Castes and tribes of Southern India. Vol. 3 of 7
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Title: Castes and tribes of Southern India. Vol. 3 of 7
Author: Edgar Thurston
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CASTES AND TRIBES OF SOUTHERN INDIA. VOL. 3 OF 7 ***
CASTES AND TRIBES
OF
SOUTHERN INDIA
By
EDGAR THURSTON, C.I.E.,
Superintendent, Madras Government Museum; Correspondant Étranger,
Société d'Anthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa,
Romana di Anthropologia.
Assisted by
K. Rangachari, M.A.,
of the Madras Government Museum.
Volume III--K
Government Press, Madras
1909.
CASTES AND TRIBES OF SOUTHERN INDIA.
VOLUME III.
K
Kabbera.--The Kabberas are a caste of Canarese fishermen and
cultivators. "They are," Mr. W. Francis writes, [1] "grouped into
two divisions, the Gaurimakkalu or sons of Gauri (Parvati) and the
Gangimakkalu or sons of Ganga, the goddess of water, and they do not
intermarry, but will dine together. Each has its bedagus (exogamous
septs), and these seem to be different in the two sub-divisions. The
Gaurimakkalu are scarce in Bellary, and belong chiefly to Mysore. They
seem to be higher in the social scale (as such things are measured
among Hindus) than the Gangimakkalu, as they employ Brahmans as
priests instead of men of their own caste, burn their dead instead of
burying them, hold annual ceremonies in memory of them, and prohibit
the remarriage of widows. The Gangimakkalu were apparently engaged
originally in all the pursuits connected with water, such as propelling
boats, catching fish, and so forth, and they are especially numerous
in villages along the banks of the Tungabhadra." Coracles are still
used on various South Indian rivers, e.g., the Cauvery, Bhavani,
and Tungabhadra. Tavernier, on his way to Golgonda, wrote that
"the boats employed in crossing the river are like large baskets,
covered outside with ox-hides, at the bottom of which some faggots
are placed, upon which carpets are spread to put the baggage and
goods upon, for fear they should get wet." Bishop Whitehead has
recently [2] placed on record his experiences of coracles as a means
of conveyance. "We embarked," he writes, "in a boat (at Hampi on the
Tungabhadra) which exactly corresponds to my idea of the coracle of
the ancient Britons. It consists of a very large, round wicker basket,
about eight or nine feet in diameter, covered over with leather,
and propelled by paddles. As a rule, it spins round and round, but
the boatmen can keep it fairly straight, when exhorted to do so,
as they were on this occasion. Some straw had been placed in the
bottom of the coracle, and we were also allowed the luxury of chairs
to sit upon, but it is safer to sit on the straw, as a chair in a
coracle is generally in a state of unstable equilibrium. I remember
once crossing a river in the Trichinopoly district in a coracle, to
take a confirmation at a village on the other side. It was thought
more suitable to the dignity of the occasion that I should sit upon
a chair in the middle of the coracle, and I weakly consented to do
so. All the villagers were assembled to meet us on the opposite bank;
four policemen were drawn up as a guard of honour, and a brass band,
brought from Tanjore, stood ready in the background. As we came to the
shore, the villagers salaamed, the guard of honour saluted, the band
struck up a tune faintly resembling 'See the conquering hero comes,'
the coracle bumped heavily against the shelving bank, my chair tipped
up, and I was deposited, heels up, on my back in the straw!... We were
rowed for about two miles down the stream. The current was very swift,
and there were rapids at frequent intervals. Darkness overtook us,
and it was not altogether a pleasant sensation being whirled swiftly
over the rapids in our frail-looking boat, with ugly rocks jutting out
of the stream on either side. But the boatmen seemed to know the river
perfectly, and were extraordinarily expert in steering the coracle
with their paddles." The arrival in 1847 of the American Missionary,
John Eddy Chandler at Madura, when the Vaigai river was in flood, has
been described as follows. [3] "Coolies swimming the river brought
bread and notes from the brethren and sisters in the city. At last,
after three days of waiting, the new Missionaries safely reached
the mission premises in Madura. Messrs. Rendall and Cherry managed
to cross to them, and they all recrossed into the city by a large
basket boat, eight or ten feet in diameter, with a bamboo pole tied
across the top for them to hold on to. The outside was covered with
leather. Ropes attached to all sides were held by a dozen coolies
as they dragged it across, walking and swimming." In recent years,
a coracle has been kept at the traveller's bungalow at Paikara on
the Nilgiris for the use of anglers in the Paikara river.
"The Kabberas," Mr. Francis continues, "are at present engaged in a
number of callings, and, perhaps in consequence, several occupational
sub-divisions have arisen, the members of which are more often
known by their occupational title than as either Gangimakkalu or
Kabberas. The Barikes, for example, are a class of village servants
who keep the village chavadi (caste meeting house) clean, look
after the wants of officials halting in the village, and do other
similar duties. The Jalakaras are washers of gold-dust; the Madderu
are dyers, who use the root of the maddi (Morinda citrifolia) tree;
and apparently (the point is one which I have not had time to clear
up) the Besthas, who have often been treated as a separate caste,
are really a sub-division of the Gangimakkalu, who were originally
palanquin-bearers, but, now that these vehicles have gone out of
fashion, are employed in divers other ways. The betrothal is formally
evidenced by the partaking of betel-leaf in the girl's house, in the
manner followed by the Kurubas. As among the Madigas, the marriage
is not consummated for three months after its celebration. The caste
follow the Kuruba ceremony of calling back the dead." Consummation is,
as among the Kurubas and Madigas, postponed for three months, as it
is considered unlucky to have three heads of a family in a household
during the first year of marriage. By the delay, the birth of a child
should take place only in the second year, so that, during the first
year, there will be only two heads, husband and wife. In the ceremony
of calling back the dead, referred to by Mr. Francis, a pot of water
is worshipped in the house on the eleventh day after a funeral,
and taken next morning to some lonely place, where it is emptied.
For the following note on the Kabberas of the Bellary district, I
am indebted to Mr. Kothandram Naidu. The caste is sometimes called
Ambiga. Breaches of caste rules and customs are enquired into by a
panchayat presided over by a headman called Kattemaniavaru. If the fine
inflicted on the offender is a heavy one, half goes to the headman,
and half to the caste people, who spend it in drink. In serious cases,
the offender has to be purified by shaving and drinking holy water
(thirtam) given to him by the headman. Both infant and adult marriage
are practiced. Sexual license previous to marriage is tolerated, but,
before that takes place, the contracting couple have to pay a fine
to the headman. At the marriage ceremony, the tali is tied on the
bride's neck by a Brahman. Married women carry painted new pots with
lights, bathe the bride and bridegroom, etc. Widows are remarried
with a ceremonial called Udiki, which is performed at night in a
temple by widows, one of whom ties the tali. No married men or women
may be present, and music is not allowed. Divorce is said to be not
permitted. In religion the Kabberas are Vaishnavites, and worship
various village deities. The dead are buried. Cloths and food are
offered to ancestors during the Dasara festival, excepting those who
have died a violent death. Some unmarried girls are dedicated to the
goddess Hulugamma as Basavis (dedicated prostitutes).
Concerning an agricultural ceremony in the Bellary district, in which
the Kabberas take part, I gather that "on the first full-moon day
in the month of Bhadrapada (September), the agricultural population
celebrate a feast called Jokumara, to appease the rain-god. The Barikas
(women), who are a sub-division of the Kabbera caste belonging to the
Gaurimakkalu section, go round the town or village in which they live,
with a basket on their heads containing margosa (Melia Azadirachta)
leaves, flowers of various kinds, and holy ashes. They beg alms,
especially of the cultivating classes (Kapus), and, in return for
the alms bestowed (usually grain and food), they give some of the
margosa leaves, flowers, and ashes. The Kapus, or cultivators, take
the margosa leaves, flowers, and ashes to their fields, prepare cholum
(Andropogon Sorghum) kanji, mix these with it, and sprinkle this kanji,
or gruel, all round their fields. After this, the Kapu proceeds to
the potter's kiln in the village or town, fetches ashes from it, and
makes a figure of a human being. This figure is placed prominently
in some convenient spot in the field, and is called Jokumara, or
rain-god. It is supposed to have the power of bringing down the rain
in proper time. The figure is sometimes small, and sometimes big." [4]
Kabbili.--Kabbili or Kabliga, recorded as a sub-division of Bestha,
is probably a variant of Kabbera.
Kadacchil (knife-grinder or cutler).--A sub-division of Kollan.
Kadaiyan.--The name, Kadaiyan, meaning last or lowest, occurs as a
sub-division of the Pallans. The Kadaiyans are described [5] as being
lime (shell) gatherers and burners of Ramesvaram and the neighbourhood,
from whose ranks the pearl-divers are in part recruited at the present
day. On the coasts of Madura and Tinnevelly they are mainly Christians,
and are said, like the Paravas, to have been converted through the
work of St. Francis Xavier. [6]
Kadaperi.--A sub-division of Kannadiyan.
Kadavala (pots).--An exogamous sept of Padma Sale.
Kadi (blade of grass).--A gotra of Kurni.
Kadir.--The Kadirs or Kadans inhabit the Anaimalai or elephant
hills, and the great mountain range which extends thence southward
into Travancore. A night journey by rail to Coimbatore, and forty
miles by road at the mercy of a typically obstinate jutka pony,
which landed me in a dense patch of prickly-pear (Opuntia Dillenii),
brought me to the foot of the hills at Sethumadai, where I came under
the kindly hospitality of Mr. H. A. Gass, Conservator of Forests, to
whom I am indebted for much information on forest and tribal matters
gathered during our camp life at Mount Stuart, situated 2,350 feet
above sea-level, in the midst of a dense bamboo jungle, and playfully
named after Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, who visited the spot during
his quinquennium as Governor of Madras.
At Sethumadai I made the acquaintance of my first Kadir, not dressed,
as I hoped, in a primitive garb of leaves, but wearing a coloured
turban and the cast-off red coat of a British soldier, who had come
down the hill to carry up my camp bath, which acted as an excellent
umbrella, to protect him from the driving monsoon showers. Very
glad was I of his services in helping to convey my clothed, and
consequently helpless self, across the mountain torrents, swollen by
a recent burst of monsoon rain.
The Kadir forest guards, of whom there are several in Government
service, looked, except for their noses, very unjungle-like by
contrast with their fellow-tribesmen, being smartly dressed in
regulation Norfolk jacket, knickerbockers, pattis (leggings), buttons,
and accoutrements.
On arrival at the forest depôt, with its comfortable bungalows and
Kadir settlement, I was told by a native servant that his master was
away, as an "elephant done tumble in a fit." My memory went back to
the occasion many years ago, when, as a medical student, I took part
in the autopsy of an elephant, which died in convulsions at the London
Zoological Gardens. It transpired later in the day that a young and
grown-up cow elephant had tumbled, not in a fit, but into a pit made
with hands for the express purpose of catching elephants. The story
has a philological significance, and illustrates the difficulty which
the Tamulian experiences in dealing with the letter F. An incident
is still cherished at Mount Stuart in connection with a sporting
globe-trotter, who was accredited to the Conservator of Forests for
the purpose of putting him on to "bison" (the gaur, Bos gaurus), and
other big game. On arrival at the depôt, he was informed that his
host had gone to see the "ellipence." Incapable of translating the
pigeon-English of the native butler, and, concluding that a financial
reckoning was being suggested, he ordered the servant to pay the
baggage coolies their elli-pence, and send them away. To a crusted
Anglo-Indian it is clear that ellipence could only mean elephants. Sir
M. E. Grant Duff tells [7] the following story of a man, who was
shooting on the Anaimalais. In his camp was an elephant, who, in the
middle of the night, began to eat the thatch of the hut, in which he
was sleeping. His servant in alarm rushed in and awoke him, saying
"Elephant, Sahib, must, must (mad)." The sleeper, half-waking and
rolling over, replied "Oh, bother the elephant. Tell him he mustn't."
