Badaga.—As the Todas are the pastoral, and the Kotas the artisan tribe of the Nllgiris, so the agricultural element on these hills is represented by the Badagas (or, as they are sometimes called. Burghers). Their number was returned, at the census, 1901, as 34,178 against 1,267 Kotas, and 807 Todas.

Though the primary occupation of the Badagas is agriculture, there are among their community, schoolmasters, clerks, public works contractors, bricklayers, painters, carpenters, sawyers, tailors, gardeners, forest guards, barbers, washermen, and scavengers. Many work on tea and coffee estates, and gangs of Badagas can always be seen breaking stones on, and repairing the hill roads. Others are, at the present day, earning good wages in the Cordite Factory near Wellington. Some of the more prosperous possess tea and coffee estates of their own.

The rising generation are, to some extent, learning Tamil and English, in addition to their own language, which is said to resemble old Canarese. And I have heard a youthful Badaga, tending a flock of sheep, address an errant member thereof in very fluent Billingsgate. There were, in 1904-1905, thirty-nine Badaga schools, which were attended by 1,222 pupils. In 1907, one Badaga had passed the Matriculation of the Madras University, and was a clerk in the Sub-judge's Court at Ootacamund.

A newspaper discussion was carried on a few years ago as to the condition of the Badagas, and whether they are a down-trodden tribe, bankrupt and impoverished to such a degree that it is only a short time before something must be done to ameliorate their condition, and save them from extermination by inducing them to emigrate to the Wynad and Vizagapatam.

A few have, in recent years, migrated to the Anaimalai hills, to work on the planters' estates, which have been opened up there. One writer stated that "the tiled houses, costing from Rs. 250 to Rs. 500, certainly point to their prosperity. They may frequently borrow from the Labbai to enable them to build, but, as I do not know of a single case in which the Labbai has ever seized the house and sold it, I believe this debt is soon discharged.

The walled-in, terraced fields immediately around their villages, on which they grow their barley and other grains requiring rich cultivation, are well worked, and regularly manured.

The coats, good thick blankets, and gold ear-rings, which most Badagas now possess, can only, I think, point to their prosperity, while their constant feasts, and disinclination to work on Sundays, show that the loss of a few days' pay does not affect them.

On the other hand, a former Native official on the Nilgiris writes to me that "though the average Badaga is thrifty and hard-working, there is a tendency for him to be lazy when he is sure of his meal. When a person is sick in another village, his relatives make it an excuse to go and see him, and they have to be fed.

When the first crop is raised, the idler pretends that ' worms ' have crept into the crop, and the gods have to be propitiated, and there is a feast. Marriage or death, of course, draws a crowd to be fed or feasted. All this means extra expenditure, and a considerable drain on the slender income of the family. The Rowthan (Muhammadan merchant) from the Tamil country is near at hand to lend money, as he has carried his bazar to the very heart of the Badaga villages.

First it is a bag of ragi (food grain), a piece of cloth to throw on the coffin, or a few rupees worth of rice and curry-stuff doled out by the all-accommodating Rowthan at a price out of all proportion to the market rate, and at a rate ranging from six pies to two annas for the rupee. The ever impecunious Badaga has no means of extricating himself, with a slender income, which leaves no margin for redeeming debts.

The bond is renewed every quarter or half year, and the debt grows by leaps and bounds, and consumes all his earthly goods, including lands. The advent of lawyers on the hills has made the Badagas a most litigious people, and they resort to the courts, which means expenditure of money, and neglect of agriculture."

In the funeral songs of the Badagas, which has been translated by Mr. Gover,* one of the crimes enumerated, for which atonement must be made, is that of preferring a complaint to the Sirkar (Government), and one of their numerous proverbs embodies the same idea. “If you prefer a complaint to a Magistrate, it is as if you had put poison into your adversary's food."

* Folk-songs of Southern India.

But Mr. Grigg writes,* “either the terrors of the Sirkar are not what they were, or this precept is much disregarded, for the Court-house at Ootacamund is constantly thronged with Badagas, and they are now very much given to litigation."

* Manual of the Nilapiri district

I gather from the notes, which Bishop Whitehead has kindly placed at my disposal, that "when the Badagas wish to take a very solemn oath, they go to the temple of Mariamma at Sigur, and, after bathing in the stream and putting on only one cloth, offer fruits, cocoanuts, etc., and kill a sheep or fowl. They put the head of the animal on the step of the shrine, and make a line on the ground just in front of it. The person who is taking the oath then walks from seven feet off in seven steps, putting one foot immediately in front of the other, up to the line, crosses it, goes inside the shrine, and puts out a lamp that is burning in front of the image. If the oath is true, the man will walk without any difficulty straight to the shrine. But, if the oath is not true, his eyes will be blinded, and he will not be able to walk straight to the shrine, or see the lamp. It is a common saying among Badagas, when a man tells lies, ' Will you go to Sigur, and take an oath .”

Oaths are taken in much the same way at the temple of Mariamma at Ootacamund. When a Hindu gives evidence in the Court at Ootacamund, he is often asked by the Judge whether he will take an oath at the Mariamma temple. If he agrees, he is sent off to the temple with a Court official. The party for whom he gives evidence supplies a goat or sheep, which is killed at the temple, the head and carcase being- placed in front of the image. The witness steps over the carcase, and this forms the oath. If the evidence is false, it is believed that some evil will happen to him."

The name Badaga or Vadugan means northerner, and the Badagas are believed to be descended from Canarese colonists from the Mysore country, who migrated to the Nilgiris three centuries ago owing to famine, political turmoil, or local oppression in their own country. It is worthy of notice, in this connection, that the head of the Badagas, like that of the Todas and Kotas, is dolichocephalic, and not of the mesaticephalic or sub-brachycephalic type, which prevails throughout Mysore, as in other Canarese areas.

Of the Mysorean heads, the following are a few typical examples :

Concerning the origin of the Badagas, the following legend is current. Seven brothers and their sisters were living on the Talamalai hills. A Muhammadan ruler attempted to ravish the qirl, whom the brother saved from him by flight. They settled down near the present village of Bethalhada. After a short stay there, the brothers separated, and settled in different parts of the Nilgiris, which they peopled.

Concerning the second brother, Hethappa, who had two daughters, the story goes that, during his absence on one occasion, two Todas forced their way into his house, ravished his wife, and possessed themselves of his worldly effects. Hearing of what had occurred, Hethappa sought the assistance of two Balayaru in revenging himself on the Todas. They readily consented to help him, in return for a promise that they should marry his daughters. The Todas were killed, and the present inhabitants of the village Hulikallu are supposed to be the descendants of the Balayaru and Badaga girls. The seven brothers are now worshipped under the name Hethappa or Hetha.

In connection with the migration of the Badagas to the Nilgiris, the following note is given in the Gazetteer of the Nilgiris. “When this flitting took place there is little to show. It must have occurred after the foundation of the Lingayat creed in the latter half of the twelfth century, as many of the Badagas are Lingayats by faith, and sometime before the end of the sixteenth century, since in 1602 the Catholic priests from the west coast found them settled on the south of the plateau, and observing much the same relations with the Todas as subsist to this day. The present state of our knowledge does not enable us to fix more nearly the date of the migration. That the language of the Badagas, which is a form of Canarese, should by now have so widely altered from its original as to be classed as a separate dialect argues that the movement took place nearer the twelfth than the sixteenth century.

On the other hand, the fact (pointed out by Dr. Rivers *) that the Badagas are not mentioned in a single one of the Todas' legends about their gods, whereas the Kotas, Kurumbas, and Irulas, each play a part in one or more of these stories, raises the inference that the relations between the Badagas and the Todas are recent as compared with those between the other tribes.

* The Todas, 1906.

A critical study of the Badaga dialect might perhaps serve to fix within closer limits the date of the migration. As now spoken, this tongue contains letters (two forms of r for instance) and numerous words, which are otherwise met with only in ancient books, and which strike most strangely upon the ear of the present generation of Canarese. The date when some of these letters and words became obsolete might possibly be traced, and thus aid in fixing the period when the Badagas left the low country.

It is known that the two forms of r, for example, had dropped out of use prior to the time of the grammarian Kesiraja, who lived in the thirteenth century, and that the word betta (a hill), which the Badagas use in place of the modern bettu, is found in the thirteenth century work Sabdamanidarpana."

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Nilgiris, that "Nellialam, about eight miles north-west of Devala as the crow flies, is the residence of the Nellialam Arasu (Urs), who has been recognised as the janmi (landlord) of a considerable area in the Munanad amsam, but is in reality a Canarese-speaking Lingayat of Canarese extraction, who follows the ordinary Hindu law of inheritance, and is not a native of the Wynad or of Malabar.

Family tradition, though now somewhat misty, says that in the beginning two brothers named Sadasiva Raja Urs and Bhujanga Raja Urs moved (at some date and for some reason not stated) from Ummattur (in the present Chamarajnagar taluk of Mysore), and settled at Malaikota, the old fort near Kalhatti. Their family deities were Bhujangesvara and Ummattur Urakatti, which are still worshipped as such. They brought with them a following of Bedars and Badagas, and thereafter always encouraged the immigration to the hills of more Canarese people.

The village of Bannimara, a mile west of Kalhatti, is still peopled by Bedars who are said to be descendants of people of that caste who came with the two brothers ; and to this day, when the Badagas of the plateau have disputes of difficulty, they are said to go down to Nellialam with presents (kanikai) in their hands, and ask the Arasu to settle their differences, while, at the time of their periodical ceremonies (manavalai) to the memory of their ancestors, they send a deputation to Nellialam to invite representatives of the Arasu to be present."

Close to the village of Bethalhada is a row of cromlechs carved with figures of the sun and moon, human beings, animals, etc., and enclosed within a stone kraal, which the Badagas claim to be the work of their ancestors, to whom periodical offerings are made. At the time of my visit, there were within one of the cromlechs a conch shell, lingam, bell, and flowers. A number of these sculptured cromlechs at Sholur, Melur, and other spots on the Nilgiris, are described and figured by Breeks,* who records that the cromlech at Jakata Kambe is interesting as being the place of the yearly sacrifice performed by the Badagas of the Jakaneri grama (village) by their Kani Kurumba.

And he adds that the Badagas would seem to have usually selected the neighbourhood of these cromlechs for their temples, as for example, at Melur, Kakusi, H'laiuru, Tudur, and Jakatada.

It is recorded *, in connection with the legends ot the Badagas, that "in the heart of the Banagudi shola, not far from the Dodduru group of cromlechs, is an odd little shrine to Karairaya, consisting of a ruined stone hut surrounded by a low wall, within which are a tiny cromlech, some sacred water-worn stones, and sundry little pottery images representing a tiger, a mounted man, and some dogs. These keep in memory, it is said, a Badaga who was slain in combat with a tiger ; and annually a festival is held, at which new images are placed there, and vows are paid.

* Gazetteer of the Nilgiris.

A Kurumba makes fire by friction and burns incense, throws sanctified water over the numerous goats brought to be sacrificed, to see if they will shiver in the manner always held necessary in sacrificial victims, and then slays, one after the other, those which have shown themselves duly qualified.

Hulikal Drug, usually known as the Drug, is a precipitous bluff at the very end of the range which borders on the south the great ravine which runs up to Coonoor. It is named from the neighbouring village of Hulikal, or tiger's stone, and the story goes that this latter is so called because in it a Badaga killed a notorious man-eater which had long been the terror of the country side. The spot where the beast was buried is shown near the Pillaiyar temple to the south of Hulikal village, and is marked by three stones.

Burton says there used formerly to be a stone image of the slain tiger thereabouts. Some two miles south-east of Konakarai in a place known as Kottai-hada, or the fort flat, lie the remains of the old fort Udaiya Raya Kota.

Badaga tradition gives a fairly detailed account of Udaiya Raya. It says he was a chief who collected the taxes for the Ummattur Rajas, and that he had also a fort at Kullanthorai, near Sirumugai, the remains of which are still to be seen. He married a woman of Netlingi hamlet of Nedugula, named Muddu Gavari, but she died by the wrath of the gods because she persuaded him to celebrate the annual fire-walking festival in front of the fort, instead of at the customary spot by the Mahalingasvami temple about half a mile off.

Anaikatti is a hamlet situated in the jungle of the Moyar valley. The stream which flows past it tumbles over a pretty fall on the slopes of Birmukku (Bimaka) hill. The Badagas call the spot Kuduraihallo, or the ravine of the horse, and say the name was given it because a Badaga, covered with shame at finding that his wife gave him first sort rice but his brother who lived with them only second sort, committed suicide by jumping his horse down the fall."

According to Mr. Grigg, the Badagas recognise eighteen different "castes or sects." These are, however, simplified by Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri * into six, “five high castes and one low caste." They are:

Madras Christian College Magazine, 1892.

Udayas are Lingayats in religion, and carry the Sivalinga—the Siva image— tied round their necks. They claim to be superior to all the other Badagas, and are regarded as such. They are priests to all the Badagas of the Lingayat class, and are strict vegetarians. They do not intermarry with any of the other high caste Badaga sects. Udaya was, and is the title assumed by the Maisur Rajas, and those Badagas, by being thus designated as a caste, claim superior blood in their veins."

The Lingayat Badagas are commonly called Lingakutti.

"Next in rank come the Haruvas. From their name being so closely connected with the Aryas—the respectable— and from their habit of wearing the Brahmanical thread, we are warranted in believing that they must originally have been the poor Brahman priests of the Badagas that migrated to this country (the Nilgiris), though they have now got themselves closely mingled with the Badagas. These Haruvas are also strict vegetarians, and act as priests."

It has been suggested that the Haruvas (jumper) derive their name from the fire-walking ceremony, which they perform periodically. A further, and more probable suggestion has been made to me that Haruva comes from a Canarese word meaning to beg or pray ; hence one who begs or prays, and so a Brahman. The Canarese Basava Purana frequently uses the word in sense.

"The Adhikaris are to a certain extent vegetarians. The other two high castes, and of course the low caste Toreyas also, have no objection of any kind to eating flesh. It is also said that the vegetarian Adhikari, if he marries into a flesh-eating caste of the Badagas, betakes himself to this latter very readily."

The Kanakas are stated by Mr. Grigg to be the accountants, who were probably introduced when the hills were under the sway of the Tamil chiefs. This would, however, seem to be very improbable. "The Toreyas are regarded as sons and servants to the five high caste Badaga sects—to the Haruvas especially. They are the lowest in the scale, and they are prohibited from intermarrying with the other or high caste Badagas, as long as they are sons to them."

The Toreya does the menial duties for the tribe. He is the village servant, carries the corpses to the burning-ground, conveys the news of a death from village to village, is the first to get shaved when a death occurs, and is sent along with a woman when she is going to visit her mother or mother-in- law at a distance from her own home.

"The Udayas, Adhikaris and Kanakas are Lingayats in religion, and the other three, the Haruvas, Badagas, and Toreyas are Saivites." Of the six divisions referred to, the Udayas and Toreyas are endogamous, but intermarriage is permissible between the other four. At the census, 1891, a large number of Badagas returned as their sub-division Vakkaliga, which means cultivator, and is the name of the great cultivating caste of Mysore. Seven miles west of Coonoor is a village named Athikarihatti, or village of the Athikari or Adhikari section of the Badagas."

The story goes that these people, under a leader named Karibetta Raya, came from Sarigur in Mysore territory, and settled first at Nelliturai (a short distance south-west of Mettupalaiyam) and afterwards at Tudur (on the plateau west of Kulakambi) and Tadasimarahatti (to the north-west of Melur), and that it was they who erected the sculptured cromlechs of Tudur and Melur.

Tudur and Tadasimarahatti are now both deserted; but in the former a cattle kraal, an old shrine, and a pit for fire-walking may still be seen, and in the latter another kraal, and one of the raised stone platforms called mandaikallu by the Badagas. Tradition says that the Badagas left these places and founded Athikarihatti and its hamlets instead, because the Kurumbas round about continually troubled them with their magic arts, and indeed killed by sorcery several of their most prominent citizens."*

* Gazetteer of the Nilgiris.

Like other Canarese people, the Badagas have exogamous septs or kolas, of which Mari, Madhave (marriage). Kasturi (musk), and Belli (silver) are examples. A very large number of families belong to the Mari and Madhave septs, which were time after time given as the sept name in reply to my enquiries. It may be noted that Belli occurs as an exogamous sept of the Canarese classes Vakkaliga, Toreya, and Kuruba, and Kasturi is recorded in my notes as a sept of the Vakkaligas and Telugu Kammas.

The Badagas dwell in extensive villages, generally situated on the summit of a low hillock, composed of rows of comfortable thatched or tiled houses, and surrounded by the fields, which yield the crops. The houses are not separate tenements, but a line of dwellings under one continuous roof, and divided by party walls. Sometimes there are two or three, or more lines, forming streets. Each house is partitioned off into an outer (edumane) and inner apartment (ozhaga or ogamane).

If the family has cows or buffaloes yielding milk, a portion of the latter is converted into a milkhouse (hagottu), in which the milk is stored, and which no woman may enter Even males who are under pollution, from having touched or passed near a Kota or Paraiyan, or other cause, may not enter it until they have had a ceremonial bath. To some houses a loft, made of bamboo posts, is added, to serve as a storehouse. In every Badaga village there is a raised platform composed of a single boulder or several stones with an erect stone slab set up thereon, called suththu kallu. There is, further, a platform, made of bricks and mud, called mandhe kallu, whereon the Badagas, when not working, sit at ease.

In their folk-tales men seated thereon are made to give information concerning the approach of strangers to the village. Strangers, who are not Badagas, are called Holeya. The Rev. G. Richter gives* Badaga Holeya as a division of the lowly Holeyas, who came to Coorg from the Mysore country. In front of the houses, the operations of drying and threshing grain are carried out. The cattle are kept in stone kraals, or covered sheds close to the habitations, and the litter is kept till it is knee or waist deep, and then carried away as manure for the Badaga's land, or planters' estates.

* Manual of Coorg.

"Nobody," it has been said,* "can beat the Badaga at making mother earth produce to her utmost capacity, unless it be a Chinese gardener. To-day we see a portion of the hill side covered with rocks and boulders. The Badagas become possessed of this scene of chaos, and turn out into the place in hundreds, reducing it, in a few weeks, to neat order. The unwieldy boulders, having been rolled aside, serve their purpose by being turned into a wall to keep out cattle, etc. The soil is pounded and worried until it becomes amenable to reason, and next we see a green crop running in waves over the surface. The Badagas are the most progressive of all the hill tribes, and always willing to test any new method of cultivation, or new crops brought to their notice by the Nilgiri Horticultural Society."

* Pioneer, 4th October 1907.

Writing in 1832, Harkness states* that "on leaving his house in the morning the Burgher pays his adoration to the god of day, proceeds to the tu-el or yard, in which the cattle have been confined, and, again addressing the sun as the emblem of Siva, asks his blessing, and liberates the herd. He allows the cattle to stray about in the neighbourhood of the village, on a piece of ground which is always kept for this purpose, and, having performed his morning ablutions, commences the milking. This is also preceded by further salutations and praises to the sun. On entering the house in the evening, the Burgher addresses the lamp, now the only light, or visible emblem of the deity.

* Description of a singular Aboriginal Race inhabiting the summit of the Neilgherry Hills.

