Girls are tattooed before marriage, usually at the age of four or
five years, with dots on the left nostril and centre of the chin, and
three dots in a line on the right shoulder. A girl is again tattooed
after marriage, but before leaving for her husband's house. On this
occasion four pairs of parallel lines are made on the leg above the
ankle, in front, behind, and on the sides. As a rule, the legs are
not otherwise tattooed, nor the trunk of the body. Groups of dots,
triangles and lines are made on the arms, and on the left arm is
pricked a zigzag line known as the sikri or chain, the pattern of
which is distinctive. Teli and Gahra (Ahir) women also have the sikri,
but in a slightly different form. The tattooing is done by a woman of
the Dewar caste, and she receives some corn and the cloth worn by the
girl at the time of the operation. If a child is slow in learning to
walk they tattoo it on the loins above the hips, and believe that this
is efficacious. Men who suffer from rheumatism also get the affected
joints tattooed, and are said to experience much relief. The tattooing
acts no doubt as a blister, and may produce a temporarily beneficial
effect. It may be compared to the bee-sting cure for rheumatism now
advocated in England. Tattooing is believed to enhance the beauty of
women, and it is also said that the tattoo marks are the only ornament
which will accompany the soul to the other world. From this belief it
seems clear that they expect to have the same body in the after-life.