Note 75 — C

Social customs. 17. The only meat from which Cheros habitually abstain is that of the cow, and the prohibition of its use is based on religious motives. Their taboos are the same as those of the Kols. Men and women eat apart. They salute Brâhmans and other superiors in the pâêlagi form, to others they salâm. When they meet a superior they very often take off the turban and stand on one leg. They will eat food cooked in butter (pakka khâna) only from the hands of Brâhmans. They, in fact, affect a good deal of ceremonial purity like the Cheros of Palamau and the Kharrias.75 Kalwârs and all the wandering Banyas who go about the country for grain will eat pakka khâna and drink water from their hands. Their usual occupations are cultivating, ploughing for others, cutting wood, collecting lac and other jungle produce. They will not breed silkworms, which is considered a most disreputable occupation and left to Bhuiyârs and Chamârs. They have an elementary communal organisation (eka) in which the residents of three or four villages join for general business. But this seems to be on the decline. There is no trace of a periodical distribution of fields, but only the lands near the village site are habitually cultivated. The others are under a system of biennial fallow. In all but the cleared and cultivated lands the right of pasturage is unrestricted. Cheros have a reputation for honesty and good conduct, and they are liked in villages better than Bhuiyas or Bhuiyârs: but they are lazy cultivators.