i82 THE DIVISION OF LABOUR 



some cases accompanied by a desire to claim a higher 

 social status than they hitherto enjoyed. Thus quite 

 recently the carpenters of the town of Jalesar held a 

 meeting, declared themselves to be Brahmans, assumed 

 the sacred thread, and indignantly refused to defile 

 themselves by repairing the municipal conservancy 

 carts — a class of work to which in former times they 

 never dreamed of objecting.' 



Of the manner in which an Indian artisan lives I 

 can best give an idea by a description of individual 

 cases. Out of the many cases investigated by Mr. 

 Crooke I have selected three, who all followed the 

 same trade, that of carpenter. The details will be 

 found printed in the appendix to this chapter, I do 

 not think that the estimates of income and expendi- 

 ture can be accepted as trustworthy or complete, 

 because they were framed from the memory of rustics 

 who did not know how to read or write and kept no 

 accounts. The estimates do not represent any definite 

 idea in the minds of the carpenters, but the answers 

 elicited by the questions of the official who investigated 

 these cases. It is quite possible that a considerable 

 item of income or expenditure was forgotten, and 

 therefore the * saving ' which is recorded as the result 

 of the year's operations is probably not deserving of 

 credit. But though the information may not be ex- 

 haustive, it probably is accurate as regards the facts 

 given, and the details regarding employment, food, 

 house, and clothing, are instructive and interesting. 

 The principal facts about these three men, whom I 

 have selected as representatives of the artisan class, 

 are clear. They have next to no capital invested in 

 their industry; their labour is not specialized, for they 

 do all kinds of carpentering work, and eke out their 

 livelihood by following other callings as well. They 

 lead hard lives and have a diet of the coarser grains 

 only. On the other hand, the conditions in which 

 they live are probably more propitious to health than 



