Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 7.djvu/266

DHAIR. but indifferently. With all these useful qualifications, however, the Dhairs are outcasts. They are not allowed to live inside a village, hut have a suburb of their own, at some little distance from, or even adjoining the walls, where they have, in many instances, their own temples, generally of Hunooman, the monkey god, or of some form of Devi or Bhowanee. They profess to follow Brahmins, by whom many of their ceremonies are performed; but they have priests of their own, who conduct sacrifices on great occasions. Formerly, under Hindoo rule, Dhairs were much oppressed: they could not wear decent clothing, nor take water, except from certain places; and they were obliged to carry loads without payment. This, however, is altered now. The Dhair is free to do as he pleases; he may even send his children, if he chooses, to school. He can enlist into the infantry or cavalry of the line—and Dhairs make excellent soldiers—or into the police, and many are grooms and officers' servants. Although Dhairs are meanly clad, and look miserably poor, yet they are not unfrequently very well off. They can always obtain a livelihood by work, whether in the fields or at home; and their women, on gala days, are not unfrequently gaily dressed, and wear gold and silver ornaments. They are as industrious as the men, both in the field and at home. Dhairs eat everything—flesh, fowl, and grain; but their ordinary food is simple. and their wives are very good cooks. None of them object to ardent spirits, whether men or women; but, except at some festivals, they do not drink to excess. There can be no doubt that the Dhairs are descended from an aboriginal race; but what it was, or how they became subject to the Aryans, in the capacity they now are, there exists not even a tradition. In the population of the Central Provinces alone, the Dhairs represent 561,438 souls.