The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c9.207

v1.c9.207

⁷ The importance of the barbers in the religious life of the Hindus in the south of India is so great that many rites and ceremoies could not to performed without them. Correa, Lendas da India, IV, p. 301, who once attended the sacred fair of Tirupati, says that every pilgrim to the Tirupati hill had to have his head shaved. The barbers were sitting under some large trees and hiding themselves behind the heaps of hair.