Naicha-Band
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
NOTE 1: Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from a very old book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot scanning errors are requested to report the correct spelling to the Facebook page, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be duly acknowledged.
Naicha-Band
The makers of huqqa snakes carry on one of the busiest and most paying occupations of the present day, there being about a hundred houses of them in the city of Dacca alone.
The common "naicha" used by four-fifths of the population comes ready made from Silhet, whence most of the Naicha-bands also come. The woods used in their manufacture are Sisu, Jam, Jarral, and Semal. The wood is hollowed by means of a long iron borer, then fixed in a lathe and turned. The rich often have pipe stems made of ebony (Abnus).
Naichas, or snakes, are of different shapes. The most common are the Pechwan, or twisted; the Derh-kham with one and a-half turns, the Sattar-kham with many coils; and the Kohni-dar with a joint in the middle.
A naicha is made as follows: Where the bends are a spiral, zinc wire is introduced and strengthened by iron bands, or by splinters of bamboo. If the snake is for a rich person, fine birch bark, Bhurja-pattra (Betula bhurja), is bound over this, if for a poor man, a leaf known as "Kinaj-patta," imported from Silhet, is used instead. Common red cloth (salu), or variegated strips of cloth, are wound round the tube according to the fancy of the buyer.
Naichas often get names from the materials of which they are made, some smokers fancying "Kus-kus" on the outside of the tube, which, being moistened, cools the smoke as it is inhaled. Others have the snake ornamented with beads, silver wire, or precious stones.
The common wooden naicha costs from two to three anas, while that bound with kus-kus fetches from two to three rupees, and those with gold or silver from ten to twenty rupees.
In Eastern Bengal the different parts of the Huqqa are the Gurguri or Farsiya, made of silver, Bidri, or glass, for holding the rosewater; the Surahi, which passes into the rosewater and has its end cut slantingly; and the gatta, or knob, where the naicha, or khama, joins. At this joint a plate of zinc, with two holes in it is so fastened as to prevent the issue of smoke. The Munh-nal, or mouthpiece, is as a rule made of silver.1 On the top of the Surahi is placed the "'Araq-dan" to catch the tobacco juice; while above this is the Chilam, or pipe bowl, with its ornamented filagree cover, or sarposh.
The profession of a Naicha-band is a most respected one, and is esteemed as equal to that of the Rangrez, and it often happens that one member of a family is a dyer, while another is a huqqa snake maker.
