ave a _razai_ or quilt, and a _doria_ or thick cloth like those used
for covering carts. Clothes and other things are kept in _jhampis_ or
round bamboo baskets. For sitting on there are _machnis_ or four-legged
stools about a foot high with seats of grass rope or _pirhis_, little
wooden stools only an inch or two from the ground. For lighting,
wicks are set afloat in little earthen saucers filled with oil.

37. Clothes

Landowners usually have a long coat known as _angarkha_ reaching to the
knees, with flaps folding over the breasts and tied with strings. The
_bandi_ is a short coat like this but coming only to the hips, and is
more popular with cultivators. In the cold weather it is frequently
stuffed with cotton and dyed dark green or dark blue so as not to
show the dirt. For visits of ceremony a pair of _paijamas_ are kept,
but otherwise the _dhoti_ or loin-cloth is commonly worn. Wearing
the _dhoti_ pulled half-way up to the thighs is called 'cultivator's
fashion.' A shirt may be worn under the coat; but cultivators usually
have only one garment, nowadays often a sleeveless coat with buttons in
front. The proper head-dress is the _pagri_, a piece of coloured cloth
perhaps 30 feet long and a foot wide, twisted tightly into folds, which
is lifted on and off the head and is only rarely undone. Twisting the
_pagri_ is an art, and a man is usually hired to do it and paid four
annas. The _pagris_ have different shapes in different parts of the
country, and a Hindu can tell by the shape of a man's _pagri_ where he
comes from. But nowadays cultivators usually wear a _dupatta_ or short
piece of cloth tied, loosely round the head. The tenant arranges his
head-cloth with a large projection on one side, and in it he carries
his _chilam_ or pipe-bowl, and also small quantities of vegetables,
salt or condiments purchased at the bazar. In case of necessity
he can transform it into a loin-cloth, or tie up a bundle of grass
with it, or tie his _lota_ to it to draw water from a well. 'What
can the washerman do in a village where the people live naked?' is
a Chhattisgarhi proverb which aptly indicates that scantiness is
the most prominent feature of the local apparel. Here a cloth round
the loins, and this usually of meagre dimensions, constituted, until
recently, the full dress of a cultivator. Those who have progressed
a stage farther throw a cloth loosely over one shoulder, covering
the chest, and assume an apology for a tur