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KUMHARS.
(223)

The Photograph represents a Kumhar or potter at work, with his primitive instrument, the "potter's wheel," which, and the wares he makes with it, have probably been unchanged since the earliest period of civilized influence in India.  Beside him is an earthen pot, unglazed and made of coarse clay, such as are in daily use by millions, identical in form and material with those vessels dug out of cairns and cromlechs, which may be the remains of the most ancient Aryan invaders, or of a tide of invaders beyond the Aryans.  Indeed, perhaps of the two, the ancient vessels are the best, for some of them are wholly or partially glazed, though indifferently; whereas the Kumhar's ware is, all over India, entirely without glaze, nor is the process understood by these artizans under any form.  Beside the figure on the right hand are a few earthen toys: specimens of those painted elephants, sheep, horses, male and female figures, images of gods and goddesses, small cups and vessels which are used in children's feasts - all rude, and displaying neither any perception of artistic form or execution, but still toys, and as precious to Hindoo, as their equivalents are to English children.  At every village market or fair they are sold by hundreds, and the potters' stalls are generally surrounded by a crowd of admiring and envious urchins, standing agape at blue, yellow, and red elephants and horses, tigers, and panthers, with brilliant red spots and stripes, and the most wonderful parodies on the human form divine that it is possible to conceive.  In the Photograph, a specimen of a "topee walla," or "man with a hat," otherwise a European, is given, of which the cap is perhaps the most intelligible.  The figure has, however, a certain jaunty air, suitable to the ordinary pretensions of the class it represents.

The Kumhar is found in every locality of India, differing in no essential particular.  He has the same wheel, and the same clay, and means of preparing it, whether red, grey, or black.  A finer or more valuable description of earthenware is not required by the people, and what he produces is exactly what they want.  No one uses plates and dishes of earthenware in India.  To a Hindoo, any thing