The original Nayars were undoubtedly a military body, holding lands and serving as a militia, but the present Nayar caste includes persons who, by hereditary occupation, are traders, artisans, oilmongers, palanquin-bearers, and even barbers and washermen.
42.
Posing as an unemployed stranger he manages to worm his way into a washerman job at Singh s palatial home, thanks to Dhanwant s kind wife, who has no idea that the new employee is the now grown-up little boy who had been her daughter Nimmi s best friend.
43.
There are washermen who wash clothes and themselves in its ponds, shepherds tend their flocks, In Satyajit Ray s film " Jana Arayanya " there is a shot showing two unemployed young men, observing the sprawling urban comedy around them on the Maidan, identify the typical office clerk in the crowd.
44.
Artisan poets included Molige Maraiah, a wood cutter; Madivala Machayya, a washerman; Ambigere Chowdiah, a ferryman; Madara Dhooliah, a cobbler; Hendada Mariah, a toddy tapper; Turugahi Ramanna, a cowherd; Kannadi Remmitande, a mirror maker; and Revanna Siddha, a shepherd, as but a few in a long list of poets.
45.
A person's surname typically reflects a community ( jati ) association : thus " Gandhi " = perfume seller, " Dhobi " = washerman, " Srivastava " = military scribe, etc . In any given location in India 500 or more jatis may co-exist, although the exact composition will differ from district to district.
46.
The balutedars whose services are still in demand in villages are the carpenter ( sutar ), the barber ( nhavi ), the Priests ( gurav ), the water-carrier ( koli ), the shoemaker ( chambhar ), the blacksmith ( lohar ), the washerman ( parit ), the potter ( kumbhar ), and the rope-maker ( mang ).
47.
Arrayed around " Manan Pulam " were lands with thombu names such as Kuthirai Kulipati ( stables ), Thannakkadi ( elephant stables ), Vannan kinathadi ( settlement of washermen ) Pallan Kulakkaral ( settlement of Palla slaves ) and Parrachi Tharai ( land of the Paraya slaves ), which showed that the service castes were settled around to attend to the needs of the Mudaliyar s family.
48.
In earlier times, the scrolls were a colourful backdrop to the equally interesting oral traditions of the common people,-the village hajjam-barber, toddy tapper, dhobhi-washerman, chamar-leatherworker, fisherman, weaver and farmer : ( " Madiga, Goud, Mudiraju, Malas, Padmashali, Chakala and Mangali " ) the seven working and marginalised castes and communities of the village.
49.
They faced many hardships under Muslim rule and had to forego their identity as warriors, opting for professions such as : liquor dwelling ( Jaiswals & Lodha ), weaving ( Rangrez ), farming ( Kachi ), rasing cows for milk ( Ahir Gowli ), washermen ( Ahir Dhobi ), or butchery of sheep ( only to the extent of removing the skin of the sheep and cutting it in parts ).
50.
Sambalpur is very ethnically diverse, with about 14 communities including Brahmin, Teli ( oil extractors ), Gour ( milkmen ), Guria ( maker of sweets ), Agaria ( industrious cultivators ), Sunari ( goldsmith ), Kultas ( cultivators ), Kewat ( boatmen and fisherman ), Dhobi ( washermen ), Bhuliya ( weaver ), Bhandari ( barber ), Kamar ( blacksmith ) Ganda ( pipers and drummers ) and Muslims, Sikhs and Christians cohabiting together.
