r home in northern India, but from the fact
that they have become large landholders in the Central Provinces and
in former times their leaders exercised quasi-sovereign powers. Many
Lodhis are fine-looking men and have still some appearance of having
been soldiers. They are passionate and quarrelsome, especially in the
Jubbulpore District. This is put forcibly in the saying that 'A Lodhi's
temper is as crooked as the stream of a bullock's urine.' They are
generally cultivators, but the bulk of them are not very prosperous
as they are inclined to extravagance and display at weddings and on
other ceremonial occasions.

Lohar

1. Legends of the caste

_Lohar_, _Khati_, _Ghantra_, _Ghisari_, _Panchal._--The occupational
caste of blacksmiths. The name is derived from the Sanskrit
_Lauha-kara>_, a worker in iron. In the Central Provinces the Loharhas
in the past frequently combined the occupations of carpenter and
blacksmith, and in such a capacity he is known as Khati. The honorific
designations applied to the caste are Karigar, which means skilful,
and Mistri, a corruption of the English 'Master' or 'Mister.' In 1911
the Lohars numbered about 180,000 persons in the Central Provinces
and Berar. The Lohar is indispensable to the village economy, and
the caste is found over the whole rural area of the Province.

"Practically all the Lohars," Mr. Crooke writes [100], "trace
their origin to Visvakarma, who is the later representative of the
Vedic Twashtri, the architect and handicraftsman of the gods, 'The
fashioner of all ornaments, the most eminent of artisans, who formed
the celestial chariots of the deities, on whose craft men subsist,
and whom, a great and immortal god, they continually worship,' One
[101] tradition tells that Visvakarma was a Brahman and married the
daughter of an Ahir, who in her previous birth had been a dancing-girl
of the gods. By her he had nine sons, who became the ancestors of
various artisan castes, such as the Lohar, Barhai, Sunar, and Kasera."

The Lohars of the Uriya country in the Central Provinces tell a similar
story, according to which Kamar, the celestial architect, had twelve
sons. The eldest son was accustomed to propitiate the family god with
wine, and one day he drank some of the wine, thinking that it could
not be sinful to do so as it was offered to the deity. But for this
act his other brothers refused to live with him and left their home,
adopting various professio