and this gives the barber an opportunity
to stop shaving him and rush off to lay a complaint at the village
court-house, leaving his enemy to proceed home with half his head
shaved and thus exposed to general ridicule. [301]

9. Beliefs about hair

Numerous customs appear to indicate that the hair was regarded as the
special seat of bodily strength. The Rajput warriors formerly wore
their hair long and never cut it, but trained it in locks over their
shoulders. Similarly the Maratha soldiers wore their hair long. The
Hatkars, a class of Maratha spearmen, might never cut their hair while
engaged on military service. A Sikh writer states of Guru Govind,
the founder of the militant Sikh confederacy: "He appeared as the
tenth Avatar (incarnation of Vishnu). He established the Khalsa, his
own sect, and by exhibiting singular energy, leaving the hair on his
head, and seizing the scimitar, he smote every wicked person." [302]
As is well known, no Sikh may cut his hair, and one of the five
marks of the Sikh is the _kanga_ or comb, which he must always carry
in order to keep his hair in proper order. A proverb states that
'The origin of a Sikh is in his hair.' [303] The following story,
related by Sir J. Malcolm, shows the vital importance attached
by the Sikh to his hair and beard: "Three inferior agents of Sikh
chiefs were one day in my tent. I was laughing and joking with one
of them, a Khalsa Sikh, who said he had been ordered to attend me to
Calcutta. Among other subjects of our mirth I rallied him on trusting
himself so much in my power. 'Why, what is the worst,' he said,
'that you can do to me?' I passed my hand across my chin, imitating
the act of shaving. The man's face was in an instant distorted with
rage and his sword half-drawn. 'You are ignorant,' he said to me,
'of the offence you have given; I cannot strike you who are above me,
and the friend of my master and the state; but no power,' he added,
indicating the Khalsa Sikhs, 'shall save these fellows who dared to
smile at your action.' It was with the greatest difficulty and only
by the good offices of some Sikh Chiefs that I was able to pacify
his wounded honour." [304] These instances appear to show clearly
that the Sikhs considered their hair of vital importance; and as
fighting was their object in life, it seems most probable that they
thought their strength in war was bound up in it. Similarly when
the ancient Spartans were on a military expedition pu