The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume IV of IV

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15. Keeping hair unshorn during a vow

It was also the custom to keep the hair unshorn during the performance
of a vow. "While his vow lasted a Nazarite might not have his hair cut:
'All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come
upon his head.' [326] The Egyptians on a journey kept their hair
uncut till they returned home. [327] Among the Chatti tribe of the
ancient Germans the young warriors never clipped their hair or their
beard till they had slain an enemy. Six thousand Saxons once swore
that they would not clip their hair nor shave their beards until
they had taken vengeance on their enemies." [328] Similarly, Hindu
religious mendicants keep their hair long while they are journeying
on a pilgrimage, and when they arrive at the temple which is their
goal they shave it all off and offer it to the god. In this case, as
the hair is vowed as an offering, it clearly cannot be cut during the
performance of the vow, but must be preserved intact. When the task
to be accomplished for the fulfilment of a vow is a journey or the
slaying of enemies, the retention of the hair is probably also meant
to support and increase the wearer's strength for the accomplishment
of his purpose.

16. Disposal of cut hair and nails

If the hair contained a part of the wearer's life and strength its
disposal would be a matter of great importance, because, according
to primitive belief, these qualities would remain in it after it
had been severed. Hence, if an enemy obtained it, by destroying the
hair or some analogous action he might injure or destroy the life and
strength of the person to whom it belonged. The Hindus usually wrap
up a child's first hair in a ball of dough and throw it into a running
stream, with the cuttings of his nails. Well-to-do people also place a
rupee in the ball, so that it is now regarded as an offering. The same
course is sometimes followed with the hair and nails cut ceremoniously
at a wedding, and possibly on one or two other occasions, such as
the investiture with the sacred thread; but the belief is decaying,
and ordinarily no care is taken of the shorn hair. In Berar when the
Hindus cut a child's hair for the first time they sometimes bury it
under a water-pot where the ground is damp, perhaps with the idea
that the child's hair will grow thickly and plentifully like grass in
a damp place. It is a common belief that if a barren woman gets hold
of a child's first hair and wears it round her waist the fertility of
the child's mother will be transferred to her. The Sarwaria Brahmans
shave a child's hair in its third year. A small silver razor is made
specially for the occasion, costing a rupee and a quarter, and the
barber first touches the child's hair with this and then shaves it
ceremoniously with his own razor. [329] The Halbas think that the
severed clippings of hair are of no use for magic, but if a witch can
cut a lock of hair from a man's head she can use it to work magic on
him. In making an image of a person with intent to injure or destroy
him, it was customary to put a little of his hair into the image, by
which means his life and strength were conveyed to it. A few years
ago a London newspaper mentioned the case of an Essex man entering
a hairdresser's and requesting the barber to procure for him a piece
of a certain customer's hair. When asked the reason for this curious
demand, he stated that the customer had injured him and he wished
to 'work a spell' against him. [330] In the Parsi Zend-Avesta it is
stated that if the clippings of hair or nails are allowed to fall in
the ground or ditches, evil spirits spring up from them and devour
grain and clothing in the house. It was therefore ordained for the
Parsis through their prophet Zarathustra that the cuttings of hair
or nails should be buried in a deep hole ten paces from a dwelling,
twenty paces from fire, and fifty paces from the sacred bundles called
_baresman_. Texts should be said over them and the hole filled in. Many
Parsis still bury their cut hair and nails four inches under ground,
and an extracted tooth is disposed of in the same manner. [331] Some
Hindus think that the nail-parings should always be thrown into a
frequented place, where they will be destroyed by the traffic. If
they are thrown on to damp earth they will grow into a plant which
will ruin the person from whose body they came. It is said that about
twenty years ago a man in Nagpur was ruined by the growth of a piece
of finger-nail, which had accidentally dropped into a flower-pot in
his house. Apparently in this case the nail is supposed to contain a
portion of the life and strength of the person to whom it belonged, and
if the nail grows it gradually absorbs more and more of his life and
strength, and he consequently becomes weaker and weaker through being
deprived of it. The Hindu superstition against shaving the head appears
to find a parallel regarding the nails in the old English saying:

Cut no horn
On the Sabbath morn.

Among some Hindus it is said that the toe-nails should not be cut
at all until a child is married, when they are cut ceremoniously by
the barber.

