Chhipi-Gar

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This article is an extract from

THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. By H.H. RISLEY, INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE, OFFICIER D'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE. Ethnographic Glossary. CALCUTTA: Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. .

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Chhipi-Gar

Is a cotton-printer, who stamps patterns on embroidered muslins, known in the trade as "kashida," and "chikan."

The dye used in stamping is called "pacha-pathar," or "Deo-mati," a red-ochre earth from Upper India.

Lei-chhapa employs other workmen. Paste, or glue, is heated and smeared over the stamp with which the design is impressed on the cloth.

The men who follow these occupations would consider themselves degraded if they traced patterns on silk, which is exclusively the work of women.