Bahusagara (many seas).--Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a synonym of Rangari. The Rangaris are tailors and dyers, and the signification of the name is not clear.
Bainedu.--The Bainedu, or Bainedi, as they are called in the Census Report, 1901, are the musicians and barbers of the Malas and Madigas. At the peddadinamu death ceremony of the Gamallas, a Mala Bainedu takes part in the recitation of the story of Ankamma, and in making the designs (muggu) on the ground.
Bairagi.--The Bairagis are a class of religious mendicants, who roam about all over India, and are for the most part recruited from North Indian castes. They are followers of Ramanand, who founded the order at the end of the fourteenth, or beginning of the fifteenth century. According to common tradition, the schism of Ramanand originated in resentment of an affront offered him by his fellow disciples, and sanctioned by his teacher. It is said that he had spent some time in travelling through various parts of India, after which he returned to the math, or residence of his superior. His brethren objected to him that in the course of his peregrinations it was impossible he could have observed that privacy in his meals, which is a vital observance of the Ramanuja sect; and, as Raghavanand admitted the validity of the objection, Ramanand was condemned to feed in a place apart from the rest of the disciples. He was highly incensed at the order, and retired from the society altogether, establishing a schism of his own. [88]
The name Bairagi is derived from the Sanskrit vairagya (vi + rag), denoting without desire or passion, and indicates an ascetic, who has subdued his passions, and liberated himself from worldly desires. The Bairagis are sometimes called Bavaji or Sadhu.
The Bairagis are Vaishnavites, and bear the Tengalai Vaishnava mark (namam), made with sandal-paste or gopi, on the forehead. Bairagis with a Vadagalai mark are very rare. The Bairagis wear necklaces of tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) beads or lotus (Nelumbium speciosum) seeds. Every Bairagi cooks his food within a space cleansed with cow-dung water by himself or his disciple, and will not leave the space until he has finished his meal. The Bairagis are not particular about screening the space from the public gaze. They partake of one meal daily, in the afternoon, and are abstainers from flesh dietary. They live mainly on alms obtained in the bazars, or in choultries (rest-houses for travellers). They generally carry with them one or two brass vessels for cooking purposes, a salagrama stone and a conch-shell for worship, and a chillum (pipe) for smoking ganja (Indian hemp) or opium. They are, as a rule, naked except for a small piece of cloth tied round the waist and passed between the thighs. Some wear more elaborate body-clothing, and a turban. They generally allow the beard to grow, and the hair of the head is long and matted, with sometimes a long tail of yak or human hair tied in a knot on the top of the head. Those who go about nearly naked smear ashes all over their bodies. When engaged in begging, some go through the streets, uttering aloud the name of some God. Others go from house to house, or remain at a particular spot, where people are expected to give them alms.