considered so
impure as that made from the hides of cattle. But one class of them,
who are considered inferior, make leather harness from cow-hide and
buffalo-hide.

Chitrakathi

_Chitrakathi, Hardas._ [479]--A small caste of religious mendicants
and picture showmen in the Maratha Districts. In 1901 they numbered 200
persons in the Central Provinces and 1500 in Berar, being principally
found in the Amraoti District. The name, Mr. Enthoven writes, [480]
is derived from _chitra,_ a picture, and _katha_, a story, and the
professional occupation of the caste is to travel about exhibiting
pictures of heroes and gods, and telling stories about them. The
community is probably of mixed functional origin, for in Bombay
they have exogamous section-names taken from those of the Marathas,
as Jadhow, More, Powar and so on, while in the Central Provinces
and Berar an entirely different set is found. Here several sections
appear to be named after certain offices held or functions performed
by their members at the caste feasts. Thus the Atak section are the
caste headmen; the Mankari appear to be a sort of substitute for the
Atak or their grand viziers, the word Mankar being primarily a title
applied to Maratha noblemen, who held an official position at court;
the Bhojni section serve the food at marriage and other ceremonies;
the Kakra arrange for the lighting; the Kotharya are store-keepers; and
the Ghoderao (from _ghoda_, a horse) have the duty of looking after the
horses and bullock-carts of the castemen who assemble. The Chitrakathis
are really no doubt the same caste as the Chitaris or Chitrakars
(painters) of the Central Provinces, and, like them, a branch of the
Mochis (tanners), and originally derived from the Chamars. But as the
Berar Chitrakathis are migratory instead of settled, and in other
respects differ from the Chitaris, they are treated in a separate
article. Marriage within the section is forbidden, and, besides this,
members of the Atak and Mankari sections cannot intermarry as they are
considered to be related, being divisions of one original section. The
social customs of the caste resemble those of the Kunbis, but they
bury their dead in a sitting posture, with the face to the east, and
on the eighth day erect a platform over the grave. At the festival
of Akhatij (3rd of light Baisakh) [481] they worship a vessel of
water in honour of their dead ancestors, and in Kunwar (September)
they offer obla