Patwa, Patwi, Patra, Ilākelband.—The occupational caste of weavers of fancy silk braid and thread. In 1911 the Patwas numbered nearly 6000 persons in the Central Provinces, being returned principally from the Narsinghpur, Raipur, Saugor, Jubbulpore and Hoshangābād Districts. About 800 were resident in Berār. The name is derived from the Sanskrit pata, woven cloth, or Hindi pāt, silk. The principal subcastes of the Patwas are the Naraina; the Kanaujia, also known as Chhipi, because they sew marriage robes; the Deobansi or ‘descendants of a god,’ who sell lac and glass bangles; the Lakhera, who prepare lac bangles; the Kachera, who make glass bangles; and others. Three of the above groups are thus functional in character. They have also Rājpūt and Kāyastha subcastes, who may consist of refugees from those castes received into the Patwa community. In the Central Provinces the Patwas and Lakheras are in many localities considered to be the same caste, as they both deal in lac and sell articles made of it; and the account of the occupations of the Lakhera caste also applies largely to the Patwas. The exogamous groups of the caste are named after villages, or titles or nicknames borne by the reputed founder of the group. They indicate that the Patwas of the Central Provinces are generally descended from immigrants from northern India. The Patwa usually purchases silk and colours it himself. He makes silk strings for pyjamas and coats, armlets and other articles. Among these are the silk threads called rākhis, used on the Rakshābandhan festival,1 when the Brāhmans go round in the morning tying them on to the wrists of all Hindus as a protection against evil spirits. For this the Brāhman receives a present of one or two pice. The rākhi is made of pieces of raw silk fibre twisted together, with a knot at one end and a loop at the other. It goes round the wrist, and the knot is passed through the loop. Sisters also tie it round their brothers’ wrists and are given a present. The Patwas make the phundri threads for tying up the hair of women, whether of silk or cotton, and various threads used as amulets, such as the janjīra, worn by men round the neck, and the ganda or wizard’s thread, which is tied round the arm after incantations have been said over it; and the necklets of silk or cotton thread bound with thin silver wire which the Hindus wear at Anant Chaudas, a sort of All Saints’ Day, when all the gods are worshipped. In this various knots are made by the Brāhmans, and in each a number of deities are tied up to exert their beneficent influence for the wearer of the thread. These are the bands which Hindus commonly wear on their necks. The Patwas thread necklaces of gold and jewels on silk thread, and also make the strings of cowries, slung on pack-thread, which are tied round the necks of bullocks when they race on the Pola day, and on ponies, probably as a charm. After a child is born in the family of one of their clients, the Patwas make tassels of cotton and hemp thread coloured red, green and yellow, and hang them to the centre-beam of the house and the top of the child’s cradle, and for this they get a present, which from a rich man may be as much as ten rupees. The sacred thread proper is usually made by Brāhmans in the Central Provinces. Some of the Patwas wander about hawking their wares from village to village. Besides the silk threads they sell the tiklis or large spangles which women wear on their foreheads, lac bangles and balls of henna, and the large necklaces of lac beads covered with tinsel of various colours which are worn in Chhattīsgarh. A Patwa must not rear the tasar silkworm nor boil the cocoons on pain of expulsion from caste.