FIG. 62.—TILIPA (12) WEARING HIS HAIR LONG ON ACCOUNT OF A VOW MADE AT A HINDU TEMPLE.
Women wear their hair as shown in Figs. 3 and 11, in long ringlets, and there do not appear to be any differences in [[576]]the method of wearing the hair under different conditions corresponding to those of males.
After a funeral the Tarthar division of the Todas except the Melgarsol shave their heads, and this may also happen in connexion with vows made at the Hindu temple at Nanjankudi or elsewhere.
The hair of a child is shaved about the third month of life (see p. [332]), so that the head has the appearance shown in Figs. [63] and [64]. The head is shaved on the top and sides, and in a strip from the top to the forehead, so that three locks are left, two in front, called the mîkuti (? meikuti), and one behind, called the kut.
In the case of a girl, there is some difference in the method of shaving according to the position of the child in the family. If a girl is the eldest of the family, she wears three locks like a boy, but younger girls and the eldest girl, if she should have an elder brother, wear only the two front locks, the mîkuti.
Skin-marks
The only kind of skin-mark made on males takes the form of a cicatrix on the right shoulder and, less commonly, on the elbow. It is produced by means of a stick made hot by the drill method of producing fire, exactly as in the production of fire for ceremonial purposes. The operation is not, however, accompanied by any ceremonial and may be performed by anyone. The marks are made when a boy is about twelve years old, at which age he begins to milk the buffaloes. The object of the marking is to cure the pain arising from the fatigue of milking. If the operation has not the desired result and the boy still feels the fatiguing effect of milking, a second mark is made, and occasionally a third or fourth may be necessary. In one case, in which a man had three marks one on the shoulder and two on the elbow, the third mark was not made till he was fifteen or sixteen years of age, three or four years after the first mark had been produced. This was done because, even after this lapse of time, he still suffered from aching in his arm after milking the buffaloes. Another [[578]]man had four scars on the shoulder, this being the largest number I observed.
