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

Ramoshis [Details from Captain Mackintosh's Papers on Ramoshis (Madras Jour, of Lit. and Sr.(1834) I. are given in the Satara Statistical Account.] or Children of Ram, perhaps originally Ranvasis or forest-dwellers, numbering 16,732, are found over the whole district. The Poona Ramoshis seem to be the outlying northern remains of the great Kanarese and Telugu tribe or group of tribes which are included under the general name of Bedars or Byadarus hunters and woodsmen. They claim to be of the same stock as the Bedars and say that the chief of Shorapur in the Nizam's territory is their head. Besides Ramoshis they are called Naikloks, and those of them who do not eat flesh are styled Rambhakts or devotees of Ram. The division of the Poona Ramoshis into the two clans of Chavans and Jadhavs makes it probable that they have some strain of northern blood, though it is possible that they have been given the name Ramoshi in return for adopting Brahmanism and have styled themselves Chavans and Yadavs because they took service under chiefs of those tribes. In connection with their name the story is told that Ram, the hero of the Ramayan, when driven from his kingdom by his stepmother Kaikaya, went to the forest land south of the Narbada. His brother Bharat who had been raised to the throne by Kaikaya could not bear to part from Ram. He followed Ram to the forest, began to do penance, and made friends with a rough but kindly forest tribe. After Ram's restoration Bharat took the foresters with him to Ayodhya and brought them to the notice of Ram, who appointed them village watchmen and allowed them to be called Ramvanshi or children of Bam. In social position they rank below Kunbis and above Mhars, Mangs, and Dhora. Of the two clans Chavans are considered the higher. On ceremonial occasions the leader or naik of the Chavans takes precedence, and the ceremony cannot go on unless one of the Chavan leaders is present.

The leading Ramoshi surnames are Ajgire, Berje, Bhandekar Bhosle, Chavan, Chukati, Phokne, Gergal, Ghodgar, Gopne, Gudgul Jadhav, Jhavle, Jhaparde, Khirsagar, Konde, Kuluch, Landge Madne, Majane, Rode, Role, Saparde, Shelar, Shinde, Shirke, Vajmare, and Yelmar. In some cases sameness of surname is considered a proof of kinship and is therefore a bar to marriage. This is not always the case. In matters of marriage the test of badge or kinship is not sameness of surname but sameness of devak the family god or guardian that is its badge or crest. Persons with the same devak are brothers and cannot marry. If before a marriage the boy's or the girl's crest is doubtful the matter is referred to and settled by one of the naiks or heads of the tribe. Among Ramoshi the crest or devak is generally some tree or a bunch of the leaves of several trees. No one may eat the fruit of or otherwise use the tree which is his devak. The names used by men are partly Marathi partly Kanarese. The Marathi names among men are Dhondi, Itu, Khandu, Lakshman, Narayan, Narsu, Pandu, Pangya, Tatya, Tukaram, and Tulsiram, the Kanarese names are Nagapa, Shivapa and Yelapa. The women's names are said to be almost all Marathi; the commonest are Aija, Begu, Chaitra, Dhondi, Kondi, Lakshumi, and Rakhma. A Ramoshi can hardly be known froma Kunbi or other middle or low class Maratha-speaking Deccan Hindu. [Like most Hindu castes, especially perhaps fighting castes, Ramoshis are of mixed origin. They allowed Kunbis to join them and many of them took as wives and still keep Kunbi women. Genu Naik.] The features of most are coarse and harsh though many have fine active and well-made bodies. The faces are usually flat and broad, but the skin perhaps from the damp and cool air of the mountains is often fair. The women are seldom handsome, yet some are good-looking and have pleasing faces. They dress the hair every fifteen or twenty days, and as a class are considered chaste. The men wear the top-knot, moustache, and whiskers, and let the beard grow when they have a family dispute. Many live hale and hearty to a great age.

Though Telugu seems to have once been the Ramoshi language they have so generally adopted Marathi that few of them know anything of any other language. They have also a special language which they almost never use except when they are plundering or telling secrets. In this language akul is a betel leaf; adag a trace, as adag gudsal You will leave a trace; adat woman or wife, as Adata childa matisa, Women and children do not tell; ambuj Mang, as Ambuj gudasala ka khogadla, kudmuli isa an okna, Why has the Mang come to our house, give him bread and let him go; aril goldsmith or carpenter; badil a stick; bangad a Vani; bokul a vessel also a hole or opening in the wall as, Bokul ka sitdrpadi, House-breaking or theft; boyali a Ramosni, Ka boyalis, yarvdd ka jdtvad, Well Ramoshis, are you true Ramoshis or Ramoshis only in name; chamgad a Chambhar; chilad a child, as Chiladi ami tumachi, We are your children; ddg property; damal money or silver coin; damalivali rich; devarami a god, the sun or day, as Devaramichi padli God's share, Devaram okndydche To go and see the god, Devaram khugadle The sun is set; gadgali a pot or cocoanut; gadgalivdli a potter; gardhum an ass; gardhumvali a potter, geneli, dates also cocoa-kernel; gereli a hand or leg; as Gereliratul gona Pick up and hit with a stone in the leg; ghummad a pumpkin; godhmal wheat; gon to beat kill or plunder, as Gudus gonayache To plunder a house; Gonle tari yarvad mat isu, naka, Don't tell even if you are beaten or killed; gorel a goat; gudus a house, as Gudusat kakul khogddldy There is a dog in the house, or Gudsat shit dhe ka, Is there a lamp in the house; gudumi a hill, as Gudumila okna Run to the hill; guram a horse; is to take or give, as katul isa Give me the swora; Jatvad tal gudasat khobla an yarvad isa Leave the good turban in the house and take the bad one; jatik or jatvad, good, plentiful, rich, real, or young, as Jatvad ka yarvad Good or bad, rich or poor, high or low, young or old, strong or weak; junnam millet; kadal gram; kadle a key; kadli ornaments; kakul a dog, as Gudasat kakul khogadlay. There is a dog in the house; kam a letter; kan to look at, to tell, to do, as Kanti ka kyabadli, Is he looking at us or sleeping; much kanayachi to commit a theft; kanli eyes; kapad or kapaduli clothes; kat to fasten to the waist, as Katun tdk, Fasten it to the waist; katul a sword; khobal to hide, as Kolchat khobal Hide it under ground; khogad to be, to come, or to sit, as Gudasat kakul khogadlay There is a dog in the house, or Nalkya orid khogadlay The sepoy has come to the village; kodle cock, hatchet, nail, or lock; kolach earth or grain; kolgul a shoe, as Kolgulivar patatyal They will find you out from your shoes; kokanvddya an Englishman or a saheb; kor a blanket, as kor tisakva, Send the blanket; korguli or korpade a shepherd; kos to cut; kudmuli bread, as Kudmuli tagayachi To eat bread; kundal a rabbit; kyabad to sleep as Kanti ka kyabadli, Is he looking at us or sleeping; machulya a Kunbi as Gudus machulyachi kd, pargydchi Does the house belong to a Kunbi or to a Brahman; mat to tell, as Mat isu naka, Don't tell; mekal a she-goat; rnekhum a tiger; menuli fish; mond the penis; mudak an old man; mudkayli a mango; much theft; muchvad a thief; mudod father or mother; mulvad a Musalman; murel a copper coin; nadvad a barber; nakul a nose; nalkya a sepoy, as Phadvadichya gudusamadi nalkya khogadlay patil re patil The sepoy is sitting in the patil's house, take care he will arrest you; netal rice; nedle water, oil, liquor as Nedle tagayache To drink liquor, Nedle tagun yarvad vol You will drink and become foolish; nor mouth; nyan gold; nyanval clarified butter; okan to run away, to come, to go, as Gudumila okna Run towards the hill; orid a village, as Nalkya orid khogadlay The sepoy has come to the village; otukli cowdung cakes; padli a share, as Padli isa amachi Give us our share; pal blood or milk; pdrag a Brahman; paroshi the Ramoshis' language; pat to catch, to arrest, as Patil re patil Take care he will arrest you; phad great as Phad kokanvadya the great saheb; phadvad the headman, as Phadvad pata damali adga, Give the headman some money; phadur village; phakat moonlight; pillad a knife, an arrow; podgya a young goat; pog tobacco; pudkul door, box, or anything made, of wood; pudkuli firewood; pydr, to tell, detection; rai, a dark night as Raichach okna. Run while it is dark; rdtul a stone, as Gereli ratul gana Pick up and hit with a stone in the leg; rond two; saj bajri; gasna to die; shedvad a Mhar; shit fire, a lamp, to burn, as Gudusat shit ahe ka. Is there a lamp in the house ; tal a turban; teru a road; tiskaa to send; tubut a gun; tunkul mutton; tupli hair, moustache, beard; vakat one; yadas to tell as Parag yadasal tela damli adga The Brahman will tell, give him money: yamkal a bone; yarap to fear, to quench as Yarap mat isa Do not fear; Shit yarapli The lamp is out; yarvdd or yerid, bad, poor, little; yedul ox or cow; yenuni ears of grain.

