Khodikaro.--A name for Panditos, derived from the stone (khodi), with which they write figures on the floor, when making astrological calculations.
Khodura.--The name is derived from khodu, bangle. The Khoduras, Mr. Francis writes, [133] are "manufacturers of the brass and bell-metal bangles and rings ordinarily worn by the lower class Odiyas. Their headman is called Nahako Sahu, and under him there are deputies called Dhoyi Nahako and Behara. There is a fourth functionary styled Aghopotina, whose peculiar duty is said to be to join in the first meal taken by those who have been excommunicated, and subsequently readmitted into the caste by the caste panchayat (council). A quaint custom exists, by which honorific titles like Senapati, Mahapatro, Subuddhi, etc., are sold by the panchayat to any man of the caste who covets them, and the proceeds sent to Puri and Pratabpur for the benefit of the temples there. It is said that the original home of the caste was Orissa, and that it came to Ganjam with Purushottam Deva, the Maharaja of Puri. In its general customs it resembles the Badhoyis." I am informed that the name of the fourth functionary should be Aghopotiria, or first leaf man, i.e., the man who is served first at a public dinner.
Khoira.--Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a low caste of Oriya cultivators.
Khoja.--In the Madras Census Report, 1901, eleven Khojas are recorded as belonging to a Mussalman tribe of traders from Bombay.
For the following note on the Khojas of Southern India, I am indebted to an article by Dr. J. Shortt. [134] "The true Kojahs, or eunuchs, are not numerous in Southern India. They are chiefly to be seen in the houses of wealthy Mussalman nobles, by whom they are placed at the head of their zenanas or harems. The Kojahs are properly divided into two classes: (1) Kojahs; (2) Hijras. Sometimes Hindus, Sudras, and Brahmans subject themselves to the operation (of castration), of their own accord from a religious impression. Others, finding themselves naturally impotent, consider it necessary to undergo the operation, to avoid being born again at a future birth in the same helpless state. The operation of castration is generally performed by a class of barbers, sometimes by some of the more intelligent of the eunuchs themselves, in the following manner. The patient is made to sit on an upturned new earthen pot, being previously well drugged with opium or bhang. The entire genitals being seized by the left hand, an assistant, who has a bamboo lath slit in the centre, runs it down quite close to the pubis, the slit firmly embracing the whole of the genitals at the root, when the operator, with a sharp razor, runs it down along the face of the lath, and removes penis, testicles and scrotum in one swoop, leaving a large clean open wound behind, in which boiling gingelly (Sesamum indicum) oil is poured to staunch the bleeding, and the wound covered over with a soft rag steeped in warm oil. This is the only dressing applied to the wound, which is renewed daily, while the patient is confined in a supine position to his bed, and lightly fed with conjee (rice gruel), milk, etc. During the operation, the patient is urged to cry out 'Din' (the faith in Mahomet) three times.