472 BALLOOTADARS— CULTIVATORS. Chap. XXVIl. 



or silversmith ; the Gooroiv or dresser of idols ; the Koli or 

 water-carrier ; the Mang or ropemaker, who makes ropes of 

 Hibiscus cannabis, and is of very low caste ; and the Mhar 

 or Parwarree, an outcast whose dwelling is outside the 

 village — he acts as watchman, carries letters, and gives 

 evidence as to village rights, before Punchayets ; the 

 Tsamhar or cobbler, and Gramjosi or astrologer. 



Besides the above duties, the Ballootadars have certain 

 perquisites. The carpenter furnishes the stool on which the 

 brides and bridegrooms are bathed in the marriage cere- 

 mony; the blacksmith sticks the hook tlu'ough the flesh 

 of devotees who swing ; the barber plays on the pipe and 

 tabor at weddings ; and the potter prepares the stewed 

 mutton at harvest-homes. In addition to the Ballootadars 

 there are some other lower officials called Alutadars, consist- 

 ing of a watchman, gatekeeper, betel-man, gardener, bard, 

 musician, and host of the Ganjams of the Lingayet sect. 



The cultivators of the Deccan are lean short men, with 

 black straight hair, kept shorn except on the upper lip, 

 bronze complexions, high cheek-bones, low foreheads, and 

 teeth stained with betel. They are temperate and hard- 

 working, warmly attached to their children, frugal, and not 

 improvident, but deceitful, cunning, and false. Their food 

 consists of grains, pulses, greens, roots, fruits, hot spices, and 

 oil ; together with milk and ghee. No liquor is sold in the 

 villages. Their every-day fare is first a cake of bajree,^ or 

 jowaree,^ baked on a plate of iron ; secondly green pods 

 or fruits cut in pieces, and boiled with pepper, garlic, or 

 turmeric ; and thu'dly a porridge of coarse-ground jowaree and 

 salt. They have three meals daily. For breakfast they eat 

 a cake with spiced vegetables, and a raw onion ; their wives 

 bring them their dinners in the fields at noon, consisting 

 of two cakes and green pods boiled ; and porridge and milk 



3 The cumhoo of the Madras Presi- I * The cholum of Madms {Sorghum 

 dency {Holms spicatus). | vuJgare). 



