TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

OHANGING PATI'ERNS IN THE BEDTHI-AGHANASH1N1 VALLEYS 803
from a nonpriestly group. Many families are still priests with litile
land holdings; pth81'8 have railed arecanut orchards on the coast as
well as in the valleys up the hills. They maintain large numbers
of cattle and consume milk products extensively. They are strict
vegetarians and traditionally do not hunt or fish at all.
Saraawats
.Saruwats are a priestly caate widely distributed on the coast
and on the hills engaged in trade and moneylending. Under British
rule they came to own extensive lands. Unlike Haviks, they did not
cultivate land themselves but let it out to the tenants. Saruwats
are among the few priestly cutes that consume fish and shellfish;
traditionally, they do not eat any other meat.
MOIlem Traders
Moslem traders are deecendantl of mixed marriages between
Arab traders and locals who do not practice cultivation or animal
husbandry but who specialize in maritime and other trade. They
consume both fish and meat.
Acharis
Acharis are carpenters who traditionally worked for an inherited
clientele in one or more villages on a jAjmofti buis. That is, they
were paid in kind a certain proportion of the other families' produce
every year for looking after thoee families' needs for carpentry. They
do not cultivate or keep animals. They eat fish and meat.
TllADmONAL PATTERNS 01 USOUB.CE MANAGEMENT
TheSyltem
In the pre-Colonial period, Indian lOCiety had evolved an interesting
pattern to regulate competition over resources. The villages
were made up of populations of several endogamous caate groups
knit together in a web of mutual dependency. Each caste group had
a specific, hereditary, and often exclusive function assigned to it.
Thus, any given Achari houeehold had the exclusive responsibility
for carpentry operations for certain village households, or a given