The caste employ Brahmans for the performance of their ceremonies,
and also as their gurus or spiritual preceptors. They eat flesh and
drink liquor in the Central Provinces, but in Hoshangabad they do
not consume either birds or fish; and when they eat mutton or the
flesh of the wild pig, they do this only outside the house, in order
not to offend their women, who will not eat flesh. In Hoshangabad
the Jats, like other immigrants from Marwar, commonly wear their
hair long and keep the face unshaven, and this gives them rather a
wild and farouche appearance among the neatly shorn Hindus of the
Nerbudda Valley. [189] They are of light complexion, the difference
in shade between the Jats and ordinary residents in the locality
being apparent to the casual observer. Their women are fond of the
hollow anklets known as bora, which contain small balls or pebbles,
and tinkle as they walk. Girls are tattooed before marriage, and while
the operation is being carried out the women of the caste collect and
sing songs to divert the sufferer's attention from the pain. The men
have pagris or turbans made of many little strings of twisted cloth,
which come down over the ears. If a man kills a cow or a squirrel,
he must stay outside the village for five weeks and nobody looks
upon his face. After this he should go and bathe in the Ganges,
but if he is too poor the Nerbudda may be substituted for it with
the permission of the caste committee. The penalty for killing a cat
is almost as severe, but to slay a dog involves no sin. If a man who
has committed a murder escapes conviction but his guilt is known to
the caste, it is absolutely incumbent on him to go and bathe in the
Ganges and be purified there, having his head and face shaved. After
this he may be readmitted to caste intercourse. The caste observe
some curious rules or taboos: they never drink the milk of a black
cow; their women do not have their noses bored for nose-rings, but
if a woman loses several children she will have the nose bored of
the next one which is born; women never wear glass bangles, but have
them made of ivory or lac and clay; they never wear the bazuband or
armlet with bars crossed on hinges which can be pulled in or out,
but instead of it the kara or rigid bangle; and the caste never keep
a basil plant in the house for worship, though they may revere it
outside the house. As the basil is the emblem of Vishnu, and the Jats
consider themselves to be descended from Siva, they would naturally
not be inclined to pay any special respect to the plant.