Note 15 — D

The Rev. A. Margöschis writes in connection with the practice of dilating the lobes of the ears in Tinnevelly, that, as it was once the fashion and a mark of respectability to have long ears, so now the converse is true. Until a few years ago, if a woman had short ears, she was asked if she was a Dēva-dāsi, because that class kept their ears natural. Now, with the change of customs all round, even dancing-girls are found with long ears. “The dancing-girls are,” the Rev. M. Phillips writes,15 “the most accomplished women among the Hindus. They read, write, sing and play as well as dance. Hence one of the great objections urged at first against the education of girls was ‘We don’t want our daughters to become dancing-girls’.”