Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.29

c48.s2.29

§ 43. **Barbers** (3,698,300). Shaving and the paring of nails are important parts of many Brāhmanic ceremonies. The arrangement of marriages is the work of an expert and trustworthy go-between; the formal communication of domestic occurrences (except deaths), the provision of music before processions, the accompanying, with a torch if necessary, of distinguished strangers on their arrival in the village, together with the essential function of gossip, all these qualifications and duties go to make the barber a much esteemed member of the village hierarchy, on a regular annual stipend either from the individual householder or out of the land or its produce. The Nāī, Nāpit, Ambaṭṭan, Maṅgala, or Hajām, moreover, is usually the only person in an average village with any knowledge of surgery, though other castes can come to the rescue of a person afflicted by such ailments as are known to yield to charms or spells. It is this practice of surgery, it is to be feared, which relegates the Barber to a social position much below the esteem he enjoys as an individual. The caste, however, as a whole, is exclusive and particular. In some tracts of the west, each caste has its own barber who will attend to no other. Everywhere, too, there is a social limit below which a barber will not shave. Nor, though his mediation is essential to the announcement of good tidings in a formal manner, will he ever consent to carry round the news of a death, a duty which is imposed upon a caste which is presumed to be below the bad luck likely to accrue from so doleful a task. In most parts of India except the Panjāb, where the Jhīnvār’s wife takes the office, or where a Camārī is employed, the barber’s wife is the midwife or monthly nurse, and occasionally she acts as hair-dresser and manicurist to women. In Bengal, the latter occupation is alone the custom, and that but rarely. Indeed, the position of the caste, as well as that of the Bhaṇḍārī, the barber caste of Orissa, is much better in the east than in other parts. An exception must be made in favour of the Mārāyān of the Malabar coast, who in the north of the tract is the barber of the Nāyar, but as the south is approached, sheds his occupation to some extent, and acts as drummer generally, and as Nāyar priest at funerals. Still further down the coast, the work of shaving is left to a caste called Velakkattalavan, but which calls itself Nāyar. Meanwhile, the Mārāyān have passed into temple-service, drumming and the conduct of funerals, and give themselves the name of Aṭṭikuricci or Ambalavāsi. Under this transformation, the caste ranks next to the Brāhman, and will not eat with Nāyar: but no more will the Nāyar eat with the Ambalavāsi. The Maṅgala are the barbers of the Telugu districts, but as their connection with preparing the mourners for a funeral renders that name unlucky, they are usually addressed as Bājantri, or musicians, in reference to the other branch of their profession. The barber is everywhere credited with vast experience of the outside world, together with a quite exceptional acquaintance with the esoteric affairs of all the families in his village. The Brāhman, therefore, ministers to him without reluctance, and what with fees, presents, feast offerings and other emoluments, he often acquires quite a well-to-do position and is respected accordingly. There are as many proverbs about him as about his confrère in the West, and both he and his razors are mentioned in the Sūktas of the Ṛgveda.