Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Badaga
Badaga.—As the Todas are the pastoral, and the Kotas the artisan tribe of the Nīlgiris, 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 song of the Badagas, which has been translated by Mr. Gover,[1] 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." But Mr. Grigg writes,[2] "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."
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 Nīlgiris 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-brachy-cephalic type, which prevails throughout Mysore, as in other Canarese areas.
| Average. | Average. | Average. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cephalic length cm. | Cephalic breadth cm. | Cephalic index. | |
| Badaga | 18.9 | 13.6 | 71.7 |
| Toda | 19.4 | 14.2 | 73.3 |
| Kota | 19.2 | 14.2 | 74.1 |
Of the Mysorean heads, the following are a few typical examples: —
| Average. | Average. | Average. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cephalic length cm. | Cephalic breadth cm. | Cephalic index. | |
| Ganiga | 18.5 | 14.3 | 77.6 |
| Bēdar | 18.3 | 14.3 | 77.7 |
| Holeya | 17.9 | 14.1 | 79.1 |
| Madhya Brahman | 18.5 | 14.8 | 80.2 |
| Vakkaliga | 17.7 | 14.5 | 81.7 |
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 girl, 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 wordly effects. Hear- ing 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[3]) 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. 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 Malai- kota, 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, nd 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 SholDr, MelDr, and other spots on the Nllgiris, aie described and figured by Breeks,[4] 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 
DOLMENS NEAR KOTAGIRI.
It is recorded[5], in connection with the legends of 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. 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 them- selves 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 UmmattOr Rajas, and that he had also a fort at Kullan-thorai, 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 cele- brate 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 Blrmukku (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[6] into six, "five high castes and one low caste." They are —
1. Udaya.
2. Haruva.
3. Adhikari. - High caste.
4. Kanaka.
5. Badaga.
6. Toreya ... Low caste.
"Udayas are Lingayats in religion, and carry the Siviilinga — the Siva image — tied round their necks. They claim to be superior to all the other Badagas, and 
BADAGAS.
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 Nllgiris), 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 llesh. 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 per- missible 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 TudOr (on the plateau west of Kulakambi) and Tadasimarahatti (to the north-west of MelOr), and that it was they who erected the sculptured cromlechs of TudQr and Melur. Tudur and Tadasi- marahatti 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 
BADAGA GIRLS.
Like other Canarese people, the Badagas have exogamous septs or kūlas, of which Māri, Madhave (marriage), Kastūri (musk), and Belli (silver) are examples. A very large number of families belong to the Māri 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 Kastūri 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 ōgamane). If the family has cows or buffaloes yielding milk, a portion of the latter is converted into a milk-house (hāgōttu), 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 store-house. 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 sūththu 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*[8] 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.
"Nobody," it has been said, †[9]" 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."
Writing in 1832, Harkness states ‡[10] 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. ' 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, kirē (Amarantus), sāmai (Panicum 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 i860. This system was known as erkādu kothukādu. 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 1862. But, during the settlement, I found this erkādu kothukādu 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 readmit 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 any one 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 Parpattikāran, and decides tribal matters, such as disputes, divorce, etc. Fines, when inflicted, go towards feasting the tribe, and doing pūja (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 Parpattikāran to make arrangements for such events as the Heththeswāmi, Devvē and Bairaganni festivals, and the buffalo sacrificing festival at Konakkore. The Parpattikāran 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 Parpattikāran, who smears his forehead with sacred ashes. It is, further, the duty of the Parpattikāran 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 jewelry 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 made 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. Natesa 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: —
| One who eats in bed during the | Bad-tempered |
|---|---|
| night | Left-handed |
| Snorer | Buffalo grazer |
| Stupid | Saliva dribbling |
| Bald head | Honey-eater |
| Brown-eyed | Black |
| Thin and bony | Spleen |
| Big head | Teeth |
| Bandy-legged | Potato-eater |
| One who returned alive from | Glutton |
| from the burning ground | Belly |
| Ripe fruit | Itch-legged |
| Big-thighed | One who was slow in learning |
| Blind | to walk |
| Lame | Tall |
| Big calves | Thief-eyed |
| Piles | Pustule-bodied |
| Liar | Scarred |
| Cat-eyed | Hairy |
| Fond of pot-herbs | Weak, like partially baked pots. |
| Rheumatic | Strong, like portland cement. |
|} 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, māma, māmi, bava" (come, uncle, aunt, brother-in-law, etc.). "Whenever," Dr. Rivers writes,*[11] " 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. It would seem that every Badaga headman may be 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 Meliosma pungens (the tūd tree of the Todas) and culms of Andropogon Schananthus (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 honē. 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 (hāgōttu), and places milk in his honē 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 honē purified by smearing a paste of Meliosma (tūd) 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 (mīnige) 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 honē is also poured into the stream. In some places, especially where a Mādeswara temple is close at hand, the milk is taken to the temple, and given to the pūjāri. 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 ofArgvreia, or plantain leaves.
