his from a Savar and not from a Gond. They rank below
the Gonds, Kawars and Savars or Saonrs. Women are tattooed with a
representation of their sept totem; and on the knees and ankles they
have some figures of lines which are known as _ghats_. These they
say will enable them to climb the mountains leading to heaven in the
other world, while those who have not such marks will be pierced with
spears on their way up the ascent. It has already been suggested that
these marks may have given rise to the name of the Ghatyara division
of the tribe.

Bhamta or Bhamtya

1. Occupation.

_Bhamta or Bhamtya._ [266]--A caste numbering 4000 persons in the
Central Provinces, nearly all of whom reside in the Wardha, Nagpur
and Chanda Districts of the Nagpur Division. The Bhamtas are also
found in Bombay, Berar and Hyderabad. In Bombay they are known by the
names of Uchla or 'Lifter' and Ganthachor or 'Bundle-thief.' [267]
The Bhamtas were and still are notorious thieves, but many of the
caste are now engaged in the cultivation of hemp, from which they
make ropes, mats and gunny-bags. Formerly it was said in Wardha that
a Bhamta girl would not marry unless her suitor had been arrested not
less than fourteen times by the police, when she considered that he
had qualified as a man. The following description of their methods
does not necessarily apply to the whole caste, though the bulk of
them are believed to have criminal tendencies. But some colonies of
Bhamtas who have taken to the manufacture of sacking and gunny-bags
from hemp-fibre may perhaps be excepted. They steal only during the
daytime, and divide that part of the Province which they frequent into
regular beats or ranges. They adopt many disguises. Even in their own
cottages one dresses as a Marwari Bania, another as a Gujarat Jain,
a third as a Brahman and a fourth as a Rajput. They keep to some
particular disguise for years and often travel hundreds of miles,
entering and stealing from the houses of the classes of persons whose
dress they adopt, or taking service with a merchant or trader, and
having gained their employer's confidence, seizing an opportunity to
abscond with some valuable property. Sometimes two or three Bhamtas
visit a large fair, and one of them dressed as a Brahman mingles with
the crowd of bathers and worshippers. The false Brahman notices some
ornament deposited by a bather, and while himself entering the water
and repeating sacred verse