Mahi-Farosh
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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Mahi-Farosh
Muhammadan fishmongers are also called Nikari, a word of doubtful origin.1
Excepting in Silhet, no Mussulman of Eastern Bengal earns a livelihood as a fisherman. This prejudice appears to be general throughout the Muhammadan world. Burckhardt does mention Bedouin fishermen on the coast of the Red Sea, but at Constantinople the fishermen are poor Bulgarians, while the farmer of the fishery is always a Turk. In Sindh, the Mohana, a fisher tribe, though now Muhammadan, was formerly a vile Hindu one.
In Hindustan, a Mussulman may often be seen angling, or throwing a casting net, but the fish caught are for home use, and are never sold. This objection, in India at least, seems to be of Buddhist origin, and all fisher castes are still regarded as belonging to one of the lowest grades of humanity, being generally remnants of aboriginal, or outcast, tribes who lived separate from, and stranger to, the Aryan population around them. There is, therefore, little doubt that the Mahi-farosh of to-day represents a Hindu fisher caste converted to Islam.
The Mahi-farosh division is a very exclusive one, and in the city of Dacca includes only about eighty families, who intermarry among themselves, and shut out from social intercourse any member who marries into another class. This in-breeding probably explains the fact that they are yearly decreasing, and now number only an eighth of what they formerly did. The name Nikari, regarded as an opprobrious one, is generally applied to the Kaibartta fishmonger. Of old, the Mahi-farosh farmed the river fisheries, but this being found unremunerative, they, nowadays, occasionally make advances to the fishermen, but the rule is to pay for large fish when brought to market, and for small ones every ten or fifteen days, at so much a basket.
The Mahi-farosh have no objections to pray with, to eat or drink in the houses of all other Muhammadan citizens, but they are seldom given an opportunity. In each quarter of the city where they reside, a headman or Mu'tabar governs, and an Union or dal, presided over by a Paramanik, is established.
The Mahi-farosh, moreover, is often a fish curer. During the cold weather, traders of this name from Hugli visit Eastern Bengal, and lease a piece of land on the bank of a river, where they dry fish in the sun. Fish, generally the "Poti" (Cyprinus Chyssoparcius), are bought from the Tiyars at the rate of two and a half creels a rupee. The fish are spread on the bank, protected by nets from the kites and crows, and after being exposed from ten to fifteen days "until the oil disappears," are shipped on board boats, and considered fit for use. In private houses, the sukhti, or dried fish, as it is called, is either sprinkled with salt, or packed in an earthen vessel, and during the rains, when fish are dear, this unsavoury mess, after being roasted and pounded, is mixed with onions, chillies, pepper and oil, and called barta, a favourite relish when eaten with curry.
The large kinds of fish, such as "bhikthi," "rohu" and "hilsa," after being cleaned and sliced are salted and dried under pressure.
1 Perhaps Sanskrit Nikara, a heap or pile.
