Occupation of yore: Bhisti - the water carrier
Animated Short Film on ‘A day in the life of a Bhisti’ using Open GLAM images with an article to share their story and more.
The Digital Storytelling Festival organized jointly by Europeana and The Heritage Lab is a creative contest to tell a story using openly available cultural resources. I took this opportunity to bring alive some of the long lost aspects of India, the country I live in. Digital realms are a perfect place to preserve moments that have faded with time, so that the we can continue to share these stories in the times to come.
Back in the 18th and the 19th centuries, the Company Paintings did a remarkable job in that sense. In a way I’m really glad (and thankful) that the British, along with the Indian painters, documented the daily life of yore in India. It is because of those paintings that my generation (and beyond) is able to relive those moments frozen in time. Without further ado, I’d like to present my animated short (available in 4K) — A day in a life of a Bhisti.
Found the video interesting? Read along to know a lot more about the Bhistis.
Bhisti a.k.a. Water Carrier
The word Bhisti is said to be derived from the Persian word bihisht, meaning paradise. So, more or less, a bhisti is believed to be a water carrier from paradise who brings relief to the thirsty. Well, that’s quite a start to their story, isn’t it? ;)
A Bhisti can be identified as a person carrying upon his hip the entire skin of a goat, the body and legs of which are sewn up, the neck only being left open. The bag is known as a mussock¹ (mashak) and contains from six to eight gallons of water. A strap is tied to both the hind and front of the water bag, which stretches across his right shoulder, the bag being on the left side. A stopper is placed in the mouth of the bag, which the carrier holds with his left hand. A cloth is worn about the loins, and his legs are bare to the ground. He usually wears a shirt, with short sleeves, and his head is covered with a bulky piece of cloth wound round and round. Most of the bhistis are bent forward and lean to the left, which is accounted for by their carrying the bag on that side.²
Bhisti was a very useful man and a hardworking individual. The most commendable feature was the free water-service provided by him. Men engaged in that occupation had a guild, or union, and the rules of the organization forbade them to charge for water. He was usually poor man, but he served water to either man or beast in need. They were generally found about railway stations and other places where large numbers of people would congregate.
It might be debatable that for the purpose of carrying water from one place to another, a pail would be the more convenient article. But a very good and powerful reason that he always used a mussock was that he could grab the advantages of any other means of transport.
Thirsty children were seen running to the bhisti for water with empty cups in their hands. He would then withdraw the stopper, place the spout above the cup and fill it by releasing the thumb of his left hand at the mouth of the bag. The happy child would savor the drink and walk away.
Other times, a mother with a water vessel in her hand would call him. He would then pause until the woman caught up with him and then provide her with water. The Indian mother might leave with him a pai (one-sixth of a cent).
The monsoons in India lasted only four months. For the rest of the year, water was hard to come by. Wells were scarce and water had to be carried long distances. In a torrid climate like that of India and where vast quantities of water was used, the bhisti was much sought after. His service was limited not only for domestic purposes, but agricultural irrigation was also done by him.
When the water-carrier would pass an ox, a goat, a dog, or a horse — anything in need of water — he would at once ease his thumb on the spout of the bag and relieve their suffering. He was also called at a compound with his bag full, and the master of the bungalow would direct him to sprinkle the parched garden. After doing so he would walk away, unless called back to receive pay.²
“The bhisti, in short, practices what Red Cross societies aim to accomplish, and what churches profess to do. He is the one star that shines brightly through the dark, traditional sky of India — a messenger of life in a land of suffering and death.” — Samuel Murray, Seven Legs Across the Seas: A Printer’s Impressions of Many Lands
All in all, it were the Bhistis who sprinkled the roads, brought drinking water to the people, filled their baths, and in time of war, carried the cooling draught to the wounded. Yes! The Bhistis were an integral part of the Supply and Transpot Corps of the British Indian Army. Their contributions were highly regarded in the regiments, as can be read in the following instance.
Bhisti in the Indian Army
The remarkable courage occasionally exhibited by bhistis under fire is well known. It is said that at the time of the distribution of Mutiny honors, a Colonel of English Cavalry was asked to select a man from his regiment who had specially distinguished himself, that he might be honored by the receipt of the V.C. The regimental bhisti was chosen as being the man who had exceeded every soldier in the regiment in his deeds of daring.
On hearing that a bhisti could not be the recipient, the Commanding Officer refused to name anyone else. He based it on the grounds that, although many acts of bravery had been performed by his men, none could be compared with the heroism of the regimental water-carrier. So it wasn’t awarded.¹
While the water-men were giving their all on the ground zero, celebratory tales were being written about them, off the battlefield.
In popular culture
Readers familiar with the works of Rudyard Kipling might have come across his widely acclaimed poem Gunga Din³ which chronicles the heroics of a Bhisti during war. Here’s the poem for you to read:
(Some lines from the poem are explained here.)
