ot Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. |N.S., XIX, 
Brahmin of the north had objections to take his meal from 
the hands of a Telugu Brahmin woman because she had the 
upper portion of her dress brought up the left shoulder in the 
front and then along the right shoulder at the back and also 
had glass bangles in in her hand nd I have seen the Telugu 
women wearing their cloth in the reverse way on ae 
orthodox, and perhaps spiritual too So he cooked his own 
food and ate. while he was staying in a portion of the house 
occupied by me at Rajahmundry. 
Furthermore, the Brahmin women of the south are 
very en with regard to name cleanliness (?) in the 
course of the day. They bathe early morning and wear a 
cloth, washed, dried and kept arc tnted the previous da 
Once ‘they wear it, they will not touch any old cloth, shirt, or 
coat and they will not touch a cloth washed by a dhoby 
new cloth but they have what they call a madi saree and, if 
they wear it, they become pure and clean and they do this 
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they change their saree and then they may touch any cloth. 
even including bedding. This is a striking contrast between 
the south and the north. 
The Telugu Brahmin men are very careful and insist 
upon it, to wear a silk when they eat both dav and ni 
At other times they only wear cotton cloth but in the south 
the silk is worn by the men only when they perform some 
ceremonies, or puja, or when they return after their bath from 
the holy river and in their eves a silk becomes polluted, or 
unfit for puja purposes, if it is worn during the eating 
time—a fact quite contrary to that obtained in the north. 
While on this subject, I may mention that ordinarily the 
southerners use the plantain leaf, while using it as a plate 
for meals, in a horizontal manner whereas the Telugus use 
it in a vertical manner. Of course it will be very difficult, 
if a leaf is long, to reach the substances at the farther end. 
Still the system is there 
fore I leave the subject of dress, I will refer to one 
other ‘characteristic difference. The Tamil Brahmin women 
after their bath and take it home. But the Tamil non- 
Brahmin women have no special cloth for this hebaette and 
after their bath they get it washed by a washerwom This 
latter custom is prevalent among the Telugu Beahinin women. 
t a similar practice to be adopted by the Tamil 
Brahmin ladies who happen to live amidst them. It appears 