'Thou, creator of this and of all worlds, the greatest of the great, who art with us, as well in the mountain as in the wilderness, who keepeth the wreaths that adorn the head from fading, who guardeth the foot from the thorn, God, among a hundred, may we be prosperous.' "

The Badaga understands the rotation of crops well. On his land he cultivates bearded wheat (beer ganji), barley, onions, garlic, potatoes, kire (Amarantus), samai, (Paniaim miliare), tenai (Setaria italica), etc.

"Among the Badagas," Mr. Natesa Sastri writes, "the position of the women is somewhat different from what it is among most peoples. Every Badaga has a few acres to cultivate, but he does not mainly occupy himself with them, for his wife does all the out-door farm work, while he is engaged otherwise in earning something in hard cash. To a Badaga, therefore, his wife is his capital. Her labour in the field is considered to be worth one rupee per day, while an average male Badaga earns merely three annas. A Badaga woman, who has not her own acres to cultivate, finds work on some other lands. She thus works hard for her husband and family, and is quite content with the coarsest food—the korali (Setaria italica) flour—leaving the better food to the male members of the family.

“This fact, and the hard work the Badaga women have to perform, may perhaps account to some extent for the slight build of the Badagas as a race. The male Badaga, too, works in the field, or at his own craft if he is not a cultivator, but his love for ready cash is always so great that, even if he had a harvest to gather the next morning, he would run away as a cooly for two annas wages."

Further, Mr. Grigg states that "as the men constantly leave their villages to work on coffee plantations, much of the labour in their own fields, as well as ordinary household work, is performed by the women. They are so industrious, and their services of such value to their husbands, that a Badaga sometimes pays 150 or 200 rupees as dowry for his wife."

In the off season for cultivation, I am informed, the Badaga woman collects faggots for home consumption, and stores them near her house, and the women prepare the fields for cultivation by weeding, breaking the earth, and collecting manure.

In his report on the revenue settlement of the Nilgiris (1885), Mr. (now Sir) R. S. Benson notes that "concurrently with the so-called abolition of the bhurty (or shifting) system of cultivation, Mr. Grant abolished the peculiar system in vogue up to that time in Kundahnad, which had been transferred from Malabar to the Nilgiris in 1860. This system was known as erkadu kothukadu. Under it, a tax of Re. 1 to Re. 1-8-0 was levied for the right to use a plough or er, and a tax of from 4 to 8 annas was levied for the right to use a hoe or kothu. The so-called patta issued to the ryot under this system was really no more than a license to use one or more hoes, as the case might be. It merely specified the amount payable for each instrument, but in no cases was the extent or position of the lands to be cultivated specified.

“The ryot used his implements whenever and wherever he pleased. No restrictions, even on the felling of forests, were imposed, so that the hill-sides and valleys were cleared at will. The system was abolished in 1S62. But, during the settlement, I found this erkadu kothukadu system still in force in the flourishing Badaga village of Kinnakorai, with some fifty houses."

In connection with the local self-government of the Badagas, Mr. A. Rajah Bahadur Mudaliar writes to me as follows. “In former days, the monegar was a great personage, as he formed the unit of the administration. The appointment was more or less hereditary, and it generally fell to the lot of the richest and most well-to-do. All disputes within his jurisdiction were placed before him, and his decision was accepted as final. In simple matters, such as partition of property, disputes between husband and wife, etc., the monegars themselves disposed of them. But, when questions of a complicated nature presented themselves, they took as their colleagues other people of the villages, and the disputes were settled by the collective wisdom of the village elders. They assembled at a place set apart for the purpose beneath a nim (Melia Azadirachta) or pipal tree (Ficus religiosa) on a raised platform (ratchai), generally situated at the entrance to the village. The monegar was ex-officio president of such councils. He and the committee had power to fine the parties, to excommunicate them, and to re-admit them to the caste.

Parents resorted to the monegar for counsel in the disposal of their daughters in marriage, and in finding brides for their sons. If anyone had the audacity to run counter to the wishes of the monegar in matters matrimonial, he had the power to throw obstacles in the way of such marriages taking place. The monegar, in virtue of his position, wielded much power, and ruled the village as he pleased."

In the old days, it is said, when he visited any village within his jurisdiction, the monegar had the privilege of having the best women or maids of the place to share his cot according to his choice. In former times, the monegar used to wear a silver ring as the badge of office, and some Badagas still have in their possession such rings, which are preserved as heirlooms, and worshipped during festivals. The term monegar is, at the present day, used for the village revenue official and munsiff.

I gather that each exogamous sept has its headman, called Gouda, who is assisted by a Parpattikaran, and decides tribal matters, such as disputes, divorce, etc. Fines, when inflicted, go towards feasting the tribe, and doing puja (worship) to the gods. In the case of a dispute between two parties, one challenges the other to take an oath in a temple before the village council. A declaration on oath settles the matter at issue, and the parties agree to abide by it. It is the duty of the Parpattikaran to make arrangements for such events as the Heththeswami, Devve and Bairaganni festivals, and the buffalo sacrificing festival at Konakkore.

The Parpattikaran takes part in the purification of excommunicated members of the tribe, when they are received back into it, for example, on release from prison. The tongue of the delinquent is burnt with a hot sandal stick, and a new waist thread put on. He is taken to the temple, where he stands amidst the assembled Badagas, who touch his head with a cane. He then prostrates himself at the feet of the Parpattikaran, who smears his forehead with sacred ashes. It is, further, the duty of the Parpattikaran to be present on the occasion of the Kannikattu (pregnancy) ceremony.

A quarter of a century ago, a Badaga could be at once picked out from the other tribes of the Nilgiris by his wearing a turban. But, in the present advanced age, not only does the Toda sometimes appear in the national head-dress, but even Irulas and Kurumbas, who only a short time ago were buried in the jungles, living like pigs and bears on roots, honey and other forest produce, turn up on Sundays in the Kotagiri bazar, clad in turban and coat of English cut. And, as the less civilised tribes don the turban, so the college student abandons this picturesque form of head-gear in favour of the less becoming and less washable porkpie cap, while the Badaga men and youths glory in a knitted night-cap of flaring red or orange hue.

The body of the Badaga man is covered by a long body-cloth, sometimes with red and blue stripes, wrapped “so loosely that, as a man works in the fields, he is obliged to stop between every few strokes of his hoe, to gather up his cloth, and throw one end over his shoulder."

Male adornment is limited to gold ear-rings of a special pattern made by Kotas or goldsmiths, a silver waist-thread, silver bangle on the wrist, and silver, copper, or brass rings. The women wear a white body-cloth, a white under-cloth tied round the chest, tightly wrapped square across the breasts, and reaching to the knees, and a white cloth worn like a cap on the head. As types of female jewellery and tattooing, the following examples may be cited : —

1. Tattooed on forehead with dashes, circles and crescent ; spot on chin ; double row of dots on each upper arm over deltoid ; and devices and double row of dots on right forearm. Gold ornament in left nostril. Necklets of glass beads and silver links with four-anna piece pendent. Silver armlet above right elbow. Four copper armlets above left elbow. Four silver and seven composition bangles on left forearm. Two silver rings on right ring-finger ; two steel rings on left ring-finger.

2. Tattooed on forehead; quadruple row of dots over right deltoid ; star on right forearm.

3. Tattooed like the preceding on forehead and upper arm. Spot on chin ; elaborate device on right forearm ; rayed star or sun on back of hand.

4. Tattooed like the preceding on forehead and arm. Triple row of dots on back and front of left wrist, and double row of dots, with circle surrounded by dots, across chest.

Toreya women are only allowed to wear bangles on the wrist. The tattoo marks on the foreheads of Udayar women consist of a crescent and dot, and they have a straight line tattooed at the outer corners of the eyes. Women of the other sub-divisions have on the forehead two circles with two vertical dashes between them, and a horizontal or crescentic dash below.

The circles are made by pricking in the pigment over an impression m.ade with a finger ring, or over a black mark made by means of such a ring. The operation is performed either by a Badaga or Korava woman. The former uses as needles the spines of Carissa spinarum, and a mixture of finely powdered charcoal or lamp-black mixed with rice gruel. The marks on the forehead are made when a girl is about eight or nine years old, and do not, as stated by Mr. Xatesa Sastri. proclaim to the whole Badaga world that a girl is of marriageable age.

In colour the Badagas are lighter than the other hill tribes, and the comparative pallor of the skin is specially noticeable in the females, whom, with very few exceptions, I was only able to study by surreptitious examination, when we met on the roads.

In physique, the typical Badaga man is below middle height, smooth-skinned, of slender build, with narrow chest and shoulders. Badaga men have cicatrices on the shoulder and forearm as the result of branding with a fire-stick when they are lads, with the object, it is said, of giving strength, and preventing pain when milking or churning. In like manner, the Todas have raised cicatrices (keloids) on the shoulder produced by branding with a fire-stick. They believe that the branding enables them to milk the buffaloes with perfect ease. The Badagas have a very extensive repertoire of hora hesaru, or nicknames, of which the following are examples :

Among the Badagas, Konga is used as a term of abuse. Those who made mistakes in matching Holmgren's wools, with which I tested them, were, always called Konga by the onlookers.

When two Badagas meet each other, the elder touches the head of the younger with his right hand. This form of salutation is known as giving- the head. A person of the Badaga section gives the head, as it is called, to an Udaiyar, in token of the superiority of the latter. When people belong to the same sept, they say "Ba, anna, appa, thamma, amma, akka " (come, father, brother, mother, sister, etc.). But, if they are of different septs, they will say "Ba, mama, mami, bava" (come, uncle, aunt, brother-in-law, etc.).

"Whenever," Dr. Rivers writes,* “a Toda meets a Badaga monegar (headman), or an old Badaga with whom he is acquainted, a salutation passes between the two. The Toda stands before the Badaga, inclines his head slightly, and says ' Madtin pudia.' (Madtin, you have come). The Badaga replies 'Buthuk! buthuk!' (blessing, blessing), and rests his hand on the top of the Toda's head. This greeting only takes place between Todas and the more important of the Badaga community.

* The Todas, 1906.

“It would seem that every Badaga headman maybe greeted in this way, but a Toda will only greet other Badaga elders, if he is already acquainted with them. The salutation is made to members of all the various castes of the Badagas, except the Toreyas. It has been held to imply that the Todas regard the Badagas as their superiors, but it is doubtful how far this is the case. The Todas themselves say they follow the custom because the Badagas help to support them. It seems to be a mark of respect paid by the Todas to the elders of a tribe with which they have very close relations, and it is perhaps significant that no similar sign of respect is shown to Toda elders by the Badagas."

Every Badaga family has its Muttu Kota, from whom it gets the agricultural implements, pots, hoes, etc. In return, the Kotas receive an annual present of food-grains, mustard and potatoes. For a Kota funeral, the Badagas have to give five rupees or a quantity of rice, and a buffalo. The pots obtained from the Kotas are not used immediately, but kept for three days in the jungle, or in a bush in some open spot. They are then taken to the outer apartment of the house, and kept there for three days, when they are smeared with the bark of Meliosina pungens (the tud tree of the Todas) and culms of Andropogon Schænanthus (bzambe hullu). Thus purified, the pots are used for boiling water in for three days, and may then be used for any purpose. The Badagas are said to give a present of grain annually to the Todas.

Every Toda mand (or mad) seems to have its own group of Badaga families, who pay them this gudu, as it is called. "There are," Dr. Rivers writes, "several regulations concerning the food of the palol (dairy-man of a Toda sacred dairy). Any grain he eats must be that provided by the Badagas. At the present time more rice is eaten than was formerly the case. This is not grown by the Badagas, but nevertheless the rice for the palol must be obtained through them. The palol wears garments of a dark grey material made in the Coimbatore district. They are brought to the palol by the Badaga called tikelfmav. The earthenware vessels of the inner room (of the ti dairy) are not obtained from the Kotas, like the ordinary vessels, but are made by Hindus, and are procured through the Badagas."

The Badagas live in dread of the Kurumbas, and the Kurumba constantly comes under reference in their folk-stories. The Kurumba is the necromancer of the hills, and believed to be possessed of the power of outraging women, removing their livers, and so causing their death, while the wound heals by magic, so that no trace of the operation is left. He is supposed, too, to have the power of opening the bolts of doors by magic and effecting an entrance into a house at night for some nefarious purpose.

The Toda or Badaga requires the services of the Kurumba, when he fancies that any member of his family is possessed of the devil, or when he wants to remove the evil eye, to which he imagines that his children have been subjected. The Kurumba does his best to remove the malady by repeating various mantrams (magical formulæ).

If he fails, and if any suspicion is aroused in the mind of the Toda or Badaga that he is allowing the devil to play his pranks instead of loosing his hold on the supposed victim, woe betide him. The wrath of the entire village, or even the whole tribe, is raised against the unhappy Kurumba. His hut is surrounded at night, and the entire household massacred in cold blood, and their huts set on fire. This is very cleverly carried out, and the isolated position of the Kurumba settlements allows of very little clue for identification.

In 1835 no less than fifty-eight Kurumbas were thus murdered, and a smaller number in 1875 and 1882. In 1891 the live inmates of a single hut were murdered, and their hut burnt to ashes, because, it was said, one of them who had been treating a sick Badaga child failed to cure it. The crime was traced to some Kotas in conjunction with Badagas, but the District Judge disbelieved the evidence, and all who were charged were acquitted.

Every Badaga family pays an annual tax of four annas to the Kurumbas, and, if a Kurumba comes to a Badaga hatti (village), a subscription is raised as an inducement to him to take his departure. The Kurumba receives a fee for every Badaga funeral, and for the pregnancy ceremony (kannikattu).

It is noted by Dr. Rivers that “the Toda sorcerers are not only feared by their fellow Todas, but also by the Badagas, and it is probably largely owing to fear of Toda sorcery that the Badagas continue to pay their tribute of grain. The Badagas may also consult the Toda diviners, and it is probable that the belief of the Badagas in the magical powers of the Todas is turned to good account by the latter. In some cases, Todas, have been killed by Badagas owing to this belief."

Among the Todas, the duties of milking the buffaloes and dairy-work are entrusted to special individuals, whereas any Badaga male may, after initiation, milk the cows and buffaloes, provided that he is free from pollution.

Every Badaga boy, when he is about seven or nine years old, is made to milk a cow on an auspicious day, or on new year's day. The ceremony is thus described by Mr. Natesa Sastri. "Early in the morning of the day appointed for this ceremony, the boy is bathed, and appears in his holiday dress. A she-buffalo, with her calf, stands before his house, waiting to be milked. The parents, or other elder relations of the boy, and those who have been invited to be present on the occasion, or whose duty it is to be present, then conduct the boy to the spot. The father, or some one of the agnatic kindred, gives into the hands of the boy a bamboo vessel called hone, which is already very nearly full of fresh-drawn milk. The boy receives the vessel with both his hands, and is conducted to the buffalo. The elder relations show him the process, and the boy, sitting down, milks a small quantity into the hone. This is his first initiation into the duty of milking, and it is that he may not commit mistakes on the very first day of his milking that the hone is previously filled almost to the brim.

“The boy takes the vessel filled with milk into his house, and pours some of the sacred fluid into all his household eating vessels—a sign that from that day he has taken up on himself the responsibility of supplying the family with milk. He also throws some milk in the faces of his parents and relatives. They receive it very kindly, and bless him, and request him to continue thus to milk the buffaloes, and bring plenty and prosperity to the house. After this, the boy enters the milk-house (hagottu), and places milk in his hone there. From this moment, and all through his life, he may enter into that room, and this is therefore considered a very important ceremony."

A cow or buffalo, which has calved for the first time, has to be treated in a special manner. For three or five days it is not milked. A boy is then selected to milk it. He must not sleep on a mat, or wear a turban, and, instead of tying his cloth round his waist, must wear it loosely over his body. Meat is forbidden, and he must avoid, and not speak to polluting classes, such as Irulas and Kotas, and menstruating women.

On the day appointed for milking the animal, the boy bathes, and proceeds to milk it into a new hone purified by smearing a paste of Meliosma (tud) leaves and bark over it, and heating it over a fire. The milk is taken to a stream, where three cups are made of Argyreia (minige) leaves, into which a small quantity of the milk is placed. The cups are then put in the water. The remainder of the milk in the hone is also poured into the stream. In some places, especially where a Madeswara temple is close at hand, the milk is taken to the temple, and given to the pujari.

With a portion of the milk some plantain fruits are made into a pulp, and given to an Udaya, who throws them into a stream. The boy is treated with some respect by his family during the period when he milks the animal, and is given food first. This he must eat off a plate made of Argvreia, or plantain leaves.

Besides the hagottu within the house, the Badagas have, at certain places, separate dairy-houses near a temple dedicated to Heththeswami, of which the one at Bairaganni (or Berganni) appears to be the most important.

The dairy pujari is here, like the Toda palol, a celibate. In 1905, he was a young lad, whom my Brahman assistant set forth to photograph. He was, however, met at a distance from the village by a headman, who assured him that he could not take the photograph without the sanction of fifteen villages. The pujari is not allowed to wander freely about the village, or talk to grown-up women. He cooks his own food within the temple grounds, and wears his cloth thrown loosely over his body.

Once a year, on the occasion of a festival, he is presented with new cloths and turban, which alone he may wear. He must be a strict vegetarian. A desire to marry and abandon the priesthood is believed to be conveyed in dreams, or through one inspired. Before leaving the temple service, he must train his successor in the duties, and retires with the gains acquired by the sale of the products of the herd and temple offerings. The village of Bairaganni is regarded as sacred, and possesses no holagudi (menstrual hut).

Bishop Whitehead adds that "buffaloes are given as offerings to the temple at Bairaganni, and become the property of the pujari, who milks them, and uses the milk for his food. All the villagers give him rice every day. He may only eat once a day, at about 3 p.m. He cooks the meal himself, and empties the rice from the cooking-pot by turning it over once. If the rice does not come out the first time, he cannot take it at all. When he wants to get married, another boy is appointed in his place. The buffaloes are handed over to his successor."

The following legend in connection with Bairaganni is also recorded by Bishop Whitehead. "There is a village in the Mekanad division of the Nilgiris called Nundala. A man had a daughter. He wanted to marry her to a man in the Paranganad division about a hundred years ago. She did not wish to marry him. The father insisted, but she refused again and again. At last she wished to die, and came near a tank, on the bank of which was a tree. She sat under the tree and washed, and then threw herself into the tank. One of the men of Bairaganni in the Paranganad division saw the woman in a dream. She told him that she was not a human being but a goddess, an incarnation of Parvati. The people of Nundala built a strong bund (embankment) round the tank, and allow no woman to go on it. Only the pujari, and Badagas who have prepared themselves by fasting and ablution, are allowed to go on the bund to offer puja, which is done by breaking cocoanuts, and offering rice, flowers, and fruits. The woman told the man in his dream to build a temple at Bairaganni, which is now the chief temple of Heththeswami."

Concerning the initiation of a Lingayat Badaga into his religion, which takes place at about his thirteenth birthday, Mr. Natesa Sastri writes as follows. "The priest conducts this ceremony, and the elder relations of the family have only to arrange for the performance of it. The priests belong to the Udaya sect. They live in their own villages, and are specially sent for, and come to the boy's village for the occasion. The ceremony is generally done to several boys of about the same age on the same day.

On the day appointed, all the people in the Badaga village, where this ceremony is to take place, observe a strict fast. The cows and buffaloes are all milked very early in the morning, and not a drop of the milk thus collected is given out, or taken by even the tenderest children of the village, who may require it very badly. The Udaya priest arrives near the village between lo a.m. and noon on the day appointed. He never goes into the village, but stops near some rivulet adjacent to it.