Some live in neat, clean, and well cared for houses like Kunbi,, houses either tiled or thatched, with walls of brick or earth, having a cook-room and one or two sleeping rooms. Others live in miserable huts outside of villages. They have a yard round their houses, in which they stack grass and in the rainy season grow pumpkins, beans, and vegetables. Attached to the house is a shed in which are kept one to six pairs of bullocks, two to four cows, one or two buffaloes, a mare or a horse, and about two hundred sheep. All keep dogs and some keep fighting rams. The well-to-do have a good supply of clothes and copper and brass vessels and a few have guns. They have field servants Rimoshis, Kunbis, or Mhars, and a Dhangar shepherd. Their staple food is millet, pulse, vegetables, curry, and sometimes fish. They occasionally eat rice and their holiday dishes are gram cakes or puranpolis and rice flour balls stuffed with molasses called ladus. Except some vegetarians who are known as Rambhakts or devotees of Ram, they eat the flesh of sheep, goats, and fowls, and of wild pig and several other kinds of game. They never eat cattle or village swine. About once a week they eat mutton either sheep's flesh or goat's flesh, except the devotees of the goddess Bolai who never eat the goat. They feast the caste on mutton and liquor at marriages and when an offender is allowed back into caste. To their birth and death feasts only near relations and friends are asked. Except some scrupulous souls who eat no flesh which has not been killed by a Musalman priest, Ramoshis eat sheep goats and fowls slaughtered by themselves or by a Musalman priest or mulla. As a rule the offerers kill and eat the sheep or fowls which are offered to Khandoba, Bahiroba, Janai and Satvai. They are fond of spirits; both men and women drink, to excess when they can afford it. Formerly they generally drank in the evening before meals, and on Dasara and other holidays they drank at any time of the day. The recent suppression of smuggling and the rise in the price of liquor have done much to check drunkenness. They chew betelnut and leaves, smoke tobacco, and use opium. The men wear the waistcloth or drawers and occasionally a loincloth a turban coat and blanket and carry a stick. The women dress like Kunbi women in the ordinary full robe and bodice. Most of them have a spare suit of rich clothes for holiday wear. They are frequently well dressed wearing gold and silver ornaments. The men wear the earrings called antias, the necklace called kanthi, and strings of Shilemanis or Sulemani. onyxs to keep off spirits and the evil eye, finger rings, and silver belts round the loins. The women wear a nosering, a necklace, silver bangles, anklets called todas, a bedi worn on one leg, and too-rings called ranjodvas on either foot.

When out of work the Ramoshis live by stealing. Even if sevarely beaten, they never confess except to their naik as the proverb says, To Ramoshi ahe, He is a Ramoshi, that is he will never confess. They are very honest among themselves, and do not betray their caste-fellows even at the risk of their lives. Those who have entered Government service have a great regard for their masters and are true to their salt. A much larger number than formerly live by Government service and husbandry, and much fewer by stealing. They are hardworkers both as husbandmen and as robbers and would never like to eat bread earned by others. Their chief calling is Government or private service as watchmen and husbandry. These who are well-to-do lend money. Many are landholders and many work as field labourers in which they are not less skilful than Kunbis. Field labourers are paid either in corn or in cash, the usual rate being 4�. to 6d.(3-4 as.) a day. Many died in the 1876-77 famine. Since then the crops have been good and they are recovering. Many of them owe �5 to �10 (Rs.50-100) generally on account of marriage expenses. According to their credit they pay � a. to � a. the rupee, about two to three per cent, a month. They say they do not eat from the hands of Buruds, Ghadses, Musalmans, Parits, Sonars, Sutars, and Telis, but work together with Kunbis and smoke from the same pipe. They do not touch Mhars or Mangs. Besides Ram, who is the proper object of a Ramoshis adoration, they worship Mlahadev and Ramchandra and say they cannot tell which is greater. Like most Hindus they worship Musalman saints or pirs. In some respects they seem to have an unusual leaning towards Islam saying that they and the Musalmans worship the same god, for what is the difference between Ram and Reim that is Rahim the Merciful. They also respect Vetal and his spirits or mothers, Fringai, Janai, Kalai, Mhaskya, Mukai, Navalai, Tukai, and Vaghya. They believe in fate or kapal, in destiny or daiv, and in chance or nashib. An English tomb in the Loni bills about eight miles east of Poona is called Ram-deval or Ram's temple. An old Ramoshi woman lives at the tomb, pours water over it, keeps a lamp burning near it, and allows no one to visit it who has eaten flesh since the morning. Religious Ramoshis who are called Rambhakts or worshippers of Ram and Krishna never eat flesh. But flesh-eating and non-flesh-eating Ramoshis do not object to eat together or to intermarry. Again some Ramoshis say that Mahadev is their great god, and that the ling is the proper object of worship. They say they were once Lingayats, and, though they sometimes employ Brahmans, that their real priest is a Jangam or Lingayat priest. Since they have taken to flesh-eating, they worship the ling through Khandoba who they say was a Lingayat Vani before he became a god. Khandoba rides on a horse which he shares with two women riders a Vani his wedded wife in front of him, and Banai a Dhangar his mistress behind him. Khandoba once went to a Dhangars' hamlet where lived a beautiful woman named Banai. On seeing each other Khandoba and Banai fell in love, and when the Dhangars came with sticks to drive him away Khandoba caught Banai in his arms, lifted her on his horse, and galloped to Jejuri, where he built a house for Banai near his temple, and there they lived till in time both of them died. The Dhangars are Khandoba's most attached worshippers. They bring stone sheep to Banai, and say Here is a sheep, give us flocks and herds.' As turmeric or bhandar is the vegetable abode of Khandoba the Ramoshis swear by turmeric and hold that no other oath is binding The Ramoshis worship the ox, because it is Shiv's carrier and pay it special honour on the Mondays of Shravan or August-September They worship the horse on Dasara Day in October, and the cobra or nag on Nag-panchmi or the Cobra's Fifth. They worship cows, monkeys because they are Marutis, and crows in Bhadrapad or September-October on the yearly mind-season feast All Souls tide In those days cooked rice is laid on the house-tops and the crows are asked to come, eat, and be satisfied. The Ramoshis keep the ordinary Brahmanic festivals, their chief days being Shimga in March Aprial Gudi-pdva in April, Nagar-panchami in August - September, Dasara in September-October, and Divali in October-November. On the Shimga or Holi full-moon in March-April cakes or puran-polis are eaten, and much liquor is drunk. In the evening each Ramoshi makes a little holi in front of his house. Ten to twenty cowdung cakes are piled in a heap, and in the middle is set a piece of sugar-cane about six inches long, together with a copper coin and five pieces of dry cocoa-kernel. The head of the house takes a water-pot full of water and walks five times round the fire sprinkling water as he goes. The men and boys of the house shout aloud, beat their mouths with the backs of their hands, abuse each other, and the then go to join the rest of the people at the village holi in front of the head man's office at the village cross. The next day is called the dhulvad or dirt day. The people throw filth and dirt at each other, or they take a big pot of water and put earth in it and if they meet a will dressed man they throw earth over him, and ask him to come and play and challenge him to wrestle. The third day is the shenmar or cowdung-pelting day, when cowdung is thrown on all well-dressed persons. They dance all night dressed in women's clothes and sing indecent songs. On the fourth day nothing is done. The fifth day is the colour fifth or rang-panchmi when red dust and water are thrown on all passers-by. After he gets married a Ramoshi generally chooses some Gosavi to be his spiritual teacher. A man generally chooses his father's teacher or if his father's teacher is dead he chooses his disciple and successor. As Gosavis do not marry they are not succeeded by their sons, but they usually keep women and adopt one another's sons. The class is almost entirely recruited from Marathas or Ramoshis who have vowed, that, if they have a child or if their child recovers from sickness, they will make it a Gosavi. When a man wishes to place himself under a spiritual teacher, or, as the phrase is, to make a teacher, he asks the teacher to come to his house. When the teacher comes he kindles the sacrificial fire or hom, and feeds it with hemp, butter, and wheat flour. He reads a few verses out of a sacred book and asks the novice whether he has become his chela or disciple. The boy answers he has, and the teacher tells him to walk as he bids him walk and he will prosper, to tell no falsehood, to give no false evidence, to do no wrong, and not to steal. A quantity of fruit is laid before the teacher who asks the boy to give him the fruit which he likes best. The boy presents the teacher with his favourite fruit and never again eats it. The teacher whispers a verse into the boy's right ear which is called the ear-cleansing or kan-phukne. After this the teacher visits his disciple generally once a year and stays a few days during which he is treated with much respect.

When a child is born, if it is a boy the family rejoice and beat a metal plate; if it is a girl the family grieve and no plate is beaten. Women neighbours, Ramoshis, Kunbis, Dhangars, Gavlis, and Kolis and even Mhars and Mangs, pour potfuls of water in front of the house door. The navel cord is cut by a midwife who generally belongs to their own caste; and the child and mother are bathed and laid on a cot. On the fifth day a grindstone is worshipped; an arrow or a needle is stuck in a millet stalk, and, with a knife and a lighted earthen lamp, is set in the mother's room; and the men and women keep awake the whole night. They do not consider the mother unclean. On the twelfth day either five or seven pebbles are laid in a row on the road-side in front of the house, and turmeric, redpowder, and flowers are dropped over them. The child is brought out and set in front of the pebbles and is made to bow before them. Some women, including the Ramoshi women who poured water over the threshold on the first day, are asked to the house. Any Mhar or Mang woman who helped on the fifth day brings handfuls of millet and in return is given four or five wheat balls. The child is then named by a Brahman or a Jangam. If the father can afford it a feast is given in honour of the naming either on the same day or some time after. The mother rests for about five weeks before she goes about her ordinary work. When the child is two or three months old it is taken to the temple of Satvai, Ekai, or some other goddess in a particular village; its head whether it is a boy or a girl is shaved, and the hair is kept in a cocoanut-shell and laid before the goddess. A goat is killed and a dinner is given. Those who cannot afford to go to the goddess' temple perform the ceremony in their own village, keeping the hair and taking it to the goddess on the first opportunity.