The salient characteristics of the Kadirs may be briefly summed up
as follows: short stature, dark skin, platyrhine. Men and women have
the teeth chipped. Women wear a bamboo comb in the back-hair. Those
whom I met spoke a Tamil patois, running up the scale in talking,
and finishing, like a Suffolker, on a higher note than they commenced
on. But I am told that some of them speak a mixture of debased Tamil
and Malayalam. I am informed by Mr. Vincent that the Kadirs have
a peculiar word Ali, denoting apparently a fellow or thing, which
they apply as a suffix to names, e.g., Karaman Ali, black fellow;
Mudi Ali, hairy fellow; Kutti Ali, man with a knife; Puv Ali, man
with a flower. Among nicknames, the following occur: white mother,
white flower, beauty, tiger, milk, virgin, love, breasts. The Kadirs
are excellent mimics, and give a clever imitation of the mode of
speech of the Muduvans, Malasars, and other hill tribes.
The Kadirs afford a typical example of happiness without
culture. Unspoiled by education, the advancing wave of which has not
yet engulfed them, they still retain many of their simple "manners
and customs." Quite refreshing was it to hear the hearty shrieks of
laughter of the nude curly-haired children, wholly illiterate, and
happy in their ignorance, as they played at funerals, or indulged in
the amusement of making mud pies, and scampered off to their huts
on my appearance. The uncultured Kadir, living a hardy out-door
life, and capable of appreciating to the full the enjoyment of an
"apathetic rest" as perfect bliss, has, I am convinced, in many
ways, the advantage over the poor under-fed student with a small-paid
appointment under Government as the narrow goal to which the laborious
passing of examination tests leads.
Living an isolated existence, confined within the thinly-populated
jungle, where Nature furnishes the means of obtaining all the
necessaries of life, the Kadir possesses little, if any, knowledge of
cultivation, and objects to doing work with a mamuti, the instrument
which serves the gardener in the triple capacity of spade, rake,
and hoe. But armed with a keen-edged bill-hook he is immense. As
Mr. O. H. Bensley says: [8] "The axiom that the less civilised men
are, the more they are able to do every thing for themselves, is well
illustrated by the hill-man, who is full of resource. Give him a simple
bill-hook, and what wonders he will perform. He will build houses out
of etâh, so neat and comfortable as to be positively luxurious. He
will bridge a stream with canes and branches. He will make a raft
out of bamboo, a carving knife out of etâh, a comb out of bamboo, a
fishing-line out of fibre, and fire from dry wood. He will find food
for you where you think you must starve, and show you the branch which,
if cut, will give you drink. He will set traps for beasts and birds,
which are more effective than some of the most elaborate products of
machinery." A European, overtaken by night in the jungle, unable to
light fire by friction or to climb trees to gather fruits, ignorant
of the edible roots and berries, and afraid of wild beasts, would,
in the absence of comforts, be quite as unhappy and ill-at-ease as
a Kadir surrounded by plenty at an official dinner party.
At the forest depôt the Kadir settlement consists of neatly constructed
huts, made of bamboo deftly split with a bill-hook in their long
axis, thatched with leaves of the teak tree (Tectona grandis)
and bamboo (Ochlandra travancorica), and divided off into verandah
and compartments by means of bamboo partitions. But the Kadirs are
essentially nomad in habit, living in small communities, and shifting
from place to place in the jungle, whence they suddenly re-appear as
casually as if they had only returned from a morning stroll instead
of a long camping expedition. When wandering in the jungle, the
Kadirs make a rough lean-to shed covered over with leaves, and keep a
small fire burning through the night, to keep off bears, elephants,
tigers, and leopards. They are, I am told, fond of dogs, which they
keep chiefly as a protection against wild beasts at night. The camp
fire is lighted by means of a flint and the floss of the silk-cotton
tree (Bombax malabaricum), over which powdered charcoal has been
rubbed. Like the Kurumbas, the Kadirs are not, in a general way,
afraid of elephants, but are careful to get out of the way of a cow
with young, or a solitary rover, which may mean mischief. On the day
following my descent from Mount Stuart, an Odde cooly woman was killed
on the ghat road by a solitary tusker. Familiarity with wild beasts,
and comparative immunity from accident, have bred contempt for them,
and the Kadirs will go where the European, fresh to elephant land,
fears to tread, or conjures every creak of a bamboo into the approach
of a charging tusker. As an example of pluck worthy of a place in
Kipling's 'Jungle-book,' I may cite the case of a hill-man and his
wife, who, overtaken by night in the jungle, decided to pass it on
a rock. As they slept, a tiger carried off the woman. Hearing her
shrieks, the sleeping man awoke, and followed in pursuit in the vain
hope of saving his wife. Coming on the beast in possession of the
mangled corpse, he killed it at close quarters with a spear. Yet he
was wholly unconscious that he had performed an act of heroism worthy
of the bronze cross 'for valour.'
The Kadirs carry loads strapped on the back over the shoulders by
means of fibre, instead of on the head in the manner customary among
coolies in the plains; and women on the march may be seen carrying the
cooking utensils on their backs, and often have a child strapped on
the top of their household goods. The dorsal position of the babies,
huddled up in a dirty cloth, with the ends slung over the shoulders
and held in the hands over the chest, at once caught my eye, as it is
contrary to the usual native habit of straddling the infants across
the loins as a saddle.
Mr. Vincent informs me that "when the planters first came to the hills,
the Kadirs were found practically without clothes of any description,
with very few ornaments, and looking very lean and emaciated. All
this, however, changed with the advent of the European, as the Kadirs
then got advances in hard cash, clothes, and grain, to induce them
to work. For a few years they tried to work hard, but were failures,
and now I do not suppose that a dozen men are employed on the estates
on the hills. They would not touch manure owing to caste scruples;
they could not learn to prune; and with a mamoti (spade) they always
promptly proceeded to chop their feet about in their efforts to dig
pits." The Kadirs have never claimed, like the Todas, and do not
possess any land on the hills. But the Government has declared the
absolute right of the hill tribes to collect all the minor forest
produce, and to sell it to the Government through the medium of a
contractor, whose tender has been previously accepted. The contractor
pays for the produce in coin at a fair market rate, and the Kadirs
barter the money so obtained for articles of food with contractors
appointed by Government to supply them with their requirements at
a fixed rate, which will leave a fair, but not exorbitant margin of
profit to the vendor. The principal articles of minor forest produce
of the Anaimalai hills are wax, honey, cardamoms, myrabolams, ginger,
dammer, turmeric, deer horns, elephant tusks, and rattans. And of
these, cardamoms, wax, honey, and rattans are the most important. Honey
and wax are collected at all seasons, and cardamoms from September to
November. The total value of the minor produce collected, in 1897-98,
in the South Coimbatore division (which includes the Anaimalais) was
Rs. 7,886. This sum was exceptionally high owing to a good cardamom
crop. An average year would yield a revenue of Rs. 4,000-5,000, of
which the Kadirs receive approximately 50 per cent. They work for the
Forest Department on a system of short advances for a daily wage of 4
annas. And, at the present day, the interests of the Forest Department
and planters, who have acquired land on the Anaimalais, both anxious
to secure hill men for labour, have come into mild collision.
Some Kadirs are good trackers, and a few are good shikaris. A
zoological friend, who had nicknamed his small child his "little
shikari" (=little sportsman) was quite upset because I, hailing from
India, did not recognise the word with his misplaced accent. One Kadir,
named Viapoori Muppan, is still held in the memory of Europeans, who
made a good living, in days gone by, by shooting tuskers, and had
one arm blown off by the bursting of a gun. He is reputed to have
been a much married man, greatly addicted to strong drinks, and to
have flourished on the proceeds of his tusks. At the present day,
if a Kadir finds tusks, he must declare the find as treasure-trove,
and hand it over to Government, who rewards him at the rate of Rs. 15
to Rs. 25 per maund of 25 lb. according to the quality. Government
makes a good profit on the transaction, as exceptionally good tusks
have been known to sell for Rs. 5 per lb. If the find is not declared,
and discovered, the possessor thereof is punished for theft according
to the Act. By an elastic use of the word cattle, it is, for the
purposes of the Madras Forest Act, made to include such a heterogeneous
zoological collection of animals as elephants, sheep, pigs, goats,
camels, buffaloes, horses--and asses. This classification recalls to
mind the occasion on which the Flying-fox or Fox-bat was included in
an official list of the insectivorous birds of the Presidency; and,
further, a report on the wild animals of a certain district, which
was triumphantly headed with the "wild tattu," the long-suffering,
but pig-headed country pony.
I gather, from an account of the process by one who had considerable
knowledge of the Kadirs, that "they will only remove the hives of
bees during dark nights, and never in the daytime or on moonlight
nights. In removing them from cliffs, they use a chain made of
bamboo or rattan, fixed to a stake or a tree on the top. The man,
going down this fragile ladder, will only do so while his wife, or
son watches above to prevent any foul play. They have a superstition
that they should always return by the way they go down, and decline to
get to the bottom of the cliff, although the distance may be less,
and the work of re-climbing avoided. For hives on trees, they tie
one or more long bamboos to reach up to the branch required, and
then climb up. They then crawl along the branch until the hive is
reached. They devour the bee-bread and the bee-maggots or larvæ,
swallowing the wax as well." In a note on a shooting expedition in
Travancore, [9] Mr. J. D. Rees, describing the collection of honey
by the Kadirs of the southern hills, says that they "descend giddy
precipices at night, torch in hand, to smoke out the bees, and take
away their honey. A stout creeper is suspended over the abyss, and
it is established law of the jungle that no brother shall assist in
holding it. But it is more interesting to see them run a ladder a
hundred feet up the perpendicular stem of a tree, than to watch them
disappearing over a precipice. Axe in hand, the honey-picker makes
a hole in the bark for a little peg, standing on which he inserts a
second peg higher up, ties a long cane from one to the other, and by
night--for the darkness gives confidence--he will ascend the tallest
trees, and bring down honey without any accident." I have been told,
with how much of truth I know not, that, when a Kadir goes down the
face of a rock or precipice in search of honey, he sometimes takes
with him, as a precautionary measure, and guarantee of his safety,
the wife of the man who is holding the ladder above.
