f
almost all animals, while those who graze cattle eat beef. Cow-killing
is not regarded as an offence. They are also dirty and do not bathe
for weeks together. To get maggots in a wound is, however, regarded
as a grave offence, and the sufferer is put out of the village and
has to live alone until he recovers.

Nai

List of Paragraphs

1. _Structure of the caste_.
2. _Marriage and other customs_.
3. _Occupation_.
4. _Other services_.
5. _Duties at weddings_.
6. _The barber-surgeon._
7. _A barber at the court of Oudh_.
8. _Character and position of the barber_.
9. _Beliefs about hair_.
10. _Hair of kings and priests_.
11. _The beard_.
12. _Significance of removal of the hair and shaving the head_.
13. _Shaving the head by mourners_.
14. _Hair offerings_.
15. _Keeping hair unshorn during a vow_.
16. _Disposal of cut hair and nails_.
17. _Superstitions about shaving the hair_.
18. _Reasons why the hair was considered the source of strength._

1. Structure of the caste

_Nai, Nao, Mhali, Hajjam, Bhanari, Mangala_. [292]--The occupational
caste of barbers. The name is said to be derived from the Sanskrit
_napita_ according to some a corruption of _snapitri_, one who
bathes. In Bundelkhand he is also known as Khawas, which was a
title for the attendant on a grandee; and Birtiya, or 'He that
gets his maintenance (_vritti_) from his constituents.' [293]
Mhali is the Marathi name for the caste, Bhandari the Uriya name
and Mangala the Telugu name. The caste numbered nearly 190,000
persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, being distributed over
all Districts. Various legends of the usual type are related of
its origin, but, as Sir. H. Risley observes, it is no doubt wholly
of a functional character. The subcastes in the Central Provinces
entirely bear out this view, as they are very numerous and principally
of the territorial type: Telange of the Telugu country, Marathe,
Pardeshi or northerners, Jharia or those of the forest country of the
Wainganga Valley, Bandhaiya or those of Bandhogarh, Barade of Berar,
Bundelkhandi, Marwari, Mathuria from Mathura, Gadhwaria from Garha
near Jubbulpore, Lanjia from Lanji in Balaghat, Malwi from Malwa,
Nimari from Nimar, Deccane, Gujarati, and so on. Twenty-six divisions
in all are given. The exogamous groups are also of different types,
some of them being named after Brahman saints, as G