Gódávari/Chapter 3
CHAPTER III.
THE PEOPLE.
General Characteristics—Density of the population— Its growth—Parent-tongue—Religions. The Jains. The Musalmans. The Christians—American Evangelical Lutheran Mission—The Canadian Baptist Mission—The Church Missionary Society— The Roman Catholic Mission. The Hlndus—Villages—Houses—Dress—Food—Amusements—Superstitions—Village, caste, and family gods—Marriage rules and ceremonies—Funerals. Principal Castes— Telugu Brahmans—Razus—Komatis—Kapus—Kammas—Perikes—Idigas—Gamallas—Karnabattus—Sanis—Malas—Madigas—Koyas—Hill Reddis.
The Godavari district contained, in 1901, 1,445,961 inhabitants, or 257 to the square mile. The density of the population in the various taluks and divisions varies greatly. In the Agency as a whole it averages only 51 persons to the square mile, while in the rest of the district it is as high as 516. In the Chodavaram and Yellavaram divisions of the Agency the figure is less than 35, but in Polavaram it rises to 103. Outside the Agency, the rich delta taluks of Nagaram, Cocanada and Ramachandrapuram are the most thickly populated, while Peddapuram and Tuni come at the bottom of the list.
The population increased by ten per cent, in the decade 1891-1901, against an average of seven per cent, in the Presidency as a whole. Much of this was due to the extraordinary amount of emigration from Vizagapatam which has occurred. The greatest proportional increase was in Cocanada, where it was as high as l6.5 per cent., in Bhadrachalam, 15 per cent, and in Rajahmundry, 14 per cent. The relative advance was smallest in Pithapuram, Tuni and Peddapuram.
The prevailing language of the district is Telugu, which is spoken by 96 per cent, of the people. Hindustani is the homespeech of 1.4 per cent, of them, and the small remainder talk Uriya, Yerukala, Marathi, and Koya, the vernacular of the hill tribe of that name.
The large majority of the people (1,411,573) are Hindus or Animists. Only 24,646 of them are Musalmans and only 5,497 Christians. There are hardly any Jains. Musalmans are found in the largest numbers in Rajahmundry, Cocanada and Amalapuram, and are fewest in Tuni and the Agency. Christians are commonest in Rajahmundry and Cocanada, the head-quarters of the chief missionary bodies.
As already noted in Chapter II, the district was once ruled by the Buddhist emperor Asoka and perhaps remained Buddhist in religion until the middle of the seventh century. A number of Buddhist or Jain remains survive in it. The village of Ariyavattam in Cocanada taluk is sometimes called Jain-padu ('the Jain ruins') and contains several large but rude images of figures sitting cross-legged in the traditional attitude of contemplation. These are not now 'worshipped, but images of a similar nature in the streets of Pithapuram are still worshipped by Hindus there under the name of sanydsi devulu ('ascetic gods'), and are honoured with a festival in times of drought. At Nedunuru in the Amalapuram taluk are other images of this king which are said to be the largest in the district, and yet other similar relics are found at Kazuliiru, Yendamuru and Sila in Cocanada taluk, Jalliiru in Pithapuram division, Atreyapuram in Amalapuram, Tatipaka in Nagaram, and Draksharamam in Ramachandrapuram taluk. There are also many large revetted wells in the Nagaram and Amalapuram taluks which for some obscure reason are called 'Jain wells.'
The relations of the Musalmans with their Hindu neighbours are on the whole friendly; though petty disputes sometimes arise at festival times, when the processions or observances of the one offend the other. Followers of the faith are generally engaged in menial work or petty trade, and few of them are wealthy. They have no local places of pilgrimage, though the Muhammadans of Draksharamam in Ramachandrapuram taluk say that the darga of their local saint was once regularly visited by the pious of the district. A few of the mixed class called Dudekus occur. They are said to be the descendants of converts from Hinduism, and, though they profess the Muhammadan religion, most of them speak only Telugu, wear the Hindu cloth and not the trousers or the kilt (lunji) of the Muhammadans, and adopt Hindu names. They cannot intermarry with other Musalmans and are looked down upon because they are musicians and cotton-cleaners.
There are four Christian missions in the district; namely, the Roman Catholics and the Canadian Baptist Mission with their head-quarters at Cocanada, the American Evangelical Lutheran Mission of Rajahmundry, and the Church Missionary Society, which works a small 'district' from Dummagudem in Bhadrachalam taluk.
The American Evangelical Lutheran Mission was founded by the North German Mission Society in 1844. The first missionary sent out was the Rev. L. M. Valette. He selected Rajahmundry as his head-quarters and took up his residence there in 1844. Soon afterwards, in consequence of the unsettled condition of things in Germany and financial embarrassment in the church, the North German Mission Society found itself unable to support the mission; and in 1851 transferred the care of it to the General Synod of the American Lutheran Church, which was working in the Kistna district with head-quarters at Guntúr.
Owing to the difficulties regarding both men and means occasioned by the American Civil War, the General Synod found it impossible to carry on the work at all its stations; and in 1870 the mission was transferred to the General Council of the American Lutheran Church, by whom it is now managed.
Six European missionaries and six ladies are now working in this district. The 'field' visited by them includes large portions of all the low country taluks except Nagaram, Cocanada and Tuni, and also the northern portion of Kistna, whence come the majority of the converts. Statistics of the work in this district alone are not available, but altogether the mission has now some 250 congregations and a baptized membership of nearly 12,000, manages a number of schools, and is educating some 5,800 boys in primary classes. Of its schools, the girls' and boys' central schools at Rajahmundry (the latter of which contains 150 pupils) are considerable institutions with substantial buildings, and the high schools at Rajahmundry and Peddápuram contain 350 and 540 boys respectively on their rolls. The mission is now erecting buildings for a new central boys' school and seminary at Rajahmundry and a hostel for the accommodation of 200 boys the estimated cost of which is Rs. 60,000, and has also decided to put up new accommodation for the Peddápuram high school. The mission also supports a large dispensary*[1] and a small hospital at Rajahmundry, and the erection of a new hospital building there, at a cost of Rs, 60,000 has been sanctioned by the American Board which controls its affairs. The mission has nine churches in the district, ten bungalows and 154 school houses. Its total expenditure on education in 1904 was over Rs. 20,000, and on medical institutions nearly Rs. 5,000. The mission is in charge of the Rev. J. H. Harper, who has kindly furnished the above information.
The Canadian Baptist Mission owes its origin to the Revs. Thomas Gabriel and John McLaurin, D,D,, who started work in Cocanada in 1869. The present mission premises in that town were acquired in 1876. A station was established at Tuni in 1878, a seminary for training school-masters and preachers at Samalkot in 1882, and stations at Peddápuram in 1891 and Rámachandrapuram in 1893.
The mission's 'field' in this district includes the whole of Cocanada and Tuni divisions and parts of the Pithápuram division and the Rámachandrapuram, Rajahmundry and Peddápuram taluks. Its European staff includes six missionaries, all of whom are ordained and five of whom are assisted by their wives, and nine unmarried lady missionaries. One of the missionaries possesses full medical qualifications and two of the ladies are trained nurses. The mission possesses 2,400 adherents and 24 churches, five of the latter being substantial buildings.
It also undertakes educational and philanthropic work. Its educational institutions include 35 day schools with an average attendance of 450 boys and 425 girls, 88 Sunday schools with 2,000 pupils, free primary boarding schools for boys at Rámachandrapuram and Tuni (preparatory for the Samalkot seminary), a free lower secondary boarding school for girls at Cocanada, the Timpany Memorial high school at Cocanada and the Samalkot seminary. The high school was founded in memory of the Rev. A. V. Timpany, who was in charge of the mission from 1879 till 1885, when he died of cholera, and receives European boys and girls (the latter as boarders) and a few native girls. The Samalkot seminary comprises a theological school, a training school for primary teachers, a lower secondary school and a primary school, and its pupils number about a hundred. The mission has also a small industrial school with some twenty pupils at Cocanada. The total expenditure of the mission on education in 1903, including the salaries of the missionaries engaged solely in that work, amounted to Rs. 25,580.
