Mahout, Mahawat
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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Mahout, Mahawat
The Mahout, or elephant keeper, also known by the Persian name Fil-ban, is in most instances a Muhammadan. During the wars of Sabuktigin in the tenth century of our era, Mahouts were always Hindus; and at the present day a few borne on the establishments of Hindu Zamindars are Chandals. It is stated by a great authority,1 that Mahouts are now almost invariably Sayyids, or if not Sayyids are addressed as such. At Dacca, however, where the government Khedah establishment has been stationed for many years, Mahouts never claim to have Sayyid blood, and are never accosetd by that honoured title. On the contrary, they are of low plebeian families, and their hard and venturesome lives are passed in reckless dissipation and in excessive indulgence in opium, Ganjha, and spirits. The ordinary titles among them are Jamadar and Sardar.
Dacca Mahouts never heard of giving elephants "certain drugs mixed up with the wax of the human ear"2 to make them quarrelsome and pugnacious; but they state that if an issue be made over each temple and a clove inserted, this effect is produced.