The relations of the boy approach him with a new basket, containing five measures of uncooked rice, pulse, ghi, etc., and a quarter of a rupee—one fanam, as it is generally designated. The priest sits near the water-course, and lights a fire on the bank. Perfumes are thrown profusely into it, and this is almost the only ceremony before the fire. The boys, whose turn it is to receive the linga that day, are all directed to bathe in the river. A plantain leaf, cut into one foot square, is placed in front of the fire towards the east of it. The lingas, kept in readiness by the parents of the boys, are now received by the priest, and placed on the leaves. The boys are asked to wash them—each one the linga meant for his wearing—in water and milk. Then comes the time for the expenditure of all the collected milk of the morning. Profusely the white fluid is poured, till the whole rivulet is nothing but a stream of milk.

After the lingas are thus washed, the boys give them to the priest, who places them in his left palm, and, covering them with his right, utters, with all the solemnity due to the occasion, the following incantation, while the boys and the whole village assembled there listen to it with the most profound respect and veneration ' Oh ! Siva, Hara, Basava, the Lord of all the six thousand and three thousand names and glories, the Lord of one lakh and ninety-six thousand ganas (body-guards of Siva), the donor of water, the daily-to-be worshipped, the husband of Parvati. Oh ! Lord, O ! Siva Linga, thy feet alone are our resort. Oh ! Siva, Siva, Siva, Siva.'

While pronouncing this prayer, the priest now and then removes his right palm, and pours water and milk round the sacred fire, and over the lingas resting in his left palm. He then places each of the lingas in a cloth of one cubit square, rolls it up, and requests the boys to hold out their right palms. The young Badaga receives it, repeats the prayer given about five times, and, during each repetition, the palm holding the linga tied up in the cloth is carried nearer and nearer to his neck. When that is reached (on the fifth utterance of the incantation), the priest ties the ends of the rolled up cloth containing the Siva emblem loosely round the boy's neck, while the latter is all the while kneeling down, holding with both his hands the feet of the priest.

After the linga has been tied, the priest blesses him thus : ' May one become one thousand to you. May you ever preserve in you the Siva Linga. If you do so, you will have plenty of milk and food, and you will prosper for one thousand years in name and fame, kine and coin.'

If more than one have to receive the linga on the same day, each of them has to undergo this ceremony. After the ceremony is over, the priest returns to his village with the rice, etc., and fees. Every house, in which a boy has received the linga, has to give a grand feast on that day. Even the poorest Badaga must feed at least five other Badagas."

The foregoing account of the investiture with the lingam apparently applies to the Mekanad Udayas. The following note is based on information supplied by the Udayas of Paranginad.

The ceremony of investiture is performed either on new year's day or Sivarathri by an Udaya priest in the house of a respected member of the community (doddamane), which is vacated for the occasion. The houses of the boys and girls who are to receive lingams are cleaned, and festoons of tud and mango leaves, lime fruits, and flowers of Leucas aspera (thumbe) are tied across the doorways, and in front of the house where the ceremony is to be performed. Until the conclusion thereof, all the people of the village fast. The candidates, with their parents, and the officiating priest repair to the doddamane.

The lingams are handed over to the priest, who, taking them up one by one, does puja to them, and gives them to the children. They in turn do puja, and the lingams, wrapped in pink silk or cotton cloths, are tied round their necks. The puja consists of washing the lingams in cow's urine and milk, smearing them with sandal and turmeric paste, throwing flowers on them, and waving incense and burning camphor before them.

After the investiture, the novices are taught a prayer, which is not a stereotyped formula, but varies with the priest and village.

Like other Lingayats, the Udayas respect the Jangam, but do not employ the Jangama thirtham (water used for washing the Jangam's feet) for bathing their lingams.

In Udaya villages there is no special menstrual hut (holagudi). Milk is not regarded by them as a sacred product, so there is no hagottu in their houses. Nor do they observe the Manavalai festival in honour of ancestors. Other ceremonies are celebrated by them, as by other Badagas, but they do not employ the services of a Kurumba.

Important agricultural ceremonies are performed by the Badagas at the time of sowing and harvest. The seed-sowing ceremony takes place in March, and, in some places, e.g., the Mekanad and Paranginad, a Kurumba plays an important part in it. On an auspicious day—a Tuesday before the crescent moon—a pujari of the Devve temple sets out several hours before dawn with five or seven kinds of grain in a basket and sickle, accompanied by a Kurumba, and leading a pair of bullocks with a plough. On reaching the field selected, the pujari pours the grain into the cloth of the Kurumba, and, yoking the animals to the plough, makes three furrows in the soil.

The Kurumba, stopping the bullocks, kneels on the ground between the furrows facing east. Removing his turban, he places it on the ground, and, closing his ears with his palms, bawls out " Dho, Dho," thrice. He then rises, and scatters the grain thrice on the soil. The pujari and Kurumba then return to the village, and the former deposits what remains of the grain in the store-room (attu). A new pot, full of water, is placed in the milk-house, and the pujari dips his right hand therein, saying "Nerathubitta " (it is full).

This ceremony is an important one for the Badagas, as, until it has been performed, sowing may not commence. It is a day of feasting, and, in addition to rice, Dolichos Lablah is cooked.

The other agricultural ceremony is called Devve habba or tenai (Setaria italica), and is usually celebrated in June or July, always on a Monday. It is apparently performed in honour of the two gods Mahalingaswami and Hiriya Udaya, to whom a group of villages will have temples dedicated.

For example, the Badagas in the neighbourhood of Kotagiri have their Hiriya Udaya temple at Tandanad, and Mahalinqaswami temple at Kannermukkii. This Devve festival, which should on no account be pronounced duvve, which means burning-ground, is celebrated at one place, whither the Badagas from other villages proceed, to take part in it. About midday, some Badagas and the temple pujari go from the temple of Hiriya Udaya to that of Mahalingaswami. The procession is usually headed by a Kurumba, who scatters fragments of tud bark and wood as he goes on his way. The pujari takes with him the materials necessary for doing puja, and, after worshipping Mahalingaswami, the party return to the Hiriya Udaya temple, where milk and cooked rice are offered to the various gods within the temple precincts.

On the following day, all assemble at the temple, and a Kurumba brings a few sheaves of Setaria italica, and ties them to a stone set up at the main entrance. After this, puja is done, and the people offer cocoanuts to the god.

Later on, all the women of the Madhave sept, who have given birth to a first-born child, come, dressed up in holiday attire, with their babies, to the temple. On this day they wear a special nose ornament, called elemukkuththi, which is only worn on one other occasion, at the funeral of a husband. The women do puja to Hiriya Udaya, and the pujari gives them a small quantity of rice on minige (Argyrcia) leaves. After eating this, they leave the temple in a line, and wash their hands with water given to them by the pujari. This ceremonial, performed by women of the Madhave sept, is called Mandedhanda. As soon as the Devve festival is concluded, the reaping of the crop commences, and a measure or two of grain from the crop gathered on the first day, called nisal, is set apart for the Mahalingaswami temple.

The most important gods of the Badagas are Heththeswami, Mahalingaswami, Hiriya Udaya, Madeswara, Mankali, Jadeswami, and Nilgiri Rangaswami. And at the present day, some Badagas proceed to the plains, to worship at the Saivite temple at Karamadai in Coimbatore, or at Nanjangod in Mysore.

The festival in honour of Heththeswami is celebrated in the month of January at Baireganni. It is sometimes called ermathohabba, as, with it, ploughing operations cease. It always commences on a Monday, and usually lasts eight days. A Sedan or Devanga weaver comes with his portable hand-loom, and sufficient thread for weaving a dhubati (coarse cloth) and turban. At Baireganni there is a special house, in which these articles are woven. But, at other places where the festival is observed, the Badagas go to the weaver's village to fetch the required cloths. Early on the second morning of the festival, some of the more respected Badagas and the weaver proceed to the weaving house after bathing. The weaver sets up his loom, and worships it by offering incense, and other things. The Badagas give him a new cloth, and a small sum of money, and ask him to weave a dhubati and two kachches (narrow strips of cloth). Daily, throughout the festival, the Badagas collect near the temple, and indulge in music and songs.

Until the last day, they are not permitted to set eyes on the god Heththeswami. On the morning of the last day, the pujari, accompanied by all the Badagas, takes the newly woven cloths to a stream, in which they are washed. When they are dry, all proceed to the temple, where the idol is dressed up in them, and all, on this occasion only, are allowed to look at it.

Devotees pay a small offering of money, which is placed on a tray near the idol. The crowd begins to disperse in the afternoon, and, on their way back to their villages, the wants of the travellers are attended to by people posted at intervals with coffee, fruit, and other articles of food. If the Badagas have to go to a weaver's village for the cloths, the weaver is, when the order is given for them, presented with four annas, after he has bathed. When handing the money to him, the Badagas bawl out, “This is the fee for making the cloths to be worn by Heththe Iramasthi and Parasakti Parvati."

On the last day of the festival, the cloths are washed, and one of them is made to represent an idol, which is decorated with waist and neck ornaments, and an umbrella. All prostrate themselves before it, and make offerings of money. Fruits and other things arc then offered to Heththeswami and some recite the following prayer. "May all good acts be remembered, and all bad ones be forgotten. Though there may be a thousand and one sins, may I reach the feet of God."

The following further information in connection with the Baireganni festival is given by Bishop Whitehead, "The people from other villages offer money, rice, fruits, umbrellas of gold or silver for the goddess, cloths, and buffaloes. The buffaloes are never killed, but remain as the property of the temple. The pujari calls the representatives of one village, and tells them what Hetheswami says to him, e.g., 'This year you will have good [or bad] crops ; cholera or small-pox, good [or bad] rain, etc.'

“As the people present their offerings, they prostrate themselves, kneeling down and touching the ground with their foreheads, and the pujari gives them some flowers, which they wear in their hair. The people and the pujari play on the kombu [horn], and ring bells while the offerings are being made. After the offerings have finished, all the men dance, in two companies, in front of the temple, one shouting ' How-ko, How-ko’ and the other ' Is-holi.' The dance was taught them by the Todas, and the words are Toda."

In connection with the Jadeswami festival the ceremony of walking' through fire [burning embers] is carried out at Melur, Tangalu, Mainele, Jakkanare, Tenad, and Nidugala. At Melur and Tangalu, the temples belong to the Haruvas, who carry out all the details of ceremony.

The temple at Tenad is owned by the Udayas, by whom the ceremonial is performed. In other places, the celebrants are Badagas. The festival is observed, on an elaborate scale, at Nidugala during the month of January. All those who are going to walk over the burning embers fast for eight days, and go through the rite on the ninth day. For its performance, Monday is considered an auspicious day. The omens are taken by boiling two pots of milk side by side on two hearths. If the milk overflows uniformly on all sides, the crops will be abundant for all the villages. But, if it flows over on one side only, there will be plentiful crops for villages on that side only. The space over which the embers are spread is said to be about five yards long, and three yards broad. But, in some places, e.g., Jakkanare and Melur, it is circular as at the Muhammadan fire-walking ceremony.

For making the embers, the wood of Eugenia Jambolana and Phyllanthus Emblica are used. For boiling the milk, and setting fire to the wood, a light obtained by friction must be used. The process is known as niligolu, or upright stick. The vertical stick is made of a twig of Rhodomyrtus tomentosus, which is rotated in a socket in a long thick piece of a bough of Debregcasia velutina, in which a row of sockets has been made. The rotation is produced by a cord passed several times round the vertical stick, of which each end is pulled alternately. The horizontal block is pressed firmly on the ground. by the toes of a man, who presses a half cocoanut shell down on the top of the vertical stick, so as to force it down into the socket.

A Badaga, who failed in an attempt to demonstrate the making of fire by this method, gave as an excuse that he was under worldly pollution, from which he would be free at the time of the fire-walking ceremony. Though the Badagas make fire by friction, reference is made in their folk legends, not to this mode of obtaining fire, but to chakkamukki (flint and steel), which is repeatedly referred to in connection with cremation.

After the milk boiling" ceremonial, the pujari, tying bells on his legs, approaches the fire pit, carrying milk freshly drawn from a cow, which has calved for the first time, and flowers of Rhododendron arborcum, Leucas aspera, or jasmine.

After doing puja, he throws the flowers on the embers, and they should remain un-scorched for a few seconds. He then pours some of the milk over the embers, and no hissing sound should be produced. The omens being propitious, he walks over the glowing embers, followed by an Udaya, and the crowd of celebrants, who, before going through the ordeal, count the hairs on their feet. If any are singed, it is a sign of approaching ill fortune, or even death.

In an account of the fire-walking ceremony, in 1902, it is noted that "the Badagas strongly repudiate the insinuation of preparing their feet to face the fire ordeal. It is done to propitiate Jeddayswami, to whom vows are invoked, in token of which they grow one twist or plait of hair, which is treasured for years, and finally cut off as an offering to Jeddayswami. Numbers of Chettis were catering to the crowd, offering their wares, bangles, gay-coloured handkerchiefs, as well as edibles.

“The Kotas supplied the music, and an ancient patriarch worked himself up to a high pitch of inspiration, and predicted all sorts of good things for the Badagas with regard to the ensuing season and crops."

The following legend, relating to the fire-walking ceremony, is recorded by Bishop Whitehead. “When they first began to perform the ceremony fifty or sixty years ago, they were afraid to walk over the fire. Then the stone image of Mahalinga Swami turned into a snake, and made a hole through the temple wall. It came out, and crawled over the fire, and then went back to the temple. Then their fear vanished, and they walked over the embers. The hole is still to be seen in the temple."

Of the fire-walking ceremony at Melur, the following account is given in the Gazetteer of the Nilgiris. “It takes place on the Monday after the March new moon, just before the cultivation season begins, and is attended by Badagas from all over Merkunad. The inhabitants of certain villages (six in number), who are supposed to be the descendants of an early Badaga named Guruvajja, have first, however, to signify through their Gottukars, or headmen, that the festival may take place ; and the Gottukars choose three, five, or seven men to walk through the fire. On the day appointed, the fire is lit by certain Badaga priests and a Kurumba. The men chosen by the Gottukars then bathe, adorn themselves with sandal, do obeisance to the Udayas of Udayarhatti near Keti, who are specially invited and feasted ; pour into the adjacent stream milk from cows which have calved for the first time during the year ; and, in the afternoon, throw more milk and some flowers from the Mahalingasvami temple into the fire pit, and then walk across it.

“Earth is next thrown on the embers, and they walk across twice more. A general feast closes the ceremony, and next day the first ploughings are done, the Kurumba sowing the first seeds, and the priests the next lot. Finally, a net is brought. The priest of the temple, standing over it, puts up prayers for a favourable agricultural season ; two fowls are thrown into it, and a pretence is made of spearing them ; and then it is taken and put across some game path, and some wild animal (a sambhar deer if possible) is driven into it, slain, and divided among the villagers. This same custom of annually killing a sambhar is also observed at other villages on the plateau, and in 1883 and 1S94 special orders were passed to permit of its being done during the close season.

Latterly, disputes about precedence in the matter of walking through the fire at Melur have been carried as far as the civil courts, and the two factions celebrate the festival separately in alternate years. A fire-walking ceremony also takes place annually at the Jadayasvami temple in Jakkaneri under the auspices of a Sivachari Badaga. It seems to have originally had some connection with agricultural prospects, as a young bull is made to go partly across the fire-pit before the other devotees, and the owners of young cows which have had their first calves during the year take precedence of others in the ceremony, and bring offerings of milk, which are sprinkled over the burning embers."

At the Sakalathi festival, in the month of October, Badagas, towards evening, throw on the roofs of their houses flowers o{ Plectranthus Wightii, Crotalaria obtccta, Lobelia nicotianœfolia, Achyranthes aspera, and Leucas aspera. On the following day, they clean their houses, and have a feast. In the afternoon, numbers of them may be seen in the streets drawing in front of their houses pictures in wood-ashes of buffaloes, bulls, cows, ploughs, stars, sun and moon, snakes, lizards, etc. They then go into their houses, and wash their hands. Taking up in his clean hands a big cake, on which are placed a little rice and butter, the Badaga puts on it three wicks steeped in castor oil, and lights them. The cake is then waved round the heads of all the children of the house taken to a held, and thrown therein with the words "Sakalathi has come."

The cake-thrower returns home, and prostrates himself before a lamp placed in the inner room, and repeats a long formula, composed of the various synonyms of Siva.

In the month of November, a festival called Dodda Habba (big feast) is celebrated. In the afternoon, rice is cooked in whey within the hagottu. and eaten on minige leaves. Throughout the day the villagers play at various ball games.

A festival, which is purely local, is celebrated near Konakore in honour of Mahangkali. A buffalo is led to the side of a precipice, killed by a Kurumba with a spear, and thrown over the edge thereof.

There is a legend that, in olden days, a pujari used to put a stick in the crevice of a rock, and, on removing it, get the value of a buffalo in fanams (gold coins). But, on one occasion, he put the stick in a second time, in the hopes of gaining more money. No money, however, was forthcoming and, as a punishment for his greed, he died on the spot.

All Badaga villages, except those of the Udayas, have a hut, called holagudi, for the exclusive use of women during their monthly periods. A few months before a girl is expected to reach puberty, she is sent to the holagudi, on a Friday, four or five days before the new moon day. This is done lest, in the ordinary course of events, the first menstruation should commence on an inauspicious day. The girl remains in the holagudi one night, and returns home on the following day clad in new cloths, leaving the old ones in the hut. When she arrives at her house, she salutes all the people who are there, and receives their blessing. On Sunday she goes to the houses of her relations, where she is given kadalai (Cicer arictlinum) and other food. She may not enter the inner apartment of her house until she has seen the crescent moon.

Badaga women observe five days menstrual pollution. If a woman discovers her condition before washing her face in the early morning, that day is included in the pollution period. Otherwise, the period must be prolonged over six days. On the third day she bathes in cold water, using the bark of Pouzolzia (thorekolu), and on the fourth day is allowed a change of clothing after a bath. On this day she leaves the hut, and passes a portion of the night in the verandah of her house.

After cooking and eating her evening meal, she bathes, and enters the outer room. Early on the following morning, the spot which she has occupied is cleaned, and she bathes in a stream. Returning home, she eats her food in the outer room, where she remains till next morning. Even children may not be touched by a menstruating woman. If, by chance, this happens, the child must be washed to remove the pollution, before it can be handled by others. This restriction is apparently not observed by any other tribe or caste.

Writing concerning marriage among the Badagas, Harkness states * that "it is said to be common for one who is in want of labourers to promise his daughter in marriage to the son or other relative of a neighbour not in circumstances so flourishing as himself. And, these engagements being entered into, the intended bridegroom serves the father of his betrothed as one of his own family till the girl comes of age, when the marriage is consummated, and he becomes a partner in the general property of the family of his father-in-law."

* op. cit.

A man may marry a girl belonging to the same village as himself, if he and she are not members of the same exogamous sept. In most cases, however, all the inhabitants of a village are of the same sept, and a man has to take as his wife a girl from a village other than his own.

Among all sections of the Badagas, adult marriage is the general rule, though infant marriage is also practised. Marriage is preceded by a simple form of courtship, but the consent of the parents to the union is necessary. A girl does not suffer in reputation if she is rejected by a number of suitors, before she finally settles down.