Often, when out on the tramp with the late Government Botanist,
Mr. M. A. Lawson, I have heard him lament that it is impossible to
train arboreal monkeys to collect specimens of the fruit and flowers
of lofty forest trees, which are inaccessible to the ordinary man. Far
superior to any trained Simian is the Kadir, who, by means of pegs or
notches, climbs even the tallest masts of trees with an agility which
recalls to memory the celebrated picture in "Punch," representing
Darwin's 'Habit of climbing plants.' For the ascent of comparatively
low trees, notches are made with a bill-hook, alternately right and
left, at intervals of about thirty inches. To this method the Kadir
will not have recourse in wet weather, as the notches are damp and
slippery, and there is the danger of an insecure foot-hold.
An important ethnographic fact, and one which is significant,
is that the detailed description of tree-climbing by the Dyaks of
Borneo, as given by Wallace, [10] might have been written on the
Anaimalai hills, and would apply equally well in every detail to the
Kadir. "They drove in," Wallace writes, "a peg very firmly at about
three feet from the ground, and, bringing one of the long bamboos,
stood it upright close to the tree, and bound it firmly to the two
first pegs by means of a bark cord and small notches near the head
of each peg. One of the Dyaks now stood on the first peg and drove
in a third about level with his face, to which he tied the bamboo in
the same way, and then mounted another step, standing on one foot,
and holding by the bamboo at the peg immediately above him, while he
drove in the next one. In this manner he ascended about twenty feet,
when the upright bamboo became thin; another was handed up by his
companion, and this was joined on by tying both bamboos to three or
four of the pegs. When this was also nearly ended, a third was added,
and shortly after the lowest branch of the tree was reached, along
which the young Dyak scrambled. The ladder was perfectly safe, since,
if any one peg were loose or faulty, the strain would be thrown on
several others above and below it. I now understood the use of the
line of bamboo pegs sticking in trees, which I had often seen."
In their search for produce in the evergreen forests of the higher
ranges, with their heavy rainfall, the Kadirs became unpleasantly
familiar with leeches and blue bottle flies, which flourish in the
moist climate. And it is recorded that a Kadir, who had been gored
and wounded by a bull 'bison,' was placed in a position of safety
while a friend ran to the village to summon help. He was not away
for more than an hour, but, in that short time, flies had deposited
thousands of maggots in the wounds, and, when the man was brought into
camp, they had already begun burrowing into the flesh, and were with
difficulty extracted. On another occasion, the eye-witness of the
previous unappetising incident was out alone in the forest, and shot
a tiger two miles or so from his camp. Thither he went to collect
coolies to carry in the carcase, and was away for about two hours,
during which the flies had, like the child in the story, 'not been
idle,' the skin being a mass of maggots and totally ruined. I have
it on authority that, like the Kotas of the Nilgiris, the Kadirs will
eat the putrid and fly-blown flesh of carcases of wild beasts, which
they come across in their wanderings. To a dietary which includes
succulent roots, which they upturn with a digging stick, bamboo seed,
sheep, fowls, rock-snakes (python), deer, porcupines, rats (field,
not house), wild pigs, monkeys, etc., they do credit by displaying a
hard, well-nourished body. The mealy portion of the seeds of the Cycas
tree, which flourishes on the lower slopes of the Anaimalais, forms a
considerable addition to the ménu. In its raw state the fruit is said
to be poisonous, but it is evidently wholesome when cut into slices,
thoroughly soaked in running water, dried, and ground into flour for
making cakes, or baked in hot ashes. Mr. Vincent writes that, "during
March, April, and May, the Kadirs have a glorious time. They usually
manage to find some wild sago palms, called by them koondtha panai,
of the proper age, which they cut down close to the ground. They are
then cut into lengths of about 1 1/2 feet, and split lengthways. The
sections are then beaten very hard and for a long time with mallets,
and become separated into fibre and powder. The powder is thoroughly
wetted, tied in cloths and well beaten with sticks. Every now and
then, between the beatings, the bag of powder is dipped in water,
and well strained. It is then all put into water, when the powder
sinks, and the water is poured off. The residue is well boiled, with
constant stirring, and, when it is of the consistency of rubber,
and of a reddish brown colour, it is allowed to cool, and then cut
in pieces to be distributed. This food stuff is palatable enough,
but very tough." The Kadir is said to prefer roasting and eating the
flesh of animals with the skin on. For catching rats, jungle-fowl,
etc., he resorts to cunningly devised snares and traps made of
bamboo and fibre, as a substitute for a gun. Porcupines are caught
by setting fire to the scrub jungle round them as they lie asleep,
and thus smoking and burning them to death.
When a Kadir youth's thoughts turn towards matrimony, he is said to
go to the village of his bride-elect, and give her a dowry by working
there for a year. On the wedding day a feast of rice, sheep, fowls,
and other luxuries is given by the parents of the bridegroom, to which
the Kadir community is invited. The bride and bridegroom stand beneath
a pandal (arch) decorated with flowers, which is erected outside
the home of the bridegroom, while men and women dance separately to
the music of drum and fife. The bridegroom's mother or sister ties
the tali (marriage badge) of gold or silver round the bride's neck,
and her father puts a turban on the head of the bridegroom. The
contracting parties link together the little fingers of their right
hands as a token of their union, and walk in procession round the
pandal. Then, sitting on a reed mat of Kadir manufacture, they exchange
betel. The marriage tie can be dissolved for incompatibility of temper,
disobedience on the part of the wife, adultery, etc., without appeal
to any higher authority than a council of elders, who pronounce
judgment on the evidence. As an illustration of the manner in which
such a council of hill-men disposes of cases, Mr. Bensley cites the
case of a man who was made to carry forty basket loads of sand to the
house of the person against whom he had offended. He points out how
absolute is the control exercised by the council. Disobedience would
be followed by excommunication, and this would mean being turned out
into the jungle, to obtain a living in the best way one could.
By one Kadir informant I was assured, as he squatted on the floor
of my bungalow at "question time," that it is essential that a wife
should be a good cook, in accordance with a maxim that the way to the
heart is through the mouth. How many men in civilised western society,
who suffer from marrying a wife wholly incompetent, like the first
Mrs. David Copperfield, to conduct the housekeeping, might well be
envious of the system of marriage as a civil contract to be sealed or
unloosed according to the cookery results! Polygyny is indulged in by
the Kadirs, who agree with Benedick that "the world must be peopled,"
and hold more especially that the numerical strength of their own
tribe must be maintained. The plurality of wives seems to be mainly
with the desire for offspring, and the father-in-law of one of the
forest-guards informed me that he had four wives living. The first
two wives producing no offspring, he married a third, who bore him
a solitary male child. Considering the result to be an insufficient
contribution to the tribe, he married a fourth, who, more prolific
than her colleagues, gave birth to three girls and a boy, with which
he remained content. In the code of polygynous etiquette, the first
wife takes precedence over the others, and each wife has her own
cooking utensils.
Special huts are maintained for women during menstruation and
parturition. Mr. Vincent informs me that, when a girl reaches puberty,
the friends of the family gather together, and a great feast is
prepared. All her friends and relations give her a small present
of money, according to their means. The girl is decorated with the
family jewelry, and made to look as smart as possible. For the first
menstrual period, a special hut, called mutthu salai or ripe house,
is constructed for the girl to live in during the period of pollution;
but at subsequent periods, the ordinary menstruation hut, or unclean
house, is used. All girls are said to change their names when they
reach puberty. For three months after the birth of a child, the woman
is considered unclean. When the infant is a month old, it is named
without any elaborate ceremonial, though the female friends of the
family collect together. Sexual intercourse ceases on the establishment
of pregnancy, and the husband indulges in promiscuity. Widows are not
allowed to re-marry, but may live in a state of concubinage. Women are
said to suckle their children till they are two or three years old,
and a mother has been seen putting a lighted cigarette to the lips of
a year old baby immediately after suckling it. If this is done with
the intention of administering a sedative, it is less baneful than the
pellet of opium administered by ayahs (nurses) to Anglo-Indian babies
rendered fractious by troubles climatic, dental, and other. The Kadir
men are said to consume large quantities of opium, which is sold to
them illicitly. They will not allow the women or children to eat it,
and have a belief that the consumption thereof by women renders them
barren. The women chew tobacco. The men smoke the coarse tobacco as
sold in the bazars, and showed a marked appreciation of Spencer's
Torpedo cheroots, which I distributed among them for the purposes of
bribery and conciliation.
The religion of the Kadirs is a crude polytheism, and vague worship
of stone images or invisible gods. It is, as Mr. Bensley expresses
it, an ejaculatory religion, finding vent in uttering the names of
the gods and demons. The gods, as enumerated and described to me,
were as follows:--
(1) Paikutlatha, a projecting rock overhanging a slab of rock, on
which are two stones set up on end. Two miles east of Mount Stuart.
(2) Athuvisariamma, a stone enclosure, ten to fifteen feet square,
almost level with the ground. It is believed that the walls were
originally ten feet high, and that the mountain has grown up round
it. Within the enclosure there is a representation of the god. Eight
miles north of Mount Stuart.
(3) Vanathavathi. Has no shrine, but is worshipped anywhere as an
invisible god.
(4) Iyappaswami, a stone set up beneath a teak tree, and worshipped
as a protector against various forms of sickness and disease. In the
act of worshipping, a mark is made on the stone with ashes. Two miles
and a half from Mount Stuart, on the ghat road to Sethumadai.
(5) Masanyatha, a female recumbent figure in stone on a masonry wall
in an open plain near the village of Anaimalai, before which trial by
ordeal is carried out. The goddess has a high repute for her power
of detecting thieves or rogues. Chillies are thrown into a fire in
her name, and the guilty person suffers from vomiting and diarrhoea.
According to Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer, [11] the Kadirs are
"worshippers of Kali. On the occasion of the offering to Kali, a number
of virgins are asked to bathe as a preliminary to the preparation of
the offering, which consists of rice and some vegetables cooked in
honey, and made into a sweet pudding. The rice for this preparation
is unhusked by these girls. The offering is considered to be sacred,
and is partaken of by all men, women, and children assembled."
When Kadirs fall sick, they worship the gods by saluting them with
their hands to the face, burning camphor, and offering up fruits,
cocoanuts, and betel. Mr. Vincent tells me that they have a horror
of cattle, and will not touch the ordure, or other products of the
cow. Yet they believe that their gods occasionally reside in the body
of a "bison," and have been known to do puja (worship) when a bull
has been shot by a sportsman. It is noted by Mr. Anantha Krishna
Iyer that wild elephants are held in veneration by them, but tame
ones are believed to have lost the divine element.
The Kadirs are said, during the Hindu Vishu festival, to visit the
plains, and, on their way, pray to any image which they chance to
come across. They are believers in witchcraft, and attribute all
diseases to the miraculous workings thereof. They are good exorcists,
and trade in mantravadam or magic. Mr. Logan mentions [12] that "the
family of famous trackers, whose services in the jungles were retained
for H.R.H. the Prince of Wales' (now King Edward) projected sporting
tour in the Anamalai mountains, dropped off most mysteriously, one
by one, shortly afterwards, stricken down by an unseen hand, and all
of them expressing beforehand their conviction that they were under
a certain individual's spell, and were doomed to certain death at
an early date. They were probably poisoned, but how it was managed
remains a mystery, although the family was under the protection of
a European gentleman, who would at once have brought to light any
ostensible foul play."