Ramoshis generally marry their girls before they come of age, and their boys between eight and twenty. A wedding generally costs the boy's father �10 to �20 (Rs. 100-200) and the girl's father about the same, though a poor man may marry his daughter for �1 to �2 (Rs. 10-20). When he has a boy growing up and can raise money enough to meet the cost of his wedding, a Ramoshi looks about among his castepeople for a family which has a girl of a suitable age for his son. When he has found a suitable match, he starts for the house with one or two men and women. When they arrive they tell the head of the house that they have come to ask his daughter in marriage for their son. The girl's father says, he is willing but that he can fix nothing till he has seen the boy. To show that he favours the match he presents the boy's father and his people with clothes. After a few days the girl's father with one or two men and women, of whom the girl's mother is never one, go to see the boy. They are fed at the boy's house and are presented with clothes. If the girl's father approves of the boy the two fathers go to a Lingayat priest, or if there is no Jangam to a Brahman, who looks in his almanac and writes on two pieces of paper the proper day for the turmeric-rubbing and the day and hour for the wedding. The two fathers take the papers and go to their homes. On the day fixed for betrothal the boy's father takes a few jewels, a robe, a bodice, a sash, redpowder, a cocoanut, about a pound of sugar, and a rupee, and, with five or six friends, goes to the girl's house. After refreshments the boy's father seats the girl on his knee, puts sugar in her mouth, and presents her with the clothes. The girl dresses herself in the clothes, and, after rubbing her brow with redpowder, sits near the boy's father, who fills her lap with five pieces of cocoa-kernel and sugar. To seal the contract the boy's father lays a rupee on the girl's brow. Her father takes the rupee and the boy's father presents the guests with betelnut and leaves and goes home. In well-to-do families, music plays while the betrothal is going on. One to four years generally pass between betrothal and marriage, the boy's father giving the girl a yearly present of clothes. When he is able to meet the cost of the marriage, the boy's father goes to the girl's father and asks him to let the marriage take place. If the girl's father is unable to meet his share of the cost the boy's father with one or two friends goes to the girl's house and settles what amount is required. After a few days he again goes to the girl's house with one or two friends and advances her father the promised sum. A few days after arrangements have been made to meet the cost of the wedding, the parents of the boy and girl go together to a Brahman, explain the object of their visit, and tell him the names of the boy and girl. The Brahman consults his almanac, makes calculations, end writes on a piece of paper their names, the month day and hour at which the marriage should take place, and the name of the woman who is to begin the ceremony. He touches the paper with redpowder, and makes it over to the girl's father, who hands it to the boy's father. The boy's father asks and Brahman says on what day the turmeric-rubbing should take place, and names the women who should rub the turmeric. Shortly before the day fixed by the Brahman marriage booths are built at both the boy's and the girl's houses. On the turmeric-rubbing day the boy's female relations meet at his father's, pour turmeric powder into a metal plate, and mix it with water. The boy is stripped naked, and, while the musicians play, the woman who was named by the Brahman begins to rub the boy with turmeric, and after she has begun the other women join. After being rubbed with turmeric, the boy is bathed and one of the men of his family takes the rest of the turmeric with music to the girl's house. If the two families live thirty or forty miles apart the boy's father buys �d. worth of turmeric and gives it to the girl's father when the Brahman fixes the turmeric day. After the boy and the girl have been rubbed the women of the house make a cloth and a few grains of Indian millet yellow with turmeric, and taking a sprouting, literally a child-bearing, lekruvale, root of turmeric, tie it in the cloth and fasten it round the neck of a stone handmill. Five married women mix wheat, millet, and turmeric, grind them in the same stone handmill into about a pound of flour, and make them into a few cakes. Five ear-bearing plants of Indian millet or javar are dug out of the ground, bound together by a thread, and with the roots covered with earth are set upright near the family gods and daily sprinkled with water. Between the turmeric-rubbing and the wedding the boy and his little sister, if he has a sister or if not some other girl, are feasted by relations and castefellows. At each house to which he is asked the boy is rubbed with turmeric and bathed and sometimes feasted. Then the family gods are worshipped. Four betelnuts, representing the gods Khandoba and Bahiroba and the goddesses Bhavani and Navlai, are rubbed with turmeric. or bhandar and redpowder or kunku, and enough sheep are sacrificed in front of the booth to feast the guests. The next ceremony is consecrating the branches of certain trees as devaks or wedding guardians. During the day on which the animals are sacrificed, the village temple ministrant or gurav cuts leafy branches of the mango Mangifera indica, umbar Ficus glomerata, and jambhul Syzigium jambolanum, and of the rui Calatropis gigantea and shami shrubs, and a few stalks of grass, and sets them in Hanuman's temple. In the evening the boy's father and mother start for Hanuman's temple with music and a party of friends and relations. The boy's mother holds a basket with a hatchet and a cake of flour. The ends of their robes are tied together and fastened to a cloth, which four men of their family hold over their heads as a canopy. On reaching the temple they set a betelnut and five betel leaves before Hanuman and ask his blessing. They then take the branches and the grass and lay them in the basket. When they come home they take the branches and the grass out of the basket, tie them together, and fasten them to the front post of the booth five or six feet from the ground. Early in the evening they feast on the sheep that were sacrificed, and drink liquor. This is the only meal during the wedding at which meat is eaten as the booth is held to be consecrated to the tree branches and marriage gods. After the feast is over there is a dance, when the dancer, with an accompaniment on the samal or drum, tal or cymbals, and tuntune or one-stringed hand-harp, recites stories of celebrated chiefs. During the night the boy's father takes five sugarcanes or five millet stalks and five cakes. The canes are tied together by a loose string, so that when they are set upright on the floor and the lower ends are pulled somewhat apart, the cakes can be hung in the middle. On the floor, immediately below the cakes, some grains of wheat and millet are spread in a square which is divided into four parts by lines drawn from opposite corners. A copper pot filled with water is set on the grain, and a piece of cocoanut and betelnut and betel leaves are laid on the top of the waterpot. The dancer's iron lamp is set near the waterpot and the dancer begins to recite. At the end of the recitation the guests are given some pieces of sugarcane and bread, and the dancer some food and 2s. (Re. 1) incash. The same ceremonies are performed at the girl's house. In addition, either on the wedding or on the day before the wedding, an earthen altar called bahule seven cubits long according to the measurement of the girl's arm, with a step to the east, is raised opposite the entrance to the marriage booth. The village potter brings twenty earthen pots of different sizes, whitewashed, and specked with red green and yellow, with lids on two of them. The potter piles five of these vessels one over the other, and with a lid on the topmost, close to the four corners of the altar opposite the step. The carpenter is called to build a canopy or sabra over the altar. He makes the canopy and is presented with a set of men's clothes. A large earthen water vessel called tanjan is set near the entrance for the use of the guests, and a betelnut is tied in yellow cloth and fastened round the neck of the waterpot. Neither the altar, canopy, nor waterpots are set up in the boy's booth. At the boy's house on the afternoon of the wedding day the bridal party start at and hour fixed so that they may reach Hanuman's temple in the girl's village an hour before sunset. The boy, who is mounted on a horse and holds a dagger in his hand, is dressed in rich red clothes and wears a coronet or bashing of red or yellow paper ornamented with tinsel. He takes a second coronet with him for the girl and starts accompanied by male and female friends or by musicians. When the party reach the girls village the Mhar comes out and waves a lighted lamp before the boy's face and is presented with clothes or a sash or shela. On reaching Hanuman's temple the boy's brother or vardhava, with a few friends and with music, rides on to tell the girl's people that the bridegroom has come. He is asked to dismount and eat a dish of vermicelli or shevaya mixed with milk which is set on a stool before him. While he eats the girl's brother or her sister gently draws the stool away and lets the dish fall on the ground. Then the girl's relations break wafer biscuits or papads over his head and pelt him with the pieces so that he has to retire. After the bestman has been driven from the house, the girl's father, with a party of men and women and with music, goes to Hanuman's temple. He presents the boy with a turban, a sash or shela, and a pair of shoes, and asks him to his house. The boy mounts the horse holding a dagger in his hand, and the groom's maid or karavli, who generally is his younger sister, is seated behind him holding on her head a small copper pot with five ears of millet. Several men of the boy's party hold sticks with bright cloth tied to their ends. The procession moves slowly, the musicians playing, and the women throwing on the boy's head Indian millet steeped in turmeric. At the girl's marriage booth one of the women of her family, with a potful of water on her head, comes to meet the bridegroom. The bride's mother comes out with a wheat flour lamp in a brass plate, and waves it round the bridegroom's face, who presents her with a robe and a bodice. Then a cocoanut is waved round the bridegroom's head and smashed on the ground, leaving the pieces to be taken by the village Mhar. He then dismount and enters the booth followed by the guests. The priest enters the booth after the bridegroom and is presented with the paper fixing the hour for the different ceremonies. He reads it and repeats texts and the musicians play. A Brahman piles two heaps of rice near the altar, and a curtain called Ganga-Jamna is held between the heaps. The bridegroom stands on one heap, facing the west, with a dagger in one hand and a cocoanut in the other, and a relation stands close by holding a naked sword over the boy's head. The girl is brought from the house by her brother or sister, and is made to stand opposite the bridegroom, facing east, slightly bowed, and with her hands joined and held in front. Behind her stands her maternal uncle. Yellow rice is handed to the guests. The Brahman repeats a few verses, and, as soon as the lucky moment comes, the curtain is drawn on one side and the girl gives her right hand to the boy; the guests throw yellow rice over the boy and girl, music plays, and guns are fired. The boy sits on the heap of rice on which the girl stood, and the girl sits on the heap on which the boy stood, and the ceremony ends by handing the guests betelnut and leaves. The Brahman passes a thread four times round the neck and shoulder, and four times round the waist of the bride and bridegroom, and is paid a few pence to a few shillings (�-� anna to Rs. 3-4) according to the family's means. Then the Brahman breaks the thread which he wound round the bride and bridegroom's necks. He steeps it in turmeric water, twists it, and ties a sprouting or bachevala turmeric to it, and fastens it to the boy's right wrist. The thread that was wound round their waists he twists and fastens round the girl's right wrist, and warns them that so long as the turmeric is round their wrists they must eat no flesh. The girl's father places the lucky necklace or mangalsutra of three or four yellow threads and two gold and five dark glass beads in the boy's hand, and the boy fastens it round the girl's neck, and two silver toe-rings or jodvis are put on her feet. The next ceremony, which immediately follows the last, is the maiden-giving or kanyadan. A brass plate is brought, and the girl's mother, taking a copper pot full of water, pours the water on the boy's feet and the girl's father washes them. Then the girl's mother lays her head on the boy's feet and tells him that she has made over her daughter to his care. The Brahman is presented with money and tells the boy and girl to seat themselves on the altar. The boy lifts his wife, and resting her on his hip, sets his right foot on the altar step and seats himself on the altar with his wife on his right. Some stalks of surti Citysus cajan, of sonkari Crotolaria juncea, or of jovar are lighted, and the boy throws butter on the fire, while the girl keeps touching his hand with hers in sign that she is helping him. Then the Brahman or some relation ties together the hems of their garments and the boy lifts his wife and walks five times round the fire, and they go into the house and fall before the girl's house gods. They sit down before a brass or silver plate with an embossed face of Khandoba, stretch forward their clasped hands, and bow till their heads touch their hands. While bowing before the gods, the bridegroom stretches out his hands, seizes one of the gods, and hides it under his robe. They come out into the booth and walk once round the altar, keeping the altar on their right, the boy going first and the girl following. When they have finished making the turn, they sit on the altar, the girl on the boy's left. The bride's people come up and demand the god and the boy refuses to part with it till they give him money. The knot in their garments is untied by one of the kinswomen to whom the boy promises a robe or a bodice. The feast to the guests is served in the booth, the boy and his groom's maid or karavli eating on the altar, while the girl dines with the rest of the women in the house. None of them eat till the boy has begun. Before they begin the guests ask the boy 'Have you not got your dinner.' He says 'I have got it.' They say What order have you to give.' He says 'Eat.' While the guests are eating the bride's father and mother move among them to see that all are well served. When the men are finished the women dine and some dinner is sent to the boy's house for his father and mother. Then the girl is called and she and the boy are seated together on the floor In front of them yellow rice is piled in ten or eleven small heaps and a betelnut is put in the middle. The boy is asked to tell his wife's name and he repeats it, Gopi, Gopi, each time touching one of the yellow rice heaps and ending with a loud Gopi and a smart blow on the central nut. Then the girl has to say her husband's name, touch the rice heaps, and come down with a sharp blow on the betel-nut. Then the bride's maids have to mention their husband's name and all the other guests have to name their husband or their wife. The spice of impropriety in this mentioning of husband's and wife's names causes much merriment. After dinner the guests leave, the boy's party going to some house in the village which has been set apart for their use. The boy remains all night in the marriage booth. Next morning the boy and girl with a party of their friends are mounted on the horse on which the boy rode the day before. They stop under some trees and the boy retires and then the girl retires and they come back in procession reaching the house about ten. In the afternoon the girl's mother, with a few kinswomen and the village washerman, goes with music to the boy's lodging to bring him and his relations to the girl's house. When they come near the house the village washerman spreads a sheet on the ground, and the women walk on the sheet, the washerman picking up one sheet and laying it in front of them as they walk. The bridegroom and the men of the party walk at some distance behind. The boy's father, accompanied by a Brahman, takes some clothes, dry dates, jewelry, wheat flour, rice, cocoa-kernel, sugar, betel leaves and nut with him in a copper plate, and seating the boy and girl side by side fills the girl's lap with the clothes and other articles. The relations and other castefellows come towards the bride and bride-groom bringing a few grains of rice in their joined hands and drop the rice on the head of the bridegroom and bride, and, taking a copper coin, wave it round their faces. These coppers become the property of the village gurav who sits close by with a plate. The Brahman is presented with 2s. to 4s. (Rs. 1-2) which is called the booth-fee or mandavkhadani, and presents are given to the patil and others who have claims. Those of the boy's relations who can afford it, present his parents with clothes or money, and the relations of the girl present her parents with clothes according to their means. The girl's father presents the boy with a small copper pot and a plate. The musicians play all this time in front of the booth. Then four metal pots full of water are set so as to make a square outside of the booth. The bride and bridegroom sit in the middle of the four pots on a plank of wood, the boy wearing a cloth or pancha hanging from the waist and the girl an old robe and bodice. Some one takes a brass plate, puts redpowder or kunku on it, pours on water, and lays a betelnut in the water. The bride takes the betelnut and holds it in her clasped hands and the bridegroom lays her hands on the ground and with his left hand tries to force out the nut, which after a short struggle he succeeds in doing. He then holds the nut in his left hand and after a struggle the bride succeeds in forcing it out. These trials of strength cause much merriment among the guests. Then the boy rises, and the girl stands in front of him and he lays his hands on her head and the groom's-maid or karavli throws water over him and the bridesmaid throws water over the bride. Then the bride and bridegroom blow water from their mouths at each other. Then the boy sits down with the edge of a metal plate under his toe, and the girl's brother comes up and pushes him over on his back. The people laugh, but the boy takes no offence as it is all done according to rule. Then the boy gets up and stands with one foot in the metal pot and the other on the stool till fresh clothes are brought. The girl is carried into the house. Then the boy dresses in fresh clothes and goes into the marriage booth and sits on the altar. In the house the girl puts on a green robe or patal and a green bodice and her bridesmaid rubs turmeric on her body. When the turmeric-rubbing is finished the bride draws a cloth over her head like a veil, rubs redpowder on her brow, and ties a mundaval round her head. Then the groom's maid rubs the boy with turmeric as he sits on the altar. He is dressed in a short coat and turban and his brow is marked with red. The marriage coronet is tied to his turban and his feet are rubbed with redpowder. Then the bride comes out and is seated on the altar on her husband's right. Ten or twelve little dough lamps are lighted and placed in the middle of the altar. When they touch the small heaps of rice the bridegroom and bride repeat each other's names. When the naming is over betelnuts and leaves are laid in a plate, and all the party, except the bride, with the bridegroom at its head and with music, go to the village office or chavadi where villagers of every class are gathered. Here the bridegroom formally presents his offering to the head of the village. Then the headman tells his assistant or chaughula to ask the Ramoshi why he has brought the betelnut. The boy's father answers, 'My child is being married, I brought it for the people. What shall I give you to eat'? The assistant says, 'Give a dinner to the village.' If the father is a rich man he feeds the village: if a poor man he pays �1 to �2 (Rs. 10-20); if a pauper he holds up his hands and is allowed to go. Then the headman gives the Ramoshis leave to go and they return to their marriage booth. In the evening all the castepeople are seated and the boy's father gives them betelnut. He asks the guests what dinner he will give them, and says he has pulse and bread. They say,' Pulse and bread are no good. We want four goats, mangoes, rice, and liquor.' The goats are brought to the booth and their throats are cut by a Musalman priest. All eat except the bridegroom and bride who cannot eat flesh because of the turmeric tied to their wrists. When the food is ready and the guests are seated, the liquor is brought and given to the headman or naik, who goes round with the bottle and poors liquor into a leaf cup which is set beside each guest. The host's family follow the headman and lay leaf plates in front of each guest and help them to the different dishes. This dinner is called gav-jevan or the village-feast. The guests often take too much liquor and get quarrelsome, and the girl's father goes to them and begs them not to disgrace his child's wedding by fighting. When the men have finished the women dine and some of them also take liquor. It is a noisy merry scene and goes on till night. Next morning the bride is dressed in a new robe and bodice. A priest is called, a Lingayat priest if possible, and all the people gather in the booth. The boy who holds a rich robe and bodice in his hand and the girl are seated facing the priest and the boy hands the clothes to the priest. Then her bridesmaid carries the girl into the house and her green robe is taken off and the new robe put on. She does not draw the end of the robe over her head, but spreads it across her lap and puts in it five pieces of turmeric, five pieces of cocoa-kernel, and five pieces of betelnut. She also lays in her robe wheat and rice called karanda-phani and ties the ends of her robe at her back. She comes of and sits behind her husband; the priest repeats texts, and the boy and girl are seated on the altar. The ends of their robes are tied together and they go into the house. In the house they fall at the feet of Khandoba, the family god, and the girl's mother gives one plate of vermicelli of shevaya to the bridegroom and another to the bride. They sit together and eat. Meanwhile in the booth the aher or present-giving goes on. A representative of the boy and of the girl sit in front of the priest and the boy's friends give clothes to the boy's representative and the girl's friends to the girl's representative. There is much merry-making. When the present-giving is over, the priest calls 'Kanyadan' or the girl-giving. Then the bride's mother's brother and his wife come with their clothes tied together, and the wife puts a cloth over her head and holds a plate in her hand, and comes before the priest who repeats texts. The boy and girl are called and the boy's toes are put in the plate, water is poured over the boy's toes, and the girl's uncle sips the water and says,' I give you my sister's child. She is now in your keeping, see that you care for her.' The water is thrown away and the girl's sister keeps the plate. The boy's father brings a robe and bodice before the priest who gives them to the girl's maternal aunt. This ends the wedding.

