Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/272

GADABA Gadabas,* Mr. L. Lakshminarayan writes that "although mill-prepared cloths are fast replacing house-spun cloths in all communities, yet, in the case of the Gadabas, there is a strong superstition which prevents the use of cloths prepared outside, particularly in regard to the cloths worn by their women. The legend (about Sīta) is fully believed by the Gadabas, and hence their religious adherence to their particular cloth. At the time of marriage, it is absolute that the Gadaba maiden should wear this fibre-made cloth, else misfortune will ruin the family. A bundle of twigs is brought, and the stems freed of leaves are bruised and twisted to loosen the bark, and are then dried for two or three days, after which the bark is ripped out and beaten down smooth with heavy sticks, to separate the bark from the fibre. The fibre is then collected, and combed down smooth, and spun into a tolerably fine twist. It is this twist that the Gadaba maiden weaves in her crude loom, and prepares from it her marriage sari. According to a good custom among these people, a Gadaba maiden must learn to weave her cloths before she becomes eligible for marriage. And no Gadaba ever thinks of marrying a wife who cannot prepare her own cloths. Men can use cotton and other cloths, whereas women cannot do so, for they are under the curse of Sīta. But the passion for fineries in woman is naturally so strong that the modern Gadaba woman is now taking the liberty of putting cotton thread for the woof and ankudu fibre for the warp, and thus is able to turn out a more comfortable and finer cloth. But some old crones informed me that this mixed cloth is not so auspicious as that prepared wholly from the fibre."