KOERI, an agricultural and gardener race in Hindustan. The Kunbi are distinguished from the Koeri, as the latter are frequently gardeners as well as husbandmen. Socially, they are on an equality. The Koeri are also called Murao. In Behar they grow the poppy ; they are in general very respectable, and the main distinction between the Kunbi and the Koeri is that many of the latter are exclusively kitchen gardeners and have immense gardens; these castes are both laborious. At Hindu marriages a custom prevails of placing a high crown, called rnaur, made partly of leaves and flowers, on the head of the bridegroom, and a smaller one, called mond, on the head of the bride. It is said that no wedding can take place without these crowns. They are made by the gardeners, who receive a considerable price for them, according to the circumstances of the parties.—Sherring's Hindu Tribes.
KOFTGAlU or Kofttila, HIND., is steel inlaid with gold in patterns. In former days it was carried on to a considerable extent in various parts of India, and was chiefly used for decorat ing armour,—guns, coats of mail, helmets, swords, and sword-handles. Since the mutiny and re bellion in India of 1857, the manufacture of arms has been generally discouraged, and koftgari work is consequently now chiefly applied to orna menting a variety of fancy articles, such as jewel caskets, pen and card trays, paper-weights, paper knives, inkstands, etc. The process is exactly the
same as that pursued in the inlaid work of Europe, and the workman can copy any particular pattern required. The work is of high finish, and remark able for its cheapness. Admirable specimens of inlaid metal work by the native artisans of Bhooj were to be found in the collection of arms con tributed to the 1862 Exhibition by H.H. the Rao of Cutch. Some of the cutlers still remain at Lahore, but many of them went to Nizamabad in the Gujranwalia district, others to Gujerat. and the koftgari artisans also have mostly left Lahore to reside in the Kotli Loharan in the Sealkote district. At Baroda, iron vases and other vessels are ornamented with gold, hammered in, not in the branching, coral-like designs of the koft work, but in discs or masses. The whole is afterwards polished in the lathe. Though less effective than the damascened koft work, it is a method capable of varied and artistic application.—Cal. Universal Exhibition, 1862 ; Powell.