ildren, when his other servants came to him in a body and
refused to remain in service unless the cook was dismissed, since they
had discovered, they declared, that during the night-time he visited
cemeteries and dug up the bodies of freshly buried children. The cook
was absent, but they pointed to a box of his that emitted a sickening
smell. The man was incontinently expelled, but for long afterwards the
family were haunted by reminiscences of the curries they had eaten."

Ahir

List of Paragraphs

1. _General notice._
2. _Former dominance of the Abhiras._
3. _Ahir dialects._
4. _The Yadavas and Krishna._
5. _The modern Ahirs an occupational caste._
6. _Subcastes._
7. _The Dauwa or wet-nurse Ahirs. Fosterage._
8. _Exogamy._
9. _Marriage customs._
10. _Birth customs._
11. _Funeral rites. Bringing back the soul._
12. _Religion. Krishna and other deified cowherds._
13. _Caste deities._
14. _Other deities._
15. _The Diwali festival._
16. _Omens._
17. _Social customs._
18. _Ornaments._
19. _Occupation._
20. _Preparations of milk._

1. General notice.

_Ahir, [13] Gaoli, Guala, Golkar, Gaolan, Rawat, Gahra, Mahakul._--The
caste, of cowherds, milkmen and cattle-breeders. In 1911 the Ahirs
numbered nearly 750,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berar,
being the sixth caste in point of numbers. This figure, however,
excludes 150,000 Gowaris or graziers of the Maratha Districts,
and if these were added the Ahirs would outnumber the Telis and
rank fifth. The name Ahir is derived from Abhira, a tribe mentioned
several times in inscriptions and the Hindu sacred books. Goala,
a cowherd, from Gopala, [14] a protector of cows, is the Bengali
name for the caste, and Gaoli, with the same signification, is now
used in the Central Provinces to signify a dairyman as opposed to
a grazier. The Gaolans appear to be an inferior class of Gaolis in
Berar. The Golkars of Chanda may be derived from the Telugu Golars or
graziers, with a probable admixture of Gond blood. They are described
as wild-looking people scattered about in the most thickly forested
tracts of the District, where they graze and tend cattle. Rawat, a
corruption of Rajputra or a princeling, is the name borne by the Ahir
caste in Chhattisgarh; while Gahra is their designation in the Uriya
country. The Mahakul Ahirs are a small group found in the Jashpur
Stat