Besides the hāgōttu within the house, the Badagas have, at certain places, separate dairy-houses near a temple dedicated to Heththeswāmi, of which the one at Bairaganni (or Bērganni) appears to be the most important. The dairy pūjāri is here, like the Toda palol, a celibate. In 1905, he was a young lad, whom my Brāhman 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 pūjāri 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 pūjāri, who milks them, and uses the milk for his food. All the villagers give him rice everyday. 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 Mēkanād division of the Nilgiris called Nundāla. A man had a daughter. He wanted to marry her to a man in the Paranganād 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 Paranganād 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 Nundāla built a strong bund (embankment) round the tank, and allow no woman to go on it. Only the pūjāri, and Badagas who have prepared themselves by fasting and ablution, are allowed to go on the bund to offer pūja, 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 Heththeswāmi."
Concerning the initiation of a Lingāyat 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 10 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, ghī, 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 Mēkanād Udayas. The following note is based on information supplied by the Udayas of Paranginād. The ceremony of investiture is performed either on new year's day or Sivarāthri 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 tūd and mango leaves, lime fruits, and flowers of Leucas aspera(thumbē) 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 pūja to them, and gives them to the children. They in turn do pūja, and the lingams, wrapped in pink silk or cotton cloths, are tied round their necks. The pūja 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 hāgōttu 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, lull 01 water, is placed in the milk-house, and the pujari dips his right hand therein, saying " Nerathu-bitta " (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 Lablab 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 
BADAGA TEMPLE.
The festival in honour of Heththeswāmi 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 Sēdan or Dēvānga 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 Heththeswāmi. On the morning of the last day, the pūjāri, 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 weavers 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 Iramāsthi 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 are then offered to Heththeswāmi 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 pūjāri calls the representatives of one village, and tells them what Hetheswāmi 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 pūjāri gives them some flowers, which they wear in their hair. The people and the pūjāri 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-hōli.' The dance was taught them by the Todas, and the words are Toda."
In connection with the Jadeswāmi festival the ceremony of walking through fire [burning embers] is carried out at Mēlur, Tangālu, Mainelē, Jakkanāre, Tenād, and Nidugala. At Mēlur and Tangālu, the temples belong to the Hāruvas, who carry out all the details of ceremony. The temple at Tenād 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., Jakkanāre and Mēlūr, 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 Debregeasia 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 
BADAGAS MAKING FIRE.
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 Mahālinga Swāmi 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 Mēlūr, 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 Mērkunād. 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 Gottukārs, or headmen, that the festival may take place; and the Gottukārs 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 Gottukārs then bathe, adorn themselves with sandal, do obeisance to the Udayas of Udayarhatti near Kēti, 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 Mahālingasvāmi 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 sāmbhar deer if possible) is driven into it, slain, and divided among the villagers. This same custom of annually killing a sāmbhar is also observed at other villages on the plateau, and in 1883 and 1894 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 Mēlur 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 Jadayasvāmi temple in Jakkanēri under the auspices of a Sivāchāri 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 of Plectranthus Wightii, Crotalaria obtecta, 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 field, 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 hāgōttu, and eaten on mīnige leaves. Throughout the day the villagers play at various ball games.
