n or fifteen bangles on the legs. The Hindus also have
this custom in Bhopal, but if they do it in the Central Provinces
they are chaffed with having become Muhammadans. In the upper ear
Hindu women have an ornament in the shape of the _genda_ or marigold,
a sacred flower which is offered to all the deities. The holes in the
upper and middle ear are only large enough to contain a small ring,
but that in the lobe is greatly distended among the lower castes. The
_tarkhi_ or Gond ear-ornament consists of a glass plate fixed on to
a stem of _ambari_ fibre nearly an inch thick, which passes through
the lobe. As a consequence the lower rim is a thin pendulous strip
of flesh, very liable to get torn. But to have the hole torn open is
one of the worst social mishaps which can happen to a woman. She is
immediately put out of caste for a long period, and only readmitted
after severe penalties, equivalent to those inflicted for getting
vermin in a wound. When a woman gets her ear torn she sits weeping in
her house and refuses to be comforted. At the ceremony of readmission
a Sunar is sometimes called in who stitches up the ear with silver
thread. [652] Low-caste Hindu and Gond women often wear a large
circular embossed silver ornament over the ear which is known as
_dhara_ or shield and is in the shape of an Indian shield. This is
secured by chains to the hair and apparently affords some support to
the lower part of the ear, which it also covers. Its object seems to
be to shield and protect the lobe, which is so vulnerable in a woman,
and hence the name. A similar ornament worn in Bengal is known as
_dhenri_ and consists of a shield-shaped disk of gold, worn on the
lobe of the ear, sometimes with and sometimes without a pendant. [653]

11. Origin of ear-piercing

The character of the special significance which apparently attaches
to the custom of ear-piercing is obscure. Dr. Jevons considers
that it is merely a relic of the practice of shedding the blood
of different parts of the body as an offering to the deity, and
analogous to the various methods of self-mutilation, flagellation
and gashing of the flesh, whose common origin is ascribed to the
same custom. "To commend themselves and their prayers the Quiches
pierced their ears and gashed their arms and offered the sacrifice
of their blood to their gods. The practice of drawing blood from
the ears is said by Bastian to be common in the Orient; and Lippert
conjectures that