Edgar Thurston

Kori (blanket).—An exogamous sept of Kuruba.

Koriannayya (fowl sept).—An exogamous sept of Bant.

Korono.—Karnam, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,1 “includes both Karnam proper, and also Korono, the accountant caste of Ganjam and Orissa. The following remarks relate solely to the Uriya Koronos. The word Korono is said to be derived from kirani, which means a writer or clerk. The origin of the Koronos is uncertain. One writer says that they are Kayasts of Northern India, who are of Kshatriya origin. Mr. R. C. Dutt says, in his History of Ancient India, that, according to Manu, the Koronos belong to the Kshatriya Vratyas, who do not perform the religious rites. And, in the Raghuvamsa, the poet Kalidasa describes Koronos as the offspring of a Vaisya and a Sudra woman, and he is supported by the lexicographer Amara Sinha. It is said that the ancestors of the Koronos were brought from Northern India by Yayatikesari, King of Orissa (447—526 A.D.), to supply the want of writers and clerks in certain parts of Orissa. The Koronos are worshippers of Vishnu. Their ceremonies are performed with the aid of Brahman priests. The remarriage of widows is not permitted. They eat fish, and the flesh of goats and deer. The Uriya Koronos observe the gosha system, and carry it to such an extent that, after a girl attains puberty, she is not allowed to appear before her elder brother. Their titles are Patnaik and Mahanti.”

The heads of the Ganjam villages are, Mr. S. P. Rice informs us, “called Korono, the doer, and Karji, the manager. The Korono, who is really only the accountant, but who, by reason of his higher education, is generally the ultimate authority in the village, appropriates to himself the title Potonaiko, as his caste distinction. The word signifies the Naik or head of the town.” It has been noted that “in the Telugu districts, the Karnam is usually a Brahman. Being in some respects the most intelligent, and the most unpopular man in the village, he is both feared and hated. Murders of accountants, though infrequent, are not unknown.” Of proverbs relating to Karnams, the following may be quoted:—

Even if a thousand pagodas are levied from a village, not even a cash will be levied from the Karnam (a pagoda is a gold, and a cash a copper coin).

The Karnam is the cause of the Kapu’s (cultivator caste) death.

The hungry Karnam looks into his old accounts (to worry his creditors).

The co-operation of the Karnam is as necessary as the axles to the wheels of a cart.

One Karnam to one village.

A quiet Karnam is as little cared for as a tame elephant.

If a Karnam trusts another, his end is near.

If an enemy is his neighbour; if another Karnam is his superior; if the Kapu bears complaints against him, a Karnam cannot live on.

The Koronos are divided into various sections, e.g., Sishta or Srishti, Vaisya, Majjula, and Matihansa, some of which wear the sacred thread. The Vaisyas are not allowed to marry their girls after puberty, whereas the others may marry them before or after this event. A woman of the Bhondari caste is employed on the occasion of marriage and other ceremonies, to perform certain duties, for which her services are indispensable.

Korra (millet: Setaria italica).—An exogamous sept of Gudala.

Korti.—An occupational name, derived from korto, a saw, of woodsawyers in Ganjam.

Kosalya.—A sub-division of Mali, named after Kosala, the modern Oudh.

Koshti.—Koshti or Koshta is the name of a weaving and cultivating caste of Chota Nagpur, a few members of which have settled in the Madras Presidency (see Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal). Koshta is also the name by which the Khatris of Conjeeveram call the Patnulkaran silk weavers.

Kota.—According to Dr. Oppert2 “it seems probable that the Todas and Kotas lived near each other before the settlement of the latter on the Nilagiri. Their dialects betray a great resemblance. According to a tradition of theirs (the Kotas), they lived formerly on Kollimallai, a mountain in Mysore. It is wrong to connect the name of the Kotas with cow-slaying, and to derive it from the Sanskrit go-hatya (cow-killer). The derivation of the term Kota is, as clearly indicated, from the Gauda-dravidian word ko (ku) mountain, and the Kotas belong to the Gandian branch.” There is a tradition that the Kotas were formerly one with the Todas, with whom they tended the herds of buffaloes in common. But, on one occasion, they were found to be eating the flesh of a buffalo which had died, and the Todas drove them out as being eaters of carrion. A native report before me suggests that “it is probable that, after the migration of the Kotas to the hills, anthropology was at work, and they got into them an admixture of Toda blood.”

The Kotas inhabit seven villages (Kotagiri or kokal), of which six—Kotagiri, Kil Kotagiri, Todanad, Sholur, Kethi and Kunda—are on the Nilgiri plateau, and one is at Gudalur at the north-west base of these hills. They form compact communities, and, at Kotagiri, their village consists of detached huts, and rows of huts arranged in streets. The huts are built of mud, brick, or stone, roofed with thatch or tiles, and divided into living and sleeping apartments. The floor is raised above the ground, and there is a verandah in front with a seat on each side whereon the Kota loves to “take his siesta, and smoke his cheroot in the shade,” or sleep off the effects of a drinking bout. The door-posts of some of the huts are ornamented with carving executed by wood-carvers in the plains. A few of the huts, and one of the forges at Kotagiri, have stone pillars sculptured with fishes, lotuses, and floral embellishments by stone-carvers from the low country. It is noted by Breeks3 that Kurguli (Sholur) is the oldest of the Kota villages, and that the Badagas believe that the Kotas of this village were made by the Todas. At Kurguli there is a temple of the same form as the Toda dairy, and this is said to be the only temple of the kind at any Kota village.

The Kotas speak a mixture of Tamil and Kanarese, and speak Tamil without the foreign accent which is noticeable in the case of the Badagas and Todas. According to orthodox Kota views, a settlement should consist of three streets or keris, in one of which the Terkaran or Devadi, and in the other two the Munthakannans or Pujaris live. At Kotagiri the three streets are named Kilkeri, Nadukeri, and Melkeri, or lower, central, and upper street. People belonging to the same keri may not intermarry, as they are supposed to belong to the same family, and intermarriage would be distasteful. The following examples of marriage between members of different keris are recorded in my notes:—

Husband.	Wife.
Kilkeri.	Nadukeri.
Kilkeri.	Melkeri.
Nadukeri.	Melkeri.
Melkeri.	Nadukeri.
Nadukeri.	First wife Kilkeri, second wife Melkeri.

The Kota settlement at Sholur is divided into four keris, viz.:—amreri, kikeri, korakeri, and akkeri, or near street, lower street, other street, and that street, which resolve themselves into two exogamous groups. Of these, amreri and kikeri constitute one group, and korakeri and akkeri the other.

On the day following my arrival at Kotagiri, a deputation of Kotas waited on me, which included a very old man bearing a certificate appointing him headman of the community in recognition of his services and good character, and a confirmed drunkard with a grog-blossom nose, who attributed the inordinate size thereof to the acrid juice of a tree, which he was felling, dropping on it. The besetting vice of the Kotas of Kotagiri is a partiality for drink, and they congregate together towards dusk in the arrack shop and beer tavern in the bazar, whence they stagger or are helped home in a state of noisy and turbulent intoxication. It has been said4 that the Kotas “actually court venereal disease, and a young man who has not suffered from this before he is of a certain age is looked upon as a disgrace.”

The Kotas are looked down on as being unclean feeders, and eaters of carrion; a custom which is to them no more filthy than that of eating game when it is high, or using the same tooth-brush week after week, is to a European. They have been described as a very carnivorous race, who “have a great craving for flesh, and will devour animal food of every kind without any squeamish scruples as to how the animal came by its death. The carcase of a bullock which has died of disease, or the remains of a deer half devoured by a tiger, are equally acceptable to him.” An unappetising sight, which may be witnessed on roads leading to a Kota village, is that of a Kota carrying the flesh of a dead buffalo, often in an advanced stage of putridity, slung on a stick across his shoulders, with the entrails trailing on the ground. Colonel Ross King narrates5 how he once saw a Kota carrying home a dead rat, thrown out of a stable a day or two previously. When I repeated this story to my Kota informant, he glared at me, and bluntly remarked in Tamil “The book tells lies.” Despite its unpleasant nature, the carrion diet evidently agrees with the Kotas, who are a sturdy set of people, flourishing, it is said, most exceedingly when the hill cattle are dying of epidemic disease, and the supply of meat is consequently abundant.

The missionary Metz narrates6 that “some years ago the Kotas were anxious to keep buffaloes, but the headmen of the other tribes immediately put their veto upon it, declaring that it was a great presumption on the part of such unclean creatures to wish to have anything to do with the holy occupation of milking buffaloes.”

The Kotas are blacksmiths, goldsmiths, silversmiths, carpenters, tanners, rope-makers, potters, washermen, and cultivators. They are the musicians at Toda and Badaga funerals. It is noted by Dr. W. H. R. Rivers7 that “in addition they provide for the first Toda funeral the cloak (putkuli) in which the body is wrapped, and grain (patm or s(=a)mai) to the amount of five to ten kwa. They give one or two rupees towards the expenses, and, if they should have no grain, their contribution of money is increased. At the marvainolkedr (second funeral ceremony) their contributions are more extensive. They provide the putkuli, together with a sum of eight annas, for the decoration of the cloak by the Toda women. They give two to five rupees towards the general expenses, and provide the bow and arrow, basket (tek), knife (kafkati), and the sieve called kudshmurn. The Kotas receive at each funeral the bodies of the slaughtered buffaloes, and are also usually given food.”

Though all classes look down on the Kotas, all are agreed that they are excellent artisans, whose services as smiths, rope and umbrella makers, etc., are indispensable to the other hill tribes. The strong, durable ropes, made out of buffalo hide, are much sought after by Badagas for fastening their cattle. The Kotas at Gudalur have the reputation of being excellent thatchers. The Todas claim that the Kotas are a class of artisans specially brought up from the plains to work for them. Each Toda, Badaga, Irula, and Kurumba settlement has its Muttu Kotas, who work for the inhabitants thereof, and supply them with sundry articles, called muttu, in return for the carcasses of buffaloes and cattle, ney (clarified butter), grain, plantain, etc. The Kotas eat the flesh of the animals which they receive, and sell the horns to Labbai (Muhammadan) merchants from the plains. Chakkiliyans (leather-workers) from the plains collect the bones, and purchase the hides, which are roughly cured by the Kotas with chunam (lime) and avaram (Cassia auriculata) bark, and pegged out on the ground to dry.

The Kota blacksmiths make hatches, bill-hooks, knives, and other implements for the various hill tribes, especially the Badagas, and also for European planters. Within the memory of men still living, they used to work with iron ore brought up from the low country, but now depend on scrap iron, which they purchase locally in the bazar. The most flourishing smithy in the Kotagiri village is made of bricks of local manufacture, roofed with zinc sheets, and fitted with anvil pincers, etc., of European manufacture.

As agriculturists the Kotas are said to be quite on a par with the Badagas, and they raise on the land adjacent to their villages crops of potatoes, bearded wheat (akki or rice ganji), barley (beer ganji), kirai (Amarantus), samai (Panicum miliare), korali (Setaria italica), mustard, onions, etc.

At the revenue settlement, 1885, the Kotas were treated in the same way as the Badagas and other tribes of the Nilgiris, except the Todas, and the lands in their occupation were assigned to them at rates varying from ten to twenty annas per acre. The bhurty or shifting system of cultivation, under which the Kotas held their lands, was formally, but nominally, abolished in 1862–64; but it was practically and finally done away with at the revenue settlement of the Nilgiri plateau. The Kota lands are now held on puttas under the ordinary ryotwari tenure.

In former days, opium of good quality was cultivated by the Badagas, from whom the Kotas got poppy-heads, which their herbalists used for medicinal purposes. At the present time, the Kotas purchase opium in the bazar, and use it as an intoxicant.

The Kota women have none of the fearlessness and friendliness of the Todas, and, on the approach of a European to their domain, bolt out of sight, like frighted rabbits in a warren, and hide within the inmost recesses of their huts. As a rule they are clad in filthily dirty clothes, all tattered and torn, and frequently not reaching as low as the knees. In addition to domestic duties, the women have to do work in the fields, fetch water and collect firewood, with loads of which, supported on the head by a pad of bracken fern (Pteris aquilina) leaves, and bill-hook slung on the shoulder, old and young women, girls and boys, may continually be seen returning to the Kotagiri village. The women also make baskets, and rude earthen pots from a black clay found in swamps on a potter’s wheel. This consists of a disc made of dry mud, with an iron spike, by means of which it is made to revolve in a socket in a stone fixed in the space in front of the houses, which also acts as a threshing-floor. The earthenware vessels used by the Todas for cooking purposes, and those used in dairy work, except those of the inner room of the ti (sacred dairy), are said by Dr. Rivers to be made by the Kotas.

The Kota priesthood is represented by two classes, Munthakannan or Pujari, and Terkaran or Devadi, of whom the former rank higher than the latter. There may be more than two Terkarans in a village, but the Munthakannans never exceed this number, and they should belong to different keris. These representatives of the priesthood must not be widowers, and, if they lose their wives while holding office, their appointment lapses. They may eat the flesh of buffaloes, but not drink their milk. Cow’s flesh, but not its milk, is tabu. The Kotas may not milk cows, or, under ordinary conditions, drink the milk thereof in their own village, but are permitted to do so if it is given to them by a Pujari, or in a village other than their own. The duties of the Munthakannan include milking the cows of the village, service to the god, and participation in the seed-sowing and reaping ceremonial. They must use fire obtained by friction, and should keep a fire constantly burning in a broken pot. In like manner, the Terkarans must not use matches, but take fire from the house of the Munthakannan. The members of the priesthood are not allowed to work for others, but may do so on their own account in the fields or at the forge. They should avoid pollution, and may not attend a Toda or Badaga funeral, or approach the seclusion hut set apart for Kota women. When a vacancy in the office of Munthakannan occurs, the Kotas of the village gather together, and seek the guidance of the Terkaran, who becomes inspired by the deity, and announces the name of the successor. The selected individual has to be fed at the expense of the community for three months, during which time he may not speak to his wife or other woman direct, but only through the medium of a boy, who acts as his assistant. Further, during this period of probation, he may not sleep on a mat or use a blanket, but must lie on the ground or on a plank, and use a dhupati (coarse cloth) as a covering. At the time of the annual temple festival, neither the Munthakannans nor the Terkarans may live or hold communion with their wives for fear of pollution, and they have to cook their food themselves.

The seed-sowing ceremony is celebrated in the month of Kumbam (February-March) on a Tuesday or Friday. For eight days the Pujari abstains from meat and lives on vegetable dietary, and may not communicate directly with his wife, a boy acting as spokesman. On the Sunday before the ceremony, a number of cows are penned in a kraal, and milked by the Pujari. The milk is preserved, and, if the omens are favourable, is said not to turn sour. If it does, this is attributed to the Pujari being under pollution from some cause or other. On the day of the ceremony, the Pujari bathes in a stream, and proceeds, accompanied by a boy, to a field or the forest. After worshipping the gods, he makes a small seed-pan in the ground, and sows therein a small quantity of ragi (Elusine Coracana). Meanwhile, the Kotas of the village go to the temple, and clean it. Thither the Pujari and the boy proceed, and the deity is worshipped with offerings of cocoanuts, betel, flowers, etc. Sometimes the Terkaran becomes inspired, and gives expression to oracular utterances. From the temple all go to the house of the Pujari, who gives them a small quantity of milk and food. Three months later, on an auspicious day, the reaping of the crop is commenced with a very similar form of ceremonial.

During the seed-sowing festival, Mr. Harkness, writing in 1832,8 informs us, “offerings are made in the temples, and, on the day of the full moon, after the whole have partaken of a feast, the blacksmith and the gold and silversmith, constructing separately a forge and furnace within the temple, each makes something in the way of has avocation, the blacksmith a chopper or axe, the silversmith a ring or other kind of ornament.”

“Some rude image,” Dr. Shortt writes,9 “of wood or stone, a rock or tree in a secluded locality, frequently forms the Kota’s object of worship, to which sacrificial offerings are made; but the recognised place of worship in each village consists of a large square of ground, walled round with loose stones, three feet high, and containing in its centre two10 pent-shaped sheds of thatch, open before and behind, and on the posts (of stone) that support them some rude circles and other figures are drawn. No image of any sort is visible here.” These sheds, which at Kotagiri are a very short distance apart, are dedicated to Siva and his consort Parvati under the names of Kamataraya and Kalikai. Though no representation thereof is exhibited in the temples at ordinary times, their spirits are believed to pervade the buildings, and at the annual ceremony they are represented by two thin plates of silver, which are attached to the upright posts of the temples. The stones surrounding the temples at Kotagiri are scratched with various quaint devices, and lines for the games of kote and hulikote. The Kotas go, I was told, to the temple once a month, at full moon, and worship the gods. Their belief is that Kamataraya created the Kotas, Todas, and Kurumbas, but not the Irulas. “Tradition says of Kamataraya that, perspiring profusely, he wiped from his forehead three drops of perspiration, and out of them formed the three most ancient of the hill tribes—the Todas, Kurumbas, and Kotas. The Todas were told to live principally upon milk, the Kurumbas were permitted to eat the flesh of buffalo calves, and the Kotas were allowed perfect liberty in the choice of food, being informed that they might eat carrion if they could get nothing better.” According to another version of this legend given by Dr. Rivers, Kamataraya “gave to each people a pot. In the Toda pot was calf-flesh, and so the Todas eat the flesh of calves at the erkumptthpimi ceremony; the Kurumba pot contained the flesh of a male buffalo, so this is eaten by the Kurumbas. The pot of the Kotas contained the flesh of a cow-buffalo, which may, therefore, be eaten by this people.”

Kota temple.

Kota temple.

In addition to Kamataraya and Mangkali, the Kotas at Gudalur, which is near the Malabar frontier, worship Vettakaraswami, Adiral and Udiral, and observe the Malabar Onam festival. The Kotas worship further Magali, to whose influence outbreaks of cholera are attributed, and Mariamma, who is held responsible for smallpox. When cholera breaks out among the Kota community, special sacrifices are performed with a view to propitiating the wrath of the goddess. Magali is represented by an upright stone in a rude temple at a little distance from Kotagiri, where an annual ceremony takes place, at which some man becomes possessed, and announces to the people that Magali has come. The Pujari offers up plantains and cocoanuts, and sacrifices a sheep and fowls. My informant was, or pretended to be ignorant of the following legend recorded by Breeks as to the origin of the worship of the smallpox goddess. “A virulent disease carried off a number of Kotas of Peranganoda, and the village was abandoned by the survivors. A Badaga named Munda Jogi, who was bringing his tools to the Kotagiri to be sharpened, saw near a tree something in the form of a tiger, which spoke to him, and told him to summon the run-away Kotas. He obeyed, whereupon the tiger form addressed the Kotas in an unknown tongue, and vanished. For some time, the purport of this communication remained a mystery. At last, however, a Kota came forward to interpret, and declared that the god ordered the Kotas to return to the village on pain of a recurrence of the pestilence. The command was obeyed, and a Swami house (shrine) was built on the spot where the form appeared to the Badaga (who doubtless felt keenly the inconvenience of having no Kotas at hand to sharpen his tools).” The Kotas are not allowed to approach Toda or Badaga temples.

It was noted by Lieutenant R. F. Burton11 that, in some hamlets, the Kotas have set up curiously carved stones, which they consider sacred, and attribute to them the power of curing diseases, if the member affected be only rubbed against the talisman.

A great annual festival is held in honour of Kamataraya with the ostensible object of propitiating him with a view to his giving the Kotas an abundant harvest and general prosperity. The feast commences on the first Monday after the January new moon, and lasts over many days, which are observed as a general holiday. The festival is said to be a continuous scene of licentiousness and debauchery, much indecent dancing taking place between men and women. According to Metz,12 the chief men among the Badagas must attend, otherwise their absence would be regarded as a breach of friendship and etiquette, and the Kotas would avenge themselves by refusing to make ploughs or earthen vessels for the Badagas. The programme, when the festival is carried out in full detail, is, as far as I have been able to gather, as follows:—

First day. A fire is kindled by one of the priests in the temple, and carried to the Nadukeri section of the village, where it is kept burning throughout the festival. Around the fire men, women, adolescent boys and girls, dance to the weird music of the Kota band, whose instruments consist of clarionet, drum, tambourine, brass horn and flute (buguri).

Second day		Dance at night.
Third day
Fourth day
Fifth day

Sixth day. The villagers go to the jungle and collect bamboos and rattans, with which to re-roof the temple. Dance at night.

The seventh day is busily spent in re-roofing and decorating the temples, and it is said to be essential that the work should be concluded before nightfall. Dance at night.

Eighth day. In the morning the Kotas go to Badaga villages, and cadge for presents of grain and ghi (clarified butter), which they subsequently cook, place in front of the temple as an offering to the god, and, after the priests have eaten, partake of, seated round the temple.

Ninth day. Kotas, Todas, Badagas, Kurumbas, Irulas, and ‘Hindus’ come to the Kota village, where an elaborate nautch is performed, in which men are the principal actors, dressed up in gaudy attire consisting of skirt, petticoat, trousers, turban and scarves, and freely decorated with jewelry, which is either their own property, or borrowed from Badagas for the occasion. Women merely dressed in clean cloths also take part in a dance called kumi, which consists of a walk round to time beaten with the hands. I was present at a private performance of the male nautch, which was as dreary as such entertainments usually are, but it lacked the go which is doubtless put into it when it is performed under natural conditions away from the restraining influence of the European. The nautch is apparently repeated daily until the conclusion of the festival.

Eleventh and twelfth days. A burlesque representation of a Toda funeral is given, at which the part of the sacrificial buffaloes is played by men with buffalo horns fixed on the head, and body covered with a black cloth.

At the close of the festival, the Kota priests and leading members of the community go out hunting with bows and arrows, leaving the village at 1 A.M., and returning at 3 A.M. They are said to have formerly shot ‘bison’ (Bos gaurus) at this nocturnal expedition, but what takes place at the present day is said to be unknown to the villagers, who are forbidden to leave their houses during the absence of the hunting party. On their return to the village, a fire is lighted by friction. Into the fire a piece of iron is put by one of the priests, made red hot with the assistance of the bellows, and hammered. The priests then offer up a parting prayer to the god, and the festival is at an end.

The following is a translation of a description by Dr. Emil Schmidt13 of the dancing at the Kota annual festival, at which he had the good fortune to be present as an eye-witness:—

“During my stay at Kotagiri the Kotas were celebrating the big festival in honour of their chief god. The feast lasted over twelve days, during which homage was offered to the god every evening, and a dance performed round a fire kept burning near the temple throughout the feast. On the last evening but one, females, as well as males, took part in the dance. As darkness set in, the shrill music, which penetrated to my hotel, attracted me to the Kota village. At the end of the street, which adjoins the back of the temple, a big fire was kept up by continually putting on large long bundles of brushwood. On one side of the fire, close to the flames, stood the musicians with their musical instruments, two hand-drums, a tambourine, beaten by blows on the back, a brass cymbal beaten with a stick, and two pipes resembling oboes. Over and over again the same monotonous tune was repeated by the two latter in quick four-eight time to the accompaniment of the other instruments. On my arrival, about forty male Kotas, young and old, were dancing round the fire, describing a semicircle, first to one side, then the other, raising the hands, bending the knees, and executing fantastic steps with the feet. The entire circle moved thus slowly forwards, one or the other from time to time giving vent to a shout that sounded like Hau! and, at the conclusion of the dance, there was a general shout all round. Around the circle, partly on the piles of stone near the temple, were seated a number of Kotas of both sexes. A number of Badagas of good position, who had been specially invited to the feast, sat round a small fire on a raised place, which abuts on the back wall of the temple. The dance over, the circle of dancers broke up. The drummers held their instruments, rendered damp and lax by the moist evening breeze, so close to the flames that I thought they would get burnt. Soon the music began again to a new tune; first the oboes, and then, as soon as they had got into the proper swing, the other instruments. The melody was not the same as before, but its two movements were repeated without intercession or change. In this dance females, as well as males, took part, grouped in a semicircle, while the men completed the circle. The men danced boisterously and irregularly. Moving slowly forwards with the entire circle, each dancer turned right round from right to left and from left to right, so that, after every turn, they were facing the fire. The women danced with more precision and more artistically than the men. When they set out on the dance, they first bowed themselves before the fire, and then made left and right half turns with artistic regular steps. Their countenances expressed a mixture of pleasure and embarrassment. None of the dancers wore any special costume, but the women, who were nearly all old and ugly, had, for the most part, a quantity of ornaments in the ears and nose and on the neck, arms and legs. In the third dance, played once more in four-eight times, only females took part. It was the most artistic of all, and the slow movements had evidently been well rehearsed beforehand. The various figures consisted of stepping radially to and fro, turning, stepping forwards and backwards, etc., with measured seriousness and solemn dignity. It was for the women, who, at other times, get very little enjoyment, the most important and happiest day in the whole year.”

In connection with Kota ceremonials, Dr. Rivers notes that “once a year there is a definite ceremony, in which the Todas go to the Kota village with which they are connected, taking an offering of clarified butter, and receiving in return an offering of grain from the Kotas. I only obtained an account of this ceremony as performed between the people of Kars and the Kota village of Tizgudr, and I do not know whether the details would be the same in other cases. In the Kars ceremony, the Todas go on the appointed day to the Kota village, headed by a man carrying the clarified butter. Outside the village they are met by two Kota priests whom the Todas call teupuli, who bring with them a dairy vessel of the kind the Todas call mu, which is filled with patm grain. Other Kotas follow with music. All stand outside the village, and one of the Kotas puts ten measures (kwa) of patm into the pocket of the cloak of the leading Toda, and the teupuli give the mu filled with the same grain. The teupuli then go to their temple and return, each bringing a mu, and the clarified butter brought by the Todas is divided into two equal parts, and half is poured into each mu. The leading Toda then takes some of the butter, and rubs it on the heads of the two Kota priests, who prostrate themselves, one at each foot of the Toda, and the Toda prays as follows:—

May it be well; Kotas two, may it be well; fields flourish may; rain may; buffalo milk may; disease go may.

“The Todas then give the two mu containing the clarified butter to the Kota priests, and he and his companions return home. This ceremony is obviously one in which the Todas are believed to promote the prosperity of the Kotas, their crops, and their buffaloes.

“In another ceremonial relation between Todas and Kotas, the kwÒdrdoni ti (sacred dairy) is especially concerned. The chief annual ceremony of the Kotas is held about January in honour of the Kota god Kambataraya. In order that this ceremony may take place, it is essential that there should be a palol (dairy man) at the kwÒdrdoni ti, and at the present time it is only occupied every year shortly before and during the ceremony. The palol gives clarified butter to the Kotas, which should be made from the milk of the arsaiir, the buffaloes of the ti. Some Kotas of Kotagiri whom I interviewed claimed that these buffaloes belonged to them, and that something was done by the palol at the kwÒdrdoni ti in connection with the Kambataraya ceremony, but they could not, or would not, tell me what it was.”

In making fire by friction (nejkol), the Kotas employ three forms of apparatus:—(1) a vertical stick, and horizontal stick with sockets and grooves, both made of twigs of Rhodomyrtus tomentosus; (2) a small piece of the root of Salix tetrasperma is spliced into a stick, which is rotated in a socket in a piece of the root of the same tree; (3) a small piece of the root of this tree, made tapering at each end with a knife or fragment of bottle glass, is firmly fixed in the wooden handle of a drill. A shallow cavity and groove are made in a block of the same wood, and a few crystalline particles from the ground are dropped into the cavity. The block is placed on several layers of cotton cloth, on which chips of wood, broken up small by crushing them in the palm of the hand, are piled up round the block in the vicinity of the grove. The handle is, by means of a half cocoanut shell, pressed firmly down, and twisted between the palms, or rotated by means of a cord. The incandescent particles, falling on to the chips, ignite them.

In a report by Lieutenant Evans, written in 1820, it is stated that “the marriages of this caste (the Kothewars) remind one of what is called bundling in Wales. The bride and bridegroom being together for the night, in the morning the bride is questioned by her relatives whether she is pleased with her husband-elect. If she answers in the affirmative, it is a marriage; if not, the bridegroom is immediately discharged, and the lady does not suffer in reputation if she thus discards half a dozen suitors.” The recital of this account, translated into Tamil, raised a smile on the face of my Kota informant, who volunteered the following information relating to the betrothal and marriage ceremonies at the present day. Girls as a rule marry when they are from twelve to sixteen years old, between which years they reach the age of puberty. A wife is selected for a lad by his parents, subject to the consent of the girl’s parents; or, if a lad has no near relatives, the selection is made for him by the villagers. Betrothal takes place when the girl is a child (eight to ten). The boy goes, accompanied by his father and mother, to the house where the girl lives, prostrates himself at the feet of her parents, and, if he is accepted, presents his future father-in-law with a four-anna piece, which is understood to represent a larger sum, and seals the contract. According to Breeks, the boy also makes a present of a birianhana of gold, and the betrothal ceremony is called balimeddeni (bali, bracelet, meddeni, I have made). Both betrothal and marriage ceremonies take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday, which are regarded as auspicious days. The ceremonial in connection with marriage is of a very simple nature. The bridegroom, accompanied by his relatives, attends a feast at the house of the bride, and the wedding day is fixed. On the appointed day the bridegroom pays a dowry, ranging from ten to fifty rupees, to the bride’s father, and takes the girl to his house, where the wedding guests, who have accompanied them, are feasted. The Kotas as a rule have only one wife, and polyandry is unknown among them. But polygamy is sometimes practiced. My informant, for example, had two wives, of whom the first had only presented him with a daughter, and, as he was anxious to have a son, he had taken to himself a second wife. If a woman bears no children, her husband may marry a second, or even a third wife; and, if they can get on together without fighting, all the wives may live under the same roof.

Divorce may, I was told, be obtained for incompatibility of temper, drunkenness, or immorality; and a man can get rid of his wife ‘if she is of no use to him’, i.e., if she does not feed him well, or assist him in the cultivation of his land. Divorce is decided by a panchayat (council) of representative villagers, and judgment given, after the evidence has been taken, by an elder of the community. Cases of theft, assault, or other mild offence, are also settled by a panchayat, and, in the event of a case arising which cannot be settled by the members of council representing a single village, delegates from all the Kota villages meet together. If then a decision cannot be arrived at, recourse is had to the district court, of which the Kotas steer clear if possible. At a big panchayat the headman (Pittakar) of the Kotas gives the decision, referring, if necessary, to some ‘sensible member’ of the council for a second opinion.

When a married woman is known to be pregnant with her first child, her husband allows the hair on the head and face to grow long, and leaves the finger nails uncut. On the birth of the child, he is under pollution until he sees the next crescent moon, and should cook his own food and remain at home. At the time of delivery a woman is removed to a hut (a permanent structure), which is divided into two rooms called dodda (big) telullu and eda (the other) telullu, which serve as a lying-in chamber and as a retreat for women at their menstrual periods. The dodda telullu is exclusively used for confinements. Menstruating women may occupy either room, if the dodda telullu is not occupied for the former purpose. They remain in seclusion for three days, and then pass another day in the raised verandah of the house, or two days if the husband is a Pujari. A woman, after her first confinement, lives for three months in the dodda telullu, and, on subsequent occasions, until the appearance of the crescent moon. She is attended during her confinement and stay in the hut by an elderly Kota woman. The actual confinement takes place outside the hut, and, after the child is born, the woman is bathed, and taken inside. Her husband brings five leafy twigs of five different thorny plants, and places them separately in a row in front of the telullu. With each twig a stick of DodonÆa viscosa, set alight with fire made by friction, must be placed. The woman, carrying the baby, has to enter the hut by walking backwards between the thorny twigs.

A common name for females at Kotagiri is Madi, one of the synonyms of the goddess Kalikai, and, at that village, the first male child is always called Komuttan (Kamataraya). At Sholur and Gudalur this name is scrupulously avoided, as the name of the god should not be taken by mortal man. As examples of nicknames, the following may be cited.

Small mouth. Head. Slit nose. Burnt-legged. Monkey. Dung or rubbish. Deaf. Tobacco. Hunchback. Crooked-bodied. Long-striding. Dwarf.

Opium eater. Irritable. Bad-eyed. Curly-haired. Cat-eyed. Left-handed. Stone. Stammerer. Short. Knee. Chank-blower. Chinaman.

The nickname Chinaman was due to the resemblance of a Kota to the Chinese, of whom a small colony has squatted on the slopes of the hills between Naduvatam and Gudalur.

