Travels in India (Tavernier) 129.2.4

129.2.4

All the poor idolaters come one after the other to present themselves to him, and he anoints their foreheads with some of this colour, which is continued down between the eyes and on to the end of the nose, then on the arms and in front of the chest ; and it is by these marks that those who have bathed in the Ganges are distinguished. Those who only bathe in their dwellings (for they are all obliged to bathe before eating, and even before cooking), those, I say, who have only bathed in well-water, or in water brought from the river, are not properly purified, and in consequence cannot be anointed with this colour. It may be remarked that the idolaters, according to their castes, are anointed with different colours ; and in the Empire of the Great Mogul, those who are anointed with yellow belong to the most important tribe, and are the least impure. For, when attending to the ordinary necessities of nature, the others content themselves with carrying a pot of water to wash themselves with, but these always use a handful of sand, with which having first rubbed themselves, they afterwards wash. So that they can say their bodies are clean, that no impurity remains, and they may then take their food without fear.