The Peoples Of Bombay

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THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

THE PEOPLES

OF BOMBAY

BY

PERCIVAL STRIP

and
OLIVIA STRIP

With illustrations in colour by
RAO BAHADUR M. V. DHURANDHAR, A.M., F.R.S.A.

BOMBAY
THACKER & CO., LTD.

1944

SET AND PRINTED IN INDIA BY
K. R SUDDBR, AT VAKIL AND SONS, PRINTERS,

B A HARD ESTATE, BOMBAY

AND PUBLISHED BY C. MURPHY, MANAGER,
THACKER AND COMPANY, LIMITED, RAMPART ROW, BOMBAY.

PREFACE

BOMBAY with its cosmopolitan population which embraces not only
types of men and women from all over India, but nearly all parts of
the world, presents an ethnographical problem which the new-comer
to its shores finds difficult of solution and his inability to recognise the
various castes, creeds and communities with which he is daily brought
into contact in the course of his work or during his leisure hours, acts
as a set-back to his interest in the various peoples he sees in their national
dress and costumes or if his interest is awakened draws from him a
query to which a spontaneous reply is often difficult. As an aid to a
better understanding of this problem, this unostentatious work, with its
faithfully portrayed characters which form its chief attraction, is
published in the hope that it will supply a long-felt want not only to the
new-comer, but may it be said, to many who have stayed for some time
in the country and find themselves still at a loss to arrive at a full
understanding of its ethnography.

In the descriptive matter which deals with each illustrated character
the authors have made an effort to trace the origin, history, religion,
commercial and other activities of the various communities represented,
but in a limited work of this nature they have not been able to touch more
than superficially on their different phases of life and activities and if
they have erred on any material points, they crave the indulgence of the
tolerant reader in a work which has for its aim no greater ambition,
than just an effort to create an interest and supply the knowledge which
has initiated the necessity for such a publication.

11

The authors are greatly indebted to the artist Rao Bahadur M. V.
Dhurandhar, late Vice-Principal of the School of Art, Bombay, for his
whole-hearted collaboration in this work and for the magnificent
coloured illustrations which he has put up and which in their detail and
perfect characterisation of the different communities of Bombay have
saved the author much trouble in handling it from a literary point.

Note. The individual characters herein portrayed are purely
imaginary and fictitious and are not caricatures of any person living or
deceased and the work in general bears no political significance.

CONTENTS

THE PARSEES 9

THE BRAHMINS ...... 13

THE PRABHUS ...... 16

THE KOLIS 19

THE BHANDARIS 22

THE BHATIAS ...... 25

THE KHOJAS ...... 28

THE BANYAS 31

THE LOHANAS ..... 33

THE BOHRAS .... 35

THE PATHAN ...... 37

THE VAGHRIS ... 39

THE DANCING GIRL ...... 41

THE MARWARIS .... 44

THE SWEEPERS ...... 47

THE PARSKES (old style)
Their advancement in all spheres of life has been phenomenal

THE PARSEES

THE illustrations opposite arc a truthful portrayal of a Parsee gentleman
and lady of the early period and is reminiscent of the day when
education and a desire for creating a sartorial effect as an embellishment
did not find favour as a modernising medium with a race which to-day
is hardly recognisable with these figures in their present mode of life,
dress, education, and material and social advancement.

So many able writers have dealt with the life, work and progress of
the Parsees of Western India, that for the purpose of this work, more
than just a few details in explanation of the accompanying illustrations,
would be considered a presumptuous undertaking. Yet when we consult
literature on the subject, we find much to educate and interest us in a
race of people, which to say the least of it, has within the last century
or less exhibited a wonderful spirit of advancement and a still more
wonderful genius for its adaptability to the most modern ideas,
requirements and accomplishments whether as Educationists, Lawyers,
Doctors, Commercial Magnates, Authors, Painters, Musicians and in
fact in every walk of life which calls for exceptional intellectual qualities
and business acumen. They are expert financiers and in this connection
they have been facetiously referred to as the Jews of India but though
the comparison may be without much truth, there exists a certain
parallelism between the two races in the fact that force of circumstances
in their early history, led them into channels which taught them finance,
for like the Jews, they had to endure religious persecution and having
no country of their own, in order to exist, they had to buy and sell what
others made: they lent them money and financed their enterprises, and
with years of experience and practice in the manipulation of this

JO THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

commodity, they became the great financiers they are to-day. They have
been pioneers of the Mill and other industries which flourish in Bombay
to-day and in the inauguration and inception of which they have, by
their long-sightedness, courage and perseverance given the lie to the old
adage "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread" which undoubtedly
was a condition which faced them in the early stages of their financial
adventures.

Their versatility found scope for genius also in the handicrafts, for
in the latter part of the 8th century they established a reputation for
themselves as shipbuilders for we have it on record that in 1814 a 74-ton
ship built by one Jamsetjee Bomanjee described as a Parsee Master-builder
and the head of the great ship-building firm of Lowjee Wadia and
named the "Mindcn" was used as the Flagship of Admiral Sir Samuel
Hood in which he cruised round to Sumatra and through the
Straits of Malacca. Another ship, a sloop of 74 tons named the "Victor"
also built on the slips of the Bombay Dockyard and described as one of
the most beautiful ships of the period, was navigated by Captain Basil
Hall to England, proving the wonderful sea-worthiness of these locally
built craft.

Another parellelism and one to which we would not probably find
a reference elsewhere may be drawn between the Parsees and that band
of religious enthusiasts known as the Pilgrim Fathers who also to escape
religious persecution, and for the sake of their Faith, left their own
country and sought refuge in a foreign land, with this exception that
the Parsees had through force of circumstances to merge themselves
into the country of their forced adoption and though cherishing the
Faith for which they underwent such hardships, had perforce to
introduce some of the Hindu rituals into their original Zoroastrian form
of worship obviously to placate the Hindu Rulers who had given them
shelter and allowed them other privileges when they first landed on
the shores of India in the 7th Century from their homeland Persia.
These Hindu rituals are still evident in their Thread ceremonies and
marriage customs, especially the placing of the Kumfytm on the

THE PARSEES H

foreheads of the bride and bridegroom and the chanting of some of
their prayers in Sanskrit.

