ABSTRACT
Occupation.—The Aherias have found that there is little to be made by hunting in the highly cultivated canal-irrigated Doab. Most members of the tribe lead honest lives as cultivators, and others maintain themselves by making baskets, collecting honey, gums, &c., which they sell in the towns and villages. Some Aherias however, are vagrants, and as thieves, burglars, and robbers they are amongst the most active and determined criminals in the provinces. Children learn to steal at an early age, and by the time they are 15 or 16, they are expert enough to join expeditions. Gangs of from ten to twenty men leave their homes periodically and go on lengthy expeditions to distant parts of the country. They are absent for several months and when they return home, they generally have sufficient plunder with them to maintain themselves and their families in leisured ease for the rest of the year. Before a gang sets out, arrangements are made that a local Bania should keep the women and children supplied with food during the absence of the men. In some instances however, those of the community who have become tenants or landowners, agree to look after the women and children till the men return. The gang then sets out in small parties of two or three in order to avoid observation, and they generally represent themselves as pilgrims on their way to one of the Hindu holy places. They wander through villages in small parties and ask for alms, but they are ever on the lookout for an opportunity to pilfer and steal. They lift things from passing carts, and they visit pilgrim camps and steal articles of jewellery from women while they are asleep. When committing more serious crime, a large number of them assemble at an appointed place. A leader is chosen and they all obey his orders implicitly. They take up their position on a piece of rising ground near a main road and watch the carts and travellers that pass by. They then select a likely looking cart, and open their attack with a shower of kankar. This generally puts the cart, men to flight, and they then loot the cart at their leisure. They conceal their plunder in an old well or in the jungle and then disperse. Some days later they recover the stolen property and dispose of it through middle-men. If a member of the gang is captured, the leader remains behind and spares no expense to secure his release. They are also skilful burglars, and generally mark down a house some days before they actually break into it. Such houses are always on the outskirts of a village where they can be successfully raided before an alarm can be raised. During recent years, Aherias have acquired some reputation as railway thieves. They snatch parcels through the windows of passenger trains and climb on to goods trains by night and open wagons and throw some of the contents out on the line. They mark the place where they throw bundles out of wagons by counting the number of telegraph poles to the next station. When the train slows down, they alight, and then go back along the line to pick up their plunder. When out on an expedition, the members of a gang associate with each other as little as possible, and notify their whereabouts to each other by means of jackal cries. When they return to their homes, the proceeds of the expedition are divided up amongst the tribe.