17. Superstitions about shaving the hair

Since the removal of the hair is held to involve a certain loss of
strength and power, it should only be effected at certain seasons
and not on auspicious days. A man who has male children should not
have his head shaved on Monday, as this may cause his children to
die. On the other hand, a man who has no children will fast on Sunday
in the hope of getting them, and therefore he will neither shave his
head nor visit his wife on that day. A Hindu must not be shaved on
Thursday, because this is the day of the planet Jupiter, which is also
known as Guru, and his act would be disrespectful to his own _guru_
or preceptor. Tuesday is Devi's day, and a man will not get shaved
on that day; nor on Saturday, because it is Hanuman's day. [332] On
Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays he may be shaved, but not if the day
happens to be the new moon, full moon, or the Ashtami or Ekadashi,
that is the eighth or eleventh day of the fortnight. He should not
shave on the day that he is going on a journey. If all these rules
were strictly observed there would be very few days on which one
could get shaved, but many of them are necessarily more honoured in
the breach. Wednesdays and Fridays are the best days for shaving,
and by shaving on these days a man will see old age. Debtors are
shaved on Wednesdays, as they think that this will help them to pay
off their debts. Some Brahmans are not shaved during the month of
Shrawan (July), when the crops are growing, nor during the nine days
of the months of Kunwar (September) and Chait (March), when a fast
is observed and the _jawaras_ [333] are sown. After they have been
shaved high-caste Hindus consider themselves impure till they have
bathed. They touch no person or thing in the house, and sometimes
have the water thrown on them by a servant so as to avoid contact
with the vessels. They will also neither eat, drink nor smoke until
they have bathed. Sometimes they throw so much water over the head
in order to purify themselves as to catch a bad cold. In this case,
apparently, the impurity accrues from the loss of the hair, and the
man feels that virtue has gone out of him. Women never shave their
hair with a razor, as they think that to do so would make the body
so heavy after death that it could not be carried to the place of
cremation. They carefully pluck out the hair under the armpits and
the pubic hair with a pair of pincers. A girl's hair may be cut with
scissors, but not after she is ten years old or is married. Sometimes
a girl's hair is not cut at all, but her father will take a pearl and
entwine it into her hair, where it is left until she is married. It
is considered very auspicious to give away a girl in marriage with
hair which has never been cut, and a pearl in it. After marriage she
will take out the pearl and wear it in an ornament.

18. Reasons why the hair was considered the source of strength

The above evidence appears to indicate that the belief of a man's
strength and vigour being contained in his hair is by no means confined
to the legend of Samson, but is spread all over the world. This
has been pointed out by Professor Robertson Smith, [334] Professor
Wilken and others. Sir J.G. Frazer also adduces several instances in
the _Golden Bough_ to show that the life or soul was believed to be
contained in the hair. This may well have been the case, but the hair
was also specialised, so to speak, as the seat of bodily vigour and
strength. The same idea appears to have applied in a minor measure
to the nails and teeth. The rules for disposing of the cut hair
usually apply to the parings of nails, and the first teeth are also
deposited in a rat's hole or on the roof of the house. As suggested
by Professor Robertson Smith it seems likely that the strength and
vigour of the body was believed to be located in the hair, and also to
a less extent in the nails and teeth, because they grew more visibly
and quickly than the body and continued to do so after it had attained
to maturity. The hair and nails continue to grow all through life, and
though the teeth do not grow when fully formed, the second teeth appear
when the body is considerably developed and the wisdom teeth after it
is fully developed. The hair grows much more palpably and vigorously
than the nails and teeth, and hence might be considered especially the
source of strength. Other considerations which might confirm the idea
are that men have more hair on their bodies than women, and strongly
built men often have a large quantity of hair. Some of the stronger
wild animals have long hair, as the lion, bear and wild boar; and
the horse, often considered the embodiment of strength, has a long
mane. And when anger is excited the hair sometimes appears to rise,
as it were, from the skin. The nails and teeth were formerly used
on occasion as weapons of offence, and hence might be considered to
contain part of the strength and vigour of the body.

Finally, it may be suggested as a possibility that the Roundheads
cut their hair short as a protest against the superstition that
a soldier's hair must be long, which originated in the idea that
strength is located in the hair and may have still been current
in their time. We know that the Puritans strove vainly against the
veneration of the Maypole as the spirit of the new vegetation, [335]
and against the old nature-rites observed at Christmas, the veneration
of fire as the preserver of life against cold, and the veneration
of the evergreen plants, the fir tree, the holly, and the mistletoe,
which retained their foliage through the long night of the northern
winter, and were thus a pledge to man of the return of warmth and
the renewal of vegetation in the spring. And it therefore seems not
altogether improbable that the Puritans may have similarly contended
against the superstition as to the wearing of long hair.

