In dress and appearance the Pardhis are disreputable and dirty. Their
features are dark and their hair matted and unkempt. They never wear
shoes and say that they are protected by a special promise of the
goddess Devi to their first ancestor that no insect or reptile in
the forests should injure them. The truth is, no doubt, that shoes
would make it impossible for them to approach their game without
disturbing it, and from long practice the soles of their feet become
impervious to thorns and minor injuries. Similarly the Langoti Pardhis
are so called because they wear only a narrow strip of cloth round
the loins, the reason probably being that a long one would impede
them by flapping and catching in the brushwood. But the explanation
which they themselves give, [409] a somewhat curious one in view of
their appearance, is that an ordinary _dhoti_ or loin-cloth if worn
might become soiled and therefore unlucky. Their women do not have
their noses pierced and never wear spangles or other marks on the
forehead. The Pardhis still obtain fire by igniting a piece of cotton
with flint and iron. Mr. Sewell notes that their women eat at the same
time as the men, instead of after them as among most Hindus. They
explain this custom by saying that on one occasion a woman tried
to poison her husband and it was therefore adopted as a precaution
against similar attempts; but no doubt it has always prevailed, and
the more orthodox practice would be almost incompatible with their
gipsy life. Similar reasons of convenience account for their custom
of celebrating marriages all the year round and neglecting the Hindu
close season of the four months of the rains. They travel about with
little huts made of matting, which can be rolled up and carried off
in a few minutes. If rain comes on they seek shelter in the nearest
village. [410] In some localities the caste eat no food cooked
with butter or oil. They are usually considered as an impure caste,
whose touch is a defilement to Hindus. Brahmans do not officiate at
their ceremonies, though the Pardhis resort to the village Joshi or
astrologer to have a propitious date indicated for marriages. They have
to pay for such services in money, as Brahmans usually refuse to accept
even uncooked grain from them. After childbirth women are held to be
impure and forbidden to cook for their families for a period varying
from six weeks to six months. During their periodical impurity they are
secluded for four, six or eight days, the Pardhis observing very strict
rules in these matters, as is not infrequently the case with the lowest
castes. Their caste meetings, Mr. Sewell states, are known as Deokaria
or 'An act performed in honour of God'; at these meetings arrangements
for expeditions are discussed and caste disputes decided. The penalty
for social offences is a fine of a specified quantity of liquor, the
liquor provided by male and female delinquents being drunk by the
men and women respectively. The punishment for adultery in either
sex consists in cutting off a piece of the left ear with a razor,
and a man guilty of intercourse with a prostitute is punished as if
he had committed adultery. The Pardhi women are said to be virtuous.