Except among the Udayas, the marriage ceremony is of a very simple nature. A day or two before that fixed for taking the girl to the house of her husband-elect, the latter proceeds to her village, accompanied by his brothers, who, as a token of respect, touch the feet of all the Badagas who are assembled. The bride is taken to the house of the bridegroom, accompanied by the Kota band. Arrived there, she stands at the entrance, and her mother-in-law or sister-in-law brings water in a vessel, and pours it into her hands thrice. Each time she lets the water fall over her feet. The mother-in-law then ties round her neck a string of beads (male mani) and leads her to the outer room (edumane), where cooked samai (Panicum miliare) and milk is given to her. This she pretends to eat, and the bridegroom's sister gives her water to wash her hands with. The bride and two married women or virgins (preferably the bridegroom's sisters) go to a stream in procession, accompanied by the Kota musicians, and bring therefrom water for cooking purposes in decorated new pots. The bride then salutes all her new relations, and they in turn give her their blessing. The ceremonial concludes with a feast, at the conclusion of which, in some cases, the bride and bridegroom sit on the raised verandah (pial), and receive presents.

"Though," a correspondent writes, "the Badaga is simple, and his wants are few, he cannot resist the temptation of wine and women. The Badaga woman can change husbands as often as she pleases by a simple system of divorce, and can also carry on with impunity intimacy within the pale of her own community. It is not uncommon to find Badaga women changing husbands, so long as youth and vigour tempt them to do so, and confining themselves eventually to the last individual, after age and infirmity have made their mark, and render such frolics inexpedient."

A former Magistrate of the Nilgiris informs me that he tried more than one case, in which a married man filed a complaint against another man for kidnapping or enticing away his wife for immoral purposes. The father of the woman was always charged as an abetter, and pleaded that, as no pariyam (bride price) had been paid by the husband, though he and the woman lived together as man and wife, no criminal offence could be proved against either the father or the abductor.

Polygamy is permitted, and the plurality of wives is a gain to the husband, as each wife becomes a bread-winner, and supports her children, and the man makes each wife superintend one department of the day's work.

Remarriage of widows is very common, and a widow may marry the brother of her deceased husband.

It is said to be etiquette among the Badagas that, when a woman's husband is away, she should be accessible to her brothers-in-law. Instances occur, in which the husband is much younger than his wife, who, until he has reached maturity, cohabits with her paternal aunt's son, or some one whom she may have a fancy for.

The marriage ceremony of the Udayas is carried out on an elaborate scale, and is based on the type of ceremonial which is carried out by some castes in the plains. Before dawn on the marriage day, the brothers and cousins of the bridegroom go, accompanied by some Udayas and the Kota band, to the forest, whence they bring two sticks of Mimusops hexandra, to do duty as the milk-posts. The early hour is selected, to avoid the chance of coming across inauspicious objects. The sticks should be cut off the tree at a single stroke of the bill-hook, and they may not be laid flat on the ground, but placed on a blanket spread thereon.

The Udayas, who joined in the procession, collect twelve posts of Mimusops as supports for the marriage booth (pandal). In front of the house, which is to be the scene of the wedding, two pits are dug, into which cow-dung water is poured. The pujari does poja to the milk-posts by offering sugar-cane, jaggery (crude sugar), etc., and ties two threads thereto. The posts are then placed in the pits by five people— the parents of the bridal couple and the priest. The booth, and dais or enclosure, are then erected close to the milk-posts. On the second day, the bridegroom's party, attended by Kota musicians, dressed up in dancing costume, go to the house of the bride, where a feast is held. The bride then salutes a lamp, and prostrates herself at the feet of her parents, who bless her, saying “May your body and hands soon be filled (i.e., may you have a child), and may your life be prosperous."

The bride is taken in procession to the house of the bridegroom, accompanied by some Udayas, and a Toreya carrying a bag of rice. At the entrance to the house she is blindfolded, and her mother-in-law pours water over her feet, and waves coloured water (arathi) in front of her. She then enters the house, right foot foremost, and sits on a mat. Three married women, nearly related to the bridegroom, proceed, with the Kota musicians, to a stream, carrying three pots decorated with leaves of Leucas aspera.

The priest does poja, and the pots are filled with water, and brought back in procession to the marriage dais. The water is poured into three vessels placed thereon three times by each of the three women.

Within the marriage enclosure, two raised platforms are set up by a Toreya.

The bridegroom, after going round the enclosure three times with his brothers and sisters, enters it, and bathes with the water contained in the vessels. He then dresses himself in new clothes, and is carried to the outer room by his maternal uncle. The bride is then treated in like manner, but is taken to the inner room. At a fixed auspicious hour, the bridal couple repair to the enclosure, where the bridegroom stands on a mat. A screen is held up by four or five men between him and the bride, who stands facing him, while the priest ties the ends of their clothes together. They then link their little fingers together, the screen is removed, and they seat themselves on the mat. The bridegroom's sister brings a tray with a mass of rice scooped out into a cavity to hold ghi for feeding a lighted wick (annadha arathi) on it, and, placing it before the bridal pair, sits down. The tali, consisting of a golden disc, is worshipped by the priest, and given to the bridegroom, who ties it on to the bride's neck. In some places it is tied by four or five elders, belonging to different villages, who are not widowers.

The contracting couple then put on wreaths called sammandha malai, or wreaths establishing relationship, and the wrist threads are tied on. The bride's sister brings some rice and milk in a cup, into which the linked fingers of the bride and bridegroom are thrust. Taking up some of the rice, they put it into each other's mouths three times. After they have washed their hands, the maternal uncle or priest asks them if they have seen Aranjoti (the polestar), and they reply in the affirmative.

On the third day, presents are given to the newly-married couple, and the wrist threads are removed. Going to a stream, they perform a mimic ceremony of sowing, and scatter cotton and rice seed in two small pans made by a Toreya with cow-dung.

Widow remarriage is permitted among the Udayas, and a widow may marry a cousin, but not her dead husband's brother. At the marriage ceremony, a priest makes a mark with sacred ashes on the foreheads of the contracting couple, and announces the fact of their union.

It is noted by Dr. Rivers that "Breeks has stated that the Toda custom is that the house shall pass to the youngest son. It seems quite clear that this is wrong, and that this custom is absolutely unknown among the Todas. It is, however, a Badaga custom, and among them I was told that it is due to the fact that, as the sons of a family grow up and marry, they leave the house of the parents and build houses elsewhere. It is the duty of the youngest son to dwell with his parents, and support them as long as they live, and, when they die, he continues to live in the paternal home, of which he becomes the owner."

A ceremony is performed in the seventh month of a woman's first pregnancy, which is important, inasmuch as it seals the marriage contract, and, after its performance, divorce can only be obtained through the decree of the panchayat (tribal council).

Moreover, if it has not been performed, a man cannot claim the paternity of the child. The ceremony is called kanni kattodu or kanni hakodu (thread tying or throwing). The husband and wife are seated in the midst of those who have assembled for the occasion, and the former asks his father-in-law whether he may throw the thread round his wife's neck, and, having received permission, proceeds to do so. If he gets the thread, which must have no knots in it, entangled in the woman's bunch of hair (kondai), which is made large for the occasion by the addition of false hair, he is fined three rupees.

On the day of the ceremony, the man and his wife are supposed to be under pollution, and sit in the verandah to receive presents. The mats used by them for sleeping on are cleaned on the following morning, and they get rid of the pollution by bathing.

A first confinement must not take place within the house, and the verandah is converted into a lying-in chamber, from which the woman is, after delivery, removed to the outer apartment, where she remains till she is free from pollution by catching sight of the crescent moon.

If a woman has been delivered at her father's house, she returns to the home of her husband within a month of the birth of the child on an auspicious day. On arrival there, the infant is placed near the feet of an old man standing by a lamp within the milk-house. Placing his right hand over the head of the infant, the old man blesses it, and a feast is held, before the commencement of which two cups, one containing milk, and the other cooked rice, are produced. All the relations take up a little of the milk and rice, and touch the tongue of the baby with them.

A child receives its name on the seventh, ninth, or eleventh day. A sumptuous meal is given to the community, and the grandfather (paternal, if possible) milks a cow, and pours the milk into a brass cup placed in the milk-house. With it a little cooked samai grain is mixed. The babe is washed with water brought from a stream; marked on the forehead with sacred ashes ; a turmeric-dyed thread is tied round its waist ; a silver or iron bangle placed on its wrists ; and a silver bead tied by a thread round its neck. Thus decorated, the infant is taken up by the oldest man of the village who is not a widower, who gives it a name, which has already been chosen.

The elder, and the child's parents and grandparents then place a little milk in its mouth. Children, both male and female, go through a shaving ceremony, usually when they are seven months old. The infant is seated in the lap of a Badaga, and, after water has been applied to its head by a Badaga or a barber, the maternal uncle removes some of the hair with a razor, and then hands it over to another Badaga or a barber to complete the operation.

Of the death rites as carried out by the Badaga subdivision, the following note was recorded during a visit to Kotagiri. When death is drawing near, a gold coin, called Viraraya hana or fanam, dipped in butter or ghi, is given to the dying man to swallow. If he is too far gone to be capable of swallowing, the coin is, according to Mr. Natesa Sastri, tied round the arm. But our informants told us that this is not done at the present day.

"If," Mr. Cover writes,* “the tiny coin slips down, well. He will need both gold and ghi, the one to sustain his strength in the dark journey to the river of death, the other to fee the guardian of the fairy-like bridge that spans the dreaded tide. If sense remains to the wretched man, he knows that now his death is nigh. Despair and the gold make recovery impossible, and there are none who have swallowed the Birianhana, and yet have lived. If insensibility or deathly weakness makes it impossible for the coin to pass the thorax, it is carefully bound in cloth, and tied to the right arm, so that there may be nought to hinder the passage of a worthy soul into the regions of the blessed."

* op. cit.

The giving of the coin to the dying man is apparently an important item, and, in the Badaga folk-tales, a man on the point of death is made to ask for a Viraraya fanam. When life is extinct, the corpse is kept within the house until the erection of the funeral car (gudikattu) is completed.

Though Gover states that the burning must not be delayed more than twenty-four hours, at the present day the Badagas postpone the funeral till all the near relations have assembled, even if this necessitates the keeping of the corpse for two or three days. Cremation may take place on any day, except Tuesday. News of a death is conveyed to distant hamlets (hattis) by a Toreya, who is paid a rupee for his services.

On approaching a hamlet, he removes his turban, to signify the nature of his errand, and, standing on the side of a hill, yells out "Dho ! Dho ! who is in the hamlet"? Having imparted his news, he proceeds on his journey to the next hamlet. On the morning of the day fixed for the funeral, the corpse is taken on a charpoy or native cot to an open space, and a buffalo led thrice round it. The right hand of the corpse is then lifted up, and passed over the horns of the buffalo. A little milk is drawn, and poured into the mouth of the corpse. Prior to this ceremony, two or three buffaloes may be let loose, and one of them captured, after the manner of the Todas, brought near the corpse, and conducted round the cot.

The funeral car is built up in five to eleven tiers, decorated with cloths and streamers, and one tier must be covered with black chintz. At the funeral of a young man, the Rev. A. C. Clayton noticed that the car was surmounted by flag, and hung about with bread, oranges, plantains, and the bag containing the books which the youth had used in the Basel Mission School.*

* Madras Mail, 1907.

By the poorer members of the community the car is replaced by a cot covered with cloth, and surmounted by five umbrellas. Immediately after the buffalo ceremony, the corpse is carried to the car, and placed in the lowest storey thereof, washed, and dressed in coat and turban. A new dhupati (coarse cloth) is wrapped round it. Two silver coins (Japanese yens or rupees) are stuck on the forehead. Beneath the cot are placed a crowbar, and baskets containing cakes, parched paddy, tobacco, chick pea (Cicer arietimum), jaggery and samai flour.

A number of women, relations and friends of the dead man, then make a rush to the cot, and, sitting on it round the corpse, keep on waiting, while a woman near its head rings a bell. When one batch is tired, it is replaced by another. Badaga men then pour in in large numbers, and salute the corpse by touching the head, Toreyas and female relations touching the feet.

Of those who salute, a few place inside the dhupati a piece of white cloth with red and yellow stripes, which has been specially prepared for the purpose. All then proceed to dance round the car to the music of the Kota band, near male relations removing their turban or woollen night cap, as a mark of respect, during the first three revolutions.

Most of the male dancers are dressed up in gaudy petticoats and smart turbans.

“No woman," Mr. Natesa Sastri writes, " mingles In the funeral dance if the dead person is a man, but, if the deceased is a woman, one old woman, the nearest relative of the dead, takes part in it."

But, at the funerals of two men which we witnessed, a few women danced together with the men. Usually the tribesmen continue to arrive until 2 or 3 P.M. Relations collect outside the village, and advance in a body towards the car, some, especially the sons-in-law of the dead man, riding on ponies, some of them carrying samai grain. As they approach the car, they shout " Ja ! hoch ; Ja ! hoch."

The Muttu Kotas bring a double iron sickle with imitation buffalo horns on the tip, which is placed, with a hatchet, buguri (flute), and walking stick, on the car or on the around beside it. When all are assembled, the cot is carried to an open space between the house and the burning-ground, followed by the car and a party of women carrying the baskets containing grain, etc. The car is then stripped of its trappings, and hacked to pieces.

The widow is brought close to the cot, and removes her nose ornament (elemukkuthi), and other jewels. At both the funerals which we witnessed, the widow had a narrow strip of coloured chintz over her shoulders. Standing near the corpse, she removed a bit of wire from her ear-rings, a lock of hair, and a palm leaf roll from the lobe of the ear, and tied them up in the cloth of her dead husband. After her, the sisters of the dead man cut off a lock of hair, and, in like manner, tied it in the cloth.

Women attached to a man by illegitimate ties sometimes also cut off a lock of hair, and, tying it to a twig of Dodonæa viscosa, place it inside the cloth. Very impressive is the recitation, or after-death confession of a dead man's sins by an elder of the tribe standing at the head of the corpse, and rapidly chanting the following lines, or a variation thereof, while he waves his right hand during each line towards the feet. The reproduction of the recitation in my phonograph never failed to impress the daily audience of Badagas, Kotas and Todas.

This is the death of Andi.

In his memory the calf of the cow Belle has been set free.

From this world to the other.

He goes in a car.

Everything the man did in this world.

All the sins committed by his ancestors.

All the sins committed by his forefathers.

All the sins committed by his parents.

All the sins committed by himself

The estranging of brothers.

Shifting the boundary line.

Encroaching on a neighbour's land by removing the hedge.

Driving away brothers and sisters.

Cutting the kalli tree stealthily.

Cutting the muUi tree outside his boundary.

Dragging the thorny branches of the kotte tree.

Sweeping with a broom.

Splitting green branches.

Telling lies.

Uprooting seedlings.

Plucking growing plants, and throwing them in the sun.

Giving young birds to cats.

Troubling the poor and cripples.

Throwing refuse water in front of the sun

Going to sleep after seeing an eclipse of the moon.

Looking enviously at a buffalo yielding an abundance of milk.

Being jealous of the good crops of others.

Removing boundary stones.

Using a calf set free at the funeral.

Polluting water with dirt.

Urinating on burning embers.

Ingratitude to the priest.

Carrying tales to the higher authorities.

Poisoning food.

Not feeding a hungry person.

Not giving fire to one half frozen.

Killing snakes and cows.

Killing lizards and blood-suckers.

Showing a wrong path.

Getting on the cot, and allowing his father-in-law to sleep on

the ground.

Sitting on a raised verandah, and driving thence his mother-inlaw.

Going against natural instincts.

Troubling daughters-in-law.

Breaking open lakes.

Breaking open reservoirs of water.

Being envious of the prosperity of other villages.

Getting angry with people.

Misleading travellers in the forest.

Though there be three hundred such sins,

Let them all go with the calf set free to-day.

May the sins be completely removed !

May the sins be forgiven !

May the door of heaven be open !

May the door of hell be closed !

May the hand of charity be extended !

May the wicked hand be shrivelled !

May the door open suddenly !

May beauty or splendour prevail everywhere !

May the hot pillar be cooled !

May the thread bridge* become light!

May the pit of perdition be closed !

May he reach the golden pillar !

Holding the feet of the six thousand Athis,

Holding the feet of the twelve thousand Tathis,

Holding the feet of Brahma,

Holding the feet of the calf set free to-day,

May he reach the abode of Siva !

So mote it be.

* The bridge spanning the river of death, which the blessed cross in safety.

The recitation is repeated thrice, and a few Badagas repeat the last words of each line after the elder. It was noticed by the Rev. A. C. Clayton that, during the recitation, the people surrounded the bier on three sides, leaving a lane open to the west. The sins of the dead man were transferred to another as sin-bearer, and finally passed away down the lane. As the ceremony witnessed by us differs materially from the account thereof given by Cover nearly forty years ago, I may quote his description.

“By a conventional mode of expression, the sum total of sins a man may do is said to be thirteen hundred. Admitting that the deceased has committed them all, the performer cries aloud ' Stay not their flight to God's pure feet.' As he closes, the whole assembly chants aloud ' Stay not their flight.' Again the performer enters into details, and cries ' He killed the crawling snake. It is a sin.' In a moment the last word is caught up, and all the people cry ' It is a sin.'

“As they shout, the performer lays his hand upon the calf. The sin is transferred to the calf. Thus the whole catalogue is gone through in this impressive way. But this is not enough. As the last shout 'Let all be well ' dies away, the performer gives place to another, and again confession is made, and all the people shout 'It is a sin.' A third time it is done. Then, still in solemn silence, the calf is let loose. Like the Jewish scapegoat, it may never be used for secular work."

Dr. Rivers writes that “the Badagas let loose a calf at a funeral, to bear the sins of the deceased. It is possible that the calf in the Toda ceremony may have the same significance. If so, the practice has not improbably been borrowed, and the fact that the bell which is hung on the neck of the calf is kept by Kotas or Badagas suggests that the whole incident may have been borrowed by the Todas from one or other of these races."

At the funerals, of which we were spectators, no calf was brought near the corpse, and the celebrants of the rites were satisfied with the mere mention by name of a calf, which is male or female according to the sex of the deceased. At the funeral witnessed by the Rev. A. C. Clayton, a cow-buffalo was led three times round the bier, and a little of its milk, drawn at the time, put into the mouth of the corpse. Then a buffalo calf was led thrice round the bier, and the dead man's hand laid on its head. By this act, the calf was supposed to receive all the sins of the deceased. It was then driven away to a great distance, that it might contaminate no one, and it was said that it would never be sold, but looked on as a dedicated sacred animal.

If a dead man leaves a widow in a state of pregnancy, who has not performed the kanni kattodu or marriage thread ceremony, this must be gone through before the corpse is taken to the pyre, in order to render the child legitimate. The pregnant woman is, at the time of the funeral, brought close to the cot, and a near relation of the deceased, taking up a cotton thread, twisted in the form of a necklace without any knots, throws it round her neck. Sometimes the hand of the corpse is lifted up with the thread, and made to place it round the neck.

At the funeral of the young man, Mr. Clayton saw this ceremony performed on his pregnant wife. After a turmeric-dyed cord had been taken from the hands of the corpse and tied round her neck, she was again brought to the side of the bier, and her ear-rings, nose ornaments, and other articles of jewellery, were removed in token that she had become a widow. Soon after the recitation of sins, all the agnates go to the house of the dead man, at the entrance to which a gunny-bag is spread, whereon a small quantity of paddy is poured, and a few culms of Cynodon Dactylon and a little cow-dung are placed on it.