The Kadir dead are buried in a grave, or, if death occurs in the
depths of the jungles, with a paucity of hands available for digging,
the corpse is placed in a crevice between the rocks, and covered over
with stones. The grave is dug from four to five feet deep. There
is no special burial-ground, but some spot in the jungle, not far
from the scene of death, is selected. A band of music, consisting of
drum and fife, plays weird dirges outside the hut of the deceased,
and whistles are blown when it is carried away therefrom. The old
clothes of the deceased are spread under the corpse, and a new cloth
is put on it. It is tied up in a mat, which completely covers it, and
carried to the burial-ground on a bamboo stretcher. As it leaves the
hut, rice is thrown over it. The funeral ceremony is simple in the
extreme. The corpse is laid in the grave on a mat in the recumbent
posture, with the head towards the east, and with split bamboo and
leaves placed all round it, so that not a particle of earth can touch
it. No stone, or sepulchral monument of any kind, is set up to mark the
spot. The Kadir believes that the dead go to heaven, which is in the
sky, but has no views as to what sort of place it is. The story that
the Kadirs eat their dead originated with Europeans, the origin of it
being that no one had ever seen a dead Kadir, a grave, or sign of a
burial-place. The Kadirs themselves are reticent as to their method
of disposing of the dead, and the story, which was started as a joke,
became more or less believed. Mr. Vincent tells me that a well-to-do
Kadir family will perform the final death ceremonies eight days after
death, but poorer folk have to wait a year or more, till they have
collected sufficient money for the expenses thereof. At cock-crow on
the morning of the ceremonies, rice, called polli chor, is cooked,
and piled up on leaves in the centre of the hut of the deceased. Cooked
rice, called tullagu chor, is then placed in each of the four corners
of the hut, to propitiate the gods, and to serve as food for them
and the spirit of the dead person. At a short distance from the hut,
rice, called kanal chor, is cooked for all Kadirs who have died,
and been buried. The relations and friends of the deceased commence
to cry, and make lamentations, and proclaim his good qualities, most
of which are fictitious. After an hour or so, they adjourn to the
hut of the deceased, where the oldest man present invokes the gods,
and prays to them and to the heaped up food. A pinch from each of
the heaps is thrown into the air as a gift of food to the gods, and
those present fall to, and eat heartily, being careful to partake of
each of the food-stuffs, consisting of rice, meat, and vegetables,
which have been prepared.
On a certain Monday in the months of Adi and Avani, the Kadirs observe
a festival called nombu, during which a feast is held, after they have
bathed and anointed themselves with oil. It was, they say, observed
by their ancestors, but they have no definite tradition as to its
origin or significance. It is noted by Mr. Anantha Krishna Iyer that,
at the Onam festival, presents in the shape of rice, cloths, coats,
turbans, caps, ear-rings, tobacco, opium, salt, oil and cocoanuts
are distributed among the Kadirs by the Forest Department.
According to Mr. Bensley, "the Kadir has an air of calm dignity,
which leads one to suppose that he had some reason for having a
more exalted opinion of himself than that entertained for him by
the outside world. A forest officer of a philanthropic turn had
a very high opinion of the sturdy independence and blunt honesty
of the Kadir, but he once came unexpectedly round a corner, to
find two of them exploring the contents of his port-manteau, from
which they had abstracted a pair of scissors, a comb, and a looking
glass." "The Kadirs," Mr. (now Sir F. A.) Nicholson writes, [13]
"are, as a rule, rather short in stature, and deep-chested, like
most mountaineers; and, like many true mountaineers, they rarely walk
with a straight leg. Hence their thigh muscles are often abnormally
developed at the expense of those of the calf. Hence, too, in part,
their dislike to walking long distances on level ground, though their
objection, mentioned by Colonel Douglas Hamilton, to carrying loads
on the plains, is deeper-rooted than that arising from mere physical
disability. This objection is mainly because they are rather a timid
race, and never feel safe out of the forests. They have also affirmed
that the low-country air is very trying to them." As a matter of fact,
they very rarely go down to the plains, even as far as the village of
Anaimalai, only fifteen miles distant from Mount Stuart. One woman,
whom I saw, had been as far as Palghat by railway from Coimbatore,
and had returned very much up-to-date in the matter of jewelry and
the latest barbarity in imported piece-good body-cloth.
With the chest-girth of the Kadirs, as well as their general muscular
development, I was very much impressed. Their hardiness, Mr. Conner
writes, [14] has given rise to the observation among their neighbours
that the Kadir and Kad Anai (wild elephant) are much the same sort
of animal.
Perhaps the most interesting custom of the Kadirs is that of chipping
all or some of the incisor teeth, both upper and lower, into the form
of a sharp-pointed, but not serrated cone. The operation, which is
performed with a chisel or bill-hook and file by members of the tribe
skilled therein, on boys and girls, has been thus described. The
girl to be operated on lies down, and places her head against a
female friend, who holds her head firmly. A woman takes a sharpened
bill-hook, and chips away the teeth till they are shaded to a point,
the girl operated on writhing and groaning with the pain. After the
operation she appears dazed, and in a very few hours the face begins
to swell. Swelling and pain last for a day or two, accompanied by
severe headache. The Kadirs say that chipped teeth make an ugly man
or woman handsome, and that a person, whose teeth have not been thus
operated on, has teeth and eats like a cow. Whether this practice
is one which the Kadir, and Mala Vedar of Travancore, have hit on
spontaneously in comparatively recent times, or whether it is a relic
of a custom resorted to by their ancestors of long ago, which remains
as a stray survival of a custom once more widely practiced by the
remote inhabitants of Southern India, cannot be definitely asserted,
but I incline to the latter view.
A friendly old woman, with huge discs in the widely dilated lobes of
the ears, and a bamboo five-pronged comb in her back-hair, who acted
as spokesman on the occasion of a visit to a charmingly situated
settlement in a jungle of magnificent bamboos by the side of a
mountain stream, pointed out to me, with conscious pride, that the
huts were largely constructed by the females, while the men worked
for the sircar (Government). The females also carry water from the
streams, collect firewood, dig up edible roots, and carry out the
sundry household duties of a housewife. Both men and women are clever
at plaiting bamboo baskets, necklets, etc. I was told one morning by
a Kadir man, whom I met on the road, as an important item of news,
that the women in his settlement were very busy dressing to come and
see me--an event as important to them as the dressing of a débutante
for presentation at the Court of St. James'. They eventually turned
up without their husbands, and evidently regarded my methods as a huge
joke organised for the amusement of themselves and their children. The
hair was neatly parted, anointed with a liberal application of cocoanut
oil, and decked with wild flowers. Beauty spots and lines had been
painted with coal-tar dyes on the forehead, and turmeric powder freely
sprinkled over the top of the heads of the married women. Some had
even discarded the ragged and dirty cotton cloth of every-day life
in favour of a colour-printed imported sari. One bright, good-looking
young woman, who had already been through the measuring ordeal, acted
as an efficient lady-help in coaching the novices in the assumption
of the correct positions. She very readily grasped the situation,
and was manifestly proud of her temporary elevation to the rank of
standard-bearer to Government.
Dr. K. T. Preuss has drawn my attention to an article in Globus,
1899, entitled 'Die Zauberbilder Schriften der Negrito in Malaka,'
wherein he describes in detail the designs on the bamboo combs worn
by the Negritos of Malacca, and compares them with the strikingly
similar design on the combs worn by the Kadir women. Dr. Preuss
works out in detail the theory that the design is not, as I have
elsewhere called it, a geometrical pattern, but consists of a series of
hieroglyphics. The collection of Kadir combs in the Madras Museum shows
very clearly that the patterns thereon are conventional designs. The
bamboo combs worn by the Semang women are stated [15] to serve as
talismans, to protect them against diseases which are prevalent, or
most dreaded by them. Mr. Vincent informs me that, so far as he knows,
the Kadir combs are not looked on as charms, and the markings thereon
have no mystic significance. A Kadir man should always make a comb,
and present it to his intended wife just before marriage, or at the
conclusion of the marriage ceremony, and the young men vie with each
other as to who can make the nicest comb. Sometimes they represent
strange articles on the combs. Mr. Vincent has, for example, seen a
comb with a very good imitation of the face of a clock scratched on it.
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish adolescent Kadir youths with
curly fringe, chests covered by a cotton cloth, and wearing necklets
made of plaited grass or glass and brass beads, from girls. And I was
myself several times caught in an erroneous diagnosis of sex. Many of
the infants have a charm tied round the neck, which takes the form of a
dried tortoise foot; the tooth of a crocodile mimicking a phallus, and
supposed to ward off attacks from a mythical water elephant which lives
in the mountain streams; or wooden imitations of tiger's claws. One
baby wore a necklet made of the seeds of Coix Lachryma-Jobi (Job's
tears). Males have the lobes of the ears adorned with brass ornaments,
and the nostril pierced, and plugged with wood. The ear-lobes of the
females are widely dilated with palm-leaf rolls or huge wooden discs,
and they wear ear-rings, brass or steel bangles and finger-rings,
and bead necklets.
It is recorded by Mr. Anantha Krishna Iyer that the Kadirs are attached
to the Raja of Cochin "by the strongest ties of personal affection and
regard. Whenever His Highness tours in the forests, they follow him,
carry him from place to place in manjals or palanquins, carry saman
(luggage), and in fact do everything for him. His Highness in return
is much attached to them, feeds them, gives them cloths, ornaments,
combs, and looking-glasses."
The Kadirs will not eat with Malasars, who are beef-eaters, and will
not carry boots made of cow-hide, except under protest.
Average stature 157.7 cm.; cephalic index 72.9; nasal index 89.
Kadle.--Kadle, Kalle, and Kadale meaning Bengal gram (Cicer arietinum)
have been recorded as exogamous septs or gotras of Kurubas and Kurnis.
Kadu.--Kadu or Kattu, meaning wild or jungle, has been recorded as a
division of Golla, Irula, Korava, Kurumba, and Tottiyan. Kadu also
occurs as an exogamous sept or gotra of the Kurnis. Kadu Konkani
is stated, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, to mean the bastard
Konkanis, as opposed to the God or pure Konkanis. Kattu Marathi is
a synonym for the bird-catching Kuruvikarans. In the Malabar Wynaad,
the jungle Kurumbas are known as Kattu Nayakan.
Kadukuttukiravar.--A synonym, meaning one who bores a hole in the ear,
for Koravas who perform the operation of piercing the lobes of the
ears for various castes.
Kaduppattan.--The Kadupattans are said, [16] according to the
traditional account of their origin, to have been Pattar Brahmans
of Kadu gramam, who became degraded owing to their supporting
the introduction of Buddhism. "The members of this caste are,"
Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [17] "at present mostly palanquin-bearers,
and carriers of salt, oil, etc. The educated among them follow the
profession of teaching, and are called Ezhuttacchan, i.e., master of
learning. Both titles are used in the same family. In the Native State
of Cochin, the Kaduppattan is a salt-worker. In British Malabar he is
not known to have followed that profession for some generations past,
but it may be that, salt manufacture having long ago been stopped in
South Malabar, he has taken to other professions, one of which is the
carriage of salt. In manners and customs Kaduppattans resemble Nayars,
but their inheritance follows the male line." The Kaduppattans are
described [18] by Mr. Logan as "a caste hardly to be distinguished from
the Nayars. They follow a modified makkatayam system of inheritance,
in which the property descends from father to son, but not from
father to daughter. The girls are married before attaining puberty,
and the bridegroom, who is to be the girl's real husband in after
life, arranges the dowry and other matters by means of mediators
(enangan). The tali is tied round the girl's neck by the bridegroom's
sister or a female relative. At the funeral ceremonies of this class,
the barber caste perform priestly functions, giving directions and
preparing oblation rice. A widow without male issue is removed on the
twelfth day after her husband's death from his house to that of her
own parents. And this is done even if she has female issue. But, on
the contrary, if she has borne sons to the deceased, she is not only
entitled to remain at her husband's house, but she continues to have,
in virtue of her sons, a joint right over his property."