The philanthropic institutions of the mission include the Kellock Leper Home, the Phillips Memorial Home, and the hospital and dispensary at Rámachandrapuram; and a hospital is being built at Pithápuram. The two Homes are referred to in Chapter IX. The mission publishes a weekly newspaper in Telugu and maintains a public reading room at Cocanada. The Rev. H. F. Laflamme has been good enough to furnish this information regarding its work.
The mission at Dummagúdem was started through the influence of Sir Arthur Cotton, and work was first begun there by his brother-in-law, the late Major-General Haig, R.E.,*[2] when in charge of the Upper Gódávari navigation works (see p. 128), and at the cost of the engineers on that project. The mission is now under the Church Missionary Society. No European missionaries resided regularly at Dummagúdem till 1874, but since then, with an interval from 1879 to 1882, the Rev. J. Cain has been stationed there. The field of the mission is practically confined to the Bhadráchalam taluk, and the work lies mainly among the Kóyas and Málas. The converts number 900, and the mission maintains at Dummagúdem a dispensary, a lower secondary boys' school, a girls' day school and boys' and girls' boarding schools, besides seventeen day schools in other parts of the district. The lacework done by the converts at Dummagúdem is referred to in Chapter VI.
The Roman Catholic Mission was started about 50 years ago by French priests of Savoy belonging to the mission of St. Francis of Sales. It is included in the Diocese of Vizagapatam. The convent in Yanam was built by Bishop Neyret in 1850, the church at Cocanada in 1854 by Bishop Tissot, and the church at Yanam in 1859. Chapels have been erected at Samalkot, Dowlaishweram and Rajahmundry. Two European priests are working in the district at Cocanada and Rajahmundry. The Roman Catholic congregation numbers some 900, of whom about one-third are Europeans and Eurasians and most of the others Tamils. Want of funds has hampered attempts to convert the Telugus.
The mission owns a handsome convent at Cocanada which is in charge of seven European Sisters, is used as a lower secondary school, and gives instruction to some eighty or ninety European and Eurasian girls, about half of whom are boarders. The convent at Yanam is used as a Hindu girls' school and teaches some 150 pupils; and the mission manages a boys' lower primary school at Cocanada and a small dispensary at the same town.
The very large majority of the population of the district are Hindus or Animists, and these require more lengthy treatment. The Animists, those who reverence animistic deities, and not the gods of the Hindu pantheon, are almost all found in the Agency. An attempt will first be made to describe the salient features of the religious and social life of the Hindus of the low country (customs in the Agency are referred to in the accounts below of the Kóyas and hill Reddis) and then to give some description of the castes which are charac- teristic of the district or occur in it in unusual numbers.
The villages of the district, unlike those in the Deccan, were seldom fortified, and consequently (except in the delta) the houses are not closely crowded together, but are built with plenty of room between them, like those in southern villages. The lowest castes are required to live in separate quarters; but the Bráhmans, unlike those of the south, do not mind dwelling side by side with Súdras and do not always have their own distinct streets.
The houses seldom have terraced roofs, and are generally thatched with palmyra leaves. Tiles are common in towns, but much less so outside them. Under the roof a terrace or ceiling of mud is often made with the double object of serving as a loft or store-house, and of protecting the house itself if the roof gets on fire. The walls of houses are generally of mud. Brick and stone are comparatively rare. In the Agency the walls are generally of split bamboo, sometimes smeared with mud. Outside the big towns, houses of two storeys are rare.
Among all but the lowest classes, houses are very usually built on one of two type plans, called respectively the chávadi illu or 'hall house,' and the manduva illu or 'courtyard house,' also called the 'fourroom plan.' The two figures below will give an idea of how each is arranged:—
| Manduva house. | Chávadi house. |
 |
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Both have narrow pials in front. The essential difference is that in the chávadi illu the door leads into a long broad hall (chávadi) which stretches from the front of the house to the back, with rooms at the sides; whereas in the other the hall is a narrow passage running from one side of the house to the other, from which a door leads into a courtyard, open in the centre but surrounded by verandahs out of which the rooms open. The latter kind is most commonly used by the higher or richer classes, and resembles the typical house of the southern country in having an opening (manduva) in the middle of the courtyard to let in light. The kitchen is usually located if possible in the western part of the house, but even if it is not, it is still called the 'west room' (padamati illu). The front steps of the houses are usually decorated with lines of powdered chunam, the lower parts of the doorposts with the usual saffron and kunkumam in honour of Lakshmi, and the sides of the pials and walls with white spots made with chunam and water.
The dress of the Hindus presents no very special peculiarities. Little boys of the higher castes usually wear short breeches or drawers as their only garments, and those of the poorer classes nothing but the langúti or piece-cloth. Little girls of the two classes wear respectively a petticoat and bodice, and a bit of cloth wound round their waists. Orthodox married Bráhman men tie their waist-cloths in the usual complicated manner called panchakachcham. Others of the upper classes tie them, as elsewhere, once or twice round the waist and then pass the upper front fold between their legs and tuck it in at the back. The favourite colour for the cloth is red. Málas and Mádigas ordinarily wear only a langúti. The women usually dress in white cloths. Dancing-girls wear petticoats and bodices, and bodices are common among other castes also. The women's cloths are nearly always of cotton; silk is a rarity. Bráhman women, as elsewhere, pass between their legs the outer front fold of the part which goes round their waists, and tuck it into their waists behind. Women working in the fields tuck their garments between their legs and then pull them up as high as they can. The women of most subdivisions of the Bráhmans, and also those of the Kómatis, Kamsalas and Perikes, wear the cloth over the left shoulder instead of the right.
The men do not usually shave the whole of their heads except one top-knot, as in the south, but often cut their hair like Europeans. Telugu Bráhmans differ from their Tamil caste-fellows in frequently wearing moustaches.
Tattooing is very common as an adornment among the women, and two or three straight lines are sometimes tattooed across painful swellings, to act as a blister. The ponna chettu (the favourite tree of Krishna) is a popular ornamental pattern, and Ráma's feet and the chank and chakram of Vishnu are also common.
The ordinary food-grain of the district is rice. Even outside the delta, in such upland parts as Tuni and Pithápuram, rice is commonly eaten, though it is often mixed with cambu (ganti) and ragi (tsódi). In the Agency, cholam (jonna) is the commonest food. Bráhmans, Kamsalas, and the Gavara and Lingadhári Kómatis are apparently the only castes which do not eat meat. Málas and Mádigas will eat beef and carrion, and Nakkalas are fond of jackal. A good many castes will eat hare, which elsewhere is often considered unclean.
