, flowers, and betel leaves, laid on a bier, and carried to the burning ground on the shoulders of four bearers preceded by music and the chief mourner carrying an earthen firepot. When a woman dies before her husband she is dressed in a green robe and bodice, her brow is marked with a horizontal stripe of vermillion, and her head is decked with a network of flowers, and a bit of gold and a packet of betelnut and leaves are put into the dead mouth. Her three ornaments, the galsari or necklace of black glass beads, the nose-ring, and the toe-rings, all three emblems of the married state, are put on and taken off at the burning ground. On their return from the grave the spot where the dead breathed his last is cleansed with cowdung, and sprinkled with sand, and the dead man's favourite food is cooked and laid close bye with a vessel of water. The whole is covered over with a large basket. The food is so arranged that it leaves bare a portion of the sand-strewn floor. Next morning the basket is lifted and if the palm of a hand is found on the sand it is a good omen, for the dead is pleased and from his hand go out blessings to the family. The food is thrown away and the chief mourner's moustache is shaved. When a woman dies in childbirth, rala grains are thrown behind her body as it  is borne to the burning ground, and a nail is driven into the threshold of the house to keep her ghost from coming in. In an ordinary funeral at the time of lifting the bier, the daughter, daughter-in-law, or wife of the deceased waves a lamp round the dead face. Some grains of rice are tied to the skirt of the shroud. This rice is laid on the visava or resting-place where the bier is set down and the bearers change shoulders. When the body is laid on the pyre, the son drops water into the mouth, walks five times round the pyre, and again drops a little water into the mouth by squeezing a wet cloth. He kindles the pyre and sits there with the people who accompanied the funeral till the skull cracks. They then bathe and return home. The children mourn for three days and are held impure. On the third day the son with the four corpse-bearers and other near relations throws the ashes into water, and with a nim twig sprinkles the bearer's shoulders with cow's urine in the belief that the cow-urine eases the aching shoulders. Goats are slain and castemen and women are asked to dine on the river-bank in the burning ground. Before sitting to dinner they offer dressed food to the dead. After dinner all bathe in the river, wash their clothes, and return leaving behind them any food that remains. On the thirteenth day the son or other chief mourner shaves his face. The son makes a rice ball or pind, sets it in a winnowing basket, pours in oil, and with his friends and relations takes it to the burning ground. At the burning ground he makes a lump of earth in a roughly human shape and on the earth figure sets the winnowing basket with the burning lamp in it. Before the image red and scented powders are thrown. At the close of the worship, each person present pours a little water on the rude image and the son leaps into the water and leaves the basket and the ball under water. Next morning a cock is slain in the name of the dead, its flesh is dressed, and laid on a rui tree with some boiled rice as an offering to the crows. After the crows have eaten the company, with the son and other mourners, go to a river, bathe, and return home.