The Parsees, though just a handful numerically, in comparison with
other nations of the world, their population to-day being about
95,000, have shown a wonderful power for consolidation of their forces
and the prevention of disintegration in their ranks while their advance-
ment in all spheres of life has been phenomenal. Nor have we to look far
back to note this change. The wealthier among the Parsccs have always
been known for their lavish hospitality and from very early times have
entertained on a sumptuous scale but if we are to rely on the authenticity
of old records, which often err on the point of accuracy, we read that
as near back as 1860, their fair sex took no part in social functions but
kept themselves in retirement and seclusion which savoured much of
the Purdah system, though they did not actually wear the garment with
which this system is associated, and at such functions only the lady
members among the guests had the privilege of associating with the lady
members of the household in their private apartments. This however
was a self-imposed condition with which, later, the Victorian Age bore
some parellel and gave us the opportunity to view the progress since
made by the fair sex among this progressive community. They appear
to have progressed as rapidly as the mea and to have kept fairly in
stride with them in all matters of education, dress and social advancement
in all spheres of life. They share equally with their men-folk all
pleasures and amenities and actively engage in all social and other
welfare organisations for the advancement, not only of themselves, but
of other communities, thus making their activities of a wide and
catholic nature.

The versatility of the Parsees has led them also into the field of
Sport and they are excellent Cricketers and good exponents of Tennis
but games like Soccer and Rugby do not appeal much to them. Their
loyalty to the person of the King Emperor and the Throne has always
been beyond reproach, and during the Great War and the present they
have offered their services in the fighting ranks and have done much in

12 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

their munificent gifts in money and kind to relieve suffering. They have
also merged themselves into the Volunteer movement and also taken a
leading part in the St. Johns Ambulance Corps and have done much
useful work during the Bombay riots and at other times.

It can confidently be said of the Parsees of the Present day, that
with their inherited wealth, their natural genius for trade, their
versatility and intelligence and last but by no means least, their
munificent and catholic charities, they hold a leading place among all
Communities in the Bombay Presidency.

A BRAHMIN PRIEST
There are a fairly good number of this type

THE BRAHMINS

OF the four great caste divisions into which the Hindus were
originally divided, the Brahmins (Priests) Kshatriyas (Warriors) Vaisyas
(Commercial class) and Sudras (Depressed class) the Brahmins have
always, owing to their hereditary calling, held a position of precedence
in all matters of social and religious observances and being learned in
the Shastras, and cultered, they naturally exercised a great sway over
the illiterate masses of India. The illustration accompanying this
description depicts the Brahmin in his primordial attire and is no
criterion of how he appears to-day to the outside world. The course
of evolution and force of circumstances has compelled him to cast off
the little he wore, for the more he wears to-day and the sartorial effect
thus created, makes it difficult for the best informed of us to distinguish
him in a cosmopolitan crowd as a Brahmin. Perhaps to the student of
History and the keen observer there may be outstanding traits, such as
the contour of his features, the birthmark of his Aryan descent which
gives him his light wheaten complexion, especially if he is from the
Deccan, and his bearing which is generally marked by a dignity of
poise and manner, by which the Brahmin may still be recognised, but
certainly not by his dress.

It is now no longer necessary to visit a Temple and peep into its
sacred precincts to find a Brahmin carrying on his time-honoured
rituals dressed in a saffron-coloured dhotie, his forehead ornamented
with the sacred Kumkum in various shades of colour and design, his
head shaved except for a long tuft of hair on the crown and often
extending down to his shoulders, the upper part of his body bare except
for the sacred thread running from shoulder to waist and forming its

14 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

only adornment, leading a life of segregation to avoid polluting his
sacred person. There are of course a fairly good number of this type
following their hereditary calling and because ethics demand that all
sects should have their spiritual leaders, the Brahmins in their ancestral
role are still a factor in the land, for the many rituals which the Hindus
must observe, cannot be observed without the services of the Brahmins and
those who have been fortunate in still following their hereditary calling,
have enough to occupy them and keep them in comfort and affluence.
Their services must be requisitioned before a marriage can be consum-
mated, for a comparison of the horoscopes of the prospective bride and
bridegroom must be made to see if they are suited to each other in
temperament and other details and whether the union will be a happy
one and if this is found to be so a propitious day has to be fixed for the
marriage ceremony. On the birth of a child the Brahmin is called in
to draw up its horoscope and so in all forms and ceremonies his erudition
in all matters pertaining to the Occult Sciences makes him an
indispensable factor in the lives of a people where superstition and
tradition play so important a part.

The Brahmin whom one meets to-day in the busy thoroughfares
of a cosmopolitan city, where he rubs shoulders with all castes and
creeds, carries no distinguishing mark of his caste of priesthood. He may
be dressed in a dhotie and a long coat reaching down to his knees and
a turban to advertise the fact that he is from the Deccan, the Gujerath
or Madras or he may be seen in the latest European outfit with the
exception of the topee for which he substitutes a small cap of any shade.
The relentless hand of evolution and the rapid march of progress have had
their mark on the Brahmin as they have on all sections of the human race
and this rapid change in things mundane has deprived him of the
security of the cloister and its sequestered life which was his birthright
and has forced him out into the outer world to face its stern realities
and fight for an existence along with the rest of mankind and so to-day
he may be found in all professions of life as Lawyers, Educationists,
Architects, etc., while a great number of them, owing to a natural
aptitude for figures and the desire for a quiet sedentary life, have found

THE BRAHMINS 15

a suitable opening as clerks and accountants in the subordinate services
of Government and in the offices of the Railway companies from which
they have raised themselves to positions of trust and responsibility. They
have also been great leaders of political thought and enthusiastic
reformers.

Of the Brahmin women it may be said without exaggeration that
they are in a class by themselves. Many of them bear the mark of their
Aryan descent in their features and fair skins, and the beautiful contour
of their figures which is enhanced by the cunning folds of the saris in
which they drape themselves, is perhaps the envy of many of their
Western sisters. They are very refined and their inherent modesty and
gentleness of speech and manner add to their gracefulness and charm.
They are unimpeachably moral and are loyal wives and devoted
mothers and to them the welfare of their home and their husbands and
children make up the sum-total of their earthly existence. Frivolities
of any kind make no appeal to their shy and retiring nature, and though
they love home-comforts, they are sedulously clean in their habits of life
and surroundings and on the whole are very happy and contented. Of
late education has done much in the way of their enlightenment and the
Brahmin woman of to-day while losing none of her inborn modesty,
may be seen taking to higher education and to Painting, Literature and
Music as an aid to her inherent accomplishments to more adequately
fit her to take her place in life with her more advanced sisters.

THE PRABHUS

THE illustrations opposite give us a vivid idea of the style of
dress of the men and women who constitute the small community known
as the Prabhus. They belong to the second great division of the Hindu
castes the Shatriyas or Warriors and though to-day being numerically
just a handful compared with other communities, there being no more
than about 4,500 all told, their history and mode of life make interesting
reading. They claim Udaipur in Rajputana as the country of their
origin, and if there is any happiness or contentment in the philosophy
of dreaming on what we were, rather than what we are, then the
Prabhus have a rich store on which to draw from this philosophy.

