materials for their rude huts. The packs of the donkeys are, Mr. F. S. Mullaly informs us,*[1] "used as receptacles for storing cloths obtained in predatory excursions. Jōgis encamp on the outskirts of villages, usually on a plain or dry bed of a tank. Their huts or gudisays are made of palmyra leaves (or sedge) plaited with five strands forming an arch." The huts are completely open in front.
In the Tamil country, the Jōgis are called Dhoddiyan or Tottiyan (q.v.), and those who are employed as scavengers are known as Koravas or Oddans. The scavengers do not mix with the rest of the community. Some Jōgis assert that they have to live by begging in consequence of a curse brought on them by Parvati, concerning whose breasts one of their ancestors made some indiscreet remarks. They consider themselves superior to Mālas and Mādigas, but an Oddan (navvy caste) will not eat in the house of a Jōgi. They are said to eat crocodiles, field rats, and cats. There is a tradition that a Jōgi bridegroom, before tying the bottu (marriage badge) on his bride's neck, had to tie it by means of a string dyed with turmeric round the neck of a female cat. People sometimes object to the catching of cats by Jōgis for food, as the detachment of a single hair from the body of a cat is considered a heinous offence. To overcome the objection, the Jōgi says that he wants the animal for a marriage ceremony. On one occasion, I saw a Mādiga carrying home a bag full of kittens, which, he said, he was going to eat.
The Jōgi mendicants go about, clad in a dirty loin-cloth (often red in colour) and a strip of cloth over the shoulders, with cobras, pythons, or rat snakes in baskets,
- ↑ • Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.
