d on the back of the hands, and also sometimes on the shoulder
and the arms above the elbow, but not on the feet or face.

4. Social position.

The Dahaits are now commonly employed as village watchmen and as guards
or porters (_chaukidar_) of houses. In Bilaspur they also carry litters
and work as navvies and stonebreakers like the Kols. Here they will
eat pork, but in Jubbulpore greater regard is paid to Hindu prejudice,
and they have given up pork and fowls and begun to employ Brahmans
for their ceremonies. The men of the caste will accept cooked food
from any man of the higher castes or those cultivators from whom a
Brahman will take water, but the women are more strict and will only
accept it from a Brahman, Bania, Lodhi or Kurmi.

5. Former occupations: door-keeper and mace-bearer.

In past times the Dahaits were the personal attendants on the
king. They fanned him with the _chaur_ or yak-tail whisk when he sat in
state on the royal cushion. This implement is held sacred and is also
used by Brahmans to fan the deities. On ordinary occasions the Raja
was fanned by a pankha made of _khaskhas_ grass and wetted, but not
so that the water fell on his head. They also acted as gate-keepers
of the palace, and had the title of Darwan. The gate-keeper's post
was a responsible one, as it lay on him to see that no one with evil
intentions or carrying secret arms was admitted to the palace. Whenever
a chief or noble came to visit the king he deposited his arms with
the porter or door-keeper. The necessity of a faithful door-keeper is
shown in the proverb: "With these five you must never quarrel: your
Guru, your wife, your gate-keeper, your doctor and your cook." The
reasons for the inclusion of the others are fairly clear. On the
other hand the gate-porter had usually to be propitiated before
access was obtained to his master, like the modern chuprassie; and the
resentment felt at his rapacity is shown in the proverb: "The broker,
the octroi moharrir, the door-keeper and the bard: these four will
surely go to hell." The Darwan or door-keeper would be given the
right to collect dues, equivalent to those of a village watchman,
from forty or fifty villages. The Dahaits also carried the _chob_
or silver mace before the king. This was about five feet long with
a knob at the upper end as thick as a man's wrist. The mace-bearer
was known as Chobdar, and it was his duty to carry messages and
announce visitors; this lat