Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/271

Rh Some Gadaba women wear a bustle or dress improver, called irrē or kittē. This article of attire is accoumed for by the following tradition. "A goddess visited a Gadaba village incognito, and asked leave of one of the women to rest on a cot. She was brusquely-told that the proper seat for beggars was the floor, and she consequently decreed that thenceforth all Gadaba women should wear a bustle to remind them to avoid churlishness." * The Gadaba female cloths are manufactured by themselves from cotton thread and the fibre of silloluvāda or ankudi chettu (Holarrhena antidysenterica) and bōda luvāda or bodda chettu (Ficus glomerata). The fibre is carefully dried, and dyed blue or reddish-brown. The edges of the cloth are white, a blue strip comes next, while the middle portion is reddish-brown with narrow stripes of white or blue at regular intervals. The Gadabas account for the dress of their women by the following legend. When Rāma, during his banishment, was wandering in the forests of Dandaka, his wife Sīta accompanied him in spite of his entreaties to the contrary. It was one of the cruel terms of his stepmother Kaika that Rāma should wear only clothing made from jungle fibre, before leaving the capital. According to the Hindu religion, a virtuous wife must share both the sorrows and joys of her lord. Consequently Sīta followed the example of Rāma, and wore the same kind of clothing. They then left the capital amidst the loud lamentation of the citizens. During their wanderings, they met some Gadaba women, who mocked and laughed at Sīta. Whereupon she cursed them, and condemned them to wear no other dress but the cloth made of fibre. In a note on the