Note 41 — Glossary

The Kāmads dress after the Rājpūtāna fashion, and wear yellow ochre-coloured clothes. Their exogamous sections have Rājpūt names, as Chauhān, Panwār, Gudesar, Jogpāl and so on, and like the Rājpūts they send a cocoanut-core to signify a proposal for marriage. But the fact that they have a special aversion to Dhobis and will not touch them makes it possible that they originated from the Dom caste, who share this prejudice.41 Reason has been found to suppose that the Kanjars, Kolhātis and other migrant groups of entertainers are sprung from the Doms, and the Kāmads may be connected with these. No caste, not even the sweepers, will accept food from the Kāmads. They employ a Brāhman, however, to officiate at their marriage and death ceremonies. Like the Gosains the Kāmads bury their dead in a sitting posture, a niche being hollowed out at the side of the grave in which the corpse is placed. Crushed bread (malīda) and a gourd full of water are laid beside the corpse. The caste worship the footprints of Rāmdeo, a saint of Mārwār, and pay special reverence to the goddess Hinglāj, who is a deity of several castes in Rājpūtāna.