Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Bāriki

by Edgar Thurston

Bāriki.— Bāriki is the name for village watchmen in Southern Ganjam, whose duty it further is to guide the traveller on the march from place to place. In the Bellary Manual, Bārika is given as the name for Canarese Kabbēras, who are village servants, who keep the village chāvadi (caste meeting-house) clean, look after the wants of officials halting in the village, and perform various other duties. In the Census Report, 1901, the Bārikas are said to be usually Bōyas. The Bārika of Mysore is defined by Mr. L. Rice as #^[1] "a menial among the village servants; a deputy talāri, who is employed to watch the crops from the growing crop to the granary."

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Bellary district, that "in the middle of the threshold of nearly all the gateways of the ruined fortifications round the Bellary villages will be noticed a roughly cylindrical or conical stone, something like a lingam. This is the boddu-rāyi, literally the navel stone, and so the middle stone. It was planted there when the fort was built, and is affectionately regarded as being the boundary of the village site. Once a year, in May, just before the sowing season begins, a ceremony takes place in connection with it. Reverence is first made to the bullocks of the village, and in the evening they are driven through the gateway past the boddu-rāyi with tom-toms, flutes, and all kinds of music. The Bārike next does puja (worship) to the stone, and then a string of mango leaves is tied across the gateway above it. The villagers now form sides, one party trying to drive the bullocks through the gate, and the other trying to keep them out. The greatest uproar and confusion naturally follow, and, in the midst of the turmoil, some bullock or other eventually breaks through the guardians of the gate, and gains the village. If that first bullock is a red one, the red grains on the red soils will flourish in the coming season. If he is white, white crops like cotton and white cholam will prosper. If he is red-and-white, both kinds will do well. When the rains fail, and, in any case, on the first full moon in September, rude human figures drawn on the ground with powdered charcoal may be seen at cross-roads and along big thoroughfares. They represent Jōkumāra the rain-god, and are made by the Bārikes — a class of village servants, who are usually of the Gaurimakkalu sub-division of the Kabbēras. The villagers give the artists some small remuneration, and believe that luck comes to those who pass over the figures."

1. * Mysore and Coorg Gazetteer.