Note 58 — Chapter XI · GENERAL.

At midnight of the Holi day a bower is erected in the centre of the village with bits of broken earthen vessels and cocoanut shells. A fool, generally a son-in-law of some low caste Hindu in the village, is induced, by the promise of dates and cocoanut kernel, to dress in a coat on which are drawn naked pictures. A garland of worn out shoes is tied round his neck and he is mounted on a donkey. He is then called Vālam and taken from the bower through the village accompanied with music and crowds of people, who utter in a loud voice coarse and vulgar expressions as the procession moves on. At times they play jokes with the Vālam, and give him blows on the head with their fists.58