The boy's people should leave the girl's house on the third, the fifth, or the seventh day of a wedding. They should leave on an odd day, not on an even day. The girl's father asks the boy's father to stay but he refuses, and cakes and other eatables are tied up for their use. Before they go all sit in the booth and the boy his mother and father are seated in a row. The girl brings molasses from the house and drops a little into the mouths of the a boy's father and mother. Then the girl's father and after him the girl s mother lift the girl and lay her first in the boy's father's and then in the boy's mother a lap saying, 'She was mine, now she is yours.' When this is over the women guests rise and the women of the boy's party make a rush for the pots which are piled at the corners of the altar, and carry them off, often breaking them in their haste. Then all go to the house where the bridegroom has been lodging and the bride's mother and he make the owner a present. The boy's party start for their village taking with them the bride and one or two of her nearest friends. The bride and bridegroom ride and the rest travel in carts. They start with music which is kept up till they have passed the boundary of the girl's village. On reaching the boundary of the boy's village the boy and girl and one or two attendants stay in the temple of Hanuman and the rest go to the boy's house and make ready pulse and bread. About seven o'clock they bring musicians, set the boy and girl on the horse, and forming a procession go round the village, the householders as they pass offering sugar to the bride and bridegroom. When they reach the boy's house the boy and girl go in together and worship Khandoba the house god. They then come out and two metal pots are brought and the bride's-maid and the groom's-maid wash them in warm water and the marriage mitre is taken off. When they are bathed and dressed the groom's-maid holds a cloth in front of the boy and refuses to let him pass till he promises to marry his child to hers. Then five men come in front of them, each of them holding a betelnut. The boy tells them they must give him the nuts. They say, Why? He answers, ' To feed and clothe my wife.' They agree, but instead of giving them each of them eats his betelnut. Then a dinner of bread and pulse is given to the marriage party. On the fifth day the girl opens the end of her robe and distributes the betelnuts and cocoa-kernel to the people of the house. She draws the end of her robe over her head and on the next day goes back to her father's. A Ramoshi marriage costs �5 to �20 (Rs. 50-200).

