ves and sons' wives
of the head of the establishment sit and work in the shop along with
the men. Their busy time is during the marriage season from November
to June. A village tailor is paid either in cash or grain and is not
infrequently a member of the village establishment. During the rains,
the tailor's slack season, he supplements his earnings by tillage,
holding land which Government has continued to him on payment of
one-half the ordinary rental. In south Gujarat, in the absence of
Brahmans, a Darzi officiates at Bhawad marriages, and in some Brahman
marriages a Darzi is called with some ceremony to sew a bodice for the
bride. On the other hand, in the Panch Mahals and Rewa Kantha, besides
tailoring Darzis blow trumpets at marriage and other processions and
hold so low a position that even Dhedas object to eat their food." It
seems clear that in Gujarat the Darzi caste is of older standing
than in northern India, and it is possible that the art of sewing
may have been acquired through the sea trade which was carried on
between the western coast and Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Here the
Darzi has become a village menial, which he is not recorded as being
in any other part of India.

5. Religion.

Like the weaver, the Darzi is of a somewhat religious turn of mind,
probably on account of his sedentary calling which gives him plenty
of time for reflection. Many of them belong to the Namdeo sect,
originated by a Chhipa or dyer, Namdeo Sadhu. Namdeo is said to have
been a contemporary of Kabir and to have flourished in the twelfth
or thirteenth century. He was a great worshipper of the god Vithoba
of Pandharpur and is considered by the Marathas to be their oldest
writer, being the author of many Abhangs, or sacred hymns. [518] He
preached the unity of God, recognising apparently Vithoba or Vishnu
as the one deity, and the uselessness of ceremonial. His followers
are mainly Dhobis and Chhipas, the two principal castes from whom
the Darzis have originated. [519] Namdeo's sect was thus apparently a
protest on the part of the Chhipas and Dhobis against their inferior
position in the caste system and the tyranny of the Brahmans, and
resembled the spiritual revolt of the weavers under Kabir and of the
Chamars under Ghasi Das and Jagjiwan Das.

In Berar it is stated [520] that "the Simpi caste has twelve and a
half divisions; of these the chief are known as the Jain, Marathi
and Telugu Simpis. The Jain Simpis claim