The eldest of the agnates, sickle in hand, takes some of the paddy, and moves on, raising both hands to his forehead. The other agnates then do the same, and proceed in Indian file, males in front and females in the rear, to the corpse. Round it they walk, men from left to right, and women in the reverse direction, and at the end of each circuit put some of the paddy on its face. The cot is then carried to the burning-ground, a woman heading the procession, and shaking the end of her cloth all the way. The corpse is laid on the pyre with its feet to the south, and the pyre lighted by the eldest son standing at the head. The sticks of which the car was constructed are added to the fuel, of which the pyre is built up. In some places the son, when lighting the pyre, repeats the words "Being begotten by my father and mother, I, in the presence of all and the Deva, set fire at the head after the manner of my ancestors and forefathers."

The Rev. A. C. Clayton records that, before the procession started for the burning-ground, some female relatives of the dead man tied locks of their hair round the toes of the corpse, and others went three times round the bier. On the day following the funeral, the bereaved family distribute rice to all the Badagas of the hamlet, and all the near relations of the deceased go to the burning-ground, taking with them two new pots. The fire is extinguished, and the fragments of the bones are collected.

A tray is made of the fronds of the bracken fern (Pteris aquilina) covered with a cloth, on which the bones are placed together with culms of Cynodon grass and ghi. The Badagas of the hamlet who are younger than the deceased salute the bones by touching them, and a few men, including the chief mourner, hold the tray, and convey it to the bone pit, which every hamlet possesses.

Into it the bones are thrown, while an elder repeats the words "Become united with the line of your relations, with your class, and with the big people," or " May the young and old who have died, may all those who have died from time immemorial up to the present time, mingle in one."

When the pit has been closed up, all return to the spot where the body was burnt, and, clearing a space, make a puddle, round which they stand, and throw into it a handful of korali (Setaria italica), uttering the words " May deaths cease ; may evils cease ; may good prevail in the village ; in virtue of the good deeds of the ancestors and forefathers, may this one mingle with them."

This ceremony concluded, they repair to a stream, where a member of the bereaved family shaves a Toreya partially or completely. Some take a razor, and, after removing a patch of hair, pass the Toreya on to a barber. All the agnates are then shaved by a Badaga or a barber. The chief mourner then prostrates himself on the ground, and is blessed by all. He and the Toreya proceed to the house of the deceased.

Taking a three-pronged twig of Rhodomyrtus tomentosus, and placing a minige (Argyreia) leaf on the prongs, he thrusts it into a rubbish heap near the house. He then places a small quantity of samai grain, called street food, on the leaf, and, after sprinkling it thrice with water, goes away. It was noted by Harkness that, at the burning-ground, the son or representative of the deceased dropped a little grain into the mouth of the corpse, carrying in his left hand a small bar of iron, which is supposed to have a repulsive power over the spirits that hover about the dead.

The final death ceremonies, or korambu, are celebrated on a Sunday. Towards evening the house of the deceased is cleansed with cow-dung, and Badaga men assemble therein, sending away all women. The chief mourner, accompanied by two Badagas carrying new pots, proceeds to a stream, where the pots are cleaned with cow-dung, and rubbed over with culms of Andropogon Schoenanthus. They are then filled with water, carried to the house, and deposited in the milk-room. At the entrance to the inner apartment, five agnates stand, holding a circular bamboo tray (kerachi) made of plaited bamboo, on which the chief mourner pours a small quantity of paddy, and spreads it with a sickle.

The widow and other female relations come near, and cry. A few sickles or knives (preferably those which were used at the funeral) are placed on the tray, which is saluted by all the Badagas present. The paddy is husked in a mortar, and the rice cooked with Dolichos Lablab, Cicer arietinum, and other pulses, without the addition of salt.

Early on the following morning, the eldest son, taking a small quantity of the rice to the roof of the house, places seven balls made therefrom on plantain or minige leaves, and recites the names of the male and female ancestors and forefathers, his mother, father, and brothers. The remainder of the rice is eaten by relations.

In some places, the whole of the rice is divided into seven balls, and taken outside the house. Water is sprinkled over the roof, and a portion of the rice thrown thereon. Standing up before the assembled Badagas, an elder says "To-day we have acted up to the observances of our ancestors and forefathers. New ones should not be considered as old, or old as new. There is not a man carrying a head (wise man), or a woman carrying breasts (wise woman). May he become united with the men of his clan and caste."

The funeral rites of the Udayas differ in some important details from those of the Badaga sub-division. The buffalo catching, and leading the animal round the corpse, are omitted. But a steer and heifer are selected, and branded on the thigh, by means of a hot iron, with the lingam and other emblems. Bedecked with cloths and jewels, they are led to the side of the corpse, and made to stand on a blanket spread on the ground. They are treated as if they were lingams, and puja is done to them by offering cocoanuts and betel leaves, and throwing flowers over them. Round their necks kankanams (marriage threads) are tied. They are made to turn so as to face away from the corpse, and their tails are placed in the hands thereof.

An elder then proceeds with the recitation of the dead person's sins. The Udayas bury their dead in a sitting posture in a cell dug out of the side of the grave, and, like the Irulas, prefer to use a grave in which a previous burial has taken place. At the four corners of the grave they place in the ground a plant of Leucas aspera, and pass a cotton thread laterally and diagonally across the grave, leaving out the side opposite the cell. Two men descend into the grave, and deposit the corpse in its resting place with two lighted lamps.

In 1905, an elaborate Badaga memorial ceremony for ancestors called manavalai, which takes place at long intervals, was celebrated on the Nilgiris. I gather from the notes of a Native official that an enormous car, called elu kudi teru (seven-storeyed car) was built of wood and bamboo, and decorated with silk and woollen fabrics, flags, and umbrellas.

Inside the ground floor were a cot with a mattress and pillow, and the stem of a plantain tree. The souls of the ancestors are supposed to be reclining on the cot, resting their heads on the pillow, and chewing the plantain, while the umbrellas protect them from the sun and rain. The ear ornaments of all those who have died since the previous ceremony should be placed on the cot.

"A Badaga fell and hurt himself during the erection of the car. Whereupon, another Badaga became possessed, and announced that the god was angry because a Kurumba had something to do with the building of the structure. A council meeting was held, and the Kurumba fined twenty-five rupees, which were credited to the god. Sixty-nine petty bazars and three beer taverns had been opened for the convenience of all classes of people that had assembled. One very old Badaga woman said that she was twelve years old when the first European was carried in a chair by the Todas, and brought up the ghat to the Nilgiris from Coimbatore.

On Wednesday at 10 a.m. people from the adjoining villages were announced, and the Kota band, with the village people, went forward, greeted them, and brought them to the car. As each man approached it, he removed his turban, stooped over the pillow and laid his head on it, and then went to join the ring for the dance. The dancers wore skirts made of white long-cloth, white and cream silks and satins with border of red and blue trimming, frock dresses, and dressing-gowns, while the coats, blouses, and jackets were of the most gaudy colours of silk, velvet, velveteen, tweed, and home-spun. As each group of people arrived, they went first to the temple door, saluted the god, and went to the basement of the car to venerate the deceased, and then proceeded to dance for an hour, received their supplies of rice, etc., and cleared off. Thursday and Friday were the grandest days. Nearly three thousand females, and six thousand males, assembled on Thursday. To crown all the confusion, there appeared nearly a thousand Badagas armed with new mamotis (spades). They came on dancing for some distance, rushed into the crowd, and danced round the car.

These Badagas belonged to a gang of public works, local fund, and municipal maistries. On the last day a sheep was slaughtered in honour of the deity. The musicians throughout the festivities were Kotas and Kurumbas.

The dancing of the men of three score showed that they danced to music, and the stepping was admirable, while the dancing of young men did not show that they had any idea of dancing, or either taste or knowledge of music. They were merely skipping and jumping. This shows that the old art of the Badaga dance is fast decaying."

The cot is eventually burnt at the burning-ground, as if it contained a corpse.

A kind of edible truffle (Mylilta lapidescens) is known as little man's bread on the Nilgiris. The Badaga legendary name for it is Pandva-unna-buthi, or dwarf bundle of food,* i.e., food of the dwarfs, who are supposed once to have inhabited the Nilgiris and built the pandu kolis or kistvaens.

* Report, Government Botanic Gardens, Nilgiris, 1903.

The story goes that Lord Elphinstone, a former Governor of Madras, was anxious to build a residence at Kaiti. But the Badagas, who had on the desired site a sacred tree, would not part with the land. The Governor's steward succeeded in making the Badaga headman drunk, and secured, for a rental of thirty-five rupees annually, the site, whereon a villa was built, which now belongs to the Basel Mission.!

* E. Schmidt. Reise nach Sudindien, 1894.

In a recent work,* Mr. A. H. Keane, in a note on the “Dravidian Aborigines," writes as follows. "All stand on the very lowest rung of the social ladder, being rude hillmen without any culture strictly so called, and often betraying marked negroid characters, as if they were originally Negroes or Negritos, later assimilated in some respects to their Dravidian conquerors. As they never had a collective racial name, they should now be called, not Dravidians or proto-Dravidians, but rather pre-Dravidians, as more collectively indicating their true ethnical relations. Such are the Kotas, Irulas, Badagas, and Kurumbas."

* The World's Peoples, 1908.

It may be pointed out that the Badagas and Kotas of the Nilgiri plateau are not "wild tribes," have no trace of negroid characters, and no affinities with the Kurumbas and Irulas of the Nilgiri slopes. The figures in the following table speak for themselves :

Badagi.—The carpenter sub-division of Panchalas.

Badhoyi.—The Badhoyis are Oriya carpenters and blacksmiths, of whom the former are known as Badhoyi, and the latter as Komaro. These are not separate castes, and the two sections both interdine and inter- marry.

The name Badhoyi is said to be derived from the Sanskrit vardhaki, which, in Qriya, becomes bardhaki, and indicates one who changes the form, i.e., of timber. Korti, derived from korto, a saw, occurs as the name of a section of the caste, the members of which are wood-sawyers. Socially, the Badhoyis occupy the same position as Doluvas, Kalinjis, and various other agricultural classes, and they do not, like the Tamil Kammalans, claim to be Viswakarma Brahmans, descended from Viswakarma, the architect of the gods.

The hereditary headman is called Maharana, and, in some places, there seem to be three grades of Maharana, viz., Maharana, Dondopato Maharana, and Swangso Maharana. These headmen are assisted by a Bhollobhaya or Dolobehara, and there is a further official called Agopothiria, whose duty it is to eat with an individual who is re-admitted into the caste after a council meeting. This duty is sometimes performed by the Maharana.

Ordinary meetings of council are convened by the Maharana and Bhollobhaya. But, if a case of a serious nature is to be tried, a special council meeting, called kulo panchayat, is held in a grove or open space outside the village.

All the Maharanas and other officers, and representatives of five castes (panchapatako) equal or superior to the Badhoyis in the social scale, attend such a council. The complainant goes to the Swangso Maharana, and, giving him fifty areca nuts, asks him to convene the council meeting.

Punishment inflicted by the caste council usually assumes the form of a fine, the amount of which depends on the worldly prosperity of the delinquent, who, if very indigent, may be let off with a reprimand and warning. Sometimes offences are condoned by feeding Brahmans or the Badhoyi community. Small sums, collected as fines, are appropriated by the headman, and large sums arc set apart towards a fund for meeting the marriage expenses of the poorer members of the caste, and the expenditure in connection with kulo panchayats.

Concerning the marriage ceremonies, Mr. D. Mahanty writes as follows. “At a marriage among the Badhoyis, and various other castes in Ganjam, two pith crowns are placed on the head of the bridegroom. On his way to the bride's house, he is met by her purohit (priest) and relations, and her barber washes his feet, and presents him with a new yellow cloth, flowers, and kusa grass (also called dharbha grass). When he arrives at the house, amid the recitations of stanzas by the priest, the blowing of conch shells and other music, the women of the bride's party make a noise called huluhuli, and shower kusa grass over him.

“At the marriage booth, the bridegroom sits upon a raised ' altar,' and the bride, who arrives accompanied by his maternal uncle, pours salt, yellow-coloured rice, and parched paddy (rice) over the head of the bridegroom, by whose side she seats herself.

“One of the pith crowns is removed from the bridegroom's forehead, and placed on that of the bride. Various Brahmanical rites are then performed, and the bride's father places her hand in that of the bridegroom.

“A bundle of straw is now placed on the altar, on which the contracting parties sit, the bridegroom facing east, and the bride west. The purohit rubs a little jaggery over the bridegroom's right palm, joins it to the palm of the bride, and ties their two hands together with a rope made of kusa grass (hasthagonti). A yellow cloth is tied to the cloths which the bridal pair are wearing, and stretched over their shoulders (gontiyala). The hands are then untied by a married woman. Sradha is performed for the propitiation of ancestors, and the purohit, repeating some mantrams (prayers), blesses the pair by throwing yellow rice over them.

“On the sixth day of the ceremony, the bridegroom runs away from the house of his father-in-law, as if he was displeased, and goes to the house of a relation in the same or an adjacent village. His brother-in-law, or other male relation of the bride, goes in search of him, and, when he has found him, rubs some jaggery over his face, and brings him back."

As an example of the stanzas recited by the purohit, the following may be cited : —

I have presented with my mind and word, and also with kusa grass and water.

The witnesses of this are fire, Brahmans, women, relations, and all the devatas.

Forgive this presentable faithful maid.

I am performing the marriage according to the Vedic rites.

Women are full of all kinds of faults. Forgive these faults.

Brahma is the god of this maid.

By the grace of the god Vasudeva, I give to thee the bridegroom.

The Badhoyis are Paramarthos, and follow the Chaitanya form of Vaishnavism. They further worship various village deities. The dead are cremated. The corpse of a dead person is washed, not at the house, but at the burning-ground. The most common caste title is Maharana. But, in some zemindaris, such titles as BindhaniRathno, and Bindhani Bushano, have been conferred by the zemindars on carpenters for the excellence of their work.

The carpenters and blacksmiths hold inams or rentfree lands both under zemindars and under Government. In return, they are expected to construct a car for the annual festival of the village deity, at which, in most places, the car is burnt at the conclusion of the festival.

They have further to make agricultural implements for the villagers, and, when officials arrive on circuit, to supply tent-pegs, etc.

Bagata.—The Bagatas, Bhaktas, or Baktas are a class of Telugu fresh-water fishermen, who are said to be very expert at catching fish with a long spear. It is noted, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, that "on the Dasara day they worship the fishing baskets, and also (for some obscure reason) a kind of trident."

The trident is probably the fishing spear. Some of the Bagatas are hill cultivators in the Agency tracts of Vizagapatam. They account for their name by the tradition that they served with great devotion (bhakti) the former rulers of Golgonda and Madugula, who made grants of land to them in mokhasa tenure.

Some of them are heads of hill villages. The head of a single village is called a Padal, and it may be noted that Padala occurs as an exogamous sept of the Kapus, of which caste it has been suggested that the Bagatas are an offshoot.

The overlord of a number of Padals styles himself Nayak or Raju, and a Mokhasadar has the title of Dora.

It is recorded, in the Census Report, 1871, that "in the low country the Bhaktas consider themselves to take the rank of soldiery, and rather disdain the occupation of ryots (cultivators). Here, however (in hill Madugulu in the Vizagapatam district), necessity has divested them of such prejudices, and they are compelled to delve for their daily bread. They generally, nevertheless, manage to get the Kapus to work for them, for they make poor farmers, and are unskilled in husbandry."

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that "Matsya gundam (fish pool) is a curious pool on the Macheru (fish river) near the village of Matam, close under the great Yendrika hill, 5,188 feet above the sea. A barrier of rocks runs right across the river there, and the stream plunges into a great hole and vanishes beneath this, reappearing again about a hundred yards lower down. Just where it emerges from under the barrier, it forms a pool, which is crowded with mahseer of all sizes. These are wonderfully tame, the bigger ones feeding fearlessly from one's hand, and even allowing their backs to be stroked. They are protected by the Madgole zamindars—who on several grounds venerate all fish—and by superstitious fears.

Once, goes the story, a Brinjari caught one and turned it into curry, whereon the king of the fish solemnly cursed him, and he and all his pack-bullocks were turned into rocks, which may be seen there till this day. At Sivaratri, a festival occurs at the little thatched shrine near by, the priest at which is a Bagata, and part of the ritual consists in feeding the sacred fish.

"In 1901, certain envious Bagatas looted one of the villages of the Konda Malas or hill Paraiyans, a pushing set of traders, who are rapidly acquiring wealth and exalted notions, on the ground that they were becoming unduly arrogant. The immediate cause of the trouble was the fact that at a cockfight the Malas' birds had defeated the Bagatas'."

In a note on the Bagatas, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao writes that the caste is divided into exogamous septs or intiperulu, some of which occur also among the Kapus, Telagas, and Vantaris. Girls are married either before or after puberty, and the custom, called menarikam, which renders it a man's duty to marry his maternal uncle's daughter, is the general rule.

An Oriya or Telugu Brahman officiates at marriages, and the bride is presented with jewellery as a substitute for the bride-price (voli) in money. It is noted, in the Census Report, 1901, that, at a wedding, the bridegroom is struck by his brother-in-law, who is then presented with a pair of new cloths.

The Bagatas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites, and the former get themselves branded on the arm by a Vaishnava guru, who lives in the Godavari district. The Vaishnavites burn their dead, and the Saivites bury them in the customary sitting attitude. Satanis officiate for the former, and Jangams for the latter. Both sections perform the chinna and pedda rozu (big and little day) death ceremonies. The hill Bagatas observe the Itiga Ponduga festival, which is celebrated by the hill classes in Vizagapatam.

Bahusagara (many seas).—Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a synonym of Rangari. The Rangaris are tailors and dyers, and the signification of the name is not clear.

Baidya.—See Vaidyan.

Bainedu.—The Bainedu, or Bainedi, as they are called in the Census Report, 1901, are the musicians and barbers of the Malas and Madigas. At the peddadinamu death ceremony of the Gamallas, a Mala Bainedu takes part in the recitation of the story of Ankamma, and in making the designs (muggu) on the ground.

Bairagi.—The Bairagis are a class of religious mendicants, who roam about all over India, and are for the most part recruited from North Indian castes. They are followers of Ramanand, who founded the order at the end of the fourteenth, or beginning of the fifteenth century. According to common tradition, the schism of Ramanand originated in resentment of an affront offered him by his fellow disciples, and sanctioned by his teacher.

It is said that he had spent some time in travelling through various parts of India, after which he returned to the math, or residence of his superior. His brethren objected to him that in the course of his peregrinations it was impossible he could have observed that privacy in his meals, which is a vital observance of the Ramanuja sect ; and, as Raghavanand admitted the validity of the objection, Ramanand was condemned to feed in a place apart from the rest of the disciples. He was highly incensed at the order, and retired from the society altogether, establishing a schism of his own.*

* H. H. Wilson, Essays .and Lectures, chiefly on the Religion of the Hindus, 1862.

The name Bairagi is derived from the Sanskrit vairagya (vi + rag), denoting without desire or passion, and indicates an ascetic, who has subdued his passions, and liberated himself from worldly desires. The Bairagis are sometimes called Bavaji or Sadhu.