It seems hardly credible that the quiet, peace-loving and peaceful
community which we see amongst us to-day, have behind them a
glorious record of deeds of valour of which any nation or sect may well
be proud, and though their quiet demeanour shorn of all ostentation
and the peaceful avocations which they follow at the present time, such
as Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Architects, Painters and Artists (among
the latter some of no mean merit but in which they have cultivated
this Art to a point of genius) they certainly do not advertise their former
militant achievements or help to give one an insight into their past glory.
Their nomenclature alone is perhaps to-day the only indication of their
past, the word Prabhu meaning a Lord and their Surnames such as
Jayakar, Kirtikar, Nayak, Dhurandhar, Rane, meaning respectively
The Victorious, The Illustrious, The Leader, The Foremost and The
King Lord.

It may not be widely known that when Mahomed of Ghazni swept

THF, PRABHUS
Their history and mode of life make interesting reading

THE PRABHUS 17

down on India with his Tartar hordes in 1024 A.D. and marched against
the Temple of Somnath, which he eventually sacked, it was the
Prabhus under their martial leader King Bhimdev, who offered a stout
and spirited resistance in defence of their sacred Shrine. The vanquished
Prabhus then retreated and settled in Patan (Gujerath) which has
given its name to one of the two sects of this community the Patane
Prabhus, the other sect being known as the Pathare Prabhus who derive
their apellation from the word Pathar or tableland the Tableland of
Rajputana of which they were the original inhabitants.

On their defeat at Somnath and after many vicissitudes, we next
hear of them as Rulers of Bombay over which they held sway for over
a century. On the advent of the Portuguese they left Bombay instead
of submitting to religious persecution and a change of their religion with
which they were evidently threatened, and took shelter under the
Peshwas of Poona under whom they served under varying conditions
eventually returning to Bombay on the establishment of British rule in
this Presidency. This seems to have been an end to their vacissitudes
and from this time onward they have settled down to their present
avocations, having changed the sword for the pen with perhaps the
consolation that whereas the former had been the means of their glorious
past, the latter has brought its compensation in the way of continued
peace and contentment and last but not least, their accredited wealth,
for the Prabhus are a self-supporting community and have their own
Institutions and Credit Societies which are run without any external aid.

The Prabhu women are the exact prototype of their Aryan sisters
the Brahmins. They dress in the same simple style, have the same
gentleness of speech and manners, are clean in their domestic habits,
exemplary in their morals and of a modest and retiring disposition.
The style of dress of the women of both these castes evidently attracted
the attention of an early European visitor to Bombay in 1812 A.D.
which he very graphically describes in the following words "The dress
of these women consists chiefly of one strip of cloth many yards in
length. This narrow web is wound round the body and limbs with so

J8 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

much propriety that while the most scrupulous delicacy could find
nothing to censure on the score of deficiency of covering, it is arranged
with such innate and judicious taste that even the eye of a sculptor could
hardly wish any of its folds removed." The Prabhu women of the
present age have made full use of the Educational facilities offered them
and have shown much aptitude in the Arts of Painting, Drawing and
Music. The former appears however to be an inherent gift with them,
for almost from infancy the Prabhu girl occupies her time in drawing
colour designs on the floor and walls of her house in delible chalk in
obedience to daily religious observances. It can be said to the credit of
the Prabhu woman that she has followed the chequered career of her
men-folk with commendable fortitude and loyalty and now shares with
them in the proud retrospect of the past and the peaceful and happy
conditions under which the one-time Rulers of Bombay live to-day.

THK KOLIS
They arc declared to have been the earliest colonists

THE KOLIS

THE figure here protrayed and one which may well tempt the
Sculptor into the use of his chisel into modelling therefrom a bronze
statue, is a familiar one to residents of Bombay and typifies the Koli or
fisherman. His attire in which he freely moves about in tramcars, buses
and other means of conveyance, though obviously inclining to no
pretensions in creating a sartorial effect, has nevertheless (in a city which
during the summer months compares favourably with a Turkish
bath and during the Monsoon imposes a compulsory indulgence in a
daily shower bath) an effect of creating a feeling of envy at his immunity
from the discomforts which the vagaries of the Bombay weather impose
on those who are slaves of convention in the matter of dress I And if
the Koli thus argues, he has undoubtedly the right to do so, for long
before our nameless Heptanesia, from which has been evolved the great
and progressive city of Bombay, was known to Western Nations, the
Koli lived and carried on his trade both as an agriculturist and a Toiler
of the Deep and can boast of his connection with this city from about
the year 150 A.D. or earlier. The Koli belongs to one of the few
aboriginal tribes of Dravidian origin which at this period inhabited the
"seven islands" and though nearly two thousand years have passed, he
is still to-day practically the same he then was as he roamed about the
marshy isles of our ancient Heptanesia, eking out an existence on what
the virgin soil yielded in the way of grain and pulse and also what he
was able to get from its surrounding waters by his experience and
ingenuity in using the fishing net, untrammelled by the conventions and
restrictions of a fast approaching civilisation, the dawn of which had
already broken and was slowly but surely spreading over the islands in
the way of new invaders and conquerors of portions of its lands. And

2Q THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

so in the course of evolution the Koli had not only to adapt himself to
changed circumstances but to fight hard to keep himself from being
engulfed by successive waves of invaders.

First came the Hindu conquerors followed by the Mohomedans, who
in their turn were overthrown by the Portuguese under whose sway,
owing to their lack of religious toleration and the zeal of the Jesuit
Fathers and Franciscan Monks, the Kolis are said to have supplied the
greatest number of converts to Roman Catholicism to which creed they
still adhere but their conversion seems to have, in no way affected their
mode of life and manners or advanced their social position or status for
as they were hut-dwellers in the early period of their existence they still
seem, with few exceptions, to favour this form of residence whereever
their settlements are to be seen to-day, in Colaba, Worli, Mazagon or
the near-by suburbs of Bombay. When the British in 1662 came
to possess Bombay, those who had come under the tution of the
Jesuits, contributed largely to the rise and development of Bombay, as
it was from this class that the early British Government drew their
clerical supply and though a few of such hands may have been drawn
from the Koli community there is no evidence of their, to-day, being
engaged in such capacity any longer but seem to have returned to the
call of the sea and the occupation of their primitive ancestors.

The Kolis of Bombay who are with us to-day are from a
clan known as the Meta Kolis as differing from another sect, the Son
Kolis who are residents of the Thana coast and whose occupation,
originally, was agriculture. Of the Meta Kolis it is said that "they are
declared to have been the earliest colonists of our islands and to have
fished in these waters, tilled the soil and worshipped their primeval gods
long before a higher Aryan civilisation left its mark upon the land."

