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by the intermediary of itinerant vendors who resort to 

 Haragash at periodical intervals, to buy fresh supplies. 

 These bangle peddlers buy parcels wortli anything from 

 Rs. lOO up to Rs. i,ooo at a time. Most of them have 

 had business relations with the Haragash firms extending 

 over many years and so, being well known, have no 

 difficulty in obtaining credit till their return, three or 

 even four months later. 



The Rajbansi, Kochi and Paliya castes of Hindus, 

 inhabiting Rangpur, Dinajpur, and Jalpaiguri districts 

 and the terai of Darjeeling, are the chief buyers of 

 Haragash bangles, which consist largely of compound 

 armlets of from ten to twelve rings in each set. The 

 best centres of sale are Dhubni, Goalpara, Jalpaiguri and 

 Cooch Behar. 



Dinajpur is another typical local centre. In the town 

 itself the quarter where the chank-workers live is knDwn 

 as Shakhari Patti, and this, in view of the small number — 

 four families only — now engaged in the industry, suggests 

 its greater importance in former days. Indeed the men 

 state that their numbers now are much reduced. They 

 claim to be descendants of a colony from Chatmohr, in 

 Pabna district, and are in consequence of the V^aisya 

 caste. 



Of recent years Muhammadan workers have entered 

 into competition with the regular caste workers and 

 to-day the bulk of the local trade has passed into their 

 hands. They form a separate settlement at Maljhar 

 village near Rajapara Ferry Ghat, a short distance from 

 Dinajpur. In all there are about loo of these Muham- 

 madan work-people engaged in bangle-making as against 

 the four Vaisya Shakhari workshops each employing 5 

 to 6 men. The piece-work system is in use. 



The Dinajpur Shakharis do not produce their own 

 working sections ; all they require are obtained in the 

 rough from four wholesale dealers (Hindus) belonging to 

 Nadia who are located at Sahibganj, a small place a few 

 miles east of Dinajpur. The shell sections sold at Sahib- 

 ganj are said to be sawn at Nadia, from shells brought from 

 Calcutta. The Vaisya employers at Dinajpur usually 

 purchase fr.)m Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 worth of sections at a 

 time from the Sahibganj dealers on two to three months 