A few days after my arrival at Kotagiri, the dismal sound of mourning, to the weird strains of the Kota band, announced that death reigned in the Kota village. The dead man was a venerable carpenter, of high position in the community. Soon after daybreak, a detachment of villagers hastened to convey the tidings of the death to the Kotas of the neighbouring villages, who arrived on the scene later in the day in Indian file, men in front and women in the rear. As they drew near the place of mourning, they all, of one accord, commenced the orthodox manifestations of grief, and were met by a deputation of villagers accompanied by the band. Meanwhile a red flag, tied to the top of a bamboo pole, was hoisted as a signal of death in the village, and a party had gone off to a glade, some two miles distant, to obtain wood for the construction of the funeral car (teru). The car, when completed, was an elaborate structure, about eighteen feet in height, made of wood and bamboo, in four tiers, each with a canopy of turkey red and yellow cloth, and an upper canopy of white cloth trimmed with red, surmounted by a black umbrella of European manufacture, decorated with red ribbands. The car was profusely adorned with red flags and long white streamers, and with young plantain trees at the base. Tied to the car were a calabash and a bell. During the construction of the car the corpse remained within the house of the deceased man, outside which the villagers continued mourning to the dirge-like music of the band, which plays so prominent a part at the death ceremonies of both Todas and Kotas. On the completion of the car, late in the afternoon, it was deposited in front of the house. The corpse, dressed up in a coloured turban and gaudy coat, with a garland of flowers round the neck, and two rupees, a half-rupee, and sovereign gummed on to the forehead, was brought from within the house, lying face upwards on a cot, and placed beneath the lowest canopy of the car. Near the head were placed iron implements and a bag of rice, at the feet a bag of tobacco, and beneath the cot baskets of grain, rice, cakes, etc. The corpse was covered with cloths offered to it as presents, and before it those Kotas who were younger than the dead man prostrated themselves, while those who were older touched the head of the corpse and bowed to it. Around the car the male members of the community executed a wild step-dance, keeping time with the music in the execution of various fantastic movements of the arms and legs. During the long hours of the night mourning was kept up to the almost incessant music of the band, and the early morn discovered many of the villagers in an advanced stage of intoxication. Throughout the morning, dancing round the car was continued by men, sober and inebriated, with brief intervals of rest, and a young buffalo was slaughtered as a matter of routine form, with no special ceremonial, in a pen outside the village, by blows on the back and neck administered with the keen edge of an adze. Towards midday presents of rice from the relatives of the dead man arrived on the back of a pony, which was paraded round the car. From a vessel containing rice and rice water, water was crammed into the mouths of the near relatives, some of the water poured over their heads, and the remainder offered to the corpse. At intervals a musket, charged with gunpowder, which proved later on a dangerous weapon in the hands of an intoxicated Kota, was let off, and the bell on the car rung. About 2 P.M., the time announced for the funeral, the cot bearing the corpse, from the forehead of which the coins had been removed, was carried to a spot outside the village called the thavachivadam, followed by the widow and a throng of Kotas of both sexes, young and old. The cot was then set down, and, seated at some distance from it, the women continued to mourn until the funeral procession was out of sight, those who could not cry spontaneously mimicking the expression of woe by contortion of the grief muscles. The most poignant sorrow was displayed by a man in a state of extreme intoxication, who sat apart by himself, howling and sobbing, and wound up by creating considerable disturbance at the burning-ground. Three young bulls were brought from the village, and led round the corpse. Of these, two were permitted to escape for the time being, while a vain attempt, which would have excited the derision of the expert Toda buffalo-catchers, was made by three men, hanging on to the head and tail, to steer the third bull up to the head of the corpse. The animal, however, proving refractory, it was deemed discreet to put an end to its existence by a blow on the poll with the butt-end of an adze, at some distance from the corpse, which was carried up to it, and made to salute the dead beast’s head with the right hand, in feeble imitation of the impressive Toda ceremonial. The carcase of the bull was saluted by a few of the Kota men, and subsequently carried off by Pariahs. Supported by females, the exhausted widow of the dead man was dragged up to the corpse, and, lying back beside it, had to submit to the ordeal of removal of all her jewellery, the heavy brass bangle being hammered off the wrist, supported on a wooden roller, by oft-repeated blows with mallet and chisel delivered by a village blacksmith assisted by a besotten individual noted as a consumer of twelve grains of opium daily. The ornaments, as removed, were collected in a basket, to be worn again by the widow after several months. This revolting ceremony concluded, and a last salutation given by the widow to her dead husband, arches of bamboo were attached to the cot, which was covered over with a coloured table-cloth hiding the corpse from sight. A procession was then formed, composed of the corpse on the cot, preceded by the car and musicians, and followed by male Kotas and Badagas, Kota women carrying the baskets of grain, cakes, etc., a vessel containing fire, and burning camphor. Quickly the procession marched to the burning-ground beyond the bazar, situated in a valley by the side of a stream running through a glade in a dense undergrowth of bracken fern and trailing passion-flower. On arrival at the selected spot, a number of agile Kotas swarmed up the sides of the car, and stripped it of its adornments including the umbrella, and a free fight for the possession of the cloths and flags ensued. The denuded car was then placed over the corpse, which, deprived of all valuable ornaments and still lying on the cot, had been meanwhile placed, amid a noisy scene of brawling, on the rapidly constructed funeral pyre. Around the car faggots of wood, supplied in lieu of wreaths by different families in the dead man’s village as a tribute of respect, were piled up, and the pyre was lighted with torches kindled at a fire which was burning on the ground close by. As soon as the pyre was in a blaze, tobacco, cigars, cloths, and grain were distributed among those present, and the funeral party dispersed, leaving a few men behind in charge of the burning corpse, and peace reigned once more in the Kota village. A few days later, the funeral of an elderly woman took place with a very similar ceremonial. But, suspended from the handle of the umbrella on the top of the car, was a rag doll, which in appearance resembled an Aunt Sally. I was told that, on the day following the funeral, the smouldering ashes are extinguished with water, and the ashes, collected together, and buried in a pit, the situation of which is marked by a heap of stones. A piece of the skull, wrapped in bracken fronds, is placed between two fragments of an earthen pot, and deposited in the crevice of a rock or in a chink in a stone wall.

The Kotas celebrate annually a second funeral ceremony in imitation of the Todas. For eight days before the day appointed for its observance, a dance takes place in front of the houses of those Kotas whose memorial rites are to be celebrated, and three days before they are performed invitations are issued to the different Kota villages. On a Sunday night, fire is lighted by friction, and the time is spent in dancing. On the following day, the relatives of the departed who have to perform the ceremony purify the open space in front of their houses with cow-dung. They bring three basketfuls of paddy (unhusked rice), which are saluted and set down on the cleansed space. The Pujari and the rest of the community, in like manner, salute the paddy, which is taken inside the house. On the Monday, cots corresponding in number to that of the deceased whose dry funeral is being held, are taken to the thavachivadam, and the fragments of skulls are laid thereon. Buffaloes (one or more for each skull) are killed, and a cow is brought near the cots, and, after a piece of skull has been placed on its horns, sacrificed. A dance takes place around the cots, which are removed to the burning-ground, and set on fire. The Kotas spend the night near the thavachivadam. On the following day a feast is held, and they return to their homes towards evening, those who have performed the ceremony breaking a small pot full of water in front of their houses.

Like the Todas, the Kotas indulge in trials of strength with heavy spherical stones, which they raise, or attempt to raise, from the ground to the shoulders, and in a game resembling tip-cat. In another game, sides are chosen, of about ten on each side. One side takes shots with a ball made of cloth at a brick propped up against a wall, near which the other side stands. Each man is allowed three shots at the brick. If it is hit and falls over, one of the ‘out-side’ picks up the ball, and throws it at the other side, who run away, and try to avoid being hit. If the ball touches one of them, the side is put out, and the other side goes in. A game, called hulikote, which bears a resemblance to the English child’s game of fox and geese, is played on a stone chiselled with lines, which forms a rude game-board. In one form of the game, two tigers and twenty-five bulls, and in another three tigers and fifteen bulls engage, and the object is for the tigers to take, or, as the Kotas express it, kill all the bulls. In a further game, called kote, a labyrinthiform pattern, or maze, is chiselled on a stone, to get to the centre of which is the problem.

The following notes are taken from my case-book:—

Man—Blacksmith and carpenter. Silver bangle on right wrist; two silver rings on right little finger; silver ring on each first toe. Gold ear-rings. Languti (cloth) tied to silver chain round loins.

Man—Light blue eyes, inherited from his mother. His children have eyes of the same colour. Lobes of ears pendulous from heavy gold ear-rings set with pearls. Another man with light blue eyes was noticed by me.

Man—Branded with cicatrix of a burn made with a burning cloth across lower end of back of forearm. This is a distinguishing mark of the Kotas, and is made on boys when they are more than eight years old.

Woman—Divorced for being a confirmed opium-eater, and living with her father.

Woman—Dirty cotton cloth, with blue and red stripes, covering body and reaching below the knees.

Woman—Two glass bead necklets, and bead necklet ornamented with silver rings. Four brass rings, and one steel ring on left forearm. Two massive brass bangles, weighing two pounds each, and separated by cloth ring, on right wrist. Brass bangle with brass and steel pendants, and shell bangle on left wrist. Two steel rings, and one copper ring on right ring-finger; brass rings on left first, ring, and little fingers. Two brass rings on first toe of each foot. Tattooed lines uniting eyebrows. Tattooed on outer side of both upper arms with rings, dots, and lines; rows of dots on back of right forearm; circle on back of each wrist; rows of dots on left ankle. As with the Todas, the tattooed devices are far less elaborate than those of the women in the plains.

Woman—Glass necklet ornamented with cowry shells, and charm pendant from it, consisting of a fragment of the root of some tree rolled up in a ball of cloth. She put it on when her baby was quite young, to protect it against devils. The baby had a similar charm round its neck.

In the course of his investigation of the Todas, Dr. Rivers found that of 320 males 41 or 12.8 per cent. and of 183 females only two or 1.1 per cent. were typical examples of red-green colour-blindness. The percentage in the males is quite remarkable. The result of examination of Badaga and Kota males by myself with Holmgren’s wools was that red-green colour-blindness was found to be present in 6 out of 246 Badagas, or 2·5 per cent. and there was no suspicion of such colour-blindness in 121 Kotas.

Kota (a fort).—A sub-division of Balija, and an exogamous sept of Padma Sale. The equivalent Kotala occurs as an exogamous sept of Boya. There are, in Mysore, a few Kotas, who are said to be immigrants from South Canara, and to be confined to the Kadur district. According to a current legend, they were originally of the Kota community, but their ancestors committed perjury in a land-case, and were cursed to lose their rank as Brahmans for seven hundred years.14 Kota is also the name of a section of Brahmans.

Kotari.—A class of domestic servants in South Canara, who claim to be an independent caste, though some regard them as a sub-caste of Bant.15

Kotegara or Koteyava.—See Servegara.

Koti (monkey).—The name for Koravas, who travel about the country exhibiting monkeys.

Kotippattan.—The Kotippattans are described, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as “a class of Tamil Brahmans, who, at a very early age in Malabar history, were declared by society to have lost the original Brahmanical status. The offence was, it is said, their having taken to the cultivation of the betel-vine as their chief occupation. The ordinances of caste had prescribed other duties for the Brahmans, and it is not unlikely that Sankaracharya, to whose curse the present position of the Kotippattan is traced, disapproved of the change. In general appearance as regards thread, position of hair-tuft, and dress of men as well as women, and in ceremonials, the Kotippattans cannot be easily distinguished from the Brahman class. Sad instances have occurred of Brahman girls having been decoyed into matrimonial alliances with Kotippattans. They form a small community, and the state of social isolation into which they have been thrown has greatly checked their increase, as in the case of many other Malabar castes. Their priests are at present Tamil Brahmans. They do not study the Vedas, and the Gayatri hymn is recited with the first syllable known as the pranavam. In the matter of funeral ceremonies, a Kotippattan is treated as a person excommunicated. The cremation is a mere mechanical process, unaccompanied by any mantras (sacred formulÆ) or by any rites, anantarasamskara (deferred funeral rites) being done after the lapse of ten days. They have their annual sraddhas, but no offerings of water (tarpanam) on the new-moon day. Their household deity is Sasta. Their inheritance is from father to son. Their household language is Malayalam. Their chief seat is Vamanapuram, twenty miles from Trivandrum.”

Kotlu (cow-shed).—An exogamous sept of Yanadi.

Kottaipaththu.—A sub-division of Agamudaiyans, who believe that they are the same as the Kottai (fort) Vellalas of Tinnevelly.

Kottai Vellala.—“The Kottai Vellalas,” Mr. J. A. Boyle writes,16 have been “shut up within narrow walls, the others between two rivers. The result of insulation has been the same, and they have developed from small families into small, but perfectly distinct, castes. In the centre of the town of Srivaiguntam, in the Tinnevelly district, is a small fort, composed of a mud enclosure, containing the houses of a number of families known as Kottai (fort) Vellalas, who are separated from social intercourse and intermarriage with other families of the great Vellala caste. The traditional origin of this settlement is dated nearly a thousand years ago, when their ancestors were driven by a political revolution from their home in the valley of the Veigay (the river which flows past Madura). Under the Pandya dynasty of Madura, these Vellalas were, they allege, the chamberlains or treasurers, to whom belonged the hereditary dignity of crowning the newly-succeeded kings. And this is still commemorated by an annual ceremony, performed in one of the Tinnevelly temples, whither the heads of families still repair, and crown the head of the swami (god). Their women never leave the precincts of the mud enclosure. After seven years of age, no girl is allowed to pass the gates, and the restriction is supported by the tradition of a disobedient little girl, who was murdered for a thoughtless breach of this law. Into the fort no male stranger may enter, though there is no hindrance to women of other castes to enter. After marriage, no woman of the caste may be seen by man’s eyes, except those of her husband, father, brothers, and maternal uncles. When the census was taken, they refused to say how many women there were inside the fort, and infanticide is not only possible, but most probable; for there is a suspicious absence of increase in the colony, which suggests some mode of disposing of the ‘useless mouths,’ unknown to health officers and policemen. Until recent times, housed within the fort, were certain prÆdial slaves (Kottar, smiths) of inferior social status, who worked for their masters, and lived in the same rigid seclusion as regards their women. They have been turned out, to live beyond the enclosure, but work for their masters.”

It is said that, during the days of oppression at the hands of Muhammadan and Poligar rulers, the Kottai Vellalas had to pay considerable sums of money to secure immunity from molestation. The Kottai Pillai, or headman of the community, is reported to possess the grants made from time to time by the rulers of the country, guaranteeing them the enjoyment of their customs and privileges. The fort, in which the Kottai Vellalas live, is kept in good preservation by Government. There are four entrances, of which one is kept closed, because, it is said, on one occasion, a child who went out by it to witness the procession of a god was killed. Brahmans who are attached to the fort, male members of various castes who work for the inmates thereof, and Pallans may freely enter it. But, if any one wishes to speak to a man living in the fort, the Paraiyan gatekeeper announces the presence of the visitor. Females of all castes may go into the fort, and into the houses within it.

On marriage and other festive occasions, it is customary for the Kottai Vellalas to give raw rations to those invited, instead of, as among other castes, a dinner. The Kottans eat and drink at the expense of their masters, and dance.

Like the Nangudi Vellalas (Savalai Pillais), the Kottai Vellalas have kilais (septs) running in the female line, and they closely follow them in their marriage customs. It is usual for a man to marry his paternal aunt’s daughter. The bridegroom goes in state, with his and the bride’s relations and their respective Kottans, to the bride’s house. Arrived at the marriage pandal (booth), they are welcomed by the bride’s party. The homam (sacrificial fire) is then raised by the officiating Brahman priest, who blesses the tali (marriage badge), and hands it to a Kottan female, who passes it on to the elder sister of the bridegroom, or, if he has no such sister, to a female who takes her place. She takes it inside the house, and ties it on the neck of the bride, who has remained within during the ceremony. The contracting couple are then man and wife. The husband goes to live with his wife, who, after marriage, continues to live in her father’s house. On the death of her father, she receives half of a brother’s share of the property. If she has no brothers, she inherits the whole property.17

Kottai Vellala women wear ordinary jewels up to middle life, when they replace them by a jewel called nagapadam, which is a gold plate with the representation of a five-headed cobra. This is said to be worn in memory of the occasion when a Pandyan king, named Thennavarayan, overlooking the claims of his legitimate son, gave the kingdom to an illegitimate son. The fort Vellalas living at Sezhuvaimanagaram refused to place the crown on the bastard’s head. They were consequently persecuted, and had to leave the country. They decided to throw themselves into a fire-pit, and so meet their death in a body. But, just as they were about to do so, they were prevented by a huge five-headed cobra. Hearing of this marvellous occurrence, the Pandyan king who was ruling in Tinnevelly invited them to settle at Srivaiguntam. The fort Vellalas claim that one of the Pandyan kings gave them extensive lands on the bank of the Vaigai river when they lived at Sezhuvaimanagaram. They claim further that the ministers and treasurers of the Pandyan kings were selected from among them.

The dead are usually cremated. The corpses are borne by Kottans, who carry out various details in connection with the death ceremonies. The corpses of women are placed in a bag, which is carefully sewn up.

I am informed that, owing to the scarcity of females, men are at the present day obliged to recruit wives from outside.

The Kottaipaththu Agamudaiyans believe that they are the same as the Kottai Vellalas.

Kottakunda (new pot).—An exogamous sept of Medara.

Kottan.—An occupational name, meaning bricklayer, returned, at times of census, by some Pallis in Coimbatore. Some Pallis are also employed as bricklayers in the City of Madras. Kottan is also recorded as a title of Katasan.

Kottha.—A sub-division of Kurubas, the members of which tie a woollen thread round the wrist at marriages.

Kottiya Paiko.—A sub-division of Rona.

Kove (ant-hill).—An exogamous sept of Gangadikara Vakkaliga.

Kovila (Indian cuckoo, Eudynamis honorata).—A gotra of Medara.

Kovilar (temple people).—The name adopted by a section of Pallis or Vanniyans, who wear the sacred thread, and have temples of their own, in which they worship. Koil Adiyan (temple servant) has been returned by some Balijas at times of census. Kovilammamar or Koilpat, denoting ladies of, or those who live in palaces, is a title of some Samanta ladies. Kovilagam is the usual term for the house of a Raja or Tirumalpad, and Koilpantala is recorded, from Travancore, as a synonym for Koil Tamburan. The Nattukottai Chettis have exogamous septs, or koils, named after temples, e.g., Mathur koil.

Koya.—The land and boat-owning class of Muhammadans in the Laccadive islands. The name is said to be a corrupt form of Khoja, meaning a man of distinction. Mappillas use Koya as a suffix to their names, e.g., Hassan Koya, Mahomed Koya (see Mappilla).

Koyappan.—Koyappan or Koyavappan are corrupt forms of Kusavan (Malabar potters).

Koyi.—The Koyis, Kois, or Koyas, are a tribe inhabiting the hills in the north of the Godavari district, and are also found in the Malkangiri taluk of the Jeypore Zamindari. They are said to belong to the great Gond family, and, when a man of another caste wishes to be abusive to a Koyi, he calls him a Gondia. The Koyi language is said by Grierson to be a dialect of Gondi. Writing concerning the Koyis of the Godavari district, the Rev. J. Cain states18 that “in these parts the Kois use a great many Telugu words, and cannot always understand the Kois who come from the plateau in Bustar. A few years ago, when Colonel Haig travelled as far as Jagdalpuram, the Kois from the neighbourhood of Dummagudem who accompanied him were frequently unable to carry on any conversation with many of the Kois on this plateau. There are often slight differences in the phraseology of the inhabitants of two villages within a mile of each other. When two of my teachers, living not more than a mile apart, were collecting vocabularies in the villages in which they lived, they complained that their vocabularies often differed in points where they expected to find no variety whatever.” A partial vocabulary of the Koyi language is given by the Rev. J. Cain, who notes that all the words borrowed from Telugu take purely Koi terminations in the plural. “Its connection,” he writes, “with the Gond language is very apparent, and also the influence of its neighbour Telugu. This latter will account for many of the irregularities, which would probably disappear in the language spoken by the Kois living further away from the Telugu country.” Mr. G. F. Paddison informs me that all the Gonds whom he met with in the Vizagapatam district were bholo loko (good caste), and would not touch pork or mutton, whereas the Koyi shares with the Dombs the distinction of eating anything he can get in the way of meat, from a rat to a cow. It is noted by Mr. H. A. Stuart19 that “the Khonds call themselves Kui, a name identical with Koi or Koya.” And, in 1853, an introduction to the grammar of the Kui or Kandh language was produced by Lingum Letchmajee.20

It is recorded by the Rev. J. Cain that “until the talukas were handed over to British rule, the Bhadrachallam Zamindar always kept up a troop of Rohillas, who received very little pay for their services, and lived chiefly by looting the country around. In attendance upon them were one hundred Kois, and one hundred Madigas. Twenty-five Koi villages form a samutu, and, in the Bhadrachallam taluka, there are ten samutus. In the territory on the opposite side of the river, which also belonged to the Ashwa Rau family, there were ten samutus. Each samutu was bound in turn to furnish for a month a hundred Kois to carry burdens, fetch supplies, etc., for the above-mentioned Rohillas. During the month thus employed they had to provide their own batta (subsistence money). The petty Zamindars of Albaka, Cherla, Nagar, Bejji and Chintalanada, likewise had their forces of Nayaks and Kois, and were continually robbing and plundering. All was grist which came to their mill, even the clothes of the poor Koi women, who were frequently stripped, and then regarded as objects of ridicule. The Kois have frequently told me that they could never lie down to rest without feeling that before morning their slumbers might be rudely disturbed, their houses burnt, and their property all carried off. As a rule, they hid their grain in caves and holes of large trees.” It is recorded, in the Vizagapatam Manual, that, in 1857, the headman of Koraturu, a village on the Godavari river, was anxious to obtain a certain rich widow in marriage for his son. Hearing, however, that she had become the concubine of a village Munsiff or Magistrate of Buttayagudem, he attempted, with a large body of his Koi followers, to carry her off by force. Failing in the immediate object of his raid, he plundered the village, and retreated with a quantity of booty and cattle.

Those Koyis, the Rev. J. Cain writes, who live in the plains “have a tradition that, about two hundred years ago, they were driven from the plateau in the Bustar country by famine and disputes, and this relationship is also acknowledged by the Gutta Kois, i.e., the hill Kois, who live in the highlands of Bustar. These call the Kois who live near the Godavari Gommu Kois and Mayalotilu. The word Gommu is used to denote the banks and neighbourhood of the Godavari. Thus, for instance, all the villages on the banks of the Godavari are called Gommu ullu. Mayalotilu means rascal. The Gutta Kois say the lowland Kois formerly dwelt on the plateau, but on one occasion some of them started out on a journey to see a Zamindar in the plains, promising to return before very long. They did not fulfil their promise, but settled in the plains, and gradually persuaded others to join them, and at times have secretly visited the plateau on marauding expeditions.... The Kois regard themselves as being divided into five classes, Perumboyudu, Madogutta, Peregatta, Matamuppayo, and Vidogutta.” The Rev. J. Cain states further that “the lowland Kois say that they are divided into five tribes, but they do not know the first of these. The only names they can give are Paredugatta, Mundegutta, Peramboyina, and Wikaloru, and these tribes are again sub-divided into many families. The members of the different tribes may intermarry, but not members of the same tribe.”

It is recorded by Mr. F. R. Hemingway21 that “exogamous septs, called Gattas, occur in the tribe. Among them are Mudo (third), Nalo (fourth) or Paredi, Aido (fifth) or Rayibanda, Aro (sixth), Nutomuppayo (130th), and Peramboya. In some places, the members of the Mudo, Nalo, and Aido Gattas are said to be recognisable by the difference in the marks they occasionally wear on their foreheads, a spot, a horizontal, and a perpendicular line respectively being used by them. The Aro Gatta, however, also uses the perpendicular line.” It is further noted by Mr. Hemingway that the Racha or Dora Koyas consider themselves superior to all other sub-divisions, except the Oddis (superior priests).

It is noted by the Rev. J. Cain that at Gangolu, a village about three miles from Dummagudem, “live several families who call themselves Basava Gollavandlu, but on enquiry I found that they are really Kois, whose grandfathers had a quarrel with some of their neighbours, and separated themselves from their old friends. Some of the present members of the families are anxious to be re-admitted to the society and privileges of the neighbouring Kois. The word Basava is commonly said to be derived from bhasha, a language, and the Gollas of that class are said to have been so called in consequence of their speaking a different language from the rest of the Gollas. A small but well-known family, the Matta people, are all said to have been originally Erra Gollas, but six generations ago they were received into the Koi people. Another well-known family, the Kaka people, have the following tradition of their arrival in the Koi districts. Seven men of the Are Kapulu caste of Hindus once set out on a journey from the neighbourhood of Warangal. Their way led through dense jungle, and for a very long time they could find no village, where they and their horses could obtain food and shelter. At length they espied a small hut belonging to a poor widow, and, riding up to it, they entered into conversation with her, when they learned that the whole country was being devastated by a nilghai (blue bull: Boselaphus tragocamelus), which defied all attempts to capture it. In despair, the king of the country, who was a Koi of the Emu family, had promised his youngest daughter in marriage to any man who would rid the country of the pest. Before very long, the youngest of the Kapus was out wandering in the neighbouring jungle, and had an encounter with the formidable beast, which ran at him very fiercely, and attempted to knock him down. The young man raised a small brass pot, which he was carrying, and struck the animal so forcible a blow on the head that it fell dead on the spot. He then cut off its tail, nose, and one ear, and carried them away as trophies of his victory; and, having hidden his ring in the mutilated head of the animal, he buried the body in a potter’s pit close to the scene of the encounter. He and his elder brothers then resumed their journey, but they had not gone far before they received news from the widow that the potter, hearing of the death of the animal, had gone to the king with the tidings, and asserted that he himself was the victor, and was therefore entitled to the promised reward. The king, however, declined to comply with his request, unless he produced satisfactory evidence of the truth of the story. The real victor, hearing all this, bent his steps to the king’s court and asserted his claim, showing his trophies in proof of his statements, and requesting the king to send and dig up the carcase of the animal, and see whether the ring was there or not. The king did so, and, finding everything as the claimant had asserted, he bestowed his daughter on him, and assigned to the newly married couple suitable quarters in his own house. Before very long, the next elder brother of the bridegroom came to pay him a visit, riding in a kachadala, i.e., a small cart on solid wooden wheels. He found all the city in great trouble in consequence of the ravages of a crow with an iron beak, with which it attacked young children, and pecked out their brains. The king, deeply grieved at his subjects’ distress, had it proclaimed far and wide that the slayer of this crow should receive in reward the hand of his youngest remaining daughter. The young man had with him a new bamboo bow, and so he fitted an arrow to the string, and let fly at the crow. His aim was so good that the crow fell dead at once, but the force of the blow was so great that one of the wings was driven as far south as the present village of Rekapalli (wing village), its back fell down on the spot now occupied by Nadampalli (loin or back village), its legs at Kalsaram (leg village), and its head at Tirusapuram (head village), whilst the remainder fell into the cart, and was carried into the presence of the king. The king was delighted to see such clear proofs of the young man’s bravery, and immediately had the marriage celebrated, and gave the new son-in-law half the town. He then made an agreement with his sons-in-law and their friends, according to which they were in future to give him as many marriageable girls as could be enclosed and tied up by seven lengths of ropes used for tying up cattle, and he was to bestow upon them as many as could be tied up by three lengths. In other words, he was to receive seventy children, and to give thirty, but this promise has never been fulfilled. The victor received the name of Kaka (crow), and his descendants are called the Kaka people.”

The Koyis of the Godavari district are described in the Manual as being “a simple-minded people. They look poor and untidy. The jungles in which they reside are very unhealthy, and the Kois seem almost to a man to suffer from chronic fever. They lead an unsophisticated, savage life, and have few ideas, and no knowledge beyond the daily events of their own little villages; but this withdrawal from civilised existence is favourable to the growth of those virtues which are peculiar to a savage life. Like the Khonds, they are noted for truthfulness, and are quite an example in this respect to the civilised and more cultivated inhabitants of the plains. They call themselves Koitors, the latter part of which appellation has been very easily and naturally changed by the Telugu people, and by the Kois who come most closely into contact with them, into Dorala, which means lords; and they are always honoured by this title in the Godavari district. [The Rev. J. Cain expresses doubts as to the title Dora being a corruption of tor, and points out that it is a common title in the Telugu country. Some Koyis on the Bastar plateau call themselves Bhumi Razulu, or kings of the earth.] The villages are small, but very picturesque. They are built in groups of five or six houses, in some places even a smaller number, and there are very rarely so many as ten or fifteen. A clearing is made in the jungle, and a few acres for cultivation are left vacant round the houses. In clearing away the wood, every tree is removed except the ippa (Bassia latifolia) and tamarind trees, which are of the greatest service to the people on account of their fruit and shade. The Kois do not remain long in the same place. They are a restless race. Four years suffice to exhaust the soil in one locality, and they do not take the trouble to plough deeper, but migrate to another spot, where they make a fresh clearing, and erect a new village. Their huts are generally covered with melons and gourds, the flowing tendrils of which give them a very graceful appearance, but the surrounding jungle makes them damp and unhealthy. When the cultivation season is over, and the time of harvest draws on, the whole of the village turns out by families, and lives on the small wooden scaffoldings erected in the fields, for the purpose of scaring away the wild animals and birds, which come to feed on the ripening grain. Deer and wild pigs come by night to steal it, and herds of goats by day. Tigers and cheetas (leopards) often resort to the fields of Indian corn, and conceal themselves among the lofty plants. Poorer kinds of grain are also grown, such as millet and maize, out of which the people make a kind of porridge, called java. They likewise grow a little cotton, from which they make some coarse cloth, and tobacco. The ippa tree is much prized. The Koyis eat the flowers of this tree, which are round and fleshy. They eat them either dried in the sun, or fried with a little oil. Oil both for lights and for cooking is obtained from the nut, from which also an intoxicating spirit is extracted.” I gather that the Koyis further use the oil for anointing the hair, whereas, in Kurnool, the forest officers barter with the Chenchus for the fruits, which they will part with, as they do not require them for the toilette or other purpose.

The cultivation of the Koyis has been described as “of the simplest, most unprofitable kind. A piece of jungle is selected, and all the trees, except the fruit-bearing ones, are cut down and burned, the ashes being used for manure. Then, without removing the stumps or further clearing, the land is scratched along the top, and the seed sown. For three or four years the natural fertility of the soil yields them a crop, but then, when the undergrowth begins to appear and the soil to be impoverished, being too lazy to plough and clean it properly or to give it manure, they abandon it, and the land again becomes scrub jungle.”

In a note on cultivation in the Agency tracts of the Godavari district, F. R. Hemingway writes as follows.22 “The majority of the hill Reddis and the Koyas in the Agency carry on shifting cultivation, called podu, by burning clearings in the forests. Two methods prevail: the ordinary (or chalaka) podu, and the hill (or konda) podu. The former consists in cultivating certain recognised clearings for a year or two at a time, allowing the forest to grow again for a few years, and then again burning and cultivating them; while, under the latter, the clearing is not returned to for a much longer period, and is sometimes deserted for ever. The latter is in fashion in the more hilly and wilder parts, while the former is a step towards civilisation. In February or March, the jungle trees and bushes are cut down, and spread evenly over the portion to be cultivated; and, when the hot weather comes on, they are burnt. The ashes act as a manure, and the cultivators think that the mere heat of the burning makes the ground productive. The land is ploughed once or twice in chalaka podus before and after sowing, but not at all in konda podus. The seed is sown in June. Hill cholam and samai are the commonest crops. The former is dibbled into the ground. Grain is usually stored in regular granaries (kottu), or in thatched bamboo receptacles built on a raised foundation, and called gadi. These are not found in Bhadrachalam or the central delta, where a high, round receptacle made of twisted straw (puri) is used. Grain is also stored, as elsewhere, in pits.”

It is noted by Mr. Hemingway that the houses of the Koyis “are made of bamboo, with a thatch of grass or palmyra. They are very restless, and families change frequently from one village to another. Before morning, they consult the omens, to see whether the change will be auspicious or not. Sometimes the hatching of a clutch of eggs provides the answer, or four grains of four kinds of seed, representing the prosperity of men, cattle, sheep, and land, are put on a heap of ashes under a man’s bed. Any movement among them during the night is a bad omen. The Koyas proper are chiefly engaged in agriculture. Their character is a curious medley. They excite admiration by their truthfulness and simplicity; contempt by their drunkenness, listlessness, and want of thrift; amusement by their stupidity and their combination of timidity and self-importance; and disgust by their uncanny superstitions and thinly veiled blood-thirstiness. Their truthfulness is proverbial, though it is said to be less characteristic than of yore, and they never break their word. Their drunkenness is largely due to the commonness of the ippa tree (Bassia latifolia), from the flowers of which strong spirit is distilled, and is most noticeable when this is blossoming. Their laziness is notorious, and their stupidity is attested by numerous stories. One, vouched for by the Rev. J. Cain, relates how some of them, being despatched with a basket of fruit and a note describing its contents, and being warned that the note would betray any pilfering, first buried the note so that it could not see, then abstracted some of the fruit, afterwards disinterred the note and delivered it and the basket, and were quite at a loss, when charged with the theft, to know how the note could have learnt about it. They are terribly victimised by traders and money-lenders from the low country, who take advantage of their stupidity to cheat them in every conceivable way. Their timidity has on occasions driven them to seek refuge in the jungle on the appearance of a Hindu in clean clothes, but, on the other hand, they insist upon, and receive a considerable measure of respect from lowlanders whom they encounter. They are perfectly aware that their title Dora means lord, and they insist upon being given it. They tolerate the address ‘uncle’ (mama) from their neighbours of other castes, but they are greatly insulted if called Koyas. When so addressed, they have sometimes replied ‘Whose throat have I cut?’ playing on the word koya, which means to slice, or cut the throat. When driven to extremes, they are capable of much courage. Blood feuds have only recently become uncommon in British territory, and in 1876 flourished greatly in the Bastar State.”

Concerning the marriage custom of the Koyis the Rev. J. Cain writes that “the Koyis generally marry when of fair age, but infant marriage is unknown. The maternal uncle of a girl has always the right to dispose of her hand, which he frequently bestows upon one of his own sons. If the would-be bridegroom is comparatively wealthy, he can easily secure a bride by a peaceable arrangement with her parents; but, if too poor to do this, he consults with his parents and friends, and, having fixed upon a suitable young girl, he sends his father and friends to take counsel with the headman of the village where his future partner resides. A judicious and liberal bestowal of a few rupees and arak (liquor) obtain the consent of the guardian of the village to the proposed marriage. This done, the party watch for a favourable opportunity to carry off the bride, which is sure to occur when she comes outside her village to fetch water or wood, or, it may be, when her parents and friends are away, and she is left alone in the house. The bridegroom generally anxiously awaits the return home of his friends with their captive, and the ceremony is proceeded with that evening, due notice having been sent to the bereaved parents. Some of the Koyis are polygamists, and it not unfrequently happens that a widow is chosen and carried off, it may be a day or two after the death of her husband, whilst she is still grieving on account of her loss. The bride and bridegroom are not always married in the same way. The more simple ceremony is that of causing the woman to bend her head down, and then, having made the man lean over her, the friends pour water on his head, and, when the water has run off his head to that of the woman, they are regarded as man and wife. The water is generally poured out of a bottle-gourd. (These gourds are used by the Koyis as bottles, in which they carry drinking water when on a journey. Very few Koyis stir far from their homes without one of these filled with water.) Generally, on this all-important occasion, the two are brought together, and, having promised to be faithful to each other, drink some milk. Some rice is then placed before them, and, having again renewed their promises, they eat the rice. They then go outside the house, and march round a low heap of earth which has been thrown up under a small pandal (booth) erected for the occasion, singing a simple love song as they proceed. Afterwards they pay their respects to the elders present, and beg for their blessing, which is generally bestowed in the form of ‘May you be happy! may you not fight and quarrel!’ etc. This over, all present fall to the task of devouring the quantity of provisions provided for the occasion, and, having well eaten and drunk, the ceremony is concluded. If the happy couple and their friends are comparatively wealthy, the festivities last several days. Dancing and singing are kept up every evening, and, when the fun waxes fast and furious, the mother-in-law takes up her new son-in-law on her shoulders, and his mother her new daughter-in-law, and dance round as vigorously as age and strength permit. If the mothers-in-law are not able, it is the duty of the respective maternal aunts to perform this ludicrous office. When the bridegroom is a fine strapping young man, this is a duty rather than a pleasure. Some do not object to run away with the wife of another man, and, in former years, a husband has been known to have been murdered for the sake of his wife. Even at present, more disputes arise from bride-stealing than from any other cause, especially as up to the present time (1876) the Government officials have not been able to stop this practice. In the case of a man running away with another man’s wife, the samatu dora (headman), on its being reported to him, goes to the village where the culprit lives, assembles the headman, and calls the offender before him. He then fines the man twelve rupees, and orders him to give another twelve to the husband of the woman whom he has stolen, and then demands two rupees’ worth of liquor, a goat, and grain for a feast. On these being brought, the night is spent in feasting and drinking, and the fault is forgiven. In cases of breach of the seventh commandment, the offender is often placed between two logs of wood, upon which as many men sit as can be accommodated, and press it down as long as they can without endangering the unfortunate man’s life. In all the Koi villages there is a large house, where the young unmarried men have to sleep, and another which the young unmarried girls have to occupy at night.”

It is noted by Mr. Hemingway that, “if a Koya youth is refused by the maiden of his choice, he generally carries her off by force. But a boy can reserve a girl baby for himself by giving the mother a pot, and a cloth for the baby to lie upon, and then she may not be carried off. Girls who consort with a man of low caste are purified by having their tongues branded with a hot golden needle, and by being made to pass through seven arches of palmyra leaves which are afterwards burnt.” (cf. Koraga.) According to Mr. R. E. Enthoven,23 “the suggestion seems to be a rapid representation of seven existences, the outcast regaining his (or her) status after seven generations have passed without further transgression. The parallel suggested is the law of Manu that seven generations are necessary to efface a lapse from the law of endogamous marriage.”

