194 THE DIVISION OF LABOUR 



strength, there is seldom want of employment ; and 

 among- this class of the people there is again this 

 essential safeguard against the consequence of illness 

 and misfortune — that every pair of hands in the family 

 which is fit for labour finds something to do. There 

 are no idle hands ; even the mere children of the 

 family do something now and again to increase its 

 resources. 



* To take as representative of the class the ordinary 

 village chamar : there is seldom any part of the year 

 in which employment is not provided for him. He is 

 employed as ploughman for five months of the year — 

 from Asarh to Kartik (June to November). He and 

 his family are employed as reapers in the month of 

 Aghan (November-December). He utilizes his time 

 in kutcha building and other forms of earthwork 

 {matkam) during the months of Pons and Magh 

 (January and February). In Phagun and Chait 

 (March and April) come the reaping of the rabi 

 (spring) harvest, and for the remainder of the year 

 until his round as ploughman comes again in Asarh, 

 he is engaged in marriage processions and otherwise, 

 and is well paid for it. His wages as a ploughman 

 are good, consisting of daily bani, which varies from 

 1 1 to 2 seers of rabi grains or pulse [kalewd) at midday, 

 which represents \ seer of sattii^ and for fifteen days 

 during seed-time he will get an additional allowance 

 of I seer a day as ubarwa. During this time the 

 women and children are not idle ; they are employed 

 in weeding {sohani)^ for which each gets i seer of 

 grain at the least, and sometimes something more in 

 the shape of an extra allowance. In reaping-time all 

 hands are employed at the remuneration of one good 

 bundle for the labourer after sixteen small bundles 

 have been gathered for the master he works for. The 

 women and children work as well as the men. When 

 earthwork is going on, the remuneration of an able- 

 bodied man is 2 seers of grain and \ seer of sattu. 



