fore they have begun to eat grain are not
mourned at all, while for older children the period of mourning is
three to seven days, and for adults ten days. On the tenth day they
clean their houses, shave themselves and offer balls of rice to the
dead under the direction of a Brahman, to whom they present eating
and drinking vessels, clothes, shoes and cattle with the belief that
the articles will thus become available for the use of the dead man
in the other world. The Chauhans will not eat fowls, pork or beef,
and in some places they abstain from drinking liquor.

Chhipa

1. Constitution of the caste.

_Chhipa, Rangari, Bhaosar, Nirali, Nilgar._--The Hindu caste of cotton
printers and dyers. They are commonly known as Chhipa in the northern
Districts and Rangari or Bhaosar in the Maratha country. The Chhipas
and Rangaris together number about 23,000 persons. In the south of
the Central Provinces and Berar cotton is a staple crop, and the
cotton-weaving industry is much stronger than in the north, and as a
necessary consequence the dyers also would be more numerous. Though the
Chhipas and Rangaris do not intermarry or dine together, no essential
distinction exists between them. They are both of functional origin,
pursue exactly the same occupation, and relate the same story about
themselves, and no good reason therefore exists for considering them
as separate castes. Nilgar or Nirali is a purely occupational term
applied to Chhipas or Rangaris who work in indigo (_nil_); while
Bhaosar is another name for the Rangaris in the northern Districts.

2. Its origin and position.

The Rangaris say that when Parasurama, the Brahman, was slaying the
Kshatriyas, two brothers of the warrior caste took refuge in a temple
of Devi. One of them, called Bhaosar, threw himself upon the image,
while the other hid behind it. The goddess saved them both and told
them to adopt the vocation of dyers. The Rangaris are descended from
the brother who was called Bhaosar and the Chhipas from the other
brother, because he hid behind the image (_chhipna_, to hide). The word
is really derived from _chhapna_, to print, because the Chhipas print
coloured patterns on cotton cloths with wooden stamps. Rangari comes
from the common word _rang_ or colour. The Chhipas have a slightly
different version of the same story, according to which the goddess
gave one brother a needle and a piece of thread, and the other some
red betel-lea