In a note on marriage among the Koyis of Vizagapatam, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao writes that the parents and other relations of the bridegroom go to the bride’s home with a present (voli) of three or four head-loads of fermented liquor made from ragi (Eleusine Coracana) seeds, a pair of new cloths for the girl’s father and mother, and a pig. A feast is held, and, on the following day, the bride is conducted to the home of the bridegroom. The marriage ceremony is then conducted on lines similar to those already described.

In connection with birth ceremonies, the Rev. J. Cain writes that “the Koi women are very hardy, and careless about themselves. After the birth of a child, they do not indulge in the luxury of a cot, but, according to their usual custom, continue to lie upon the ground, bathe in cold water, and eat their accustomed food. Directly the child is born, it is placed upon a cot, and the mother resumes her ordinary work of fetching water, wood, leaves, etc., cooking for the family, and so on. On the seventh day the child is well washed, and all the neighbours and near relatives assemble together to name the child. Having placed the child on a cot, they put a leaf of the mohwa tree (Bassia) in the child’s hand, and pronounce some name which they think suitable. If the child closes its hand over the leaf, it is regarded as a sign that the child acquiesces, but, if the child rejects the leaf or cries, they take it as a sign that they must choose another name, and so they throw away the leaf, and substitute another leaf and another name, until the child shows its approbation. If the name chosen is that of any person present, the owner of that name generally expresses his appreciation of the honour thus conferred by placing a small coin in the hand of the child, otherwise the father is bound to do so. This ceremony is followed by a night of dancing and singing, and the next day the father gives a feast to his neighbours and friends, or, if too poor for that, treats the male friends to liquor. Most Kois now name their children without all the elaborate ceremonial mentioned above.”

“The bodies of children,” the Rev. J. Cain writes, “and of young men and young women are buried. If a child dies within a month of its birth, it is usually buried close to the house, so that the rain dropping from the eaves may fall upon the grave, and thereby cause the parents to be blessed with another child in due course of time. With the exception of the above mentioned, corpses are usually burnt. A cow or bullock is slain, and the tail cut off and put in the dead person’s hand, after the cot on which the corpse is carried has been placed upon the funeral pile. If a pujari, or Koi priest, is present, he not unfrequently claims a cloth or two belonging to the dead person. The cot is then removed, and the body burnt. Mr. Vanstavern reports having seen part of the liver of the slain animal placed in the mouth of the corpse. The friends of the deceased retire, and proceed to feast upon the animal slain for the occasion. Three days afterwards they generally return, bringing contributions of cholam (grain), and, having slain one or more animals, have a second feast. In some parts, immediately after the corpse is consumed, the ashes are wetted, rolled into balls, and deposited in a hole about two feet deep, dug on the roadside just outside their village. Over the hole is placed a slab of stone, and at the head an upright stone, and, whenever friends pass by these monuments, they endeavour to place a few leaves of tobacco on the slabs, remarking at the same time how fond the deceased were of tobacco in their lifetime. The hill Kois have erected very large slabs in days gone by, and it is not uncommon to see rows of ten to fifteen outside the villages close to well-frequented roads, but at present they seldom take the trouble to put up any monuments. In the Malkanagiri taluk, the Kois every now and then erect these stones, and, when encamped in a village, we were struck by the height of one, from the top of which was suspended an ox tail. On enquiry we found that it was the tomb of the late headman, who had been enterprising enough to build some large bunds (embankments), and thus improve his rice fields. Success attended his efforts, and five crops rewarded him. But, alas, envious persons plotted his downfall, he became ill, and called in the diviner, who soon discovered the cause of the fatal illness in the shape of balls of mud, which had been surreptitiously introduced into his stomach by some demoness at the instigation of some foes. Three days after the funeral feast, a second one is frequently held, and, if means are forthcoming, another on the seventh and fifteenth days. The nights are always spent in dancing to the beating of the tom-tom or drum. All believe that these feasts are necessary for the repose of the spirits of the deceased, and that, if these are not thus duly honoured, they will wander about the jungle in the form of pisachas (devils) ready to avenge their friends’ neglect of their comfort by bringing evil upon their children or cattle. If they are not satisfied as to the cause of the death of any of their friends, they continue to meet at intervals for a whole year, offer the sacrificial feasts, and inquire of the diviner whether he thinks that the spirit of the deceased has been able to associate with spirits or its predeceased friends, and, when they obtain an answer in the affirmative, then and then only do they discontinue these feasts.”

In connection with death ceremonies, Mr. Hemingway notes that “when a Koya dies, a cow or bullock is slaughtered, and the tail is cut off, and put in the dead man’s hand. The liver is said to be sometimes put in his mouth. His widow’s tali (marriage badge) is always placed there, and, when a married woman dies, her tali is put in her mouth. The pyre of a man is lighted by his nephew, and of a woman by her son. No pollution is observed by those attending the funeral. The beef of the slain animal provides a feast, and the whole party returns home and makes merry. On the eighth day, a pot of water is placed in the dead man’s house for him to drink, and is watched by his nephew. Next morning another cow is slaughtered, and the tail and a ball of cooked rice are offered to the soul at the burning ground.”

Concerning the death ceremonies in the Vizagapatam district, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao writes that the corpses of young children are buried far away from the home of their parents. It is customary, among the more prosperous families, to put a few rupees into the mouth of a corpse before the funeral pyre is lighted. The money is made to represent the value of the animal sacrificed in the Godavari district. Death pollution is not observed, but on the eighth day the relations kill a fowl, and burn it at the spot where the body was cremated. The ashes of a dead person are carried to a spot set apart close to the highway. Water is poured over them, and they are made into small balls. A hole, two or three feet deep, is dug, into which the balls, a few of the pots belonging to the deceased, and some money are put. They are covered over with a stone slab, at one end of which an upright slab is set up. A cow is killed, and its tail cut off, and tied to the upright slab, to appease the ghost of the dead person. The remainder of the animal is carried off, and used for a feast. Ghasias are notorious for opening up these Koyi sepulchres, and stealing the money buried in them.

Mr. H. Tyler informs me that he came across the burning funeral pyre of a Koyi girl, who had died of syphilis. Across a neighbouring path leading to the Koyi village, were a basket fish-trap containing grass, and on each side thorny twigs, which were intended to catch the malign spirit of the dead girl, and prevent it from entering the village. The twigs and trap, containing the captured spirit, were to be burnt by the Koyis on the following day.

It is noted by Mr. Hemingway that “people who are neither good enough for heaven, nor bad enough for hell, are born again in their former family. Children with hare-lip, moles, etc., are often identified as re-incarnations of deceased relations. Tattooing is common. It is, for various reasons, considered very important for the soul in the next world that the body should have been adequately tattooed.”

Concerning the religion of the Koyis, the Rev. J. Cain writes that they say “that the following gods and goddesses were appointed to be worshipped by Sudras:—Muttelamma, Maridimahalakshmi, Poturazu and Korrazulu; and the following were to receive adoration from the Koyis:—Kommalamma, Katurudu, Adamarazu. The goddess Mamili or Pele must be propitiated early in the year, or else the crops will undoubtedly fail; and she is said to be very partial to human victims. There is strong reason to think that two men were murdered in 1876 near a village not far from Dummagudem, as offerings to this devata, and there is no reason to doubt that every year strangers are quietly put out of the way in the Bastar country, to ensure the favour of this blood-thirsty goddess. All the Koyis seem to hold in great respect the Pandava brothers, especially Arjuna and Bhima. The wild dogs or dhols are regarded as the dutas or messengers of these brothers, and the long black beetles which appear in large numbers at the beginning of the hot weather are called the Pandava flock of goats. Of course they would on no account attempt to kill a dhol, even though it should happen to attack their favourite calf, and they even regard it as imprudent to interfere with these dutas, when they wish to feast upon their cattle.” The tradition among the Koyis is that, when the Pandava brothers were in exile, Bhima, whom they call Bhimador, went hunting in the jungle, and met a wild woman of the woods, whom he fell in love with and married. The fruit of this union was the Koyi people. The tradition further states that this wild woman was not a human being.24 “A Koi,” the Rev. J. Cain continues, “whom Mr. Alexander met in a village about two miles from Dummagudem, caused him to infer that the Kois think heaven to be a great fort, and in it plenty of rice to eat for those who enter it; that hell is a dismal place, where a crow, made of iron, continually gnaws off the flesh of the wicked. This must have been that particular Koi’s own peculiar belief, for it certainly is not that of any of the Kois with whom I so frequently come in contact. The mention of the iron crow reminds me that, about two years ago, a rumour rapidly spread in some of the villages that an iron cock was abroad very early in the morning, and upon the first village in which it heard one or more cocks begin to crow it would send a grievous pestilence, and at least decimate the village. In one instance at least, this led to immediate extermination of all the unfortunate cocks in that village. Last year (1878) the inhabitants of a village on the left bank of the Godavari were startled by the tallaris (village peons) of the neighbouring village bringing about twenty fowls, and ordering them to be sent on the next village south of Dummagudem. On being asked the reason of this order, they replied that the cholera goddess was selecting her victims in the villages further north, and that, to induce her to leave their parts, some of these villages had sent these fowls as offerings to her, but they were to be passed on as far as possible before they were slain, for then she would follow in anticipation of the feast, and so might be tempted quite out of these regions. The Police, however, interfered, and they were passed back into the Upper Godavari district.”

Writing further concerning the religion of the Koyis, the Rev. J. Cain adds that “one Sunday afternoon, some Kois came to us from a village nine miles away, and begged for medicine for a man, whose right cheek, they said, had been torn away by a tiger, just as if it had been cut out by a knife. A few days afterwards we heard a story, which was far more credible. The people of the village were very anxious for good crops, and resolved to return to the practice of offering a stranger passing by to the goddess Mamili, and so two of them were on the look-out for a victim. They soon saw one, and began to pursue him, but he, a Koi, knowing the former evil repute of the village, suspected their design and fled, and at last took refuge up a manchan. They began to ascend too, when he took out of his belt a knife, and struck at his assailants, and cut away his right cheek. This caused the two assailants to retreat, and the man escaped. As human sacrifices are now illegal, a langur monkey is frequently substituted, and called for occasion Ekuromma Potu, i.e., a male with small breasts. This name is given in the hope of persuading the goddess that she is receiving a human sacrifice. Mutyalamma is the goddess, who is supposed to preside over small-pox and cholera. When the villages have determined to appease this dread goddess, they erect a pandal (booth) outside their village under a nim (Melia Azadirachta) tree, search all round for the soft earth of a white-ant heap, and proceed at once to mould this earth into the form of an image of a woman, tie a cloth or two round her, hang a few peacock’s feathers around her neck, and place her under the pandal on a three-legged stool, which has been made of the wood of Cochlospermum Gossypium (silk-cotton tree) for the occasion. They then bring forward a chicken and try to persuade it to eat some of the grains they have thrown down before the image, requesting the goddess to inform them whether she will leave their village or not. If the chicken picks up some of the grains, they regard it as a most favourable omen, but, if not, their hearts are immediately filled with dread of the continued anger of the goddess. They then bring forward two sheep or goats, and then present to them a dish of toddy, and, if the toddy is drunk by the animals, they are quite assured of the speedy departure of the plague which is devastating their village. The sheep are then tied up till the next morning. In the meantime a sorcerer is brought to the front, and they enquire of him the determination of the goddess. After this they return to the village, and they all drink well, and the night is spent in dancing, in which the women join. The next morning the pandal and its inmate are removed to a site still farther away from the village, after which the fowl is killed over the image, on which some drops of blood are allowed to fall. The sheep then have garlands hung round their necks, and their heads are adorned with turmeric, and pots of cold water are poured over them. The deity is at the same time again asked whether she intends to leave them alone, and, if she is disposed to be favourable towards them, she replies by causing the sheep to shiver. The animals are immediately killed, the left ear and left leg being cut off and placed in the mouth, and the head cut off and left as an offering before the image. The rest of the sacrifice is then carried away, to be cooked and enjoyed by all the worshippers before they reach home, as their wives are not allowed to partake of the sacrificial feast.

“Another goddess or demoness, of which many stand in dread, is called a Pida, and her they propitiate in the month of December. All the men of the village gather together and collect from each house a handful of cholam, which they give to the wife of the pujari, directing her to make bread with it for her husband. After he has partaken of it, they bring pots of warm water and pour it over his head, and then all in the village spend some time in dancing. A chatty (pot) is brought after a time, in which are placed leaves of the Diospyros Embryopteris, and two young men carry it between them, suspended from a pole cut from the same tree, all around the village. The pujari, carrying a cock, accompanies them, and also the rest of the men of the village, each one carrying a staff cut from the above mentioned tree, with which he strikes the eaves of each house passed in their perambulations. When they have been all around the village, they all march off some little distance, and tie up the stick on which the pot is suspended to two neighbouring trees, and place their staves close by. The pujari sets to work to kill the cock, and they all beg the demoness, whom they suppose to have entered the pot, not to come to their village again. The pujari then cooks and eats the cock with food which has been supplied him, and the other worshippers also satisfy the cravings of hunger with food they have brought with them. On no account do they return home until after dark, lest the demoness should see the road to their village, and follow in their wake. Very frequently on these occasions, votive offerings, promised long before, are sacrificed and eaten by the pujari. It is not at all uncommon for a Koi to promise the Pida a seven-horned male (i.e., a cock) as a bribe to be let alone, a two-horned male (i.e., a goat) being set apart by more wealthy or more fervent suppliants.

“The Kois acknowledge that they worship the devatalu or the dayyamulu (demons of the mountains). The Korra Razu is supposed to be the deity who has supreme control over tigers, and a friend of mine once saw a small temple devoted to his worship a few miles from the large village of Gollapalli, Bastar, but it did not seem to be held in very great respect. There is no Koi temple in any village near Dummagudem, and the Kois are seldom, if ever, to be found near a Hindu temple. Some time ago there was a small mud temple to the goddesses Sarlamma and Kommalamma at Pedda Nallapalli, and the head Koi of the village was the pujari, but he became a Christian, and the temple fell into ruins, and soon melted away. A few families have added to their own faith the worship of Siva, and many of them are proud of the appellation of Linga Kois.” “In times of drought,” Mr. Hemingway writes, “a festival to Bhima, which lasts five days, is held. When rain appears, the Koyis sacrifice a cow or pig to their patron. Dancing plays an important part at all these feasts, and also at marriages. The men put on head-dresses of straw, into which buffalo horns are stuck, and accompany themselves with a kind of chant.”

“There is,” the Rev. J. Cain writes, “generally one velpu for each gens, and in a certain village there is the chief velpu for the whole tribe of Kois. When any of the inferior velpus are carried about, contributions in kind or cash are collected by its guardians almost exclusively from the members of the gens to which the velpu belongs. When the superior velpu is taken to any village, all the inferior velpus are brought, and, with the exception of two, are planted some little distance in front of their lord. There are two, however, which are regarded as lieutenants of the paramount power, and these are planted one on each side of their superior. As it was expressed to me, the chief velpu is like the Raja of Bastar, these two are like his ministers of state, and the rest are like the petty zamindars (land-owners) under him. The largest share of the offerings goes to the chief, the two supporters then claim a fair amount, and the remainder is equally divided amongst those of the third rank.... Ancestral worship prevails among the Kois, especially on the occasions when the velpu of the family is carried round. The velpu is a large three-cornered red cloth, with a number of figures of various ancestors roughly cut out of different coloured cloth, white, green, blue, or yellow, and stitched to the main cloth. Whenever any important male member of the family dies, a new figure is added to commemorate his services. It is usually kept in the custody of the leading man of the family, and taken round by him to all members of that family once a year, when each member is bound to give an offering to the velpu. No one belonging to a different family takes any part in the ceremonies. On the occasion of its being carried round, it is fixed to a long bamboo ornamented at the top with the hair from the tail of a yak, and with loudly sounding brass bells. On arriving at a village where there are a sufficient number of Kois of the particular family to make it worth while to stay, the priest in charge of the velpu and his attendant Doli give due notice of their arrival, and, having planted the velpu in the ground, the night is spent by all the members of the family to which the velpu belongs in dancing and making merry to the sound of the drum, which is beaten by the Doli only. The priest in charge has to fast all night, and keep himself ceremonially pure. In the morning they all proceed to the nearest stream or tank (pond), with the velpu in front carried by the priest, and there bathe, and also enjoy the fun of sprinkling each other with water to their hearts’ content. This done, they come up out of the water, plant the velpu on the bank, and send for the bullock to be sacrificed. When this is brought, its legs are tied together, and it is then thrown on the ground, and the priest (or, if he is weak, a strong younger man) has to kill it at one blow. It is then cut up, and, after the attendant priest has received his share, it is divided amongst the attendant crowd, who spend the rest of the day in feasting and drinking. As a rule, no act of obeisance or worship is even paid to the velpu, unless the offering of money to the custodian be regarded as such. Sometimes a woman very desirous of having a child brings a cock, throws it down before the velpu and makes obeisance to it, but this is not a very common custom. The Dolivandlu or Dolollu always attend the velpu, and are present at all the marriage feasts, when they recite old stories, and sing national songs. They are not Kois, but really a section of the Mala caste, although they will not mix with the rest of the Malas of their own family, excepting when on the Bastar plateau among the hill Kois. The Kois have very amusing stories as to how the hair from the tail of the yak is obtained. They say that the yak is a hairy animal which lives in a country far away, but that its great peculiarity is that it has only one leg, and that this leg has no joints in it. Being a very swift animal, it is impossible to capture it in any ordinary way, but, as it rests at night by leaning against one particular tree, the hunters carefully mark this tree, and some time during the day cut the trunk through as far as advisable, and watch the result. When night comes on, the animal returns to its resting place, leans against the tree, which is no longer able to give support to the yak, and both fall to the ground. The hunters immediately rush in, and seize their prey. A friend has supplied me with the following reference in ‘De Bello Gallico.’ They (the hunters) either undermine all the trees in that place at the roots, or cut them so far as to leave the external appearance of a standing tree. Then the elk, which has no knots or joints, comes, leans, as usual, and down comes tree, elk and all.”

Concerning the velpus, Mr. Hemingway writes that “they consist of small pieces of metal, generally iron and less than a foot in length, which are kept in a hollow bamboo deposited in some wild and unfrequented spot. They are guarded with great secrecy by those in charge of them, and are only shown to the principal worshippers on the rare occasions when they are taken out to be adored. The Koyas are very reticent about them. Mr. Cain says that there is one supreme velpu, which is recognised as the highest by the whole Koya tribe, and kept hidden in the depths of Bastar. There are also velpus for each gatta, and for each family. The former are considered superior to the latter, and are less frequently brought out of their retreats. One of them called Lakkala (or Lakka) Ramu, which belongs either to the Aro or Peramboya gatta, is considered more potent than the others. It is ornamented with eyes of gold and silver, and is kept in a cave near Sitanagaram in the Bhadrachalam taluk. The others are deposited in different places in the Bastar state. They all have names of their own, but are also known by the generic term Adama Razu. Both the gatta and family velpus are worshipped only by members of the sept or family to which they appertain. They are taken round the country at intervals, to receive the reverence and gifts of their adherents. The former are brought out once in every three or four years, especially during widespread sickness, failure of crops, or cattle disease. An animal (generally a young bullock) is stabbed under the left shoulder, the blood is sprinkled over the deity, and the animal is next killed, and its liver is cut out and offered to the deity. A feast, which sometimes lasts for two days, takes place, and the velpu is then put back in its hiding-place.

“At present,” the Rev. J. Cain writes, “the Kois around here (Dummagudem) have very few festivals, except one at the harvest of the zonna (Sorghum vulgare). Formerly they had one not only for every grain crop, but one when the ippa flowers were ready to be gathered, another when the pumpkins were ripe, at the first tapping of the palm tree for toddy, etc. Now, at the time the zonna crop is ripe and ready to be cut, they take a fowl into the field, kill it, and sprinkle its blood on any ordinary stone put up for the occasion, after which they are at liberty to partake of the new crop. In many villages they would refuse to eat with any Koi who has neglected this ceremony, to which they give the name Kottalu, which word is evidently derived from the Telugu word kotta (new). Rice-straw cords are hung on trees, to show that the feast has been observed.” In some places, Mr. Hemingway tells us, the victim is a sheep, and the first fruits are offered to the local gods, and to the ancestors. Another singular feast occurs soon after the cholam (zonna) crop has been harvested. Early on the morning of that day, all the men of each village have to turn out into the forest to hunt, and woe betide the unlucky individual who does not bring home some game, be it only a bird or a mouse. All the women rush after him with cow-dung, mud or dirt, and pelt him out of their village, and he does not appear again in that village until the next morning. The hunter who has been most successful then parades the village with his game, and receives presents of paddy (rice) from every house. Mr. Vanstavern, whilst boring for coal at Beddadanolu, was visited by all the Koi women of the village, dressed up in their lords’ clothes, and they told him that they had that morning driven their husbands to the forest, to bring home game of some kind or other. This quaint festival is said by Mr. Hemingway to be called Bhudevi Pandaga, or the festival of the earth goddess. When the samalu crop is ripe, the Kois summon the pujari on a previously appointed day, and collect from every house in the village a fowl and a handful of grain. The pujari has to fast all that night, and bathe early the next morning. After bathing, he kills the fowls gathered the previous evening in the names of the favourite gods, and fastens an ear of samalu to each house, and then a feast follows. In the evening they cook some of the new grain, and kill fresh fowls, which have not to be curried but roasted, and the heart, liver, and lights of which are set apart as the especial food of their ancestral spirits, and eaten by every member of each household in their name. The bean feast is an important one, as, until it is held, no one is allowed to gather any beans. On the second day before the feast, the village pujari must eat only bread. The day before, he must fast the whole twenty-four hours, and, on the day of the feast, he must eat only rice cooked in milk, with the bird offered in sacrifice. All the men of the village accompany the pujari to a neighbouring tree, which must be a Terminalia tomentosa, and set up a stone, which they thus dedicate to the goddess Kodalamma. Every one is bound to bring for the pujari a good hen and a seer of rice, and for himself a cock and half a seer of rice. The pujari also demands from them two annas as his sacrificing fee. Each worshipper then brings his cock to the pujari, who holds it over grains of rice which have been sprinkled before the goddess, and, if the bird pecks at the rice, good luck is ensured for the coming year, whilst, if perchance the bird pecks three times, the offerer of that particular cock can scarcely contain himself for joy. If the bird declines to touch the grains, then ill-luck is sure to visit the owner’s house during the ensuing year.

“The Kois have but little belief in death from natural causes. Some demon or demoness has brought about the death by bringing fever or small-pox, or some other fell disease, and this frequently at the instigation of an enemy of the deceased. In days gone-by, the taking of the ordeal to clear oneself was the common practice, but at present it is quite the exception. But, if there are very suspicious circumstances that ill-will has brought about the death, the friends of the deceased assemble, place the corpse on a cot, and make straight for the suspected enemy. If he or she is unfortunate enough to be at home, a trial takes place. A pot is partly filled with water, on the top of which ghee (clarified butter) and milk are poured, and then it is placed on the fire. As soon as it begins to boil, stones are thrown in, and the accused is summoned to take them out. If this is done without any apparent injury to the unfortunate victim, a verdict of not guilty is returned; but, if there are signs of the hand being at all scalded or burnt, the unhappy wight has to eat a bone of the deceased, which is removed and pounded, and mixed with boiled rice and milk. In days gone-by, the sentence was death.” According to Mr. Hemingway, when a death occurs, “an enquiry is held as to who is guilty. Some male member of the family, generally the nephew of the deceased, throws coloured rice over the corpse as it lies stretched on the bed, pronouncing as he does so the names of all the known sorcerers who live in the neighbourhood. It is even now solemnly asserted that, when the name of the wizard responsible is pronounced, the bed gets up, and moves towards the house or village where he resides.” “For some months,” the Rev. J. Cain continues, “a poor old Koi woman was living in our compound, because she had been driven out of village after village in Bastar from the suspicion that she was the cause of the death of more than one relative, and she was afraid that she might fall a victim to their just(?) vengeance. The fear that some envious person will persuade a demon to plague them affects their whole life and conduct. Over and over again we have been told by men and women, when we have remonstrated with them on account of their scanty attire ‘Yes, it is quite true that we have abundance of clothes at home, but, if we were always to wear them, some enemy or other would prevail on a demon to take possession of us, and kill us.’ A young Koi was once employed to teach a few children in his own village, but, alas, ere long he became unwell of some strange disease, which no medicine could remove. As a last resource, a diviner was called in, who made a careful diagnosis of the case, and the illness was declared to have been brought on by a demoness at the instigation of some enemy, who was envious of the money which the lad had received for teaching. I once saw one of these diviners at work, discovering the sickness which had laid prostrate a strong man. The diviner had in his hand a leaf from an old palmyra leaf book, and, as he walked round and round the patient, he pretended to be reading. Then he took up a small stick, and drew a number of lines on the ground, after which he danced and sang round and round the sick man, who sat looking at him, evidently much impressed with his performance. Suddenly he made a dart at the man, and, stooping down, bit him severely in two or three places in the back. Then, rushing to the front, he produced a few grains which he said he had found in the man’s back, and which were evidently the cause of the sickness. In the case of the young man before mentioned, the diviner produced a little silver, which he declared to be a sure sign that the sickness was connected with the silver money he was receiving for teaching. The diviners have to wear their hair long, like Samson, and, if it falls off or is cut short, their power is supposed to leave them.” It is noted by Mr. Hemingway that in some parts, when any one falls ill, the professional sorcerer is consulted, and he reads both the cause and the remedy in a leaf platter of rice, which he carries thrice round the invalid.

The name Chedipe (prostitute) is applied to sorceresses among various classes in the Godavari district. She is believed to ride on a tiger at night over the boundaries of seven villages, and return home at early morn. When she does not like a man, she goes to him bare-bodied at dead of night, the closed doors of the house in which he is sleeping opening before her. She sucks his blood by putting his toe in her mouth. He will then be motionless and insensible like a corpse. Next morning he feels intoxicated, as if he had taken ganja (Cannabis sativa), and remains in that condition all day. If he does not take medicine from one skilled in treating such cases, he will die. If he is properly treated, he will be as well as ever in about ten days. If he makes no effort to get cured, the Chedipe will molest him again and again, and, becoming gradually emaciated, he will die. When a Chedipe enters a house, all those who are awake will become insensible, those who are seated falling down as if they had taken a soporific drug. Sometimes she drags out the tongue of the intended victim, who will die at once. At other times, slight abrasions will be found on the skin of the intended victim, and, when the Chedipe puts pieces of stick thereon, they burn as if burnt by fire. Sometimes she will hide behind a bush, and, undressing there, fall on any passer-by in the jungle, assuming the form of a tiger with one of the four legs in human form. When thus disguised, she is called Marulupuli (enchanting tiger). If the man is a brave fellow, and endeavours to kill the Chedipe with any instrument he may have with him, she will run away; and, if a man belonging to her village detects her mischief, she will assume her real form, and answer meekly that she is only digging roots. The above story was obtained by a native revenue official when he visited a Koyi village, where he was told that a man had been sentenced to several years’ imprisonment for being one of a gang who had murdered a Chedipe for being a sorceress.

In the Godavari district, a sorcerer known as the Ejjugadu (male physician) is believed, out of spite or for payment, to kill another by invoking the gods. He goes to a green tree, and there spreads muggu or chunam (lime) powder, and places an effigy of the intended victim thereon. He also places a bow and arrow there, and recites certain spells, and calls on the gods. The victim is said to die in a couple of days. But, if he understands that the Ejjugadu has thus invoked the gods, he may inform another Ejjugadu, who will carry out similar operations under another tree. His bow and arrow will go to those of the first Ejjugadu, and the two bows and arrows will fight as long as the spell remains. The man will then be safe. The second Ejjugadu can give the name of the first, though he has never known him.

“The leading man,” the Rev. J. Cain writes, “of the Koyi samatu is called the Samatu Dora, and he is assisted by two others, who are called Pettandarulu. The duties of the Samatu Dora are to preside over all meetings, to settle all tribal disputes, and to inflict fines for all breaches of caste rules, of which fines he always receives a certain share. The office is not necessarily hereditary, and the appointment is generally confirmed by the landlord of the majority of the villages, be the landlord the Zemindar or the Government.”

The Koyis say that their dance is copied from Bhima’s march after a certain enemy. The dance is described by Mr. G. F. Paddison as being “a very merry business. They sing for a couple of beats, and then take two steps round, and sing again. They first sang to us a song in their own lingo, and then broke into Telugu ‘Dora Babu yemi istavu’—What will the great man give us? They then burst into a delightful Autolycus song, ‘Will you give us a cloth, a jewel for the hair?‘ and so on.”

For the following account of a dance at the Bhudevi Pandaga festival at Ankagudem in the Polavaram taluk of the Godavari district, I am indebted to Mr. N. E. Marjoribanks. “Permission having been given to dance in our presence, the whole village turned out, and came to our camp. First came about half a dozen young men, got up in their best clothes, with big metal ear-rings, basket caps adorned with buffalo horns and pendants of peacock skins (the neck feathers), and scanty torn cloths, and provided, some with barrel-shaped tom-toms, others with old rusty flintlocks, and swords. Next came all the adult women, two by two, each pair clasping hands, and hanging on to the next pair by holding their waist-cloths with their free hands. The young men kept up a steady monotonous beat on their drums, and went through various pantomimes of the chase, e.g., shooting and cutting up an animal, or a fight between two bulls. The women sang a chaunt, and came along slowly, taking one step back after two steps forwards, copied by the village old men, women, and children. At the camp, the women went round in this fashion in circles, the pantomime among the men continuing, and each vying with the others in suggesting fresh incidents. The women then went through a series of figures. First the older ones stood in a circle with their arms intertwined, and the younger girls perched aloft, standing astraddle on their shoulders. Like this the circle proceeded half round, and then back again till some of the smaller girls looked as if they would split in half, their discomfort causing great merriment among the others. Next all stood in a circle, and jumped round, two steps one way and then back. This was varied by a backwards and forwards movement, the chaunt continuing all the time. Inam (present of money) having been duly disbursed, the double chain of women went round the camp twice, and made off to the village, all standing and raising a shout twice as they turned out of the circle to go. The next day, we were told that the men of the village were all going hunting in the forest. About the middle of the day, we saw a procession approaching as on the previous day, but it consisted entirely of women, the drummers and swordsmen being women dressed up as men. The chaunt and dance were as before, except that the pantomime abounded in the most indecent gestures and attitudes, all illustrative of sexual relations. One girl slipped (or pretended to) and fell. Whereupon, one of those playing a man’s part fell upon her to ravish her. A rescue ensued amidst roars of merriment, and the would-be ravisher was in process of being stripped when our modesty compelled us to call an interval. In the evening the men returned unsuccessful, and, we were told (but did not see it), were pelted with dung and rubbish. The next day they went out again, and so did we. Our beats yielded nothing, and we returned to find to our horror the women of the village awaiting our return. Fortunately we had noticed some whistling teal on a tank, and had shot some for the pot. I verily believe this glorious bag was our salvation from dire humiliation. The same dance and antics were repeated round the bodies of the two tigers and panther that we shot during our stay. The Koyis insisted on singeing the whiskers of the beasts, saying we should never get any more if this was not done. Of course we reduced the ceremony to the barest form.” I gather that, if the Koyis shoot a sambar (deer) or ‘bison,’ the head is stuck up on the outskirts of the village, and there are very few villages, which have not got one or two such trophies. Besides beating for game, the Koyis sit up at night over salt-licks or water, and thus secure their game.”

It is recorded in the Catalogue RaisonnÉ of Oriental Manuscripts25 that “the Coya people reside within their forest boundaries. If any traveller attempt to pluck fruit from any tree, his hand is fastened to the spot, so that he cannot move; but if, on seeing any one of the Coya people, he calls out to that person, explaining his wishes, and gets permission, then he can take the fruit and move away, while the Coya forester, on the receipt of a small roll of tobacco leaf, is abundantly gratified. Besides which, the Coya people eat snakes. About forty years since, a Brahman saw a person cooking snakes for food, and, expressing great astonishment, was told by the forester that these were mere worms; that, if he wished to see a serpent, one should be shown him; but that, as for themselves, secured by the potent charms taught them by Ambikesvarer, they feared no serpents. As the Brahman desired to see this large serpent, a child was sent with a bundle of straw and a winnowing fan, who went, accompanied by the Brahman, into the depths of the forest, and, putting the straw on the mouth of a hole, commenced winnowing, when smoke of continually varying colours arose, followed by bright flame, in the midst of which a monstrous serpent having seven heads was seen. The Brahman was speechless with terror at the sight, and, being conducted back by the child, was dismissed with presents of fruits.”

The Mission school at Dummagudem in the Godavari district, where the Rev. J. Cain has laboured so long and so well, was primarily intended for Koyis, but I gather that it has been more successful in dealing with the Malas. In 1905, the lower primary school at Butchampet in the Kistna district was chiefly attended by Koyi children.

Koyippuram.—Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a sub-division of Nayar.

Krishnavakakkar.—The Krishnavakakkars are, in Travancore, practically confined to the southern taluks of Eraniel and Kalkulam. The caste name literally means belonging to Krishna, but probably means nothing more than belonging to the pastoral class, as the titular suffixes, Ayan and Acchi, to the names of males and females, found in the early settlement accounts of the State, indicate. In modern times the title Pillai has been adopted. By some castes, e.g., the Shanars, they are called Kuruppu.

The tradition is that, in ancient times, a large section of them migrated from Ambadi, the place of Krishna’s nativity and early childhood, to Conjeeveram, in the vicinity of which place there is still a village called Ayarpati. Here they resided for some time, and then seventy-two families, seeking fresh fields and pastures new, proceeded to Kerala, and presented an image of Krishna, which they had brought from northern India to the reigning king Maharaja Udaya Martanda Varma. According to another account, the recipient of the image was one Pallivana Perumal at an earlier date. The Maharaja, according to the legend, observing the interesting customs of the immigrants, and especially their devotion to Krishna, called them Krishnanvaka, and ordered them to serve in the temple of Krishna (Tiruvampadi within the pagoda of Sri Padmanabha at Trivandrum). Their leader was given the title of Ananthapadmanabha Kshetra Pallava Rayan. This migration is supposed to have occurred in the first year of the Malabar era. A neet, or royal grant, engraved on a copper plate, was issued to them, by which they were entrusted with the management of the temple, and commanded to live at Vanchiyur in Trivandrum. In the pollution consequent on a birth or death among the seventy-two families, the image of Krishna, which they had brought, was believed to share for three days as a distant relation, and, in consequence, the daily ceremonies at the temple were constantly interrupted. They were told to remove to a place separated from Trivandrum by at least three rivers, and settled in the Eraniel and Kalkulam taluks. They were, as a tax in kind for lands given to them for cultivation, ordered to supply peas for the Tiruvampati temple. During the reign of Martanda Varma the Great, from 904 to 933 M.E., successive neets were issued, entrusting them with diverse duties at this temple. Such, briefly, is the tradition as to the early history of the caste in Travancore. The title Pallava Rayan (chief of the Pallavans) seems to indicate the country, from which they originally came. They must have been originally a pastoral class, and they probably proceeded from Conjeeveram, the capital of the Pallavas, to Travancore, where, being worshippers of Vishnu, they were entrusted with the discharge of certain duties at the shrine of Krishna in Trivandrum.