Kahar.--In the Madras Census Report, 1901, the Kahars are returned as
a Bengal caste of boatmen and fishermen. In the Mysore Census Report,
it is noted that Kahar means in Hindustani a blacksmith, and that
those censused were immigrants from the Bombay Presidency.
Kaikatti (one who shows the hand).--A division of the Kanakkans
(accountants). The name has its origin in a custom, according to which
a married woman is never allowed to communicate with her mother-in-law
except by signs. [19]
Kaikolan.--The Kaikolans are a large caste of Tamil weavers found
in all the southern districts, who also are found in considerable
numbers in the Telugu country, where they have adopted the Telugu
language. A legend is current that the Nayakkan kings of Madura were
not satisfied with the workmanship of the Kaikolans, and sent for
foreign weavers from the north (Patnulkarans), whose descendants
now far out-number the Tamil weavers. The word Kaikolan is the
Tamil equivalent of the Sanskrit Virabahu, a mythological hero,
from whom both the Kaikolans and a section of the Paraiyans claim
descent. The Kaikolans are also called Sengundar (red dagger) in
connection with the following legend. "The people of the earth,
being harassed by certain demons, applied to Siva for help. Siva
was enraged against the giants, and sent forth six sparks of fire
from his eyes. His wife, Parvati, was frightened, and retired to her
chamber, and, in so doing, dropped nine beads from her anklets. Siva
converted the beads into as many females, to each of whom was born
a hero with full-grown moustaches and a dagger. These nine heroes,
with Subramanya at their head, marched in command of a large force,
and destroyed the demons. The Kaikolans or Sengundar are said to be the
descendants of Virabahu, one of these heroes. After killing the demon,
the warriors were told by Siva that they should become musicians,
and adopt a profession, which would not involve the destruction or
injury of any living creature, and, weaving being such a profession,
they were trained in it." [20] According to another version, Siva told
Parvati that the world would be enveloped in darkness if he should
close his eyes. Impelled by curiosity, Parvati closed her husband's
eyes with her hands. Being terrified by the darkness, Parvati ran to
her chamber, and, on the way thither, nine precious stones fell from
her anklets, and turned into nine fair maidens, with whom Siva became
enamoured and embraced them. Seeing later on that they were pregnant,
Parvati uttered a curse that they should not bring forth children
formed in their wombs. One Padmasura was troubling the people in this
world, and, on their praying to Siva to help them, he told Subramanya
to kill the Asura. Parvati requested Siva not to send Subramanya by
himself, and he suggested the withdrawal of her curse. Accordingly,
the damsels gave birth to nine heroes, who, carrying red daggers,
and headed by Subramanya, went in search of the Asura, and killed
him. The word kaikol is said to refer to the ratnavel or precious
dagger carried by Subramanya. The Kaikolans, on the Sura Samharam day
during the festival of Subramanya, dress themselves up to represent
the nine warriors, and join in the procession.
The name Kaikolan is further derived from kai (hand), and kol
(shuttle). The Kaikolans consider the different parts of the loom
to represent various Devatas and Rishis. The thread is said to have
been originally obtained from the lotus stalk rising from Vishnu's
navel. Several Devas formed the threads, which make the warp; Narada
became the woof; and Vedamuni the treadle. Brahma transformed himself
into the plank (padamaram), and Adisesha into the main rope.
In some places, the following sub-divisions of the caste are
recognised:--Sozhia; Rattu; Siru-tali (small marriage badge); Peru-tali
(big marriage badge); Sirpadam, and Sevaghavritti. The women of the
Siru and Peru-tali divisions wear a small and large tali respectively.
In religion, most of the Kaikolans are Saivites, and some have taken
to wearing the lingam, but a few are Vaishnavites.
The hereditary headman of the caste is called Peridanakaran or
Pattakaran, and is, as a rule, assisted by two subordinates entitled
Sengili or Gramani, and Ural. But, if the settlement is a large one,
the headman may have as many as nine assistants.
According to Mr. H. A. Stuart, [21] "the Kaikolans acknowledge the
authority of a headman, or Mahanattan, who resides at Conjeeveram,
but itinerates among their villages, receiving presents, and settling
caste disputes. Where his decision is not accepted without demur,
he imposes upon the refractory weavers the expense of a curious
ceremony, in which the planting of a bamboo post takes part. From the
top of this pole the Mahanattan pronounces his decision, which must be
acquiesced in on pain of excommunication." From information gathered
at Conjeeveram, I learn that there is attached to the Kaikolans a class
of mendicants called Nattukattada Nayanmar. The name means the Nayanmar
who do not plant, in reference to the fact that, when performing, they
fix their bamboo pole to the gopuram of a temple, instead of planting
it in the ground. They are expected to travel about the country, and,
if a caste dispute requires settlement, a council meeting is convened,
at which they must be present as the representatives of the Mahanadu,
a chief Kaikolan head-quarters at Conjeeveram. If the dispute is a
complicated one, the Nattukattada Nayanmar goes to all the Kaikolan
houses, and makes a red mark with laterite [22] on the cloth in the
loom, saying "Andvaranai," as signifying that it is done by order
of the headman. The Kaikolans may, after this, not go on with their
work until the dispute is settled, for the trial of which a day is
fixed. The Nattukattada Nayanmars set up on a gopuram their pole,
which should have seventy-two internodes, and measure at least as many
feet. The number of internodes corresponds to that of the nadus into
which the Kaikolan community is divided. Kamatchiamma is worshipped,
and the Nattukattada Nayanmars climb up the pole, and perform various
feats. Finally, the principal actor balances a young child in a tray on
a bamboo, and, letting go of the bamboo, catches the falling child. The
origin of the performance is said to have been as follows. The demon
Suran was troubling the Devas and men, and was advised by Karthikeya
(Subramanya) and Virabahu to desist from so doing. He paid no heed,
and a fight ensued. The demon sent his son Vajrabahu to meet the enemy,
and he was slain by Virabahu, who displayed the different parts of
his body in the following manner. The vertebral column was made to
represent a pole, round which the other bones were placed, and the guts
tightly wound round them. The connective tissues were used as ropes to
support the pole. The skull was used as a jaya-mani (conquest bell),
and the skin hoisted as a flag. The trident of Virabahu was fixed to
the top of the pole, and, standing over it, he announced his victory
over the world. The Nattukattada Nayanmars claim to be the descendants
of Virabahu. Their head-quarters are at Conjeeveram. They are regarded
as slightly inferior to the Kaikolans, with whom ordinarily they do
not intermarry. The Kaikolans have to pay them as alms a minimum
fee of four annas per loom annually. Another class of mendicant,
called Ponnambalaththar, which is said to have sprung up recently,
poses as true caste beggars attached to the Kaikolans, from whom,
as they travel about the country, they solicit alms. Some Kaikolans
gave Ontipuli as the name of their caste beggars. The Ontipulis,
however, are Nokkans attached to the Pallis.
The Kaikolan community is, as already indicated, divided into
seventy-two nadus or desams, viz., forty-four mel (western)
and twenty-eight kil (eastern) nadus. Intermarriages take place
between members of seventy-one of these nadus. The great Tamil
poet Ottaikuththar is said to have belonged to the Kaikolan caste
and to have sung the praises of all castes except his own. Being
angry on this account, the Kaikolans urged him to sing in praise of
them. This he consented to do, provided that he received 1,008 human
heads. Seventy-one nadus sent the first-born sons for the sacrifice,
but one nadu (Tirumarudhal) refused to send any. This refusal led
to their isolation from the rest of the community. All the nadus are
subject to the authority of four thisai nadus, and these in turn are
controlled by the mahanadu at Conjeeveram, which is the residence of
the patron deity Kamatchiamman. The thisai nadus are (1) Sivapuram
(Walajabad), east of Conjeeveram, where Kamatchiamman is said to
have placed Nandi as a guard; (2) Thondipuram, where Thondi Vinayakar
was stationed; (3) Virinjipuram to the west, guarded by Subramanya;
(4) Sholingipuram to the south, watched over by Bairava. Each of the
seventy-one nadus is sub-divided into kilai gramams (branch villages),
perur (big) and sithur (little) gramams. In Tamil works relating
to the Sengundar caste, Conjeeveram is said to be the mahanadu,
and those belonging thereto are spoken of as the nineteen hundred,
who are entitled to respect from other Kaikolans. Another name for
Kaikolans of the mahanadu seems to be Andavar; but in practice this
name is confined to the headman of the mahanadu, and members of
his family. They have the privilege of sitting at council meetings
with their backs supported by pillows, and consequently bear the
title Thindusarndan (resting on pillows). At present there are two
sections of Kaikolans at Conjeeveram, one living at Ayyampettai,
and the other at Pillaipalayam. The former claim Ayyampettai as the
mahanadu, and refuse to recognise Pillaipalayam, which is in the heart
of Conjeeveram, as the mahanadu. Disputes arose, and recourse was had
to the Vellore Court in 1904, where it was decided that Ayyampettai
possesses no claim to be called the mahanadu.
Many Kaikolan families have now abandoned their hereditary employment
as weavers in favour of agriculture and trade, and some of the poorer
members of the caste work as cart-drivers and coolies. At Coimbatore
some hereditary weavers have become cart-drivers, and some cart-drivers
have become weavers de necessité in the local jail.
In every Kaikolan family, at least one girl should be set apart for,
and dedicated to temple service. And the rule seems to be that,
so long as this girl or her descendants, born to her or adopted,
continue to live, another girl is not dedicated. But, when the line
becomes extinct, another girl must be dedicated. All the Kaikolans
deny their connection with the Deva-dasi (dancing-girl) caste. But
Kaikolans freely take meals in Dasi houses on ceremonial occasions,
and it would not be difficult to cite cases of genuine Dasis who have
relationship with rich Kaikolans.
Kaikolan girls are made Dasis either by regular dedication to a temple,
or by the headman tying the tali (nattu pottu). The latter method is
at the present day adopted because it is considered a sin to dedicate
a girl to the god after she has reached puberty, and because the
securing of the requisite official certificate for a girl to become
a Dasi involves considerable trouble.
"It is said," Mr. Stuart writes, [23] "that, where the head of a house
dies, leaving only female issue, one of the girls is made a Dasi in
order to allow of her working like a man at the loom, for no woman
not dedicated in this manner may do so."
