Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/292

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BĒDAR OR BŌYA
180

as the priest is called, is sent for, and arrives with his drum (dhiyani). A small hut is erected on a tank bund (embankment), and food cooked seven times, and offered seven times on seven fragments of pots. A new cloth is spread, and on it food, fruits, a chank shell, etc., are placed, and offered to the deceased. The various articles are put into a new pot, and the son, going into the water up to his neck, throws the pot into the air, and breaks it. The celebrants of the rite then return to the house, and stand in a row in front thereof. They are there purified by means of milk smeared over their hands by the Dhiyani. On the twelfth day, food is offered on twelve leaves.

The Bāvuris do not worship Jagannāthāswāmi, or other of the higher deities, but reverence their ancestors and the village goddesses or Tākurānis. Like other Oriya classes, the Bāvuris name their children on the twenty-first day. Opprobrious names are common among them, e.g., Ogādu (dirty fellow), Kangāli (wretched fellow), Haddia (Haddi, or sweeper caste).

Bēdar or Bōya.—"Throughout the hills," Buchanan writes,[1] "northward from Capaladurga, are many cultivated spots, in which, during Tippoo's government, were settled many Baydaru or hunters, who received twelve pagodas (£4 5s.) a year, and served as irregular troops whenever required. Being accustomed to pursue tigers and deer in the woods, they were excellent marksmen with their match-locks, and indefatigable in following their prey; which, in the time of war, was the life and property of every helpless creature that came in their way. During the wars of Hyder and his son, these men were chief instruments in the terrible depre-


  1. Journey through Mysore, Canara and Malabar, 1807.