Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/167

 THE CLOTHING OF THE HINDUS 133 In North India, where the climate is cold, the people wear short and close-fitting garments, very similar to those of the Hu people (Tartars). Some wear peacocks' feathers; some wear as ornaments necklaces made of skull bones (the Kapala-dharinas) ; some have no cloth- ing, but go naked (the Nir- granthas) ; some use grasses or bark to cover their bodies; some pull out their hair and cut off their moustaches; oth- ers have bushy side-whisk- ers and their hair braided on the top of their heads. The costume of the people is not uniform in colour, whether red or white. The costume of the Sha- mans (the Buddhist monks) is the three robes and the sang-kio-ki and ni-fo-si-na. ^ The cut of the three robes is u not the same, but depends on the school. Some have wide or narrow borders, oth- ers have small or large folds. The sang-kio-ki cov- ers the left shoulder and conceals the two armpits. It is worn open on the left and closed on the right, and reaches down below the waist. The ni-fo-si-na has neither belt nor bands. When putting it on, it is plaited in folds and worn round the loins with a cord to fasten A FAKIR.