127 If these nairs have some work done for them by men of low caste or buy something from them, they send a messenger for it, but should they touch them, their only punishment is to wash and change their clothes for clean ones before they enter their houses. The women do the same, but such trade must be done outside their houses and never inside; whenever they go to town, they are more likely to touch other people, but those of low caste must always squeeze themselves up against the walls and let them pass. On pain of death, nair women can only go in to town once a year, on an appointed night on which they can walk wherever they want with their nairs. On that night, in Calicut in particular, over twenty thousand women, all nairs, enter the city; the inhabitants honour them by putting many oil-lamps in the streets; the leading figures lay many carpets and drape many rich cloths in their houses; the nairs go in to see their friends’ houses, where they are given many gifts and a warm welcome. They are offered betel, which is one of their traditions and considered a great honour; some nair women cover their faces with a veil, others leave it uncovered. The kings’ mothers; sisters, and nieces also come to see the cities and they spend the whole night going from one principal merchant’s house to another, where they receive great gifts and presents, because they too will ensure that the latter are kept in the king’s favour and enjoy his friendship. Once the nairs start to receive a salary from the king, they never lose it. Even when they are very old, they are still fully entitled to it, indeed more often than not, some are even given a raise. If some years go by without these salaries being paid, four orfive hundred of the wronged gather at the palace door, where they send a message to the king that they are bidding him farewell and leaving to go and live with another lord or king, since he is not giving them their bread and the King then beseeches them, saying that he will soon resolve their suffering. Should he not give them a third
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