Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/335

Rh the fact that the gentle sex is uncertain, coy and hard to please."

Though Srādh is unknown, once in a year on the new-moon day of the month Bhādrapada or in Aswija, they offer clothes and food to ancestors in general, childless ancestors, and men who have died a violent death. The special object of worship is a bull, the animal sacred to Siva. A bull is supposed to be used by Siva for riding. It is also painted on Siva's flag.

Tattooing is confined to females. Children are tattooed in their fifth year. A round mark, the size of a pea, is pricked between the eyebrows, on the right cheek, and on the chin. Other marks are made on the forehead. These marks are also made on the forearms and hands. The pigment is of a green colour, but the recipe is not known. The skin is pricked with bābūl (Acacia arabica) thorns.

Females wear a sādi about 8 yards long and 1¼ yards broad. It is invariably a coloured one, with silk or cotton borders at the edges and across at both the ends. One of the cross borders is much broader than the other, and is showy. The sādi is of different patterns. It is tied below the waist with folds in front, the end with the cross border passing round the trunk from left to right, and covering the head. They wear also a kuppasa, which covers half the body from the neck, and is fastened in the front by a knot.

In some families infants are branded with a hot needle on the stomach, under the idea that disease is thereby warded off. Children who suffer from fits are branded with a twig of margosa or with a glass bangle.

As Lingāyats were originally recruited from all castes, the community must have included persons of