The Krishnavakakkar are not strict vegetarians, as fish constitutes a favourite diet. Intoxicating liquors are forbidden, and rarely drunk. In respect to clothing and ornaments, those who follow the makkathayam system of inheritance (from father to son) differ from those who follow the marumakkathayam system (through the female line), the former resembling the Vellalas in these matters, and the latter the Nayars. The only peculiarity about the former is the wearing of the mukkuthi (nose ornament), characteristic till recently of all Nayar women in south Travancore, in addition to the ordinary ornaments of Chettis and other Tamilians. Widows, too, like the latter, are dressed in white, and the pampadam and melitu in the ears form their only ornaments. They tie up their hair, not in front like Nayar women, nor at the back like Tamil women, but in the middle line above the crown—the result of a blend between an indigenous and exotic custom. The hair is passed through a cadjan ring secured by a ring of beads, and wound round it. The ring is decorated with arali (Nerium odorum) flowers. Tattooing was very common among women in former times, but is going out of fashion.

They worship both Siva and Vishnu, and special adoration is paid to Subramaniya, for whose worship a great shrine is dedicated at Kumara Koil. Sasta, Bhutattan, and Amman have small shrines, called ilankams, dedicated to them. They live in large groups, each presided over by a headman called Karyastan, who is assisted by an accountant and treasurer. The offices are elective, and not hereditary. Their priest is known as Karnatan or Asan. At present there is apparently only one family of Karnatans, who live at Mepra in the Eraniel taluk. The female members of this priestly family are known as Mangalyama, and do not intermarry or feed with the general community. The marumakkathayam Krishnavakakkar speak Malayalam, while the makkathayis speak a very corrupt Tamil dialect intermixed with Malayalam.

The names of the seventy-two houses of the caste are remembered, like the gotras of the Brahmans, and marriage between members of the same house are absolutely forbidden. Among the marumakkathayam section, the talikettu is celebrated in childhood, and supplemented by the actual wedding after the girl reaches puberty. On the marriage day, the bridegroom goes in procession to the house of the bride, sword in hand, and martially clad, probably in imitation of Krishna on his marriage expedition to the Court of Kundina. On the third day of the marriage ceremonies, the bride’s party go to the house of the bridegroom with an air of burning indignation, and every effort is made to appease them. They finally depart without partaking of the proffered hospitality. On the seventh day, the newly-married couple return to the bride’s house. The custom is said to be carried out as symbolising the act of bride-capture resorted to by their ancestor Krishna in securing the alliance of Rukmani. It is generally believed that fraternal polyandry once prevailed among these people, and even to-day a widow may be taken as wife by a brother of the deceased husband, even though he is younger than herself. Issue, thus procreated, is the legitimate issue of the deceased, and acquires full right of inheritance to his property. If one brother survives the deceased, his widow is not required to remove her marriage ornament during life.

The origin of the marumakkathayam custom is alleged to have been that the first immigrants came with a paucity of women, and had to contract alliances with the indigenous Travancoreans. At the present day only about a hundred families follow the law of inheritance through the female line. Their children are known by the name of the mother’s illam (house). The male, but not the female members of makkathayam and marumakkathayam sections, will eat together. A daughter, in default of male issue, succeeds to the property of her father, as opposed to his widow. The Krishnavakakkar believe that, in these matters, they imitate the Pandavas. A peculiar feature of their land-tenure is what is known as utukuru—a system which exists to a smaller extent among the Shanars of Eraniel and the adjacent taluks. In the ayakkettu or old settlement register, it is not uncommon to find one garden registered in the name of several persons quite unconnected with each other by any claim of relationship. In some instances the ground is found registered in the name of one person, and the trees on it in the name of another.

The dead are generally cremated, and the ashes taken to the foot of a milky tree, and finally thrown into the sea. On the sixteenth day, the Asan is invited to perform the purificatory ceremony. A quantity of paddy (unhusked rice), raw rice, and cocoanuts, are placed on a plantain leaf with a cup of gingelly (Sesamum) oil, which is touched by the Asan, and poured into the hands of the celebrants, who, after an oil bath, are free from pollution.26

Kshatriya.—The second, or ruling and military caste of the four castes of Manu. In the Madras Census Report, 1891, it is recorded that “the term Kshatriya is, of course, wholly inapplicable to the Dravidian races, who might with as much, perhaps more, accuracy call themselves Turks. There possibly are a few representatives of the old Kshatriya castes, but the bulk of those who figure in the returns under this head are pure Dravidian people. The claim to the title is not confined to the old military classes desirous of asserting their former position, for we find it put forward by such castes as Vannias and Shanans, the one a caste of farmers and labourers, the other toddy-drawers. It is not possible to distribute these pseudo-Kshatriyas among their proper castes, as 70,394 of them have given Kshatriya as the sub-division also.” It is noted, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, that “Parasurama is said to have slain all the Kshatriyas seven times over, but 80,000 persons have returned themselves as such in this Presidency alone. Strictly speaking, there are very few persons in the Presidency who have any real title to the name, and it has been returned mainly by the Pallis or Vanniyas of Vizagapatam, Godavari, and Chingleput, who say they are Agnikula Kshatriyas, by the Shanans of Tinnevelly, and by some Mahratis in South Canara. In Tinnevelly, Kammas and Balijas have also returned the name.” It is further recorded, in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that the castes grouped under the head Kshatriya are “the Arasus, Rajaputs, Coorgs, and Sikhs. To the Arasu section belongs the Royal Family of Mysore.” Some Rachevars style themselves Arya Kshatriyalu.

For the following note on Malayala ‘Kshatriyas,’ I am indebted to Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar. There is an old Sanskrit verse, which describes eight classes of Kshatriyas as occupying Kerala from very early times, namely, Bhupala or Maharaja, as those of Travancore and Cochin, Rajaka or Raja, as those of Mavelikkara and Cranganore, Kosi or Koil Tampuran, Puravan or Tampan, Sri Purogama or Tirumulppad, Bhandari or Pandarattil, Audvahika or Tirumulppad, and Cheta or Samanta. The Samantas cannot be looked upon as Malayala Kshatriyas proper. The indigenous Kshatriyas of Kerala are divided into four well distinguishable septs, viz., the Koil Pandala, the Raja, the Tampan; and the Tirumulppad. The total number of Malayala Kshatriyas in Travancore is 1,575, the largest number living in the taluks of Tiruvella, Vaikam, and Mavelikara. Tampans live mostly at Vaikam, and Tirumulppads at Shertallay and Tiruvella. The remaining two septs are not so much caste septs as isolated groups of families. Koil Pandala literally means the keeper of the royal treasury. Tampan is a corruption of Tampuran, the latter being a title directly applied to the Rajas, while the term Tirumulppad, in its literal sense, conveys the idea of those who wait before kings. Women are known as Tumpurattis in the first two, as Tampattis in the third, and Nampishthatiris in the fourth division. The Pantalam Rajas have the title of Sriviradhara, and those of Mullanikkadu of Narasimha.

According to immemorial tradition, Koil Tampurans were the nephews of the Cheraman Perumals or viceroys of Chera, who ruled at Cranganore, their earliest residence being Beypore in British Malabar, where three or four families of this sept lived at the beginning of the Christian era. From one of these families, male members were invited about 300 M.E., for marrying the ladies of the Venadswarupam, i.e., the Travancore royal house. They began to live at Kilimanur in the Chirayinkil taluk, six miles from Attingal, where the female members of the royal family permanently resided. In 963 M.E., the year in which Tipu Sultan invaded Malabar, eight persons, five females and three males, belonging to the Alyankodu Kovilakam in North Malabar fled, and found shelter in Travancore. All their expenses were commanded to be met from the State treasury. As the five women were only cousins and not uterine sisters, one of them removed herself to the rural village Kirtipuram near Kandiyur in the Mavelikkara taluk, and thence to Gramam, a little further in the interior. Another, in course of time, settled at Pallam in Kottayam, and a third at Paliyakkara in Tiruvella, while the fourth, having no issue, stayed with the youngest at the Nirazhi palace of Changanacheri. This last lady gave birth to five children, being three females and two males. The first of these branches removed to Anantapuram in Kartikapalli in 1040, and the second to Chemprol in Tiruvella in 1041, while the third continued to reside at Changanacheri. After 1040 M.E., three more Koil Pandala families immigrated from British Malabar, and settled at Cherukol, Karamma, and Vatakkematham. These, however, are not so important as the previous ones. As already stated, the Kilimanur Koil Tampurans were among these the earliest settlers in Travancore, and a whole property (revenue village) was granted to them in freehold in 1728 A.D., in recognition of the sacrifice a member of the family made in saving the life of a Travancore prince from the murderous attack of the Ettuveetil Pillamar. The first family of Kolasvarupam Rajas immigrated into Travancore in the fifth century M.E. As the Travancore royal house then stood in need of adoption, arrangements were made through a Koil Tampuran of the Tattari Kovilakam to bring two princesses for adoption from Kolattunad, and the first family of Rajas, known as the Putupalli Kovilakam, settled at Kartikapalli. The family is now extinct, as the last member died in 1033 M.E. The next family that migrated was Cheriyakovilakam between 920 and 930, also invited for purposes of adoption. These latter lived at Aranmula. The third series of migrations were during the invasion of Malabar by Tipu Sultan in 964 M.E., when all the Rajas living at the time went over to Travancore, though, after the disturbance was over, many returned home. The Rajas of the Kolasvarupam began to settle permanently in the country, as they could claim relationship with the reigning sovereigns, and were treated by them with brotherly affection. There were only two branches at the beginning, namely, Pallikovilakam and Udayamangalam. The families of Mavelikara, Ennaykkad and Prayikkara are divisions of the Chengakkovilakam house. The Udayamangalam house has branched off into three divisions, Mittil, whose descendants now live at Mariyapalli, Nedumprum, and Kartikapalli. Naduvilekkovilakam members live at Perinjel in Aranmula, and Cheriyakovilakam, whose members are divided into five other families, in the same locality. No branch of the Udayamangalam house resides in British Malabar. Some of these branches even now own large estates in that collectorate. There are two other important families of Rajas in Travancore, viz., those of Pantalam and Punjat. Both of them are believed to have been related to the early Pandyan kings. The reason alleged for the immigration of the Pantalam Rajas into Travancore is the persecution of a Nayak minister in mediÆval times, who compelled them to change their mode of inheritance from marumakkathayam (in the female line) to makkathayam (from father to son), and then marry his daughter. They are supposed to have sojourned at Sivagiri and Tenkasi in the Tinnevelly district on their way to Travancore. Ilattur in the Shenkottah taluk originally belonged to them, but was afterwards taken over by Travancore in default of payment of the annual subsidy. Tampans are believed by tradition to have had territorial sovereignty in Kerala, until they were deprived of it by the Ilayetasvarupam kings. This does not appear to have any basis of truth, as the Ilayetasvarupam kings lived in Central Travancore, while the Tampans live in the north, where the former are never known to have led any invasion. In mediÆval times, both Tampans and Tirumalppads were invariably commanders of armies. With the invasion of Malabar by Tipu Sultan, many sought refuge in the kingdom of Travancore, and continued to live here after the passing of the storm.

The Malayala Kshatriyas are as a class learned. Both men and women are, in the main, accomplished Sanskrit scholars. Mr. Kerla Varma, C.S.I., Valiyakoil Tampuran, a finished poet and an accomplished patron of letters, and Mr. Ravi Varma, the talented artist, are both Koil Tampurans. The houses of the Koil Tampurans and Rajas are known as kottarams or kovilakams, i.e., palaces, while those of the Tampans and Tirumalppads are known as kovilakams and mathams. The Malayala Kshatriyas resemble the Brahmans in their food and drink. The males dress like the Nambutiris, while the dress and ornaments of the women are like those of other classes in Malabar There are, however, three special ornaments which the Kshatriya ladies particularly wear, viz., cheru-tali, entram, and kuzhal. The Koil Pandalas and Rajas are landlords of considerable wealth, and a few have entered the Civil Service of the State. The Tampans and Tirumalppads, besides being landlords and agriculturists, are personal servants of the ruling families of Kerala, the latter holding this position to even a greater extent than the former. The Kshatriya personal attendants of the Maharajas of Travancore serve them with characteristic fidelity and devotion.

The Malayala Kshatriyas are a particularly religious community. In a place within their houses, called tevarappura or the room for religious worship, the Vaishnavite salagrama and Saivite linga are kept together with the images of other deities, and Brahmans officiate at their worship. Ganapati puja (worship), and antinamaskaram are regularly observed.

As all the Koil Tampurans belong to one sept or gotra, that of Visvamitra, and all the Rajas to another, that of Bhargava, neither of these divisions are permitted to marry among themselves. The Tirumalppads also, with their local divisions such as Ancherri, Koyikkal, Plamtanam, and Kannezham, own Visvamitra, and hence do not marry among themselves. As for the Tampans, all the families belonging to that group trace their descent to a common ancestor, and belong to the same sept as the Koil Tampurans and Tirumalppads. As a consequence, while the Koil Tampurattis are married to Nambutiri husbands, the Koil Tampurans themselves take wives from the families of Rajas. Rajas may keep Nayar or Samanta ladies as mistresses, the same being the case with the Tampans and Tirumalppads also. The Ranis of Pantalam take Nambutiri husbands, while Tampan and Tirumalppad women live with any class of Brahmans. No Kshatriya lady is permitted to leave her home for that of her husband, and so no grihaprevesa ceremony prevails among them. Thirteen is the proper age for marrying girls, but the marriage may be postponed until the choice of a fit husband is made. In the branches of the Kolattunad family, girls who attain puberty as maids are obliged to keep a vow, in honour of Ganapati.

The Tampan and Tirumalppad women, as also those of the Pantalam family, have their talis (marriage badge) tied by Aryappattars. Remarriage of widows is permitted. Polygamy is rare. Divorce may take place at the will of either party, and prevails largely in practice. The Rajas make a donation of Rs. 50 to 70 as stridhanam, excepting those of Pantalam, who only pay about Rs. 35.

Some time before the auspicious hour for the marriage of a Koil Tampuratti, the Brahmanipattu, or recitation of certain Puranic songs by a female of the Brahmani caste, begins. Four lighted lamps are placed in the middle of the hall, with a fifth dedicated to Ganapati in the centre. While these songs are being sung, the bride appears in the tattu dress with a brass minu and a bunch of flowers in her hand, and sits on a wooden seat kept ready for the purpose. The songs generally relate to the conception of Devaki, and the birth of Krishna. Then a Nayar of the Illam sept waves a pot containing cocoanut, flowers, burning wicks, etc., before the bride, after which she rises to wash her feet. At this point the bridegroom arrives, riding on an elephant, with a sword in his hand, and the procession is conducted with much ceremony and ostentation. He then bathes, and two pieces of cloth, to be worn by him thereafter, are touched by the bride. Wearing them, the bridegroom approaches the bride, and presents her with a suit of clothes known as the mantrakoti. One of the clothes is worn as a tattu, and with the other the whole body is covered. The mother of the bride gives her a brass mirror and a garland, both of which she takes in her hand to the altar where the marriage is to be performed. After the punyaha, accompanied by a few preliminary homas or sacrifices to the fire, by the Nambutiri family priest, the first item in the ceremony, known as mukhadarsana or seeing each other, begins. The bride then removes the cloth covering her body. The next events are udakapurva, panigrahana, and mangalyadharana, which are respectively the presentation by the bride of water to the bridegroom, his taking her hand in token of the union, and tying the tali round the neck of the bride. The next item is the saptapadi (seven feet), and the last dikshaviruppu, peculiar to the Malayalam Kshatriyas. A particular room is gaily decorated, and a long piece of white cotton cloth is spread on the floor. Upon this a black carpet is spread, and a lighted lamp, which should never be extinguished, placed in the vicinity. The bride has to remain in this room throughout the marriage. On the marriage night commences the aupasana, or joint sacrifice to the fire. On the fourth day are the mangalasnana or auspicious bath, and procession through the town. On that night consummation takes place. The procession of the bridegroom (mappilapurappat) to the house of the bride is a noticeable item. The brother of the bride receives him at the gate, and, after washing his feet, informs him that he may bathe and marry the girl. The uduku-purva rite is performed by the brother himself. When the bridegroom leaves the marriage hall with the bride, an armed Pandala stops them, and a fixed present is given to him. Every rite is performed according to the method prescribed by Bodhayana among the Koil Tampurans and Rajas, the family at Pantalam alone following the directions of Asvalayana. On the fourth day, the contracting couple bathe, and wear clothes previously dipped in turmeric water. At night, while the Brahmani song is going on, they sit on a plank, where jasmine flowers are put on, and the goddess Bhagavathi is worshipped. The bride’s maternal uncle ties a sword round her loins, which is immediately untied by the bridegroom in token of the fact that he is her future supporter. Panchamehani is a peculiar rite on the fifth day, when an atti (Ficus, sp.) tree is decorated, and an offering of food made on the grass before it. The couple also make a pretence of catching fish. In modern times, the Pantalam Rajas do not patronise the songs of the Brahmani, and, among them, the panchamehani is conspicuous by its absence.

Women are in theory the real owners of property, though in practice the eldest male has the management of the whole. There is no division of property, but, in some cases, certain estates are specially allotted for the maintenance of specific members. The authorities of the Malayala Kshatriyas in all matters of social dispute are the Nambutiri Vaidikas.

When a girl reaches puberty, she is kept in a room twelve feet apart from the rest for a period of three days. On the fourth day, after a bath, she puts on a new cloth, and walks, with a brass mirror in her hand, to her house. Among the Kolattunad Rajas there are a few additional rites, including the Brahmani’s song. The pumsavana and simanta are performed by the family priest. On the birth of a child, the jatakarma is performed, when women mix honey and clarified butter with gold, to be given to the child. On the twelfth day, the Nambutiri priest performs the namakarna, after a purifying ceremony which terminates the birth pollution. The eldest child is generally named Raja Raja Varma. Udaya Varma and Martanda Varma are names found among the Rajas, but absent among the Koil Tampurans. Martanda Varma was once exclusively used only among the members of the Travancore Royal Family. The full style and titles of the present Maharaja of Travancore are His Highness the Maharaja Sir Sri Padmanabha Dasa Vanchi Bala Rama Varma, Kulasekhara Kiritapati Sultan Manne Maharaja Raja Ramaraja Bahadur Samsher Jung, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. Raghava Varma is a name peculiar to the Pantalam Rajas. Women are, as in the case of Tirumalppads and Tampans, called Amba, Ambika, Ambalika, Mangala, etc.

The annaprasana and nishkramana are performed consecutively on the same day. The mother takes the child to the foot of a jak (Artocarpus integrifolia) tree, and, going thrice round it, touches it with the leg of the child, and then dips a golden ring in the payasa, and applies it to the child’s lips. The same act is then repeated by the maternal uncle, father, and next of kin. The Yatrakali is attended with much Éclat during the night. The upanayana, or investiture with the sacred thread, takes place as late as the sixteenth year. As a preliminary rite on the same day, the chaula or tonsure ceremony is performed. It is formally done by the Nambutiri priest in the capacity of guru or preceptor, and left to be completed by the Maran. The priest then invests the boy with the thread, and, with the sacrificial fire as lord and witness, initiates him into the Gayatri prayer. All Kshatriyas are obliged to repeat this prayer ten times morning and evening. On the fourth day, the youth listens to a few Vaidic hymns recited by the priest. There is not the prolonged course of discipline of a Brahmanical Brahmachari, such as the Nambutiris so religiously observe. The samavartana, or completion of the pupilage ceremony, takes place on the fourth day. The ceremony of proceeding to Benares, the pre-eminent seat of learning in ancient days, which is the natural after-event of the Vaidic pupilage, is then gone through, as in the case of Brahmans. A would-be father-in-law intercedes, and requests the snataka to bless his daughter, and settle in life as a grihastha. The Nambutiri priest then reminds the boy of his duty as a Kshatriya, and gives him a sword as a symbol of his pre-ordained function in society. He then becomes a grihastha, and may chew betel leaf. The Saivite panchakshara, and the Vaishnavite ashtakshara are also taught, and are invariably recited after the performance of the daily duties. For girls only the chaula is performed, and that along with her marriage. On the occasion of birthdays, the family priest performs the ayushya homa, and shashtipurti, or celebration of the sixtieth birthday, is also observed as an important religious occasion.

The funeral ceremonies are almost the same as those of Nambutiris. When a Koil Tampuran dies, he is placed on the bare floor, some hymns being recited in his ears. The corpse is placed on a stretcher made of plantain stems, and the head is touched with a razor in token of shaving. It is bathed, covered with a new cloth, and decorated with flowers and sandal paste. Kusa grass is received at the hands of a Maran. The funeral rites are performed by the nephews. Pollution is observed for eleven days and nights. A religious vow is observed for a year. The offering to the spirit of the deceased is not in the form of cooked food, but of presents to Brahmans. All the Malayala Kshatriyas are adherents of the Yajur-veda. The anniversary of maternal grandmothers, and even sisters is punctiliously observed. If a maternal aunt or grandaunt dies without children, their sraddhas must be performed as for the rest.

The Malayala Kshatriyas hold rank next to the Brahmans, and above the Ilayatus. They are permitted to take their meal in the same row with the Brahmans, and receive prasada from the temples directly from the priest, and standing at the right side of the inner gate.

Further information concerning the Malayala Kshatriyas is contained in an article by Mr. K. Rama Varma Raja,27 who concludes as follows:—“The Kshatriya community is an intermediate caste between the Brahmin (Namburi) and the Sudra (Nair) classes, and has affinities to both; to the former in matters of ablution, ceremonies, food and drink, and to the latter in those of real matrimonial relations and inheritance, i.e., the constitution and propagation of the family.... The intermediate caste must be the Aryans more Dravidianised, or the Dravidians more Aryanised, that is, the Aryans degraded or the Dravidians elevated, more probably the latter.”

It is recorded,28 in a note on the ancestry of the Rajas of Jeypore, that “the family chronicles ascribe a very ancient origin to the line of the Jeypore Zamindars. Beginning with Kanakasena of the solar race, a general and feudatory of the king of Kashmir, they trace the pedigree through thirty-two generations down to Vinayaka Deo, a younger son, who left Kashmir rather than hold a subordinate position, went to Benares, did penance to Kasi Visvesvarasvami there, and was told by the god in a dream to go to the kingdom of Nandapuram belonging to the Silavamsam line, of which he would become king. Vinayaka Deo, continues the legend, proceeded thither, married the king’s daughter, succeeded in 1443 A.D. to the famous throne of thirty-two steps there, and founded the family of Jeypore. Vinayaka Deo and his six successors, say the family papers, had each only one son, and the sixth of them, Vira Vikrama (1637–69) accordingly resolved to remove his residence elsewhere. The astrologers and wise men reported that the present Jeypore was ‘a place of the Kshatriya class,’ and it was accordingly made the capital, and named after the famous Jeypore of the north.”

The Maharaja of Mysore belongs to the Arasu caste of Kshatriyas.

Kshauraka.—A Sanskrit name for barber, by which barbers of various classes—Mangala, Ambattan, Kelasi, etc.—are sometimes called. It is commonly used by Canarese-speaking barbers of the Madras Presidency and Mysore.

Kshetravasinah (those who live in temples).—A name for Ambalavasis.

Kudaikatti (basket-making).—A sub-division of Palli or Vanniyan. At the census, 1901, some Koravas also returned themselves as Kudaikatti Vanniyan.

Kudan.—For the following note on the Kudans, or “Kootans” of the west coast, I am indebted to Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Aiyar29:—

The Kootans are agricultural labourers, and take part in every kind of work connected with agriculture, such as turning the soil, ploughing, sowing, manuring, weeding, transplanting, and the like. As soon as the monsoon is over, they work in gardens, turning the soil, watering, and fencing. They form one of the divisions of the slave castes, working under some landlord or farmer for a daily wage of an edangazhy of paddy (unhusked rice) during the rainy months of June, July, and August and of two edangazhis during the other months of the year. They receive, for the Onam and Vishu festivals, a para of paddy, some salt, cocoanuts, oil, and chillies. On the day of the village festival, every male gets a mundu (cloth) or two, and every female a kacha (cloth) or two, in addition to toddy and arrack (spirituous liquor), and the other articles mentioned above. They dress themselves in their cloths, and are treated to a sumptuous dinner. With shouts of joy, they attend, and take part in the village festival. When they fall ill, they are properly looked after by their masters, both on account of their good feelings towards them, and also of the loss of work they may have to sustain, should they be laid up for a long time. Whenever a landlord or farmer has more men than he can afford to give work and wages to, he generally lends their services to some one else on a pattom of four paras of paddy a year for a male, and three for a female. The new master gives them work and wages, and sends them back when they are no longer wanted. Should a Kootan run away from his master, he is brought back either by threat or mild word; but, should these fail, there is no remedy to force him back. In spite of the abolition of slavery some sixty years ago, the Kootans are in a state of bondage. They live in small huts with insufficient food, plodding on from day to day with no hope of improving their condition. Their huts are erected on four bamboo posts. The roofs are thatched, and the sides protected by mud walls, or covered with palm leaves. A bamboo framework, with similar leaves, serves the purpose of a door. There is a verandah in front. The Kootans have a few earthen and bamboo utensils for domestic use. They take rice kanji (gruel) prepared the previous night, with salt and chillies. They have some leisure at midday, during which they go to their huts, and take kanji with a fish or two boiled in it, or sometimes with some vegetable curry. At night, boiled rice, or kanji with fish or curry made of vegetables from their kitchen garden, form their chief food. All their provisions are acquired by exchange of paddy from a petty shop-keeper in their vicinity.

They eat and drink at the hands of all castes except Paraiyans, Pulayans, Ulladans, and Nayadis. In some parts of the State, they approach the houses of Izhuvas, and no other castes eat with them. They have to keep at a distance of forty-eight feet from all high-caste Hindus. They are polluted by Pulayas, Nayadis, and Ulladans, who have to stand at some distance from them. They may take water from the wells of Mappillas. They are their own barbers and washermen, and may approach the temple of their village goddess Kali on some special days, while, at other times, they have to stand far away.

When a girl attains puberty, she is lodged in a corner of the hut. The inmates thereof may neither touch nor approach her on the score of pollution. Four or seven girls, who are invited, bathe the girl on the first day. The pollution lasts for seven days, and, on the morning of the seventh day, seven girls take her to a tank (pond) or river to bathe. A kai-bali is waved round her face, and, as she bathes, it is floated on the water. On their return to the hut, the girls are fed, and allowed to depart with a present of an anna each. Their relatives, and others who are invited, are well entertained. A kai-bali is an offering held in the hand of a woman, and may take the form of a sacrificed fowl, plantain fruits, boiled rice, etc.

Girls are generally married after puberty. A Kootan can enter into a sambandham (alliance) with a woman of his own caste, or with a Pulaya woman. He has to bathe before he returns to his hut, if he should stay for the night with a woman of the latter caste. This proves that he belongs to a caste superior to that of the Pulayas, and the union resembles that of a Brahman with a Sudra woman. Should a woman of the Kootan caste mate with a Pulaya, she is at once turned out of caste. A Kootan, who wishes to enter into a sambandham with a woman of his own or the Pulaya caste, goes to her hut with one or two of his relations or friends, to recommend him to the parents of the woman to permit him to enter into conjugal relations with their daughter, or form kutikuduka. With their permission, they become a kind of husband and wife. In most cases, the will of the man and the woman is sufficient for the union. The woman generally stays with her parents, and very often her lover comes to her with his wages after the day’s hard work, and stays with her for the night. Should she wish to accompany him to his hut, she does so with her wages in the evening. They exercise sexual license even before marriage. If a woman who has no open lover becomes pregnant, her fault is condoned when she mentions her lover’s name. When one dislikes the other for some reason or other, they separate, and are at liberty to form new unions. Widows may remarry, and may even associate with their brothers-in-law. The Kootans follow the marumakkathayam law of inheritance (in the female line). They have no property, except sometimes a sheep or a few fowls.

The Kootans believe in magic and sorcery. Mannans and Muhammadan Mappillas are sometimes consulted, and these dupe them. They profess the lower forms of Hinduism, and worship the local village deity (Kali), and the spirits of their ancestors, whom they represent by means of stones placed on a raised floor under a tree, and to whom boiled rice, parched grain, toddy, plantain fruits, and cocoanuts are offered at the Vishu and Onam festivals, and on Karkatakam, Thulam, and Makara Sankranti. Care is always taken to have the offerings served separately on leaves, lest the ancestors should quarrel with one another, and do them harm. Should illness, such as cholera, small-pox, or fever occur in a family, some fowls and an anna or two are offered at the temple to the goddess Bhagavathi, who is believed to be able to save them from the impending calamity.

When a member of the caste breathes his last, the landlord gives a spade to dig the grave, an axe or knife for cutting wood to serve as fuel if the corpse is to be burned, a piece of cloth for covering the dead body, and also some paddy and millet to meet the funeral expenses. A cocoanut is broken, and placed on the neck of the corpse, which is covered with the cloth, and carried on a bier to the burial-ground, which is sprinkled over with water mixed with turmeric. When the funeral is over, the people who attended it, including the relatives and friends of the deceased, bathe, and go to the hut of the dead person, where they are served with kanji and toddy, after which they depart. The members of the family, and close relatives of the deceased, fast for the night. In the case of a man dying, his nephew is the chief mourner, while, in that of a woman, her eldest son and daughter are the chief mourners, who do not go to work for two weeks. The chief mourners bathe in the early morning, cook a small quantity of rice, and offer it to the spirit of the deceased. It is eaten up by the crows. This is continued for fourteen days, and, on the fourteenth night, all fast. On the fifteenth morning, they regard themselves as having been cleansed from the pollution. All the castemen of the kara (settlement) are invited, and bring with them rice, curry-stuffs, and toddy. Their Enangan cleans and sweeps the hut, while the rest go to the grave-yard, turn the earth, and make it level. They bathe, and the Enangans sprinkle cow-dung water on the grave. They return home, and partake of a sumptuous meal, after which they all take leave of the chief mourner, who observes the diksha, bathes in the early morning, and offers the bali (ball of rice) before he goes to work. This he continues for a whole year, after which he gets shaved, and celebrates a feast in honour of the dead.

Kudianavar (cultivator).—A name commonly assumed by Pallis and Vellalas.

Kudikkar (those who belong to the house).—A name for Deva-dasis (dancing-girls) in Travancore, who are given a house rent-free by the Sirkar (Government).

Kudimaghan (sons of the ryot).—A name for Tamil Ambattans.

Kudire (horse).—An exogamous sept or gotra of Vakkaliga and Kurni. Gurram, also meaning horse, has been recorded as an exogamous sept of Chenchu, Golla, Mala, Padma Sale, and Togata. Gurram Togatas will not ride on horseback.

Kudiya.—The Kudiyas or Male (hill) Kudiyas are found at Neriya, Darmasthala, and Sisila in the South Canara district. Those who live at the two former places are agrestic slaves of landlords who own cardamom plantations on the ghats. They live for the most part in the jungles, beneath rocks, in caves, or in low huts, and shift from one spot to another. At the season of the cardamom crop, they come down to the plains once a week with the produce. They are said to carry off cardamoms to the Mysore frontier, and sell them fraudulently to contractors or merchants. They make fire traces for the Forest Department.

Except in stature, the Kudiyas have not retained the characters of a primitive race, and, as the result of racial admixture, or contact metamorphosis, some individuals are to be seen with comparatively light coloured skins, and mesorhine or leptorhine noses. In the matter of personal names, septs, and ceremonial observances, they have been much influenced by other castes. They speak a corrupt form of Tulu, and say that they follow the aliya santana law of inheritance (in the female line), though some, especially at Sisala and on the Mysore frontier, follow the law of succession from father to son (makkala santana). They are not regarded as a polluting class, and can enter all parts of their landlords’ houses, except the kitchen and dining-room. They are presided over by a headman, called Gurikara, who inquires into transgression of caste rules, and assists on ceremonial occasions. Their chief deities are Bhairava, Kamandevaru, and the Pancha Pandavas (the five Pandava brothers), but they also believe in certain bhuthas (devils), such as Male Kallurti and Ambatadaiva.

The Kudiyas do not object to marriage between a widowed woman and her eldest son. Among those attached to a landlord at Neriya, two such cases were pointed out. In one, there was no issue, but in the other a son had been born to the mother-wife.

When the arrangement of a match is in contemplation, the father of the prospective bridegroom goes, accompanied by two women, to the girl’s home, and takes with him betel leaves, areca-nuts, and gingelly (Sesamum) oil. If the girl’s parents consent to the match, they accept the oil; otherwise they refuse it. The binding part of the marriage ceremony consists of the bridal couple standing with their hands united, and the pouring of water thereon by the bride’s father. The Kudiyas who have settled on the plains have adopted the ceremonial observances of the Bants and other castes. The remarriage of widows is permitted. There is no elaborate marriage ceremony, but sometimes the contracting couple stand in the presence of the headman and a few others, and make a round mark with sandal paste on each other’s foreheads.

If a member of the tribe dies near the settlement, the body is cremated, and, if far away therefrom, buried. On the third day, a visit is paid to the place where cremation took place, and the son or some near relative of the deceased goes round the spot on which the corpse was burnt three times, and sprinkles rice thereon thrice. Five leaves of the teak or plantain, or other big leaves, are spread on the ground, and fowl’s flesh, cooked rice, and vegetables are placed thereon, and the ancestors are invoked in the words “Oh! old souls, gather up the new soul, and support it, making it one of you.” On the sixteenth day, food is again offered on leaves. In cases where burial is resorted to, an effigy of the deceased is made in straw, and burnt. On the third day, the ashes are taken to the grave, and buried.

In a note on the Kudiyas of the plains, it is recorded30 that “the dead are either burned or buried, the former being the custom in the case of rich men. On the seventh day after cremation or burial, a pandal (booth) is erected over the grave or the place of cremation, and a bleached cloth is spread on it by the washerman. A wick floating in half a cocoanut shell full of oil is then lighted, and placed at each corner of the pandal. The relations of the deceased then gather round the place, and weep, and throw a handful of rice over the spot.”

The Kudiyas are fond of toddy, and eat black monkeys, and the big red squirrel, which they catch with snares.

Kudiyalu (farmer).—A synonym for Lambadi, apparently used by members of the tribe who have settled down to agriculture.

Kudlukara.—Kudlukara or Kudaldeshkara is a sub-division of Rajapuri.

Kudubi.—The Kudubis are found mainly in the Kundapur taluk of the South Canara district. Among themselves, they use Kaluvadi as the caste name. They say that they are divided into the following sections: Are, Goa, Jogi, Kodiyal, and Kariya. Of these, the Are, Goa, and Kodiyal Kudubis are confined to the Kundapur taluk, and the other two sections are found in villages near Mudbidri. Both the Are and Jogi sections speak Marathi, and the latter are considered inferior to the former, who will not eat in their houses. Are women clad themselves in black or red garments, whereas Jogi women are said to wear white cloths. The Goa and Kariya Kudubis speak Konkani, and do not mix with the Ares and Jogis, even for meals. They are much influenced by Brahmanical priests, by whom they are guided in their ceremonial observances, and have adopted the dhare form of marriage (see Bant). The Goa Kudubis say that they emigrated to South Canara owing to the oppression from which they suffered, bringing with them the sweet potato (Ipomoea Batatas), cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale), chrysanthemum, and Indian spinach (Basella alba). Among the Goa Kudubis, an adulterer has to undergo a curious form of punishment. His head is clean-shaved, and his moustache removed. He then stands in a pit, and leaf-platters, off which food has been eaten, are thrown on his head. A money fine is imposed by the headman. If a woman does not confess her guilt, she is made to stand in the sun with an iron rod on her shoulders.