The labouring classes have three meals a day, at 8 A.M., midday, and 8 P.M.; orthodox Bráhmans two meals, at about 11 A.M., and 8 P.M.; while officials and the richer people eat at 10 A.M., 3 P.M., and 8 P.M., and often have early coffee as well at about 7 A.M. But coffee is much less drunk in this district than in the south. Smoking, on the contrary, is a habit with all except the orthodox Bráhmans. Even the women of many castes smoke, and little boys and girls may also often be seen with cheroots in their mouths. Opium is freely eaten by most classes, especially, it is said, as a prophylactic against fever. It is also considered an excellent tonic for children and the aged.*[3]
The boys of the district play much the same kinds of games as in the south. They fly kites and play at marbles, tipcat (gónibilla), a kind of rounders (banthulu), a sort of blind man's buff and many other games. Girls and women of the higher castes have quieter indoor pastimes, such as tossing up and catching tamarind seeds, and various games with cowries on a board. Men have no outdoor sports, but play cards and chess. A popular local card-game is called dasávatári. This is played with a pack of 120 cards, containing ten suits of twelve cards each. Each suit consists of a king, a vizier and ten plain cards and is called after, and marked with the image of, one of the ten incarnations (avatárs) of Vishnu. In half the suits the higher plain cards take the lower, as in English cards, and in the other half the opposite is the case. A trump card is turned up and the tricks are won in much the same way as at Bridge. All except the higher classes are devoted to cock-fighting. Boatmen going down the river often take their cocks with them to pit them against the birds of the villages on the way. Puppet shows are very common. The puppets are concealed from the audience by a sheet on to which their shadows are thrown by a light behind them. The superstitions of the people are legion. A few typical examples may be given. If an owl perches on a house, it brings ill luck to the inmates. A crow cawing on the roof of a house indicates the arrival of a guest. Bad omens include being questioned regarding business on which one is setting out, or, directly after leaving the house, catching sight of one Bráhman, two Súdras, a widow, oil, a snake, a shikári, or a sanyási. Good omens are hearing a bell ring, a cannon go off, the braying of an ass, the cry of a Bráhmani kite, or, on first leaving the house, seeing a married woman, a corpse, flowers, water or a toddy pot. Talismans are commonly worn. A usual kind is a flat piece of metal with a figure of Hanumán on it. Another, made of leather with the skin of a lizard got from a Mádiga stitched into it, is hung round the shoulders of weak and sickly children. Women and houses are supposed often to be possessed of devils, whom only a professional sorcerer can exorcise. Yerukala women are in great request as exorcists. In cases of illness supposed to be due to the ill will of a god or spirit, three handfuls of rice are carried round the invalid, and are then placed in a winnowing fan, which is held by both the patient and the sorceress. The latter then scans the former's face, professes to be able to read there the name of the offended spirit, and advises as to the propitiation to be made. In the Agency, belief in witchcraft is exceptionally strong, and almost every ill is thought to be due to the person's being bewitched. The old rája of Cherla, just across the border, was especially afraid of witches and wizards, and before the British occupation of the taluk an easy method of ridding oneself of an enemy there was to accuse him of practising the black art. The rája immediately seized and hanged him.*[4]
Childbirth is surrounded by a number of superstitions. A pregnant woman should not see an eclipse, or her child will be born deformed. The pains of childbirth are relieved by turning the face of the bull god in a Saivite temple away from the emblem of Siva, or by the woman's touching a ring made of a mixture of gold, silver, copper, lead and iron by a fasting blacksmith on the day of an eclipse. A child whose first tooth comes in the upper jaw is supposed to foreshadow evil to its maternal uncle; and may not be seen by that relative till he has neutralized the omen by seeing the reflection of the child in a bowl of oil and broken a cocoanut. Similarly, as elsewhere, a girl who has attained maturity in an inauspicious hour may not be looked at by her husband until they have seen each other's reflections in a bowl of oil. Some dreams are supposed to foretell events. Thus it is a good thing to dream of being bitten by a cobra, especially if the bite drew blood.
It is believed that a barren tree will bear if a naked man cuts a piece off it on the day of an eclipse; that the nesting of a clay-building fly in a house foretells the birth of a child; that the appearance of a swarm of ants or a blood-sucker in the house foreshadows some benefit; that a child which sneezes on a winnowing fan or on the door-frame will meet with misfortune unless balls of boiled rice-flour are thrown over it; and that a man who sneezes during his meals, especially at night, will also be unlucky unless water is sprinkled over his face and he is made to pronounce his own name and that of his birth-place and his patron deity. People who have lost two children and expect to have a third generally beg small pieces of gold from their neighbours with which they make a gold ornament to put in the nose of the new-born baby. The child is called, if a boy, Pullayya or Pentayya, and if a girl, either Pullamma or Pentamma, meaning respectively 'used up leaf-plates' or 'refuse.' The idea is to propitiate by due humility the nemesis of the power whose enmity has caused the death of the previous children, and is common in other districts.
Scarcity of rain is dealt with in various ways. It is considered very efficacious if the Bráhmans take in procession round the village an image of Varuna (the god of rain) made of mud from the bank of a river or tank. Another method is to pour 1,000 pots of water over the lingam in the Siva temple. Málas tie a live frog to a mortar and put on the top of the latter a mud figure representing Gontiyálamma, the mother of the Pándava brothers. They then take these objects in procession, singing 'Mother frog, playing in water, pour rain by pots full.' The villagers of other castes then come and pour water over the Málas.
Besides the orthodox gods of the Hindu pantheon, three other classes of supernatural beings are commonly worshipped. These are the village goddesses referred to below, who are essentially local in character; the caste deities, who are objects of special reverence among special castes; and the family deities, namely the virudu, or soul of some dead bachelor of the family, and the pérantam or spirit of some woman outlived by her husband, who have been accorded apotheosis because they appeared in a dream to some member of the family and announced that they had been made immortal. The village deities are always female, and usually can only be propitiated by the shedding of blood. They are not, however, merely malevolent, but will confer benefits on those whom they favour. Some of the most common of them are Núkálamma, Paradésamma, Néralamma, Mallamma, Póléramma, Muthyálamma, Peddintamma, Sómalamma, Bangáramma, Mávullamma, and Talupulamma. Wherever one of them is established, her brother, who always goes by the name of Póturázu, is also worshipped. Some of them have a reputation far beyond the local limits of their villages, and are visited by pilgrims from distant places. Núkálamma of Kándrakóta in Peddápuram taluk, Mávullamma of Márédipáka in Rámachandrapuram and Sómalamma of Rajahmundry are famous almost throughout the district. These village goddesses are ordinarily worshipped only on the occasion of their annual festival. A buffalo and a number of sheep and fowls are then sacrificed to them. The fowls are killed at the four corners of the village; the buffalo is slain at about midnight on the last day of the festival, its blood is collected in a pot, and grain of various kinds is put into it. The blood is left in the temple in front of the goddess, and a day or two later the prospects of the harvest are foretold from the degree to which the various kinds of grain have sprouted.
Among the deities who are worshipped by special castes are Kanyakamma, the goddess of the Kómatis, referred to later, the Káttumai (who is also sometimes called Káttumáhésvarudu) of the Gamallas and Idigas, the Gontiyálamma (the mother of the Pándava brothers) of the Málas, the Kamsalas' Kámákshi-amma, the Karnabattus' Sómésvara, and the Mádigas' Mátangiralu. Bráhman families also often have 'some favourite deity whom they worship in preference to all others.
Maridamma, who in many respects corresponds to the Máriamma of the south, is purely malevolent in character and is not in the habit of conferring benefits. She brings disease upon the villages, but can be induced by becoming worship to hold her hand. She is offered animal sacrifices whenever serious sickness visits a village. Sometimes a small car is made to which pigs and fowls are tied and which is then dragged through the village. Every household pours offerings of rice, etc., upon it and it is at last left outside the village limits to symbolise the departure of the goddess. The animals are taken away by the Málas and Mádigas.*[5] Before proceeding to refer to the principal castes of the district it will be convenient to refer to some general aspects of the rules and ceremonies which prevail at marriages and funerals among the non-Bráhman castes of the low country.
Most of these castes are split into endogamous sub-divisions, marriage outside of which is forbidden, and some have also exogamous sections of these subdivisions, marriage outside which is compulsory. The latter are known as intipérulu or 'house-names.' The most suitable bride for a man is usually thought to be his maternal uncle's daughter, and in some castes he is compelled to marry her unless she be deformed or mentally deficient. This rule is called ménarikam. Divorce and the re-marriage of widows and divorcées are not allowed by Bráhmans or the castes which copy Bráhman ways. The same may be said of the practice of paying a bride-price.
There are three stages in the ordinary marriage. First a formal betrothal, secondly the wedding which makes the couple man and wife, and lastly a nuptial ceremony when they begin to live together.
The betrothal usually takes place in the bride's house, and is a formal ceremony at which pánsupári is exchanged, the bridegroom is given new clothing (sápu), or some other token of the undertaking is granted.
