Thus in the case of an important industry like weaving, there are separate castes who weave the finer kinds of cloth, as the Tantis and Koshtis, while one subcaste of Koshtis, the Salewars, are distinguished as silk-weavers, and a separate caste of Patwas embroider silk and braid on cloth; other castes, as the Mahars, Gandas and Koris, weave coarse cloth, and a distinct caste of Katias existed for the spinning of thread, and the Muhammadan caste of Bahnas for cleaning cotton.

The workers in each kind of metal have formed a separate caste, as the Lohars or blacksmiths, the Kasars or brass-workers, the Tameras or coppersmiths, and the Sunars or gold- and silversmiths, while the Audhia subcaste of Sunars [83] and the Bharewas, an inferior branch of the Kasars, work in bell-metal.

Each of these castes makes ornaments of its own metal, while the Kachera caste [84] make glass bangles, and the Lakheras make bangles from lac and clay.

In the case of agriculture, as has been seen, there is usually a functional cultivating caste for each main tract of country, as the Jats in the Punjab, the Kurmis in Hindustan, the Kunbis in the Deccan, the Chasas in Orissa, the Kapus in the Telugu country and the Vellalas in the Tamil country.

Except the Jats, who were perhaps originally a racial caste, the above castes appear to include a number of heterogeneous groups which have been welded into a single body through the acquisition of land and the status which it confers.