The Are Kudubis have exogamous septs, or wargs. Each warg is said to have its own god, which is kept in the house of some elderly or respected member of the sept. A corner of the house, or a special room, is set apart for the god, and a member of the family is the pujari (priest). He is expected to do puja to the god every Monday. Ordinarily, rice, fruits, etc., are offered to it; but, during the big festival in November-December, fowls are sacrificed. Like other Marathi castes, the Are Kudubis regard the Holi festival. On the first day, they collect together, and worship the tulsi katte—a square structure on which a tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) plant is growing. On the following days, they go about in detached groups, some males being dressed up as females, with drums and cymbals, and dance and sing. On the last day of the festival, rice is cooked, offered with liquor to Kalabhairava, and eaten. The Are Kudubis sometimes worship bhuthas (devils), e.g., Jettiga, and Hola Hayaguli. Special reverence is shown to the tulsi plant, and, at almost every house, it is planted in a brindhavan or katte. To it vegetables and fruits are offered.

Girls are married either before or after puberty. Widows are allowed to remarry, but may not marry a man of the sept to which her deceased husband belonged. Marriage ceremonies last over five days, and commence with the ide karuchi, or betrothal, at the house of the bride-elect. Pan-supari (betel leaves and areca-nuts) is distributed to at least one member of each warg present according to a recognised code of precedence, commencing with the Hivelekar warg, which is considered superior. On the second day, a post made of the wood of the silk-cotton tree (Bombax malabaricum) is set up beneath the marriage pandal (booth). The bridegroom and his party go in procession to the bride’s house, where the contracting couple are decorated with jewels, and turmeric-dyed strings are tied round their necks. The bride’s father ties a kankanam (thread) on his own wrist. The couple stand facing each other, with a screen stretched between them. After the exchange of garlands, their hands are joined, and the screen is removed. They then go five times round the Bombax post and marriage dais, and sit down. Dhare water is poured over their united hands by the bride’s father. Rice is then thrown over them, and presents are given. The proceedings terminate with the waving of coloured water, a light, etc. The dhare ceremony is celebrated at night. On the third day, the bridal couple go five times round the Bombax post set up at the bridegroom’s house, and take their seats on the dais. Rice is thrown, and betel leaves and areca-nuts are distributed. On the fourth and fifth days, the same items are gone through at the bride’s house.

In the case of the remarriage of a widow, the bride and bridegroom take their seats, and rice is thrown over them. The dhare water is not poured over their hands. Sometimes, the marriage consists merely in the holding of a feast.

The dead are buried in a sitting posture, with the legs crossed tailor-wise. Before the grave is filled in, a small quantity of cooked rice is put in the mouth of the corpse. On the third day, a small mound is made over the grave, and food offered to it. The final death ceremonies take place on the eleventh day, and consist in the sprinkling of holy water, and giving presents to Brahmans. By the prosperous members of the community, a caste feast is given on the twelfth day.

The main occupation of the Kudubis is shifting (kumari) cultivation. Some, however, are employed in the preparation of cutch (catechu) from the wood of Acacia Catechu, of which the following account is given by Mr. H. A. Latham31 of the Forest Department. “In South Canara, one of our most profitable sources of revenue is the extract obtained by boiling the wood of the catechu tree. The tree is confined to the laterite plateaux in the Coondapur taluk, situated as a rule within 15 miles of the sea, and gradually dies out as we proceed southwards, until near Coondapur itself the tree will hardly grow. It appears again to a small extent in the Kasaragod taluk 80 miles further south, but no extraction is done there now. The extract is astringent, and, besides the other uses it is put to, it appears to be a remedy for diarrhoea, dysentery, and diabetes. It is, however, chiefly used for chewing with pan supari. Locally, it is used pure in small pieces, the size of a pea, and rolled up with the other ingredients in the betel leaf to form a chew. In Mysore, the catechu bought by the merchants from us is dissolved in water, and the areca-nut is, after being boiled and sliced, steeped in the solution, and then put out in the sun on mats to dry, this operation being repeated until sufficient catechu has been taken up to form a red, shining, semi-transparent film, through which the ruminated albumen of the areca-nut is just visible; the brighter the red colour so obtained, the better the quality of the nut. As we sell it, the catechu is in the shape of hard round balls covered with a whitish dust, the ashes with which the balls are covered to prevent them adhering to one another. On breaking, the interior of the balls should show a vitreous conchoidal fracture similar to quartz, and be of a warm reddish brown colour. The manufacture of catechu is carried out under departmental supervision by a contractor, who is paid on the outturn, and is bound, for the actual boiling, to employ only Kudubis. So far as the department is concerned, a locality where there are plenty of catechu trees is selected, and all trees over 6 inches in diameter are allowed to be cut. The contractor has to engage the Kudubis and select the site for the ovens, conveniently situated both for water and firewood, and also as close to the majority of catechu trees as he can get it. The site usually selected is a rice field, for which the contractor may have to pay a small rent. Generally, however, no rent is charged, as the owner is only too glad to have the ashes, obtained in extracting, to plough into his field. On this field the encampment is made, consisting of rows of thatched huts made of grass and bamboos. The first thing to do is to erect the ovens, known as wolle. These are made by a party of men a fortnight or so before the main body come. The ordinary soil of the field is used, and the ovens are built to a height of 18 inches, and placed about 5 yards in front of the huts at irregular distances, 1 or 2 to each hut. The oven is an oblong, about 2 feet wide by 3 feet long, with two openings above about 1 foot in diameter, on which the boilers, common ovoid earthenware pots (madike) are placed. The opening for the fire is placed on the windward side, and extends to the far side of the second opening in the top of the oven, the smoke, etc., escaping through the spaces between the boilers and the oven. The earth forms the hearth. To proceed to the details of the working, the guard and the watcher go out the first thing in the morning, and mark trees for the Kudubis to cut, noting the name of the man, the girth and length of the workable stem and branches. The Kudubi then cuts the tree, and chips off the sapwood, a ring about 1 inch wide, with his axe, and brings it into the camp, where a Forester is stationed, who measures the length and girth of the pieces, and takes the weight of wood brought in. The Kudubi then takes it off to his shelter, and proceeds to chip it. In the afternoon he may have to go and get firewood, but generally he can get enough firewood in a day to serve for several days’ boiling. So much for the men’s work. Mrs. Kudubi puts the chips (chakkai) into the pot nearest the mouth of the oven, and fills it up with water, putting a large flat wooden spoon on the top, partly to keep the chips down, and, lighting her fire, allows it to boil. As soon as this occurs, the pot is tipped into a wooden trough (marige) placed alongside the oven, and the pot with the chips is refilled. This process is repeated six times. The contents of the trough are put into the second pot, which is used purely for evaporating. The contents of this pot are replenished from the trough with a cocoanut bailer (chippu) until all the extract obtained from the chips has been evaporated to a nearly solid residue. The contents are then poured into a broken half pot, and allowed to dry naturally, being stirred at intervals to enable the drying to proceed evenly. The extract (rasa) is of a yellowish brown colour when stirred, the surface being of rich red-brown. This stirring is done with a one-sided spoon (satuga). To make the balls, the woman covers her hands with a little wood ash to prevent the extract adhering to them, and takes up as much catechu as she can close her hands on, and presses it into shape. These balls are paid for at Rs. 1–2–0 per 100, and are counted before the Forester next morning, and delivered to the contractor. This ends the work done by the Kudubis. When the balls have been counted, they are rolled by special men engaged for the purpose on a board sprinkled with a little wood ash, and this is repeated daily for three or four days to consolidate them. After this daily rolling, the balls are spread out in the receiving shed to dry, in a single layer for the first day or two, and after that they may be in two layers. After the fourth or fifth day’s rolling, they are put in a pit, and covered with wood ashes on which a little water is poured, and, on being taken out the next day, are gone over, and all balls which are soft or broken are then rejected, the good ones being put on the upper storey of the stone shed to get quite hard and dry.”

Before the commencement of operations, the Kudubis select an Areca Catechu tree, and place a sword, an axe, and a cocoanut on the ground near it. They prostrate themselves before the tree, with hands uplifted, burn incense, and break cocoanuts. The success of the operations is believed to depend on the good will of a deity named Siddedevaru. Before the Kudubis commence work, they pray to him, and make a vow that, if they are successful, they will offer a fowl. Failure to produce good balls of catechu is attributed to the wrath of the deity. At the close of the work, if it has prospered, a kalasam (brass vessel) is set up, and fowls are killed. Sometimes, goats are sacrificed, cooked food and meat are placed on leaves round the kalasam, and after worshipping, the viands are partaken of.

Like some other castes, the Kudubis do not eat new rice until after the Hosthu (new crop) festival. Just before reaping, a few plants are plucked, laid in the field, and worshipped. The ears are then cut, and carried to their houses, where they are tied to pillars or to the roof.

There are, among the Kudubis, magicians called Gardi, who are sought after during illness. To show his magical skill, a Gardi should be able to cut a single grain of rice in twain with a big knife.

Kudugudukaran.—The Kudugudukarans or Kuduguduppukarans are a mendicant caste, who beat a small hour-glass-shaped drum while begging from house to house.

Kudumala (cake).—An exogamous sept of Bonthuk Savara, Gamalla, and Madiga.

Kudumba.—A sub-division of Savara.

Kudumban.—A title sometimes used by Pallans, the headman among whom goes by this name.

Kudumi or Kudumikkar.—The Kudumis are mainly found in the sea-board taluks of Parur, Shertally, and Ambalapuzha, in Travancore. The name is believed to be a corruption of the Sanskrit Kudumbi, meaning one connected with a family. By others it is derived from a Konkani word, meaning Sudra. The popular name for the caste is Idiya (pounder), in reference to the occupation of pounding rice. Kadiya, apparently derived from Ghatiyal, or a person possessed, is a term of reproach. The title Chetti is now assumed by members of the caste. But the well-known title is Muppan, or elder, conferred on some respectable families by former Rajas of Cochin. The authority of the Trippanithoray Muppan is supreme in all matters relating to the government of the caste. But his authority has passed, in Travancore, to the Turavur Muppan, who has supreme control over the twenty-two villages of Kudimis. The belief that the Muppans differ from the rest of the Kudimis, so as to make them a distinct sept, does not appear to be based on fact. Nor is it true that the Muppans represent the most ancient families of Konkana Sudras, who emigrated to Kerala independently of the Konkanis. Chief among them is the Koratti Muppan of Trippanithoray, who has, among other privileges, those of the drinking vessel and lighted lamp conferred on him by the Cochin rulers. Every Kudumi village has a local Muppan. A few families enjoy the surname Kammatti, which is believed to be of agricultural origin.

The Kudumis speak a corrupt form of the Konkani dialect of Marathi. They are the descendants of these Konkana Sudras, who emigrated from Goa on account of the persecutions of the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, and sought refuge along with their masters, the Konkana Brahmans, on the coast of Travancore and Cochin. Most of them set out as the domestic servants of the latter, but a few were independent traders and agriculturists. Two varieties of rice grain, chethivirippu and malarnellu, brought by them from the Konkan, are still sown in Travancore. One of the earliest occupations, in which they engaged, was the manufacture of fireworks, and, as they were bold and sturdy, they were enlisted as soldiers by the chieftains of Malabar. Relics of the existence of military training-grounds are still to be found in many of their houses.

On a raised mud platform in the court-yard of the Kudumi’s house, the tulasi (Ocimum sanctum) or pipal (Ficus religiosa) is invariably grown. Fish and flesh, except beef, are eaten, and intoxicating liquor is rather freely imbibed. The women wear coloured cloths, usually black, and widows are not obliged to be clad in white. A gold mukkutti is an indispensable nose ornament. Tattooing is largely resorted to by the women.

The occupation of the Kudumis is service in the houses of the Konkana Brahmans. They also prepare beaten rice, act as boatmen, porters, and agricultural labourers, clean tanks and wells, and thatch houses. The Muppans manufacture, and give displays of fireworks, which have a local reputation at the great Konkani temple of Turavur in the Shertallay taluk.

They worship at the temples of the Konkana Brahmans, as well as their own. But they are not pronounced Vaishnavites, like the Brahmans, as the teachings of Madhvacharya did not reach the lower ranks of Hinduism. On Sunday only one meal is taken. Maddu or Madan is their chief minor deity, and water-sheds are erected to propitiate him. Brahma is adored for nine days in the month of Kumbham (February-March) from the full-moon day. The pipal tree is scrupulously worshipped, and a lighted lamp placed beside it every evening.

A woman, at the menstrual period, is considered impure for four days, and she stands at a distance of seven feet, closing her mouth and nostrils with the palm of the hand, as the breath of such a woman is believed to have a contaminating effect. Her shadow, too, should not fall on any one. The marriage of girls should take place before puberty. Violation of this rule would be punished by the excommunication of the family. During the marriage ceremony, the tulasi plant is worshipped, and the bride and bridegroom husk a small quantity of rice. The mother of the bridegroom prepares a new oven within the house, and places a new pot beside it. The contracting couple, assisted by five women, throw five handfuls of rice into the pot, which is cooked. They then put a quantity of paddy (unhusked rice) into a mortar, and after carefully husking it, make rice flour from it. A quantity of betel and rice is then received by the bride and bridegroom from four women. The tali is tied round the bride’s neck by the bridegroom, and one of his companions then takes a thread, and fastens it to their legs. On the fifth day of the marriage rites, a piece of cloth, covering the breasts, is tied round the bride’s neck, and the nose is pierced for the insertion of the mukkutti.

Inheritance is generally from father to son (makkathayam), but, in a few families, marumakkathayam (inheritance through the female line) is observed. Widow remarriage is common, and the bridegroom is generally a widower. Only the oldest members of a family are cremated, the corpses of others being buried. The Kudumis own a common burial-ground in all places, where they reside in large numbers. Pollution lasts for sixteen days.

The Kudumis and the indigenous Sudras of Travancore do not accept food from each other. They never wear the sacred thread, and may not enter the inner courtyard of a Brahmanical temple. They remove pollution by means of water sprinkled over them by a Konkana Brahman. Their favourite amusement is the koladi, in which ten or a dozen men execute a figure dance, armed with sticks, which they strike together keeping time to the music of songs relating to Krishna, and Bhagavati.32

Kudumi.—Concerning the Kudumi medicine-men. I gather33 that “the Kudumi is a necessary adjunct to the village. His office implies a more or less intimate acquaintance with the curative herbs and roots in the forests, and their proper application to the different ailments resulting from venomous bites or stings. It is the Kudumi who procures leeches for the gouty Reddi or the phlegmatic Moodeliar, when he finds that some blood-letting will benefit their health. He prays over sprains and cricks, and binds the affected parts with the sacred cord made of the hair taken from the patient’s head. He is an expert practitioner at phlebotomy, and many old Anglo-Indians domiciled in the country will recall the Kudumi when his services were in demand to heal some troublesome limb by the letting of blood. This individual is believed to possess a magic influence over wild animals and snakes, and often comes out in public as a dexterous snake-charmer. It is principally in the case of poisonous bites that the Kudumi’s skill is displayed. It is partly by the application of medicinal leaves ground into a paste, and partly by exercising his magical powers, that he is believed to cure the most dangerous bites of snakes and other venomous animals.”

The Kudumi often belongs to the Irula or Jogi caste.

Kudumi.—The kudumi is the tuft of hair, which is left when the head of Hindus is shaved. “For some time past,” Bishop Caldwell writes,34 “a considerable number of European missionaries in the Tamil country have come to regard the wearing of the tuft as a badge of Hinduism, and hence require the natives employed in their missions to cut off the kudumi as a sine qu non of their retention of mission employment”. The kudumi, as the Bishop points out, would doubtless have been admired by our grandfathers, who wore a kudumi themselves, viz., the queue which followed the wig. “The Vellalas of the present day,” he continues, “almost invariably wear the kudumi, but they admit that their forefathers wore their hair long. Some of the Maravars wear the kudumi, and others do not. It makes a difference in their social position. The kudumi, which was originally a sign of Aryan nationality, and then of Aryan respectability, has come to be a sign of respectability in general, and hence, whilst the poorer Maravars generally wear their hair long, the wealthier members of the caste generally wear the kudumi. The Pallars in Tinnevelly used to wear their hair long, but most of them have recently adopted the kudumi, and the wearing of the kudumi is now spreading even among the Pariahs. In short, wherever higher notions of civilization, and a regard for appearances extend, the use of the kudumi seems to extend also”. Even a Toda has been known to visit the Nanjengod temple at the base of the Nilgiris, to pray for offspring, and return with a shaved head.

Kudumo.—See Kurumo.

Kukkundi.—Kukkundi or Kokkundia is the name of a small class of Oriya cultivators and fishermen, who are said to be expert in spearing fish with a long spear.

Kukru.—Kukru or Kukkuro, meaning dog, occurs as the name of a sept of Bottada, Domb, and Omanaito. The equivalent Kukkala is a sept of the Orugunta Kapus and Boyas.

Kulala.—Some members of the potter caste style themselves Kulala vamsam, as being a more dignified caste name than Kusavan, and claim descent from Kulalan, the son of Brahma.

Kulanji.—A sub-division of Maran.

Kulappan.—A synonym of Kusavan.

Kulasekhara.—A sub-division of Satanis, who claim descent from the Vaishnavite saint Kulasekhara Alvar.

Kulloi.—A sub-division of Gadaba.

Kulodondia.—A title, meaning headman of the caste, used by some Tiyoros.

Kuluvadi.—A synonym of Kudubi.

Kumda (red gourd: Cucurbita maxima).—A sept of Omanaito.

Kummara, Kumbara, Kumbaro.—“The potters of the Madras Presidency,” Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,35 “outside the Tamil country and Malabar, are called Kummara in Telugu, Kumbaro in Uriya, and Kumbara in Canarese, all these names being corrupted forms of the Sanskrit word Kumbhakara, pot-maker (ku, earth). In social position they are considered to be a superior class of Sudras. The Telugu Kummaras were cooks under the ancient kings, and many of them still work in that capacity in Sudra houses. The Kumbaros are purely Vaishnavites and employ Boishnob priests, while the Kummaras and Kumbaras call in Brahmans. Widow remarriage is allowed among the Uriya section alone. All of them eat flesh.” Concerning the potter classes, Mr. Stuart writes further36 that “Kummaras or Kusavans (q.v.) are the potters of the country, and were probably at one time a single caste, but are now divided into Telugus, Northern Tamilians and Southern Tamilians, who have similar customs, but will not intermarry or eat together. The northern and southern potters differ in that the former use a wheel of earthenware, and the latter one made of wood. The Telugu potters are usually followers of Vishnu and the Tamilians of Siva, some being also Lingayats, and therefore burying their dead. All the potters claim an impure Brahmanical descent, telling the following story regarding their origin. A learned Brahman, after long study, discovered the day and hour in which he might beget a mighty offspring. For this auspicious time he waited long, and at its approach started for the house of his selected bride, but floods detained him, and, when he should have been with her, he was stopping in a potter’s house. He was, however, resolved not to lose the opportunity, and by the daughter of his host he had a son, the celebrated Salivahana. This hero in his infancy developed a genius for pottery, and used to amuse himself by making earthen figures of mounted warriors, which he stored in large numbers in a particular place. After a time Vikramarka invaded Southern India, and ordered the people to supply him with pots for his army. They applied to Salivahana, who miraculously infused life into his clay figures, and led them to battle against the enemy, whom he defeated, and the country (Mysore) fell into his hands. Eventually he was left as its ruler, and became the ancestor of the early Mysore Rajas. Such is the story current among the potters, who generally believe that they are his progeny. They all live in a state of poverty and ignorance, and are considered of a low rank among other Sudras.”

At the village of Karigeri in the North Arcot district, there is carried on by some of the local potters an interesting industry in the manufacture of ornamental pottery, for which a medal was awarded at the Delhi Darbar Exhibition. “The soft pottery,” Surgeon-General G. Bidie writes, “receives a pretty green glaze, and is made into vases and other receptacles, some of which are imitations of Delft ware and other European manufactures of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; patterns having been introduced by Collectors.37 Some of the water-bottles are double, the outer shell being pierced so as to allow air to circulate around the inner.” The history of this little industry is, I gather, as follows.38 “Mr. Robinson, a Collector in the sixties of the last century, started the manufacture of tea-pots, milk jugs, and sugar bowls with a dark green glaze, but his dream of supplying all India with chota hazri (early tea) sets was not realised. Then came Mr. Whiteside, and the small Grecian vases and the like are due to his and Mrs. Barlow’s influence. He had accurate wooden models made by his well-known wood-carvers. He further altered the by no means pretty green glaze, and reddish browns and yellows were produced. Then came Mr. Stuart, who pushed the sale at exhibitions and railway stations. He also gave the potters models of fancy flower-pots for in-door use. The pottery is exceedingly fragile, and unsuitable for rough usage. Unglazed water and butter coolers were the earliest and best articles the potters produced.”

Concerning the Kumbaras of South Canara, Mr. Stuart writes,39 that they “seem to be a branch of the Telugu and Canarese potter castes, but many of them have Tulu for their home speech, and follow the aliyasantana rule of inheritance (in the female line). Some of them officiate as pujaris (priests) in the temples of the local deities or demons, and are employed to perform funeral rites. Unlike the Tamil potters, the Kumbaras do not wear the sacred thread. Infant and widow marriages are very common. On the birth of a child, the family observe pollution for fifteen days, and on the sixteenth day the village barber and dhobi (washerman) get holy water from the village temple, and purify the family by sprinkling it on their head. There are two endogamous sub-divisions, the Kannada and Tulu Kumbara, and each of these is divided into exogamous balis. Their ordinary title is Handa, which is also sometimes used as the name of the caste. In Uppinangadi a superior kind of pottery is made (by the Kannada Kumbaras). It is made of clay powdered, mixed with water, and strained. It is then poured into a pit specially prepared for the purpose, where it is allowed to remain for about a month, by which time it becomes quite dry. It is then removed, powdered, moistened, and made into balls, which are one by one placed upon a wheel and fashioned into various kinds of vessels, including vases, goglets, tea-pots, cups and saucers. The vessels are dried in the shade for about eight days, after which they are baked for two days, when they are ready for sale. They have a glazed appearance, and are sometimes beautifully ornamented.”

In the Census Report, 1901, Vodari, Bandi, and Mulya are returned as sub-castes of the Canarese potters.

The Kumbaras of the Mysore Province are, Mr. T. Ananda Row informs us,40 “potters and tile-makers. There are two great divisions among them mutually exclusive, the Kannada and Telugu, the former claiming superiority over the latter. The Telugu Kumbaras trace their descent to Salivahana, and wear the sacred thread. They abstain from eating meat. There are both Saivites and Vaishnavites among Kumbaras. The former acknowledge the Smartha Brahman’s sway. Polygamy is permitted, and divorce can only be for adultery. Widows are not permitted to remarry. This caste also includes dyers known as Nilagara (nil, indigo). It is curious that these two trades, quite distinct from one another, are followed by persons of the same family according to inclination. The Kumbaras worship all the Hindu deities, but pay special reverence to their kiln. They are recognised members of the village hierarchy.” Of the Mysore Kumbaras, Mr. L. Rice writes41 that the “pot-makers were not stationed in every village, one or two being generally sufficient for a hobli or taraf. He furnished pots for all the ryats (agriculturists) of his taraf, and was entitled to ayam in an equal proportion as the other Ayagar (hereditary village officers). For liberty of exposing his wares for sale to travellers in the markets, he paid chakra-kanke to the Sirkar (Government).” At Channapatna, in Mysore, I purchased for three annas a large collection of articles of pottery made out of black and brown clay. They are said to be made at a village near Channapatna, and consist of rudely ornamented miniature lamps of various patterns, models of native kitchen-ranges, pots, tobacco-pipes, dishes, etc. At the Mysore census, 1891, some potters described themselves as Gundu (round) Brahmans.

The Oriya Kumbaro (kumbho, a pot) are said to practice both infant and adult marriage, and to permit the remarriage of widows. A sub-caste, named Bhande, derives its name from the Sanskrit bhanda, a pot. The Madras Museum possesses a quaint series of painted clay figures, made by a potter at Venkatarayapalle in Ganjam, which are set up in shrines on the seashore, and worshipped by fishermen. They include the following:—

Bengali Babu.—Wears a hat, and rides on a black horse. He blesses the fishermen, secures large hauls of fish for them, and guards them against danger when out fishing.

Rajamma.—A female figure, with a sword in her right hand, riding on a black elephant. She blesses barren women with children, and favours her devotees with big catches when they go out fishing.

Veyyi Kannalu Ammavaru, or the goddess of a thousand eyes, represented by a pot pierced with many holes, in which a gingelly (Sesamum) oil light is burnt. She attends to the general welfare of the fishing folk.

Further details relating to the South Indian potters will be found under the heading Kusavan.

Kumbi (potter).—A sub-division of Savara.

Kummidichatti.—Recorded, in the North Arcot Manual, as a sub-division of Vellalas, who carried the chatty, or pot of fire, at Vellala funerals. In Tamil, the name kumbidu chatti is applied to a pot, in which fire is always kept burning. Such a pot is used for obtaining fire for domestic purposes, and by old people, to keep themselves warm in cold weather.

Kumpani.—Returned by some Kurubas at the Census, 1901. The name refers to the East India Company, which was known as Kumpani Jahan (or John Company).

Kunapilli.—A synonym of Padigarajulu, a class of mendicants, who beg from Padma Sales.

Kunbi.—Recorded, at times of Census, as a Bombay cultivating caste. (See Bombay Gazetteer, XVIII, Part I, 284.) It is also a sub-division of Marathis, generally agriculturists, in the Sandur State.

Kuncheti.—A sub-division of Kapu.

Kunchigar.—The Kunchigars, Kunchitigas, or Kunchiliyans, are a class of cultivators in the Salem district, who speak Canarese, and have migrated southward to the Tamil country. Their tradition concerning their origin is that “a certain Nawab, who lived north of the Tungabadra river, sent a peon (orderly) to search for ghi (clarified butter), twelve years old. In his travels south of the river, the peon met a lovely maid drawing water, who supplied his want. Struck by her beauty, he watched her bathing place, and stole one hair which fell from her head in bathing, which he took to the Nawab. The latter conceived the idea of marrying the girl, and sent an embassy, which was so far successful that the girl and her family came to his residence, and erected a marriage pandal (booth). Subsequently they repented, and, thinking that the marriage would be a mÉsalliance (the Nawab was probably a Muhammadan), fled in the night, leaving a dog in the pandal. In their flight they came to the Tungabadra, which was in full flood, and, eager to escape, they consented to marry the maiden to a Kurumban who ferried them across the river. The Kunchigars are the descendants of this girl and the Kurumban. When running away they, in their haste, forgot a little girl, and left her behind them. She was seized by the Nawab, who thirsted for vengeance, and thrown into the air so as to fall on knives placed so as to transfix her. Some miracle interposed to save her, and the Are Kunchigars of Mysore are her descendants.”42

Kunchu (a tassel or bunch).—A sub-division of Okkiliyans, and of Koravas who make brushes used by weavers. Kuncham, meaning either a measure used in measuring grain or a tassel, occurs as an exogamous sept of Madiga and Mala.

Kundanakkaran.—An occupational Tamil name for those who cut, enchase, and set precious stones.

Kundaton.—A name for chunam (lime) workers in Malabar.

Kundu (nest).—A sub-division of the Irulas of South Arcot.

Kungiliyan.—A title of some Kallans.

Kunjamma.—A name for Elayad females.

Kunnuvan.—The Kunnuvans are described, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, as “the principal cultivating caste on the Palni hills. They speak Tamil. Their own traditions say that their ancestors were Vellalans from the Dharapuram and Kangayam country in Coimbatore, who went up the Palnis some four or five centuries ago because the low country was so disturbed by war (other accounts say devastated by famine), and they call themselves Kunnuva Vellalas, and state that the name Kunnuva is derived from Kunnur village in Coimbatore. Other traditions add that the Virupakshi and Ayyakudi poligars (feudal chieftains) helped them to settle on their land in the hills, which up to then had only been cultivated by indolent Pulaiyans. The Kunnuvans ousted these latter, and eventually turned them into predial serfs—a position from which they have hardly yet freed themselves. In every village is a headman, called the Mannadi, who has the usual powers. The caste is divided into three endogamous sections, called Vaguppus, namely, Periya (big) Kunnuvar, Kunnuvar, and Chinna (little) Kunnuvar. They will eat together. The dress of the women is characteristic. They wear rough metal necklets, brass bangles and anklets, silver bangles on their upper arms, and rings in their noses; and they knot their upper cloths in front across the breasts, and bind them round their waists in a sort of bandage. White cloths used to be forbidden them, but are common enough nowadays. [It was noted by Mr. M. J. Walhouse, in 1881,43 in connection with the Kuneivar on the lower slopes of the Palnis, that women were never allowed to wear white clothes. None could tell why, but it was said that, within memory, women offending against the rule had been cast from a high rock.] The claim of a man to his paternal aunt’s daughter is rigidly maintained, and the evasions of the rule allowed by other castes when the ages of the parties are disproportionate are not permitted. Consequently, a boy sometimes marries more than one of these cousins of his, and, until he reaches manhood, those of them who are much older than he is live with other men of the caste, the boy being the nominal father of any children which may be born. A boy of nine or ten may thus be the putative father of a child of two or three. [In this connection, Mr. J. H. Nelson writes44 that Madura Collectors have sometimes been puzzled not a little by evidence adduced to show that a child of three or four years was the son or daughter of a child of ten or twelve.] When a man has no children except a girl, and his family is in danger of coming to an end, a curious practice, called keeping up the house, is followed. The girl cannot be claimed by her maternal uncle’s son as usual, but may be married to one of the door-posts of the house. A silver bangle is put on her right wrist instead of a tali (marriage badge) round her neck; she is allowed to consort with any man of her caste; her earnings go to her parents; she becomes their heir, and, if she has a son, the boy inherits their property through her. The custom is a close parallel to the system of making girls Basavis, which is so common in the western part of Bellary and the neighbouring parts of Dharwar and Mysore. Divorce is readily obtained, on the petitioner paying the amount of the bride-price, but the children all go to the father. DivorcÉes and widows may remarry, and they do so with a frequency which has made the caste a byword among its neighbours. The Kunnuvans worship the usual deities of the plains. They generally burn their dead.”

It is recorded, in the Manual of the Madura district, that the Kunnuvans of the western parts of the Palni hills differ in many of their customs from those of the eastern. With both divisions, incompatibility of temper is a sufficient ground for divorce, and a husband can at any time get rid of his wife by taking her to her parents together with a pair of oxen if he be an eastern Kunnuvan, and a vatti or round metal dish if he be a western. On the other hand, if the wife dislikes her partner, she may leave him upon giving up her golden jewels—the silver she retains—and may, according to her pleasure, either go back to her father’s house, or marry another man. In the west, however, she takes with her only such property as she may have possessed at the time of her marriage. Her children must all be made over to the deserted husband; and, if she be pregnant when she goes away, and a child be born while she is living with her second husband, it must nevertheless be given up to the first, upon payment of the expense of rearing it if in the east, upon mere demand in the west. In this way a woman may legally marry any number of men in succession, though she may not have two husbands at one and the same time. She may, however, bestow favours on paramours without hindrance, provided they be of equal caste with her. On the other hand, a man may indulge in polygamy to any extent he pleases, and the wealthier Kunnuvans keep several wives as servants, especially for agricultural purposes. The religion of the Kunnuvans appear to be the Saiva, but they worship their mountain god Valapan with far more devotedness than any other.

The name Kunnuvan is derived by Mr. Nelson from kunru, a hill.

Kunta.—A division of Kuravas of Travancore, who derive their name from their first ancestor having appeared from a sacrificial altar (homakunta).

Kunte (pond).—A gotra of Kurni.

Kurakula (vegetable class).—An occupational title, returned at times of census, by Oriya and Telugu cultivators in Ganjam and Vizagapatam.

Kurava.—For the following note on the Kuravas of Travancore, I am indebted to Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar.

There are more than 50,000 Kuravas in Travancore, of whom the largest numbers live in the taluks of Kunnatur, Chirayinkil, and Kottarakkara. They were originally divided into four branches, called Kunta Kuravan, Pum Kuravan, Kakka Kuravan, and Pandi Kuravan. Almost all the Kuravas of this country belong to the first of these sections. The Pum Kuravas are believed to have become a different caste, called Velan. Similarly, the Kakka Kuravans have crystallised into a distinct caste named Kakkalan. Pandi Kuravas speak Tamil, and are chiefly found in Nanchinad, being there known as Nanchi Kuravas. The Kunta Kuravas attribute the origin of their name to the appearance of their first ancestor from a sacrificial altar (homakunta). They are known in some places, such as Nedumangad, by the name of Muli Kuravas, probably because they emit a drawling noise when called. It has been suggested that the Kuravas are one of the early tribes of Southern India, and one with the Kurumbas of the Tamil country, and closely allied to the Vedans. Such of them as still preserve their old practices, and do not mingle with the low-country people, are known as Malan Kuravas. They form one of the sixteen hill-tribes mentioned in the Keralolpatti. About three centuries ago, Nanchinad in Travancore was governed by a line of Kurava kings, called Nanchi Kuravans.

The Kuravas are prÆdial slaves, who were liable in olden days to be bought and sold along with the land they occupied. They are not regarded as so faithful as the Pulayas. Their homes are, like those of the Pulayas, low thatched sheds. They eat meat, and drink toddy and arrack. Their women tie their hair in the centre of the head, and not behind like the Pulayas. Tattooing is very largely resorted to.

Though Hindu deities are worshipped, the Chavars, or spirits of the dead, receive the most particular attention. The days considered to be of religious importance are Onam in the month of Chingam, the Ailiyam and Makam stars in Kanni, the 28th of Makaram, the Bharani star in Kumbham and Minam, and the first day of Audi. The special deities of the Kuravas are called Katiyatikal or mountain gods, whom they worship on these days with an offering. On the 30th of each month, and on days of festivity, all the Kuravas take beaten rice and toddy, and offer them with a view to propitiating their ancestors. Small sheds are dedicated to Chavars, where the priest, called Piniyali or sorcerer, is the only important person. The Kuravas have among themselves a special class of exorcisers, whom they call Rarakkar (literally Vicharakkar), or those who make enquiries about the occurrence of diseases. The Rarakkaran first becomes possessed, and cries out the names of all the mountain deities in the vicinity, violently shaking every limb of his body as he does so. Some of these deities are Chavar, Ayiravalli, Chattan, Pakavati, Matan, Murti, Taivam, Pakavan, Appuppan, and Maruta. He then takes a handful of paddy (unhusked rice) from a quantity placed in front of him, and, after counting, decides, upon the chance of one or two grains remaining in the end after each of them is removed, whether some one in the house is not attacked by, or liable to the attack of some evil spirit. The same process is repeated, in order to find out the proper remedy for appeasing them. The Rarakkaran at the end proceeds out of the house in a northerly direction. The Urali, or headman of Peruvirutti Mala in Kunnattur, becomes possessed on the evening of the third Monday of Minam, and foretells coming events for such Kuravas as are assembled.

