thorn bushes, which they batter out of the ground
with the back of a short-handled axe peculiar to themselves. They
move from place to place with buffaloes, donkeys and ponies to carry
their kit. [106] Another class of wandering smiths, the Ghisaris, are
described by Mr. Crooke as follows: "Occasional camps of these most
interesting people are to be met with in the Districts of the Meerut
Division. They wander about with small carts and pack-animals, and,
being more expert than the ordinary village Lohar, their services
are in demand for the making of tools for carpenters, weavers and
other craftsmen. They are known in the Punjab as Gadiya or those who
have carts (_gadi, gari_). Sir D. Ibbetson [107] says that they come
up from Rajputana and the North-Western Provinces, but their real
country is the Deccan. In the Punjab they travel about with their
families and implements in carts from village to village, doing the
finer kinds of iron-work, which are beyond the capacity of the village
artisan. In the Deccan [108] this class of wandering blacksmiths are
called Saiqalgar, or knife-grinders, or Ghisara, or grinders (Hindi,
_ghisana_ 'to rub'). They wander about grinding knives and tools."

Lorha

_Lorha._ [109]--A small caste of cultivators in the Hoshangabad and
Nimar Districts, whose distinctive occupation is to grow _san_-hemp
(_Crotalaria juncea_) and to make sacking and gunny-bags from the
fibre. A very strong prejudice against this crop exists among the
Hindus, and those who grow it are usually cut off from their parent
caste and become a separate community. Thus we have the castes known
as Kumrawat, Patbina and Dangur in different parts of the Province,
who are probably offshoots from the Kurmis and Kunbis, but now rank
below them because they grow this crop; and in the Kurmi caste itself
a subcaste of Santora (hemp-picking) Kurmis has grown up. In Bilaspur
the Patharia Kurmis will grow _san_-hemp and ret it, but will not spin
or weave the fibre; while the Atharia Kurmis will not grow the crop,
but will spin the fibre and make sacking. The Saugor Kewats grow this
fibre, and here Brahmans and other high castes will not take water
from Kewats, though in the eastern Districts they will do so. The
Narsinghpur Mallahs, a branch of the Kewats, have also adopted the
cultivation of _san_-hemp as a regular profession. The basis of the
prejudice against the _san_-hemp plant is not altogether clear. The
Lorhas themselves