Widow-marriage is allowed and practised. Still a feeling of disgrace attaches to widow-marriage. If a woman is left a widow with three or four children she tells her parents she must get another husband. They call a caste meeting and some widower who wishes to avoid the expense of marrying a maiden agrees to marry the widow. He must give her toe-rings, a nose-ring, four bracelets, and a suit of clothes. They are married in the evening by a Lingayat priest who reads in a low tone. Only men attend. It is very unlucky for a married woman to hear any of the service and the neighbour's houses are for the day deserted. A dinner is given to the caste. The husband and wife separate in the evening and do not see each other or any one of the caste for a day. They then live together. If a woman has lost three husbands and wishes to marry a fourth, when the ceremony is being performed, she keeps a cock under her left arm, and the priest reads the ceremony in the name first of the cock and then of the man; so that if the evil in the woman causes a death the cock loses his life, not the fourth husband. [Though the Ramoshis do not admit it, the evil in the woman probably a the spirit of her former husbands, or rather it is the spirit of the first husband who killed numbers two and three for meddling with his property.] The expenses attending a second marriage, which is called motar or pat, including the Brahman's fee and the marriage feast, average �2 to �3 (Rs. 20-30).

When a sick man is on the point of death, the son or some other relation lays the dying man's head on his thigh, and awaits the moment of death. A Jangam or Brahman is sometimes called and presented with alms. After death the body is laid in the veranda, the son sitting close to it. When the bier is ready the body is taken outside of the house and washed, and betelnut, betel leaf, basil leaf, and sometimes a little gold are dropped into the mouth, and the body is laid on the bier. It is covered with a new cloth, to one of the corners of which a handful of rice and a copper coin are tied. The son puts on the father's turban, takes in his hand a pot with burning cowdung cakes, and walks in front of the body never looking back. The unmarried dead are tied to a bamboo not carried on a bier. The burying ground in by itself outside of the village. On the way, the bier is laid on the ground, a few stones are gathered, the rice and the copper which were tied in the cloth are laid under the stones, and the bearers change places, and turn the body so that the head faces the opposite direction from what it faced before. The grave is about five feet deep, two feet broad, and about five feet long. The chief mourner loosens the body from the bier and goes to a neighbouring stream and bathes with his turban on. He then goes to the grave and squeezes one end of the wet turban so that the water drops into the dead mouth. He then breaks the corpse's waist-string, beats his mouth with his hand, and crying aloud comes out of the grave and throws earth over the body and large stones and thorns are laid on the grave. [Some Ramoshis make tombs over their forefathers. They pay a mason �1 to �1 4s. (Rs. 10 - 12) to carve an image of a man or a horse with a weapon in his hand.] The funeral party go to a stream to wash their feet or bathe, and return home each carrying in his hand a few blades of durva grass. On reaching the house, a lamp is shown to them and they sit down and throw the grass on the housetop. Next day all of them go to the grave taking cowdung and urine. The cowdung is spread over the grave and the urine is sprinkled over it, and the grave made clean. The son bathes and fills with water the pot which held fire on the previous day, sets it on his shoulders, and piercing it with five holes lets the water trickle on the ground as he walks round the grave. He dashes the pot on the ground at the head of the grave and calls aloud beating his mouth with his hand. He shaves his head except the top-knot and his face except his eyebrows. Rice is boiled, and each person present lays small balls and a little butter on leaves near the grave. They watch till a crow eats from one of the leaves. Then they go home each carrying a few blades of grass. The mourning lasts for only seven days. Relations are told of the death and come to the house of mourning on the seventh day. A goat is killed and a dinner is given. The four bearers and the chief mourners eat from the same dish. The Jangam or Brahman is given alms including some fruit or vegetable which the chief mourner has determined not to eat during the year in honour of the deceased. The guests give the chief mourner 1s. to 10s. (Rs. �-5) and a new turban is bound round his head.

The Ranioshis have four chiefs or naiks and a head chief or sarnaik. The head chief is a Maratha, Tatia Sahib of the Jadhav clan, who marries with Marathas but comes to Ramoshi weddings. The naiks settle caste disputes and hear charges of breaches of caste rules. The commonest breach of rules is eating with Mhars and Mangs and other classes with whom a Ramoshi ought not to eat. The whole caste ought to be present at the meeting and the four naiks and the sarnaik ought to preside, hear the charge and the answers, and settle the case. The hearing of disputes used to go on for days and the expense of feeding the meeting was met by one of the headmen and recovered from the fines inflicted on offenders which were sometimes as high as �5 to �10 (Rs. 50-100). Such heavy fines are not now levied. The people are poorer and there are seldom big disputes. The heads are still asked to settle disputes about the crests or devdks of different families, and at marriage dinners they distribute the liquor. Otherwise the heads have little power.

They do not send their boys to school. When a child is seven or eight years old he must steal something. If he goes to prison the people are delighted, fall at his feet when he comes out, and are anxious to get him to marry their daughters.

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))

Raddis are returned as numbering thirty and as found only in Poona. [Raddi is said to be a corrupt form of Rotti a Kanarese word meaning the human arm. According to the story the founder of the tribe got the name Rotti the strength of his arms.] They are a Telugu class and say they have come to Poona since the beginning of British rule. They are divided into Pakpak Radis is and Matmat-Radis, who eat together but do not intermarry. Their surnames are Ajalu, Bhoidi, Hamuratbu, Kanelu, Nayadu Pitlobu, and Rajlalu; people bearing the same surname do not intermarry. The names in common use among men are Ashannna Pochauna, Rajanna, Ramanna, Yalanna, and Yankanna, and among women Chinamma, Narsamma, Ponnamma, Rajamma, Shivammaand Yelamma. They look like Telangia and are dark, tall, and muscular. The men wear the top-knot, moustache, and whiskers, but not the beard. Their home speech is Telugu. Their dwellings are like those of other middle-class Hindus one are two storeys high. They keep goats, bullocks, and cows, and their house goods include earthen and metal vessels, boxes, cots, bedding coverlets, blankets, and carpets. Their staple food is millet, rice, wheat, pulse, and vegetables, and occasionally fish, mutton, and liquor. They eat the flesh of the hare and deer, of waterfowls and domestic fowls, of the wild boar, and of the ghorpad or inguana. They prefer sour dishes and are fond of tamarind. They give caste feasts in honour of marriages and deaths, and on Dasara Day in October offer a goat to the goddess Yellamma or Pochamma. They dress like Marathas in a loincloth, a waistcloth or short trousers, a coat or a waistcoat, a shouldercloth, and a turban folded in Maratha fashion. The women dress like Maratha women in a backed and short-sleeved bodice, and a robe the skirt of which they pass back between the feet and tuck into the waistband behind. They tie their hair in a roll at the back of the head and use false hair and adorn their heads with flowers. They are hardworking, sober, even-tempered, and orderly. They are watermen or bhistes, carrying water on the backs of bullocks in leather-bags or pakhals. They are also masons, messengers, grocers, carpenters, cigar-sellers, and day labourers. They are Hindus, and worship the usual Brahmanic gods and goddesses. Their family gods are Mahadev, Bhavani of Kondanpur in the Nizam's country, and Pachamma of Vaderpali in Telangan. Their family priests are Telangan Brahmans who conduct their marriages, but their death ceremonies are conducted by Jangams. They keep the ordinary Brahmanic fasts and feasts and go on pilgrimage to Alandi, Jejuri, Pandharpur, and Benares. Like other Hindus they worship Janai, Jokhai, the cholera goddess Marimma, and Yellamma, and believe in sorcery, witchcraft, soothsaying, omens, lucky and unlucky days, and consult oracles. They worship the goddess Satvai on the fifth day after birth, name the child on the twelfth, and clip a boy's hair before he is three years old. 

They marry their girls before they come of age, and their boys before they are twenty-five. Instead of the boy the girl is taken on the shoulders of her maternal uncle to the boy's house, where the boy and girl are separately anointed with sweet-smelling oil by the barber and his wife, bathed, and dressed. Marriage coronets or bashings are tied to their brows and they are made to stand face to face on two low wooden stools. The priest repeats marriage verses, and when the verses are ended, the boy and girl are husband and wife. Turmeric roots are tied to the right wrists of the boy and girl with cotton and woollen thread and they bow before the house gods. The skirts of the boy's and girl's clothes are tied together, and they drink a mixture of milk and clarified butter. Next day the boy and girl are seated on the shoulders of a barber and washerman who dance to music. After a feast the boy goes in procession with his wife in a carriage to the girl's house. In a swing hung from the beams of the house, a wooden doll is laid and swung by the boy and girl, while women sing songs. The marriage ends with a feast. When she comes of age a girl is seated by herself for twelve days. 

They either bury or burn their dead. They allow widows-marriage and polygamy but not polyandry. They hold caste meetings, and send their boys to school for a short time. As a class they are poor.

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

Raddis are returned as numbering 574 and as found mainly in Gadinglaj. They are believed to have come to the State from the south. Their home speech is Telugu. They are husbandmen and resemble Kunbis in all respects. They are Smarts in religion.