When a man or a woman is charged with adultery the men of the caste meet and hear the evidence. If they consider the guilt of the couple is proved they are taken to a river bank and the man's face and the woman's head are shaved. On the way back the culprits are pelted with balls of cowdung. A large dinner is given at the man's expense and he is made to touch the food before it is served to the caste-people. If the accused denies the charge in the teeth of good evidence an appeal is made to the oil-caldron. The tell-tale ordeal and the adultery ordeal differ in some details. In preparing the adultery oil-caldron the oil-mill is washed with water and rubbed with turmeric powder and vermillion. The bullock which is to drive the mill is made to fast and like the mill is rubbed with turmeric powder and vermillion. Fourteen married women, seven for the man and seven for the woman, fast all day and each drops a handful of sesamum into the mill. The oil-presser is also obliged to fast. While the oil is being pressed the two accused stand near the mill and are asked whether they have committed the crime. They deny, and if their denial is true, oil does not oose from the seed; if what they say is false, oil flows freely. The roller of the mill is split and burnt under a pan and the oil is boiled. When it is boiling a copper coin or a stone is dropped into the oil, and the accused is forced to deny the charge brought against him and to pick out the coin or the stone. The accused is made to sit in a tent and is fed on rice, milk, and maccaroni. If the hand is found unharmed the person is declared innocent and presented with a turban and shouldercloth, and the accuser is made to pay the cost of the ordeal, which generally amounts to �35 (Rs. 350). If the hand is damaged the accused bears the whole cost besides any additional fine the caste-leaders choose to name. From the fine 14s. (Rs. 7) are paid to the Teli or oil-presser and a caste feast is given. When a charge is proved by ordinary evidence the accused parties, though they may deny the charge, are made to give a caste feast. Among the Uchlias the office of headman or thelungya is hereditary. There is also a panch or council chosen by the caste. On marriage and on other festive occasions, the headman gets a turban, uncooked food, and a cocoanut, and a goat's head if a goat is killed. The members of the council are recognized as the caste leaders, but no honours are paid them except giving them the chief seats at caste meetings. Though Mhars, Mangs, Ramoshis, Chambhars, and Buruds are not allowed to join the Uchlias men of these tribes are said occasionally to try to become Uchlias by passing themselves off as Marathas, Shimpis, or other respectable Hindus. If a candidate's caste is challenged the matter is referred to the oil-caldron. Cases are known in which Shimpis, Marwar Vanis, and Brahmans have joined the caste, remained with them, and married Uchla woman. Uchlias will eat from a Brahman, a Maratha, or other good caste Hindu if they are strangers. If a man of one of the latter classes comes and settles among them, they will not eat from him till he has undergone the regular entrance ceremony. Uchlias are not considered impure. In moving about on their thieving trips they never disguise themselves. They travel by rail as far as Madras or Calcutta and often rob their fellow-passengers. At a station an Uchlia watches the passengers. When he sees any likely person with property he buys a ticket for the place the likely passenger is going to. His comrades buy tickets for intermediate stations, choosing a station which the train will reach after dark. If the theft is committed sooner than was intended the Uchlia alights at the first station and makes over the property to his comrade or he takes his seat in a fresh carriage, or he gets out and lets the train go and follows by the next train. In picking or rather slitting pockets the Uchlia uses a small very carefully sharpened sickle-shaped knife. The knife, which is called ullimukh, is carried under the tongue or in the cheek, the flesh being first toughened by carrying a lump of salt in the mouth. An expert pocket-slitter will talk, eat, and sleep with his lancet in his mouth. Uchlias have strict rules to prevent unchastity and adultery among their women. If a married woman is accused of adultery and denies the charge she has to undergo the boiling oil ordeal. One or two cases of this kind take place every year. If the woman confesses the man is called forward, and, according to the woman's cleverness as a thief, he is ordered to pay the woman's husband a fine of �35 to �70 (Rs. 350-700). In such cases the woman continues to live with the adulterer. The husband may if it suits him better wait and receive from the adulterer all his wife's earnings and �35 (Rs. 350) for each child born to him. The husband can also at any time claim �35 to �70 (Rs. 350-700) as damages whatever amount the caste may award him. If an unmarried girl is unchaste she is not allowed to marry one of the caste. A stranger from some other caste who has joined the community may marry her in the irregular or motra fashion. If kinspeople are caught committing incest the woman's head and the man's face are shaved and they are made to sit on a donkey, or they are pelted with balls of cowdung and forced to rum to a river to bathe followed by a hooting band of caste-people. On their way back from the river they are again chased by a hooting crowd. A large pot of food is made ready and touched by the culprits and the contents are eaten by the caste. No fine is levied, but the name mangutia or cut-throat, the worst name which a man can get, sticks to the incestuous for life. Uchlias almost never steal from each other. When one Uchlia steals from another, however small the value of the article stolen, the thief is fined �6 (Rs. 60). The number of Uchlias is yearly increasing. Some, besides pocket-slitting, own fields which they either till themselves or let to husbandmen on the crop-share system. Within the past ten years a few of their boys have begun to attend village schools. Except under compulsion Uchlias are  not likely to give up so safe, respectable, and gainful a calling as pocket-slitting. If the provisions of the Criminal Tribes Act (XXVII of 1871) were enforced against them, the Uchlias might be driven to honest work. Their thieving might also be made more difficult and less profitable by forcing them, whenever they leave their village, to take a passport and report themselves to a police officer when they reach their journey's end.

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Nashik District Gazetteer (1883))

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Bha'ts, or Bards, are returned as numbering 120 and as found wandering all over the district. They belong to two divisions, Maratha and Gujarati Bhats, who eat together but do not intermarry. Maratha Bhats who form the bulk of the Bhat population are like Maratha Kunbis and do not differ from them in dwelling, food, or drink. They are good cooks and moderate eaters. Their staple food is millet bread, pulse, onions, and fish curry. They eat flesh and drink liquor and hemp-water or bhang. Both men and women dress like Maratha Kunbis and have a store of clothes for holiday wear. As a class they are clean, orderly, thrifty, and hospitable. They are hereditary beggars, but some work as masons, others as husbandmen, and many as field labourers or house servants. Bhats are usually asked to join Malis and Kunbis in their thirteenth day death feast. Their duty is to call out the names of those who make presents to the chief mourner. The women mind the house, gather the grain which the villagers give them, watch the fields, and fetch firewood. They are said to be badly off as the villagers are less free than they used to be in their gifts of grain. They rank with Maratha Kunbis and do not differ from them in religion or customs. They worship all Kunbi gods and keep the usual fasts and feasts. They believe in witchcraft and soothsaying. Early marriage polygamy and widow-marriage are allowed and practised, polyandry is unknown. They are bound together by a strong caste feeling, and settle social disputes at meetings of adult castemen. They send their children to school but do not take to new pursuits. They are a falling class.