The Bairagis are Vaishnavites, and bear the Tengalai Vaishnava mark (namam), made with sandal-paste or gopi, on the forehead. Bairagis with a Vadagalai mark are very rare. The Bairagis wear necklaces of tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) beads or lotus (Nelumbium speciosum) seeds. Every Bairagi cooks his food within a space cleansed with cow-dung water by himself or his disciple, and will not leave the space until he has finished his meal.

The Bairagis are not particular about screening the space from the public gaze. They partake of one meal daily, in the afternoon, and are abstainers from flesh dietary. They live mainly on alms obtained in the bazars, or in choultries (rest-houses for travellers).

They generally carry with them one or two brass vessels for cooking purposes, a salagrama stone and a conch-shell for worship, and a chillum (pipe) for smoking ganja (Indian hemp) or opium.

They are, as a rule, naked except for a small piece of cloth tied round the waist and passed between the thighs. Some wear more elaborate body-clothing, and a turban. They generally allow the beard to grow, and the hair of the head is long and matted, with sometimes a long tail of yak or human hair tied in a knot on the top of the head. Those who go about nearly naked smear ashes all over their bodies.

When engaged in begging, some go through the streets, uttering aloud the name of some God. Others go from house to house, or remain at a particular spot, where people are expected to give them alms. Some Bairagis are celibates, and others married.

They are supposed to be celibates, but, as Dr. T. N. Bhattacharjee observes,* the “monks of this order have generally a large number of nuns attached to their convents, with whom they openly live as man and wife."

* Hindu Castes and Sects.

The Bairagis are very particular about the worship of the salagrama stone, and will not partake of food without worshipping it. When so doing, they cover their head with a piece of cloth (Ram nam ka safa), on which the name Rama is printed in Devanagiri characters. Their face and shoulders are stamped, by means of brass stamps, with the word Rama in similar characters. For the purpose of meditation, the Bairagi squats on the ground, sometimes with a deer or tiger skin beneath him, and rests his hands on the cross-piece of his yogadandam, or bent stick. A pair of tongs is stuck in the ground on his right side, and sometimes fire is kept near it.

It is noted by Mr. J. C. Oman* that "a most elaborate ritual has been laid down for the guidance of Bairagis in the daily routine of the indispensable business and duties of life, prescribing in minute detail how, for example, the ascetic should wash, bathe, sit down, perform pranayam (stoppage or regulation of respiration), purify his body, purge his mind, meditate on Vishnu, repeat the Gayatri (hymn) as composed for the special use of members of the sect, worship Rama, Sita, Lakshman, Bharata, and Satringah, together with Rama's bows and arrows, and, lastly, the monkey god Hanuman."

The Bairagis have a guru or priest, whom they call Mahant. Some visit the celebrated temple near Tirupati and pay their respects to the Mahant thereof.

Baisya.—A sub-division of Koronos of Ganjam.

Baita Kammara.—The name, meaning outside blacksmiths, applied to Kamsala blacksmiths, who occupy a lowly position, and work in the open air or outside a village.*

* Madras Census Report, 1901

Bajantri.—A synonym of Mangala, indicating their occupation as professional musicians.

Bakta.—See Bagata.

Bakuda.—A sub-division of Holeya.

Balanollu.—Balanollu and Badranollu are names of gotras of Ganigas, the members of which may not cut Erythroxylon monogynum.

Balasantosha.—The Balasantosha or Balasanta vandlu (those who please children) are described in the Kurnool Manual as "ballad reciters, whose chief stories are the Bobbili katha, or the story of the siege of the fort of Bobbili in Vizagapatam by Bussy ; the Kurnool Nabob's katha or the story of the resumption of Kurnool by the English ; and the tale of the quarrels between Ganga and Parvati, the two wives of Siva."

Balegara (bangle man).—An occupational subdivision of Banajiga.

Balija.—The Balijas are described by Mr. Francis * as being "the chief Telugu trading caste, scattered throughout all parts of the Presidency. It is said to have two main sub-divisions, Desa (or Kota, a fort) and Peta (street). The first of these includes those, whose ancestors are supposed to have been the Balija (Nayak) kings of Madura, Tanjore and Vijayanagar, or provincial governors in those kingdoms; and to the second belong those, like the Gazulu (bangle sellers) and Perike (saltsellers), who live by trade.

* Madras Census Report, 1901

“In the Tamil districts, Balijas are known as Vadugans (Telugu people) and Kavarais. The descendants of the Nayak or Balija Kings of Madura and Tanjore claim to be Kshatriyas and of the Kasyapa (a rishi) gotra, while the Vijayanagar Rais say they are lineal descendants of the sage Bharadwaja.

“Others trace their ancestry to the Kauravas of the Mahabharata. This Kshatriya descent is, however, not admitted by other castes, who say that Balijas are an offshoot of the Kammas or Kapus, or that they are a mixed community recruited from these and other Telugu castes.

“The members of the caste none of them now wear the sacred thread, or follow the Vedic ritual. The name Kartakkal (governors) was returned by those who claim to be descendants of the Nayak Kings of Madura and Tanjore."

In a letter submitted, from Coimbatore, to Mr. Francis in connection with the census, 1901, it was stated that "the Balija people are Kshatriyas of the Lunar Race, as can be proved by a reference to the Bahgavatham, Vishnupuranam, and Brahmmandapuranam, etc

“In this connection, it will be interesting to note that one Sevappa Naidu married Murthiammal, sister-in-law to Achuta Deva Rayulu of Narapathi Samasthanam of Vijayanagar, and as a marriage portion or dowry received the territory of Tanjore, over which he ruled as king for a long period. It was at this time that the celebrated Tirumalay Naidu of Madura took as wife one of the daughters of Sevappa Naidu's family. Tirumalay's grandson, one Chockalinga Naidu, married Mangammal, daughter of Vijiaragavulu Naidu, a grandson of the said Tanjore Sevappa Naidu. It will thus be seen that the Naidu rulers of Tanjore, Trichinopoly, and Madura, were all relations of Narapathi Samasthanam of Vijianagar.

“That these Narapathies of Vijianagaram were Kshatriyas of the Lunar Race can be clearly seen by a reference to Manucharithra, Parijathapaharanam, Prouda Prabanda Kavi Charitra, etc., and that they were direct descendants of the great Andra Kings can be proved with equal satisfaction by referring to Colonel Mackenzie's MSS., in the introduction of A. D. Campbell's Telugu Grammar, and James Prinsep's Useful Tables of Andra Kings will show that the Andras were immediate descendants of the well-known Yayathi Raja of the Lunar Race."

"The Balijas," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,* " are the trading caste of the Telugu country, but they are now found in every part of the Presidency. Concerning the origin of this caste several traditions exist, but the most probable is that which represents them as a recent offshoot of the Kapu or Reddi caste. The caste is rather a mixed one, for they will admit, without much scruple, persons who have been expelled from their proper caste, or who are the result of irregular unions.

The bulk of the Balijas are now engaged in cultivation, and this accounts for so many having returned Kapu as their main caste, for Kapu is also a common Telugu word used for a ryot (farmer). It is not improbable that there was once a closer connection than now between the Kapus and the Balijas, and the claim of the Balijas to belong to the Kapu caste may have a foundation in fact. In their customs there is very little difference between the Kapus and Balijas. Their girls are married both before and after puberty. The re-marriage of widows is forbidden. They eat flesh, and alcohol is said to be freely indulged in [There is a proverb ‘If a man be born a Balija, he must crack the arrack bottle '].

Like the Bogams and Sanis, the Balija females usually wear a petticoat instead of the long robe of ordinary Hindus. The general name of the caste is Naidu."

“The Balija Naidu,” it has been said,* " is to be met with in almost every walk of life—railway station-masters, head coolies, bakers, butlers, municipal inspectors, tappal (post) runners, hawkers, and hotel-keepers. The title Chetti is by some used in preference to Naidu."

* A Native : Ten and Ink Sketches of South India.

It is noted in the Bellary Manual that the Balijas "have by common consent obtained a high place in the social system of South India. Some are land-owners, residing on and working their own property with the help of members of inferior castes ; but the majority live by trade."

At Tirupati, a number of Balija families are engaged in the red sanders wood (Pterocarpus santalinus), carving industry. Figures of swamis (deities), mythological figures, elephants, and miniature temple cars with flying cherubs and winged horses, are most abundantly carved : but domestic utensils in the shape of chembus, kinnis, cups, plates, etc., are turned on the lathe. Large vessels are sometimes made of the wood of vepi or achamaram (Hardwickia binata), which resembles red Sanders wood, but is more liable to crack. The carved figures are sold to pilgrims and others who visit Tirupati, and are also taken to Conjeeveram, Madura, and other places, at times when important temple festivals are celebrated.

Vessels made of red sanders wood carry no pollution, and can be used by women during the menstrual period, and taken back to the house without any purification ceremony. For the same reason, Sanyasis (ascetics) use such vessels for doing puja.

The name Balija is said to be derived from the Sanskrit bali (a sacrifice) and ja (born), signifying that the Balijas owe their origin to the performance of a yagam.

The legend is current that on one occasion Siva wanted his consort Parvati to appear before him in all her glory. But, when she stood before him, fully decorated, he laughed, and said that she was not as charming as she might be. On this, she prayed that Siva would help her to become so. From his braid of hair Siva created a being who descended on the earth, bearing a number of bangles and turmeric paste, with which Parvati adorned herself. Siva, being greatly pleased with her appearance, told her to look at herself in a looking-glass. The being, who brought the bangles, is believed to have been the ancestor of the Gazula Balijas.

According to another version of the legend, Parvati was not satisfied with her appearance when she saw herself in the looking-glass, and asked her father to tell her how she was to make herself more attractive. He accordingly prayed to Brahma, who ordered him to perform a severe penance (thapas).

From the sacrificial fire, kindled in connection therewith, arose a being leading a donkey laden with heaps of bangles, turmeric, palm leaf rolls for the ears, black beads, sandal powder, a comb, perfumes, etc. From this Maha Purusha who thus sprang from a sacrifice (bali), the Balijas derixed their origin and name. To him, in token of respect, were given Hags, torches, and certain musical instruments.

The Desayis, or leaders of the right-hand faction, are said to be Balijas by caste. In former days they had very great influences, and all castes belonging to the right-hand faction would obey the Desayi Chetti. Even at the present day, the Oddes and others refer their disputes to the Desayi, and not to their own caste headman.

In former times there were three principal Desayis, who had their head-quarters at Conjeeveram, Cuddalore, and Walajapet. The head Desayi possesses a biruthu (insigne of office) in the form of a large brass ladle with a bell attached to it.

On the occasion of Balija marriages and funerals, this is sent through the Chalavathi (a pariah), who is the servant of the Desayi, and has the right of allu eduththal (taking a handful) when he goes to the bazaar, where he receives meat from the butcher, vegetables, etc., as his perquisite. The Desayi's ladle is kept in the custody of the Chalavathi (See Desayi).

The Balijas, Mr. Stuart writes,* “employ Brahmans and Satanis as their priests. The chief object of their worship is Gauri, their caste deity. It is said that the Malas are the hereditary custodians of the idol of Gauri and her jewels, which the Balijas get from them whenever they want to worship her.

“The following story is told to account for this. The Kapus and Balijas, molested by the Muhammadan invaders on the north of the northern Pennar, migrated to the south when the Pennar was in full flood. Being unable to cross the river, they invoked their deity to make a passage for them, for which it demanded the sacrifice of a first-born child. While they stood at a loss what to do, the Malas who followed them boldly offered one of their children to the goddess. Immediately the river divided before them, and the Kapus and the Balijas crossed it, and were saved from the tyranny of the Muhammadans. Ever since that time, the Malas have been respected by the Kapus and Balijas, and the latter even deposited the images of Gauri, the bull and Ganesa, which they worshipped, in the house of a Mala.

“I am credibly informed that the practice of leaving these images in the custody of Malas is even now observed in some parts of the Cuddapah district and elsewhere."

Of the numerous sub-divisions of the Balijas, the following may be noticed : —

Gazula, glass bangles. Valaiyal or vala (bangle) Chetti is the Tamil equivalent. By some the sight of a Gazula Balija with his pile of bangles on his back is considered a good omen. In recent years, a scare has arisen in connection with an insect, which is said to take up its abode in imported German glass bangles, which compete with the indigenous industry of the Gazulas. The insect is believed to lie low in the bangle till it is purchased, when it comes out and nips the wearer, after warning her to get her affairs in order before succumbing. A specimen of a broken bangle, from which the insect is stated to have burst forth and stung a girl in the wrist, was sent to me. But the insect was not forthcoming.

Gandavallu, or Gundapodi vandlu. Go about the villages, hawking turmeric, kunkumam (colour powder), kamela (Mallotus philippinensis) dye powder, beads, combs, cosmetics and other articles. Supposed to have been originally Komatis.

Kavarai, Tamil synonym for Balija.

Linga.

Panchama. Telugu or Telaga. A synonym for Balija in the Northern Circars.

Rajamahendram or Musu Kamma. The former denotes the town of Rajahmundry, and the latter a special ear-ornament worn by women.

Tota, garden.

Ralla, precious stones.

Pagadala, coral.

Pusa, beads.

Racha, royal.

Vyasa. A sage (rishi) or hunter, whom the hunting classes claim as their ancestor

Other sub-divisions, classified as Balijas at the census, 1901, were:

Jakkulas, among whom it was, at Tenali in the Kistna district, formerly customary for each family to give up one girl for prostitution. Under the influence of social reform, a written agreement was a few years ago entered into to give up the practice.

Adapapa. Female attendants on the ladies of the families of Zamindars, who, as they are not allowed to marry, lead a life of prostitution. Their sons call themselves Balijas. In some places, e.g,, the Kistna and Godavari districts, this class is known as Khasa or Khasavandlu.

Santa Kavarai. Returned as Balijas in the Chingleput district. Ravut. Returned in the Salem district. Said to have been formerly soldiers under the Poligars.

Like other Telugu castes, the Balijas have exogamous septs (intiperu) and gotras. Of the former, the following are examples :

There is a saying that a Balija who has no gotra must take the name of the Pasuleti, or Pasupuleti gotra.

In like manner, a Brahman orphan, whose gotra cannot be traced, is made to adopt the Vathsa gotra. Among the Musu Kammas, the consent of both the maternal uncle and elder sister's husband must be obtained before a girl is given in marriage. At the betrothal ceremony, the future bridegroom's relations proceed to the house of the girl, carrying the following articles on an odd number of trays beneath a cloth canopy (ulladam) : mustard, fenugreek (Trigonella Fœnumgrœcum), cummin seeds, curds, jaggery, dhal (Cajanus indicus), balls of condiments, tamarinds, pepper, twenty-one cakes, eleven cocoanuts, salt, plantains, flowers, a new cloth, black beads, a palm-leaf roll for the ear lobe, turmeric, a comb, and kunkumam (colour powder).

A few rupees, called kongu mudi, to be given to the future mother-in-law, are also placed on the tray. The contracting parties exchange betel and a cocoanut, of which the latter is taken away by a member of the bridegroom's party, tied up in his body-cloth. The girl is seated on a plank, goes through the ceremony (nalagu) of being anointed with oil and paste, and is presented with a new cloth. Wearing this, she sits on the plank, and betel, flowers, jewels, etc., are placed in her lap. A near female relation then ties a string of black beads round her neck.

Among the Musu Kammas, the milk-post, consisting of a green bamboo, with sometimes a branch of Odina Wodier, must be set up two days before the commencement of the marriage ceremonies. It is worshipped, and to it are tied an iron ring, and a string of cotton and wool twisted together (kankanam). A small framework, called dhornam, made of two sticks, across which cotton threads or pieces of cloth are stretched, is brought by a washerwoman, and given to the maternal uncle of the bridegroom, who ties it to the marriage booth. The marriage pots are brought from a potter's house beneath a cloth canopy (ulladam), and given to married couples, closely related to the bridegroom, who fetch water, and place the pots on the dais. Some married women pour rice on a clean white cloth spread on the floor, and rub off the bran with their hands, while they sing songs. The cloth to be worn by the bridegroom is dipped in turmeric water by these women and dried.

The Balijas are very particular about the worship of their female ancestors (perantalu) and no auspicious ceremony can be commenced until perantalu puja has been performed.

Among the Musu Kammas, five women, who are closely related to the bridal couple, take only one meal a day, and try to keep free from pollution of all sorts. They go through the nalagu ceremony, and are presented with new cloths. Among other sections, the wall is simply painted with turmeric dots to represent the ancestors. The ancestor worship concluded, the finger and toe-nails of the bridegroom are cut, and a Musu Kamma bridegroom is conducted to a temple of Vigneswara (Ganesa), if there is one near at hand. By other sections it is considered sufficient, if Vigneswara worship is performed at the marriage booth.

The Musu Kamma bridegroom is dressed up at the temple, and a bashingam (chaplet) tied on his forehead. An old-fashioned turban (paghai) is placed on his head, and a dagger (jimthadu) stuck into his waist-cloth.

It is said that, in olden times, the Balijas used to worship the dagger, and sacrifice sheep or goats at marriages. The bridegroom is next brought to the house where the wedding is being celebrated, and his brother-in-law washes his feet, and, after throwing flowers and rice over them, puts toe-rings and shoes thereon.

The Brahman purohit lights the sacred fire (homam), and pours ghi (clarified butter) therein, while he utters some verses, Vedic or other. He then ties the kankanam (thread) on the bridegroom's wrist. The parents of the bride next proceed with the dharadhattam (gift of the girl) by pouring water and grains of rice into the hands of the bridegroom. Vigneswara is then worshipped, and the bottu (marriage badge) is blessed by those assembled, and handed to the bridegroom. He, placing his right foot on that of the bride, who is separated from him by a screen, ties it round her neck. The couple then exchange seats, and rice is thrown in front of them. They next go thrice round the dais and milk-post, and, at the end of the first and second rounds, the foot of the bride is placed on a grinding stone. After the third round they gaze at the pole-star (Arundati).

Into one of the marriage pots are put a pap-bowl, ring, and bracelet, which are picked out by the couple. If the pap-bowl is first got hold of by the bridegroom, the first-born child will be a boy ; if the ring, it will be a girl.

This rite concluded, the bridegroom makes a mark on the bride's forehead with collyrium. On the second day, the bridegroom makes a pretence of being angry, and stays in a garden or house near that in which the marriage ceremonies are conducted. The bride, and some of her relations, go to him in procession, and, treating him with great respect, bring him back. The sacred fire is lighted, and the bride enters the room in which the marriage pots (araveni) are kept. The bridegroom is stopped at the entrance thereto by a number of married women, and has to call his wife by her name, and pay a small sum of money for the arathi (coloured water), which is waved by the women, to ward off the evil eye.

In some places, the sister of the bridegroom extracts a promise that his coral (daughter) shall be given in marriage to her pearl (son).

He is then permitted to enter the room. On the third day, after homam has been performed by the Brahman priest, the newly married couple go through a burlesque imitation of domestic life, after they have worshipped the posts of the booth, and perform a mimic ploughing ceremony, the bridegroom stirring up some earth in a basket with a stick or miniature plough. This, in some places, his sister tries to prevent him from doing by covering the basket with a cloth, and he has to say “I will give my coral to your pearl."

His brother-in-law tries to squeeze his fingers between a pair of sticks called kitti, which was, in former times, a very popular form of torture as a means of extracting confession. The bride gives her husband some conji (rice-gruel) to refresh him after his pretended labour.