Of the orthodox form of ceremonial in connection with a girl's
initiation as a Dasi, the following account was given by the Kaikolans
of Coimbatore. The girl is taught music and dancing. The dancing master
or Nattuvan, belongs to the Kaikolan caste, but she may be instructed
in music by Brahman Bhagavathans. At the tali-tying ceremony, which
should take place after the girl has reached puberty, she is decorated
with jewels, and made to stand on a heap of paddy (unhusked rice). A
folded cloth is held before her by two Dasis, who also stand on heaps
of paddy. The girl catches hold of the cloth, and her dancing master,
who is seated behind her, grasping her legs, moves them up and down
in time with the music, which is played. In the course of the day,
relations and friends are entertained, and, in the evening, the girl,
seated astride a pony, is taken to the temple, where a new cloth for
the idol, the tali, and various articles required for doing puja,
have been got ready. The girl is seated facing the idol, and the
officiating Brahman gives sandal and flowers to her, and ties the tali,
which has been lying at the feet of the idol, round her neck. The tali
consists of a golden disc and black beads. Betel and flowers are then
distributed among those present, and the girl is taken home through
the principal streets. She continues to learn music and dancing, and
eventually goes through a form of nuptial ceremony. The relations
are invited for an auspicious day, and the maternal uncle, or his
representative, ties a gold band on the girl's forehead, and, carrying
her, places her on a plank before the assembled guests. A Brahman
priest recites the mantrams, and prepares the sacred fire (homam). The
uncle is presented with new cloths by the girl's mother. For the actual
nuptials a rich Brahman, if possible, and, if not, a Brahman of more
lowly status is invited. A Brahman is called in, as he is next in
importance to, and the representative of the idol. It is said that,
when the man who is to receive her first favours, joins the girl, a
sword must be placed, at least for a few minutes, by her side. When a
Dasi dies, her body is covered with a new cloth removed from the idol,
and flowers are supplied from the temple, to which she belonged. No
puja is performed in the temple till the body is disposed of, as the
idol, being her husband, has to observe pollution.
Writing a century ago (1807) concerning the Kaikolan Dasis,
Buchanan says [24] that "these dancing women, and their musicians,
now form a separate kind of caste; and a certain number of them are
attached to every temple of any consequence. The allowances which the
musicians receive for their public duty is very small, yet, morning and
evening, they are bound to attend at the temple to perform before the
image. They must also receive every person travelling on account of
the Government, meet him at some distance from the town, and conduct
him to his quarters with music and dancing. All the handsome girls
are instructed to dance and sing, and are all prostitutes, at least
to the Brahmans. In ordinary sets they are quite common; but, under
the Company's government, those attached to temples of extraordinary
sanctity are reserved entirely for the use of the native officers,
who are all Brahmans, and who would turn out from the set any girl
that profaned herself by communication with persons of low caste,
or of no caste at all, such as Christians or Mussulmans. Indeed,
almost every one of these girls that is tolerably sightly is taken
by some officer of revenue for his own special use, and is seldom
permitted to go to the temple, except in his presence. Most of these
officers have more than one wife, and the women of the Brahmans are
very beautiful; but the insipidity of their conduct, from a total
want of education or accomplishment, makes the dancing women to be
sought after by all natives with great avidity. The Mussulman officers
in particular were exceedingly attached to this kind of company,
and lavished away on these women a great part of their incomes. The
women very much regret their loss, as the Mussulmans paid liberally,
and the Brahmans durst not presume to hinder any girl who chose,
from amusing an Asoph, or any of his friends. The Brahmans are not
near so lavish of their money, especially where it is secured by the
Company's government, but trust to their authority for obtaining
the favour of the dancers. To my taste, nothing can be more silly
and unanimated than the dancing of the women, nor more harsh and
barbarous than their music. Some Europeans, however, from long habit,
I suppose, have taken a liking to it, and have even been captivated
by the women. Most of them I have had an opportunity of seeing have
been very ordinary in their looks, very inelegant in their dress,
and very dirty in their persons; a large proportion of them have the
itch, and a still larger proportion are most severely diseased."
Though the Kaikolans are considered to belong to the left-hand faction,
Dasis, except those who are specially engaged by the Beri Chettis
and Kammalans, are placed in the right-hand faction. Kaikolan Dasis,
when passing through a Kammalan street, stop dancing, and they will
not salute Kammalans or Beri Chettis.
A peculiar method of selecting a bride, called siru tali kattu (tying
the small tali), is said to be in vogue among some Kaikolans. A
man, who wishes to marry his maternal uncle's or paternal aunt's
daughter, has to tie a tali, or simply a bit of cloth torn from her
clothing, round her neck, and report the fact to his parents and the
headman. If the girl eludes him, he cannot claim her, but, should
he succeed, she belongs to him. In some places, the consent of the
maternal uncle to a marriage is signified by his carrying the bride
in his arms to the marriage pandal (booth). The milk-post is made of
Erythrina indica. After the tali has been tied, the bridegroom lifts
the bride's left leg, and places it on a grinding-stone. Widows are
stated by Mr. Stuart to be "allowed to remarry if they have no issue,
but not otherwise; and, if the prevalent idea that a Kaikola woman
is never barren be true, this must seldom take place."
On the final day of the death ceremonies, a small hut is erected,
and inside it stones, brought by the barber, are set up, and offerings
made to them.
The following proverbs are current about or among the Kaikolans:--
Narrate stories in villages where there are no Kaikolans.
Why should a weaver have a monkey?
This, it has been suggested, [25] implies that a monkey would
only damage the work.
On examining the various occupations, weaving will be found to
be the best.
A peep outside will cut out eight threads.
The person who was too lazy to weave went to the stars.
The Chetti (money-lender) decreases the money, and the weaver
the thread.
The titles of the Kaikolans are Mudali and Nayanar.
Among the Kaikolan musicians, I have seen every gradation of colour
and type, from leptorhine men with fair skin and chiselled features,
to men very dark and platyrhine, with nasal index exceeding 90.
The Kaikolans take part in the annual festival at Tirupati in honour of
the goddess Gangamma. "It is," Mr. Stuart writes, [26] "distinguished
from the majority of similar festivals by a custom, which requires
the people to appear in a different disguise (vesham) every morning
and evening. The Matangi vesham of Sunday morning deserves special
mention. The devotee who consents to undergo this ceremony dances in
front of an image or representation of the goddess, and, when he is
worked up to the proper pitch of frenzy, a metal wire is passed through
the middle of his tongue. It is believed that this operation causes no
pain, or even bleeding, and the only remedy adopted is the chewing of a
few margosa (Melia Azadirachta) leaves, and some kunkumam (red powder)
of the goddess. This vesham is undertaken only by a Kaikolan (weaver),
and is performed only in two places--the house of a certain Brahman
and the Mahant's math. The concluding disguise is that known as the
perantalu vesham. Perantalu signifies the deceased married women of
a family who have died before their husbands, or, more particularly,
the most distinguished of such women. This vesham is accordingly
represented by a Kaikolan disguised as a female, who rides round the
town on a horse, and distributes to the respectable inhabitants of
the place the kunkumam, saffron paste, and flowers of the goddess."
For the following account of a ceremony, which took
place at Conjeeveram in August, 1908, I am indebted to the
Rev. J. H. Maclean. "On a small and very lightly built car, about
eight feet high, and running on four little wheels, an image of Kali
was placed. It was then dragged by about thirty men, attached to it by
cords passed through the flesh of their backs. I saw one of the young
men two days later. Two cords had been drawn through his flesh, about
twelve inches apart. The wounds were covered over with white stuff,
said to be vibuthi (sacred ashes). The festival was organised by a
class of weavers calling themselves Sankunram (Sengundar) Mudaliars,
the inhabitants of seven streets in the part of Conjeeveram known as
Pillaipalyam. The total amount spent is said to have been Rs. 500. The
people were far from clear in their account of the meaning of the
ceremony. One said it was a preventive of small-pox, but this view did
not receive general support. Most said it was simply an old custom:
what good it did they could not say. Thirty years had elapsed since
the last festival. One man said that Kali had given no commands on the
subject, and that it was simply a device to make money circulate. The
festival is called Punter (flower car)."
In September, 1908, an official notification was issued in the Fort
St. George Gazette to the following effect. "Whereas it appears
that hook-swinging, dragging of cars by men harnessed to them by
hooks which pierce their sides, and similar acts are performed
during the Mariyamman festival at Samayapuram and other places in
the Trichinopoly division, Trichinopoly district, and whereas such
acts are dangerous to human life, the Governor in Council is pleased,
under section 144, sub-section (5), of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1898, to direct that the order of the Sub-divisional Magistrate,
dated the 7th August, 1908, prohibiting such acts, shall remain in
force until further orders."
It is noted by Mr. F. R. Hemingway [27] that, at Ratnagiri, in
the Trichinopoly district, the Kaikolans, in performance of a vow,
thrust a spear through the muscles of the abdomen in honour of their
god Sahanayanar.
Kaila (measuring grain in the threshing-floor).--An exogamous sept
of Mala.
Kaimal.--A title of Nayars, derived from kai, hand, signifying power.
Kaipuda.--A sub-division of Holeya.
Kaivarta.--A sub-division of Kevuto.
Kaka (crow).--The legend relating to the Kaka people is narrated in
the article on Koyis. The equivalent Kaki occurs as a sept of Malas,
and Kako as a sept of Kondras.
Kakara or Kakarla (Momordica Charantia).--An exogamous sept of Kamma
and Muka Dora.
Kakirekka-vandlu (crows' feather people).--Mendicants who beg from
Mutrachas, and derive their name from the fact that, when begging,
they tie round their waists strings on which crows', paddy birds'
(heron) feathers, etc., are tied.
Kakka Kuravan.--A division of Kuravas of Travancore.
Kakkalan.--The Kakkalans or Kakkans are a vagrant tribe met with in
north and central Travancore, who are identical with the Kakka Kuravans
of south Travancore. There are among them four endogamous divisions
called Kavitiyan, Manipparayan, Meluttan, and Chattaparayan, of which
the two first are the most important. The Kavitiyans are further
sub-divided into Kollak Kavitiyan residing in central Travancore,
Malayalam Kavitiyan, and Pandi Kavitiyan or immigrants from the
Pandyan country.
The Kakkalans have a legend concerning their origin to the effect
that Siva was once going about begging as a Kapaladharin, and arrived
at a Brahman street, from which the inhabitants drove him away. The
offended god immediately reduced the village to ashes, and the guilty
villagers begged his pardon, but were reduced to the position of the
Kakkalans, and made to earn their livelihood by begging.
The women wear iron and silver bangles, and a palunka mala or
necklace of variously coloured beads. They are tattooed, and tattooing
members of other castes is one of their occupations, which include
the following:--
Katukuttu, or boring the lobes of the ears.
Katuvaippu, or plastic operations on the ear, which Nayar women and
others who wear heavy pendant ear ornaments often require.
Kainokku or palmistry, in which the women are more proficient than
the men.
Kompuvaippu, or placing the twig of a plant on any swelling of the
body, and dissipating it by blowing on it.
Taiyyal, or tailoring.
Pampatam or snake dance, in which the Kakkalans are unrivalled.
Fortune telling.
The chief object of worship by the Kakkalans is the rising sun, to
which boiled rice is offered on Sunday. They have no temples of their
own, but stand at some distance from Hindu temples, and worship the
gods thereof. Though leading a wandering life, they try to be at home
for the Malabar new year, on which occasion they wear new clothes,
and hold a feast. They do not observe the national Onam and Vishu
festivals.
