Kuti
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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Kuti
This subdivision of Muhammadans derive their name from the Hindustani verb "Kutna," to pound, or beat. They are regarded as a most degraded class, it being the popular belief that a few generations ago they seceded and joined the ranks of Islam, while, like all new converts, they are most intolerant, assuming to be stricter and more orthodox than their neighbours, and, regarding the European with suspicion, if not hatred, they rarely salaam as he passes. They are either followers of Dudhu Miyan, or of Maulavi Karamat 'Ali, and, although punctilious in their religious duties out of doors, cling to many Hindu superstitions. In October they worship the Dhenki used for husking grain, at the same time making offerings to Lakshmi, the goddess of plenty, and every morning bowing thrice before it; while nothing, according to them, is more ominous of evil than for a stranger to sit down, or rest his foot on it. When smallpox attacks their families the Sitala pujah is observed, the same offerings being made to the goddess as among Hindus.
This large subdivision has separated into three classes, who intermarry and hold social intercourse with each other, being named:
Panw Kuti Hath Kuti Chutki Kuti
The Panw Kuti, by far the most numerous, work at any trade, discharging in villages even the menial duty of scavengering. They are masons, thatchers, goldsmiths, boatmen, water-carriers, but their principal occupation is husking rice. Bepari is their ordinary title, while those who are expert at weighing grain are called "Kayyal," a name identical with the Dandi-dar, or weighman, of the Commissariat department.
The wives of the Kuti alone among Mussulman women appear unveiled in public, making purchases in the Bazar, fetching water from the river, and boiling and husking rice in the open air. Among the richer families the women are expert workers of Kashida cloth, and often take service as wet nurses.
No respectable Muhammadan will marry, eat, or associate with the Kuti, although they are admitted into the public Mosques, and buried in the public graveyard.
The Panw Kuti have a Panchait of their own, like any Hindu caste, and a headman called Sardar.
The Hath Kuti, again, pounds bricks for road metal with an iron pestle or mallet, and makes "Surkhi" for mortar. This subdivision is a small one, and is being gradually absorbed by the first.
According to Buchanan, the Chutki probably derived the name from carrying about samples, or a pinch (chutki), of rice to show the quality of the whole, and as all Kufis deal in rice the designation was applied to them collectively.
At the present day, however, the usual occupation of the Chutki is extracting the kernel of the cocoa-nut for the manufacture of oil, and polishing the shells for smoking purposes. Cocoa-nuts arrive in Dacca without their husks, which are exported by the growers to Calcutta for making coir ropes and mats. The common varieties of the nut are Jahazi, the most highly prized, imported into Calcutta from the south of India; Kanchanparia from Noacolly; and Desi, or Bhathiyari from Baqirganj. In the jungles of Bhowal a peculiar nut of a reddish colour, known as Sharmaniya, highly valued for its shape, is found.
A cocoa-nut tapering like a flower bud, hence called Kali, is preferred by all natives for smoking through, and one symmetrically formed will often fetch as much as sixteen rupees. The Chutki are, however, very cunning workmen, and by judicious paring often transform an ill-shapen nut into a shapely one, but the thinness of the shell can be easily detected by the experienced buyer.
It is not improbable that the great Kuti subdivision of to-day is an offshoot of the Chandal race, and it is a remarkable fact that Kutis and Chandals annually compete in boat races on the popular Shashthi Pujah, a circumstance which would account for their low rank among Muhammadans.