At a marriage among the Perikes (q.v.), a gunny-bag is said to be worshipped before the bottu is tied. A quantity of rice is measured on the first day of the ceremonies and tied up in a cloth. On the third day, the cloth is opened, and it is considered an auspicious sign if the quantity of rice exceeds that which was originally put into it.

Among the Rajamahendram Balijas, just before the nalagu ceremony, the knees, shoulders, and cheeks of the bride and bridegroom are touched with a pestle, while the names of their septs are called out. On the third day, the same process is repeated, but in the reverse order. A Gazula Balija bride must, when the bottu is tied, be dressed in a white cloth with red stripes, called sanna pappuli.

With other sections, a white cloth dyed with turmeric is de rigeur.

Balija, it may be noted, is, in the North Arcot Manual, returned as a division of Dasaris and Idigas. The better classes of Medaras (cane-splitters and mat-makers) are also taking to calling themselves Balijas, and assume the title Chetti.

Oddes and Upparas sometimes style themselves Odde Balija and Uppara Balija. They belong to the right-hand section, which is headed by the Desayi, who is a Balija, and so describe themselves as belonging to the Setti or Chetti samayam. Some members of the Mila and Vada fishing castes have adopted Oda or Vada (boat) Balija as their caste name.

Ballala.—Ballala, or Bellala, was returned, at the census, 1901, as the caste name of a number of individuals, indicating their claim to descent from the Hoysal Ballal kings of Mysore. Ballal is a title assumed by Bant families of position. There is a proverb that, when a Bant becomes powerful, he becomes a Ballal.*

* Manual of the S. Canara district.

Ballem (spear).—An exogamous sept of Mala.

Balli (lizard).—An exogamous sept of Balija.

Balolika.—A synonym of Rajapuri.

Balu (bear).—A sept of Domb.

Bana (big pot).—An exogamous sept of Togatas, and a name for Telugu washermen, who are sometimes called Bana Tsakala. Bana is the Telugu name for the pot which they use for boiling the clothes in.

Banajiga (vanik, tradesman).—Canarese traders, many of whom arc Lingayats. See Linga Balija.

Banda.—Banda, as applied to the Mondi mendicant class, seems to be used in the sense of an obstinate fellow. Some, however, maintain that it refers to a beggar who carries about a stone, and threatens to beat his brains out, if alms are not forthcoming. Banda, meaning a rock, also occurs as an exogamous sept of Odde.

Bandari.—Bandari, denoting apparently the shrub Dodondœa viscosa, is an exogamous sept of Odde. It further occurs, in the sense of a temple treasurer, as an exogamous sept of Devangas and Padma Sales, for whom the Bandari acts as caste messenger. It is also the name of the assistant to the headman, or Pattakar, of the Okkiliyans, a title of Konkani Brahmans, and a synonym of Kelasis.

Bandekara.—A synonym for Konkani Vanis (traders), who are said, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, to ape the Brahmanical customs, and call themselves by the curious hybrid name of Vasiya (or Vaisya) Brahman.

Bandi (cart).—An exogamous sept of Kapu, Kavarai, Korava, Kumbara, Kurni, Kuruba, Mala, Odde, Stanika, and Yanadi. It further occurs as a name for Koravas, who drag the temple car at times of religious festival. Vandikkaran (cartmen) is an occupational name for Nayars, who work as cartmen for carrying fuel.

Bangaru Mukkara (gold nose ornament).—A subdivision of Kamma.

Baniya.—The Baniyas or Bunyas are immigrant traders and money-lenders (sowcars) from Northern India, who have settled down in the southern bazars, where they carry on a lucrative business, and wax sleek and wealthy. Bania also occurs as a synonym for the South Indian trading caste, the Komatis.

It may be noted, as a little matter of history, that, in 1677, the Court of Directors, in a letter to Fort St. George, offered " twenty pounds reward to any of our servants or soldiers as shall be able to speak, write, and translate the Banian language, and to learn their arithmetic."*

* Vule and Burnell. liobson-Jobson.

Banjari.—A synonym of Lambadi.

Banka (gum).—An exogamous sept of Motati Kapu.

Bannagara (a painter).—A synonym of Chitrakara.

Bannan.—A synonym of Vannan or Mannan, recorded at times of census. In like manner Bannata occurs as a Canarese form of the Malayalam Veluttedan or Vannattan.

Banni or Vanni (Prosopis spicigcra).—An exogamous sept of Kuruba and Kurni. The tree is worshipped because on it "the five Pandava princes hung up their arms when they entered Virat Nagra in disguise. On the tree the arms turned to snakes, and remained untouched till the owners returned." (Lisboa.)

Bant.—For the following account of the Bants I am mainly indebted to Mr. H. A. Stuart's description of them in the Manual of South Canara, The name Bant, pronounced Bunt, means in Tulu a powerful man or soldier, and indicates that the Bants were originally a military class corresponding to the Nayars of Malabar. The term Nadava instead of Bant in the northern portions of South Canara points, among other indications, to a territorial organisation by nads similar to that described by Mr. Logan as prevailino- in Malabar.

"The Nayars," he writes, "were, until the British occupied the country, the militia of the district. Originally they seem to have been organised into 'Six Hundreds,' and each six hundred seems to have had assigned to it the protection of all the people in a nad or country. The nad was in turn split up into taras, a Dravidian word signifying originally a foundation, the foundation of a house, hence applied collectively to a street, as in Tamil teru, in Telugu teruvu, and in Canarese and Tulu teravu. The tara was the Nayar territorial unit for civil purposes."

It has been stated that "the Malabar Nair chieftain of old had his nad or barony, and his own military class ; and the relics of this powerful feudal system still survive in the names of some of the taluks (divisions) of modern Malabar, and in the official designations of certain Nair families, whose men still come out with quaint-looking swords and shields to guard the person of the Zamorin on the occasion of the rice-throwing ceremony, which formally constitutes him the ruler of the land.

“Correspondingly, the Bants of the northern parts of Canara still answer to the territorial name of Nad Bants, or warriors of the nad or territory. It is necessary to explain that, in both ancient Keralam and Tulu, the functions of the great military and dominant classes were so distributed that only certain classes were bound to render military service to the ruling prince. The rest were lairds or squires, or gentleman farmers, or the labourers and artisans of their particular community, though all of them cultivated a love of manly sports."*

* Calcutta Review.

Few traces of any such organisation as has been indicated now prevail, great changes having been made when the Vijayanagar Government introduced, more than five hundred years ago, a system of administration under which the local Jain chiefs, though owing allegiance to an overlord, became more independent in their relations with the people of the country. Under the Bednur kings, and still more under the Mysore rule, the power of the chiefs was also swept away, but the old organisation was not reverted to.

The Bants are now the chief land-owning and cultivating class in South Canara, and are, with the exception of the Billavas or toddy-drawers, the most numerous caste in the district.

“At the present day, the Bants of Canara are largely the independent and influential landed gentry, some would say, perhaps, the substantial yeomanry. They still retain their manly independence of character, their strong and well developed physique, and they still carry their heads with the same haughty toss as their forefathers did in the stirring fighting days when, as an old proverb had it, 'The slain rested in the yard of the slayer,' and when every warrior constantly carried his sword and shield. Both men and women of the Bant community are among the comeliest of Asiatic races, the men having high foreheads and well-turned aquiline noses."

In a note on the agricultural economy of South Canara, Rao Sahib T. Raghaviah writes* that "the ryot (cultivator) of South Canara loves to make his land look attractive, and every field is lined with the lovely areca, and the stately palm. The slopes adjoining the rich fields are studded with plantations of jack, mango, cashew, plantain and other fruit and shade trees, and the ryot would not even omit to daub his trees with the alternate white and red bands, with which the east coast women love to adorn a marriage house or temple wall. These, with the regularly laid out and carefully embanked water-courses and streams, lend an air of enchantment to the whole scene. The ignorance prevailing among the women of the richer section of the landed classes (on the east coast) is so great that it is not uncommon to ridicule a woman by saying that what she knows about paddy (rice) is that it grows on a tree. But, in a district like South Canara, the woman that does not know agriculture is the exception. I have often come across respectable women of the landed classes like the Bants, Shivallis, and Nairs, managing large landed estates as efficiently as men. The South Canara woman is born on the land, and lives on it. She knows when to sow, and when to reap ; how much seed to sow, and how much labour to employ to plough, to weed, or to reap. She knows how to prepare her seed, and to cure her tobacco, to garner her grain, and to preserve her cucumbers through the coming monsoon. She knows further how to feed her cow, and to milk it, to treat it when sick, and to graze it when hale. She also knows how to make her manure, and how to use it without wasting a bit of it. She knows how to collect green leaves for her manure, and to help the fuel reserve on the hill slope above her house grow by a system of lopping the branches and leaving the standards. She knows also how to collect her areca nuts, and to prepare them for the market, and to collect her cocoanuts, and haggle for a high price for them with her customers. There is, in fact, not a single thing about agriculture which the South Canara man knows, and which the South Canara woman does not know. It is a common sight, as one passes through a paddy Hat or along the adjoining slope, to see housewives bringing out handfuls of ashes collected in the oven over night, and depositing them at the root of the nearest fruit tree on their land."

* Indian Review, VII, 1906.

Most of the Bants are Hindus by religion, and rank as Sudras, but about ten thousand of them are Jains. Probably they originally assumed Jainism as a fashionable addition to the ancestral demon worship, to which they all still adhere, whether they profess to be Vaishnavites, Saivites, or Jains. It is probable that, during the political supremacy of the Jains, a much larger proportion of the Bants professed adherence to that religion than now--days. There are four principal sub-divisions of the caste, viz., Masadika, who are the ordinary Bants of Tuluva ; Nadava or Nad, who speak Canarese, and are found in the northern part of South Canara ; the Parivara, who do not follow the aliya santana system of inheritance; and the Jains.

Members of these sub-divisions may not intermarry, but instances have occurred of marriage between members of the Masadika and Nad subdivisions. Nothing very definite is known of the origin of the Bants, but Tuluva seems, in the early centuries of the Christian era, to have had kings who apparently were sometimes independent and sometimes feudatories of overlords, such as the Pallavas, the early Kadambas, the early Chalukyans, the later Kadambas, the western Chalukyans, the Kalachurians, and the Hoysal Ballals.

This indicates a constant state of fighting, which would account for an important class of the population being known as Bantaru or warriors ; and, as a matter of course, they succeeded in becoming the owners of all the land which did not fall lo the share of the priestly class, the Brahmans. Ancient inscriptions speak of kings of Tuluva, and the Bairasu Wodears of Karakal, whose inscriptions have been found at Kalasa as early as the twelfth century, may have exercised power throughout Tuluva or the greater part of it. But, when the Vijayanagar dynasty became the overlords of Canara in 1336, there were then existing a number of minor chiefs who had probably been in power long before, and the numerous titles still remaining among the Bants and Jains, and the local dignities known as Pattam and Gadi, point to the existence from very early times of a number of more or less powerful local chieftains.

The system peculiar to the west coast under which all property vests in females, and is managed by the seniors of the family, was also favourable to the continuance of large landed properties, and it is probable that it is only within comparatively recent times that sub-division of landed property became anything like as common as it is now.

All the Bants, except the Parivara and a few Jains follow this aliya santana system of inheritance,* a survival of a time when the military followers of conquering invaders or local chiefs married women of the local land-owning classes, and the most important male members of the family were usually absent in camp or at court, while the women remained at the family house on the estate, and managed the farms. The titles and the pattams or dignities have always been held by the male members, but, as they also go with the landed property, they necessarily devolve on the sister's son of a deceased holder, whence has arisen the name aliya santana, which means sister's son lineage.

* See G. Krishna Kao. Treatise on Aliya Santana Law and Usage, Mangalore, 1898

A story is embodied in local traditions, attributing the origin of the system to the fiat of a king named Bhutal Pandya, until whose time makkala santana or inheritance from father to son, generally obtained.

"It is said that the maternal uncle of this prince, called Deva Pandya, wanted to launch his newly constructed ships with valuable cargo in them, when Kundodara, king of demons demanded a human sacrifice. Deva Pandya asked his wife's permission to offer one of his sons, but she refused, while his sister Satyavati offered her son Jaya Pandya for the purpose. Kundodara, discovering in the child signs of future greatness, waived the sacrifice, and permitted the ships to sail. He then took the child, restored to him his father's kingdom of Jayantika, and gave him the name of Bhutal Pandya. Subsequently, when some of the ships brought immense wealth, the demon again appeared, and demanded of Deva Pandya another human sacrifice. On the latter again consulting his wife, she refused to comply with the request, and publicly renounced her title and that of her children to the valuable property brought in the ships. Kundodara then demanded the Deva Pandya to disinherit his sons of the wealth which had been brought in the ships, as also of the kingdom, and to bestow all on his sister's son, Jaya or Bhutal Pandya. This was accordingly done. And, as this prince inherited his kingdom from his maternal uncle and not from his father, he ruled that his own example should be followed by his subjects, and it was thus that the aliya santana law was established about A.D. 77*"

* Calcutta Review.

It is noted by Mr. L. Moore* that various judicial decisions relating to the aliya santana system are based to a great extent on a book termed Aliya Santanada Kattu Kattale, which was alleged to be the work of Bhutala Pandiya, who, according to Dr. Whitley Stokes, the learned scholar who edited the first volume of the Madras High Court Reports, lived about A.D. 78, but which is in reality a very recent forgery compiled about 1840.

* Malabar Law and Custom, 3rd ed., 1905.

As to this, Dr. A. C. Burnell observes as follows in a note in his law of partition and succession. “One patent imposture yet accepted by the Courts as evidence is the Aliya Santanada Kattu Kattale, a falsified account of the customs of South Canara. Silly as many Indian books are, a more childish or foolish tract it would be impossible to discover ; it is about as much worthy of notice in a law court as 'Jack the Giant Killer.' That it is a recent forgery is certain .... The origin of the book in its present state is well-known ; it is satisfactorily traced to two notorious forgers and scoundrels about thirty years ago, and all copies have been made from the one they produced, I have enquired in vain for an old manuscript, and am informed, on the best authority, that not one exists. A number of recent manuscripts are to be found, but they all differ essentially one from another.

“A more clumsy imposture it would be hard to find, but it has proved a mischievous one in South Canara, and threatens to render a large amount of property quite valueless. The forgers knew the people they had to deal with, the Bants, and, by inserting a course that families which did not follow the Aliya Santana shall become extinct, have effectually prevented an application for legislative interference, though the poor superstitious folk would willingly (it is said) have the custom abolished." *

* The Law of Partition and Succession, from the text of Varadaraja's Vyavaharaniranya by A. C. Burnell (1872).

As a custom similar to aliya santana prevails in Malabar, it no doubt originated before Tuluva and Kerala were separated.

The small body of Parivara Bants, and the few Jain Bants that do not follow the aliya santana system, are probably the descendants of a few families who allowed their religious conversion to Hinduism or Jainism to have more effect on their social relations than was commonly the case. Now that the ideas regarding marriage among the Bants are in practice assimilated to a great extent to those of most other people, the national rule of inheritance is a cause of much heart-burning and quarrelling, fathers always endeavouring to benefit their own offspring at the cost of the estate.

A change would be gladly welcomed by many, but vested interests in property constitute an almost insuperable obstacle.

The Bants do not usually object to the use of animal food, except, of course, the flesh of the cow, and they do not as a rule wear the sacred thread. But there are some families of position called Ballals, amongst whom heads of families abstain from animal food, and wear the sacred thread.

These neither eat nor intermarry with the ordinary Bants. The origin of the Ballals is explained by a proverb, which says that when a Bant becomes powerful, he becomes a Ballal. Those who have the dignity called Pattam, and the heads of certain families, known as Shettivalas or Heggades, also wear the sacred thread, and are usually managers or mukhtesars of the temples and bhutasthans or demon shrines within the area over which, in former days, they are said to have exercised a more extended jurisdiction, dealing not only with caste disputes, but settling numerous civil and criminal matters. The Jain Bants are strict vegetarians, and they abstain from the use of alcoholic liquors, the consumption of which is permitted among other Bants, though the practice is not common. The Jain Bants avoid taking food after sunset.

The more well-to-do Bants usually occupy substantial houses on their estates, in many of which there is much fine wood-work, and, in some cases, the pillars of the porches and verandahs, and the doorways are artistically and elaborately carved. These houses have been described as being well built, thatched with palm, and generally prettily situated with beautiful scenic prospects stretching away on all sides.

The Bants have not as a rule largely availed themselves of European education, and consequently there are but few of them in the Government service, but among these few some have attained to high office, and been much respected. As is often the case among high spirited people of primitive modes of thought, party and faction feeling run high, and jealousy and disputes about landed property often lead to hasty acts of violence.

Now-a-days, however, the last class of disputes more frequently lead to protracted litigation in the Courts.

The Bants are fond of out-door sports, football and buffalo-racing being amongst their favourite amusements. But the most popular of all is cock-fighting. Every Bant, who is not a Jain, takes an interest in this sport, and large assemblages of cocks are found at every fair and festival throughout South Canara.

“The outsider," it has been said,* "cannot fail to be struck with the tremendous excitement that attends a village fair in South Canara. Large numbers of cocks are displayed for sale, and groups of excited people may be seen huddled together, bending down with intense eagerness to watch every detail in the progress of a combat between two celebrated village game-cocks."

* Calcutta Review

Cock fights on an elaborate scale take place on the day after the Dipavali, Sankaranthi or Vinayakachathurthi, and Gokalashtami festivals, outside the village boundary.

At Hiriadaka, in October, 1907, more than a hundred birds were tethered by the leg to the scrub jungle composed of the evergreen shrub Ixora coccinea, or carried in the arms of their owners or youngsters. Only males, from the town and surrounding villages, were witnesses of the spectacle. The tethered birds, if within range of each other, excited by the constant crowing and turmoil, indulged in an impromptu fight.

Grains of rice and water were poured into the mouths and over the heads of the birds before the fight, and after each round. The birds were armed with cunningly devised steel spurs, constituting a battery of variously curved and sinuous weapons. It is believed that the Bhuta (demon) is appeased, if the blood from the wounds drops on the ground. The men, whose duty it is to separate the birds at the end of a round, sometimes receive nasty wounds from the spurs. The tail feathers of a wounded bird are lifted up, and a palm leaf fan or towel is waved to and fro over the cloacal orifice to revive it. The owner of a victorious bird becomes the possessor of the vanquished bird, dead or alive. At an exhibition of the products of South Canara, during a recent visit of the Governor of Madras to Mangalore, a collection of spurs was exhibited in the class “household implements."

For the following note on buffalo races, I am indebted to Mr. H. O. D. Harding. "This is a sport that has grown up among a race of cultivators of wet land. It is, I believe, peculiar to South Canara, where all the cultivation worth mentioning is wet. The Bants and Jains, and other landowners of position, own and run buffaloes, and the Billava, or toddy drawer, has also entered the racing world. Every rich Bant keeps his kambla field consecrated to buffalo-racing, and his pair of racing- buffaloes, costing from Rs. 150 to Rs. 500, are splendid animals; and, except for an occasional plough-drawing at the beginning of the cultivation season, are used for no purpose all the year, except racing.

The racing is for no prize or stakes, and there is no betting, starter, judge, or winning post. Each pair of buffaloes runs the course alone, and is judged by the assembled crowd for pace and style, and, most important of all, the height and breadth of the splash which they make. Most people know the common levelling plank used by the ryots (cultivators) all over India to level the wet field after ploughing. It is a plank some 4 or 5 feet long by 1 or 1½ feet broad, and on it the driver stands to give it weight, and the buffaloes pull it over the mud of a flooded rice-field. This is the prototype of the buffalo-racing car, and any day during the cultivating season in the Tulu country one may see two boys racing for the love of the sport, as they drive their levelling boards.