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Nashik District Gazetteer (1883))

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Satara District Gazetteer (1884))

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Kolhapur District Gazetteer(1886))

Bhangis, or Nightsoil Men, are returned as numbering 128 and as found chiefly in Kolhapur town. They are dark and strongly built, and both at home and abroad speak an incorrect Hindustani. They live in clean one-storeyed houses, and eat better food than other depressed classes. Their staple food is millet, rice, wheat, split pulse, vegetables, and occasionally fish and flesh. They smoke tobacco, hemp, and opium, and drink liquor. In the morning when they go their rounds the men wear tight trousers, a jacket, and a cap. The women wear either the petticoat, open-backed bodice and headscarf, or the robe reaching to the knee with the skirt tightly drawn back between the feet and a small tightfitting bodice with short sleeves and a back. They are generally sluggish, weak, timid, and drunken, but contented and orderly. The men are fond of show and pleasure. When a Bhangi is dressed in his best it is hard to say to what caste he belongs. He wears a white or red turban, a white coat and jacket, and a silk-bordered shouldercloth with a silk handkerchief in his hand. They are scavengers and nightsoil men, cleaning the town from daybreak to ten. They are paid �1 to �1 4s. (Rs.10-12) a month. In religion they are half Musalmans half Hindus, repeating prayers from the Kuran and at the same time worshipping Hindu gods. They rank as the lowest of all Hindu castes- Their social disputes are settled at caste meetings. They do not send their children to school, and show no signs of bettering their condition. [Details of Bhangis are given in the Poona Satistical Account.]

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Nashik District Gazetteer (1883))

Other Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Satara District Gazetteer (1884))

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Ba'rutgars, or Firework-makers, are found in small numbers in Poona and in some of the larger towns. They are mixed Hindu converts, converted according to their own account by Aurangzib. The men take the title of Shaikh. They are either tall or of middle height, and dark or olive-skinned. The men shave the head, wear the beard full, and dress either in a turban or a headscarf, a waistcoat, and a pair of tight trousers or a waistcloth. The women wear the Hindu robe and bodice, and neither appear in public nor add to the family income. Under native rule firework-makers were in great demand and highly respected and were sometimes rewarded by the grant of lands. During the last sixty years the demand for fireworks has greatly declined. Many have become soldiers and constables, and others farmers and petty hardware dealers. A few continue to make the fireworks which are in demand at Hindu and Musalman marriages and other festivals. They are hardworking, thrifty, and sober, but as a class are badly off. They marry either among themselves or with any of the regular Musalman communities. In religion, they are Sunnis of the Hanafi school, and a few of them are said to be religious and careful to say their prayers. They have no special class organization, and obey the regular Kazi who is both their marriage registrar and settler of social disputes. They seldom send their boys to school and none of them has risen to any high post.

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Ba'gba'ns, or Fruiterers, are found in large numbers in almost all large towns and villages. They are descended from local Kunbis, and ascribe their conversion to Aurangzib. They speak Hindustani among themselves and Marathi with others. The men are tall or of middle height, well-made, and dark. They shave the head, wear the beard either short or full, and dress in a large Hindu turban, a tight-fitting jacket, and a waistcloth. The women, who have the same cast of face as the men, wear the Marathi robe and bodice, appear in public, and help the men in their work. They bear no good name for modesty. Both men and women are neat and clean in their habits. They keep shops in which they sell fruit and vegetables. Of fruit they sell local pomegranates, oranges, figs, watermelons, plantains, guavas, and pomeloes. Of vegetables they sell all sorts of greens, potatoes, peas, French beans, and green spices. They buy their stock from village farmers and bring their purchases home on their bullocks. They are hardworking, thrifty, and sober, and most of them are well-to-do and able to save. They marry only among themselves, and have a well organized union under a chaudhari or headman chosen from the oldest and richest members. He has power to fine any one who breaks the caste rules. They differ from the ordinary Musalmans in eschewing beef, keeping Hindu festivals, and offering vows to Hindu gods. They respect and obey the Kazi whom they employ to register their marriages and sometimes to settle their social disputes. They do not send their boys to school and take to no other pursuits except selling fruit and vegetables. On the whole are a rising class.

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Bhatya'ra's, or Cooks, are found in small numbers in Poona. They are said to be descended from mixed local Hindu classes and trace their conversion to Aurangzib. Their home speech is Hindustani. The men are tall or of middle size, thin, and dark. They shave the head, wear the beard either short or full, and dress in a dirty turban or headscarf, a tight jacket or a shirt, and a pair of tight trousers or a waistcloth. The women have the same cast of face as the men. They wear the Maratha robe and bodice, appear in public, and help the men in cooking. Both men and women are dirty and untidy. They are engaged by Musalmans to cook public dinners, and are paid 2s. to 4s. (Rs. 1-2) to cook for a hundred guests. They have also shops where they sell cooked food including bread, boiled rice, mutton curry, pulse, and vegetables. They have no fixed charges, but, according to their customers' wants, sell quantities worth 3d. to 6d. (2-4 as.). They are lazy and fond of liquor, and, though their earnings are good, are always poorly clad and often scrimped for food. They marry only among themselves, but have no special class organization and no headman. They are Sunnis of the Hanafi school but are seldom religious or careful to say their prayers. They do not send their boys to school. Some take service with Europeans as dressing servants and butlers.