eir ancient
trade. But in British territory the Sikligar has degenerated into a
needy knife-grinder. Mr. Crooke [505] describes him as "A trader of
no worth. His whole stock-in-trade is a circular whetstone worked by
a strap between two posts fixed in the ground. He sharpens knives,
razors, scissors and sometimes swords."

_Sirdar_.--Title of the Kawar caste.

_Siriswar_.--(From _siris_, a tree.) A section of Gadaria.

_Sirnet_.--A clan of Rajputs.

_Sirwa_.--(A resident of the ancient city of Sravasti in Gonda
district.) Subcaste of Teli.

_Sita Padri_.--Title of Vaishnava mendicants.

_Sithira_.--Synonym of _Sidhira_.

_Solaha_. [506]--A very small caste numbering less than a hundred
persons in the Raipur District. The caste only deserves mention as
affording an instance of an attempt to rise in the social scale. The
Solahas are certainly of Gond origin. Their name appears to be a
corruption of Tolaha, from _tol_, which means leather in Gondi or
Telugu. Their exogamous sections, as Markam, Warai, Wika, Sori, Kunjam,
are also Gond names, and like the Agarias they are an occupational
offshoot of that great tribe, who have taken to the special profession
of leather-curing and primitive carpentry. But they claim to belong to
the Barhai caste and say that their ancestors immigrated from Benares
at the time of a great famine there. In pursuance of the claim some
of them employ inferior Brahmans as their priests. They also say
that they accept food only from Brahmans and Rajputs, though they eat
fowls, pork and even rats. Women of any other caste can be admitted
into the community, but not men. The fact that they are not Barhais
is sufficiently shown by their ignorance of carpentering tools. They
do not even know the use of a rope for turning the drill and do it by
hand with a pointed nail. They have no planes, and smooth wood with a
chisel. Their business is to make musical instruments for the Gonds,
which consist of hollow pieces of wood covered with skin to act as
single or double drums. They use sheep and goat-skins, and after
letting them dry scrape off the hair and rub them with a paste of
boiled rice and powdered iron filings and glass.

_Solanki, Solankhi_.--A well-known clan of Rajputs, also called
Chalukya. The name is perhaps derived from _Sulakshana_, one bearing
an auspicious mark. A section of Pardhi and Gujar.

_Sompura_.--A subdivision of Gujarati Brahmans in Jubbulpore. They
take their name from