From this the racing car has been specialised, and, if a work of art for its own purpose, is not a car on which any one could or would wish to travel far. The leveller of utility is cut down to a plank about 1½ by 1 foot, sometimes handsomely carved, on which is fixed a gaily decorated wooden stool about 6 inches high and 10 inches across each way, hollowed out on the top, and just big enough to afford good standing for one foot.

In the plank, on each side, are holes to let the mud and water through. The plank is fixed to a pole, which is tied to the buffalo's yoke. The buffaloes are decorated with coloured jhuls and marvellous head-pieces of brass and silver (sometimes bearing the emblems of the sun and moon), and ropes which make a sort of bridle. The driver, stripping himself to the necessary minimum of garments, mounts, while some of his friends cling, like ants struggling round a dead beetle, to the buffaloes.

When he is fairly up, they let go, and the animals start. The course is a wet rice-field, about 150 yards long, full of mud and water. All round are hundreds, or perhaps thousands of people, including Pariahs who dance in groups in the mud, play stick-game, and beat drums. In front of the galloping buffaloes the water is clear and still, throwing a powerful reflection of them as they gallop down the course, raising a perfect tornado of mud and water. The driver stands with one foot on the stool, and one on the pole of the car. He holds a whip aloft in one hand, and one of the buffaloes' tails in the other. He drives without reins, with nothing but a waggling tail to hold on to and steer by.

Opening his mouth wide, he shouts for all he is worth, while, to all appearances, a deluge of mud and water goes down his throat. So he comes down the course, the plank on which he stands throwing up a sort of Prince of Wales' feathers of mud and water round him. The stance on the plank is no easy matter, and not a few men come to grief, but it is soft falling in the slush.

Marks are given for pace, style, sticking to the plank, and throwing up the biggest and widest splash. Sometimes a kind of gallows, perhaps twenty feet high, is erected on the course, and there is a round of applause if the splash reaches up to or above it. Sometimes the buffaloes bolt, scatter the crowd, and get away into the young rice.

At the end of the course, the driver jumps off with a parting smack at his buffaloes, which run up the slope of the field, and stop of themselves in what may be called the paddock. At a big meeting perhaps a hundred pairs, brought from all over the Tulu country, will compete, and the big men always send their buffaloes to the races headed by the local band.

The roads are alive with horns and tom-toms for several days. The proceedings commence with a procession, which is not infrequently headed by a couple of painted dolls in an attitude suggestive of that reproductiveness, which the races really give thanks for. They are a sort of harvest festival, before the second or sugge crop is sown, and are usually held in October and November.

Devils must be propitiated, and the meeting opens with a devil dance. A painted, grass-crowned devil dancer, riding a hobby-horse, proceeds with music round the kambla field. Then comes the buffalo procession, and the races commence. At a big meeting near Mangalore, the two leading devil dancers were dressed up in masks, and coat and trousers of blue mission cloth, and one had the genitalia represented by a long piece of blue cloth tipped with red, and enormous testes.

Buffaloes, young and old, trained and untrained, compete, some without the plank attached to them, and others with planks but without drivers. Accidents sometimes happen, owing to the animals breaking away among the crowd. On one occasion, a man who was in front of a pair of buffaloes which were just about to start failed to jump clear of them. Catching hold of the yoke, he hung on to it by his hands, and was carried right down the course, and was landed safely at the other end. If he had dropped, he would have fallen among four pairs of hoofs, not to mention the planks, and would probably have been brained. It is often a case of owners up, and the sons and nephews of big Bants, worth perhaps Rs. 10,000 a year, drive the teams."

To the above account, I may add a few notes made at a buffalo race-meeting near Udipi, at which I was present. Each group of buffaloes, as they went up the track to the starting-point, was preceded by the Koraga band playing on drum, fife and cymbals, Holeyas armed with staves and dancing, and a man holding a flag (nishani). Sometimes, in addition to the flag, there is a pakke or spear on the end of a bamboo covered with strips of cloth, or a makara torana, i.e., festooned cloths between two bamboos. The two last are permitted only if the buffaloes belong to a Bant or Brahman, not if they are the property of a Billava.

At the end of the races, the Ballala chief, in whose field they had taken place, retired in procession, headed by a man carrying his banner, which, during the races, had been floating on the top of a long bamboo pole at the far end of the track. He was followed by the Koraga band, and the Holeyas attached to him, armed with clubs, and dancing a step dance amid discordant noises. Two Nalkes (devil-dancers), dressed up in their professional garb, and a torch-bearer also joined in the procession, in the rear of which came the Ballala beneath a decorated umbrella.

In every village there are rakshasas (demons), called Kambla-asura, who preside over the fields. The races are held to propitiate them, and, if they are omitted, it is believed that there will be a failure of the crop. According to some, Kambla-asura is the brother of Maheshasura, the buffalo-headed giant, from whom Mysore receives its name.

The Koragas sit up through the night before the Kambla day, performing a ceremony called panikkuluni, or sitting under the dew. They sing songs to the accompaniment of the band, about their devil Nicha, and offer toddy and a rice-pudding boiled in a large earthen pot, which is broken so that the pudding remains as a solid mass. This pudding is called kandel adde, or pot pudding.

On the morning of the races, the Holeyas scatter manure over the field, and plough it. On the following day, the seedlings are planted, without, as in ordinary cases, any ploughing. To propitiate various devils, the days following the races are devoted to cock-fighting.

The Kamblas, in different places, have various names derived from the village deity, the chief village devil, or the village itself, e.g., JanardhanaDevara, Daivala, or Udiyavar. The young men, who have the management of the buffaloes, are called BannangayiGurikara (half-ripe cocoanut masters) as they have the right of taking tender cocoanuts, as well as beaten rice to give them physical strength, without the special permission of their landlord.

At the village of Vandar, the races take place in a dry field, which has been ploughed, and beaten to break up the clods of earth. For this reason they are called podi (powder) Kambla.

A pair of buffaloes, belonging to the field in which the races take place, should enter the field first, and a breach of this observance leads to discussion and quarrels.

On one occasion, a dispute arose between two Bants in connection with the question of precedence. One of them brought his own pair of buffaloes, and the other a borrowed pair. If the latter had brought his own .animals, he would have had precedence over the former. But, as his animals were borrowed, precedence was given to the man who brought his own buffaloes. This led to a dispute, and the races were not commenced until the delicate point at issue was decided.

In some places, a long pole, called pukare, decorated with flags, flowers, and festoons of leaves, is set up in the Kambla field, sometimes on a platform. Billavas are in charge of this pole, which is worshipped, throughout the races, and others may not touch it. Fines inflicted by the Bant caste council are, I am informed, spent in the celebration of a temple festival.

In former days, those found guilty by the council were beaten with tamarind switches, made to stand exposed to the sun, or big red ants were thrown over their bodies. Sometimes, to establish the innocence of an accused person, he had to take a piece of red-hot iron (axe, etc.) in his hand, and give it to his accuser.

At a puberty ceremony among some Bants the girl sits in the courtyard of her house on five unhusked cocoanuts covered with the bamboo cylinder which is used for storing paddy. Women place four pots filled with water, and containing betel leaves and nuts, round the girl, and empty the contents over her head. She is then secluded in an outhouse. The women are entertained with a feast, which must include fowl and fish curry. The cocoanuts are given to a washerwoman. On the fourth day, the girl is bathed, and received back at the house. Beaten rice, and rice flour mixed with jaggery (crude sugar) are served out to those assembled. The girl is kept gosha (secluded) for a time, and fed up with generous diet.

Under the aliya santana system of inheritance, the High Court has ruled that there is no marriage within the meaning of the Penal Code. But, though divorce and remarriage are permitted to women, there are formal rules and ceremonies observed in connection with them, and amongst the well-to-do classes divorce is not looked upon as respectable, and is not frequent. The fictitious marriage prevailing amongst the Nayars is unknown among the Bants, and a wife also usually leaves the family house, and resides at her husband's, unless she occupies so senior a position in her own family as to make it desirable that she should live on the family estate.

The Bants are divided into a number of balis (exogamous septs), which are traced in the female line, i.e., a boy belongs to his mother's, not to his father's bali. Children belonging to the same bali cannot marry, and the prohibition extends to certain allied (koodu) balis.

Moreover, a man cannot marry his father's brother's daughter, though she belongs to a different bali. In a memorandum by Mr. M. Mundappa Bangera,* it is stated that "bali in aliya santana families corresponds to gotra of the Brahmins governed by Hindu law, but differs in that it is derived from the mother's side, whereas gotra is always derived from the father's side. A marriage between a boy and girl belonging to the same bali is considered incestuous, as falling within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity. It is not at all difficult to find out the bali to which a man or woman belongs, as one can scarcely be found who does not know one's own bali by rote. And the heads of caste, who preside at every wedding party, and who are also consulted by the elders of the boy or girl before an alliance is formed, are such experts in these matters that they decide at once without reference to any books or rules whether intermarriages between persons brought before them can be lawfully performed or not."

* Report of the Malabar Marriage Commission, 1891.

As examples of balis among the Bants, the following may be cited :

Bellathannaya, jaggery.

Bhuthiannaya, ashes.

Chaliannaya, weaver.

Edinnaya, hornet's nest.

Karkadabennai, scorpion.

Kayerthannaya (Strychnos Nux-vomica)

Kochattabannayya, or Kajjarannayya, jack tree (Artocarpus integrifolia).

Koriannaya, fowl.

Pathanchithannaya, green peas.

Perugadannaya, bandicoot rat.

Poyilethannaya, one who removes the evil eye.

Puliattannaya, tiger.

Ragithannaya, ragi (Eleuisine Coracana)

Infant marriage is not prohibited, but is not common, and both men and girls are usually married after they have reached maturity. There are two forms of marriage, one called kai dhare for marriages between virgins and bachelors, the other called budu dhare for the marriage of widows.

After a match has been arranged, the formal betrothal, called ponnapathera or nischaya tambula, takes place. The bridegroom's relatives and friends proceed in a body on the appointed day to the bride's house, and are there entertained at a grand dinner, to which the bride's relatives and friends are also bidden. Subsequently the karnavans (heads) of the two families formally engage to perform the marriage, and plates of betel leaves and areca nuts are exchanged, and the betel and nuts partaken of by the two parties.

The actual marriage ceremony is performed at the house of the bride or bridegroom, as may be most convenient. The proceedings commence with the bridegroom seating himself in the marriage pandal, a booth or canopy specially erected for the occasion. He is there shaved by the village barber, and then retires and bathes. This done, both he and the bride are conducted to the pandal by their relations, or sometimes by the village headman. They walk thrice round the seat, and then sit down side by side. The essential and binding part of the ceremony, called dhare, then takes place.

The right hand of the bride being placed over the right hand of the bridegroom, a silver vessel (dhare gindi) filled with water, with a cocoanut over the mouth and the flower of the areca palm on the cocoanut, is placed on the joined hands. The parents, the managers of the two families, and the village headmen all touch the vessel, which, with the hands of the bridal pair, is moved up and down three times.

In certain families the water is poured from the vessel into the united hands of the couple, and this betokens the gift of the bride. This form of gift by pouring water was formerly common, and was not confined to the gift of a bride. It still survives in the marriage ceremonies of various castes, and the name of the Bant ceremony shows that it must once have been universal among them. The bride and bridegroom then receive the congratulations of the guests, who express a hope that the happy couple may become the parents of twelve sons and twelve daughters.

An empty plate, and another containing rice, are next placed before the pair, and their friends sprinkle them with rice from the one, and place a small gift, generally four annas, in the other. The bridegroom then makes a gift to the bride. This is called sirdachi, and varies in amount according to the position of the parties. This must be returned to the husband, if his wife leaves him, or if she is divorced for misconduct. The bride is then taken back in procession to her home. A few days later she is again taken to the bridegroom's house, and must serve her husband with food. He makes another money present to her, and after that the marriage is consummated.

According to another account of the marriage ceremony among some Bants, the barber shaves the bridegroom's face, using cow's milk instead of water, and touches the bride's forehead with razor. The bride and bridegroom bathe, and dress up in new clothes. A plank covered with a newly-washed cloth supplied by a washerman, a tray containing raw rice, a lighted lamp, betel leaves and areca nuts, etc., are placed in the pandal.

A girl carries a tray on which are placed a lighted lamp, a measure full of raw rice, and betel. She is followed by the bridegroom conducted by her brother, and the bride, led by the bridegroom's sister. They enter the pandal and, after going round the articles contained therein five times, sit down on the plank. An elderly woman, belonging to the family of the caste headman, brings a tray containing rice, and places it in front of the couple, over whom she sprinkles a little of the rice. The assembled men and women then place presents of money on the tray, and sprinkle rice over the couple. The right hand of the bride is held by the headman, and her uncle, and laid in that of the bridegroom. A cocoanut is placed over the mouth of a vessel, which is decorated with mango leaves and flowers of the areca palm. The headman and male relations of the bride place this vessel thrice in the hands of the bridal couple. The vessel is subsequently emptied at the foot of a cocoanut tree.

The foregoing account shows that the Bant marriage is a good deal more than concubinage. It is indeed as formal a marriage as is to be found among any people in the world, and the freedom of divorce which is allowed cannot deprive it of its essential character. Widows are married with much less formality. The ceremony consists simply of joining the hands of the couple, but, strange to say, a screen is placed between them. All widows are allowed to marry again, but it is, as a rule, only the young women who actually do so. If a widow becomes pregnant, she must marry or suffer loss of caste.

The Bants all burn their dead, except in the case of children under seven, and those who have died of leprosy or of epidemic disease such as cholera or small-pox. The funeral pile must consist at least partly of mango wood. On the ninth, eleventh or thirteenth day, people are fed in large numbers, but the Jains now substitute for this a distribution of cocoanuts on the third, fifth, seventh, or ninth day.

Once a year—generally in October— a ceremony called agelu is performed for the propitiation of ancestors. From a detailed account of the Bant death ceremonies, I gather that the news of a death is conveyed to the caste people by a Holeya.

A carpenter, accompanied by musicians, proceeds to cut down a mango tree for the funeral pyre. The body is bathed, and laid out on a plank. Clad in new clothes, it is conveyed with music to the burning-ground. A barber carries thither a pot containing fire. The corpse is set down near the pyre and divested of the new clothes, which are distributed between a barber, washerman, carpenter, a Billava and Holeya. The pyre is kindled by a Billava, and the mat on which the corpse has been lying is thrown thereon by a son or nephew of the deceased. On the third day the relations go to the burning-ground, and a barber and washerman sprinkle water over the ashes.

Some days later, the caste people are invited to attend, and a barber, washerman, and carpenter build up on the spot where the corpse was burnt a lofty structure, made of bamboo and areca palm, in an odd number of tiers, and supported on an odd number of posts. It is decorated with cloths, fruits, tender cocoanuts, sugarcane, flowers, mango leaves, areca palm flowers, etc., and a fence is set up round it. The sons and other relations of the deceased carry to the burning-ground three balls of cooked rice (pinda) dyed with turmeric and tied up in a cloth, some raw rice dyed with turmeric, pieces of green plantain fruit, and pumpkin and a cocoanut. They go thrice round the structure, carrying the various articles in trays on their heads, and deposit them therein. The relations then throw a little of the coloured rice into the structure, and one of the caste men sprinkles water contained in a mango leaf over their hands. After bathing, they return home.

The clothes, jewels, etc., of the deceased are laid on a cloth spread inside the house. A piece of turmeric is suspended from the ceiling by a string, and a tray containing water coloured yellow placed beneath it. Round this the females seat themselves. A cocoanut is broken, and a barber sprinkles the water thereof contained in a mango leaf over those assembled. On the following day, various kinds of food are prepared, and placed on leaves, with a piece of new cloth, within a room of the house. The cloth remains there for a year, when it is renewed. The renewal continues until another death occurs in the family.

The headman among the Bants is generally called Guttinayya, meaning person of the guttu or site. Every village, or group of villages, possesses a guttu, and the Bant who occupies, or holds in possession the house or site set apart as the guttu is the Guttinayya. When this passes to another by sale or inheritance, the office of headman passes with it. It is said that, in some instances, the headmanship has in this way passed to classes other than Bants, e.g. Brahmans and Jains.

In some villages, the headman is, as among some other castes, called Gurikara, whose appointment is hereditary.

A few supplementary notes may be added on the Parivara, Nad, and Masadika Bants. The Parivaras are confined to the southern taluks of the South Canara district. They may interdine, but may not intermarry with the other section. The rule of inheritance is makkalakattu (in the male line).

Brahman priests are engaged for the various ceremonials, so the Parivaras are more Brahmanised than the Nad or Masadika Bants. The Parivaras may resort to the wells used by Brahmans, and they consequently claim superiority over the other sections. Among the Nad Bants, no marriage badge is tied on the neck of the bride.

At a Parivara marriage, after the dhare ceremony, the bridegroom ties a gold bead, called dhare mani, on the neck of the bride. The remarriage of widows is not in vogue.

In connection with the death ceremonies, a car is not, as among the Nad and Masadika sections, set up over the mound (dhupe). On the eleventh day, the spreading of a cloth on the mound for offerings of food must be done by Nekkaras, who wash clothes for Billavas.

The Nad or Nadava and Masadika Bants follow the aliya santana law of succession, and intermarriage is permitted between the two sections. The names of the balis, which have already been given, are common among the Masadikas, and do not apply to the Nads, among whom different sept names occur, e.g., Honne, Shetti, Koudichi, etc.

Elaborate death ceremonies are only performed if the deceased was old, or a respected member of the community. The corpse is generally cremated in one of the rice-fields belonging to the family. After the funeral, the male members of the family return home, and place a vessel containing water and light in a room. One or two women must remain in this room, and the light must be kept burning until the bojja, or final death ceremonies, are over. The water in the vessel must be renewed twice daily. At the final ceremonies, a feast is given to the castemen, and in some places, the headman insists on the people of the house of mourning giving him a jewel as a pledge that the bojja will be performed on the ninth, eleventh, or thirteenth day.

The headman visits the house on the previous day, and, after examination of the provisions, helps in cutting up vegetables, etc. On the bojja day, copper and silver coins, and small pieces of gold, are buried or sown in the field in which the ceremony is performed. This is called hanabiththodu.

The lofty structure, called gurigi or upparige, is set up over the dhupe or ashes heaped up into a mound, or in the field in which the body was cremated, only in the event of the deceased being a person of importance. In some places, two kinds of structure are used, one called gurigi, composed of several tiers, for males, and the other called delagudu, consisting of a single tier, for females. Devil-dancers are engaged, and the commonest kola performed by them is the eru kola, or man and hobby-horse.

In the room containing the vessel of water, four sticks are planted in the ground, and tied together. Over the sticks a cloth is placed, and the vessel of water placed beneath it. A bit of string is tied to the ceiling, and a piece of turmeric or a gold ring is attached to the end of it, and suspended so as to touch the water in the vessel. This is called nir neralu (shadow in water), and seems to be a custom among various Tulu castes. After the bojja ceremony, all those who are under death pollution stand in two rows. A Madavali (washerman) touches them with a cloth, and a Kekisi (barber) sprinkles water over them. In this manner, they are freed from pollution.