Such is the history of the Kolis of Bombay, many of whom were,
and are to-day in affluent circumstances from the wealth which the
harvest of the deep have given them. Though they profess Christianity
as their religion it seems to be a crude form and appears to be leavened

THE KOLIS 21

in certain ceremonies such as their marriage and funeral rites, with nature
worship which has been inherent in them and has guided their destinies
for centuries past. The Koli woman unlike her Indian sisters, appears
to have set her face against all means of education and other facilities
offered for her social advancement but has contented herself with her
hut habitation and proved herself a worthy companion to her husband
in his arduous profession as a Toiler of the Deep. However, in the
management of domestic affairs the entertainment of guests, the control
of the family purse and the part she takes in conviviality during festive
occasions, during which she claims an equal share with her men
folk in the potion that cheers, she very efficiently emulates the
example of her Newhaven sister.

THE BHANDAR1S

THE type here illustrated depicts one of a community whose origin
as an inhabitant of Bombay is contemporary with the Koli. The
profession of the Bhandaris from time immemorial, and traced back to
a period when with the Agris and the Kolis, they roamed at large over
our Heptanesia quite two thousand years ago has been chiefly that of
palm tree tappers and distillers of liquor, a profession to which they have
held with marvellous tenacity all through the different changes and
vicissitudes to which they, with the Kolis, have passed through these
many centuries. Unlike the Kolis however, the greater part of the
community have, in the course of evolution, sought other avenues of
livilihood and we read that as far back as 1780 A.D. many of the
Bhandaris had forsaken their hereditary calling of palmtree tapping for
other means of livilihood such as Military and Police duties. Since then
however they seem to have penetrated into fresher fields and qualified
for higher and more independent positions and so to-day we find them
as Lawyers, Doctors, Educationists, Merchants and also as clerks and
typists, though a fairly large number of them are still to be found in
their hut settlements in the shelter of the palm-groves at Mahim and
elsewhere, happily carrying on the calling to which they were born in
the dim and misty past.

Those who, unlike the Kolis, have forsaken the beaten path of
heredity and chosen the advantages which a spreading civilisation offered
them, find themselves in an atmosphere wholly distinct from their
humbler brethren and having adapted themselves to changing conditions
in fostering education and other amenities among their ranks are hardly

THK BHANOARIS
Palm tree tappers and distillers of liquor

THE BHANDARIS 23

rcconciliablc with the hut dwellers and many of them hold position of
trust and responsibility and are in affluent circumstances.

The early history of the Bhandaris makes interesting reading and
gives us an insight into the various phases through which, as a
community, they have passed. We find that during the early years of
occupation of this city by the British, the Bhandaris had earned for
themselves a martial reputation for they were then spoken of as "being
bred to arms from their infancy and having courage and fidelity which
may be depended upon and also for their notorious courage and zeal
in the defence of the island when it was invaded by the Sidi." Many of
them, as in the case of the Kolis, were converted by the Portuguese to
Christianity and during the early British rule were formed into a Militia.
The descendants of these early Bhandaris were the first to colonise the
island of Mahim, then known as Madmala or the "Orchard of Cocoa
Palms" and it is said of them, that during the occupation of the island
by the Prabhu lords, they assisted these gentry in the management and
rule of the island. The ancestors of the present hut-dwellers and
Toddy-drawer of Mahim have been credited, by early writers, of being
the first to initiate cultivation in the seven islands and to have introduced
fruit and flower-bearing plants and trees which are to-day the pride
of Bombay.

In conclusion it may be recorded that the Bhandari has the proud
distinction of being descended from the great Mahratta Race mention
of which first appears on a statue dated 100 B.C. and they have again
been referred to in inscriptions in the Karla Caves which date back to
245 B.C. They are the third division of the Race and known as the
occupational class, the first being the Mahratta proper or the Warrior
class and secondly the Kunbi or the cultivator. They claim descent from
the Shatriyas who came into the zenith of their prower in the time of
their leader Shivaji Bhosle (1627-1680) who in 1688 A.D. in a successful
rebellion against the Kingdom of Bijapur finally established the great
Mahratta Empire which was destined to have its fall in 1817 A>. Such

24 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

is the history of the Bhandaris of Bombay who like the Prabhus have
an interesting past on which they look back with no little pride.

The women of the educated class have followed in the wake of
their menfolk along the path of social advancement, while those of the
humble hut dwellers were content, like the Koli women, to share the
frugal fare provided by their husbands from their meagre earnings as
toddy-drawers, a profession which can be truthfully classified under the
head of "Dangerous living" and which to-day under the new order of
things has, after these many years, at last, received its coup de grace.

THE BHATIAS

"Tempora Mutantur, nos et mutamur in Hits" appears to be applicable
to all castes, creeds and professions of the East, for the different types
of men and women whom we see around us to-day have changed so
considerably in their mode and manner of life and even in their forms
of religion, that they are hardly recognisable with their forebears of a
century ago. The Bhatias as shown in the accompanying illustration,
claim their descent from the Rajputs and as such belong to the second
great caste division of the Hindus the Shatriyas. They are the direct
descendants of Shri Krishna the great Yadav King and are also known
as Yaduvanshi.

After the fall of the Yadav Empire which had been established in
Shaorashtra or what is now known as Kathiawar, a rapid disintegration
of the dynasty appears to have set in. The Yadavs then migrated to
the Punjab and established a kingdom at Jaisalmer and from which
some of the Bhatias those who eventually settled permanently in
Bombay came down about 400 years ago to Cutch and merged
themselves into a new religion, the Vaishnav Guru Mahabrahbhu,
thereby eschewing all meat diet and becoming strict vegetarians. Some
of them went across to Sind and though calling themselves Vaishnavites
continued to be omnivorous in their dietary habits. The vegetarian
Bhatias from Cutch and Halar settled in Bombay about the year 1860
A.D. Here they appear to have applied themselves to the knowledge
gained during their wanderings as traders and through display of their
shrewd business capabilities became Brokers to some of the large English
Commercial Firms in which capacity many of them still continue and
flourish. They later on, contemporary with the Parsees, became pioneers

26 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

of the Mill industry. They also got a hold on the Cotton trade of
Bombay and some of the more fortunate such as the firms of Thakersec
Muljee, Muljee Jetha and others amassed large fortunes as the result of
which we see to-day the palatial buildings such as the Muljee Jetha
Market, the Goculdas Tejpal Hospital and other institutions which bear
testimony to the opulent condition of the Bhatias of a decade ago. As
a slight diversion here, it is interesting to note that the present Ruler
of Jaisalmer still has in his possession a State Umbrella called the
Meghadambar said to be about 5000 years old and reputed to belong to
Shri Krishna the original founder of the dynasty. It has been handed
down as a family heirloom from the days of Raval Jaisal the first Ruler
of the State of Jaisalmer founded by him in 1156 A.D.

There seems to be a psychological trait in this community in common
with some others closely allied to it. Whether through pride of race
or a highly developed latent genius for commercial adaptability more
probably the latter the Bhatias have not followed the line of least
resistance in earning their livilihood by taking up subordinate positions
as clerks or following avocations which have demanded service to others,
but have chosen the more arduous task of paddling their own canoe by
keeping themselves strictly to trade and commerce.

