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Food
The food of Thari's consist entirely on millet bread (bajray
ki roti) and yogurt drink or Lassi. As a result of the social
and economic changes Thari's eating habits have also changed.
Vegetables and meat are now part of their diet. Tea replaced
Lassi as the main beverage and wheat bread and factory -made
biscuits become popular .
Dress and Ornaments
As a great majority of the population lives in rural alld
arid zone, therefore the question of dress is not of ostentation
but of austerity. Irrespective of creed, social position or
sex, there are two fundamental garments: shalwar alld kallleez
(shirt) in which colour, texture, size and design are optional;
whereas quality of cloth material depends upon weather conditions
and socio-economic characteristics of the person. Women wear,
in addition to the two main garments a covering to the head
(poti/chunri). Ajrak is common among both sexes. The choice
ofcolour, however, is different. Women prefer a reddish tone
ajrak whereas men usually wear a bluish one.
The head -wearing introduces
more diversity in the dress and is the index of caste and
creed. The Hindu wears an embroidered cap indoors, or a simple
white topi but a turban when he goes out. In such case a Pushkama
Brahman wears a red turban with close-fitting shaped like
a pie crust with a very narrow projecting rim. If the wearer
is a Saraswat Brahman, or a Lohana it is the same but white,
unless he is an Ami! in which case he will adopt the Muslim
fashion in the wonderful Sindhi hat or Sirai topi.
The dress of a Hindu woman
differs in many ways with the Muslim woman. Her shirtlcholi
is short scarcely reaching below the waist and of short sleeves.
She uses ghaghra rather than shalwar.
Colour is the essence of a
Thari woman's life. It brings her the hope of the continuance
of life. The arid, desolate environment breeds in her a craving
to surround herself with colour. One will find all the earth's
natural colour the pink of the rose, the azure blue of water,
the green of a tree fol iage in the Thari women clothes she
wears. See any Thari woman at a well and one will fascinate
by a picture of startling colour a bright pink choli will
clash with a parrot green ghaghra. and her face hurriedly
hid behind a vivid yellow chunri.
As a result of the social and
economic changes that have taken place, the Tharis habits
in costume and dress have also changed. The vast majority
now use industrially manufactured shoes and clothes.
Ornaments are as indispensable
to a woman as clothes. The foremost in impor- tance is the
nosering (nath). Nose rings are of many forms, some suspended
from either wing of the nose, some from the middle cartilage.
They are large, sometimes ponderous, but the weight is borne
by a plait ofhair, let down over the forehead. Smaller rings,
called Bula/Buli are worn by girls. Earrings are also various;
the whole rim of the ear is sometimes pierced so that from
the dozen to twenty little jingling ornaments may fringe it.
These also required support, which is afforded by fine silver
chains attached to the hair. Necklaces (Dehari/Har) mundi
and bandra (toes rings), bracelets, anklets and arm lets (kangan.
kari and -banhrakhi) are the common ornaments worn by the
women: However, toe rings and anklets (Jhanghar) are gradually
going out of fashion.
Dwellings
The settlements in the rural
areas of the desert are very simple and to some extent similar
with the huts found in Africa. The Tharis typical beehive
like huts with pointed thatched roofs define the skyline in
Thar, called chullnru. These are built on mud plastered platforms
and the conical roofs are covered with scrub and grasses.
A narrow opening is left for en- trance on a side. These huts
remain cool in the desert blazing heating.
In urban areas particularly at Mithi new buildings are cropping
up between small dwellings and houses made out of wood, mud
and stone.
Occupation
Due to the lack of rainfall outside the monsoon season, farmers
in Thar have seldom produced more than one crop per year.
From time immemorial, Tharis have migrated alongwith their
animals to the barrage areas in the dry season, or in periods
of drought, to work as farm hands. Resultantly this led to
the introduction of a remittance economy in the desert and
the mounting lack of interest in agriculture.
Of the cultivable land in the district, about half is privately
owned while the remaining is either 'gowcher' (communal grazing
land) or belong to the state. Much 'gowcher' land has, however
been encroached upon. Approximately 54 percent of the people
have their own land with an average land holding of around
15 to 20 acres. Of the 46 percent landless Tharis, may migrate
to work in urban areas or work as 'haris' (share-cropper)
on others land. Well over 90 percent of the Thari households
own live stock, and 20 percent of these own more than 50 animals.
Other than sale of live stock,
there are only limited opportunities for income generation
in the desert and the ones that do exist are in carpet weaving
and the production of handicrafts. Women also helps in handicrafting
skills from weaving rugs from goat and camel skin and for
the extremely beautiful rallis that they embroider.
Betrothal and Marriages
The marriage ceremonies in the district among Muslims are
similar to those in rest of the Province/Country. The occasion
of marriage ceremony starts with the registration of marriage
settlements by the witnesses. After acceptance from both bride
and bride-groom, the priest/Nikkah Khawan gives a sermons,
reciting verses from Holy Quran and ended with prayer/good-wishes.
In matrimonial affairs among the Hindus, particularly Lohanas,
the proposal of marriage must come from young lady and not
from the swain. The first step towards the celebration of
marriage is the ascertainment of a luck-day. The months of
Sawan and Bhadu are propitious. Asu is not. With respect to
other ceremonies, purohit must be consulted. When the lucky
hour approaches, the bridegroom appears, attired in a wonderful
facade of paste- board decorated with flowers ofcolour paper,
or sometimes made entirely of silver, called a mutik. and
mounting on a mare, starts for the bride's house, accompanied
by his friends, pipers, drummers, torch-bearers and men that
let off fireworks. At the bride's house he is received with
due ceremony into the angan. over which a canopy has been
erected, where he has a bath and puts on wedding garments
presented to him by the bride.
The mother of the bride washes
his feet with water or milk. Then he goes into the inner chamber,
where the women are, and comes out leading his bride by the
hand and with the corner of his skirt tied to hers. In some
places he does not come out, but the ceremony is performed
in the zenana. The couple sit on two stools, side by side,
with the family or priests in front of them. The priests recite
the sapta-padi and when the bride and bridegroom walk four
times round the sacred fire, on. which the priests have already
made the hom sacrifice. The joining of hands (hathia/o) and
the circuit o(the fire (pheray) are the essentials of the
marriage rite. After it is over gifts are distributed to relatives
and the officiating priest. Then the bridegroom, mountng his
mare again, but this time with his wife behind him in a do/i,
goes in joyful procession to his father's house. Next day
the father of the bride gives a feast. A Hindu as a rule has
only one wife, but if she remains long childless, he takes
another. Divorce is known among them, though in some places,
unfaithfulness is very common; so is remarriage.
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