Both men and women were formerly much tattooed among the Gonds,
though the custom is now going out among men. Women are tattooed over
a large part of the body, but not on the hips or above them to the
waist. Sorcerers are tattooed with some image or symbol of their god
on their chest or right shoulder, and think that the god will thus
always remain with them and that any magic directed against them by an
enemy will fail. A woman should be tattooed at her father's house, if
possible before marriage, and if it is done after marriage her parents
should pay for it. The tattooing is done with indigo in black or blue,
and is sometimes a very painful process, the girl being held down
by her friends while it is carried out. Loud shrieks, Forsyth says,
would sometimes be heard by the traveller issuing from a village,
which proclaimed that some young Gondin was being operated upon with
the tattooing-needle. Patterns of animals and also common articles of
household use are tattooed in dots and lines. In Mandla the legs are
marked all the way up behind with sets of parallel lines, as shown
above. These are called ghats or steps, and sometimes interspersed
at intervals is another figure called sankal or chain. Perhaps their
idea is to make the legs strong for climbing.