Enquiries are much hampered by the absence of any really complete statistical lists of the castes. The original census returns are made in Uriya by people who often do not understand the other vernaculars spoken in the Agency, and these have hitherto had to be compiled into caste tables by officers without any knowledge either of Uriya or of the intricate caste system in the hills. At the census of 1911 a list of all castes returned in each taluk, with the languages returned as spoken by each, should be preserved as a basis for farther detailed and local enquiry. Another great difficulty in the path of the enquirer in the Agency is the extraordinary diversity which occurs in different localities in the customs of the same caste. Geographical isolation has prevented free intercourse between the various sections of a community, and the ways of each have developed upon independent lines. This fact often greatly limits the applicability of the statements made in the accounts of the hill tribes below.
In the plains, the villages usually struggle along the two sides of one long street, off which lead narrow alleys. The weavers' quarter often boasts wider lanes, since space is required there for preparing the warp. Remains of fortifications are rare, and never embrace the whole village site, as in the Deccan. Hamlets (valasas) are exceptionally common. The Málas live in a separate Málapilli, and the Mádigas and Yátas also dwell apart. In the middle of the village tank usually stand two wooden posts side by side, one rather taller than the other. These represent Náráyana the Preserver and Lakshmi his wife, the goddess of prosperity,and were placed there at the solemn dedication (pratishta) of the tank when it was first completed. They are usually made of somida (Soymida febrifuga) wood, which is almost rot-proof. Similar posts are planted in topes when they first come into bearing. On the banks of the tanks often stand numbers of little masoury erections resembling tulasi altars, which have been erected by sorrowing relations over a portion of the remains of their dead, and on which flowers and lights are placed in affectionate remembrance every now and again.
In the south of the plain country the usual house of the lower classes is a circular, one-roomed, windowless, palmyra-thatched erection of mud plastered on to a rough framework of branches,the walls of which are smeared with the local red mud and decorated with neat devices in dots done in white chunam with the forefinger, or, sometimes, more elaborate patterns and drawings of the deities. These decorations are renewed annually at
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