Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/325

Rh For the following note on the Khōjas of Southern India, I am indebted to an article by Dr. J. Shortt.* "The true Kojahs, or eunuchs, are not numerous in Southern India. They are chiefly to be seen in the houses of wealthy Mussalman nobles, by whom they are placed at the head of their zenanas or harems. The Kojahs are properly divided into two classes: (1)Kojahs; (2) Hijras. Sometimes Hindus, Sūdras, and Brāhmans subject themselves to the operation (of castration), of their own accord from a religious impression. Others, finding themselves naturally impotent, consider it necessary to undergo the operation, to avoid being born again at a future birth in the same helpless state. The operation of castration is generally performed by a class of barbers, sometimes by some of the more intelligent of the eunuchs themselves, in the following manner. The patient is made to sit on an upturned new earthen pot, being previously well drugged with opium or bhang. The entire genitals being seized by the left hand, an assistant, who has a bamboo lath slit in the centre, runs it down quite close to the pubis, the slit firmly embracing the whole of the genitals at the root, when the operator, with a sharp razor, runs it down along the face of the lath, and removes penis, testicles and scrotum in one swoop, leaving a large clean open wound behind, in which boiling gingelly (Sesamum indicum) oil is poured to staunch the bleeding, and the wound covered over with a soft rag steeped in warm oil. This is the only dressing applied to the wound, which is renewed daily, while the patient is confined in a supine position to his bed, and lightly fed with conjee (rice gruel), milk, etc. During the operation,