DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16243#0171
CASTE IN PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS 137
straightway goes off to bury himself in the belief that, as he
is missing, he must be dead. Some Jolahas walking across
country come to a field of linseed looking blue in the moon-
light; they wonder how deep the water is and hope that all
of them can swim. A Jolaha gets into his boat and forgets
to weigh the anchor; after rowing all night he finds himself
at home and rejoices in the thought that the village has
followed him out of pure affection. A crow snatches a piece
of bread from a Jolaha's child and flies with it to the roof; the
prudent father takes away the ladder before he gives the child
any more. A jolaha hears the Koran being read and bursts
into tears; on" being asked what passage moves him so, he
explains that the wagging beard of the Mulla reminded him
of a favourite-goat that he had lost. When his dogs bark at
a tiger he proceeds to whip his child. He has no sense of
propriety; he will crack indecent jokes with his mother and
sister, and his wife will pull her father's beard. As a workman
he is dilatory and untrustworthy. He will steal a reel of
thread when he gets the chance ; he has his own standard ol
time ; he lies like a Chamar ; and even if you see him brushing
the newly woven cloth, you must not believe him when he
says that it is ready.
Below these more or less respectable members of rural
society, we find a number of outcast groups, village menials, or
broken tribes some of whom pollute the high-caste man even
at a distance, while others are guilty of the crowning enormity
of eating beef. Among these the Chamar, The Tanner and
tanner, shoemaker, cobbler, and cattle- shoemaker,
poisoner, is the subject of a number of in-
jurious reflexions. Though he is as wily as a jackal, he is also
so stupid that he sits on his awl and beats himself for stealing
it- He laments that he cannot tan his own skin. He knows
nothing beyond his last, and the shortest way to deal with
him is to beat him with a shoe of his own making, a
practical axiom which is expressed in the saying that "old
shoes should be offered to the shoemaker's god." " Stitch,
stitch" is the note of the cobblers' quarter; "stink, stink ot
the street where the tanners live. The Chamar's wife goes
barefoot, but his daughter, when she has just attained puberty,
is as graceful as an ear of millet. The functions of the
Chamarin as the Mrs. Gamp of the village are rather inele-
gantly referred to in the saying, " There is no hiding the belly
from the midwife." The hides and bones of dead cattle are the
straightway goes off to bury himself in the belief that, as he
is missing, he must be dead. Some Jolahas walking across
country come to a field of linseed looking blue in the moon-
light; they wonder how deep the water is and hope that all
of them can swim. A Jolaha gets into his boat and forgets
to weigh the anchor; after rowing all night he finds himself
at home and rejoices in the thought that the village has
followed him out of pure affection. A crow snatches a piece
of bread from a Jolaha's child and flies with it to the roof; the
prudent father takes away the ladder before he gives the child
any more. A jolaha hears the Koran being read and bursts
into tears; on" being asked what passage moves him so, he
explains that the wagging beard of the Mulla reminded him
of a favourite-goat that he had lost. When his dogs bark at
a tiger he proceeds to whip his child. He has no sense of
propriety; he will crack indecent jokes with his mother and
sister, and his wife will pull her father's beard. As a workman
he is dilatory and untrustworthy. He will steal a reel of
thread when he gets the chance ; he has his own standard ol
time ; he lies like a Chamar ; and even if you see him brushing
the newly woven cloth, you must not believe him when he
says that it is ready.
Below these more or less respectable members of rural
society, we find a number of outcast groups, village menials, or
broken tribes some of whom pollute the high-caste man even
at a distance, while others are guilty of the crowning enormity
of eating beef. Among these the Chamar, The Tanner and
tanner, shoemaker, cobbler, and cattle- shoemaker,
poisoner, is the subject of a number of in-
jurious reflexions. Though he is as wily as a jackal, he is also
so stupid that he sits on his awl and beats himself for stealing
it- He laments that he cannot tan his own skin. He knows
nothing beyond his last, and the shortest way to deal with
him is to beat him with a shoe of his own making, a
practical axiom which is expressed in the saying that "old
shoes should be offered to the shoemaker's god." " Stitch,
stitch" is the note of the cobblers' quarter; "stink, stink ot
the street where the tanners live. The Chamar's wife goes
barefoot, but his daughter, when she has just attained puberty,
is as graceful as an ear of millet. The functions of the
Chamarin as the Mrs. Gamp of the village are rather inele-
gantly referred to in the saying, " There is no hiding the belly
from the midwife." The hides and bones of dead cattle are the