As a religious sect they are faithful to the teachings of their preceptor
Vaishnav Maharaj and are devotees of the god Krishna to pay homage
to whom, they make periodical pilgrimages to the sacred shrines at
Muttra and Dwarka. They are polygamous and can marry as many
as four wives but this seems to be more the exception than the rule at
present.

The Bhatia women are mostly orthodox in their manner of life and
confine themselves chiefly to their homes and their domestic duties
which though commendable in itself, paradoxically creates an anomaly
in this present age of general advancement. This orthodoxy acts as a
brake to their advancement in education and other social amenities and
unlike their other Eastern sisters they take no interest in the Fine Arts

THE BHATIAS 27

nor are they interested in public affairs, but seem to live strictly domes-
ticated lives and reap their happiness from the fruits of the labours of
their wealthy lords and masters.

THE KHOJAS

THE Khojas of the type here represented are a familiar figure of
Bombay life and their history is interesting in comparison with the
castes and creeds that form the population of the Bombay Presidency.
Known in the early days of their existence as the "Secret Sect" and
smacking then of a mysterious origin as Hindu converts to the Islamic
Faith, the early history of the Khojas is reminiscent of the early days
of Christianity and the shelter and security which the Catacombs afforded
to the early Christians, appears to have been assimilated by this newly
formed sect in holding their religious meetings in secret places to ensure
the same immunity from religious persecution in cherishing the new
Faith to which a goodly number of the Hindus of Gujerath had seceded
from the faith of thek Hindu forefathers due to the missionary zeal and
activities of one Pir Satgur, the first Mohomedan Missionary who came
to India from Persia and settled in Patan (Gujerath) in the year 1180 A.D.
He was followed in 1430 AX), by one Pir Sadruddin who converted the
Hindu Lohanas of the Gujerath to the Islamic Faith and the Khojas
of Bombay who to-day form not an insignificant factor among the
Communities of this Presidency, are the direct descendents of these
Lohana converts.

They consider themselves the real Khojas and are the followers of
the Aga Khan whose fame and popularity are too well known the
world over to admit of further reference here. In passing however it
is of interest to know that the first Aga Khan, Hasanali Shah came to
India in 1840 A.D. from Persia where he had been Governor of Kermain
but had to leave the country owing to intrigues. He first settled in
Karachi but since the year 1845 the headquarters of the Aga Khan have

THE KHOJAS
They are the followers of the

Khan

THE KHOJAS 29

been in Bombay. The followers of the Aga Khan belong to the Shiah
denomination of the Islamic religion but some of them in 1866 seceded
from this sect and adopted the tenets of the Sunni Faith. There was
another schism in the year 1902 when a section of the Khojas left the
original fold and called themselves Khoja Ashna-Asharies. This new
sect differ from the original Khojas in the belief that there are only 12
Imam (Prophet?) while the latter maintain that there are 48 Imams
including the present Aga Khan.

Whatever their small differences on religious points may be the
Khoja Community as a whole are a respectable, intelligent, hard-working
class and confine themselves chiefly to trade and commerce which is
their natural inheritance, and in which they hold their own against
other communities. They also follow the avocations of Doctors, Lawyers,
Educationists, Architects etc. in which many of them have excelled.
Like the Bhatias they eschew all positions which place them in the
category of employees and prefer to carry on their own business and
depend on their inherent. initiative and business acumen as merchants,
traders and shopkeepers to support themselves and their families. They
also interest themselves in public affairs and have adapted themselves
to modern views and requirements in domestic and social matters in
which they have advanced with the times and without prejudice to their
religious tenets and observances to which they are devoted to a point
of fanaticism and in this, as proselytes to an adopted Faith, they may
be said to be an example to other sects and communities.

They have established Schools and Orphanages where their girls
receive modern education and though the elder generation of their
women-folk may be inclined to conservative and orthodox views, the
rising generation are adapting themselves to the requirements of the
times by taking an interest in higher studies and in Music, Painting and
other Arts which carry them well beyond just their domestic obligations
in social and other amenities. In general however they are reserved and
modest in their manner and bearing and their home-life and devotion
and loyalty to their husbands and children take precedence in their

30 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

everyday mode of life. In their social and religious activities the Khoja
women enjoy greater freedom of action as they do not conform to the
Purdah system like their other Islamic sisters.

THE B/VNYAS
The lighter side o/ life and its frivolities have no appeal to them

THE BANYAS

THE illustration here portrays the Banya who belongs to the third
of the four great castes of India known as the Vaisyas or the commercial
class. The Banyas hail principally from the Gujerath and appear to
have first established themselves in Bombay about the year 1677 when
The Honourable Gerald Aungier, Governor of Bombay (16694677)
anxious to advance the importance of this city after the seat of Govern-
ment had been removed here from Surat, invited men of all trades and
professions to take up their permanent residence in Bombay offering
them every facility, security and encouragement in the lawful pursuit
of their various callings and in this respect entered into a compact
with the Banyas in paticular, who then, it is said, virtually represented
all castes and creeds in the island, granting them complete immunity
from all interference in their religious rites and ceremonies and social
customs. Since then the Banyas have lived here in peace and security, the
majority following their ancestral calling as traders. As wholesale
merchants and petty dealers in grains and cereals of all descriptions they
have undoubtedly established a monopoly in the city as is evident from
the grocers shops dotted through the length and breadth of the place.
The Banyas, as a rule, are a quiet peace-loving community and carry on
trade in friendly rivalry. They are seldom or never, except as servants
to their own community, to be found working in any subordinate
capacity and as such fittingly personify the Poet's ideal expressed in the
line "Happy is he born and taught who serveth not another's will"!
Though the majority seem to follow their ancestral calling, many of them
are well educated and have branched off into other channels of livelihood
becoming Share and Stock Brokers, Mill owners and Agents and not a
few among them are financial magnates, in which they have found ample

32 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

scope for their inherent skill and business acumen. Their religion is
Jainism and they are for the most part, strict vegetarians in regard
to their diet.

Being orthodox in their life and manners, the lighter side of life
and its frivolities have no appeal to them; they do not however eschew
education and all the benefits that accrue therefrom. Their women
at one time also strictly orthodox and extremely retiring in disposition
and mode of life, have within recent years, left the shelter of the hearth
and the privacy of home-life which was for all ages their birthright and
have sailed out on to the rough sea of life and share with their
enlightened husbands and brothers the vicissitudes of its depth and
shallows.

