Since the removal of the hair is held to involve a certain loss of
strength and power, it should only be effected at certain seasons
and not on auspicious days. A man who has male children should not
have his head shaved on Monday, as this may cause his children to
die. On the other hand, a man who has no children will fast on Sunday
in the hope of getting them, and therefore he will neither shave his
head nor visit his wife on that day. A Hindu must not be shaved on
Thursday, because this is the day of the planet Jupiter, which is also
known as Guru, and his act would be disrespectful to his own _guru_
or preceptor. Tuesday is Devi's day, and a man will not get shaved
on that day; nor on Saturday, because it is Hanuman's day. [332] On
Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays he may be shaved, but not if the day
happens to be the new moon, full moon, or the Ashtami or Ekadashi,
that is the eighth or eleventh day of the fortnight. He should not
shave on the day that he is going on a journey. If all these rules
were strictly observed there would be very few days on which one
could get shaved, but many of them are necessarily more honoured in
the breach. Wednesdays and Fridays are the best days for shaving,
and by shaving on these days a man will see old age. Debtors are
shaved on Wednesdays, as they think that this will help them to pay
off their debts. Some Brahmans are not shaved during the month of
Shrawan (July), when the crops are growing, nor during the nine days
of the months of Kunwar (September) and Chait (March), when a fast
is observed and the _jawaras_ [333] are sown. After they have been
shaved high-caste Hindus consider themselves impure till they have
bathed. They touch no person or thing in the house, and sometimes
have the water thrown on them by a servant so as to avoid contact
with the vessels. They will also neither eat, drink nor smoke until
they have bathed. Sometimes they throw so much water over the head
in order to purify themselves as to catch a bad cold. In this case,
apparently, the impurity accrues from the loss of the hair, and the
man feels that virtue has gone out of him. Women never shave their
hair with a razor, as they think that to do so would make the body
so heavy after death that it could not be carried to the place of
cremation. They carefully pluck out the hair under the armpits and
the pubic hair with a pair of pincers. A girl's hair may be cut with
scissors, but not after she is ten years old or is married. Sometimes
a girl's hair is not cut at all, but her father will take a pearl and
entwine it into her hair, where it is left until she is married. It
is considered very auspicious to give away a girl in marriage with
hair which has never been cut, and a pearl in it. After marriage she
will take out the pearl and wear it in an ornament.