ans, storytellers and genealogists, while the women
dance and sing, but only before the ladies of the zenana. Mr. Nesfield
[274] says that they are sometimes regularly entertained as jesters
to help these ladies to kill time and reconcile them to their domestic
prisons. As they do not dance before men they are reputed to be chaste,
as no woman who is not a prostitute will dance in the presence of men,
though singing and playing are not equally condemned. The implements
of the Mirasis are generally the small drum (_dholak_), the cymbals
(_majira_) and the gourd lute (_kingri_). [275]

Mochi [276]

List of Paragraphs

1. _General notice_.
2. _Legends of origin_.
3. _Art among the Hindus_.
4. _Antagonism of Mochis and Chamars_.
5. _Exogamous groups_.
6. _Social customs_.
7. _Shoes_.

1. General notice

_Mochi, Muchi, Jingar, Jirayat, Jildgar, Chitrakar, Chitevari,
Musabir._--The occupational caste of saddlers and cobblers. In 1911
about 4000 Mochis and 2000 Jingars were returned from the Central
Provinces and Berar, the former residing principally in the Hindustani
and the latter in the Marathi-speaking Districts. The name is derived
from the Sanskrit _mochika_ and the Hindustani _mojna_, to fold, and
the common name _mojah_ for socks and stockings is from the same root
(Platts). By origin the Mochis are no doubt an offshoot of the Chamar
caste, but they now generally disclaim the connection. Mr. Nesfield
observes [277] that, "The industry of tanning is preparatory to and
lower than that of cobblery, and hence the caste of Chamar ranks
decidedly below that of Mochi. The ordinary Hindu does not consider
the touch of a Mochi so impure as that of the Chamar, and there is a
Hindu proverb to the effect that 'Dried or prepared hide is the same
thing as cloth,' whereas the touch of the raw hide before it has been
tanned by the Chamar is considered a pollution. The Mochi does not
eat carrion like the Chamar, nor does he eat swine's flesh; nor does
his wife ever practise the much-loathed art of midwifery." In the
Central Provinces, as in northern India, the caste may be considered
to have two branches, the lower one consisting of the Mochis who
make and cobble shoes and are admittedly descended from Chamars;
while the better-class men either make saddles and harness, when they
are known as Jingar; or bind books, when they are called Jildgar; or
paint and make clay idols, when