Those who enjoy the privilege of No. 1 in A are entitled to all the privileges in A and B; those enjoying No. 2 in A have all the privileges from No. 2 downwards in A and B; those having No. 3 in A have similarly all the privileges from No. 3 downwards in A and B, and so on. Those entitled to No.1 in B have all the privileges except No. 1 in A; similarly those entitled to No. 2 in B have all the privileges from No. 2 downwards in B, but only from No. 3 downwards in A, and so on." Among the people of good caste in Malabar, to speak of one as a hairy man is to speak of him reproachfully. Yet, putting aside Muhammadans, the highest of all, the Nambutiris are certainly the most hairy. In the young Nambutiri, the hair on the head is plentiful, glossy, and wavy. The hair is allowed to grow over an oval patch from the vertex or a little behind it to a little back from the forehead. This is the regular Malabar fashion. The hair thus grown is done into a knot hanging over the forehead or at one side according to fancy, never hanging behind. The rest of the head, and also the face is shaved. The whole body, excepting this knot and the back, is shaved periodically. Karkkadakam, Kanni, Kumbham and Dhanu are months in which shaving should be avoided as far as possible. An auspicious day is always selected by the Nambutiri for being shaved. Gingelly oil (enna) is commonly used for the hair. When a Nambutiri's wife is pregnant, he refrains from the barber, letting his hair grow as it will. And, as he may have as many as four wives, and he does not shave when any of them is in an interesting condition, he sometimes has a long beard. A marked difference observed between the Nambutiri and those allied to him, and the lower races, is this. The former have whiskers in the shape of a full growth of hair on the cheeks, while in the latter this is scanty or entirely absent. Also, while the Nambutiris have very commonly a hairy chest, the others have little or no hair on the chest. So, too, in the case of hair on the arms and legs. One Nambutiri examined had hair all over the body, except over the ribs. In connection with a hypothesis that the Todas of the Nilgiris are an offshoot of one of the races now existing in Malabar, Dr. W. H. R. Rivers writes as follows. [91] "Of all the castes or tribes of Malabar, the Nambutiris perhaps show the greatest number of resemblances to the customs of the Todas, and it is therefore interesting to note that Mr. Fawcett describes these people as the hairiest of all the races of Malabar, and especially notes that one individual he examined was like a Toda."