The barber is not ambitious enough to claim equality of rank with the Bant, the potter, the piper, the weaver, or the oilmonger; but he shows a decided disposition to regard himself as above the level of the fisherman or the palanquin-bearer. The latter often disclaim any such inferiority, and refer to the circumstance that they discharge the functions of carrying the huge umbrella in marriage processions, and shouldering the gods in religious processions. They argue that their rivals perform an operation, the defilement of which can only be wiped off by bathing the head with a solution of sacred earth taken from besides the roots of the tulsi plant (Ocimum sanctum). In justice to the barber, however, it must be mentioned that he has to perform certain priestly duties for most Sudras. His presence is essential at two of the ceremonies observed by castes professing to be superior to his. At the name-giving ceremony a Tulu barber has to tie a thread round the waist of the child, and name it, among Sudras of a higher caste than himself. [At the present day, the Bhandari is said to receive his fee for tying the thread, though he does not actually perform the act.] Again, on the death of a high caste Sudra, the barber has to carry the fire to the cremation ground, though the funeral pyre is lighted by the relations of the deceased. He also has to assist at certain other rites connected with funeral obsequies, such as purifying the house. [The collection of fragments of bones from the ashes, heaping up the ashes, and cleaning the spot where the corpse was burnt, are the business of the Kelasi. These duties he performs for Morlis, Bants, Gattis, and Vodaris. The Bhandari or Kelasi is an object of intense hatred to Konkani women, who call them by abusive names, such as fellow with a burnt face, miserable wretch, widow-maker, etc.]