Gonds, both men and women, do not bathe daily, but only wash their arms
and legs. They think a complete bath once a month is sufficient. If a
man gets ill he may think the god is angry with him for not bathing,
and when he recovers he goes and has a good bath, and sometimes gives a
feast. Hindus say that a Gond is only clean in the rains, when he gets
a compulsory bath every day. In Bastar they seldom wash their clothes,
as they think this impious, or else that the cloth would wear out too
quickly if it were often washed. Here they set great store by their
piece of cloth, and a woman will take it off before she cleans up her
house, and do her work naked. It is probable that these wild Gonds,
who could not weave, regarded the cloth as something miraculous and
sacred, and, as already seen, the god Palo is a piece of cloth. [90]