it seems a legitimate deduction
that rosaries or strings of beads of a sacred wood were substituted
for flower-garlands as ornaments for the gods in view of their more
permanent nature. Having been thus sanctified they may have come to
be worn as a mark of holiness by saints or priests in imitation of
the divine images, this being a common or universal fashion of Hindu
ascetics. Subsequently they were found to serve as a useful means
of counting the continuous repetition of prayers, whence arose the
phrase 'telling one's beads.' Like the Sanskrit _mala_, the English
word rosary at first meant a garland of roses and subsequently a
string of beads, probably made from rose-wood, on which prayers were
counted. From this it may perhaps be concluded that the images of
the deities were decorated with garlands of roses in Europe, and the
development of the rosary was the same as the Indian _mala_. If the
rose was a sacred flower we can more easily understand its importance
as a badge in the Wars of the Roses.

5. Sub-castes

The caste has numerous endogamous groups, varying in different
localities. The Phulmalis, who derive their name from their
occupation of growing and selling flowers (_phul_), usually rank as
the highest. The Ghase Malis are the only subcaste which will grow
and prepare turmeric in Wardha; but they will not sell milk or curds,
an occupation to which the Phulmalis, though the highest subcaste,
have no objection. In Chanda the Kosaria Malis, who take their name
from Kosala, the classical designation of the Chhattisgarh country,
are the sole growers of turmeric, while in Berar the Halde subcaste,
named after the plant, occupy the same position. The Kosaria or Kosre
subcaste abstain from liquor, and their women wear glass bangles only
on one hand and silver ones on the other. The objection entertained to
the cultivation of turmeric by Hindus generally is said to be based
on the fact that when the roots are boiled numbers of small insects
are necessarily destroyed; but the other Malis relate that one of the
ancestors of the caste had a calf called Hardulia, and one day he said
to his daughter, _Haldi paka_, or 'Cook turmeric.' But the daughter
thought that he said 'cook Hardulia,' so she killed and roasted the
calf, and in consequence of this her father was expelled from the
caste, and his descendants are the Ghase or Halde subcaste. Ever
since this happened the shape of a calf may be seen in the flower