A festival, which is purely local, is celebrated near Konakore in honour of Mahangkāli. 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 pūjāri used to put a stick in the crevice of a rock, and, on removing it, get the value of a buffalo infanams (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 arictinum) 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 (thorēkōlu), 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 *[12] 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."
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 (māle mani) and leads her to the outer room (edumane), where cooked sāmai (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 Nīlgiris 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 pūjāri does pūja 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 (ārathi) 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 pūja, 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 ghī for feeding a lighted wick (annadha ārathi) on it, and, placing it before the bridal pair, sits down. The tāli, 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 mālai, 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 panchāyat (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 hākodu (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 sāmai 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 grand-parents 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 sub-division, the following note was recorded during a visit to Kotagiri. When death is drawing near, a gold coin, called Vīrarāya hana or fanam, dipped in butter or ghī, 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. Gover writes,*[13] " the tiny coin slips down, well. He will need both gold and ghī, 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 make 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." 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 Vīrarāya 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 a flag, and hung about with bread, oranges, plantains, and the bag containing the books which the youth had used in the Basel Mission School.*[14] 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 arietinum), 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 sāmai 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 ground 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 Dodonaa 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 Āndi.
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 mulli 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 a'lowing his father-in-law to sleep on the ground.
Sitting on a raised verandah, and driving thence his mother-in-law.
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 [15] 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 Pathis,
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 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 Gover 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 scape-goat, 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 bor
BADAGA FUNERAL CAR WITH THE CORPSE.
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 per- formed 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, 
BADAGA FUNERAL CAR.
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 Schcenanthus. 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 mlnige 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 (Mylitta lapidescens) is known as little man's bread on the Nllgiris. The Badaga legendary name for it is Pandva-unna-buthi, or dwarf bundle of food,[16] i.e., food of the dwarfs, who are supposed once to have inhabited the Nilgiris and built the pandu kulis or kistvaens.
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.[17] In a recent work,[18] 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." It may be pointed out that the Badagas and Kotas of the Nīlgiri plateau are not "wild tribes," have no trace of negroid characters, and no affinities with the Kurumbas and Irulas of the Nīlgiri slopes. The figures in the following table speak for themselves : —
| -- | Stature | Stature | Stature | Nasal Index | Nasal Index | Nasal Index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| --- | Average cm. | Maximum cm. | Minimum cm. | Average cm. | Maximum cm. | Minimum cm. |
| Badaga | 164.1 | 180.2 | 159.9 | 75.6 | 88.4 | 62.7 |
| Kota | 162.9 | 174.2 | 155.0 | 77.2 | 92.9 | 64.0 |
| Irula | 159.8 | 168.0 | 152.0 | 84.9 | 100.0 | 72.3 |
| Kurumba | 157.5 | 163.6 | 149.6 | 88.8 | 111.0 | 79.1 |
- ↑ Folk-songs of Southern India.
- ↑ Manual of the Nilagiri district.
- ↑ The Todas, 1906.
- ↑ Account of the Primitive Tribes and Monuments of the Nilagiris, 1873.
- ↑ Gazetteer of the Nilgiris.
- ↑ Madras Christian College Magazine, 1892.
- ↑ * Gazetteer of the Nilgiris.
- ↑ * Manual of Coorg.
- ↑ † Pioneer, 4th October 1907.
- ↑ ‡ Description of a singular Aboriginal Race inhabiting the summit of the Neilgherry Mills.
- ↑ * The Todas, 1906.
- ↑ * Op. cit.
- ↑ * Op. cit.
- ↑ * Madras Mail, 1907.
- ↑ The bridge spanning the river of death, which the blessed cross in safety.
- ↑ Report, Government Botanic Gardens, Nilgiris, 1903.
- ↑ E. Schmidt. Reise nach Sudindien, 1894.
- ↑ The World's Peoples, 1908.