The headmen of the Kuravas are called Urali and Panikkan, and they must be paid a fee of not less than ten chuckrams on all religious occasions. The priest is known as Kaikkaran.

The Kuravas observe two forms of marriage ceremonial, viz., the tali-kettu before puberty, and sambandham. At the former, an elderly Kuratti (Kurava woman) ties the minnu or wedding ornament round the neck of the girl. When a Kurava wishes to marry a girl, he must pay twelve fanams to her maternal uncle. Widows remarry, and divorce, though void without the consent of the headmen, is easily effected. The form of inheritance is marumakkathayam (in the female line).

The dead are buried, and death pollution is observed for twelve days.

The Kuravas are obliged to stand, according to some at forty-eight, and according to others at sixty-four paces from a high-caste Hindu. They regard themselves as higher in the social scale than Pulaiyas and Paraiyans.

Kuravan.—Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a sub-division of Nayar.

Kureshi.—Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a territorial name returned by Muhammadans, Kureshi being a village in Arabia; also one of the sub-divisions of the Navayat tribe.

Kuricchan.—The Kuricchans, or Kuricchiyans, are described by Mr. H. A. Stuart45 as “the hunting caste of Malabar. Some derive the word from kurikke, to mark or assign, as they say that this caste fixed the hunting days. This must be the production of a highly imaginative person. Dr. Gundert thinks it is derived from, or allied to, Canarese Koracha (Korava). I would rather say it is allied to that word, and that both are derivatives of kuru, a hill (cf. Tamil kurinchi), kurunilam, etc., and Malayalam kurissi, a suffix in names of hilly localities. With the exception of 2,240 persons in Kottayam, and 373 in Kurumbranad, both bordering on Wynaad, all the Kuricchans are found in Wynaad. They are excellent bowmen, and played an important part in the Pyche Raja’s rebellion at the beginning of the (nineteenth) century. The Kuricchans affect a great contempt for Brahmans. When a Brahman has been in a Kuricchan’s house, the moment he leaves it, the place where he was seated is besmeared with cowdung to remove the pollution! They follow inheritance in the male line in some places, and in the female line in others. Their god is called Muttappan, which literally means grandfather. They now subsist mostly by punam (shifting) cultivation.”

In the Gazetteer of Malabar, the Kuricchiyans (kuricchi, hill country) are described as “a jungle tribe of punam cultivators, found in the Wynaad and the slopes of the ghats, north of Calicut. They consider themselves polluted by the approach of other hill tribes and by the touch of Tiyans and Kammalans; and their women require water sanctified by a Brahman to purify them. They perform the tali kettu ceremony before puberty, and say that they follow the marumakkathayam family system (of inheritance in the female line), though the wife usually goes to live with her husband in a new hut, and the husband has to pay a price for his bride. They act as oracles during the great festival at Kottiyur. The performer becomes inspired after sitting for some time gazing into a vessel containing gingelly oil, and holding in his hand a curious-shaped wand of gold about a foot and a half long, and hollow.”

It is recorded by Mr. Logan,46 in connection with a disturbance in Malabar early in the last century, that “the first overt act occurred at Panamaram in Wynad. Some five days previous to 11th October 1802, one of the proscribed rebel leaders, Edachenna Kungan, chanced to be present at the house of a Kurchiyan, when a belted peon came up, and demanded some paddy (rice) from the Kurchiyan. Edachenna Kungan replied by killing the peon, and the Kurchiyans (a jungle tribe) in that neighbourhood, considering themselves thus compromised with the authorities, joined Edachenna Kungan. This band, numbering about 150, joined by Edachenna Kungan and his two brothers, then laid their plans for attacking the military post at Panamaram, held by a detachment of 70 men of the 1st Battalion of the 4th Bombay Infantry under Captain Dickenson and Lieutenant Maxwell. They first seized sentry’s musket, and killed him with arrows. Captain Dickenson killed and wounded with his pistols, bayonet, and sword, 15 of the Kurchiyars, 5 of whom died. The whole of the detachment was massacred.”

In a note on an inspection of a Kuriccha settlement, Mr. F. Fawcett recorded that the houses were close to some rice-fields cultivated by the Kuricchas. The Mappillas, however, took the crop as interest on an outstanding debt. One house was noted as having walls of wattle and mud, a thatched roof, and verandah. In the eastern verandah were a bow and arrows, a fresh head of paddy (unhusked rice), some withered grain, etc., dedicated to the god Muttappan. A man requested Mr. Fawcett not to approach a hut, in which a meal was being cooked, as he would pollute it. A child, a few months old, with a ring in each ear, and a ring of shell or bone on a string to avert the evil eye, was lying in a cradle suspended from the roof. Both by Mr. Fawcett and others, the Kuricchas are given the character of remarkably innocent, truthful, and trustworthy people.

For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. E. Fernandez. The Kuricchas usually live by cultivation, but it is considered a great stroke of good luck to obtain a post as postal runner or amsham peon. When on a hunting expedition, they are armed with bows and arrows, or occasionally with guns, and surround a hill. Some of them then enter the jungle with dogs, and drive the game, which is killed by the dogs, or shot with arrows or bullets. The flesh of the spoil is divided up between the sylvan deity, the jenmi (landlord), the dogs, the man who put the first arrow or bullet into the animal, and the other Kuricchas. In some places, the Kuricchas use arrows for shooting fresh-water fish. The principle is described by Mr. Fawcett as being the same as in the Greenlander’s spear, and the dart used with a blow-pipe on the west coast for catching sharks.

From Malabar I have received two forms of blowpipe, used for killing fish, birds, and small game. In one, the tube consists of a piece of straight slender bamboo about 4' 6 in length; the other, which is about 7' in length, is made from the stem of the areca palm. In the latter, two pieces of the stem are placed face to face, so that a complete tube is made. Round the exterior, thin cloth or tree-bark, steeped in gum, is tightly wrapped, so that the two halves are kept together. Sometimes the blow-pipe is decorated with painted designs. The arrow consists of a reed shaft and iron arrow-head, which, by means of a socket, fits loosely on the conical end of the shaft. A piece of string, several feet long, is tied round the arrow-head, and wound closely round the shaft. When the arrow is discharged from the tube, and enters, for example, the body of a fish, the string is uncoiled from the shaft, which floats on the surface of the water, and points out the position of the fish, which is hauled up.

A Paniyan, Adiyan, Kurumba, or Pulayan, approaching within a recognised distance of a Kuriccha, conveys pollution, which must be removed by a bath, holy water, and the recitation of mantrams (consecrated formulÆ). The Kuricchas address Brahmans as Tambrakal, and Nayars as Tamburan. They are themselves addressed by Paniyans and Adiyans as Acchan and Pappan, by Jen Kurumbas as Muttappan, and by Pulayans as Perumannom.

In addition to Muttappan, the Kuricchas worship various other deities, such as Karimbil Bhagavathi, Malakurathi, and Athirallan. No animal sacrifices are performed, but each family celebrates annually a ceremony called Kollu Kodukal, for which the Pittan (head of the family) fixes an auspicious day. The temple is cleaned, and smeared with cow-dung, and holy water is sprinkled, to remove all pollution. Those who attend at the ceremony bathe before proceeding to the temple, which is lighted with oil-lamps. Cocoanuts, sugar-candy, plantains, beaten rice, a measure (edangali) full of rice, and another full of paddy, are placed before the lamps, and offered to the deity by the Pittan. One of the community becomes possessed, and gives forth oracular utterances. Finally he falls down, and the deity is supposed to have left him. The offerings are distributed among those who have assembled.

The management of tribal affairs is vested in the Pittans of the different families, and the final appellate authority is the Kottayath Raja, who authorises certain Nayars to hear appeals on his behalf.

The Kuricchas celebrate the tali-kettu kalyanam. Marriages are arranged by the Pittans. The wedding is a very simple affair. The bridegroom brings a pair of cloths and rings made of white metal or brass as a present for the bride, and a feast is held.

Kurivi (sparrow).—A gotra of Kurni.

Kurma (tortoise).—A gotra of Nagaralu. The equivalent Kurum is recorded as a sept of Pentiya.

Kurmapu.—The Kurmapuvallu are women, in the Vizagapatam district, who have not entered into matrimony, but earn money by prostitution, and acting as dancers at feasts. They are so called from the fact that they were originally dancing-girls attached to the temple of Sri Kurmam, a place of pilgrimage in Vizagapatam.47

Kurni.—The name Kurni is, according to the Census Report, 1901, “a corruption of kuri (sheep) and vanni (wool), the caste having been originally weavers of wool. They now weave cotton and silk, and also cultivate. They have two main sub-divisions, Hire (big) and Chikka (small). The Hires are all Lingayats, and are said to have sixty-six totemistic septs or gotras. They employ Jangams as priests, and also men of their own caste, who are called Chittikaras. They will mess with the non-Lingayat section, and with Lingayats of other castes. They do not eat meat, or smoke or drink alcohol, but the Chikkas do all three. Marriage before puberty is the rule in the caste. Divorces are permitted. Widows may marry again, but have to spend two nights alone at two different temples. Their wedding ceremonies are carried out by widows only, and the woman is not afterwards allowed to take part in religious or family observances.” A synonym of both Kurnis and Devangas is Jada or Jandra, meaning great men. A further synonym of the Kurnis is said to be Kunigiri. The term Nese, meaning weaver, is applied to several of the weaving castes, including the Kurnis.

The following extract is taken from an appeal for subscriptions in aid of the publication of the Bhavishyottara Purana by the Kurnis in a village in the Bellary district. “Greetings from all the Kuruhine Setti Virasaivas residing in Hirihala village of Bellary taluk. The wish of the writers is that all, old and young, should rejoice in the sixty-six gotras, sixty-six rudras, and sixty-six rishis. He who reads the order of these sixty-six gotras of the Kuruhina Settis will enter Sivaloka. His twenty-one generations will attain to the position of ganas (attendants) of Sivaloka. Such was the order of Iswara. This is the end of the chapter in the Nilakantha Mallikarjuna Bhavishyat purana acquired by Shanmukha from the Iswara shruti of the Haravatula.” The gotras are described as being of the Brahman, Kshatriya, and Vaisya sub-divisions of the caste, and of Shanmukha’s Sudra caste:—

Gotras.

Some of the above names also occur as exogamous septs, or sub-divisions of other Canarese or Telugu classes, e.g.—

Kuruba.—Though plucky in hunting bears and leopards, the Kurubas at Hospet were exceedingly fearful of myself and my methods, and were only partially ingratiated by an offer of a money prize at one of the wrestling combats, in which they delight, and of which I had a private exhibition. The wrestlers, some of whom were splendid specimens of muscularity, had, I noticed, the moustache clipped short, and hair clean shaved at the back of the head, so that there was none for the adversary to grip. One man, at the entreaties of an angry spouse, was made to offer up the silver coin, presented by me in return for the loan of his body for measurement, as bad money at the shrine of Udachallama, together with two annas of his own as a peace-offering to the goddess. The wives of two men (brothers), who came to me for measurement, were left sobbing in the village. One, at the last moment, refused to undergo the operation, on the principle that one should be taken, and the other left. A man was heard, at question time, to mutter “Why, when we are hardworking and poor, do we keep our hair, while this rich and lazy Sahib has gone bald?” Another (I believe, the tame village lunatic) was more complimentary, and exclaimed “We natives are the betel leaf and nut. You, Sir, are the chunam (lime), which makes them perfect.”

Many of the Kurubas wear charms in the form of a string of black sheep’s wool, or thread tied round the arm or neck, sometimes with sacred ashes wrapped inside, as a vow to some minor deity, or a four anna piece to a superior deity. A priest wore a necklet of rudraksha (ElÆocarpus Ganitrus) beads, and a silver box, containing the material for making the sacred marks on the forehead, pendent from a loin string. His child wore a similar necklet, a copper ornament engraved with cabalistic devices, and silver plate bearing a figure of Hanuman, as all his other children had died, and a piece of pierced pottery from the burial-ground, to ward off whooping-cough, suspended round the neck. In colour-scale the Kurubas vary enormously, from very dark to light brown. The possessor of the fairest skin, and the greatest development of adipose tissue, was a sub-magistrate. At Hospet, many had bushy mutton-chop whiskers. Their garments consisted of a tight fitting pair of short drawers, white turban, and black kambli (blanket), which does duty as overcoat, umbrella, and sack for bringing in grass from the outlying country.

Some of the Kurubas are petty land-owners, and raise crops of cholam (Andropogon Sorghum), rice, Hibiscus cannabinus, etc. Others are owners of sheep, shepherds, weavers, cultivators, and stone-masons. The manufacture of coarse blankets for wearing apparel is, to a very large extent, carried on by the Kurubas. In connection with this industry, I may quote the following extracts from my “Monograph on the woollen fabric industry of the Madras Presidency” (1898).

Bellary.—In the Bellary Manual (1872), it is stated that “cumblies are the great article of export, and the rugs made in the Kudligi taluk are in great demand, and are sent to all parts of the country. They are manufactured of various qualities, from the coarse elastic cumbly used in packing raw cotton, price about six annas, to a fine kind of blanket, price Rs. 6 to 8. In former times, a much finer fabric was manufactured from the wool of the lamb when six months old, and cumblies of this kind sold for Rs. 50 or Rs. 60. These are no longer made.” Coarse blankets are at present made in 193 villages, the weavers being mostly Kurubas, who obtain the wool locally, sun-dry it, and spin it into thread, which is treated with a watery paste of tamarind seeds. The weaving is carried out as in the case of an ordinary cotton cloth, the shuttle being a piece of wood hollowed out on one side. Inside the ruined Maratha fort at Sandur dwells a colony of Kurubas, whose profession is blanket-weaving. The preliminary operations are performed by the women, and the weaving is carried out by the men, who sit, each in his own pit, while they pass the shuttle through the warp with repeated applications of tamarind paste from a pot at their side.

Kurnool.—Blankets are manufactured in 39 villages. Sheep’s wool is beaten and cleaned, and spun into yarn with hand spindles. In the case of the mutaka, or coarse cumblies used by the poorer classes, the thread used for the warp is well rubbed with a gruel made of tamarind seeds before being fitted up in the loom, which is generally in the open air. In the case of jadi, or cumblies of superior quality used as carpets, no gruel is used before weaving. But, when they are taken off the loom, the weavers spread them out tight on a country cot, pour boiling water over them, and rub them well with their hands, until the texture becomes thick and smooth.

Kistna.—Both carpets and blankets are made at Masulipatam, and blankets only, to a considerable extent, in the Gudivada taluk. The Tahsildar of Nuzvid, in several villages of which taluk the blanket-weaving industry is carried on, gives me the following note. The sheep, of which it is intended to shear the wool, are first bathed before shearing. If the wool is not all of the same colour, the several colours are picked out, and piled up separately. This being done, each separate pile is beaten, not as a whole, but bit by bit, with a light stick of finger thickness. Then the cleaning process is carried out, almost in the way adopted by cotton-spinners, but with a smaller bow. Then the wool is spun into yarn with the help of a thin short piece of stick, near the bottom of which a small flat, circular or square weight of wood or pot-stone (steatite) is attached, so as to match the force of the whirling given to the stick on the man’s thigh. After a quantity of yarn has been prepared, a paste is smeared over it, to stiffen it, so that it can be easily passed through the loom. The paste is prepared with kajagaddalu, or tamarind seeds, when the former is not available. Kajagaddalu is a weed with a bulbous root, sometimes as large as a water-melon. The root is boiled in water, and the thin coating which covers it removed while it is still hot. The root is then reduced to a pulp by beating in a mortar with frequent sprinkling of water. The pulp is mixed with water, to make it sticky, and applied to the yarn. Tamarind seeds are split in two, and soaked in water for several hours. The outer coating then becomes detached, and is removed. The seeds are beaten into a fine flour, and boiled until this acquires the necessary consistency. They are then made into a paste with water, and applied to the yarn.

Madura.—Coarse blankets are manufactured to a small extent by Kuruba women in twenty-two villages of the Melur, Dindigul, and Palni taluks.

In the province of Mysore, parts of Chitaldrug and the town of Kolar are noted for the manufacture of a superior kind of blanket, of fine texture like homespun, by Kurubas. The wool is spun by the women.

By one section of the Kurubas, called Sunnata or Vasa (new) only white blankets are said to be made.

The personal names of Kurubas are derived from their gods, Basappa, Lingappa, Narasimha, Huliga, etc., with Ayya, Appa, or Anna as affixes. An educational officer tells me that, when conducting a primary examination, he came across a boy named Mondrolappa after Sir Thomas Munro, who still lives in the affections of the people.

“It has,” Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,48 “been suggested that the name Kuruba is a derivative of the Canarese root kuru, sheep (cf. Tamil kori); but it has been objected to this that the Kurumbas were not originally a purely shepherd tribe, and it is contended that the particular kind of sheep called kori is so called because it is the sheep of the Kurumbas. Again, the ancient lexicographer of the Tamil language, Pingala Muni, defines Kurumban as Kurunila Mannar, or petty chieftains. But the most common derivation is from the Tamil kurumbu, wickedness, so that Kurumban means a wicked man. With this may be compared the derivation of Kallan from kalavu, theft, and the Kallans are now generally believed to have been closely connected with, if not identical with the original Kurumbas. On the other hand, the true derivation may be in the other direction, as in the case of the Sclavs. The language of the Kurumbas is a dialect of Canarese, and not of Tamil, as stated by Bishop Caldwell. It resembles the old Canarese.” Concerning the affinities of the Kurubas, Mr. Stuart states that “they are the modern representatives of the ancient Pallavas, who were once so powerful in Southern India. In the seventh century, the power of the Pallava kings seems to have been at its zenith, though very little trace of their greatness now remains; but, soon after this, the Kongu, Chola, and Chalukya chiefs succeeded in winning several victories over them, and the final overthrow of the Kurumba sovereignty was effected by the Chola King Adondai about the eighth century A.D., and the Kurumbas were scattered far and wide. Many fled to the hills, and, in the Nilgiris and Wynad, in Coorg and Mysore, representatives of this ancient race are now found as wild and uncivilised tribes.” Let me call anthropometric evidence, and compare the Kurubas of Mysore and Bellary with the jungle Kurumbas of the Nilgiris and the allied Kadirs and Mala Vedars, by means of the two important physical characters, stature and nasal index.

In this table, the wide gap which separates the domesticated Kurubas of the Mysore Province and the adjacent Bellary district from the conspicuously platyrhine and short-statured Kurumbas and other jungle tribes, stands out prominently before any one who is accustomed to deal on a large scale with bodies and noses. And I confess that I like to regard the Kurumbas, Mala Vedars, Kadirs, Paniyans, and other allied tribes of short stature with broad noses as the most archaic existing inhabitants of the south of the Indian peninsula, and as having dwelt in the jungles, unclothed, and living on roots, long before the seventh century. The question of the connection between Kurubas and Kurumbas is further discussed in the note on the latter tribe.

The popular tradition as to the origin of the caste is as follows. Originally the Kurubas were Kapus. Their ancestors were Masi Reddi and Nilamma, who lived on the eastern ghats by selling firewood, and had six sons. Taking pity on their poverty, Siva came begging to their house in the disguise of a Jangam, and gave Nilamma some sacred ashes, while promising prosperity through the birth of another son, who was called Undala Padmanna. The family became prosperous through agriculture. But, unlike his six brothers, Undala Padmanna never went out to work in the fields. They accordingly contrived to get rid of him by asking him to set fire to some brushwood concealing a white-ant hill, in the hope that the snake within it would kill him. But, instead of a snake, an innumerable host of sheep appeared. Frightened at the sight of these strange black beasts, Undala Padmanna took to his heels. But Siva appeared, and told him that they were created for his livelihood, and that he should rear them, and live by their milk. He taught him how to milk the sheep and boil the milk, and sent him to a distant town, which was occupied by Rakshasas, to fetch fire. There the giants were keeping in bondage a Brahman girl, who fell in love with Undala Padmanna. They managed to escape from the clutches of the Rakshasas by arranging their beds over deep pits, which were dug for their destruction. To save her lover, the girl transformed him into a lizard. She then went with him to the place where his flock was, and Undala Padmanna married a girl of his own caste, and had male offspring by her as well as the Brahman. At the marriage of these sons, a thread kankanam (bracelet) was tied to the wrist of the caste woman’s offspring, and a woollen kankanam to that of the Brahman girl’s sons. The sons of the former were, therefore, called Atti (cotton) Kankanadavaru, and those of the latter Unni (woollen) Kankanadavaru. The latter are considered inferior, as they are of hybrid origin. A third sub-division is that of the Ande Kurubas, named after the small vessel (ande) used in milking goats. In a note on the Kurubas of Alur, Thikka, meaning a simpleton, is given as the name of an important division. It is noted in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that the Kurubas have not taken kindly to education, and are by nature so simple that Kuruba has, in some places, become a byword for a simpleton. The Kurubas are also known as Halu Mata, or milk caste, as they believe that they were created out of milk by Revana Siddeswara. In Hindustani they are called Dhangars, or rich people. Some, in spite of their poor dress and appearance, are well-to-do. At the Madras census, 1901, Kavadiga, Kumpani, and Rayarvamsam (Raja’s clan) were returned by some members of the community. In Mysore, the Kurubas are said49 to be divided into Hande Kurubas and Kurubas proper, who have no intercourse with one another. The latter worship Bire Devaru, and are Saivites. According to another account, the Halu Kurubas of Mysore have sub-divisions according to the day of the week, on which they offer puja to their god, e.g., Aditya Varada (Sunday), Brihaspati Varada (Thursday), Soma Varada (Monday).

“The Kurubas,” Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, “are again sub-divided into clans or gumpus, each having a headman or guru called a gaudu, who gives his name to the clan. And the clans are again sub-divided into gotras or septs, which are mostly of totemistic origin, and retain their totemistic character to this day. The Arisana gotram is particularly worthy of notice. The name means saffron (turmeric), and this was originally taboo; but, as this caused inconvenience, the korra grain has been substituted, although the old name of the sept was retained.”

Exogamous septs.

The titles of members of the caste are Gauda or Heggade, and the more prosperous go by the name of Kaudikiaru, a corruption of Gaudikiaru. Many, at the present day, have adopted the title Nayakkan. Some are called Gorava Vandlu.

According to Mr. Stuart, “each community of Kurubas, residing in a group of villages, has a headman or Gaudu. He acts the part of pujari or priest in all their ceremonies, presides over their tribal meetings, and settles disputes. He is paid four annas, or, as they call it, one ruka per house per annum. He is a strict vegetarian, and will not eat with other Kurubas.” The headman or guru of the caste in Bellary goes by the name of Revana Siddeswara, and he wears the lingam, and follows the Lingayat creed. Sometimes he dines with his people, and, on these occasions, new cooking pots must be used. He exercises the power of inflicting fines, excommunicating those who have had illicit intercourse with Boyas, Muhammadans, and others, etc. The Kurubas in Bellary and Anantapur are said to pay three pies to their guru for every blanket which they sell. The name of the tribal headman at Alur is Kattaiyintivadu, i.e., shed with a pial or raised verandah in front of it. Among both Kurubas and Bedars, a special building, built by public subscription, and called the katta-illu or chavadi, is set apart for council meetings, at which tribal affairs are discussed and decided.

When a girl reaches puberty, she is kept in a corner of the house for eight days. On the ninth day she bathes, and food is taken to her by an old woman of the house. Kuruba women are invited to be present in the evening. The girl, covered with a blanket, is seated on a raised place. Those assembled throw rice over her feet, knees, shoulders, and head, and into her lap. Coloured turmeric and lime water is then waved three or five times round her, and ravikes (body-cloths) are presented to her.

The following account of the marriage ceremonial was recorded in Western Bellary. When a marriage has been settled between the parents of the young people, visits are exchanged by the two families. On a fixed day, the contracting couple sit on a blanket at the bride’s house, and five women throw rice over five parts of the body as at the menstrual ceremony. Betel leaves and areca-nuts are placed before them, of which the first portion is set apart for the god Birappa, the second for the Gauda, another for the house god, and so on up to the tenth. A general distribution then takes place The ceremony, which is called sakshi vilya or witness betel-leaf, is brought to a conclusion by waving in front of the couple a brass vessel, over the mouth of which five betel leaves and a ball of ashes are placed. They then prostrate themselves before the guru. For the marriage ceremony, the services of the guru, a Jangam, or a Brahman priest, are called into requisition. Early on the wedding morning, the bridal couple are anointed and washed. A space, called the irani square, is marked out by placing at the four corners a pot filled with water. Round each pot a cotton thread is wound five times. Similar thread is also tied to the milk-post of the marriage pandal (booth), which is made of pipal (Ficus religiosa) wood. Within the square a pestle, painted with red and white stripes, is placed, on which the bride and bridegroom, with two young girls, seat themselves. Rice is thrown over them, and they are anointed and washed. To each a new cloth is given, in which they dress themselves, and the wrist-thread (kankanam) is tied on all four. Presents are given by relations, and arathi (red water) is waved round them. The bridegroom is decorated with a bashingam (chaplet of flowers), and taken on a bull to a Hanuman shrine along with his best man. Cocoanuts, camphor, and betel are given to the priest as an offering to the god. According to another account, both bride and bridegroom go to the shrine, where a matron ties on their foreheads chaplets of flowers, pearls, etc. At the marriage house a dais has been erected close to the milk-post, and covered with a blanket, on which a mill-stone and basket filled with cholum (Andropogon Sorghum) are placed. The bridegroom, standing with a foot on the stone and the bride with a foot on the basket, the gold tali, after it has been touched by five married women, is tied round the bride’s neck by the officiating priest, while those assembled throw rice over the happy pair, and bless them. According to another version, a bed-sheet is interposed as a screen, so that the bride and bridegroom cannot see each other. On the three following days, the newly-married couple sit on the blanket, and rice is thrown over them. In Western Bellary, the bridegroom, on the third day, carries the bride on his waist to Hanuman temple, where married women throw rice over them. On the fifth morning, they are once more anointed and washed within the irani square, and, towards evening, the bride’s father hands her over to her husband, saying “She was till this time a member of my sept and house. Now I hand her over to your sept and house.” On the night of the sixth day, a ceremony called booma idothu (food placing) is performed. A large metal vessel (gangalam) is filled with rice, ghi (clarified butter), curds, and sugar. Round this some of the relations of the bride and bridegroom sit, and finish off the food. The number of those, who partake thereof must be an odd one, and they must eat the food as quickly as possible. If anything goes wrong with them, while eating or afterwards, it is regarded as an omen of impending misfortune. Some even consider it as an indication of the bad character of the bride.

Concerning the marriage ceremony of the Kurubas of North Arcot, Mr. Stuart writes as follows. “As a preliminary to the marriage, the bridegroom’s father observes certain marks or curls on the head of the proposed bride. Some of these are believed to forebode prosperity, and others only misery to the family, into which the girl enters. They are, therefore, very cautious in selecting only such girls as possess curls (suli) of good fortune. This curious custom, obtaining among this primitive tribe, is observed by others only in the case of the purchase of cows, bulls, and horses. One of the good curls is the bashingam found on the forehead; and the bad ones are the peyanakallu at the back of the head, and the edirsuli near the right temple. But widowers seeking for wives are not generally particular in this respect. [As bad curls are supposed to cause the death of the man who is their possessor, she is, I am informed, married to a widower.] The marriage is celebrated in the bridegroom’s house, and, if the bride belongs to a different village, she is escorted to that of the bridegroom, and is made to wait in a particular spot outside it, selected for the occasion. On the first day of the marriage, purna kumbam, a small decorated vessel containing milk or ghi, with a two-anna piece and a cocoanut placed on the betel leaf spread over the mouth of it, is taken by the bridegroom’s relations to meet the bride’s party. Therethe distribution of pan supari takes place, and both parties return to the village. Meanwhile, the marriage booth is erected, and twelve twigs of naval (Eugenia Jambolana) are tied to the twelve pillars, the central or milk post, under which the bridal pair sit, being smeared with turmeric, and a yellow thread being tied thereto. At an auspicious hour of the third day, the couple are made to sit in the booth, the bridegroom facing the east, and the bride facing west. On a blanket spread near the kumbam, 2½ measures of rice, a tali or bottu, one cocoanut, betel leaf and camphor are placed. The Gaudu places a ball of vibhuti (sacred ashes) thereon, breaks a cocoanut, and worships the kumbam, while camphor is burnt. The Gaudu next takes the tali, blesses it, and gives it to the bridegroom, who ties it round the bride’s neck. The Gaudu then, throwing rice on the heads of the pair, recites a song, in which the names of various people are mentioned, and concluding ‘Oh! happy girl; Oh! prosperous girl; Basava has come; remove your veil.’ The girl then removes her veil, and the men and women assembled throw rice on the heads of the bridal pair. The ends of their garments are then tied together, and two girls and three boys are made to eat out of the plates placed before the married couple. A feast to all their relations completes the ceremony. The Gaudu receives 2½ measures of rice, five handfuls of nuts and betel leaf, and twelve saffrons (pieces of turmeric) as his fee. Even though the girl has attained puberty, the nuptial ceremony is not coincident with the wedding, but is celebrated a few months later.” In like manner, among the Kammas, Gangimakkulu, and other classes, consummation does not take place until three months after the marriage ceremony, as it is considered unlucky to have three heads of a family in a household during the first year of marriage. By the delay, the birth of a child should take place only in the second year, so that, during the first year, there will be only two heads, husband and wife. At a marriage among the Kurubas of the Madura district, a chicken is waved in front of the contracting couple, to avert the evil eye. The maternal uncle’s consent to a marriage is necessary, and, at the wedding, he leads the bride to the pandal. A Kuruba may, I am informed, marry two sisters, either on the death of one of them, or if his first wife has no issue, or suffers from an incurable disease. Some twenty years ago, when an unmarried Kuruba girl was taken to a temple, to be initiated as a Basavi (dedicated prostitute), the caste men prosecuted the father as a protest against the practice.

In the North Arcot district, according to Mr. Stuart, “the mother and child remain in a separate hut for the first ten days after delivery. On the eleventh day, all the Kuruba females of the village bring each a pot of hot water, and bathe the mother and child. Betel and nuts are distributed, and all the people of the village eat in the mother’s house. On the next market-day, her husband, with some of his male friends, goes to a neighbouring market, and consults with a Korava or Yerukala what name is to be given to the child, and the name he mentions is then given to it.” In a case which came before the police in the Bellary district in 1907, a woman complained that her infant child had been taken away, and concealed in the house of another woman, who was pregnant. The explanation of the abduction was that there is a belief that, if a pregnant woman keeps a baby in her bed, she will have no difficulty at the time of delivery.

Remarriage of widows is permitted. The ceremony is performed in a temple or dark room, and the tali is tied by a widow, a woman dedicated to the deity, or a Dasayya (mendicant) of their own caste. According to another account, a widow is not allowed to wear a tali, but is presented with a cloth. Hence widow marriage is called Sire Udiki. Children of widows are married into families in which no widow remarriage has taken place, and are treated like ordinary members of the community.

In Western Bellary I gathered that the dead are buried, those who have been married with the face upwards, others with the face downwards. The grave is dug north and south, and the head is placed to the south. Earth is thrown into the grave by relations before it is filled in. A mound is raised over it, and three stones are set up, over the head, navel, and feet. The eldest son of the deceased places on his left shoulder a pot filled with water, in the bottom of which three small holes are made, through which the water escapes. Proceeding from the spot beneath which the head rests, he walks round the grave, and then drops the pot so that it falls on the mound, and goes home without looking back. This ceremony is a very important one with both Kurubas and Bedars. In the absence of a direct heir, he who carries the pot claims the property of the deceased, and is considered to be the inheritor thereof. For the propitiation of ancestors, cooked rice and sweetmeats, with a new turban and cloth or petticoat, according to the sex of the deceased, are offered up. Ancestors who died childless, unless they left property, do not receive homage. It is noted, in the Bellary Gazetteer, that “an unusual rite is in some cases observed after deaths, a pot of water being worshipped in the house on the eleventh day after the funeral, and taken the next morning and emptied in some lonely place. The ceremony is named the calling back of the dead, but its real significance is not clear.”

Of the death ceremonies in the North Arcot district, Mr. Stuart writes that “the son, or, in his absence, a near relative goes round the grave three times, carrying a pot of water, in which he makes a hole at each round. On the third round he throws down the pot, and returns home straight, without turning his face towards the direction of the grave. For three days, the four carriers of the bier are not admitted into their houses, but they are fed at the cost of the deceased’s heir. On the the third day, cooked rice, a fowl and water are taken to the burial-ground, and placed near the grave, to be eaten by the spirit of the dead. The son, and all his relations, return home, beating on their mouths. Pollution is observed for ten days, and, on the eleventh day, sheep and fowls are killed, and a grand feast is given to the Kurumbas of the village. Before the feast commences, a leaf containing food is placed in a corner of the house, and worshipped. This is removed on the next morning, and placed over the roof, to be eaten by crows. If the deceased be a male, the glass bangles worn by his wife on her right arm are broken on the same day.”

The patron saint of the Kurubas is Birappa or Biradevaru, and they will not ride on horses or ponies, as these are the vehicles of the god. But they worship, in addition, various minor deities, e.g., Uligamma, Mallappa, Anthargattamma, Kencharaya, and have their house gods, who are worshipped either by a house or by an entire exogamous sept. In some places, Mariamma and Sunkulamma are worshipped on Tuesday and Friday, and the sheep and other offerings are the perquisite of Boyas, Malas, and Madigas. Some families of Kuruba Dasaris reverence a goddess called Hombalamma, who is worshipped secretly by a pujari (priest) at dead of night. Everything used in connection with the rite is buried or otherwise disposed of before morning. The Kurubas show reverence for the jammi tree (Prosopis spicigera) and ashwatham (Ficus religiosa) by not cutting them. It was noticed by Mr. F. Fawcett that, at the temples of the village goddesses Wannathamma and Durgamma in the Bellary district, an old Kuruba woman performs the daily worship. In the mantapam of the temple at Lepakshi, in the Anantapur district, “is the sculptured figure of a man leaning his chin upon his hands, which is said to represent a Kuruba who once acted as mediator between the builder of the temple and his workmen in a dispute about wages. The image is still bathed in oil, and worshipped by the local Kurubas, who are proud of the important part played by their caste-man.”50 In Mysore, the Kurubas are said to worship a box, which they believe contains the wearing apparel of Krishna under the name of Junjappa. One of the goddesses worshipped by the Kurubas is named Kelu Devaru or Mane Hennu Devaru, the pot or household deity. She is worshipped annually at the Dasara festival, and, on occasions of marriage, just before the tali is tied. The pot is made by a Kumbara (potter), who is well paid for his work. During its manufacture, he has to take only one meal daily, and to avoid pollution of all kinds. The clay should be kneaded with the hands, and wetted with milk, milk of tender cocoanuts, and water. When at work on it, the potter should close his mouth with a bandage, so that his breath may not defile the pot. The Kurubas who are settled in the Madura district reverence Vira Lakkamma (Lakshmi) as their family deity, and an interesting feature in connection with the worship of their goddess is that cocoanuts are broken on the head of a special Kuruba, who becomes possessed by the deity.

