be worn in the nose may be substituted
for the nose-ring. This stud, as its name indicates, is in the form
of a clove, which is sacred food and is eaten on fast-days. Burning
cloves are often used to brand children for cold; a fresh one being
employed for each mark. A widow may not wear any of these ornaments;
she is always impure, being perpetually haunted by the ghost of her
dead husband, and they could thus be of no advantage to her; while,
on the other hand, her wearing them would probably be considered a
kind of sacrilege or pollution of the holy ornaments.

9. Beads and other ornaments

In the Maratha Districts an essential feature of a wedding is the
hanging of the _mangal-sutram_ or necklace of black beads round
the bride's neck. All beads which shine and reflect the light are
considered to be efficacious in averting the evil eye, and a peculiar
virtue, Sir J. Campbell states, attaches to black beads. A woman
wears the _mangalsutram_ or marriage string of beads all her life,
and considers that her husband's life is to some extent bound up in
it. If she breaks the thread she will not say 'my thread is broken,'
but 'my thread has increased'; and she will not let her husband see
her until she has got a new thread, as she thinks that to do so would
cause his death. The many necklaces of beads worn by the primitive
tribes and the strings of blue beads tied round the necks of oxen
and ponies have the same end in view. A similar belief was probably
partly responsible for the value set on precious stones as ornaments,
and especially on diamonds, which sparkle most of all. The pearl is
very sacred among the Hindus, and Madrasis put a pearl into the mouth
at the time of death instead of gold. Partly at least for this purpose
pearls are worn set in a ring of gold in the ear, so that they may
be available at need. Coral is also highly esteemed as an amulet,
largely because it is supposed to change colour. The coral given to
babies to suck may have been intended to render the soft and swollen
gums at teething hard like the hard red stone. Another favourite
shape for beads of gold is that of grains of rice, rice being a sacred
grain. The gold ornament called _kantha_ worn on the neck has carvings
of the flowers of the _singara_ or water-nut This is a holy plant,
the eating of which on fast-days gives purity. Hence women think that
water thrown over the carved flowers of the ornament when bathing will
have greater vir