Naoda

_Naoda._ [336]--A small caste found in the Nimar District and in
Central India. The name means a rower and is derived from _nao_,
a boat. The caste are closely connected with the Mallahs or Kewats,
but have a slightly distinctive position, as they are employed to
row pilgrims over the Nerbudda at the great fair held at Siva's
temple on the island of Mandhata. They say that their ancestors were
Rajputs, and some of their family names, as Solanki, Rawat and Mori,
are derived from those of Rajput septs. But these have probably been
adopted in imitation of their Kshatriya overlords. The caste is an
occupational one. They have a tradition that in former times a Naoda
boatman recovered the corpse of a king's daughter, who had drowned
herself in the river wearing costly jewels, and the king as a reward
granted them the right of ferrying pilgrims at Mandhata, which they
still continue to enjoy, keeping their earnings for themselves. They
have a division of impure blood called the Gate or bastard Naodas, who
marry among themselves, and any girl who reaches the age of puberty
without being married is relegated to this. In the case of a caste
whose numbers are so small, irregular connections with outsiders must
probably be not infrequent. Another report states that adult unmarried
girls are not expelled but are married to a pipal tree. But girls are
sought after, and it is customary to pay a bride-price, the average
amount of which is Rs. 25. Before the bridegroom starts for his wedding
his mother takes and passes in front of him, successively from his
head to his feet, a pestle, some stalks of _rusa_ grass, a churning
rod and a winnowing-fan. This is done with the object of keeping off
evil spirits, and it is said that by her action she threatens to pound
the spirits with the pestle, to tie them up with the grass, to churn
and mash them with the churning-rod, and to scatter them to the winds
with the winnowing-fan. When a man wishes to divorce his wife he simply
turns her out of the house in the presence of four or five respectable
men of the caste. The marriage of a widow is celebrated on a Sunday
or Tuesday, the clothes of the couple being tied together by another
widow at night. The following day they spend together in a garden,
and in the evening are escorted home by their relatives with torches
and music. Next morning the woman goes to the well and draws water,
and her husband, accompanying her, helps her to lift the water-pots
on to her shoulder.

The caste worship the ordinary Hindu deities and especially Bhairon,
the guardian of the gate of Mahadeo's temple. They have a nail driven
into the bow of their boat which is called 'Bhairon's nail,' and at the
Dasahra festival they offer to this a white pumpkin with cocoanuts,
vermilion, incense and liquor. The caste hold in special reverence
the cow, the dog and the tamarind tree. The dog is sacred as being the
animal on which Bhairava rides, and their most solemn oaths are sworn
by a dog or a cow. They will on no account cut or burn the tamarind
tree, and the women veil their faces before it. They cannot explain
this sentiment, which is probably due to some forgotten belief of
the nature of totemism. To kill a cow or a cat intentionally involves
permanent exclusion from the caste, while the slaughter of a squirrel,
dog, horse, buffalo or monkey is punished by temporary exclusion,
it being equally sinful to allow any of these animals to die with
a rope round its neck. The Naodas eat the flesh of pigs and fowls,
but they occupy a fairly good social position and Brahmans will take
water from their hands.

Nat

List of Paragraphs

1. _The Nats not a proper caste_.
2. _Muhammadan Nats_.
3. _Social customs of the Nats_. _Their low status_.
4. _Acrobatic performances_.
5. _Sliding or walking on ropes as a charm for the crops_.
6. _Snake-charmers_.

