hoe
with his hand and says 'I have beaten you,' to a member of any of
the lower castes in Seoni, the person so addressed is considered as
temporarily out of caste. If he then immediately goes and informs his
caste-fellows he is reinstated with a nominal fine of grain worth
one or two pice. But if he goes back to his house and takes food,
and the incident is subsequently discovered, a penalty of a goat is
levied. A curious exception recognised is that of the _Sirkari juta_,
or shoe belonging to a Government servant, and to be beaten with this
shoe does not entail social punishment.

15. The Chamar as general village drudge.

In return for his perquisite of the hides of cattle the Chamar has
to act as the general village drudge in the northern Districts and is
always selected for the performance of _bigar_ or forced labour. When
a Government officer visits the village the Chamar must look after
him, fetch what grass or fuel he requires, and accompany him as far
as the next village to point out the road. He is also the bearer
of official letters and messages sent to the village. The special
Chamar on whom these duties are imposed usually receives a plot of
land rent-free from the village proprietor. Another of the functions
of the Chamar is the castration of the young bullocks, which task the
cultivators will not do for themselves. His method is most primitive,
the scrotum being held in a cleft bamboo or a pair of iron pincers,
while the testicles are bruised and rubbed to pulp with a stone. The
animal remains ill for a week or a fortnight and is not worked for two
months, but the operation is rarely or never fatal. In the northern
Districts the Chamars are said to be very strong and to make the
best farmservants and coolies for earthwork. It is a proverb that
'The Chamar has half a rib more than other men.' Notwithstanding his
strength, however, he is a great coward, this characteristic having
probably been acquired through centuries of oppression. Many Chamar
women act as midwives. In Raipur the cultivators give her five annas
at the birth of a boy and four annas for a girl, while well-to-do
people pay a rupee. When the first child of a rich man is born,
the midwife, barber and washerman go round to all his friends and
relations to announce the event and obtain presents. It is a regular
function of the Chamars to remove the carcases of dead cattle, which
they eat without regard to the disease from which the anima