The dress of the Savars is of the scantiest. The women wear _khilwan_
or pith ornaments in the ear, and abstain from wearing nose-rings,
a traditional method of deference to the higher castes. The proverb
has it, 'The ornaments of the Sawara are _gumchi_ seeds.' These
are the red and black seeds of _Abrus precatorius_ which are used in
weighing gold and silver and are called _rati_. Women are tattooed and
sometimes men also to avoid being pierced with a red-hot iron by the
god of death. Tattooing is further said to allay the sexual passion
of women, which is eight times more intense than that of men. Their
occupations are the collection of jungle produce and cultivation. They
are very clever in taking honeycombs: 'It is the Savar who can drive
the black bees from their hive.' The eastern branch of the caste is
more civilised than the Saonras of Bundelkhand, who still sow juari
with a pointed stick, saying that it was the implement given to them
by Mahadeo for this purpose. In Saugor and Damoh they employ Brahmans
for marriage ceremonies if they can afford it, but on other occasions
their own caste priests. In some places they will take food from most
castes but in others from nobody who is not a Savar. Sometimes they
admit outsiders and in others the children only of irregular unions;
thus a Gond woman kept by a Savar would not be recognised as a member
of the caste herself but her children would be Savars. A woman going
wrong with an outsider of low caste is permanently excommunicated.