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

Rangrezes, or Dyers, are found in simall numbersin Poona and some of the larger towns. They are of two divisions, descendants of local Hindus of the same name, converted by Aurangzib, and immigrants front Marwar since the beginning of British power. The local dyers speak Hindustani among themselves and Marathi with others; the Marwari immigrants speak Hindustani with a mixture of Marwari words with a Marwari accent. The men of both divisions shave the head and wear beards, but differ in appearance, the Marwaris being taller and stronger built and a little fairer than the local dyers. The women of both classes are delicate and fair. The Marwari women wear a petticoat, a headscarf, and a backless bodice; and the local dyers wear the Marathi robe and bodice. They help the men in their work and appear in public. As a class, the dyers are hardworking, thrifty, and sober, and are generally well-to-do and able to save. They dye turbans, headscarves, and silk and cotton thread charging 1s. to 2s. (Re. �-1) for a turban, 6d. to 1s. (4-8 as.) for a headscarf, and about 4s. (Rs. 2) for forty pounds weight of silk. They dye red, orange, blue, green, and other shades. Their work is constant. Before Musalman and Hindu festivals and during the marriage season they are so busy that they employ people to help them in drying the clothes paying them 6d. (4 as.) a day. They are Sunnis of the Hanafi school, and some of them are religious and careful to say their prayers. They have no special class organization, nor any headman except the Kazi who acts as marriage registrar and settles social disputes. They do not differ in manners and customs from other regular Musalmans and marry with them. They do not send their boys to school nor take to new pursuits. On the whole they are a rising class.

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

Sangars, or Weavers, are returned as numbering 809 and as found over the whole district except in Haveli and Junnar. They gay they know nothing of their origin except that they believe they were once Lingayats and were degraded because they took to fish and flesh-eating and to drinking liquor. Their surnames are Changle, Dhobale, Gajare, Gujare, Hingle, Kachare, and Raut, and families bearing the same surname do not intermarry. The names in common use among men are Amrita, Babaji, Jaloji, Meloji, Raoji, and Sadhu; and among women Gangabai, Gujabai, Ramabai, Saibai, and Baku. They look like Marathas and are dark, strong, and middle-sized. The men wear the top-knot moustache and whiskers, but not the beard The women tie the hair in a knot at the back of the head; they do not wear false hair or dock their heads with flowers. They speak Marathi and live in houses with mud, and brick walls and tiled root's. 

Their house goods include metal and earthen vessels, cots, boxes, and blankets. The men dress like Marathas in a waistcloth, waistcoat, turban, and shoes; and the women in a short-sleeved and backed bodice and a robe hanging like a petticoat. Their staple food is millet, pulse, and vegetables, but when they can afford it they eat fish and flesh and drink liquor. They are dirty, but hardworking, frugal, and orderly. Ail earn their living by blanket-weaving. They work from six to twelve and again from two to lamplight. Their women help in cleaning and spinning the wool and in arranging the warp. A family of five spends 14s. to �1 4s. (Rs. 7-12) a month on food, and about �1 10s. (Rs. 15). a year on clothes. A house costs �10 to �50 (Rs. 100-500) to build. A birth costs 2s. to 10s. (Rs. 1-5), a marriage �2 10s. to �10 (Rs. 25-100), and a death �2 to �2 10s. (Rs. 20-25). They worship the usual Brahmanic and local gods and goddesses. Their family deities are Bhavani of Tuljapur, Janai and Jotiba of Ratnagiri, and Khandoba of Jejuri. Their priests are Deshasth Brahmans who officiate at their marriages. 

They make pilgrimages to Alandi, Jejuri, Pandharpur, and Ratnagiri, and their fasts and feasts are the same as those of Marathas. They believe in sorcery, witchcraft, soothsaying, omens, and lucky and unlucky days, and consult oracles. Their religious guides are Jangams whom they call to officiate at deaths and give a money present. They worship the goddess Satvai on the fifth day after a child is born and name the child on the twelfth, when two married men are asked to dine. Their marriage rites are generally the same as the Maratha rites. They allow child and-widow marriage. They bury their dead and mourn them three days, with rites like those of the Lingayats. They hold caste councils, and send their boys to school for a short time. As a class they are poor.

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

Shimpis, or Tailors, are returned as numbering 8880 and as found over the whole district. They are divided into Chatur Shimpis, Konkani Shimpis, Maratha Shimpis, Namdev Shimpis, Pancham Shimpis, Shravak Shimpis, and Shetval Shimpis, who neither eat together nor intermarry. The following particulars apply to the Shravak or Jain Shimpis. They believe they came into the district upwards of a hundred years ago from Sholapur. They have no surnames. The names in common use among men are Anna, Anantraj, Neminath, Ramlakshman, Shambhavainath, Shantinath, and Tulsiram; and among women Bhimabai, Jinabai, Lakshmi, Padmavati, and Rajarnati. Their home tongue is Marathi. Their houses are lilft those of other middle-class Hindus with walls of brick and tiled roofs. Their chief house goods are metal and earthen cooking and drinking vessels. They are strict vegetarians, their staple food consisting of a millet, pulse, and vegetables. A family of five spends 16s. to �110s. (Rs. 8-15) a month on food. They never dine after dark and do not eat radishes, onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, assafoetida, honey, or clarified butter out of skin jars. he men dress like Marathas and the women do not deck their hair with flowers. The women wear the earrings called bugdias worth �1 to �1 4s. (Rs. 10-12), the nose-ring called nath worth ' �1 (Rs. 10), the necklaces called mangalsutra worth 4s. to 10s. (Rs.2-5) and vajratiks worth 14s. to �1 10s. (Rs. 7-15), and the toe-rings called jodvis worth 10s. to �1 (Rs. 5-10) and viravlyat worth 4s. to 6s. (Rs.2-3). They are tailors, cloth-sellers, sweetmeat makers, and shop-boys, earning 10s. to �1 (Rs. 5-10) a month. A birth costs 4s. to 16s. (Rs. 2 - 8), a boy's marriage �5 to �10 (Rs.50-100), and a girl's �1 to �2 10s. (Rs. 10-25), a girl's, coming of age �1 (Rs. 10), and a death �1 to �1 10s. (Rs. 10-15). They are Jains by religion worshipping the twenty-four Jain saints or Tirthankars, and assert that they worship no Brahmanic gods or goddesses except Balaji. Their priests belong to their own caste The midwife is either a Shravak Shimpi or a Maratha; after a birth if the midwife is a Shimpi she gets glass bangles, if a Maratha she gets Is. to 2s. (Re.�-1) in cash. 

The navel cord is put in an earthen jar and buried somewhere in the house. On the fifth day after a birth they place a stone slab or pata in the mother's room On the slab they lay the knife with which the child's navel cord was cut, a gold or silver mask or tak of the goddess Satvai, and an inkpot paper, and pen. The whole is worshipped and cooked food is offered to it. They consider the mother impure either for twelve days if the child was a boy or for forty days if the child was a girl. At the end of this time they name the child, the name being given by the child's paternal aunt. At some time in the life of a boy between his fifth month and his fifth year his hair is clipped with scissors and five married women are feasted. Their boys are girt with the thread before they are ten. In the morning before a thread-girding the priest bathes the image of Parasnath with curds, milk, honey, sagr, and clarified butter, lays over the image the sacred thread to be worn by the boy, and repeats sacred verses. A metal pot filled with water, and with five betelnuts and a cocoanut in the mouth of it is worshipped, and the water from the pot and that with which the image of Parasnath was washed is sprinkled over the boy's body His brow is marked with sandal, and the sacred thread is fastened round his neck. From this time he becomes a Jain, and is strictly forbidden to eat after lamplight in case he should cause loss insect life. They marry their girls before they come of age, and their boys before they are twenty-five. They first rub turmeric on the girl's body and afterwards on the boy's. At both the boy's and the girl's houses Parasnath's image is bathed with milk, curds, honey, butter, and sugar, and worshipped. The boy starts for the girl's on horseback, and waits at Parasnath's temple in her village. The girl's father goes to the boy and gives him a turban, and lays before the god a packet of betelnut and leaves, and the boy starts for the girl's house. Before entering the house the girl's relations wave over his head cooked rice, curds, and a cocoanut, and throw them away. The boy and girl are married standing face to face on low wooden stools; turmeric roots are tied with a piece of yellow thread to the left wrist of the girl and to the right wrist of the boy, and a sacrificial fire is lit. The skirts of the boy's and girl's clothes are tied together and they bow before the house gods. Next morning either a cocoanut or a betelnut is rubbed with redlead or shendur and worshipped as the god Kshetrapal or the field guardian. The ashes of the sacrificial fire are cooled with milk and a feast is given. In the evening the boy goes with his bride to his parents' house in procession and on the following morning a caste feast is given. This ends the marriage. When a girl comes of age she is seated by herself for four days. On the morning of the fifth day she is dressed in a new robe and bodice and her lap is filled with fruit and wheat. 

They burn the dead. When a Shravak Shimpi is on the point of death sacred books are read and a metal plate on which the' images of the twenty-four Tirthankars are engraved is washed, and the water sprinkled over the sick man's body. When life is gone, if the dead is a man he is dressed in a silk waist- cloth or mukta and rolled in a white sheet; if the dead is a widow she is wrapped in a silk waistcloth or mukta and if a married woman in a yellow robe. Half-way to the burning place the bier is set on the ground, a copper coin, a betelnut, and some rice are laid on the spot, and the bearers change places. They carry the bier to the burning ground where a pile has been raised, and the chief mourner sets fire to the pile. After the body is consumed they return home and mourn ten days, but neither the head nor the moustache of the chief mourner is shaved. On the eleventh they go to the temple of Parasnath, bathe the god, put on new sacred threads, and return home. On the thirteenth day the image of Parasnath is Worshipped in the house of mourning and the chief mourner's brow is marked with sandal. A feast is given to the four corpse-bearers and to near kinspeople and the chief mourner is presented with a turban. They have a headman called chavdhar who settles social disputes. They send their boys to school for a short time, and are 4 steady class.