1. The Nats not a proper caste

_Nat, [337] Badi, Dang-Charha, Karnati, Bazigar, Sapera._--The term
Nat (Sanskrit Nata--a dancer) appears to be applied indefinitely
to a number of groups of vagrant acrobats and showmen, especially
those who make it their business to do feats on the tight-rope or with
poles, and those who train and exhibit snakes. Badi and Bazigar mean a
rope-walker, Dang-Charha a rope-climber, and Sapera a snake-charmer. In
the Central Provinces the Garudis or snake-charmers, and the Kolhatis,
a class of gipsy acrobats akin to the Berias, are also known as Nat,
and these are treated in separate articles. It is almost certain that
a considerable section, if not the majority, of the Nats really belong
to the Kanjar or Beria gipsy castes, who themselves maybe sprung from
the Doms. [338] Sir D. Ibbetson says: "They wander about with their
families, settling for a few days or weeks at a time in the vicinity
of large villages or towns, and constructing temporary shelters of
grass. In addition to practising acrobatic feats and conjuring of
a low class, they make articles of grass, straw and reeds for sale;
and in the centre of the Punjab are said to act as Mirasis, though
this is perhaps doubtful. They often practise surgery and physic
in a small way and are not free from suspicion of sorcery." [339]
This account would just as well apply to the Kanjar gipsies, and
the Nat women sometimes do tattooing like Kanjar or Beria women. In
Jubbulpore also the caste is known as Nat Beria, indicating that
the Nats there are probably derived from the Beria caste. Similarly
Sir H. Risley gives Bazigar and Kabutari as groups of the Berias
of Bengal, and states that these are closely akin to the Nats and
Kanjars of Hindustan. [340] An old account of the Nats or Bazigars
[341] would equally well apply to the Kanjars; and in Mr. Crooke's
detailed article on the Nats several connecting links are noticed. The
Nat women are sometimes known as Kabutari or pigeon, either because
their acrobatic feats are like the flight of the tumbler pigeon, or
on account of the flirting manner with which they attract their male
customers. [342] In the Central Provinces the women of the small Gopal
caste of acrobats are called Kabutari, and this further supports the
hypothesis that Nat is rather an occupational term than the name of
a distinct caste, though it is quite likely that there may be Nats
who have no other caste. The Badi or rope-dancer group again is an
offshoot of the Gond tribe, at least in the tracts adjoining the
Central Provinces. They have Gond septs as Marai, Netam, Wika, [343]
and they have the _damru_ or drum used by the Gaurias or snake-charmers
and jugglers of Chhattisgarh, who are also derived from the Gonds. The
Chhattisgarhi Dang-Charhas are Gonds who say they formerly belonged to
Panna State and were supported by Raja Aman Singh of Panna, a great
patron of their art. They sing a song lamenting his death in the
flower of his youth. The Karnatis or Karnataks are a class of Nats
who are supposed to have come from the Carnatic. Mr. Crooke notes
that they will eat the leavings of all high castes, and are hence
known as Khushhaliya or 'Those in prosperous circumstances.' [344]

2. Muhammadan Nats

One division of the Nats are Muhammadans and seem to be to some
extent a distinctive group. They have seven _gotras_--Chicharia,
Damaria, Dhalbalki, Purbia, Dhondabalki, Karimki and Kalasia. They
worship two Birs or spirits, Halaila Bir and Sheikh Saddu, to whom
they sacrifice fowls in the months of Bhadon (August) and Baisakh
(April). Hindus of any caste are freely admitted into their community,
and they can marry Hindu girls.

3. Social customs of the Nats. Their low status

Generally the customs of the Nats show them to be the dregs of the
population. There is no offence which entails permanent expulsion from
caste. They will eat any kind of food including snakes, crocodiles
and rats, and also take food from the hands of any caste, even it
is said from sweepers. It is not reported that they prostitute their
women, but there is little doubt that this is the case; in the Punjab
[345] when a Nat woman marries, the first child is either given to
the grandmother as compensation for the loss of the mother's gains
as a prostitute, or is redeemed by a payment of Rs. 30. Among the
Chhattisgarhi Dang-Charhas a bride-price of Rs. 40 is paid, of which
the girl's father only keeps ten, and the remaining sum of Rs. 30
is expended on a feast to the caste. Some of the Nats have taken to
cultivation and become much more respectable, eschewing the flesh
of unclean animals. Another group of the caste keep trained dogs
and hunt the wild pig with spears like the Kolhatis of Berar. The
villagers readily pay for their services in order to get the pig
destroyed, and they sell the flesh to the Gonds and lower castes of
Hindus. Others hunt jackals with dogs in the same manner. They eat
the flesh of the jackals and dispose of any surplus to the Gonds, who
also eat it. The Nats worship Devi and also Hanuman, the monkey god,
on account of the acrobatic powers of monkeys. But in Bombay they say
that their favourite and only living gods are their bread-winners and
averters of hunger, the drum, the rope and the balancing-pole. [346]

4. Acrobatic performances

The tight-rope is stretched between two pairs of bamboos, each pair
being fixed obliquely in the ground and crossing each other at the top
so as to form a socket over which the rope passes. The ends of the rope
are taken over the crossed bamboos and firmly secured to the ground by
heavy pegs. The performer takes another balancing-pole in his hands
and walks along the rope between the poles which are about 12 feet
high. Another man beats a drum, and a third stands under the rope
singing the performer's praises and giving him encouragement. After
this the performer ties two sets of cow or buffalo horns to his
feet, which are secured to the back of the skulls so that the flat
front between the horns rests on the rope, and with these he walks
over the rope, holding the balancing-rod in his hands and descends
again. Finally he takes a brass plate and a cloth and again ascends
the rope. He places the plate on the rope and folds the cloth over
it to make a pad. He then stands on his head on the pad with his feet
in the air and holds the balancing-rod in his hands; two strings are
tied to the end of this rod and the other ends of the strings are
held by the man underneath. With the assistance of the balancing-rod
the performer then jerks the plate along the rope with his head,
his feet being in the air, until he arrives at the end and finally
descends again. This usually concludes the performance, which demands
a high degree of skill. Women occasionally, though rarely, do the
same feats. Another class of Nats walk on high stilts and the women
show their confidence by dancing and singing under them. A saying
about the Nats is: _Nat ka bachcha to kalabazi hi karega_; or 'The
rope-dancer's son is always turning somersaults.' [347]

