ose who use firearms, which most Pardhis refuse to do. Moghia is
the Hindustani word for fowler, and Takankar is the name of a small
occupational offshoot of the Pardhis in Berar, who travel from village
to village and roughen the household grinding-mills when they have
worn smooth. The word is derived from _takna_, to tap or chisel. The
caste appears to be a mixed group made up of Bawarias or other Rajput
outcastes, Gonds and social derelicts from all sources. The Pardhis
perhaps belong more especially to the Maratha country, as they are
numerous in Khandesh, and many of them talk a dialect of Gujarati. In
the northern Districts their speech is a mixture of Marwari and
Hindi, while they often know Marathi or Urdu as well. The name for
the similar class of people in northern India is Bahelia, and in the
Central Provinces the Bahelias and Pardhis merge into one another and
are not recognisable as distinct groups. The caste is recruited from
the most diverse elements, and women of any except the impure castes
can be admitted into the community; and on this account their customs
differ greatly in different localities. According to their own legends
the first ancestor of the Pardhis was a Gond, to whom Mahadeo taught
the art of snaring game so that he might avoid the sin of shooting it;
and hence the ordinary Pardhis never use a gun.

2. Subdivisions

Like other wandering castes the Pardhis have a large number of
endogamous groups, varying lists being often given in different
areas. The principal subcastes appear to be the Shikari or Bhil
Pardhis, who use firearms; the Phanse Pardhis, who hunt with traps
and snares; the Langoti Pardhis, so called because they wear only
a narrow strip of cloth round the loins; and the Takankars. Both
the Takankars and Langotis have strong criminal tendencies. Several
other groups are recorded in different Districts, as the Chitewale,
who hunt with a tame leopard; the Gayake, who stalk their prey behind
a bullock; the Gosain Pardhis, who dress like religious mendicants in
ochre-coloured clothes and do not kill deer, but only hares, jackals
and foxes; the Shishi ke Telwale, who sell crocodile's oil; and the
Bandarwale who go about with performing monkeys. The Bahelias have a
subcaste known as Karijat, the members of which only kill birds of a
black colour. Their exogamous groups are nearly all those of Rajput
tribes, as Sesodia, Panwar, Solanki, Chauhan, Rathor, and soon; it is
probabl