NAMDEV SHIMPIS say that Namdev, the founder of their caste, sprang from a shell or shimpla which his mother Gonai found in her water-jar when she was filling it by the river side. They believe they came to the Poona district about 150 years ago, from Bidar in the Nizam's country and were known by some other name which they say they have forgotten. A great famine drove them from their homes and they spread over the West Deccan and the Konkan. They have no divisions. The names in common use among men are Ganpati, Keshav, Lakshman, and Ramchandra; and among women A'nandi, A'vdi, Kashi, and Rama. Though generally dark some are fair and regular-featured. The men wear the topknot, and moustache, but neither the beard nor whiskers. The women, who are proverbially handsome, tie their hair in a knot behind the head. Their home tongue is an incorrect Marathi. They own houses with brick walls and tiled roofs. Their daily food is millet, rice, split pulse, and vegetables; and they occasionally eat fish and flesh and drink liquor. They dress like Brahmans except that the women sometimes allow the robe to fall like a petticoat without passing the skirt back between the feet. They are hardworking, quiet, sober, and hospitable, earning their living as tailors, cloth-dealers, writers, moneychangers, cultivators, and labourers. They work from six to ten in the morning and again from twelve to lamplight. They make and sell coats, waistcoats, shirts, trousers, and caps; they are helped by their women and by their children of fifteen and over. They keep ready-made clothes in stock. A ready-made coat according to the quality of the cloth sells at Is. to 2s. 6d. (Rs.�-1 � ); a waistcoat bandi or pairan at 3d, to 7 �d. (2-5 as.); a cap at 1�d. to 6d. (1-4 as.); a chanchi or bag with pockets at 6d. to 2s. (Re. 1/4-1). If the cloth is supplied by the customer, the sewing charges are for a coat 9d. to 2s. 6d. (Re. 3/8-1� ), for a waistcoat 3d. to 1s. (2-8 as.), for a sleeveless jacket 1 �d. to 3d. (1-2 as.), for a pair of trousers 3d. to 2s. (Re. 1/8 -1), for a cap 3d. to 6d. (2-4 as.), for a chanchi or a bag with pockets 3d. to 6d. (2-4 as.). They have slang words for money. 

A rupee is navyanav, eight annas tali, four annas pakari, two annas chahari, one anna poku-dhokle, half an anna avru-dhokale, and a quarter anna dhokla. Two rupees are avru bhurke, three rupees udanu bhurke, four rupees poku bhurke, five rupees mullu bhurke, six rupees sel bhurke, seven rupees peitru bhurke, eight rupees mangi bhurke, nine rupees tevsu bhurke, ten rupees anglu bhurke, eleven rupees epru bhurke, twelve rupees regi bhurke, thirteen rupees tepru bhurke, fourteen rupees chopdu bhurke, fifteen rupees tali bhurke, sixteen rupees koku khauchkate bhurke, seventeen rupees udanu khduchkdte bhurke, eighteen rupees dvaru khauchkate bhurke, nineteen rupees navydnav khduchkdte bhurke, twenty ruees kate bhurke, twenty-one rupees navyanav kate bhurke, twenty-two rupees dvartdn kate bhurke, twenty-three rupees teputdn kdte bhurke, twenty-four rupees chopdutan kate bhurke, twenty-five rupees talitan kate bhurke, twenty-six rupees koku khauch kate tan bhurke, twenty-seven rupees udhanu khauch kate tan bhurke, twenty-eight rupees dvru khauch kate tan bhurke, twenty-nine rupees navydnav khauch kate tan bhurke, thirty rupees tan kate bhurke, thirty-one rupees eprue tan kate bhurke, forty rupees angul khauch kate bhurke, forty one rupees avaru kate navyanav bhurke, fifty rupees tal bhurke, sixty rupees udanu tan kate bhurke, seventy rupees udanu katya angul bhurke, eighty rupees kati khauch biti bhurke, ninety rupees angul khauch biti bhurke, one hundred rupees biti bhurke, one thousand rupees dhakar. They worship the ordinary Brahmanic gods and goddesses. Their chief objects of worship are Bahiroba, Balaji of Giri, Bhavani, Janai, Jotiba, Khandoba, Satvai, and Vithoba. 

Their priests are the ordinary Deshasth Brahmans. They keep the regular Hindu fasts and feasts and go on pilgrimage to Pandharpur and Benares. On the fifth day after the birth of a child on a grindstone in the mother's room an image of Balirama is drawn and on its chest is placed a metal plate or tak with an image of the goddess Satvai impressed on it and they are worshipped by the midwife as house gods are worshipped. At night, outside of the mother's room on the wall near the door, are traced with charcoal two inverted or ultya sultya pictures of the goddess Satvai, and in the mother's room seven perpendicular lines are drawn and worshipped by the midwife. The mother is held impure for ten days and on the twelfth or thirteenth the child is named by the women of the house. The expenses during the first thirteen days vary from �1 to �1 14s. (Rs.10-17). They are Shudras and do not wear the sacred thread. Their (Customs closely resemble those of Marathas. A marriage costs the boy's father �10 to �30 (Rs. 100 - 300) and the girl's father �2 10s. to �20 (Rs. 25 - 200). They allow widow marriage and practise polygamy. They burn their dead spending �1 to �2 (Rs. 10 - 20) on the funeral. They have a caste council and decide disputes at mass meetings of the castemen. They send their boys to school but only for a short time. The use of sewing-machines has much reduced the demand for their work, still as a class they are fairly off.

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

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

Sarvade Joshis are returned as numbering 1623 and as found over the whole district. They cannot tell why they are called Sarvades, or when and why they came into the district. They believe they came about a hundred years ago. Their surnames are Bhosle, Chavan, More, Sinde, and Salunke; persons bearing the same surname cannot intermarry. They look like Marathas; the men are tall, thin, and dark, and wear moustaches and whiskers and occasionally the beard. Their home speech is Marathi. They are wandering beggars and live either in or outside of villages in thatched huts. Their household goods are two or three earthen vessels, a brass dining plate, and a couple of drinking pots. They eat anything that is given them in alms and have no objection to fish and the flesh of goats, sheep, hare, and deer; they seldom drink liquor. The men dress like Marathas, except that their begging coats are rather long. They generally wear a white Maratha turban, waistcloth, and shouldercloth, and Brahman shoes or sandals. When begging they carry a small drum called hudki slung on their back, and an old almanac in their pocket which they do not know how to read. Their women dress like Maratha women and both men and women have no clothes in store and no ornaments. They are a poor, patient, sober, thrifty, and orderly class of beggars, and tell fortunes with great solemnity. They do not admit that they beg. In the Satya Yug they told the gods their fortunes, and what they now get is in reward for this and is not given in charity. They are astrologers and fortune-tellers and travel with their families. They start in the beginning of November and return before May. Before starting on their begging tours they make a low bow their drum or hudki, the bread-winner. Their women and children accompany them on their tours but do not go with them when they beg. They are Shaivs in religion and have house-images of Janai, Jokhai, Elama, and Khandoba. Their priests are Deshasth Brahmans to whom they show great respect, and their fasts and feasts are the same as those of Maratha Kunbis. 

When a child is born a man or woman of the house cuts its navel cord and burys it in the lying-in room along with a copper coin. The coin is afterwards dug out and spent in buying oil to rub on the child's head. On the seventh day a grindstone is laid on the spot where the navel cord is buried, and Indian millet and a betelnut and two leaves are offered to it. The mother and child bow before the stone and retire. Their women do not consider themselves unclean after childbirth. Both boys and girls are named on the twelfth day. When the child is a couple of months old whether it is a boy or a girl they clip its hair with their own hands, but perform no other ceremony. They marry their children whether boys or girls at any age. A marriage costs �1 to �2 (Rs. 10-20) of which 1s. or 1s. 3d. (8-10 as.) go to the priest who marries them. Marriage dinners do not include more than ten or twenty guests and do not cost more than 4s. (Rs. 2). Their women are not kept by themselves when they come of age, and the occasion is not marked by any ceremonies. A month later they are kept by themselves and if married go to live with their husbands. 

They bury their dead and allow the dying to breathe their last on their beds. The chief mourner does not shave his moustache but on the third day near relations go to the burying ground and lay some pinches of earth on the spot where the dead was buried and return home. They mourn seven days and end the mourning with a feast to the four corpse-bearers. On the deceased's death-day a dinner is given to a few near relations and crows, and the Brahman priest is presented with uncooked food or shidha. They have a caste-council and settle social disputes at meetings of the castemen. They do not send their boys to school but teach them their craft from the age of eight. They are daily growing poorer as people are not so liberal as they used to be in giving them alms. They seldom get old clothes or money, and grain is given them by pinches instead of by handfuls. Their prophesies are not believed, and they are driven from the door.

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

SUTARS, or carpenters, found throughout the district but especially  numerous in Nasik, are very useful to husbandmen who pay them a share of their crops. Clean in their habits and a shade fairer than Kunbis they dress like Maratha Brahmans and neither eat animal food nor drink liquor. Almost all are carpenters, finding work and getting good wages in towns and large villages. They worship Khandoba, Bhairoba, Devi, and Vithoba. Their caste disputes are settled by a majority of votes at a mass meeting of the caste-men. [The caste is at present much split into local sections which acknowledge the authority of different councils or panchs.] They send their boys to school, but do not allow them to be taught anything beyond Marathi reading and writing. They are seldom in want of work and are fairly off.

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

Shaikhs in theory take their origin from the three leading Kuraish families, the Sidikis who claim descent from Abu Bakar Sidik, the Farukis who claim descent from Umar-al Faruk, and the Abbasis who claim descent from Abas one of the prophet's nine uncles. As a matter of fact the bulk of the Shaikhs are chiefly if not entirely of local descent. The men take Shaikh or Muhammad before their names, and the women bibi after theirs. They do not differ from Syeds in appearance and like them speak Hindustani at home. The men either shave the head or let the hair grow, and wear full beards. Townsmen dress in a headscarf, a shirt, a waistcoat, a long overcoat, and a pair of loose trousers; and villagers wear either a waistcloth or a pair of tight trousers, and a shirt with, on going out, the addition of a large Hindu turban. Their women are also like Syed women delicate, fair, and well-featured. They wear the Hindu robe and bodice, and except a few elderly women none appear in public or add to the family income. Both men and women are neat and clean in their habits. The men are husbandmen, soldiers, constables, messengers, and servants, and are hardworking and thrifty. They have no special class organization, and marry either among themselves or with any or the leading classes of Musalmans. They are Sunnis of the Hanafi school and are religious and careful to say their prayers. They respect and obey the Kazi and employ him to register their marriages. They teach their children Persian and Marathi, and of late English. Many are employed as clerks and have risen to high posts in the army and police.

