Numerous customs appear to indicate that the hair was regarded as the
special seat of bodily strength. The Rajput warriors formerly wore
their hair long and never cut it, but trained it in locks over their
shoulders. Similarly the Maratha soldiers wore their hair long. The
Hatkars, a class of Maratha spearmen, might never cut their hair while
engaged on military service. A Sikh writer states of Guru Govind,
the founder of the militant Sikh confederacy: "He appeared as the
tenth Avatar (incarnation of Vishnu). He established the Khalsa, his
own sect, and by exhibiting singular energy, leaving the hair on his
head, and seizing the scimitar, he smote every wicked person." [302]
As is well known, no Sikh may cut his hair, and one of the five
marks of the Sikh is the _kanga_ or comb, which he must always carry
in order to keep his hair in proper order. A proverb states that
'The origin of a Sikh is in his hair.' [303] The following story,
related by Sir J. Malcolm, shows the vital importance attached
by the Sikh to his hair and beard: "Three inferior agents of Sikh
chiefs were one day in my tent. I was laughing and joking with one
of them, a Khalsa Sikh, who said he had been ordered to attend me to
Calcutta. Among other subjects of our mirth I rallied him on trusting
himself so much in my power. 'Why, what is the worst,' he said,
'that you can do to me?' I passed my hand across my chin, imitating
the act of shaving. The man's face was in an instant distorted with
rage and his sword half-drawn. 'You are ignorant,' he said to me,
'of the offence you have given; I cannot strike you who are above me,
and the friend of my master and the state; but no power,' he added,
indicating the Khalsa Sikhs, 'shall save these fellows who dared to
smile at your action.' It was with the greatest difficulty and only
by the good offices of some Sikh Chiefs that I was able to pacify
his wounded honour." [304] These instances appear to show clearly
that the Sikhs considered their hair of vital importance; and as
fighting was their object in life, it seems most probable that they
thought their strength in war was bound up in it. Similarly when
the ancient Spartans were on a military expedition purple garments
were worn and their hair was carefully decked with wreaths, a thing
which was never done at home. [305] And when Leonidas and his three
hundred were holding the pass of Thermopylae, and Xerxes sent scouts
to ascertain what the Greeks were doing in their camp, the report was
that some of them were engaged in gymnastics and warlike exercises,
while others were merely sitting and combing their long hair. If
the hypothesis already suggested is correct, the Spartan youths so
engaged were perhaps not merely adorning themselves for death, but,
as they thought, obtaining their full strength for battle. "The custom
of keeping the hair unshorn during a dangerous expedition appears to
have been observed, at least occasionally, by the Romans. Achilles
kept unshorn his yellow hair, because his father had vowed to offer
it to the river Sperchius if ever his son came home from the wars
beyond the sea." [306]
When the Bhils turned out to fight they let down their long hair
prior to beginning the conflict with their bows and arrows. [307]
The pirates of Surat, before boarding a ship, drank _bhang_ and
hemp-liquor, and when they wore their long hair loose they gave no
quarter. [308] The Mundas appear to have formerly worn their hair long
and some still do. Those who are converted to Christianity must cut
their hair, but a non-Christian Munda must always keep the _chundi_
or pigtail. If the _chundi_ is very long it is sometimes tied up in
a knot. [309] Similarly the Oraons wore their hair long like women,
gathered in a knot behind, with a wooden or iron comb in it. Those
who are Christians can be recognised by the fact that they have cut
off their pigtails. A man of the low Pardhi caste of hunters must
never have his hair touched by a razor after he has once killed
a deer. As already seen, every orthodox Hindu wore till recently
a _choti_ or scalp-lock, which should theoretically be as long
as a cow's tail. Perhaps the idea was that for those who were not
warriors it was sufficient to retain this and have the rest of the
head shaved. The _choti_ was never shaved off in mourning for any
one but a father. The lower castes of Muhammadans, if they have lost
several children, will allow the scalp-lock to grow on the heads of
those subsequently born, dedicating it to one of their Muhammadan
saints. The Kanjars relate of their heroic ancestor Mana that after
he had plunged a bow so deeply into the ground that no one could
withdraw it, he was set by the Emperor of Delhi to wrestle against
the two most famous Imperial wrestlers. These could not overcome him
fairly, so they made a stratagem, and while one provoked him in front
the other secretly took hold of his _choti_ behind. When Mana started
forward his _choti_ was thus left in the wrestler's hands, and though
he conquered the other wrestler, showing him the sky as it is said,
the loss of his _choti_ deprived him for ever after of his virtue as a
Hindu and in no small degree of his renown as an ancestor. [310] Thus
it seems clear that a special virtue attaches to the _choti_. Before
every warlike expedition the people of Minahassa in Celebes used to
take the locks of hair of a slain foe and dabble them in boiling water
to extract the courage; this infusion of bravery was then drunk by
the warriors. [311] In a modern Greek folk-tale a man's strength lies
in three golden hairs on his head. When his mother plucks them out,
he grows weak and timid and is slain by his enemies. [312] The Red
Indian custom of taking the scalp, of a slain enemy and sometimes
wearing the scalps at the waist-belt may be due to the same relief.
In Ceram the hair might not be cut because it was the seat of a man's
strength; and the Gaboon negroes for the same reason would not allow
any of their hair to pass into the possession of a stranger. [313]