The Kakkalans are conspicuously polygamous, and some have as many as
twelve wives, who are easily supported, as they earn money by their
professional engagements. A first marriage must be celebrated on
Sunday, and the festivities last from Saturday to Monday. Subsequent
marriages may also be celebrated on Thursday. On the night of the
day before the wedding, a brother, or other near relation of the
bridegroom, places the sambandham (alliance) by bringing a fanam
(coin), material for chewing, and cooked rice to the marriage pandal
(booth). Fruit and other things are flung at him by the bride's
people. On the following day the bridegroom arrives at the pandal,
and, after raising the tali (marriage badge) three times towards
heaven, and, invoking a blessing from on high, ties it round the
bride's neck. When a girl reaches puberty, a merry celebration is
kept up for a week. The dead are buried. Inheritance is from father
to son. A childless widow is a coparcener with the brothers of the
deceased, and forfeits this right if she remarries.
Though in the presence of other castes the Kakkalans speak Malayalam,
they have a peculiar language which is used among themselves, and is
not understood by others. [28]
Kakke (Indian laburnum: Cassia fistula).--A gotra of Kurni.
Kala.--Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a
sub-division of Nayar.
Kalaikuttadi (pole-dancer).--A Tamil synonym of Dommara.
Kalal.--A Hindustani synonym of Gamalla.
Kalamkotti (potter).--An occupational title of Nayar.
Kalasi.--A name given to Vada fishermen by Oriya people.
Kalava (channel or ditch).--An exogamous sept of Padma Sale.
Kalavant.--The Kalavants are dancers and singers, who, like other
dancing-girls, are courtesans. The name occurs not only in South
Canara, but also in the Telugu country.
Kalinga.--A sub-division of Komatis, who "were formerly the inhabitants
of the ancient Kalinga country. They are considered inferior to the
other sub-divisions, on account of their eating flesh. Their titles
are Subaddhi, Patro, and Chaudari." [29] In the Ganjam Manual, they
are described as "traders and shopkeepers, principally prevalent
in the Chicacole division. The name Kling or Kaling is applied,
in the Malay countries, including the Straits Settlements, to the
people of peninsular India, who trade thither, or are settled in
those regions." It is recorded by Dr. N. Annandale that the phrase
Orang Kling Islam (i.e., a Muhammadan from the Madras coast) occurs
in Patani Malay.
Kalingi and Kalinji.--There has been some confusion, in recorded
accounts, between these two classes. In the Ganjam Manual, the
Kalinjis are described as agriculturists in that district, and,
in the Vizagapatam Manual, the Kalingas or Kalingulu are stated to
be cultivators in the Vizagapatam district, and a caste of Paiks or
fighting men in Jeypore. In the Census Report, 1891, the Kalingis are
said to be "most numerous in Ganjam, but there is a considerable number
of them in Vizagapatam also. The word means a native of Kalinga, the
name of the sea-board of the Telugu country; the word Telugu itself is
supposed by Dr. Caldwell to be a corruption of Tri-Kalinga. The three
large sub-divisions of the caste are Buragam, Kintala, and Odiya. In
the Kintala sub-division, a widow may remarry if she has no male issue,
but the remarriage of widows is not allowed in other sub-divisions. The
use of flesh and alcoholic liquor is permitted. Naidu and Chaudari
are their titles." Further, in the Census Report, 1901, the Kalingis
are described as follows: "A caste of temple priests and cultivators,
found mainly in Ganjam and Vizagapatam, whither they are supposed
to have been brought by the Kalinga kings to do service in the Hindu
temples, before the advent of the Brahmans. They speak either Oriya or
Telugu. They have two sub-divisions, the Kintali Kalingas, who live
south of the Langulya river, and the Buragam Kalingis, who reside to
the north of it, and the customs of the two differ a great deal. There
is also a third section, called Pandiri or Bevarani, which is composed
of outcastes from the other two. Except the Kalingis of Mokhalingam in
Vizagapatam, [30] they have headmen called Nayakabalis or Santos. They
also have priests called Kularazus, each of whom sees to the spiritual
needs of a definite group of villages. They are divided into several
exogamous gotras, each comprising a number of families or vamsas,
some of which, such as Arudra, a lady-bird, and Revi-chettu, the Ficus
religiosa tree, are of totemistic origin. Each section is said to
worship its totem. Marriage before puberty is the rule, and the caste
is remarkable for the proportion of its girls under twelve years of
age who are married or widowed. Widow marriage is not recognised by
the Buragam Kalingis, but the Kintalis freely allow it. As usual,
the ceremonies at the wedding of a widow differ from those at the
marriage of a maid. Some turmeric paste is placed on a new cloth,
which is then put over a pot of water, and the ceremony takes place
near this. The binding portion of it is the tying of a saffron-coloured
string to the woman's wrist. The Kalingis pay special reverence to Sri
Radha Krishna and Chaitanya. Some of the caste officiate in temples,
wear the sacred thread, and call themselves Brahmans, but they are
not received on terms of equality by other Brahmans. All Kalingis bury
their dead, but sraddhas (memorial services) are performed only by the
Kintali sub-division. The Buragam Kalingis do not shave their heads in
front. Kalingi women wear heavy bangles of brass, silver bell-metal
and glass, extending from the wrist to the elbow. The titles of the
castes are Naidu, Nayarlu, Chowdari, Bissoyi, Podhano, Jenna, Swayi,
and Naiko."
In the foregoing account, the Oriya-speaking Kalinjis, and
Telugu-speaking Kalingis, are both referred to. The confusion seems
to have arisen from the fact that the Kalinjis are sometimes called
Kalingis by other castes. The Kalingis are essentially Telugus, and
are found mainly on the borderland between the districts of Ganjam and
Vizagapatam. The Kalinjis are, on the other hand, Oriyas, and seem to
be closely allied to the agricultural castes, Doluva, Alia, Bosantiya,
etc., like which they are mainly agriculturists. The Kalinjis can be
easily distinguished from the Kalingis, as the latter wear the sacred
thread. The following story is told in connection with the origin of
the Kalinji caste. A band of robbers was once upon a time staying in a
fort near Bhattu Kunnarade, and molesting the people, who invited the
king of Puri to come and drive the robbers away. Among the warriors
who were recruited for this purpose, was a member of the Khondaito
caste, who, with the permission of the king, succeeded in expelling
the robbers. He was named by the people Bodo-Kalinja, or one having
a stout heart. He and his followers remained in the Ganjam country,
and the Kalinjis are their descendants. The caste is widespread in
the northern part thereof.
There do not seem to be any sub-divisions among the Kalinjis, but
there is a small endogamous group, called Mohiri Kalinji. Mohiri
is a well-known division in Ganjam, and Kalinjis who dwell therein
intermarry with others, and do not form a separate community. It
has been suggested that the Mohiri Kalinjis are Telugu Kalingis,
who have settled in the Oriya country. Like other Oriya castes,
the Kalinjis have gotras, e.g., bano (sun), sukro (star), sanko
(conch-shell), bhago (tiger) and nago (cobra). There is a good
deal of confusion regarding the gotras in their connection with
marriage. The same gotra, e.g., sukro, is exogamous in some places,
and not so in others. Many titles occur among the Kalinjis, e.g.,
Borado, Bissoyi, Bariko, Behara, Dolei, Gaudo, Jenna, Moliko, Naiko,
Patro, Podhano, Pulleyi, Ravuto, Santo, Savu, Swayi, Guru. In some
places, the titles are taken as representing bamsams (or vamsams),
and, as such, are exogamous. Families as a rule refrain from marrying
into families bearing the same title. For example, a Dolei man will
not marry a Dolei girl, especially if their gotras are the same. But
a Dolei may marry a Pullei, even if they have the same gotra.
The headman of the Kalinjis is styled Santo, and he is assisted by a
Patro. There is also a caste messenger, called Bhollobhaya. For the
whole community there are said to be four Santos and four Patros,
residing at Attagada, Chinna Kimedi, Pedda Kimedi, and Mohiri. A man
who is suffering from a wound or sore infested by maggots is said
to be excommunicated, and, when he has recovered, to submit himself
before the caste-council before he is received back into the community.
Girls are generally married before puberty, and, if a real husband
is not forthcoming, a maid goes through a mock marriage ceremony
with her elder sister's husband, or some elder of the community. A
bachelor must be married to the sado (Streblus asper) tree before he
can marry a widow. The remarriage of widows (thuvathuvvi) is freely
allowed. A widow, who has a brother-in-law, may not marry anyone
else, until she has obtained a deed of separation (tsado patro) from
him. The marriage ceremonies conform to the standard Oriya type. In
some places, the little fingers of the contracting couple are linked,
instead of their hands being tied together with thread. On the fourth
day, a Bhondari (barber) places on the marriage dais some beaten rice
and sugar-candy, which the bride and bridegroom sell to relations for
money and grain. The proceeds of the sale are the perquisite of the
Bhondari. On the seventh day, the bridegroom breaks a pot on the dais,
and, as he and the bride go away, the brother of the latter throws
brinjal (Solanum Melongena) fruits at him.
The dead are as a rule cremated. On the day after death, food,
made bitter by the addition of margosa (Melia Azadirachta) leaves,
is offered. A piece of bone is carried away from the burning-ground,
and buried under a pipal (Ficus religiosa) tree. Daily, until the
tenth day, water is poured seven times over the spot where the bone
is buried. On the tenth day, if the deceased was an elder of the
community, the jola-jola handi ceremony is performed with a pot
riddled with holes. (See Bhondari.)
Kalkatta.--An occupation name for stone-masons in South Canara.
Kalkatti.--Kalkatti, denoting, it has been suggested, those who wear
glass beads, is a sub-division of Idaiyan. The Lingayats among Badagas
of the Nilgiri hills are called Kalkatti, because they hang a stone
(the lingam) from their necks in a casket. Some Irulas of the same
hills are also said to go by the name Kalkatti.
Kalla.--Recorded as a sub-division of Shanan, and of Idaiyans in
localities where Kallans are most numerous.
Kalladi.--The title of a Cheruman who performs important duties, and
becomes possessed by the spirit of the deceased, at a Cheruman funeral.
Kalladi Mangan.--A synonym of Mondi.
Kalladi Siddhan.--The name, meaning a beggar who beats himself with
a stone, of a class of Telugu mendicants, who are very clamorous and
persistent in their demands for alms. The name is applied as a term of
contempt for any obstinate and troublesome individual. These beggars
carry with them a gourd, have tortoise and cowry shells tied on their
elbows, and carry an iron rod, with which they beat an iron ring worn
on the hand. They present a very revolting spectacle, as they smear
their bodies with rice done up so as to resemble vomit, and with the
juice of the prickly-pear (Opuntia Dillenii), to make people believe
that it is blood oozing from cuts made with a knife. They are said to
be very fond of eating crows, which they catch with nets. (See Mondi.)
Kallamu (threshing-floor).--An exogamous sept of Panta Reddi.