A LOHANA
Once a martial race

THE LOHANAS

THE accompanying illustration is of the Lohana. The term Lohana
comes from Lava who was the son of Rama, the hero of the Indian Epic
describing the lives of Rama and Sita. The Lohanas claim descent
from a branch of the Rajputs known as the Rathors. Their original
home was in the Punjab. Being driven out from there by the Muslims
they fled to Sind and in the 13th century many of them migrated to
Cutch which has since been their adopted home. As their origin
indicates, they were once a martial race like the Bhatias whom they
resemble in many ways such as in their marriage customs and other
ceremonies. Their history too runs on parallel lines with theirs in its
vicissitudes and as their fortunes declined owing to stress of circumstances
they reliquished the sword for more peaceful avocations. When in the
height of their power as a militant race they are reputed to have led an
arm against the powerful King of Kanauj whom they defeated and then
established themselves in Multan Punjab. When disintegration set in
among their ranks, those that fled to Sind merged themselves among
the Amils with whom they inter-married. Many of them embraced the
Sikh religion. Those that migrated to Cutch and Gujrath became
Hindus. Thus it is that the Sind Lohanas are flesh eaters but the Cutch
Lohanas are strict vegetarians. The Gujerathi Lohanas indulge in
Polygamy but polyandry is not permitted in any of their branches.

Like many of the other castes and creeds that have been attracted
to this great cosmopolitan city owing to the facilities it offers for trade
and commercial enterprise, the Lohanas, from early times, have filtered
into Bombay and have taken up various callings such as traders,
merchants, bankers, grain and cotton dealers and shopkeepers in which

34 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

they have successfully pitted their business acumen and abilities against
their rivals. Though having resigned themselves to these humble and
peaceful avocations they undoubtedly look back with pardonable pride
on their glorious past from which they draw encouragement and
inspiration for their present battle for life.

Many of those on whom Dame Fortune has shed her gracious smile
have exhibited a commendable spirit of benevolence in establishing
special schools for the children of their poorer brethren while others
have built spacious Sanitoria on a charitable basis and have munificently
endowed them for the benefit of the less fortunate of their community.

The Lohana women lead a quiet domesticated life and are seldom to
be found taking part in social activities and pleasures but confine them-
selves mostly to the orbit of their domestic surroundings.

In 1480 A.D. many of the Hindu Lohanas of Gujrath were converted
to the Islamic faith of one Pir Sadruddin, a Mohomedan Missionary
from Persia and are to-day known as the Khojas whose history has been
dealt with earlier.

A BOHRA

They hold their ousn in shrewdness and enterprise against all
traders in Western India

THE BOHRAS

THE accompanying illustration is that of the Bohra. Like the
Khojas, the Bohras are the descendants of Hindu converts to Islam.
They are comprised of two religious sects known as the Shias and the
Sunnis. The Shias were converted by one Abdulla, a Muslim missionary
who came to India from Yemen about the end of the llth century.
In 1588 A.D. there was a schism in the community resulting in the
formation of a sub-sect known as the Dawoodi Bohras because they
became followers of one Dawood Bin Kutubshah in preference to
Suleman whom the minority followed. The origin of the term Bohra
is uncertain but appears to have been derived from a Gujrathi word
meaning Trader. The Dawoodi Bohras have been described as "the
richest, best organised and most widely spread class of Gujrathi
Musalmans." This description is undoubtedly borne out even to-day
by the number of Dawoodi Bohras settled in Bombay where they carry
on their hereditary occupation, many of them as hardware merchants,
others as saddlery and harness dealers while others trade in glassware
and crockery and some as furniture merchants, in all of which lines they
hold their own in shrewdness and enterprise against all traders in
Western India.

They are not all confined however to their hereditary calling for the
more ambitious and better educated class have branched off into fields
of fresh enterprise, becoming Lawyers, Doctors, Judges and others
holding high and responsible positions under Government.

As a religious sect they owe absolute allegiance to their Spiritual
Head or High Priest, The Mulla Saheb of Surat who lives in much state

36 THE PEOPLES OP BOMBAY

and entertains with no frugal hospitality, and to whom they render
implicit obedience in all religious and social matters. The Bohras, in
their Halcyon days are reputed to have loved a luxurious life. They
lived in large upper-storied bungalows comprised of five and six rooms,
well ventilated and richly furnished, entertained widely and dispensed
hospitality lavishly. This was evidently before their advent in Bombay.
The Dawoodi Bohras in keeping with their religious tenets, adjure
Music and Dancing nor are they permitted, as traders, to deal in any
commodity of an intoxicating nature. Their women are said to be
careful and thrifty as housewives but love good clothes especially silks
and embroidered cloths of all colours and shades but these are evidently
for home exhibition among their own sex, for unlike their sisters the
Khoja women, they are restricted to the use of the Purdah and cannot
appear in public except shrouded in the voluminous folds of the Burka.

THE PATHAN

THE PATHAN

THE figure here portrayed with his loose baggy trousers, the upper
part of his anatomy covered with a loose shirt and a vest of some coloured
material, his head covered with a cone-shaped cap round which is tied
a scanty puggree, is easily recognisable as a specimen of one of the
turbulent tribes of the North West Frontier of India and known as the
Pathan or more familiarly as Lala. By religion he is a Suni Muslim. Like
the Dancing Girl he is foreign to the soil and has migrated to this great
city lured probably by tales that have reached him in his mountain
home, of easily acquired riches. Arriving here as an unsophisticated
product of nature, born and bred in crass ignorance and illiteracy in
some distant hamlet of the wild Frontier and devoid of the most
elementary knowledge of civilised life and manners, he acquires in a
most surprisingly short period of self training, a fairly accurate idea of
the law of adjustment to circumstances and environment.

He may thereafter be found working as a dock labourer and eking
out an existence by the sweat of his brow. If of a more ambitious turn
of mind, he gets himself employed as a watchman in one of the local
mills or in many of the private establishments or merchant firms that
exist in the city. In this capacity he generally finds, in due course the
acme of his ambitions in that the post secures for him that immunity
from manual labour which probably his heart has desired and which
while bringing him in a sufficient income for his necessities, opens out
for him a life of ease and comfort. In this enviable condition he may
be seen any day of the week lolling about on a charpoy placed on the
footpath in the immediate vicinity of the building over which he has been
employed to keep watch day and night either peacefully asleep or
regaling a couple of his friends, who in passing may have stopped to

33 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

exchange friendly greetings with him, with a cup of te^t and perhaps a
song or a tune on a rudely constructed one-stringed banjo or guitar. And
thus the Pathan watchman passes his days in serene contentment
untramelled by the cares and worries that beset others for his philosophy
of life extends no further than "self,"

The most interesting phase of life however in which the Pathan
can be studied, is in his activities as a money lender. Here he is par
excellence as a typical type of Shylock for his usurious methods are a
revelation in the art of money-lending. His clients consist mostly of
domestic servants and mill and dock labourers whose impecuious
condition offers a good field to this wily Shylock and from whom he
generally extracts interest on all loans at the rate of 75 to 200 per cent.
In this profession the Pathan is a law unto himself and protection of the
Civil Courts mean to him no security against defaulters among his
debtors with whom he deals in his own sweet way. Moving about the
haunts of his clients carrying a heavy-headed cane while the bulge in
his vest pocket suggests the presence of a trusty clasp-knife, he creates a
much desired effect among his unfortunate victims and woe betide the
defaulter who fails to meet his demands when they fall due and which
is generally on pay day, at which time the presence of his awe-inspiring
person waiting at the gate to waylay his unsuspecting victim fills the
latter with a wholesome dread and who is now compelled to liquidate
his obligation through the medium of a murderous look and a threatening
gesture which creates a much more salutary effect than all the Law
courts in the land. And so this dreaded Shylock plies his nefarious
trade untramelled by the dictates of a conscience and adds yet another
personality to the many types which go to make up the population
of a large cosmopolitan city.