The wedding sometimes takes place in the bride's house and sometimes in the bridegroom's. It generally occurs after dark and usually occupies only one day, but among the Bráhmans and some higher castes it lasts for three or five clays. In the latter cases the marriage-badge (táli or satamánam) referred to below is tied round the bride's neck on the first day, and the saffron threads removed from the wrists of the happy pair on the last. On the day previous to the wedding the bridegroom's party goes to the bride's house with presents of fruit, etc., and a new cloth for her. Some married woman of the party then ties a saffron-coloured thread (bondu) round the neck of the bride, the ceremony being called pradánam. Sometimes this is clone on the night of the wedding. On this night the couple are seated side by side, their toe-nails are solemnly cut by a barber man and woman, the bridegroom's front hair is clipped, and they both put on new clothes. Next the bride worships a rice mortar representing Gauri, the wife of Siva, and her parents make obeisance to the bridegroom. The pair then tie saffron threads (kankanam) round each others' wrists, put a little cummin on each others' heads, and do reverence to the táli, which the bridegroom ties round the bride's neck. They next pour rice mixed with ghee and milk on each others' heads (a ceremony called talambrálu and signifying a solemn vow of fidelity) and the bridegroom places his foot on the bride's. This and the tying of the kankanam are the binding parts of the ceremony. The star Arundhati (popularly called Aranjóti) is pointed out to the bride as typical of chastity, and the couple do worship to some coloured pots (avirédi) representing the gods. The relatives give presents of money (katnam) to the bride, which are not supposed to be retained, but are returned to the givers on the first convenient occasion. The final rites are performed next morning, or in some castes on the third or fifth day. The bridegroom ties a string of black glass beads round the bride's neck, and the saffron threads are removed from the couple's wrists. They then are given a pot of water coloured with chunam and saffron in which a ring and some other ornaments have been placed, and they scramble for the ornaments, like children hunting in a bran pie.
The nuptial rites, which are simple, are performed on a separate occasion, since days auspicious for weddings are not suitable for them.
The ceremonies at the re-marriage of a widow are, as elsewhere, much shorter. The bridegroom merely goes to her house, ties the táli, and takes her to his house the same night.
The dead are usually burnt, but children are buried and some simple rite is performed, such as the pouring of milk, either alone or mixed with rice or oil and ghee, on the grave. The ceremonies at the funerals of adults are much the same in all non-Bráhman castes. The body is bathed and is borne to the burning-ground on a bier. The Málas and Mádigas carry it in their arms in a sitting posture. The corpse is set down three times on the road while rice is placed at the four corners of the bier. When it has been placed on the pyre, the son of the deceased walks thrice round it with a pot of water in which three holes have been made, and lights the pyre with face averted. The relatives then go home and worship a lamp. Further ceremonies are performed on the eleventh day afterwards (called the pedda dinam or ' great day ') and on some day between the second and fifth after it, which is called the chinna dinam or 'small day.' On the latter the bones and ashes are collected and are offered a ball of cooked rice. The party then returns home and feasts.
Statistics of the numerous castes which occur in the Gódávari district will be found in the separate Appendix to this volume. Space prevents reference to the whole of them, and most of them, indeed, are common to the whole of the Telugu country and their ways do not differ in this district from those of their caste-fellows elsewhere. The six most numerous communities (taking them in the order of their strength) are the Kápus, the landowning class; the Málas, outcaste agricultural labourers; the Ídigas, who draw toddy; the Mádigas, outcaste workers in leather; the Kammas, who are closely connected with the Kápus and resemble them in their social customs; and the Telugu speaking Bráhmans.
All these are shortly referred to below, and, in addition, some notes are given regarding a few communities which occur in greater strength in this district than in any other; namely, the Rázus, who claim to be Kshatriyas; the Kómatis, traders and money-lenders; the Perikes, who are cultivators; the Gamallas, an offshoot from the Idigas; the Karnabattu, weavers; the Sánis, many of whose women are dancing-girls; and the two hill tribes of the Kóyas and the hill Reddis.
Of all of these castes the Bráhmans take the highest social position, and they may be first referred to.
Telugu-speaking Bráhmans are unusually numerous in Gódávari. Some of them, though their home-speech is Teiugu, appear to have a Tamil or Canarese origin. Among the former are the Kónasíma Bráhmans of Amalápuram taluk, who have a tradition (see p. 204) that they came from near Kumbakónam in Tanjore district; the Aramas, who are few and scattered; and the Divilis, who are to be found chiefly in Pithápuram taluk. The Teiugu Bráhmans proper, also called Andhras, are a linguistic division of the Drávidas, one of the two great classes (Drávida and Cauda) into which all Bráhmans in this Presidency are divided. They are popularly subdivided into the following sectarian, territorial and occupational groups: — f Tengalais. ' Vaishnavites. -| Nambis. [ Golconda Vyaparis. Velinadu ... Andhra Brahmans. Veginadu Telaganya Kasileya. Smartas ...1 Murikinadu. Kakumanu. Kalinga. Tambala Piijari. Karnakamma. Prathamasakha. Vaidiki. Niyogi or Aru- vela Niyogi, -{ Pujari. Vaidiki. Niyogi. {Vyapari. Vaidiki. It will be seen that the primary division is sectarian, into Vaishnavites and Smártas. Among the former there are none of the Vadagalais, the rival sect to the Tengalais; Nambis are priests in the temples; and the origin of the name Golconda Vyápáris ('traders') is not clear.
Among the Smártas, the Velinádus say they came from 'the Vidarbha country near Kondavídu'; the Véginádus claim to have come from the Vengi country in the neighbourhood of Ellore; the Telagányas give their original home as the Trilingam country, which they locate between Srísailam in Kurnool, Kálahasti in North Arcot, and Drákshárámam in this district; the Kásiléyas state that they belong to the Kósala country, or Orissa; the Murikinádus say that they come from 'the Máladamo country in the north'; the Kákumánus are perhaps connected with the village of that name in the Kistna district; and the Kalingas are evidently connected with the ancient country of that name referred to in the last chapter. The Tambala Pújáris are an occupational subdivision, who officiate as priests in the Saivite temples and correspond to the Tamil Gurukkals. The Karnakammas say their real name is Kama Rukkumus and is derived from their adherence to the Rig Véda. The Prathamasákhas ('people of the first division') profess to owe their name to the fact that they follow that division of the Yajur Véda. They also go by the name of the 'mid-day Paraiyans,' the story being that they labour under a curse which makes them Paraiyans for an hour at midday. The Velinádus and Telagányas are further subdivided into the well-known occupational groups of Vaidikis (or priests) and Niyógis (or secularists), and the former have also a third group, namely, the Pújáris. Karnakammas are split into Vaidikis and Vyápáris, or traders. The name Aruvéla Niyógi by which the Velinádu Niyógis are known is said to be due to the fact that this section numbered just 6,000 persons when it split off from the Vaidíkis. Its members have three sectarian subdivisions; namely Smártas, Lingadháris (who favour Lingáyat practices) and Golconda Vyápáris, who have gone over to the Vaishnavite creed. Some of these Smártas have taken to Vaidiki occupations, though Niyógis by descent, and are called Paddatis. With a few unimportant exceptions these numerous subdivisions of the Telugu Bráhmans will eat together but will not intermarry.
Though in the study of the Védas and the observance of the more important ceremonies of the caste the Telugu Bráhmans are not inferior to their castemen in the southern districts, they are less scrupulous in several minor matters. They will smoke, for example, and eat opium. They perhaps, also, have less influence in religious and social matters over other castes than in the south. The lower classes do not make them the ready namaskáram obeisance which is usual in Tanjore, for example, nor is there the same anxiety to follow their social and domestic ceremonies. Nor do the Telugu Bráhmans hold themselves as severely aloof from the upper non-Bráhman castes as in the south. It has already been mentioned that they seldom live in separate quarters in the villages, and they will give a respectable non-Bráhman food in any part of their houses except the kitchen, a piece of latitude which would be most unusual in Tanjore.
Attached to the caste is the beggar community called Vipravinódis ('amusers of Bráhmans'), who are professional sorcerers and jugglers who decline to perform unless some Bráhman is present, and subsist chiefly on alms begged from the members of that caste. Several unconvincing tales are told to account for this odd connection between two such widely differing classes but, as will be seen immediately, several other castes in this district have beggar communities attached particularly to them and in some cases these are declared to consist of their illegitimate descendants.