The Kurubas are ancestor worshippers, and many of them have in their possession golden discs called hitharadha tali, with the figures of one or more human beings stamped on them. The discs are made by Akasales (goldsmiths), who stamp them from steel dies. They are either kept in the house, or worn round the neck by women. If the deceased was a celebrity in the community, a large plate is substituted for a disc.

Concerning the religion of the Kurubas, Mr. Francis writes as follows. “The most striking point about the caste is its strong leaning towards the Lingayat faith. Almost everywhere, Jangams are called in as priests, and allegiance to the Lingayat maths (religious institutions) is acknowledged, and in places (Kamalapuram for example), the ceremonies at weddings and funerals have been greatly modified in the direction of the Lingayat pattern.”51 “In the North Arcot district, the Gaudu is entrusted with the custody of a golden image representing the hero of the clan, and keeps it carefully in a small box filled with turmeric powder. There are also some images set up in temples built for the purpose. Once a year, several neighbouring clans assemble at one of their bigger temples, which is lighted with ghi, and, placing their images in a row, offer to them flowers, cocoanuts, milk, etc., but they do not slay any victim. On the last day of their festival, the Kurumbas take a bath, worship a bull, and break cocoanuts upon the heads of pujaris who have an hereditary right to this distinction, and upon the head of the sacred bull. Some Kurumbas do not adopt this apparently inhuman practice. A pujari or priest, supposed to have some supernatural power, officiates, and begins by breaking a few nuts on the heads of those nearest to him, and then the rest go on, the fragments belonging by right to those whose skulls have cracked them, and who value the pieces as sacred morsels of food. For a month before this ceremony, all the people have taken no meat, and for three days the pujaris have lived on fruits and milk alone. At the feast, therefore, all indulge in rather immoderate eating, but drink no liquor, calling excitedly upon their particular god to grant them a prosperous year. The temples of this caste are usually rather extensive, but rude, low structures, resembling an enclosed mantapam supported upon rough stone pillars, with a small inner shrine, where the idols are placed during festival time. A wall of stone encloses a considerable space round the temple, and this is covered with small structures formed of four flat stones, three being the walls, and the fourth the roof. The stone facing the open side has a figure sculptured upon it, representing the deceased Gaudu, or pujari, to whom it is dedicated. For each person of rank one of these monuments is constructed, and here periodically, and always during the annual feasts, puja is made not only to the spirits of the deceased chiefs, but also to those of all who have died in the clan. It seems impossible not to connect this with those strange structures called by the natives Pandava’s temples. They are numerous where the Kurumbas are now found, and are known to have been raised over the dead. Though the Kurumbas bury, they do not now raise their monuments over the resting place of the corpse. Nor can they build them upon anything approaching to the gigantic scale of the ancient kistvaen or dolmen.”52 It was noted by a correspondent of the Indian Antiquary53 that, in the Kaladgi ‘district,’ he “came across the tomb of a Kuruba only four years old. It was a complete miniature dolmen about eighteen inches every way, composed of four stones, one at each side, one at the rear, and a cap-stone. The interior was occupied by two round stones about the size of a man’s fist, painted red, the deceased resting in his mother earth below.” In the open country near Kadur in Mysore, is a shrine of Biradevaru, which consists of four stone pillars several feet in height surmounted by flat slabs as a cap-stone, within which the deity is represented by round stones, and stones with snakes carved on them are deposited. Within the Kuruba quarter of the town, the shrine of Anthargattamma is a regular dolmen beneath a margosa (Melia Azadirachta) tree, in which the goddess is represented by rounded stones imbedded in a mound of earth. Just outside the same town, close to a pipal tree (Ficus religiosa) are two smaller dolmen-like structures containing stones representing two Kuruba Dasaris, one a centenarian, who are buried there.

“The village of Maliar, in the Hadagalli taluk of the Bellary district, contains a Siva temple, which is famous throughout the district for an annual festival held there in the month of February. This festival has now dwindled more or less into a cattle fair. But the fame of the temple continues as regards the karanika, which is a cryptic sentence uttered by a priest, containing a prophecy of the prospect of the agricultural season of the ensuing year. The pujari of the temple is a Kuruba. The feast in the temple lasts for ten days. On the last day of the feast, the god Siva is represented as returning victorious from the battlefield after having slain Malla with a huge bow. He is met half-way from the field of battle by the goddess. The huge wooden bow is brought, and placed on end before the god. The Kuruba priest climbs up the bow as it is held up by two assistants, and then gets on the shoulders of these men. In this posture he stands rapt in silence for a few minutes, looking in several directions. He then begins to quake and quiver from head to foot. This is the sign of the spirit of the Siva god possessing him—the sign of the divine afflatus upon him. A solemn silence holds the assembly, for the time of the karanika has approached. The shivering Kuruba utters a cryptic sentence, such as Akasakke sidlu bodiyuttu, or thunder struck the sky. This is at once copied down, and interpreted as a prophecy that there will be much rain in the year to come. Thus every year, in the month of February, the karanika of Mailar is uttered and copied, and kept by all in the district as a prophecy. This karanika prognostication is also pronounced now at the Mallari temple in the Dharwar district, at Nerakini in the Alur taluk, and at Mailar Lingappa in the Harapanahalli taluk.”54

The rule of inheritance among the Kurubas is said55 to differ very little from that current among Hindus, but the daughters, if the deceased has no son, share equally with the agnates. They belong to the right-hand faction, and have the privilege of passing through the main bazars in processions. Some Mudalis and ‘Naidus’ are said to have no objection to eat, drink, and smoke with Kurubas. Gollas and some inferior flesh-eating Kapus will also do so.

Kuruhina Setti Viraisaivar.—A synonym of Kurni. Kuruhina means literally a sign, mark, or token. Kuruvina Banajiga occurs as a synonym of Bilimagga.

Kurukkal.—See Gurukkal (Brahman).

Kurukula Vamsam.—The name, derived from Kuru, the ancestor of the Kauravas, assumed by some Pattanavans.

Kurumba or Kuruman.—As bearing on the disputed question of the connection between the Kurumbas who dwell in the jungle, and the Kurubas (shepherds and weavers) who live in the plains and open country, I may quote the evidence of various witnesses:—

Madras Census Report, 1891.—“The Kurumbas or Kurrubas are the modern representatives of the ancient Kurumbas or Pallavas, who were once so powerful throughout Southern India, but very little trace of their greatness now remains. In the seventh century, the power of the Pallava kings seems to have been at its zenith; but, shortly after this, the Kongu, Chola, and Chalukya chiefs succeeded in winning several victories over them. The final overthrow of the Kurumba sovereignty was effected by the Chola king Adondai about the seventh or eighth century A.D., and the Kurumbas were scattered far and wide. Many fled to the hills, and in the Nilgiris and the Wynad, in Coorg and Mysore, representatives of this ancient race are now found as wild and uncivilised tribes. Elsewhere the Kurumbas are more advanced, and are usually shepherds, and weavers of coarse woollen blankets.”

“Kuruman.—This caste is found in the Nilgiris and the Wynad, with a slight sprinkling in the Nilambur and Attapadi hills in Malabar. Their principal occupations are wood-cutting, and the collection of forest produce. The name is merely another form of Kurumban, but, as they differ from the ordinary Kurumbas, it seemed better to show them separately. I think, however, that they were originally identical with the shepherd Kurumbans, and their present separation is merely the result of their isolation in the fastnesses of the Western Ghats, to which their ancestors fled, or gradually retreated after the downfall of the Kurumba dynasty. The name Kurumbranad, a sub-division of Malabar, still bears testimony to their once powerful position.”

Madras Census Report, 1901—”Kuruba; Kurumban.—These two have always been treated as the same caste. Mr. Thurston (Madras Mus. Bull. II, i) thinks they are distinct. I have no new information, which will clearly decide the matter, but the fact seems to be that Kurumban is the Tamil form of the Telugu or Canarese Kuruba, and that the two terms are applied to the same caste according to the language in which it is referred to. There was no confusion in the abstraction offices between the two names, and it will be seen that Kuruba is returned where Canarese and Telugu are spoken, and Kurumban where the vernacular is Tamil. There are two sharply defined bodies of Kurumbans—those who live on the Nilgiri plateau, speak the Kurumba dialect, and are wild junglemen; and those who live on the plains, speak Canarese, and are civilised.”

Mysore Census Report, 1891—Kadu Kuruba or Kurumba.—“The tribal name of Kuruba has been traced to the primeval occupation of the race, viz., the tending of sheep, perhaps when pre-historic man rose to the pastoral stage. The Uru or civilised Kurubas, who are genuine tillers of the soil, and who are dotted over the country in populous and thriving communities, and many of whom have, under the present ‘Pax Britannica,’ further developed into enterprising tradesmen and withal lettered Government officials, are the very antipodes of the Kadu or wild Kurubas or Kurumbas. The latter, like the Iruligas and Soligas, are the denizens of the backwoods of the country, and have been correctly classed under the aboriginal population. The Tamilised name of Kurumba is applied to certain clans dwelling on the heights of the Nilgiris, who are doubtless the offshoots of the aboriginal Kadu Kuruba stock found in Mysore.”

W. R. King. Aboriginal Tribes of the Nilgiri Hills—”Kurumbas.—This tribe is of another race from the shepherd Kurumbas. The Nilgiri tribe have neither cattle nor sheep, and in language, dress, and customs, have no affinity whatever with their namesakes.”

G. Oppert. Original Inhabitants of India—”Kurubas or Kurumbas.—However separated from each other, and scattered among the Dravidian clans with whom they have dwelt, and however distant from one another they still live, there is hardly a province in the whole of Bharatavarasha which cannot produce, if not some living remnants of this race, at least some remains of past times which prove their presence. Indeed, the Kurumbas must be regarded as very old inhabitants of this land, who can contest with their Dravidian kinsmen the priority of occupation of the Indian soil. The terms Kuruba and Kurumba are originally identical, though the one form is, in different places, employed for the other, and has thus occasionally assumed a special local meaning. Mr. H. B. Grigg appears to contradict himself when, while speaking of the Kurumbas, he says that ‘in the low country they are called Kurubas or Curubaru, and are divided into such families as Ane or elephant, Naya or dog, Male or hill Kurumbas.’56 Such a distinction between mountain Kurumbas and plain Kurumbas cannot be established. The Rev. G. Richter will find it difficult to prove that the Kurubas of Mysore are only called so as shepherds, and that no connection exists between these Kurubas and the Kurumbas. Mr. Lewis Rice calls the wild tribes as well as the shepherds Kurubas, but seems to overlook the fact that both terms are identical, and refer to only the ethnological distinction.”

The above extracts will suffice for the purpose of showing that the distinction between the jungle Kurumbas and the more civilised Kurubas, and their relationship towards each other, call for a ‘permanent settlement.’ And I may briefly place on record the results of anthropometric observations on the jungle Kurumbas of the Nilgiris, and the domesticated Kurubas of Mysore and the Bellary district, whose stature and nasal index (two factors of primary importance) are compared with those of the jungle Paniyans of Malabar and Kadirs of the Anaimalai mountains—

A glance at the above table at once shows that there is a closer affinity between the three dark-skinned, short, platyrhine jungle tribes, than between the jungle Kurumbas and the lighter-skinned, taller, and more leptorhine Kurubas.

The domesticated Kurubas are dealt with separately, and, in the remarks which follow, I am dealing solely with the jungle Kurumbas.

The Kadu, or wild Kurumbas of Mysore are divided into “(a) Betta or hill Kurumbas, with sub-divisions called Ane (elephant), Bevina (nim tree: Melia Azadirachta), and Kolli (fire-brand)—a small and active race, capable of great fatigue, who are expert woodmen; (b) Jenu or honey Kurumbas, said to be a darker and inferior race, who employ themselves in collecting honey and bees-wax.”57

For the following note on the Kadu Kurumbas I am indebted to the Mysore Census Report, 1891. “There are two clans among them, viz., Bettada and Jenu. The former worship the forest deities Narali and Mastamma; eat flesh and “drink liquor, a favourite beverage being prepared from ragi (Eleusine Coracana) flour. Some of their habits and customs are worth mentioning, as indicating their plane of civilization. They have two forms of marriage. One is similar to the elaborate ceremony among the Vakkaligas, while the other is the simple one of a formal exchange of betel leaves and areca nuts, which concludes the nuptials. The Kadu Kurubas can only eat meals prepared by members of the higher castes. During their periodical illnesses, the females live outside the limits of the Hadi (group of rude huts) for three days. And, in cases of childbirth, none but the wet nurse or other attendant enters the room of the confined woman for ten days. In cases of sickness, no medical treatment is resorted to; on the other hand, exorcisms, charms, incantations, and animal sacrifices are more generally in vogue. The male’s dress consists of either a bit of cloth to cover their nudity, or a piece of coarse cloth tied round the waist, and reaching to the knees. They wear ornaments of gold, silver, or brass. They are their own barbers, and use broken glass for razors. The females wear coarse cloth four yards long, and have their foreheads tattooed in dots of two or three horizontal lines, and wear ear-rings, glass bangles, and necklaces of black beads. Strangers are not allowed to enter their hadis or hamlets with shoes or slippers on. In case of death, children are buried, whilst adults are burned. On the occurrence of any untoward event, the whole site is abandoned, and a new hadi set up in the vicinity. The Kadu Kurubas are very active, and capable of enduring great fatigue. It is said that they are revengeful, but, if treated kindly, they will do willing service. The Jenu Kurubas live in small detached huts in the interior of thick jungles, far away from inhabited places. Their habits are no less wild. The male dress consists of either a woollen kambli or coarse cloth, and a skull cap. The female’s sadi is white coarse cloth, their wonted ornaments being a pair of brass ear-rings, strings of black beads tied round the neck, and glass bangles on the wrist. These people do not allow to outcasts and Musalmans access to their premises, or permit shoes being brought into their houses or streets. They eat flesh, and take meals from Vakkaligas, Lingayats, and other superior castes. They subsist on wild bamboo seed, edible roots, etc., found in the jungle, often mixed with honey. They are said not unfrequently to make a dessert out of bees in preference to milk, ghi (clarified butter), etc. They are engaged chiefly in felling timber in the forests, and other similar rude pursuits, but they never own or cultivate land for themselves, or keep live-stock of their own. They are very expert in tracking wild animals, and very skilfully elude accidental pursuits thereby. Their children, more than two years old, move about freely in the jungle. They are said to be hospitable to travellers visiting their place at any unusual hour. They are Saivites, and Jangams are their gurus. The ceremonial pollution on account of death lasts for ten days, as with the Brahmans. Children are buried, while adults, male or female, are cremated. A curious trait of this primitive race is that the unmarried females of the village or hadi generally sleep in a hut or chavadi set apart for them, whilst the adult bachelors and children have a separate building, both under the eye of the head tribesman. The hut for the latter is called pundugar chavadi, meaning literally the abode of vagabonds.” The Jenu Kurumbas are said to eat, and the Betta Kurumbas to abstain from eating the flesh of the ‘bison’ (Bos gaurus).

In a note on the Jenu and Betta Kurumbas of Mysore, Mr. M. Venkatanarnappa writes as follows. “The Betta are better clothed and fed than the Jen Kurumbas. Their occupation is kumri (burning and shifting) cultivation. Their women are clever at basket-making. They can be distinguished by the method of dress which their women have adopted, and the way in which the men wear their hair. A Betta woman covers her body below the shoulders by tying a long cloth round the arm-pits, leaving shoulders and arms bare, whereas a Jen woman in good circumstances dresses up like the village females, and, if poor, ties a piece of cloth round her loins, and wears another to partially conceal the upper part of her body. Among males, a Betta Kurumba leaves his hair uncut, and gathers it from fore and aft into a knot tied on the crown of the head. A Jen Kurumba shaves like the ryots, leaving a tuft behind, or clips or crops it, with a curly or bushy growth to protect the head from heat and cold. The Betta and Jen Kurumbas never intermarry.” The Betta Kurumbas are, I am told, excellent elephant mahauts (drivers), and very useful at keddah (elephant-catching) operations.

Of the Kadu and Betta Kurumbas, as they were at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the following account is given by Buchanan.58 “The Cad Curubaru are a rude tribe, who are exceedingly poor and wretched. In the fields near the villages, they build miserable low huts, have a few rags only for clothing, and the hair of both sexes stands out matted like a mop, and swarms with vermin. Some of them hire themselves out as labouring servants to the farmers, and receive monthly wages. Others, in crop seasons, watch the fields at night, to keep off elephants and wild hogs. In the intervals between crops, they work as daily labourers, or go into the woods, and collect the roots of wild yams (Dioscorea), part of which they eat, and part exchange with the farmers for grain. Their manner of driving away the elephant is by running against him with a burning torch made of bamboos. The animal sometimes turns, waits till the Curubaru comes close up; but these poor people, taught by experience, push boldly on, dash their torches against the elephant’s head, who never fails to take to immediate flight. Should their courage fail, and should they attempt to run away, the elephant would immediately pursue, and put them to death. The Curubaru have no means of killing so large an animal, and, on meeting with one in the day-time, are as much alarmed as any other of the inhabitants. During the Sultan’s reign they caught a few in pitfalls. [I have heard of a clever Kurumba, who caught an elephant by growing pumpkins and vegetable marrow, for which elephants have a partiality, over a pit on the outskirts of his field.—E.T.] The wild hogs are driven out of the fields by slings, but they are too fierce for the Curubaru to kill. These people frequently suffer from tigers, against which their wretched huts are a poor defence; and, when this wild beast is urged by hunger, he is regardless of their burning torches. These Curubaru have dogs, with which they catch deer, antelopes, and hares; and they have the art of taking in snares, peacocks, and other esculent birds. They believe that good men, after death, will become benevolent Devas, and bad men destructive Devas. They are of such known honesty that on all occasions they are entrusted with provisions by the farmers, who are persuaded that the Curubaru would rather starve than take one grain of what was given to them in charge. The spirits of the dead are believed to appear in dreams to their old people, and to direct them to make offerings to a female deity named Bettada Chicama, that is, the mother of the hill. Unless these offerings are made, this goddess occasions sickness. In cases of adultery, the husband flogs his wife severely, and, if he is able, beats her paramour. If he be not able, he applies to the gaudo (headman), who does it for him.” The Betta Curubaru, Buchanan continues, “live in poor huts near the villages, and the chief employment of the men is the cutting of timber, and making of baskets. With a sharp stick they also dig up spots of ground in the skirts of the forest, and sow them with ragi (Eleusine Coracana). The men watch at night the fields of the farmers, but they are not so dexterous at this as the Cad Curubaru. In this class, the Cutigas are women that prefer another man to their husband, or widows, who do not wish to relinquish carnal enjoyment. Their children are not considered as illegitimate.”

Kurumba.

Of the casual system of clearing the jungle in vogue among the Kurumbas, I may quote the following description.59 “In their search for food, this wild tribe naturally prefers a forest cleared of all undergrowth, in which to move about, and the ingenuity with which they attain this end, and outwit the vigilant forest subordinates, is worthy of a better object. I have heard of a Kurumba walking miles from his hadi or hamlet, with a ball of dry smouldering elephant dung concealed in his waist-cloth. This he carried to the heart of the forest reserve, and, selecting a suitable spot, he placed the smouldering dung, with a plentiful supply of dry inflammable grass over it, in such a position as to allow the wind to play upon it, and fan it into a flame with the pleasing certainty that the smoke from the fire would not be detected by the watchers on the distant fire-lines until the forest was well alight, the flames beyond all control, and the Kurumba himself safe at home in his hadi, awaiting the arrival of the forest subordinate to summon the settlement to assist in the hopeless task of extinguishing the fire.”

Of the Kurumbas who are found in the Wynad, Calicut, and Ernad taluks of Malabar, the following account is given in the Gazetteer of that district. “They are sub-divided into Mullu (bamboo) Kurumbans, Jen or Ten (honey) Kurumbans, also called Kadu or Shola Nayakkans (or Jenu Koyyo Shola Nayakas, i.e., honey-cutting lords of the woods), and Urali or Bet Kurumbans; of which the first-named class, who consider themselves superior to the others, are cultivators and hunters; the second wood-cutters and collectors of honey; and the third make baskets and implements of agriculture. The Mullu and Ten Kurumbans have headmen with titles of Muppan and Mudali respectively conferred by their janmis (landlords). The Kurumbans, like many of the other hill-tribes, use bows and arrows, with which they are expert. The caste deity of the Ten Kurumbans is called Masti. It is perhaps worth remarking that the Urali Kurumbans of the Wynaad differ from the other two classes in having no headmen, observing a shorter period of pollution after a birth than any other Malabar tribe and none at all after a death, and in not worshipping any of the Malabar animistic deities.”

The chief sub-divisions of the Kurumbas on the Nilgiris, and in the Wynad, are said, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, to be “Mullu (thorn), Betta or Vetta (hill), Urali (Ur, a village), Ten (honey), and Tac’chanadan Muppan (carpenter headman). Of these, the first and last speak Malayalam, and wear a lock in front of their head in the Malabar fashion. The rest speak Canarese. Urali Kurumbas work in metals.”

The villages of the Kurumbas on the Nilgiri hills are, Mr. Grigg writes,60 called mottas. They consist generally of only four or five huts, made of mud and wattle, with thatched roofs. The front of the house is sometimes whitewashed, and ornamented with rude drawings of men and animals in red earth or charcoal. They store their grain in large oval baskets, and for bottles they use gourds. They clear a patch round about the village, and sow the ground with ragi (Eleusine Coracana), tenne (Setaria italica), or kiri (Amarantus). They dig up roots (called gasu) for food, and collect the jungle produce, honey, resin, gall-nuts, etc., which they barter with low-country traders, and they are clever in catching game in nets, and dispose of the flesh in a surprisingly short time. Kurumbas occasionally take work on coffee plantations, and some earn a livelihood by officiating as priests to the Badagas. They are also employed as musicians at wedding feasts and funerals of the other tribes, where they play on clarionets, drums, and tambourines, as well as the buguri. They make baskets of rattan and milk vessels out of a joint of bamboo, as well as nets of a thread called oilhatti. Their women confine themselves to the limited work of their households, fetching water, cooking, etc. The following extract embraces all that can be said of the religion of the Kurumbas. “Some profess to worship Siva, and occasionally women mark their foreheads with the Siva spot. Others, living near Barliar, worship Kuribattraya (lord of many sheep) and the wife of Siva under the name of Musni. They worship also a rough stone under the name of Hiriadeva, setting it up either in a cave, or in a circle of stones like the so-called Kurumba kovil of the Badagas, which the latter would seem to have borrowed from the Kurumbas. To this they make puja, and offer cooked rice at the sowing time. They also profess to sacrifice to Hiriadeva a goat, which they kill at their own houses, after sprinkling water, and eat, giving a portion of flesh to the pujari (priest). Others say that they have no pujari: among such a scattered tribe customs probably vary in each motta”—(Breeks). It is recorded by Dr. Rivers, in connection with the Toda legendary stories of Kwoten, that “one day Kwoten went with Erten of Keadr, who was spoken of as his servant to Poni, in the direction of Polkat (Calicut). At Poni there is a stream called Palpa, the commencement of which may be seen on the Kundahs. Kwoten and Erten went to drink water out of the stream at a place where a goddess (teu) named Terkosh had been bathing.... Finally, they came to Terkosh, who said to Kwoten, “Do not come near me, I am a teu.” Kwoten paid no heed to this, but said “You are a beautiful woman,” and went and lay with her. Then Terkosh went away to her hill at Poni, where she is now, and to this day the Kurumbas go there once a year and offer plantains to her, and light lamps in her honour.”

It is further recorded by Dr. Rivers that “two ceremonial objects are obtained by the Todas from the Kurumbas. One is the tall pole called tadrsi or tadri, which is used in the dance at the second funeral ceremonies, and afterwards burnt. Poles of the proper length are said to grow only on the Malabar side of the Nilgiris, and are probably most easily obtained from the Kurumbas. The other is the teiks, or funeral post at which the buffalo is killed.” Besides supplying the Badagas with the elephant-pole required at their funerals, the Kurumbas have to sow the first handful of grain for the Badagas every season. The ceremony is thus described by Harkness.61 “A family of the Burghers (Badagas) had assembled, which was about to commence ploughing. With them were two or three Kurumbas, one of whom had set up a stone in the centre of the spot on which we were standing, and, decorating it with wild flowers, prostrated himself to it, offered incense, and sacrificed a goat, which had been brought there by the Burghers. He then took the guidance of the plough, and, having ploughed some ten or twelve paces, gave it over, possessed himself of the head of the sacrificed animal, and left the Burghers to prosecute their labours.... The Kurumba, sowing the first handful, leaves the Burgher to go on with the remainder, and, reaping the first sheaf, delivers it with the sickle to him, to accomplish the remainder of the task. At harvest time, or when the whole of the grain has been gathered in, the Kurumba receives his dues, or proportion of the produce.” The relations of the Kurumbas with the Badagas at the present day, and the share which the former take in the ceremonies of the latter, are dealt with in the account of the Badagas.

I am informed that, among the Kurumbas of the Nilgiris, it is the custom for several brothers to take one wife in common (adelphogamy), and that they do not object to their women being open to others also. There is said to be no marriage rite. A man and woman will mate together, and live as husband and wife. And, if it happens that, in a family, there has been a succession of such wives for one or two generations, it becomes an event, and is celebrated as such. The pair sit together, and pour water over each other from pots. They then put on new cloths, and a feast is partaken of. Among the Shola Nayakkars, a feature of the marriage ceremony is said to be for the bride to roll a cheroot of tobacco leaves, which both parties must smoke in turn.

Writing concerning the Irulas and Kurumbas, Mr. Walhouse says62 that “after every death among them, they bring a long water-worn stone (devva kotta kallu), and put it into one of the old cromlechs sprinkled over the Nilgiri plateau. Some of the larger of these have been found piled up to the cap-stone with such pebbles, which must have been the work of generations. Occasionally, too, the tribes mentioned make small cromlechs for burial purposes, and place the long water-worn pebbles in them. Mr. Breeks reports that the Kurumbas in the neighbourhood of the Rangasvami peak and Barliar burn their dead, and place a bone and a small round stone in the savu-mane (death-house)—an old cromlech.” The conjecture is hazarded by Fergusson63 that the Kurumbas are the remnant of a great and widely spread race, who may have erected dolmens. As bearing on the connection between Kurumbas and Kurubas, it is worthy of note that the latter, in some places, erect dolmens as a resting-place for the dead. (See Kuruba.)

It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Nilgiris, that the Kurumbas “trade largely on the extraordinary dread of their supposed magical powers which possesses the Todas and the Badagas—the latter especially. Stories are told of how they can summon wild elephants at will, and reduce rocks to powder merely by scattering mystic herbs upon them.”

“The Kurumbas,” Harkness writes, “have a knowledge of herbs and medicinal roots, and the Burghers (Badagas) say that they limit their knowledge thereof to those which are noxious only, and believe that, with the assistance of their magic, they are able to convey them into the stomachs of those to whom they have any dislike. The violent antipathy existing between the Burghers and the Kurumbas, and the dread and horror which the former entertain of the preternatural powers of the latter, are, perhaps, not easily accounted for; but neither sickness, death, nor misfortune of any kind, ever visit the former, without the latter having the credit of producing it. A few years before, a Burgher had been hanged by the sentence of the provincial court for the murder of a Kurumba. The act of the former was not without what was considered great provocation. Disease had attacked the inhabitants of the hamlet, a murrain their cattle. The former had carried off a great part of the family of the murderer, and he himself had but narrowly escaped its effects. No one in the neighbourhood doubted that the Kurumba in question had, by his necromancy, caused all this misfortune, and, after several fruitless attempts, a party of them succeeded in surrounding him in open day, and effecting their purpose.” In 1835 no less than forty-eight Kurumbas were murdered, and a smaller number in 1875 and 1882. In 1900 a whole family of Kurumbas was murdered, of which the head, who had a reputation as a medicine-man, was believed to have brought disease and death into a Badaga village. The sympathies of the whole country-side were so strongly with the murderers that detection was made very difficult, and the persons charged were acquitted.64 In this case several Todas were implicated. “It is,” Mr. Grigg writes, “a curious fact that neither Kota, Irula, or Badaga will slay a Kurumba until a Toda has struck the first blow, but, as soon as his sanctity has been violated by a blow, they hasten to complete the murderous work, which the sacred hand of the Toda has begun.” The Badaga’s dread of the Kurumba is said to be so great that a simple threat of vengeance has proved fatal. My Toda guide—a stalwart representative of his tribe—expressed fear of walking from Ootacamund to Kotagiri, a distance of eighteen miles along a highroad, lest he should come to grief at the hands of Kurumbas; but this was really a frivolous excuse to get out of accompanying me to a distance from his domestic hearth. In like manner, Dr. Rivers records that, when he went to Kotagiri, a Toda who was to accompany him made a stipulation that he should be provided with a companion, as the Kurambas were very numerous in that part. In connection with the Toda legend of Ön, who created the buffaloes and the Todas, Dr. Rivers writes that “when Ön saw that his son was in Amnodr (the world of the dead), he did not like to leave him there alone, and decided to go away to the same place. So he called together all the people, and the buffaloes and the trees, to come and bid him farewell. All the people came except a man of Kwodrdoni named Arsankutan. He and his family did not come. All the buffaloes came except the Arsaiir, the buffaloes of the Kwodroni ti (sacred dairy). Some trees also failed to come. Ön blessed all the people, buffaloes and trees present, but said that, because Arsankutan had not come, he and his people should die by sorcery at the hands of the Kurumbas, and that, because the Arsaiir had not come, they should be killed by tigers, and that the trees which had not come should bear bitter fruit. Since that time the Todas have feared the Kurumbas, and buffaloes have been killed by tigers.”

On the Nilgiri hills, honey-combs are collected by Jen Kurumbas and Sholagas. The supply of honey varies according to the nature of the season, and is said to be especially plentiful and of good quality when Strobilanthes flowers.65 The Kurumbas are said to have incredibly keen eye-sight, gained from constantly watching the bee to his hive. When they find a hive not quite ready to take, they place a couple of sticks in a certain position. This sign will prevent any other Kurumba from taking the honey, and no Badaga or other hillman would meddle with it on any account, for fear of being killed by sorcery.

Fortified by a liberal allowance of alcohol and tobacco, the Kurumbas, armed with bamboo torches, will follow up at night the tracks of a wounded ‘bison’ (Bos gaurus), and bring back the head and meat to camp. A European sportsman recounts that he has often seen his Kurumba shikari (tracker) stop, and, with the one word “honey,” point to the top of an adjacent tree. “How do you know?” he asked, “Oh! I saw a bee” was the answer given with the greatest nonchalance. On one occasion he found himself close to a swarm of bees. The Kurumba, seeing him hesitate, thrust his stick clean through the swarm, and, with the bare remark “No honey,” marched on. The District Forest Officer, when out shooting, had an easy shot at a stag, and missed it. “There,” said the Kurumba, pointing to a distant tree, “is your bullet.” His trained sense of hearing no doubt enabled him to locate the sound of the bullet striking the tree, and his eyes, following the sound, instantly detected the slight blaze made by the bullet on the bark. The visual acuity of a number of tribes and castes inhabiting the mountains, jungles, and plains, has been determined by Dr. W. H. R. Rivers and myself, by means of the Cohn letter E method. And, though the jungle man, who has to search for his food and mark the tracks or traces of wild beasts, undoubtedly possesses a specially trained keenness of vision for the exigencies of his primitive life, our figures show that, as regards ordinary visual acuity, he has no advantage over the more highly civilised classes.

“The Kurumbas of the Mysore forests,” Mr. Theobald writes, “make fire by friction. They follow the same method as the Todas, as described by Mr. Thurston, but never use the powdered charcoal in the cavity of the horizontal piece of wood which is held down by their feet, or by a companion. The fine brown powder, formed during the rotation of the longer vertical piece, gives sufficient tinder, which soon ignites, and is then placed on a small piece of cotton rag, rolled loosely, and gently blown until it is ignited. The vertical stick is held between the palms, and has a reciprocal motion, by the palms being moved in opposite directions, at the same time using a strong downward pressure, which naturally brings the palms to the bottom, when they are at once raised to their original position, and the operation continued till the naturally formed tinder ignites.”

In his report on Forest Administration in Coorg, 1902–1903, Mr. C. D’A. McCarthy writes as follows concerning the Kurumbas, who work for the Forest department. “We experienced in connection with the Kurumbas one of those apparent aberrations of sense and intellect, the occurrence of which amongst this peculiar race was foreshadowed in the last report. The Chief Commissioner is aware that, in the interests of the Kurubas themselves, we substitute for a single cash payment distributions to the same value of food-grains, clothes and cash, in equal proportions of each. Now, seventy years ago, before the annexation of Coorg, the Kurubas and similar castes were prÆdial slaves of the dominant Coorgs, receiving no other remuneration for service than food and clothing. In fact, this institution, nothing less than real slavery, was not entirely broken up until the great demand for local labour created by the opening up of the country for coffee cultivation so late as 1860–1870, so that the existing generation are still cognisant of the old state of affairs. Last year, during the distribution of rewards for the successful protection of the reserves that season from fire, it seems that the idea was put into the heads of these people that our system of remuneration, which includes the distribution of food and clothing, was an attempt to create again at their expense a system of, as it were, forest slavery; with the result that for a time nothing would induce many of them to accept any form of remuneration for the work already performed, much less to undertake the same duties for the approaching season. It was some time, and after no little trouble, that the wherefore of this strange conduct was discovered, and the suspicions aroused put at rest.” In his report, 1904–1905, Mr. McCarthy states that “the local system of fire protection, consisting of the utilisation of the Kuruba jungle population for the clearing of fire lines and patrolling, and the payment of rewards according to results, may now be said to be completely established in Coorg. The Kurubas appear to have gained complete confidence in the working of the system, and, provided the superior officers personally see to the payment of the rewards, are evidently quite satisfied that the deductions for failures are just and fair.”

The Kurumbas are said to have been very useful in the mining operations during the short life of the Wynad gold-mines. A few years ago, I received the skulls of two Kurumbas, who went after a porcupine into a deserted tunnel on the Glenrock Gold-mining Company’s land in the Wynad. The roof fell in on them, and they were buried alive.

In a note on the ‘EthnogÉnie des Dravidiens’,66 Mr. Louis Lapicque writes as follows. “Les populations caractÉristiques du Wainaad sont les Panyer, les nÉgroides les plus accusÉs et les plus homogenes que j’ai vus, et probablement qui existent dans toute l’Inde. D’autre part, les tribus vivant de leur cÔtÉ sur leurs propres cultures, fortement nÉgroides encore, mais plus mÉlangÉes. Tels sont les Naiker et les Kouroumbas.”

