Note 6 — S

Of proverbs relating to the weaver, one runs to the effect that, “if you want to narrow the breadth of a river, you should plant reeds on its margin; and, if you desire to destroy the sanitation of a village, you should bring weavers to it, and settle them there.” When the dyes have to be fixed, and the dyed twist has to be washed, the weavers generally resort to running water, and pollute it. The several processes of twisting and untwisting threads, preparing skeins, etc., make combined labour a necessity in the weaving industry; and, wherever one finds a weaver settlement, he must find there a large number of these people, as is explained by the proverb that “the Chetti (merchant) lost by partnership, while the weaver came to grief by isolation.” When plying shuttles in the weaving process, the weavers always use their feet in shifting the warp, by treading on a press. Thus, if a weaver unfortunately happens to have a sore on his foot, it means loss to him; or, as the proverb says, “If a dog gets a sore on its head, it never recovers from it; and even so a weaver who gets a sore on his foot.”6