Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/206

NAMBUTIRI BRAHMAN performance of a vow. A further one is concerned with cleansing from any specific sin. Liberal presents are made to Brāhmans, when the vow is completed. In the vow called rudrābhishēka the god Siva is bathed in consecrated water. It is performed by way of averting misfortune. Monday is the day for it, as it is supposed that on that day Siva amuses himself with Parvati by dancing on Kailāsa. The custom observed by Nambūtiris of letting the hair grow on the head, face, and body, untouched by the razor, when a wife is enceinte has been noticed already. A Nambūtiri who has no male issue also lets his hair grow in the same way for a year after the death of his wife. Should there, however, be male issue, on the eldest son devolves the duty of performing the ceremonies connected with the funeral of his mother (or father), and it is he who remains unshaven for a year. In such a case, the husband of a woman remains unshaven for twelve days (and this seems to be usual), or until after the ceremony on the forty-first day after death. The period during which the hair is allowed to grow, whether for a death, a pregnant wife, or by reason of a vow, is called diksha. During diksha, as well as during the Brahmachāri period, certain articles of food, such as the drumstick vegetable, milk, chillies, gram, dhāl, papadams,etc., are prohibited.

"Bathing," Mr. Subramani Aiyar writes, "is one of the most important religious duties of all Hindus, and of Brāhmans in particular. A Nambūtiri only wants an excuse for bathing. Every Nambūtiri bathes twice a day at least, and sometimes oftener. It is prohibited to do so before sunrise, after which a bath ceases to be a religious rite on the other coast. The use of a waist-cloth, the languti excepted, during a bath in private