The Ráazus also stand high in the social scale. They are numerous in the Amalápuram and Rámachandrapuram taluks, and there is a large colony of them in Tuni town. They say they are Kshatriyas, wear the sacred thread, keep their womenkind strictly gósha, have Bráhmanical gótras, decline to eat with other non-Bráhmans, and are divided into the three clans of Súrya (sun), Chandra (moon), and Machi (fish) Rázus, of whom the first claim to be descended from the kings of Oudh, of the same lineage as Ráma; the second, from the kings of Hastinápura, of the same line as the Pándavas; and the third from Hanumán and a mermaid. These subdivisions may eat together, and among the zamindars the first two intermarry. The solar line is the commonest in this district. Written contracts of marriage are exchanged; the wedding is performed in the bride's house; at the pradánam ceremony no bondu (saffron thread) is tied round the bride's neck; the bridegroom has to wear a sword throughout the marriage ceremonies, and he is paraded round the village with it before they begin; and the saffron thread (kankanam) which is tied round the wrists of the couple is of wool and cotton instead of cotton alone.
The Rázus are chiefly employed in cultivation. Their turbans are made to bunch out at the left side above the ear, and one end of them hangs down behind. They do not shave any part of their heads and allow long locks to hang down in front of their ears.
The beggar community attached to them are the Bhatrázus, who were originally their court bards and panegyrists, but now beg from other castes as well and have less special claim upon them than formerly. These people are notorious for their importunity and their gift for lampooning those who refuse them alms, and they trade upon the fact.
The Kómatis are the great trading and money-lending caste of the Telugu country, and are not popular. They call themselves Vaisyas, wear the sacred thread, claim to have 102 'gótras,' and of late years some of them have adopted Védic rites at their marriages and funerals in place of the Puránic rites which are traditional with them. But on the other hand their gótras are not Bráhmanical and they follow the Dravidian rule of ménarikam in their marriages. In this district they are subdivided into the Gavaras, Kalingas, and Traivarnikas ('third-caste-men'), who neither intermarry nor dine together, and the last of whom differ from the others in the strictness of their observance of Bráhmanical ways. The Gavaras are by far the most numerous.
Their caste goddess, Kanyakamma or Kanyaká Paramésvari already mentioned, is said to be a deification of a beautiful Kómati girl named Vasavamma who belonged to Penugonda in Kistna. The Eastern Chálukya king Vishnuvardhana wanted to marry her, her caste-people objected and were persecuted accordingly, and at last she burnt herself alive to end the trouble. The headmen of 102 families, the ancestors of the present 'gótras,' sacrificed themselves with her. She has many temples, but the chief is at her native village of Penugonda. The fines collected at caste panchayats are even now sent to this.
Of the 102 'gótras ' some at least are totemistic, which is another argument against the twice-born origin of the caste. They are derived from the names of plants, and to this day the members of these gótras may not touch their eponymous plants, and even involuntary contact with them involves ceremonial pollution which must be removed by a bath. Some of these are given in the report on the Madras census of 1901, p. 162. The same volume gives authorities for the custom among Kómatis (which is strenuously denied by them) requiring them to give betel and nut to a Mádiga before a wedding is performed in the caste. The practice is said to be dying out or to be usually veiled by the Kómati giving the Mádiga some cobbling work to do and handing him the betel and nut with the amount of his bill. Members of the caste who admit an obscure connection with these Mádigas explain it by saying that the latter protected them during their trouble with Vishnuvardhana. Some of the Velamas somewhat similarly arrange that a Mála couple shall be married just before a wedding in their own houses, and even find the funds. The Rev. J. Cain says that with the Bhadráchalam Velamas it is a Palli couple that is thus first married. Velamas explain the story by saying that a Mála once allowed a Velama to sacrifice him to propitiate the goddess who guards hidden treasure, and that the custom is kept up out of gratitude for the discovery of the treasure which resulted. Among some classes of Kómatis the women do the cooking while in a state of nudity. Those who admit the practice say that it is done for cleanliness' sake, lest the touch of an impure garment should defile the food.
Attached to the Kómatis are two begging castes called Viramushtis and Mailáris. They are said by the Kómatis to have been the messengers in their dealings with Vishnuvardhana, and, at the last, to have delayed the advent of the king till the holocaust was over. The Viramushtis are wrestlers and bards, and the Mailáris carry round an image of Kanyakamma and sing songs in her praise.
The Kápus or Reddis, by far the most numerous of the castes of the district, are landowners by occupation and are among the most respected of the non-Bráhman bodies. Closely connected with them are the Velamas, the Telagas, the Vantarlu and the Kammas referred to below; and all four of these are probably offshoots of the great Kápu clan. They will usually eat with Kápus even now, but they do not intermarry with them or with one another, and in several instances peculiarities of dress or customs have arisen. The Vantarlus, for example, arrange their top-knot further forward, and more to the left, than the others; tie their cloths differently; dress their women in petticoats and keep them gósha.
It is said that in some districts the Kápus have totemistic subdivisions, but these do not appear to exist in Gódávari. Their marriages are usually celebrated in the bride's house; the women of the bridegroom's family do not attend; and on the last day of the ceremony the couple pretend to plough and sow, a custom which exists among some of the Telugu castes who have emigrated to the Tanjore and Trichinopoly districts.
The Kammas are a cultivating caste closely akin to, and probably a subdivision of, the Kápus. Some of them say they were originally Kshatriyas, but were persecuted by a king because one of them called him a bastard, and therefore sought refuge with the Kápus and adopted the customs of their protectors. Others of them say that they are descended from the same ancestor as the Velamas and some of the Kápus and that the subdivisions in these castes are the same as in their own. Like the Kápus, they are generally cultivators, and their social position and characteristics are similar.
In this district, Kammas are subdivided into the Kávitis, Erédis, Gampas or Gúdas, Uggams and Ráchas, who eat in each others' houses and intermarry. The names have a totemistic flavour, but according to local accounts are derived from curious household customs, generally from traditional methods of carrying water. Thus the Kávitis ordinarily will not carry water except in pots on a kávidi; the Erédis except on a pack-bullock; the Uggams except in pots held in the hand and not borne on their hips or heads; and the Ráchas except in pot carried by two persons. The Gampa women, when they first go to their husbands' houses, take the customary presents in baskets, gampa or gúda. It is said that these practices are generally observed to the present day. The Káviti and Uggam women are said to wear their cloths over the right shoulder and the Erédi and Gampa women over the left. The Erédi and Uggam women are said to be strictly gósha. The Kammas, support a special beggar caste, namely the Pichchiguntas. These beg only of Kammas, Velamas and certain Kápus.
The Perikes are a small cultivating caste who are particularly numerous in Gódávari. The name means a gunny-bag, and the caste were originally gunny-bag weavers. Those in this district are now mostly cultivators (the Pisu Perikes, who still weave gunny, are said not to belong to the caste proper, who call themselves Rácha Perikes) but the gunny-bag plays a part in their traditions and ceremonies. They are perhaps commonest in the Prattipádu subdivision of Peddápuram taluk and the southern villages of Tuni. Their social position is similar to that of the Kápus and Kammas, whom they resemble generally in character and customs. Like some of the Kammas, they claim to be of Kshatriya stock, and say they are of the lineage of Parasu Ráma but were driven out by him for kidnapping his sister while pretending to be gunny-weavers. They say they were brought into this country by the king Nala mentioned in the Mahábhárata in gratitude for their having taken care of his wife Damayanti when he quitted her during his misfortunes, Perikes support the begging caste of the Varugu Bhattas, who, they say, helped them in their exile, and to whom they gave a sanad authorizing them to demand alms. These people go round the Perike houses for their dues every year. The Perike marriage ceremonies are peculiar. On the day of the wedding the bride and groom are made to fast, as are three male relatives whom they call suribhaktas. At the marriage the couple sit on a gunny-bag, and another gunny, on which a representation of the god Mailar is drawn or painted, is spread before them. A figure of the same god is drawn on two pots, and these, and also a third pot, are filled with rice and dholl which are then cooked by two married women of the party. The food is then offered to Mailar. Next the three suribhaktas take 101 cotton threads, fasten them together, and tie seven knots in them. Bride and bridegroom are then given cloths which have been partly immersed in water coloured with saffron and chunam, and they and the suribhaktas are fed with the rice and dholl cooked in the three pots. The couple are then taken round the village in procession, and on their return the knotted cotton threads are tied round the bride's neck instead of a táli.
