The scantiness of the Bharia's dress is proverbial, and the saying is
'_Bharia bhwaka, pwanda langwata_', or 'The Bharia is verily a devil,
who only covers his loins with a strip of cloth.' But lately he has
assumed more clothing. Formerly an iron ring carried on the wrist to
exorcise the evil spirits was his only ornament. Women wear usually
only one coarse cloth dyed red, spangles on the forehead and ears, bead
necklaces, and cheap metal bracelets and anklets. Some now have Hindu
ornaments, but in common with other low castes they do not usually
wear a nose-ring, out of respect to the higher castes. Women, though
they work in the fields, do not commonly wear shoes; and if these
are necessary to protect the feet from thorns, they take them off and
carry them in the presence of an elder or a man of higher caste. They
are tattooed with various devices, as a cock, a crown, a native chair,
a pitcher stand, a sieve and a figure called _dhandha_, which consists
of six dots joined by lines, and appears to be a representation of
a man, one dot standing for the head, one for the body, two for
the arms and two for the legs. This device is also used by other
castes, and they evince reluctance if asked to explain its meaning,
so that it may be intended as a representation of the girl's future
husband. The Bharia is considered very ugly, and a saying about him
is: 'The Bharia came down from the hills and got burnt by a cinder,
so that his face is black.' He does not bathe for months together,
and lives in a dirty hovel, infested by the fowls which he loves to
rear. His food consists of coarse grain, often with boiled leaves as a
vegetable, and he consumes much whey, mixing it with his scanty portion
of grain. Members of all except the lowest castes are admitted to the
Bharia community on presentation of a _pagri_ and some money to the
headman, together with a feast to the caste-fellows. The Bharias do not
eat monkeys, beef or the leavings of others, but they freely consume
fowls and pork. They are not considered as impure, but rank above
those castes only whose touch conveys pollution. For the slaughter
of a cow the Bilaspur Bharias inflict the severe punishment of nine
daily feasts to the caste, or one for each limb of the cow, the limbs
being held to consist of the legs, ears, horns and tail. They have
an aversion for the horse and will not remove its dung. To account
for this they tell a story to the effect that in the beginning God
gave them a horse to ride and fight upon. But they did not know how
to mount the horse because it was so high. The wisest man among them
then proposed to cut notches in the side of the animal by which they
could climb up, and they did this. But God, when he saw it, was very
angry with them, and ordered that they should never be soldiers, but
should be given a winnowing-fan and broom to sweep the grain out of
the grass and make their livelihood in that way.