This poem stirred a lot of interest among the masses back in the day (and probably still does), especially because of the line “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!”. There’s a Wikipedia page that archives all the adaptations and references to this literary piece. I had absolutely no idea about this work by Kipling and the repercussions it had in the popular culture. Thanks to this project, I’m all ears to Gunga Din’s legacy now. ;)
Also, this piece ties in well to the following quote by Oscar Browning from his book Impressions of Indian Travel⁴:
“For my own part I trust that if I am ever born again, in India, I may become a bhisti, or water-carrier. I am told that they are most excellent people. Does not Mr. Kipling’s Gunga Din testify to the fact that their name is a title of honor? Certainly their occupation is most beneficient. With their musssock or goatskin on their back, they are always either watering the roads, or giving drink to animals, or refreshing the weary traveller.”
For some, this may come across as the usual “romanticization” of the East by the West. However, it is only through their writings that we’re able to know about this obsolete occupation today. Nonetheless, if they were treated as prized possessions back in the day, then the questions arises — ‘What were the reasons for the decline of this job?’
Reasons for decline
Talking about the history of the bhistis, it is believed that they were a group from Arabia who followed the path of Mughal entry into India. After the downfall of the Mughal empire, the bhistis blended in well with the British during their rule.⁵ They continued to work quite efficiently, exhibiting loyalty and courage at the same time, which is immortalized in Kipling’s poem. Although, a new chapter in the lives of the bhistis was waiting to be written at the dawn of the twentieth century.
The field of modern medicine and hygiene was advancing at a brisk pace during this time. ‘Cholera’ and ‘enteric fever’ were identified as the principal diseases of India which were usually ‘water-borne’. Owing to the climatic conditions in the country, a soldier would drink much more water here than in England.
The sources from which a bhisti would procure water, varied according to the task at hand. Thus, a mussock once infected with contaminated water was likely to continue being so. Additionally, the germs lodged upon his clothing could get attached to his mussock and grow through its interior. Hence the bhisti and his mussock were to be regarded as probable agents in the spread of disease. Several measures were taken in this direction, as E. Carrick Freeman wrote in his book, The Sanitation of British Troops in India:
It is therefore of the first importance that the water-pipes should be laid on directly into the cook-houses and barrack-room verandas, so as to enable the soldiers to get their water straight from the tap without its first passing through the bhisti’s mussock.
It has been objected by the military authorities that such an arrangement would lead to great waste of water, but that is a mere matter of discipline. A more serious objection is that it would take away the occupation of the regimental bhistis; but work could always be found for these men in watering gardens, etc., and failing that it would still be cheaper to keep them in idleness than to risk an outbreak of enteric amongst the troops.⁶
From the perspective of the well-being of the soldiers, it might be the way to go ahead. On the other hand though, the suggestion of this idea was probably the beginning of the end for the Bhistis. The advent of piped water directly into the barracks and eventually, the homes of the people revolutionized the way water was being consumed. To support this, better water pump facilities developed there after. But not all was lost for the water-carriers, yet.
Recent past
Before starting with my research for this article, I was pretty sure that the water-carrying job is totally non — existent today. To my surprise though, the Bhistis continued to operate in three Indian cities, well until recently. Albeit, the declining trend was clearly visible.
Mumbai (Bombay): This article from 2009 gives a brief overview of Bhistis in the city from the year 2009. There’s a wonderful YouTube video on a Bhisti named Mansoor a.k.a ‘Papa’, a resident here. Fast forward to 2018, the situation has changed drastically (the article is in Marathi). In Maharashtra state, the water-carriers were known as Pukhalis.
Update June 2022: A wonderful photo essay by Mohmad Aslam Saiyad on the ‘Last Bhistis of Mumbai’ was published and exhibited in early 2022.
Delhi: A couple of YouTube videos from 2017 by Mint and BBC News Hindi share information about a Bhisti working in old city of Delhi. Another article that talks about Bhistis in the city and shares the story of how A bhisti ruled an empire for a day.
Kolkata (Calcutta): Watch the daily routine of Kolkata Bhistis in the year 2011. Bhistis were once employees at the Calcutta Municipal Corporation but soon lost their jobs after water carriages were introduced. More recently, in 2017, a Bhisti was spotted actively serving water in Bhistipara, a locality in Kolkata named after the traditional occupation of the water-carriers.
The job of a water-carrier was mostly passed down from one generation to the next. While some of the existing Bhistis did not want their children to pursue this job due to the hardships they faced in this occupation. Other younglings voluntarily chose not to enter this field.⁵
However, these instances are still a few years old and it’s hard to know what’s the exact situation today. In case there would any surviving bhistis today, the pandemic just would’ve made the situation even worse.
Nonetheless, the goal of this entire project was to document the lives of a Bhisti and pay a tribute to all those water-carriers who ruled the streets of India, once upon a time.
