CHAMAAR TAB AUR AB

Chamar HINDU CASTE WRITTEN BY: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Chamar, widespread caste in northern India whose hereditary occupation is tanning leather; the name is derived from the Sanskrit word charmakara (“skin worker”). The Chamars are divided into more than 150 subcastes, all of which are characterized by well-organized panchayats (governing councils). Members of the caste are included in the officially designated Scheduled Castes (also called Dalits); because their hereditary work obliged them to handle dead animals, the Chamars were among those formerly called “untouchables.” Their settlements have often been outside higher-caste Hindu villages. Each settlement has its own headman (pradhan), and larger towns have more than one such community headed by a pradhan. The Chamars allow widows to marry either their husband’s younger brother or a widower of the same subcaste. A segment of the caste follows the teaching of Shiva Narayana, the 18th-century saint and ascetic of...