Concerning Nayakas or Naikers and Kurumbas, Mr. F. W. F. Fletcher writes to me as follows from Nellakotta, Nilgiris. “It may be that in some parts of Wynaad there are people known indifferently as Kurumbas and Shola Nayakas; but I have no hesitation in saying that the Nayakas in my employ are entirely distinct from the Kurumbas. The two classes do not intermarry; they do not live together; they will not eat together. Even their prejudices with regard to food are different, for a Kurumba will eat bison flesh, and a Nayaka will not. The latter stoutly maintains that he is entirely distinct from, and far superior to, the Kurumba, and would be grievously offended if he were classed as a Kurumba. The religious ceremonies of the two tribes are also different. The Nayakas have separate temples, and worship separate gods. The chief Kurumba temple in this part of the country is close to Pandalur, and here, especially at the Bishu feast, the Kurumbas gather in numbers. My Nayakas do not recognise this temple, but have their place of worship in the heart of the jungle, where they make their puja (worship) under the direction of their own priest. The Nayakas will not attend the funeral of a Kurumba; nor will they invite Kurumbas to the funeral of one of their own tribe. There is a marked variation in their modes of life. The Kurumba of this part lives in comparatively open country, in the belt of deciduous forest lying between the ghats proper and the foot of the Nilgiri plateau. Here he has been brought into contact with European Planters, and is, comparatively speaking, civilised. The Nayaka has his habitat in the dense jungle of the ghats, and is essentially a forest nomad, living on honey, jungle fruits, and the tuberous roots of certain jungle creepers. By constant association with myself, my Nayaka men have lost the fear of the white man, which they entertained when I first came into the district; but even now, if I visit the village of a colony who reside in the primÆval forest, the women and children will hide themselves in the jungle at sight of me. The superstitions of the two tribes are different. Some Nayakas are credited with the power of changing themselves at will into a tiger, and of wreaking vengeance on their enemies in that guise. And the Kurumba holds the Nayaka in as much awe as other castes hold the Kurumba. Lower down, on the flat below the ghats I am opening a rubber estate, and here I have another Nayaka colony, who differ in many respects from their congeners above, although the two colonies are within five miles as the crow flies. The low-country Nayaka does his hair in a knot on one side of his head, Malayalam fashion, and his speech is a patois of Malayalam. The Nayaka on the hills above has a mop of curly hair, and speaks a dialect of his own quite distinct from the Kurumba language, though both are derived from Kanarese. But that the low-country people are merely a sept of the Nayaka tribe is evident from the fact that intermarriage is common amongst the two colonies, and that they meet at the same temple for their annual puja. The priest of the hill colony is the pujari for both divisions of the Nayakas, and the arbiter in all their disputes.”

Kurumo.—The Kurumos are a caste of Oriya agriculturists, found mainly in the Russellkonda taluk of Ganjam. They are called Kurumo by Oriyas, and Kudumo by Telugus. There is a tradition that their name is derived from Srikurmam in the Vizagapatam district, where they officiated as priests in the Siva temple, and whence they were driven northward. The Kurumos say that, at the present day, some members of the caste are priests at Saivite temples in Ganjam, bear the title Ravulo, and wear the sacred thread. It is noted in the Madras Census Report, 1901, that “some of them wear the sacred thread, and follow Chaitanya, and Oriya Brahmans will accept drinking-water at their hands. They will eat in Brahmans’ houses, and will accept drinking-water from Gaudos, Bhondaris, and Ravulos.” Bhondaris wash the feet of Kurumos on ceremonial occasions, and, in return for their services, receive twice the number of cakes given to other guests at feasts.

In addition to the Kurumos proper, there is a section called Kuji Kurumo, which is regarded as lower in the social status. The caste titles are Bissoyi, Behara, Dudi, Majhi, Nayako, Podhano, Ravulo, Ravuto, Senapati, and Udhdhandra. Those who bear the title Dudi are priests at the temples of the village deities. The title Udhdhandra was conferred by a zamindar, and is at present borne by a number of families, intermarriage among members of which is forbidden. Every village has a headman entitled Adhikari, who is under the control of a chief headman called Behara. Both these appointments are hereditary.

Among other deities, the Kurumos worship various Takuranis (village deities), such as Bodo Ravulo, Bagha Devi, Kumbeswari, and Sathabhavuni. In some places, there are certain marriage restrictions based on the house-gods. For example, a family whose house-god is Bodo Ravulo may not intermarry with another family which worships the same deity. Every family of Kurumos apparently keeps the house-god within the house, and it is worshipped on all important occasions. The god is usually represented by five areca nuts, which are kept in a box. These nuts must be filled with pieces of gold, silver, iron, copper, and lead, which are introduced through a hole drilled in the base of the nut, which is plugged with silver.

Infant marriage is the rule, and, if a girl does not secure a husband before she reaches maturity, she has to go through the mock-marriage rite, called dharma bibha, with her grandfather or other elder. On the evening of the day previous to that of the real marriage, called gondo sona, the paternal aunt of the bridegroom goes to a tank (pond), carrying thither a brass vessel. This is placed on the tank bund (embankment), and worshipped. Some cowry (CyprÆa arabica) shells are then thrown into the tank, and the vessel is filled with water, and taken to the house. At the entrance thereto, a Sullokhondia Gaudo stands, holding a vessel of water, from which a little water is poured into the vessel brought from the tank. The bride’s aunt then goes to three or five houses of members of her own caste, and receives water therefrom in her vessel, which is placed near the house-gods, and eventually kept on the marriage dais throughout the wedding ceremonies. Over the marriage dais (bedi) at the bridegroom’s house, four brass vessels, and four clay lamps fed with ghi (clarified butter), are placed at the four corners. Round the four posts thereof seven turns of thread are made by a Brahman purohit. The bridegroom, wearing mokkuto (forehead chaplet) and sacred thread, after going seven times round the dais, breaks the thread, and takes his seat thereon. After Zizyphus Jujuba leaves and rice have been thrown over him, he is taken in procession to a temple. On his return home, he is met by five or seven young girls and women at the entrance to the house, and Zizyphus leaves are again thrown over him. A Bhondari woman sprinkles water from mango leaves over him, and he proceeds in a palanquin to the home of the bride. At the marriage ceremony, the bride throws rice on the head of the bridegroom over a screen which is interposed between them. After their hands have been tied together, a grinding-stone and roller are placed between them, and they face each other while their fingers are linked together above the stone. On the seventh day, the newly married couple worship seven posts at the bride’s house. The various articles used in connection with the marriage ceremonies, except one pot, are thrown into a tank. On his return thence, the bridegroom breaks the pot, after he has been sprinkled with the water contained in it by a Bhondari. At times of marriage, and on other auspicious occasions, the Kurumos, when they receive their guests, must take hold of their sticks or umbrellas, and it is regarded as an insult if this is not done.

On the fifth and eighth days after the birth of a child, a new cloth is spread on the floor, on which the infant is placed, with a book (bagavatham) close to its head, and an iron rod, such as is used by Oriya castes for branding the skin of the abdomen of newly-born babies, at its side. The relations and friends assemble to take part in the ceremonial, and a Brahman purohit reads a puranam. Betel leaves and areca nuts are then distributed. On the twenty-first day, the ceremonial is repeated, and the purohit is asked to name the child. He ascertains the constellation under which it was born, and announces that a name commencing with a certain letter should be given to it.

Like other Oriya castes, the Kurumos are particular with regard to the observation of various vratams (fasts). One, called sudasa vratam, is observed on a Thursday falling on the tenth day after new moon in the month of Karthika (November-December). The most elderly matron of the house does puja (worship), and a puranam is read. Seven cubits of a thread dyed with turmeric are measured on the forearm of a girl seven years old, and cut off. The deity is worshipped, and seven knots are made in the piece of thread, which is tied on to the left upper arm of the matron. This vratam is generally observed by Oriya castes.

Kurup.—In a note on the artisan classes of Malabar, it is recorded67 that “the Kolla-Kurups combine two professions which at first sight seem strangely incongruous, shampooing or massage, and the construction of the characteristic leather shields of Malabar. But the two arts are intimately connected with the system of combined physical training, as we should now call it, and exercise in arms, which formed the curriculum of the kalari (gymnasium), and the title kurup is proper to castes connected with that institution. A similar combination is found in the Vil-Kurups (bow-Kurups), whose traditional profession was to make bows and arrows, and train the youth to use them, and who now shampoo, make umbrellas, and provide bows and arrows for some Nayar ceremonies. Other classes closely connected are the Kollans or Kurups distinguished by the prefixes Chaya (colour), Palissa (shield), and Tol (leather), who are at present engaged in work in lacquer, wood, and leather.” Kurup also occurs as a title of Nayars, in reference to the profession of arms, and many of the families bearing this title are said68 to still maintain their kalari.

Kuruvikkaran.—The Kuruvikkarans are a class of Marathi-speaking bird-catchers and beggars, who hunt jackals, make bags out of the skin, and eat the flesh thereof. By Telugu people they are called Nakkalavandlu (jackal people), and by Tamilians Kuruvikkaran (bird-catchers). They are also called Jangal Jati and Kattu Mahrati. Among themselves they are known as Vagiri or Vagirivala. They are further known as Yeddu Marige Vetagandlu, or hunters who hide behind a bullock. In decoying birds, they conceal themselves behind a bullock, and imitate the cries of birds in a most perfect manner. They are said to be called in Hindustani Paradhi and Mir Shikari.

As regards their origin, there is a legend that there were once upon a time three brothers, one of whom ran away to the mountains, and, mixing with Kanna Kuruvans, became degraded. His descendants are now represented by the Dommaras. The descendants of the second brother are the Lambadis, and those of the third Kuruvikkarans. The lowly position of these three classes is attributed to the fact that the three brothers, when wandering about, came across Sita, the wife of Rama, about whose personal charms they made remarks, and laughed. This made Sita angry, and she uttered the following curse:—“Malitho shikar, naitho bhikar,” i.e., if (birds) are found, huntsmen; if not, beggars. According to a variant of the legend,69 many years ago in Rajputana there lived two brothers, the elder of whom was dull, and the younger smart. One day they happened to be driving a bullock along a path by the side of a pool of water, when they surprised Sita bathing. The younger brother hid behind his bullock, but the elder was too stupid to conceal himself, and so both were observed by the goddess, who was much annoyed, and banished them to Southern India. The elder she ordered to live by carrying goods about the country on pack-bullocks, and the younger to catch birds by means of two snares, which she obligingly formed from hair plucked from under her arm. Consequently the Vagirivalas never shave that portion of the body.

The Kuruvikkarans are nomadic, and keep pack-bullocks, which convey their huts and domestic utensils from place to place. Some earn their living by collecting firewood, and others by acting as watchmen in fields and gardens. Women and children go about the streets begging, and singing songs, which are very popular, and imitated by Hindu women. They further earn a livelihood by hawking needles and glass beads, which they may be seen in the evening purchasing from Kayalans (Muhammadan merchants) in the Madras bazar.

One of the occupations of the Kuruvikkarans is the manufacture and sale of spurious jackal horns, known as narikompu. To catch the jackals, they make an enclosure of a net, inside which a man seats himself, armed with a big stick. He then proceeds to execute a perfect imitation of the jackal’s cry, on hearing which the jackals come running to see what is the matter, and are beaten down. A Kuruvikkaran, whom the Rev. E. LÖventhal interviewed, howled like a jackal, to show his skill as a mimic. The cry was quite perfect, and no jackal would have doubted that he belonged to their class. Sometimes the entire jackal’s head is sold, skin and all. The process of manufacture of the horn is as follows. After the brain has been removed, the skin is stripped off a limited area of the skull, and the bone at the place of junction of the sagittal and lambdoid sutures above the occipital foramen is filed away, so that only a point, like a bony outgrowth, is left. The skin is then brought back, and pressed over the little horn, which pierces it. The horn is also said to be made out of the molar tooth of a dog or jackal, introduced through a small hole in a piece of jackal’s skin, round which a little blood or turmeric paste is smeared, to make it look more natural. In most cases only the horn, with a small piece of skull and skin, is sold. Sometimes, instead of the skin from the part where the horn is made, a piece of skin is taken from the snout, where the long black hairs are. The horn then appears surrounded by long black bushy hairs. The Kuruvikkarans explain that, when they see a jackal with such long hairs on the top of its head, they know that it possesses a horn. A horn-vendor, whom I interviewed, assured me that the possessor of a horn is a small jackal, which comes out of its hiding-place on full-moon nights to drink the dew. According to another version, the horn is only possessed by the leader of a pack of jackals. The Sinhalese and Tamils alike regard the horn “as a talisman, and believe that its fortunate possessor can command the realisation of every wish. Those who have jewels to conceal rest in perfect security if, along with them, they can deposit a narricomboo.”70 The ayah (nurse) of a friend who possessed such a talisman remarked “Master going into any law-court, sure to win the case.” This, as has been pointed out, does not show much faith in the British administration of justice, if a so-called jackal’s horn can turn the scale. Two spurious horns, which I possessed, were promptly stolen from my study table, to bring luck to some Tamil member of my establishment.

Some Kuruvikkarans carry suspended from their turban or body-cloth a small whistle, with which they imitate the song of birds, and attract them. Young boys often have with them a bundle of small sticks strung together, and with a horse-hair noose attached to them. The sticks are driven into the ground, and grain is strewn around to entice birds, which get caught in the noose.

The women wear a petticoat and an ill-fitting bodice. Among other classes “Wearing the bodice like a Kuruvikkaran woman” is used as a taunt. The petticoat may never be taken off till it is tattered and torn, and replaced by a new one; and, when a woman bathes, she has to do so with the garment on. Anything which has come in contact with the petticoat, or rice husked with a woman’s feet, is polluted, and may not be used by men. Women adorn themselves with necklaces of beads and cowry shells, or sometimes, like the Lambadis, wear shell bracelets. Both men and women stain their teeth with a preparation of myrabolams, Acacia arabica pods, and sulphates of copper and iron. Females may not blacken their teeth, or wear a necklace of black beads before marriage.

A young married woman, wherever she may be during the daytime, must rejoin her husband at night. If she fails to do so, she has to go through the ordeal of grasping a red-hot iron bar or sickle, and carrying it sixteen paces without dropping it. Another form of ordeal is dipping the hands in a pot containing boiling cowdung water, and picking out therefrom a quarter-anna piece. If the woman is innocent, she is able to husk a small quantity of paddy (rice) by rubbing it between her hands immediately after the immersion in the liquid. If a man has to submit to trial by ordeal, seven arka (Calotropis gigantea) leaves are tied to his palm, and a piece of red-hot iron placed thereon. His innocence is established if he is able to carry it while he takes seven long strides.

The Kuruvikkarans have exogamous septs, of which Ranaratod seems to be an important one, taking a high place in the social scale. Males usually add the title Sing as a suffix to their names.

Marriage is always between adults, and the celebration, including the betrothal ceremony, extends over five days, during which meat is avoided, and the bride keeps her face concealed by throwing her cloth over it. Sometimes she continues to thus veil herself for a short time after marriage. On the first day, after the exchange of betel, the father of the bride says “Are you ready to receive my daughter as your daughter-in-law into your house? I am giving her to your son. Take care of her. Do not beat her when she is ill. If she cannot carry water, you should help her. If you beat her, or ill-treat her in any way, she will come back to us.” The future father-in-law having promised that the girl will be kindly treated, the bridegroom says “I am true, and have not touched any other woman. I have not smiled at any girl whom I have seen. Your daughter should not smile at any man whom she sees. If she does so, I shall drive her back to your house.” In the course of the marriage ceremonies, the bride is taken to the home of her mother-in-law, to whom she makes a present of a new cloth. The Nyavya (headman) hands a string of black beads to the mother-in-law, who ties it round the bride’s neck, while the assembled women sing. At a marriage of the first daughter of a member of the Ranaratod sept, a Brahman purohit is invited to be present, and give his blessing, as it is believed that a Gujarati Brahman was originally employed for the marriage celebration.

The principal tribal deity of the Kuruvikkarans is Kali or Durga, and each sept possesses a small plate with a figure of the goddess engraved on it, which is usually kept in the custody of the headman. It is, however, frequently pledged, and money-lenders give considerable sums on the security of the idol, as the Kuruvikkarans would on no account fail to redeem it. When the time for the annual festival of the goddess draws nigh, the headman or an elder piles up Vigna Catiang seeds in five small heaps. He then decides in his mind whether there is an odd or even number of seeds in the majority of heaps. If, when the seeds are counted, the result agrees with his forecast, it is taken as a sign of the approval of the goddess, and arrangements are made for the festival. Otherwise it is abandoned for the year. On the day of the festival, nine goats and a buffalo are sacrificed. While some cakes are being cooked in oil, a member of the tribe prays that the goddess will descend on him, and, taking some of the cakes out of the boiling liquid, with his palm rubs the oil on his head. He is then questioned by those assembled, to whom he gives oracular replies, after sucking the blood from the cut throat of a goat. It is noted in the North Arcot Manual that the Vagirivalas assemble two or three times in the year at Varadareddipalli for worship. The objects of this are three saktis called Mahan Kali, Chamundi, and Mahammayi, represented by small silver figures, which are mortgaged to a Reddi of the village, and lent by him during the few days of the festival.

Kusa.—A sub-division of Holeyas in South Canara, who also call themselves Uppara. Some of them say that they are the same as Upparas of Mysore, whose hereditary occupation was the manufacture of salt from salt-earth (ku, earth). Kusa further occurs as a synonym of the Otattu, or tile-making section of the Nayars, and Kusa Maran as a class of potters in Travancore. Kusa is also an exogamous sept of the Boyas.

Kusavan.—The Kusavans are the Tamil potters. “The name,” Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,71 “is said to be derived from the Sanskrit word ku signifying earth, the material in which they work, and avan, a personal termination. They wear the sacred thread, and profess both Saivism and Vaishnavism. Their ceremonials are somewhat like those of the Vellalas. The eating of flesh is permitted, but not widow marriage. Some have priests of their own caste, while others employ Brahmans. Kusavans sometimes officiate as pujaris in Pidari temples. Their titles are Udayan and Velan. Their stupidity and ignorance are proverbial.” At times of census, Kulalan has been returned as a synonym of Kusavan, and Kusavan as an occupational division of Paraiyans. The Kusavans are divided into the territorial sections Chola, Chera, and Pandya, and say that “these are descended from the three sons of their original ancestor Kulalan, who was the son of Brahma. He prayed to Brahma to be allowed, like him, to create and destroy things daily; so Brahma made him a potter.”72

In ancient days, the potters made the large pyriform sepulchral urns, which have, in recent times, been excavated in Tinnevelly, Madura, Malabar, and elsewhere. Dr. G. U. Pope shows73 that these urns are mentioned in connection with the burial of heroes and kings as late as the eighth century A.D., and renders one of the Tamil songs bearing on the subject as follows:—

“Oh! potter chief ... what toil hath befallen thee!

The descendant of the Cora kings....

Hath gained the world of gods. And so

’Tis thine to shape an urn so vast

That it shall cover the remains of such an one.”

The legend concerning the origin of the potter classes is narrated in the article on Kummaras. “It is,” Mr. E. Holder writes,74 “supposed by themselves that they are descended from a Brahmin father and Sudra mother, for the sacrificial earthen vessels, which are now made by them, were, according to the Vedas, intended to be made by the priests themselves. Some of the potters still wear the sacred thread, like the Kammalars or artisan class. They are generally illiterate, though some of their class have earned distinction as sound scholars, especially of late years. The women assist the men in their work, chiefly where delicacy of execution is needed. On the whole, the potters are a poor class compared with the Kammalar class, which includes jewellers, metal-workers and wood-workers. Their occupation is, on that account, somewhat despised by others.”

The potter’s apparatus is described by Monier Williams75 as “a simple circular horizontal well-balanced fly-wheel, generally two or three feet in diameter, which can be made to rotate for two or three minutes by a slight impulse. This the potter loads with clay, and then, with a few easy sweeps and turns of his hands, he moulds his material into beautiful curves and symmetrical shapes, and leaves the products of his skill to bake in the sun.” By Mr. Holder the apparatus is described as follows. “The potter’s implements are few, and his mode of working is very simple. The wheel, a clumsily constructed and defective apparatus, is composed of several thin pliable pieces of wood or bamboo, bent and tied together in the form of a wheel about 3½ feet in diameter. This is covered over thickly with clay mixed with goat’s hair or any fibrous substance. The four spokes and the centre on which the vessel rests are of wood. The pivot is of hard wood or steel. The support for the wheel consists of a rounded mass of clay and goat’s hair, in which is imbedded a piece of hard wood or stone, with one or two slight depressions for the axle or pivot to move in. The wheel is set into motion first by the hand, and then spun rapidly by the aid of a long piece of bamboo, one end of which fits into a slight depression in the wheel. The defects in the apparatus are—firstly its size, which requires the potter to stoop over it in an uneasy attitude; secondly, the irregularity of its speed, with a tendency to come to a standstill, and to wave or wobble in its motion; and thirdly, the time and labour expended in spinning the wheel afresh every time its speed begins to slacken. Notwithstanding, however, the rudeness of this machine, the potters are expert at throwing, and some of their small wares are thin and delicate. The usual manner in which most of the Madras potters bake their wares is as follows. A circular space, about ten feet in diameter, is marked out on the ground in any convenient open spot. Small pieces of wood and dried sticks are spread over this space to a depth of about six inches, and a layer of brattis (dried cow-dung cakes) laid over the sticks. The vessels are then carefully piled on top of this platform of fuel to a height of about five or six feet, and the whole heap is covered over with straw, and plastered over with clay, a few small openings being left here and there to allow the smoke to escape. These arrangements being completed, the fuel at the bottom is fired, and in the course of a few hours the process of baking is completed.”

When travelling in India, Dr. Jagor noticed that the potters of Salem communicated to their ware a kind of polish, exactly like that seen on some of the specimens of antique pottery found in cromlechs. It was ascertained that the Salem potters use a seed for producing the polish, which was determined by Surgeon-General G. Bidie to be the seed of Gyrocarpus Jacquini, which is also used for making rosaries and necklaces. Another method employed for producing a polish is to rub the surface of the baked vessel with the mucilaginous juice of tuthi (Abutilon indicum), and then fire the vessel again.

It is stated, in the Coimbatore Manual, that “the potter never begins his day’s work at the wheel without forming into a lingam and saluting the revolving lump of clay, which, with the wheel, bears a strong resemblance to the usual sculptured conjunction” (of lingam and yoni). An old potter woman, whom I examined on this point, explained that the lump represents Ganesa. In like manner, the pan coolies at the salt factories never scrape salt from the pans without first making a Pillayar (Ganesa) of a small heap of salt, on the top of which the salt is sometimes piled up.

Painted hollow clay images are made by special families of Kusavans known as pujari, who, for the privilege of making them, have to pay an annual fee to the headman, who spends it on a festival at the caste temple. When a married couple are anxious to have female offspring, they take a vow to offer figures of the seven virgins, who are represented all seated in a row. If a male or female recovers from cholera, small-pox, or other severe illness, a figure of the corresponding sex is offered. A childless woman makes a vow to offer up the figure of a baby, if she brings forth offspring. Figures of animals—cattle, sheep, horses, etc.—are offered at the temple when they recover from sickness, or are recovered after they have been stolen. The pupils of the eyes of the figures are not painted in till they are taken to the temple, where offerings of fruit, rice, etc., are first made. Even the pupils of a series of these images, which were specially made for me, were not painted at the potter’s house, but in the verandah of the traveller’s bungalow where I was staying. Horses made of clay, hollow and painted red and other colours, are set up in the fields to drive away demons, or as a thank-offering for recovery from sickness or any piece of good luck. The villagers erect these horses in honour of the popular deity Ayanar, the guardian deity of the fields, who is a renowned huntsman, and is believed, when, with his two wives Purna and Pushkala, he visits the village at night, to mount the horses, and ride down the demons. Ayanar is said to be “the special deity of the caste. Kusavans are generally the pujaris in his temples, and they make the earthenware (and brick and mortar) horses and images, which are placed before these buildings.”76

For the following note on a ceremony, in which the potters take part, I am indebted to an essay submitted in connection with the M.A. degree of the Madras University. “Brahmans of Vedic times ate dogs, horses, bulls, and goats. The fondness for mutton even in a raw state finds its modern counterpart in the bloody hecatombs that disfigure some of their annual sacrifices. In these ceremonies called Pasubandha, Agnishtoma, Vajapeya, Garudachayana, etc., a goat is tied to a post, and, after the usual mantrams (prayers) and the service of frankincense, etc., is ablutioned in water mixed with turmeric and taken to the slaughter-room. And the method of slaughtering is most appalling. Two men appointed for the purpose, invariably men belonging to the pot-making community, rush into the apartment. One catches hold of the fore-quarter of the animal and keeps it from struggling, while the other squeezes the scrotum with so much violence that the animal succumbs in a few minutes, after writhing in the most painful fashion. The man in charge of the fore-quarter puts a handful of salt into the animal’s mouth, and holds it tight, lest the animal should bleat, and make the ceremony unsanctimonious. The carcase is now brought to the mailing shed, where, with crude knives and untrained hands, the Brahmans peel off the skin most savagely. Then they cut open the chest, and it is a common sight to see these Brahmans, uninitiated in the art of butchery, getting their hands severely poked or lacerated by the cut sharp ends of the ribs. Then portions of flesh are cut off from various portions of the carcase, such as the buccal region, the cardiac region, the scapular region, the renal, the scrotal, the gluteal and gastroenemial regions. The amount of flesh thus chopped comes to not less than three big potfuls, and they are cooked in water over the slow fire of a primitively constructed oven. No salt is put to season the meat, but the Brahmans bolt it without any condiment in an awful fashion.”

The services of the potter are required in connection with the marriage ceremonial of many castes. At some Brahman marriages, for example, the tali is tied on the bride’s neck in the presence of 33 crores (330 millions) of gods, who are represented by a number of variously coloured pots, large and small. At a Lingayat wedding, new pots are brought with much shouting, and deposited in the room in which the household god is kept. An enclosure is made round the bride and bridegroom with cotton thread passed round four pots placed at the four corners of the marriage pandal. Among the Patnulkarans, on the occasion of a wedding, a number of small pots are set up in a room, and worshipped daily throughout the marriage ceremonies. The ceremonial of breaking a pot containing water at the graveside prevails among many classes, e.g., Oddes, Toreyas, and Paraiyans.

At the time of the Aruvaththimuvar festival, or festival of the sixty-three saints, at Mylapore in the city of Madras, crowds may be seen returning homeward after attending it, each carrying a new pot (chatty), which they purchase so as not to go home empty-handed. At the festival of Tiruvottiyur, stalks of Amarantus gangeticus are in like manner purchased.

It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that “a Kusavan can claim the hand of his paternal aunt’s daughter. Marriage occurs before puberty. The tali is tied by the bridegroom’s sister, and the usual bride-price is paid. The ceremonies last three days. One of them consists in the bridegroom’s sister sowing seeds in a pot, and, on the last day of the wedding, the seedlings which have sprouted are taken with music to a river or tank (pond), and thrown into it. When the bride attains maturity, a ceremony is conducted by the caste priest, and consummation follows on the next auspicious day.”

Among the Kusavans, divorce and remarriage are permissible on mutual agreement, on one party paying to the other the expenses of the latter’s original marriage (parisam). A case came before the High Court of Madras,77 in which a Kusavan woman in the Tinnevelly district, on the ground of ill-treatment, repaid her husband the parisam, thereby dissolving the marriage, and married another man.

The potters are considered to be adepts in the treatment of cases of fracture. And it is still narrated how one of them successfully set in splints the broken arm of Lord Elphinstone, when Governor of Madras, after the English doctors had given up the job as hopeless.78 “In our village,” it is recorded,79 “cases of dislocations of bones and fractures, whether simple, compound, comminuted or complicated, are taken in hand by the bone-setters, who are no other than our potters. The village barber and the village potter are our surgeons. While the barber treats cases of boils, wounds, and tumours, the potter confines himself to cases of fracture and dislocations of bones.” The amateur treatment by the unqualified potter sometimes gives rise to what is known as potter’s gangrene.

For the notes of the following case I am indebted to Captain F. F. Elwes, I.M.S. A bricklayer, about a month and a half or two months prior to admission into hospital, fell from a height, and injured his left arm. He went to a potter, who placed the arm and forearm in a splint, the former in a line with the latter, i.e., fully extended. He kept the splint on for about a month and, when it was removed, found that he was unable to bend the arm at the elbow-joint. When he was examined at the hospital, practically no movement, either active or passive, could be obtained at the elbow-joint. The lower end of the humerus could be felt to be decidedly thickened both anteriorly and posteriorly. There had apparently been a fracture of the lower end of the humerus. RÖntgen ray photographs showed an immense mass of callus extending over the anterior surface of the elbow-joint from about two and a half inches above the lower end of the humerus to about an inch below the elbow-joint. There was also some callus on the posterior surface of the lower end of the humerus.

Concerning potter’s gangrene, Captain W. J. Niblock, I.M.S., writes as follows.80 “Cases of gangrene, the result of treatment of fractures by the village potters, used to be frequently met with in the General Hospital, Madras. These were usually brought when the only possible treatment consisted in amputation well above the disease. Two of these cases are indelibly impressed on my mind. Both were cases of gangrene of the leg, the result of tight splinting by potters. The first patient was a boy of thirteen. Whilst a student was removing the dressings on his admission, the foot came off in his hands, leaving two inches of the lower ends of the tibia and fibula exposed, and absolutely devoid of all the soft tissues, not even the periosteum being left. The second case was that of a Hindu man, aged 46. He was taken to the operation theatre at once. Whilst engaged in disinfecting my hands, I heard a dull thud on the floor of the operation theatre, turned round, and found that the gangrenous leg, as the result of a struggle whilst chloroform was being administered, had become separated at the knee-joint, and had fallen on floor; or, to put it tersely, the man had kicked his leg off.”

In connection with the Tamil proverb “This is the law of my caste, and this is the law of my belly,” the Rev. H. Jensen notes81 that “potters are never Vaishnavas; but potters at Srirangam were compelled by the Vaishnava Brahmans to put the Vaishnava mark on their foreheads; otherwise the Brahmans would not buy their pots for the temple. One clever potter, having considered the difficulty, after making the Saivite symbol on his forehead, put a big Vaishnava mark on his stomach. When rebuked for so doing by a Brahman, he replied as above.” The proverb “Does the dog that breaks the pots understand how difficult it is to pile them up?” is said by Jensen to have reference to the pots which are piled up at the potter’s house. A variant is “What is many days’ work for the potter is but a few moment’s work for him who breaks the pots.”

In the Madura district, the Kusavans have Velan as a title.

The insigne of the Kusavans, recorded at Conjeeveram, is a potter’s wheel.82

Kutikkar.—A name for Dasis in Travancore.

Kutraki (wild goat).—An exogamous sept of Jatapu.

Kuttadi.—Described, in the Census Report, 1901, as an occupational name, meaning a rope-dancer, applied to Dommaras, Paraiyans, or Koravas. Arya Kuttadi is a Tamil synonym for Maratha (Are) Dommaras. Kuttadi also occurs as the name of a class of mendicants attached to Kaikolans.

Kuttan.—A division of Toda.

Kuttina.—Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a sub-division of Nayar.

Kuttiya.—A sub-division of Kond.

Kuzhal.—The name of the flute used by shepherds and snake-charmers. It occurs as an exogamous sept of Toreyas, the members of which must not hear the sound of this musical instrument when at meals.

Kuzhappara.—Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a sub-division of Nayar.

Kuzhiyan.—A synonym derived from kuzhi a pit, for Thanda Pulayans, in reference to the legend that they were found emerging in a state of nudity from a pit.

1 Madras Census Report, 1891.

2 Original Inhabitants of Bharatavarsa, 1893.

3 Account of the Primitive Tribes and Monuments of the Nilgiris, 1873.

4 Ind. Ant., II, 1873.

5 Aboriginal Tribes of the Nilgiri hills, 1870.

6 Tribes inhabiting the Neilgherry hills. By a German Missionary.

7 The Todas, 1906.

8 A Singular Aboriginal Race of the Nilagiris.

9 Tribes of the Neilgherries, 1868.

10 At Kotamale there are three temples, two dedicated to Kamataraya and one to Kalikai.

11 Goa and the Blue Mountains, 1851.

12 Tribes inhabiting the Neilgherry hills. By a German Missionary.

13 Reise nach SÜd-Indien, 1894.

14 Mysore Census Report, 1891.

15 Madras Census Report, 1901.

16 Ind. Ant., III, 1874.

17 Cf. Pendukkumekki and Valasu sub-divisions of the Idaiyan caste.

18 The present note is mainly based on the articles by the Rev. J. Cain in the Indian Antiquary V, 1876, and VIII, 1879; and the Madras Christian College Magazine, V, 1887–8, and VI, 1888–9.

19 Madras Census Report, 1891.

20 Calcutta Christian Observer, May and June, 1853, Second Edition, by the Rev. J. M. Descombes and J. A. Grierson, Calcutta, 1900.

21 Gazetteer of the Godavari district.

22 Gazetteer of the Godavari district.

23 Notes for a Lecture on the Tribes and Castes of Bombay, 1907.

24 Manual of the Godavari district.

25 Rev. W. Taylor. iii. 1862.

26 This account is taken from a note by Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar.

27 Ethnog. Survey of Cochin. Monograph No. II, Kshatriyas, 1906.

28 Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district.

29 Monograph, Ethnog. Survey of Cochin, Kootan, 1905.

30 Manual of the South Canara district.

31 Indian Forester, XXXII, 1906.

32 This account is taken from a note by Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar.

33 Madras Mail, 1907.

34 Ind. Ant., IV, 1875.

35 Madras Census Report, 1891.

36 Manual of the North Arcot district.

37 Not collectors of art pottery, but Collectors or District Magistrates.

38 Madras Mail, 1903.

39 Manual of the South Canara district.

40 Mysore Census Report, 1901.

41 Mysore and Coorg Gazetteer.

42 Manual of the Salem district.

43 Ind. Ant., X, 1881.

44 Manual of the Madura district.

45 Madras Census Report, 1891.

46 Manual of Malabar.

47 Madras Census Report, 1901.

48 Manual of the North Arcot district.

49 Mysore Census Report, 1901.

50 Gazetteer of the Anantapur district.

51 Gazetteer of the Bellary district.

52 Manual of the North Arcot district.

53 W.F.S. Ind. Ant., VI, 1877.

54 Madras Mail, November 1905.

55 Manual of the North Arcot district.

56 Manual of the Nilgiri district.

57 Mysore Census Report, 1901.

58 Journey through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, 1807.

59 Asian, 1902.

60 Manual of the Nilgiri district.

61 Aboriginal Race of the Neilgherry hills, 1832.

62 Ind. Ant., VI, 1877.

63 Rude Stone Monuments.

64 Police Admn. Report, 1900.

65 Agricult. Ledger Series, No. 47, 1904.

66 Comptes rendus des SÉances de la SociÉtÉ de Biologie, T. LVIII, 1019.

67 Gazetteer of the Malabar district.

68 Op. cit.

69 Manual of the North Arcot district.

70 Tennent, Ceylon.

71 Madras Census Report, 1891.

72 Gazetteer of the Madura district.

73 Journ. Roy. Asiat. Soc., 1899, 267–8.

74 Madras Pottery. Journ. Ind. Arts, VII, 1897.

75 Brahmanism and Hinduism.

76 Gazetteer of the Madura district.

77 Ind. Law Reports, Madras Series, XVII, 1894.

78 A Native. Pen and ink sketches of Native life in S. India.

79 Madras Mail.

80 Trans. S. Ind. branch, Brit. Med. Association, XIV, 1906.

81 Classified Collection of Tamil Proverbs, 1897.

82 J. S. F. Mackenzie. Ind. Ant., IV, 1875.