5. Sliding or walking on ropes as a charm for the crops

The feats of the Nats as tight-rope walkers used apparently to make
a considerable impression on the minds of the people, as it is not
uncommon to find a deified Nat, called Nat Baba or Father Nat, as
a village god. A Natni or Nat woman is also sometimes worshipped,
and where two sharp peaks of hills are situated close to each other,
it is related that in former times there was a Natni, very skilful
on the tight-rope, who performed before the king; and he promised
her that if she would stretch a rope from the peak of one hill to
that of the other and walk across it he would marry her and make
her wealthy. Accordingly the rope was stretched, but the queen
from jealousy went and cut it half through in the night, and when
the Natni started to walk the rope broke and she fell down and was
killed. She was therefore deified and worshipped. It is probable that
this legend recalls some rite in which the Nat was employed to walk
on a tight-rope for the benefit of the crops, and, if he failed, was
killed as a sacrifice; for the following passage taken from Traill's
account of Kumaon [348] seems clearly to refer to some such rite:

"Drought, want of fertility in the soil, murrain in cattle, and
other calamities incident to husbandry are here invariably ascribed
to the wrath of particular gods, to appease which recourse is had to
various ceremonies. In the Kumaon District offerings and singing and
dancing are resorted to on such occasions. In Garhwal the measures
pursued with the same view are of a peculiar nature, deserving of
more particular notice. In villages dedicated to the protection of
Mahadeva propitiatory festivals are held in his honour. At these
Badis or rope-dancers are engaged to perform on the tight-rope, and
slide down an inclined rope stretched from the summit of a cliff to
the valley beneath and made fast to posts driven into the ground. The
Badi sits astride on a wooden saddle, to which he is tied by thongs;
the saddle is similarly secured to the _bast_ or sliding cable,
along which it runs, by means of a deep groove; sandbags are tied to
the Badi's feet sufficient to secure his balance, and he is then,
after various ceremonies and the sacrifice of a kid, started off;
the velocity of his descent is very great, and the saddle, however
well greased, emits a volume of smoke throughout the greater part of
his progress. The length and inclination of the _bast_ necessarily
vary with the nature of the cliff, but as the Badi is remunerated at
the rate of a rupee for every hundred cubits, hence termed a tola,
a correct measurement always takes place; the longest _bast_ which
has fallen within my observation has been twenty-one tolas, or 2100
cubits in length. From the precautions taken as above mentioned the
only danger to be apprehended by the Badi is from breaking of the
rope, to provide against which the latter, commonly from one and
a half to two inches in diameter, is made wholly by his own hand;
the material used is the _bhabar_ grass. Formerly, if a Badi fell to
the ground in his course, he was immediately despatched with a sword
by the surrounding spectators, but this practice is now, of course,
prohibited. No fatal accident has occurred from the performance
of this ceremony since 1815, though it is probably celebrated at
not less than fifty villages in each year. After the completion of
the sliding, the _bast_ or rope is cut up and distributed among the
inhabitants of the village, who hang the pieces as charms on the eaves
of their houses. The hair of the Badi is also taken and preserved as
possessing similar virtues. He being thus made the organ to obtain
fertility for the lands of others, the Badi is supposed to entail
sterility on his own; and it is firmly believed that no grain sown
with his hand can ever vegetate. Each District has its hereditary
Badi, who is supported by annual contributions of grain from the
inhabitants." It is not improbable that the performance of the Nat
is a reminiscence of a period when human victims were sacrificed
for the crops, this being a common practice among primitive peoples,
as shown by Sir J.G. Frazer in _Attis, Adonis, Osiris_. Similarly the
spirits of Nats which are revered in the Central Provinces may really
be those of victims killed during the performance of some charm for the
good of the crops, akin to that still prevalent in the Himalayas. The
custom of making the Nat slide down a rope is of the same character
as that of swinging a man in the air by a hook secured in his flesh,
which was formerly common in these Provinces. But in both cases the
meaning of the rite is obscure.