This however is not the last phase of his activities.

Those imbued with a martial spirit which is the natural inheritance
of the Pathan, enlist in the fighting forces and soon prove themselves
worthy of their calling by upholding the best traditions of the British
Army thus adding their weight to the struggle for justice, liberty
and freedom.

THE VAGHRIS
The Gipsies of India

THE VAGHRIS

THE Vaghris as here depicted are considered the Gipsies of India
and are found in all parts of the Gujrath but chiefly in Ahmedabad,
Kaira and Kathiawar. The name Vaghri means tiger-like. In their
wandering habits and the means employed by them for a livelihood they
are almost an exact prototype of their Western cousin the Romany.
They are believed to be the descendants of the Sansyas a reputed race
of plunderers in the Punjab. They however claim to be descended from
the Chavan Rajputs but their present condition shows that they have
degenerated to a very low social scale. They are divided into two
divisions and while the one lives by agriculture the other assimilates to
a striking degree the characteristics of the Western Gipsies. In view
of the wild jungle life that is their heritage, they are endowed with a
wonderful gift of mimicry and so truthfully imitate the call of wild
animals and birds that they lure them by this means to carefully prepared
ambushes and capture them alive. One amusing means adopted by them
to earn a few coppers is to catch birds in the above manner and to make
the orthodox Hindus pay to have them released! The voice of the
jungle it may be, instills into them the belief in Spirits and lucky and
unlucky days and omens. They are however, Hindus by religion but
have their own preceptors and do not employ the services of Brahmins
for their marriage and death ceremonies but still they are not free from
the power of the Brahmins for when one visits their home they pay him
a few coppers for making a "chandu" or red powder mark on their
foreheads.

The lure of large cities seems to exercise a fascination for them,
especially for their womenfolk, and so when they pitch their camp on

40 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

the outskirts of one they pay daily visits to the Indian quarters and
pose as sellers of twigs used by the Indians for cleaning their teeth, small
bundles of rope and string, beads and other trinkets but while
posing as hawkers of these commodities they direct their activities towards
the commission of petty thefts at which they are so expert that they are
hardly ever detected. A very ingenious trick of theirs is the astonishing
manipulation of change handed back to a customer who might have
purchased some twigs or a trinket from them. In such cases the
customer appears at first to be quite satisfied with the correctness of
the change handed back to him but when he turns his back and re-counts
it to make sure he finds to his surprise that he has been given a good few
coppers short of the correct amount! Whether this is the result of clever
sleight of hand or some hypnotic influence practised by these women it
has never been discovered. They also practise the elusive craft of
fortune-telling. And so while the women thus busy themselves with
their questionable practices, the men generally work as day labourers
till the wander-lust once again asserts itself when they strike their cloth
tents overnight and trek to fresh pastures.

THE DANCING GIRL
She leads a hfe of gay abandon

THE DANCING GIRL

THE illustration here depicts the Dancing Girl of Bombay. She is
generally a product of the land of the five rivers The Punjab and with
others of her calling has migrated to this city and found the change due
to the cosmopolitan population a highly lucrative one. The institution
of Dancing Girls appears to have spread its tentacles far and wide in the
Indian quarter of the city. Patronised by a mixed clientele of various
castes and creeds and men of all shades of social status she leads a life
of gay abandon and conviviality by turning night into day. To allude
to her purely as a dancing girl would be a misnomer for as an adept
exponent of the Terpsichorian art she is also an accomplished singer and
entertainer.

Arriving in the city accompanied by a couple of male attendants
who besides forming her ochestra also act as her guardians or protectors,
she generally rents a two-room tenement in a suitable quarter of the
city using one room as a reception or entertaining hall and the other
as her private apartment. Here she nightly holds her revels of dancing
and singing to the pleasure and amusement of her male audience many
of whom may form her permanent patrons but as casual visitors are not
strictly debarred, we may also find a welcome to partake in the enter-
tainment provided. Climbing a single flight of stairs with some
diffidence we find ourselves in a fairly large well-lighted hall and once
there any further feeling of diffidence is soon set at rest by the welcome
accorded us. We find the floor of the brightly lighted room covered
with either a large Indian carpet or small rugs strewn about while all
along the four walls are large bolsters, leaning with their backs against
which we see a fairly large and appreciative audience on whom our

42 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

arrival appears to caused no effect. Seating ourselves down like them
in oriental fashion we watch the dance which is now in full swing and
as the dancer twirls one way and another in graceful movements her
fully pleated skirt swings out revealing beneath it a tight fighting pair
of trousers reaching down to her ankles in striking contrast to her
European prototype. And as the dance proceeds she breaks out
into a song descriptive of some stirring love romance which draws
from her audience expressions of appreciation. The dance ended
she seats herself down in the middle of the hall while the musicians,
one of whom has been softly playing on two drums placed in
front of him and the other on a sarangi, now rise and attend to her
immediate demands. And while a babel of voices now breaks out we
notice some coloured drinks or sherbet being served round which we in
our turn reluctantly, but out of courtesy, accept. The interval is inter-
spersed with jests and jokes in which the dancer at times joins with a
well-timed quip or a clever retort to some remark of one of the audience.
We now notice some of the audience rising with the intention of taking
their departure but before doing so liquidate their obligation each in
accordance with the size of his purse. We also accordingly rise and
doing likewise make our departure feeling a certain satisfaction at being
initiated into one of the attractions of the night life of Bombay.

