the
beard and hair were considered to impart an aspect of ferocity to
the countenance, and when the Rajputs and Muhammadans were going
into battle they combed the hair and trained the beard to project
sideways from the face. When a Muhammadan wears a beard he must have
hair in the centre of his chin, whereas a Hindu shaves this part. A
Muhammadan must have his moustache short so that it may not touch
and defile food entering the mouth. It is related that a certain Kazi
had a small head and a very long beard; and he had a dream that a man
with a small head and a long beard must be a fool. When he woke up he
thought this was applicable to himself. As he could not make his head
larger he decided to make his beard smaller, and looked for scissors
to cut part of it off. But he could not find any scissors, and being
in a hurry to shorten his beard he decided to burn away part of it,
and set it alight. But the fire consumed the whole of his beard before
he could put it out, and he then realised the truth of the dream.

12. Significance of removal of the hair and shaving the head

If the hair was considered to be the source of a man's strength and
vigour, the removal of it would involve the loss of this and might be
considered especially to debar him from fighting or governing. The
instances given from the _Golden Bough_ have shown the fear felt by
many people of the consequences of the removal of their hair. The
custom of shaving the head might also betoken the renunciation of the
world and of the pursuit of arms. This may be the reason why monks
shaved the head, a practice which was followed by Buddhist as well as
Christian monks. A very clear case is also given by Sir James Frazer:
"When the wicked brothers Clotaire and Childebert coveted the kingdom
of their dead brother Clodomir, they inveigled into their power their
little nephews, the two sons of Clodomir; and having done so, they
sent a messenger bearing scissors and a naked sword to the children's
grandmother, Queen Clotilde, at Paris. The envoy showed the scissors
and the sword to Clotilde, and bade her choose whether the children
should be shorn and live, or remain unshorn and die. The proud queen
replied that if her grandchildren were not to come to the throne
she would rather see them dead than shorn. And murdered they were
by their ruthless uncle Clotaire with his own hand." [321] In this
case it appears that if their hair was shorn the children could not