The Idigas or Indras are very numerous in Gódávari. They are the Telugu toddy-drawing caste. They are commonly called Chettis (Chettigándlu) in this district, but the name Índra is used in the north-east divisions and Ídiga in the central delta. They claim to be descended from Vyása, the traditional compiler of the Mahábhárata. They are still largely employed in toddy-drawing (though some are cultivators) and consequently occupy a low position in the social scale. In some districts, it is said, they bury their dead, prohibit the consumption of alcohol and have endogamous subdivisions, but these things are not so in this district. Some are Saivites and some Vaishnavites, but these are allowed to intermarry.
Two of their marriage ceremonies are peculiar. The couple walk three times round four upright sticks placed so as to make a small square and connected with each other by cotton threads, and then the bridegroom cuts the cotton with a knife. They also make two cakes of rice flour, ghee and sugar, one of which is eaten by themselves and the other by their relatives.
The Ídigas' special god is Káttumai, to whom they annually sacrifice fowls on New Year's Day, and daily offer a few drops of toddy from the first pot taken from the tree.
The Gamallas are ordinarily supposed to be Ídigas who have bettered themselves and separated from that caste. The more wealthy of them are toddy and arrack shop-keepers, but the poorer members of the caste draw toddy like the Ídigas. Both classes worship the Ídiga deity Káttumai. They support a begging caste called Yenútis or Gavuda Jettis. The Karnabattus are almost entirely confined to the Gódávari district, and are weavers by occupation. They forbid the re-marriage of widows, but eat even pork. They bury their dead in a sitting posture. Their caste headman is called sénápati 'leader of an army.' Their special deity is Sómésvara, whom they unite to worship on the new-moon day of Pushyam (January-February). The god is represented by a mud idol made for the occasion. The pújári throws flowers over it in token of adoration and then sits before it with his hands outstretched and his mouth closed until one of the flowers falls into his hands.
The Sánis are a small caste of dancing-girls and prostitutes. In this district this class of women is made up of six perfectly distinct castes which are in danger of being confused; namely, the Sánis proper, the Bógams, the Dommara Sanis, the Turaka Sanis, the Mangala Bógams, and the Mádiga Bógams. Of these, the Bógams claim to be superior and will not dance in the presence of, or after a performance by, any of the others. The Sánis do not admit this claim, but they do not mind dancing after the Bógams or in their presence. All the other classes are admittedly inferior to the Sánis and the Bógams. The Mádiga Bógams only dance before, and consort with, Mádigas and Málas. The Dommara Sánis, Turaka Sánis and Mangala Bógams will consort with any of the non-polluting castes.
The Sáni women are not exclusively devoted to their traditional profession. Some of them marry the men of the caste and live respectably at home with them. The men moreover do not. as in the dancing castes of the south, assist in the dancing (as by playing the accompaniments or forming a chorus), but are cultivators and petty traders. Bógam men, however, follow the southern custom. The Sánis, like the dancing-girl castes of the south, keep up their numbers by the adoption and even purchase of girls of other castes, such as Kápus, Kammas and Ídigas. They do service in the temples, but they are not required to be formally dedicated or married to the god, as in the Tamil country. Those of them who are to become prostitutes are usually married to a sword on attaining maturity.
The Málas are the great agricultural labourer class and are very numerous in the district. They are split into four endogamous subdivisions, the Kantes, the Bóyas or Sadur Bóyas, the Páyikis and the Mála Dásaris. Kúpe, Arava (Tamil) and Bruda ('marsh') are also given as subdivisions. The Mála Dásaris are the caste priests and the Páyikis are sweepers by occupation. The former are admittedly superior to the rest of the caste and the latter are generally regarded as inferior. None of the subdivisions intermarry or eat in each others' houses. Málas eat beef and are consequently almost at the bottom of the social scale. They are not allowed to enter the Hindu temples; no other caste (not even excluding the Mádigas) will eat in their houses; and they pollute all Súdra castes by touching them or entering their houses, and a Bráhman by even approaching him. Even the Mádigas pretend to be polluted if a Mála enters their houses; but the Málas return the compliment. The ordinary barbers will not work for Málas and they either shave each othei- or have their own barbers. The ordinary washermen will wash their clothes if these have first been given a preliminary soaking. A peculiar ceremony at their weddings (which is also observed by the Mádigas) consists in burying handfuls of different kinds of grain, and sacrificing a fowl over the spot.
They have their own beggar castes, namely the Máshtigas, who are gymnasts, the Pambalas, who are musicians, and the Kátikápus, who are jugglers. Round Tuni the jungle tribe there called Chentzus are also included among the Mála beggars.
Their special caste deity is Gontiyálamma, the mother of the five Pándava brethern. They say (it is not an edifying story) that Bhima, one of the five, threatened to kill his mother, who accordingly took refuge under an avirédi pot (the painted pot used at weddings) in a Mála house. For this, she was solemnly cursed by her sons, who said she should remain a Mála woman for ever. In commemoration of this story, a handful of growing paddy is pulled up every year at the Dasara, and eight days later the earth adhering to its roots is mixed with saffron and milk, made into an image of the goddess, and hidden under an avirédi pot. For the next six months this image is worshipped every Sunday by all the villagers in turn, and on the Sivarátri night it is taken in procession round the village, accompanied by all the Málas bearing pots of rice and other food carried in a kávidi, and is finally thrown with much ceremony into a river or tank. This rite is supposed to mean that the goddess is the daughter of the caste, that she has lived with them six months, and that they are now solemnly sending her back with suitably gifts (the rice, etc) to her husband. A common form of religious vow among Málas is to promise to send a cloth and a cow with the goddess on the last day of the rite, the gifts being afterwards presented to a married daughter. The part played by the image of Gontiyalamma in the Málas' rain-making ceremonies has already (p. 47) been described. Both Málas and Mádigas hold a feast in honour of their ancestors at Pongal — an uncommon rite. The Mádigas are a numerous caste whose traditional occupations are tanning and shoe-making. Some of them say they are the descendants of a saint or demi-god called Jámbha-muni and a woman called Puramási who disturbed the saint in his contemplation and became his wife.
They are subdivided into the occupational classes of Mádiga Dásaris (priests), Mádiga Páyikis (sweepers), the Kommalas (who blow horns) and the ordinary Mádigas who follow the traditional callings of tanning and shoe-making. These will not dine together or intermarry. The last of them is by far the most numerous. The Dásaris are considered socially the highest, and the Páyikis the lowest, of the sub-divisions.
Mádigas are much despised by other castes because they are leather-workers and eat beef and even carrion, and they take much the same low social position as the Málas. Their curious connection with the Kómatis has been mentioned in the account of that caste above. Their marriage and other ceremonies are very similar to those of the Málas. Their special caste goddess is Mátangi, who they say was defeated by Parasu Ráma and concealed herself from him under the 'tanning-pot in a Mádiga's house. At Pongal they worship their tanning-pots, as representing the goddess, with offerings of fowls and liquor.
The begging castes specially attached to the Mádigas are the Dekkalas, Mástidis and Tappitas or Bágavatas. Of these the Dekkalas are musicians who sing the praises of their patron's ancestors, the Mástidis are gymnasts, and the Tappitas are the same as the Mádiga Bógams, and are the dancers and prostitutes of the caste.