Our departure however by no means rings down the curtain on the
scene for "On with the dance let joy be unconfined" is the order of this
non-stop performance till the break of dawn as long as there still remains
an appreciative audience. But the scene which we have seen enacted
may not be repeated nightly for the Dancing Girl has to meet heavy
overhead charges in the way of rent, household and other, expenses.
JFor this she has to plan other means. If she should be a welkknown
personality and favourite among some of her wealthy patrons she may
reserve a couple of nights solely for their patronage to the strict exclusion
of the common element which usually visit her dance room. Such a
night generally brings the much desired grist to her mill, and leads
eventually to her services being requisitioned by her wealthy patrons to
attend their wedding ceremonies and entertain their guests with her

THE DANCING GIRL 43

now reputed talent. She now enters a career which opens out to her
ways and means of adding considerably to her finances for as so often
happens her seductive ways may find a response in the heart of the scion
of a wealthy father and who becomes so hopelessly enamoured with her
that his visits to her dance room become of very frequent occurrence,
leading eventually to the inevitable climax of the young man's financial
disaster and Dancing Girl's affluence, who now continues her career
without a thought for her future which has been fairly well assured till
an urge to return to her own land now strongly possesses her soul and
may be, as years later, she rests in a luxuriously furnished home reclining
so one fine day she bids farewell to a city where she has acquired sufficient
wealth to keep her in comfort, nay luxury, for the rest of her life and
on a rich Persian carpet or a silk-covered Divan she falls into a reverie
and lingers on the pleasant retrospect of her temporary Romance with
a man who she knew all along could not have bought her love with all
the gold in Golconda!

THE MARWAR1S

THE Marwari, as his name implies, is a native of Marwar, an Indian
State in Rajputana of which the capital is Jodhpur. As depicted here,
he is a familiar figure in the life of Bombay. The Marwaris are said to
have settled originally in Surat as traders and money-lenders about 200
years ago. At first they met with no little opposition from the Gujrathi
Banias who considered their advent as an encroachment on their
prerogative but it is said that their business acumen and industrious habits
soon overcame all obstacles and in a short while they began to accumulate
much riches and became very influential. It is said of the Marwari that
his chief characteristic is love of gain and a contempt of local opinion.
Perhaps it is this characteristic that has made the Marwari to-day such
a powerful Community in Bombay. The probable date of their arrival
in Bombay seems to be lost in the mists of years but it may reasonably
be assumed that they filtered in with other communities which made
this progressive city their asylum and found a rich soil for the planting
of enterprises which while they yielded them a rich harvest brought
in their wake wealth and prosperity to the city and turned it into the
flourishing trade centre that it is to-day.

The Marwaris, like other communities hereinbefore dealt with, are
divided into two classes, the commercial class and the petty traders and
shopkeepers. The former are brokers and merchants operating on the
Stock and Bullion Exchanges and the grain and seed markets and
particularly the Cotton market where their ready wit and business acumen
as speculators have made them a power to be reckoned with and raised
them to the very affluent condition in which they are to be found to-day.

THE MARWARIS

Even the richest among them do not deviate
from their prescribed code

THE MARWARIS 45

The shopkeepers and traders whose activities are to be seen in the
chain of shops established through the length and breadth of the city,
carry on a lucrative business as Jewellers, Money-lenders and Pawn-
brokers. They are a quiet, peace -loving and industrious class and lead
a very conservative and parsimonious existence, their only relaxation
from the scene of their daily labours being frequent visits to the Civil
Courts where, armed with a couple of red-covered account books, they
prosecute their unfortunate debtors which consist mostly of the impecu-
nious class of mill hands, dock labourers, and their ilk charging them
exhorbitant rates of interest and demanding their pound of flesh and like
their Western counterpart allow no feelings of sentiment to give a
softening touch to their business transactions. In the other branches of
their profession as jewellers and pawnbrokers, their methods are at times
questionable and though in rare cases they may be led into an injudicious
deal, due more to their inherent rapacity than from a guilty knowledge
and find themselves involved as receivers of stolen property, they
generally live beyond the pale of the Law and carry on their trade
without let or hindrance, growing more affluent on their ripening
experience of the law and its requirements till they feel they have
amassed a sufficient capital to enable them to return to their homeland
and set up in some little village as its leading Sethji.

They are very united as a community and are formed into a society
known as the Mahajans which is empowered to settle social disputes,
arrange for the support of their Temples and the general management
of their Provident Fund to which they all subscribe. They are also
known is Marwari Shravaks in contrast to the Gujrati Shravaks. Their
language is Gujrathi but they speak a Marwari dialect and write a
different character to Gujrathi, By religion they are Jains and as such
are strictly vegetarians, even the richest among them not deviating from
the prescribed code. Their chief shrine is at Mount Abu known as the
Dilwara Temples which in point of architecture and magnificent
carvings on marble are next in grandeur to the Taj Mahal at Agra. They
see to it that their children are sufficiently educated to be able to read

jfa THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

and write as on this depends their future livelihood. Their women are
modest and retiring and are seldom or never to be seen engaged in
public activities, being mostly attached to their homes and children.
They are fond of good clothes and Jewellery and on festive occasions
bedeck themselves with an extravagant display of this form of adornment
which to Western people may lend a touch of vulgarity but with them
is strictly in conformity with convention and in keeping with their social
and financial status.

THE MAHARS
A new epoch is opening out to them

THE SWEEPERS

THE sweepers, the Dheds and the Mahars occupy the unenviable
position of being the lowest in the social scale of the people of India
which is that of the Sudras. Their employment in the lowest and
meanest grades of occupation from times immemorial has led to their
ostracism by all sects of Hindus and they came to be known and treated
as the untouchables. Though Hindus by birth they were, in view of
the nature of their work, segregated in all towns and villages and were
debarred from joining in all religious rites and ceremonies nor were they
permitted to have access to the village wells for their supply of water.
In consequence of schools being closed against the admission of their
children, these unfortunate people have lived in a condition of crass
illiteracy for generations. Even when the question of their travelling
from one village to another arose, they were unable to secure any means
of transport and had to do the journey invariably on foot. Where
railroad communication was available, they took advantage of this means
of transport but when they took up their position in a railway carriage
it was imperative for them to advertise the fact that they belonged to
the sweeper caste and no one else would occupy the compartment with
them. This however was a great advantage to them and proved a
blessing in disguise as they were thus enabled to travel in greater
comfort than their fellow passengers!

The work of the Dheds and Mahars has from earliest times been
the skinning of dead animals and curing and tanning their hides. This
occupation still holds good among them and the Tanneries of all the
large cities afford them a very acceptable means of livelihood, whereas

48 THE PEOPLES OF BOMBAY

the sweepers find their means of support under the various Municipalities
as is well known.

This deplorable condition of their social and religious status
has of late created much interest owing to the indefatigable efforts
of social reformers who have done and are doing much for the uplift
of these down-trodden people who now have much to look forward to
and be thankful for in the new epoch which is opening out to them.
If the efforts of all true reformers meet with the success which they
richly deserve, the untouchables will, in a decade or so, be no longer
thus branded and will enjoy the rights and privileges of ordinary citizens
among all castes and creeds of India.