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

Tambats, or Coppersmiths, are returned as numbering 1106 and as found over the whole district. They are divided into Konkanis, Panchals, and Gujars, who neither eat together nor intermarry According to their own story the founder of the Konkani coppersmiths was Mundhahu whose history is given in the Kalikapuran. They say they came from the Konkan about a hundred years ago. The names of their chief family stocks or gotras are Angira, Atri, Bharadvaj, Bhrigu, Jamadagni, and Kashyap. Members of the same family stock cannot intermarry. Their surnames are Dandekar, Dese, Kadu, Karde, Lanjekar, Lombare, Phule, Pimpale, Potphode, Salvi, Sapte, and Vadke. Sameness of surname is not a bar to marriage. The names in common use amang men are Ganpat, Hari, Raghoba, Raoji, Savalararn, and Vithoba; and among women Chima, Goda, Kashibai, Lakshmi, and Radha. 

They are of middle stature, stout, and muscular. They are said to suffer from a disease of the bowels called chip of which many of their young children die. They speak Marathi and live in houses of the better sort one or more storeys high with walls of brick and tiled roofs. The furniture includes metal and clay vessels, cots, bedding, boxes, and cradles. They eat fish and flesh, and drink liquor and their staple food is millet and vegetables. They dine in a silk or woollen waistcloth and give feasts of sweet cakes, sugared milk, and rice flour balls. The men and women dress like Deccan Brahmans, the men in a waistcloth, coat, waistcoat, shouldercloth, and turban folded in Deccan Brahman fashion ; and the women in a long full Maratha robe. The names of some of the vessels they make are, for holding water ghdgar hdnria and tapele; for cooking bagune patch; for covering jhakni, rakabi, and shibe ; for plates parath and tarman; for bathing ghangal; for making cakesparat; for drinking gadve and tambe; for storing water jamb, jhari, khodva, nand, panchpatris, phulpatra, rampatra, and vadga; for holding things dabe and karande ; for cups vatya ; for heating water or oil kadhai; for ladles, kaltha, pal, pali, and thavar. They sell brass vessels at 1s. 1�d. (13 as.) and copper vessels at 2s. 6d. (Rs.1�) the pound. They also make small articles, children's toys, combs, inkstands, betel boxes, chairs, tables, cots, cradles, dolls, stools both high and low, and kettles varying in value from 3/4d. to �2 (Rs.⅓ 2-20. They work from early morning and sometimes from before daybreak till noon and again after a short nap from one or two to seven. They employ boys above fifteen and pay them 8s. to 12s. (Rs.4-6) a month without food. They generally work for Marwari Vani and other wholesale dealers and shopkeepers and are paid 1s. to 1s. 6d. (8-12 as.) a day. They also deal in bangles, their women making lac and wire bracelets. They hold themselves as high if not higher in rank than Deshasth Brahmans, and far above Konkanasths, who, they say, are Parashuram's creation. Their women do not help them in their calling. A family of five spends �1 to �1 12s. (Rs. 10 -16) a month on food, and �2 to �3 (Rs. 20-30) a year on dress. A house costs to build �10 to �60 (Rs. 100-600) and to rent 2s. to 4s. (Rs. 1 -2) a month. Their house-hold goods and furniture are worth �7 to �200 (Rs. 70-2000). A birth costs them 10s. to�l (Rs. 5-10), a hair-cutting 6s. to 10s. (Rs. 3-5), a thread-girding �1 to �2 10s. (Rs.10-25), the marriage of a boy �7 10s. to �10 (Rs. 75-100) and of a girl �5 to �7 (Rs.50-70), a girl's coming of age �2 to �3 (Rs. 20-30), and a man's death �1 to �1 12s. (Rs. 10-16), a widow's 16s. to �1 (Rs.8-10), and a married woman's �1 4s. to �1 16s. (Rs.12-18). 

They worship the usual Hindu gods and goddesses. Their family deities are Bahiri, Bhavani, Chandika, Ekvira, Khandoba, Kuvarika, and Mahalakshmi. Their family priests are Deshasth Brahmans whom they call to perform birth, thread-girding, marriage, death, and anniversary ceremonies. They are more given to the worship of goddesses than of gods, and the goddess Kalika is their chief object of worship. They make pilgrimages to Benares, Prayag, Alandi, Pandharpur, and Tuljapur; and keep all Hindu fasts and feasts. They believe in sorcery, witchcraft, soothsaying, omens, and lucky and unlucky days, and consult oracles and numbers. A woman stays at her husband's house for her first confinement. After the child is born the mother is washed from head to foot in warm water. The goddess Satvai is worshipped on the fifth or seventh day after a birth and her image is tied round the child's neck or arm. The mother and the family are impure for ten days. On the twelfth the child is named by some elderly woman. Twelve dough lamps are made. Four of them are set one near each leg of the cradle and cot, one on each side of the mother when she sits near the cot on a low wooden stool, one near the bathing pit, and one near the tulsi plant. Boys have their hair cut with scissors before they are twelve months old, and are girt with the sacred thread before they are eight. They marry their girls before they are ten and their boys before they are twenty. They allow widow marriage, but if a widow chooses she may shave her head, when she is past forty. They have a caste council, and settle social disputes at meetings of the castemen. They send their boys to school. The competition of foreign copper and brass sheets has deprived the Tambats of much of their former trade. As a class they are said not to be prosperous.

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

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

Tha'kurs, or Lords, are returned as numbering 5643 and as found over the whole district, especially in Junnar and Khed. They have no story of their origin and have no memory of any earlier place of abode than Poona. The name suggests that they are a hill-tribe who at some past time were joined by Rajput fugitives and have a strain of Rajput blood. Their surnames are the same as those of Marathas, Gaikwad, Jadhav, Kamble, Shelke, and Shinde. People with the same surname do not intermarry. The names of both men and women are the same as Maratha names. They are a dark somewhat stuuted tribe, but it is often not easy to distinguish a Thakur from a Koli or a West Poona Kunbi. The men wear the top-knot and moustache and some wear whiskers and the beard. Their home tongue is Marathi. They live in small huts with low mud and stone walls and thatched roofs, and have metal and earthen vessels. Their food is jvari, savi, nachni, bajri, fruits, roots, herbs, spices, fish, the flesh of sheep goats hare deer and the wild hog, and liquor. The men wear a loincloth, a waistcloth, a blanket, and a piece of cloth or a Maratha turban wound round the head. The women wear the robe drawn tightly back between the legs and wound round the waist leaving most of the leg bare. They sometimes leave the breast bare and sometimes cover it with a scanty bodice and bead necklaces. Except a, few of the well-to-do who have gold, ornaments, their jewelry is of brass and tin. They are a hardworking people and work as husbandmen and labourers, and gather and sell firewood and hay and sometimes fruits and roots.

They say they worship Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv, and all other Hindu gods, and keep their feasts. Their priests are Deshasth Brahmans. They have great faith in the Tiger god or Vaghya, and beliere in sorcery, witchcraft, soothsaying, omens, and lucky and unlncky days, and consult oracles. On the fifth day after the birth of a child they dip a hand in red-powder water and make the mark of a hand on the wall of the mother's room and worship it offering it a goat or a cock. They name the child on the twelfth day. Their girls are married before they are sixteen and their boys before they are twenty-four. The offer or asking in marriage, magni, comes from the boy's side and is the same as among Marathas. The day before the marriage the boy and girl are rubbed with turmeric at their homes. On the marriage day the boy, either seated on horseback or on foot, goes to the girl's house accompanied by male and female relations, friends, and music. At the girl's house marriage-coronets or bashings are tied round the heads of the boy and girl and they are made to stand face to face and a cloth is held between them. The Brahman priest repeats verses and at the end throws grains of rice over their heads and they are husband and wife. A feast is held and the guests go back to their homes. Next day the boy goes in procession with his wife to his father's and the marriage ceremony ends with a feast. They bury the dead and feed crows in their honour. They have a caste council and decide social disputes at meetings of the castemen. They do not send their boys to school and are poor.

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 (Nashik District Gazetteer (1883))

TIRGULS, found only in Ghandor, are believed to have come from  Poona, Ahmednagar, and Aurangabad. They are honest, orderly, and well-to-do, and are specially skilful in growing the betel vine.

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

Taka'ra's, or Stone-carvers and Quarrymen, are found in large numbers. They are said to be descended from local Hindus of the Dondhphoda or stone-breaking class, and ascribe their conversion to Aurangzib. They speak Hindustani among themselves and Marathi with others. The men are tall or middle-sized, well-made, and dark. They shave the head, wear the beard either short or full, and dress in a large Hindu turban, a tight jacket, and a waistcloth. The women, who are like the men in face, wear the Maratha robe and bodice, and appear in public, but add nothing to the family income. Both men and women are rather dirty and untidy in their habits. The Takaras or stone-masons are hardworking, thrifty, and sober. Of late years their services have not been in much demand. When employed as quarrymen their day's wages vary from 1s. 6d. to 2s. (Re.�-1). Most of them are poor, living almost from hand to mouth. When their work as stone-quarrymen fails, they go about towns and villages roughening grindstones for which they are paid �d. (�a.) each. Many have left their craft and taken to new pursuits, some serving as messengers and servants, others as labourers and carriers, and many of them have left for Bombay and Kolhapur in search of work. They marry among themselves only, but have no special class union and no head. They honour and obey the Kazi who settles social disputes and registers marriages. Unlike the regular Musalmans they eschew beef, offer vows to the Hindu deities Satvai and Mariai, and keep Hindu festivals. Though Sunnis of the Hanafi school, they are seldom religious or careful to say their prayers. Circumcision is their only specially Musalman rite. They do not send their boys to school, and on the whole are falling in number and condition.