Do you have similar stories of a water-carrier in your part of the world? Drop by a comment and let everyone know about it! :D
Additional Images
Unlike the images featured in the article above, these pictures are in the public domain but not necessarily open available. Although, they’re worth seeing and adding to this documentation. So I’m adding the links in here for pleasure time viewing.
A couple of wonderful paintings of Bhistis by Gertrude Ellen Burrard in the National Army Museum, London:
And a few more from V&A, Harvard Art Museums and British Library:
Here’s a must-see Twitter thread by G Katyan Misra dedicated to Bhistis. It has a lot more pictures, some open images of which I’ve used in my animation and this article.
Meanwhile, in case you’ve noticed, there was a mention of the name ‘Madari’ in my animation. While I wrote this article mainly to outline the story of Bhistis, an hounorable mention goes out to the Madari. It is another occupation which is almost non-existent in India today, mostly due to the fact that it has been banned. Although, I would like to touch upon it briefly here to talk about the fascinating acts that this Hindostani juggler would put across.
Madari a.k.a. Hindostani Juggler
Madari is also identified by names such as a fakir or a Hindostani juggler. Regardless of what he’s called, the entertainment factor that he brought along was always up to the mark. Monkeys dancing on the classic tune of a beating damru (hand-held drum) captivated the audience like no other.
With reference to this Madari image that I’ve used in my animation, Fanny Parks wrote the following in her book Wanderings of a Pilgrim after witnessing a madari’s performance:
Another exhibition worth seeing is an Hindostani juggler, with his goat, two monkeys, and three bits of wood, like the wood used in England to play the devil and two sticks. The first bit of wood is placed on the ground, the goat ascends it, and balances herself on the top; the man by degrees places another bit of wood on the upper edge of the former; the goat ascends, and retains her balance; the third piece, in like manner, is placed on the top of the former two pieces; the goat ascends from the two former, a monkey is placed on her back, and she still preserves the balance. I have seen this curious performance many times. The man keeps time with a sort of musical instrument, which he holds in his right hand, and sings a wild song to aid the goat; without the song and the measured time, they say the goat could not perform the balance
And… that’s a wrap on this article! Hope you’ve enjoyed it all and had a good time here. If you have any your feedback, comments and suggestions, do share them below.
In case you’re interested in the breakdown of the creative process, some behind-the-scenes of the animated short or just want to look closely at the paintings, do check it out on my Behance profile.
Additionally, I also make GIFs and Reels using open access content. Feel free to check out my GIPHY and Instagram for the same.
P.S. I’m open to collaborations with anyone looking to create content using Open GLAM resources or otherwise. (Please hire me, haha! ;) )
Drop by a mail on arunesh.varade@yahoo.in or just say hi!
I’ll leave you with a wonderful song inspired by our very own ‘Madari’. Hope you enjoy listening to it. :D
Meanwhile I’ll throw myself on the bed like this bhisti figurine after working endlessly for days on this project. ;P Bye!
Openly accessible public domain images used in the animation:
[1] The Puckally | Yale Center for British Art
[2] A Bheesty or Water Carrier | Yale Center for British Art
[3] A man pouring water from large saddle bags on a cow into smaller water pouches | Wellcome Collection
[4] A water carrier | Wellcome Collection
[5] Delhi: a bheestie, a servant who draws and carries water | Wellcome Collection
[6] A Bheesthy or waterman, watering the road with a leather bag filled with water | Wellcome Collection
[7] A street entertainer with his performing monkeys and goat | Wellcome Collection
[8] A man with his performing bear watched by a group of people | Wellcome Collection
[9] A man conducting a monkey show on the street, watched by some children | Wellcome Collection
[10] An Indian seated outside his house smoking a hooka | Wellcome Collection
[11] Bhishti or water carrier | Minneapolis Institute of Art
[12] A Waterman with his Ox or Bullock | Yale Center for British Art
[13] A floral pattern in a cartouche for pietra dura work (marble inlaid with semi-precious stones) | Wellcome Collection
[14] A floral pattern in a cartouche for pietra dura work (marble inlaid with semi-precious stones) | Wellcome Collection
[15] A floral pattern in a cartouche for pietra dura work (marble inlaid with semi-precious stones) | Wellcome Collection
References:
[1] Typical Pictures of Indian Natives by F. M. Coleman | Archive.org
[2] Seven Legs Across the Seas: A Printer’s Impressions of Many Lands by Samuel Murray | Project Gutenberg
[3] Barrack-room Ballads and Other Verses by Rudyard Kipling | Archive.org
[4] Impressions of Indian Travel by Oscar Browning | Archive.org
[5] https://www.101india.com/people/vanishing-tribe-bhistis-kolkata-101-traces
[6] The Sanitation of British Troops in India by E. Carrick Freeman | Archive.org