The Kóyas are a caste of jungle men found in the country on either side of the Gódávari from the point where the Indrávati joins it down to the apex of the delta. They occur as far south as Kammamet in the Nizam's Dominions, and on the north they stretch far into the Bastar State. The Rev. J. Cain of Dummagúdem, who has lived among them for thirty years and published several accounts of their ways, and who has been kind enough to supply information embodied below, estimates that they form one-fourth of the inhabitants of Bhadráchalam taluk, but only a small portion of the population of Chódavaram. They are also common in Bastar and theMalkanagiri taluk of Vizagapatam. In the case of a tribe spread over such a large extent of such wild country it is difficult to be sure that statements regarding customs are universally applicable. What follows applies primarily to the Kóyas of Pólavaram and Bhadráchalam taluks and the south of Bastar State.1[6] It has been stated2[7] that the Kóyas are a section of the great Gond tribe, but in this district they have no theory of their origin except that they are descended from Bhíma, one of the five Pándava brothers. By the people of the plains they are called Kóya Doralu, or 'Kóya lords.' Their language, called Kóya, is Dravidian and bears anologies to Tamil and Telugu. Most of the men, however, can speak Telugu, though the women know little but their own vernacular. The highland, or kutta, Kóyas, who live in the uplands of Bastar, are distinct from the riverside, or gommu, Kóyas with whom we are concerned. The latter say they were driven down from the Bastar plateau some two hundred years ago by the former. They are rather despised by the highlanders, who call them rascals (máyalótilu) and they acknowledge their inferiority by sending the kutta Kóyas gifts on festal occasions. The tribe is also split up into occupational endogamous subdivisions, among whom are the Kammaras (blacksmiths), Musaras (brass-workers), Dólis (professional beggars), Pattidis (cultivators and beggars), Oddis (superior priests), Káka and the Matta Kóyas, and the Rácha or Dora Kóyas. These last are by far the most numerous subdivision and consider themselves superior to all the others except the Oddis. Some of the others are apparently not true Kóyas at all. The Dólis are Málas from the plains, and definite traditions regarding the reception into the tribe, many generations ago, of the Kákas (who were Kápus) and the Mattas (who were Gollas) have been published by Mr. Cain, A contrary process is exemplified by the Bása Gollas, who were once Kóyas.
Exogamous divisions called gattas occur in the tribe. Among them are Múdó ('third'), Náló ('fourth') or Párédi, Aidó ('fifth') or Ráyibanda, Áró ('sixth'), Nútamuppayó ('130th'), and Perambóya. In some places the members of the Múdó, Náló, and Áidó gattas are said to be recognizable by the difi'erence in the marks they occasionally wear on their foreheads, a spot, a horizontal line and a perpendicular line respectively being used by them. The Áró gatta, however, also uses the perpendicular line.
The Kóyas are looked upon with a certain respect by the Hindus of the plains, but are held to pollute a Bráhman by touch and the better non-Bráhmans by entering their kitchens. But the Kóyas, like other hill tribes, have no respect at all for Bráhmans or other Hindus merely on account of their caste.
The Kóyas proper are chiefly engaged in agriculture. Their character is a curious medley. They excite admiration by their truthfulness; pity by their love of strong drink, listlessness and want of thrift; surprise by their simplicity, and their combination of timidity and self-importance; and aversion by their uncanny superstitions. Their truthfulness is proverbial, though it is said to be less characteristic than of yore, and they never break their word. Their intemperate ways are largely due to the commonness of the ippa (Bassia latifolia) tree, from the flowers of which strong spirit is easily distilled, and are most noticeable when this is in blossom. Their listlessness has often been remarked. "To the officer enquiring after khabar of game the reply is invariably lédu('nothing'); while if approached on the subject of the utilization of their labour, they passively obstruct all progress by their exasperating reply of repú ('tomorrow')." Their reckless and primitive modes of agriculture will be described in Chapters IV and V. Their ignorance and simplicity are attested by numerous stories. One, vouched for by Mr. Cain, relates how some of them, being despatched with a basket of fruit and a note describing its contents, and being warned that the note would betray any pilfering, first buried the note 'so that it could not see,' then abstracted some of the fruit, afterwards disinterred the note and delivered it and the basket, and were quite at a loss, when charged with the theft, to know how the note could have learnt about it. They are terribly victimized by traders and money-lenders from the low country, who take advantage of their guilelessness to cheat them in every conceivable way. Their timidity has on occasion driven them to seek refuge in the jungle on the appearance of a stranger in clean clothes, but, on the other hand, they expect (and receive) a considerable measure of respect from lowlanders whom they encounter. They are perfectly aware that their title 'Dora' means 'lord,' and they insist on being given it. They tolerate the address 'uncle' (mámá) from their neighbours of other castes; but they do not like being called Kóyas. When so addressed they have sometimes replied 'whose throat have I cut?' playing on the word kóya, which means to 'slice' or 'cut the throat.' When driven to extremes they are capable of much courage. Blood feuds have only recently become uncommon in British territory and in 1876 flourished greatly in the Bastar State. Of the Hindu religion the Koyas know nothing. They worship deities of their own. Some of them have adopted the village goddesses of the plains, such as Kondalamma and Bairamma (near Pólavaram), Maisamma and Póléramma (near Bhadráchalam) and Muthyálamma and her brother Póturázu. Mr. Cain says that Muthyálamma is specially reverenced as the goddess of disease, and as equivalent to the Maridamma of the plains. Other Kóyas adhere to the worship of the animistic deities of the hills and forests, the konda devatulu. Pálamuni, Nílamuni and Korrarázu, the god of tigers, are three of these. Mr. Cain also mentions Kommalamma and a fearsome female devil called Pida, who is propitiated in December with curious rites. The Pándava brothers (especially Bhíma), and the wild-dogs who are supposed to be their messengers, are also worshipped. Human sacrifices, made sometimes to a dread deity called Mamili, were not unknown in former days. Writing in 1876, Mr. Cain said that there was strong reason to believe that two men had been sacrificed that year not far from Dummagúdem, and that there was no doubt that in Bastar strangers were kidnapped and secretly offered up every year. During the Rampa outbreak of 1879-80 several constables and others were openly sacrificed by the rebels.1[8] Mr. Cain says that a langúr(white-faced monkey) was ordinarily substituted for the human victim, under the name of kurommapotu ('a male with small beasts'), as an offering to appease the deity.
Most peculiar objects of reverence are the vélpus, a name which Mr. Cain says is the Kóya for 'god.' They consist of small pieces of metal, generally iron and less than a foot in length, which are kept in a hollow bamboo deposited in some wild and unfrequented spot. They are guarded with great secrecy by those in charge of them and are only shown to the principal worshippers on the rare occasions when they are taken out to be adored. The Kóyas are very reticent about them. Mr. Cain says there is one supreme vélpu which is recognized as the highest by the whole Kóya tribe and kept hidden in the depths of Bastar. There are also vélpus for each gatta and for each family. The former are considered superior to the latter and are less ^frequently brought out of their retreats. One of them called Lakkála (or Lakka) Rámu, which belongs either to the Áró or Perambóya gatta, is considered more potent than the others. It is ornamented with eyes of gold and silver and is kept in a cave near Sitánagaram, not far from Parnasála in Bhadráchalam taluk. The others are deposited in different places in the Bastar State. Principal They all have names of their own, but are also known by the generic term Ádama Rázu.
Both the gatta and family vélpus are worshipped only by members of the sept or family to which they appertain. They are taken round the country at intervals to receive the reverence and gifts of their adherents. The former are brought out once in every three or four years, especially during wide-spread sickness, failure of crops or cattle-disease. The vélpu is washed, and a flag is then planted beside it. An animal (generally a young bullock) is stabbed under the left shoulder, the blood is sprinkled over the deity, and the animal is next killed, and its liver is cut out and offered to the deity. A feast, which sometimes lasts for two days, takes place and the vélpu is then put back in its hiding-place. The flag is taken round the villages where members of the gatta or family reside, and these make a feast and offer gifts. The flag of a family vélpu is a large three-cornered red cloth on which are stitched a number of figures roughly cut out of bits of cloth of other colours to represent various ancestors. Whenever any important male member of the family dies, a new figure is added to commemorate his services.
