File:The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India (1916) (14761448854).jpg

Identifier: tribescastesofce04russ (find matches)
Title: The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India
Year: 1916 (1910s)
Authors: Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane), 1873-1915
Subjects: Ethnology -- India Madhya Pradesh Caste -- India Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (India) -- Religion
Publisher: London : Macmillan and Co., limited
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Mochis have stolentheir rdinpi, the knife with which they cut leather. Onthis account the Chamars will neither take water to drinkfrom -the Mochis nor mend their shoes, and will not evenpermit them to try on a new pair of shoes until they havepaid the price set on them ; for they say that the Mochisare half-bred Chamars and therefore cannot be permitted todefile the shoes of a true Chamar by trying them on ; butwhen they have been paid for, the maker has severedconnection with them, and the use to which they may beput no longer affects him. In the Central Provinces the Mochis are said to haveforty exogamous sections or gotras, of which the bulk arenamed after all the well-known Rajput clans, while two agreewith those of the Chamars. And they have also an equalnumber of kheras or groups named after villages. The limitsof the two groups seem to be identical ; thus members ofthe sept named after the Kachhwaha Rajputs say that theirkJicra or village name is Mungavali in Gwalior ; those of
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IMAGE OF THE GOD VISHNU AS VITHOBA. II SOCIAL CUSTOMS—SHOES 249 the Ghangere sept give Chanderi as their khera, the Sitawatsept Dhamoni in Saugor, the Didoria Chhatarpur, theNarcle Narwar, and so on. The names of the village groupshave now been generally forgotten and they are said to haveno influence on marriage, which is regulated by the Rajputsept names ; but it seems probable that the kJieras were theoriginal divisions and the Rajput gotras have been morerecently adopted in support of the claims already noticed. The Mochis have adopted the customs of the higher Flindu 6. Socialcastes. A man may not take a wife from his own gotra, hismothers gotra or from a family into which a girl from hisown family has married. They usually marry theirdaughters in childhood and employ Brahmans in their cere-monies, and no degradation attaches to these latter for servingas their priests. In minor domestic ceremonies for which theBrahman is not engaged his place is taken by a relative,who is call

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