# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Mucchi

​Mucchi.——The Mucchis or Mōchis are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as being a Marāthi caste of painters and leather- workers. In the Mysore Census Report it is noted that " to the leather-working caste may be added a small body of Mōchis, shoemakers and saddlers. They are immigrant Mahrātās, who, it is said, came into Mysore with Khasim Khān, the general of Aurangzīb. They claim to be Kshatriyas and Rājputs — pretensions which are not generally admitted. They are shoemakers and saddlers by trade, and are all Saivas by faith." "The Mucchi," Mr. A. Chatterton writes,* "is not a tanner, and as a leather-worker only engages in the higher branches of the trade. Some of them make shoes, but draw the line at sandals. A considerable number are engaged as menial servants in Government offices. Throughout the country, nearly every office has its own Mucchi, whose principal duty is to keep in order the supplies of stationery, and from raw materials manufacture ink, envelopes and covers, and generally make himself useful. A good many of the so-called Mucchis, however, do not belong to the caste, as very few have wandered south of Madras, and they are mostly to be found in Ganjam and the Ceded Districts." The duties of the office Mucchi have further been summed up as "to mend pencils, prepare ink from powders, clean ink-bottles, stitch note-books, paste covers, rule forms, ​and affix stamps to covers and aid the despatch of tappals " (postal correspondence). In the Moochee's Hand-book * by the head Mucchi in the office of the Inspector-General of Ordnance, and contractor for black ink powder, it is stated that "the Rev. J. P. Rottler, in his Tamil and English dictionary, defines the word Mucchi as signifying trunk-maker, stationer, painter. Mucchi's work comprises the following duties: —
    To make black, red, and blue writing ink, also ink of other colours as may seem requisite.
    To mend quills, rule lines, make envelopes, mount or paste maps or plans on cloth with ribbon edges, pack parcels in wax -cloth, waterproof or common paper, seal letters, and open boxes or trunk parcels.
    To take charge of boxes, issue stationery for current use, and supply petty articles.
    To file printed forms, etc., and bind books."
In the Fort St. George Gazette, 1906, applications were invited from persons who have passed the Matriculation examination of the Madras University for the post of Mucchi on Rs. 8 per mensem in the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police.
In the District Manuals, the various occupations of the Mucchis are summed up as book-binding, working in leather, making saddles and trunks, painting, making toys, and penmaking. At the present day, Mucchis (designers) are employed by piece-goods merchants in Madras in devising and painting new patterns for despatch to Europe, where they are engraved on copper cylinders. When, as at the present day, the bazars of Southern India are flooded with imported piece-goods of British manufacture, it is curious to look back. ​and reflect that the term piece-goods was originally applied in trade to the Indian cotton fabrics exported to England.
The term Mucchi is applied to two entirely different sets of people. In Mysore and parts of the Ceded Districts, it refers to Marāthi -speaking workers in leather. But it is further applied to Telugu-speaking people, called Rāju, Jīnigāra, or Chitrakāra, who are mainly engaged in painting, making toys, etc., and not in leather-work. (See Rāchevar.)
* ↑ * Monograph of Tanning and Working in Leather, Madras, 1904.
* ↑ * G. D. lyah Pillay, Madras, 1878.