Like other hill tribes, the Kóyas are firm believers in the black art and the power of wizards. In some parts whenever any one falls ill the professional sorcerer (vezzugádu) is consulted, and he reads both the cause and the remedy in a leaf-platter of rice which he carries thrice round the invalid. Whenever a man dies he is supposed to have been the victim of some sorcerer instigated by an enemy. An enquiry is then held as to who is guilty. Some male member of the family, generally the nephew of the deceased, throws coloured rice over the corpse as it lies stretched on the bed, pronouncing as he does so the names of all the known sorcerers who live in the neighbourhood. It is even now solemnly asserted that when the name of the wizard responsible is pronounced the bed gets up and moves towards the house or village where he resides. Suspected wizards have to clear themselves by undergoing the ordeal of dipping their hands in boiling oil or water. Sometimes they flee in terror rather than attempt this Reputed wizards and witches are held in the greatest abhorrence; and one of the old complaints against British rule was that it prevented these people from being put to death. Mr. Cain mentions a case in which a Kóya was compelled (in 1876) to murder a woman of his family because she was thought to be a witch, The Kóyas appear to have few festivals now. Formerly those who lived near Dummagúdem used to celebrate one whenever any crop was ripening. They still keep a feast for jonna kotta, 'the new cholam' harvest. The rites seem to vary. Mr. Cain says that a fowl is killed and its blood sprinkled on a stone. In some places the victim is a sheep, and it and the first fruits are offered to the local gods and to ancestors. The mango kotta and sámai kotta are also important. Once a year is celebrated a feast similar to the well-known Chaitra Saturnalia in the Vizagapatam Agency, whereat all the men go out and beat for game and those who return empty-handed are pelted with mud and filth by the women and not allowed to enter the village that night. This is called the Bhúdévi Pandigai, or festival of the earth goddess. In times of drought a festival to Bhíma, which lasts five days, is held. When rain appears, the Kóyas sacrifice a cow or pig to their patron. Dancing plays an important part at all these feasts and also at marriages. The men put on head-dresses of straw into which buffalo-horns are stuck, and accompany themselves with a kind of chant.
In Pólavaram and Bhadráchalam, Kóya villages are divided into groups, sometimes called samutús, over each of which is an hereditary head called the samutú dora or yetimani.
If a Kóya youth is refused by the maiden of his choice he generally carries her off by force. But a boy can reserve a girl baby for himself by giving the mother a pot and a cloth for the baby to lie upon, and then she may not be carried off. Widows and divorced women may remarry. The wedding takes place in the bridegroom's house and lasts five days. A táli and a saffron-coloured thread are tied round the neck of the girl. If the marriage was effected by capture, matters are much simplified. The girl is made to kneel, the boy stoops over her, and water is poured over both of them. The boy then ties a saffron-coloured thread round her neck and the ceremony is over. Girls who consort with a man of low caste are purified by having their tongues branded with a hot golden needle and by being made to pass through seven arches of palmyra leaves, which are afterwards burnt.
The Kóyas generally burn their dead, but infants are buried. Mr. Cain says babies less than a month old are buried close to the house, so that the rain dropping from the eaves may fall upon the grave and cause fertility in the parents. When a Kóya dies, a cow or bullock is slaughtered and the tail is cut off and put in the dead person's hand. The liver is said to be sometimes put in his mouth. His widow's tali is always placed there, and when a married woman dies her tali is put in her mouth, The pyre of a man is lighted by his nephew, and of a woman by her son. After the body is burnt, the ashes are made into balls and deposited in a hole at the side of the road, which is covered with a slab. Many Kóyas place a perpendicular stone about three feet high, like the head-stone of a tomb, over the slab. No pollution is observed by those attending the funeral. The beef of the animal slain at the beginning of the rites provides a feast, and the whole party returns home and makes merry. On the eighth day a pot'full of water is placed in the dead man's nouse for him to drink, and is watched by his nephew. Next morning another cow is slaughtered and the tail and a ball of cooked rice are offered to the soul at the burning-ground. Mr. Cain says that when a man passes an old friend's tombstone he will often place a little tobacco on it, remarking that the deceased liked the herb when alive and will probably be glad of it now.
The same authority states that the only conception of a future state among the Kóyas is that the dead wander about the jungle in the form oi pisáchas or ghosts. The Rev. F. W. N. Alexander however says that some of them believe that there is a heaven, a great fort full of good things to eat, and a hell in which an iron crow continually gnaws the flesh of the wicked. People who are neither good enough for heaven nor bad enough for hell are born again in their former family. Children with hare-lips, moles, etc., are often identified as reincarnations of deceased relations.
Kóya villages are small and are usually inhabited solely by people of the tribe. Any outsiders live in a separate quarter. The houses are made of bamboo with a thatch of grass or palmyra. The Kóyas are very restless; and families change frequently from one village to another. Before moving, they consult the omens to see whether the change will be auspicious or not. Sometimes the hatching of a clutch of eggs provides the answer; or four grains of four kinds of seed (representing the prosperity of men, cattle, sheep and land) are put on a heap of ashes under a man's bed, any movement among them during the night being a bad omen.
Tattooing is common. It is considered very important for the soul in the next world that the body should have been adequately tattooed.
The hill Reddis (or Konda Reddis) area caste of jungle men having some characteristics in common with the Kóyas. They appear to be found only in the Rékapalle country, the hills in the north of the Pólavaram division and in Rampa, and still further north. They usually talk a rough Telugu, clipping their words so that it is often difficult to understand them; but it is said that some of them speak Kóya. They are of slighter build than the Kóyas and their villages are even smaller. They will not eat in the house of a Kóya.
They call themselves by various high-sounding titles, such as Pándava Reddis, Rája Reddis and Reddis of the solar race (súrya vamsa), and do not like the simple name Konda Reddi. They recognize no endogamous subdivisions, but have exogamous septs. In character they resemble the Kóyas, but are less simple and stupid and in former years were much given to crime. They live by shifting (podú) cultivation. They do not eat beef, but will partake of pork.
They profess to be both Saivites and Vaishnavites and occasionally employ Bráhman priests at their funerals; and yet they worship the Pándavas, the spirits of the hills (or, as they call them, 'the sons of Rácha'), their ancestors (including women who have died before their husbands) and the deities Muthyálamma and her brother Póturázu, Sáralamma and Unamalamma. The last three are found in almost every village. Other deities are Doddiganga, who is the protector of cattle and is worshipped when the herds are driven into the forests to graze, and Désaganga (or Paraganga), who takes the place of the Maridamma of the plains and the Muthyálamma of the Kóyas as goddess of cholera and small-pox. The shrine of Sáralamma of Pedakonda (eight miles east of Rékapalle) is a place of pilgrimage, and so is Bison Hill (Pápikonda), where an important Reddi festival is held every seven or eight years in honour of the Pándava brothers, and a huge pig fattened for the occasion is killed and eaten. The Reddis, like the Kóyas, also observe the harvest festivals. They are very superstitious, believing firmly in sorcery and calling in wizards in time of illness. Their villages are formed into groups like those of the Koyas and the hereditary headmen over these are called by different names, such as dora, muttadár, varnapedda and kulapátradu. Headmen of villages are known as Pettamdars. They recognize, though they do not frequently practise, marriage by capture. If a parent wishes to show his dislike for a match, he absents himself when the suitor's party calls and sends a bundle of cold rice after them when they have departed.
Children are buried. Vaishnavite Reddis burn their adult dead, while the Saivites bury them. Sátánis officiate as priests to the former and Jangams to the latter. The pyre is kindled by the eldest male of the family and a feast is held on the fifth day after the funeral. The dead are believed to be born again into their former families.
- ↑ * See Chapter IX, p, 151.
- ↑ * The builder of the Gannavaram aqueduct; see p. 86.
- ↑ * The two common medicines of the district are nalla mandu ('black medicine,' i.e., opium) and tella madu ('white medicine,' i.e., a preparation of mercury). These are everywhere known and frequently used. The latter is a laxative. The former has a contrary effect.
- ↑ * Rev. Mr. Cain in the Indian Antiquary, v, 303.
- ↑ * A somewhat similar ceremony is mentioned in the Bellary Gazetteer, 60.
- ↑ 1 Information regarding the caste will be found in the Rev. J. Cain's articles in Indian Antiquary, v, 301, 357; viii, 33, 219; and x, 259; the Christian College Magazine, v (old series), 3529 and vi (old series), 274-80: the Census Reports of 1S71 and 1S91 (paragraph 406 and page 227 respectively); Taylor's Catalogue Raisonné of Oriental MSS., iii, 464; and the Rev. Stephen Hislop's Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces (Nagpore, 1866), 4,
- ↑ 2 Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, 4.
- ↑ 1 For a description by an eye-witness, see G.O. No. 2275, Judicial, dated 4th September 1879.