Kallan.--Of the Kallans of the Madura district in the early part of
the last century, an excellent account was written by Mr. T. Turnbull
(1817), from which the following extract has been taken. "The Cullaries
are said to be in general a brave people, expert in the use of the
lance and in throwing the curved stick called vullaree taddee. This
weapon is invariably in use among the generality of this tribe; it
is about 30 inches in curvature. The word Cullar is used to express
a thief of any caste, sect or country, but it will be necessary to
trace their progress to that characteristic distinction by which
this race is designated both a thief, and an inhabitant of a certain
Naud, which was not altogether exempted from paying tribute to the
sovereign of Madura. This race appears to have become hereditary
occupiers, and appropriated to themselves various Nauds in different
parts of the southern countries; in each of these territories they
have a chief among them, whose orders and directions they all must
obey. They still possess one common character, and in general are such
thieves that the name is very justly applied to them, for they seldom
allow any merchandize to pass through their hands without extorting
something from the owners, if they do not rob them altogether, and in
fact travellers, pilgrims, and Brahmans are attacked and stript of
everything they possess, and they even make no scruple to kill any
caste of people, save only the latter. In case a Brahman happens to
be killed in their attempt to plunder, when the fact is made known to
the chief, severe corporal punishment is inflicted on the criminals
and fines levied, besides exclusion from society for a period of six
months. The Maloor Vellaloor and Serrugoody Nauds are denominated the
Keelnaud, whose inhabitants of the Cullar race are designated by the
appellation of Amblacaurs.
"The women are inflexibly vindictive and furious on the least injury,
even on suspicion, which prompts them to the most violent revenge
without any regard to consequences. A horrible custom exists among
the females of the Colleries when a quarrel or dissension arises
between them. The insulted woman brings her child to the house of the
aggressor, and kills it at her door to avenge herself. Although her
vengeance is attended with the most cruel barbarity, she immediately
thereafter proceeds to a neighbouring village with all her goods,
etc. In this attempt she is opposed by her neighbours, which gives
rise to clamour and outrage. The complaint is then carried to the head
Amblacaur, who lays it before the elders of the village, and solicits
their interference to terminate the quarrel. In the course of this
investigation, if the husband finds that sufficient evidence has been
brought against his wife, that she had given cause for provocation and
aggression, then he proceeds unobserved by the assembly to his house,
and brings one of his children, and, in the presence of witness,
kills his child at the door of the woman who had first killed her
child at his. By this mode of proceeding he considers that he has
saved himself much trouble and expense, which would otherwise have
devolved on him. This circumstance is soon brought to the notice of
the tribunal, who proclaim that the offence committed is sufficiently
avenged. But, should this voluntary retribution of revenge not be
executed by the convicted person, the tribunal is prorogued to a
limited time, fifteen days generally. Before the expiration of that
period, one of the children of that convicted person must be killed. At
the same time he is to bear all expenses for providing food, etc.,
for the assembly during those days.
"A remarkable custom prevails both among the males and females in
these Nauds to have their ears bored and stretched by hanging heavy
rings made of lead so as to expand their ear-laps (lobes) down to
their shoulders. Besides this singular idea of beauty attached by
them to pendant ears, a circumstance still more remarkable is that,
when merchants or travellers pass through these Nauds, they generally
take the precaution to insure a safe transit through these territories
by counting the friendship of some individual of the Naud by payment
of a certain fee, for which he deputes a young girl to conduct
the travellers safe through the limits. This sacred guide conducts
them along with her finger to her ear. On observing this sign, no
Cullary will dare to plunder the persons so conducted. It sometimes
happens, in spite of this precaution, that attempts are made to
attack the traveller. The girl in such cases immediately tears one
of her ear-laps, and returns to spread the report, upon which the
complaint is carried before the chief and elders of the Naud, who
forthwith convene a meeting in consequence at the Mundoopoolee. [31]
If the violators are convicted, vindictive retaliation ensues. The
assembly condemns the offenders to have both their ear-laps torn
in expiation of their crime, and, if otherwise capable, they are
punished by fines or absolved by money. By this means travellers
generally obtain a safe passage through these territories. [Even
at the present day, in quarrels between women of the lower castes,
long ears form a favourite object of attack, and lobe-tearing cases
figure frequently in police records. [32]]
"The Maloor Naud was originally inhabited and cultivated by
Vellaulers. At a certain period some Cullaries belonging to Vella
Naud in the Conjeeveram district proceeded thence on a hunting
excursion with weapons consisting of short hand pikes, cudgels,
bludgeons, and curved sticks for throwing, and dogs. While engaged
in their sport, they observed a peacock resist and attack one of
their hounds. The sportsmen, not a little astonished at the sight,
declared that this appeared to be a fortunate country, and its native
inhabitants and every living creature naturally possessed courage and
bravery. Preferring such a country to their Naud in Conjeeveram, they
were desirous of establishing themselves here as cultivators. To effect
this, they insinuated themselves into the favour of the Vellaulers,
and, engaging as their servants, were permitted to remain in these
parts, whither they in course of time invited their relations and
friends, and to appearance conducted themselves faithfully and
obediently to the entire satisfaction of the Vellaulers, and were
rewarded for their labour. Some time afterwards, the Vellaulers,
exercising an arbitrary sway over the Cullaries, began to inflict
condign punishment for offences and misdemeanours committed in their
service. This stirred up the wrath of the Cullaries, who gradually
acquired the superiority over their masters, and by coercive measures
impelled them to a strict observance of the following rules:--
1st.--That, if a Culler was struck by his master in such a manner as
to deprive him of a tooth, he was to pay a fine of ten cully chuckrums
(money) for the offence.
2nd.--That, if a Culler happened to have one of his ear-laps torn,
the Vellauler was to pay a fine of six chuckrums.
3rd.--That if a Culler had his skull fractured, the Vellauler was to
pay thirty chuckrums, unless he preferred to have his skull fractured
in return.
4th.--That, if a Culler had his arm or leg broke, he was then to be
considered but half a man. In such case the offender was required to
grant the Culler one cullum of nunjah seed land (wet cultivation),
and two koorkums of punjah (dry cultivation), to be held and enjoyed in
perpetuity, exclusive of which the Vellauler was required to give the
Culler a doopettah (cloth) and a cloth for his wife, twenty cullums of
paddy or any other grain, and twenty chuckrums in money for expenses.
5th.--That, if a Culler was killed, the offender was required to pay
either a fine of a hundred chuckrums, or be subject to the vengeance
of the injured party. Until either of these alternatives was agreed
to, and satisfaction afforded, the party injured was at liberty to
plunder the offender's property, never to be restored.
"By this hostile mode of conduct imposed on their masters, together
with their extravagant demands, the Vellaulers were reduced to that
dread of the Cullers as to court their favour, and became submissive
to their will and pleasure, so that in process of time the Cullers
not only reduced them to poverty, but also induced them to abandon
their villages and hereditary possessions, and to emigrate to foreign
countries. Many were even murdered in total disregard of their former
solemn promises of fidelity and attachment. Having thus implacably got
rid of their original masters and expelled them from their Naud, they
became the rulers of it, and denominated it by the singular appellation
of Tun Arrasa Naud, signifying a forest only known to its possessors
[or tanarasu-nad, i.e., the country governed by themselves]. [33]
In short, these Colleries became so formidable at length as to
evince a considerable ambition, and to set the then Government at
defiance. Allagar Swamy they regarded as the God of their immediate
devotion, and, whenever their enterprizes were attended with success,
they never failed to be liberal in the performance of certain religious
ceremonies to Allagar. To this day they invoke the name of Allagar in
all what they do, and they make no objection in contributing whatever
they can when the Stalaters come to their villages to collect money or
grain for the support of the temple, or any extraordinary ceremonies of
the God. The Cullers of this Naud, in the line of the Kurtaukles, once
robbed and drove away a large herd of cows belonging to the Prince,
who, on being informed of the robbery, and that the calves were highly
distressed for want of nourishment, ordered them to be drove out of
and left with the cows, wherever they were found. The Cullers were
so exceedingly pleased with this instance of the Kurtaukle's goodness
and greatness of mind that they immediately collected a thousand cows
(at one cow from every house) in the Naud as a retribution, and drove
them along with the plundered cattle to Madura. Whenever a quarrel
or dispute happens among them, the parties arrest each other in the
name of the respective Amblacaurs, whom they regard as most sacred,
and they will only pay their homage to those persons convened as
arbitrators or punjayems to settle their disputes.
"During the feudal system that prevailed among these Colleries for a
long time, they would on no consideration permit the then Government
to have any control or authority over them. When tribute was demanded,
the Cullers would answer with contempt: 'The heavens supply the earth
with rain, our cattle plough, and we labour to improve and cultivate
the land. While such is the case, we alone ought to enjoy the fruits
thereof. What reason is there that we should be obedient, and pay
tribute to our equal?'
"During the reign of Vizia Ragoonada Saitooputty [34] a party of
Colleries, having proceeded on a plundering excursion into the Ramnad
district, carried off two thousand of the Raja's own bullocks. The
Raja was so exasperated that he caused forts to be erected at five
different places in the Shevagunga and Ramnad districts, and, on
pretext of establishing a good understanding with these Nauttams, he
artfully invited the principal men among them, and, having encouraged
them by repeatedly conferring marks of his favour, caused a great
number to be slain, and a number of their women to be transported
to Ramiserum, where they were branded with the marks of the pagoda,
and made Deva Dassies or dancing girls and slaves of the temple. The
present dancing girls in that celebrated island are said to be the
descendants of these women of the Culler tribe." In the eighteenth
century a certain Captain Rumley was sent with troops to check the
turbulent Colleries. "He became the terror of the Collerie Naud,
and was highly respected and revered by the designation of Rumley
Swamy, under which appellation the Colleries afterwards distinguished
him." It is on record that, during the Trichinopoly war, the horses
of Clive and Stringer Lawrence were stolen by two Kallan brothers.
Tradition says that one of the rooms in Tirumala Nayakkan's palace
at Madura "was Tirumala's sleeping apartment, and that his cot hung
by long chains from hooks in the roof. One night, says a favourite
story, a Kallan made a hole in the roof, swarmed down the chains, and
stole the royal jewels. The king promised a jaghir (grant of land)
to anyone who would bring him the thief, and the Kallan then gave
himself up and claimed the reward. The king gave him the jaghir,
and then promptly had him beheaded." [35]
By Mr. H. A. Stuart [36] the Kallans are said to be "a middle-sized
dark-skinned tribe found chiefly in the districts of Tanjore,
Trichinopoly and Madura, and in the Pudukota territory. The name Kallan
is commonly derived from Tamil kallam, which means theft. Mr. Nelson
[37] expresses some doubts as to the correctness of this derivation,
but Dr. Oppert accepts it, and no other has been suggested. The
original home of the Kallans appears to have been Tondamandalam or the
Pallava country, and the head of the class, the Raja of Pudukota, is
to this day called the Tondaman. There are good grounds for believing
that the Kallans are a branch of the Kurumbas, who, when they found
their regular occupation as soldiers gone, 'took to maraudering,
and made themselves so obnoxious by their thefts and robberies, that
the term kallan, thief, was applied, and stuck to them as a tribal
appellation.' [38] The Rev. W. Taylor, the compiler of the Catalogue
Raisonné of Oriental Manuscripts, also identifies the Kallans with
the Kurumbas, and Mr. Nelson accepts this conclusion. In the census
returns, Kurumban is returned as one of the sub-divisions of the
Kallan caste.'
"The Chola country, or Tanjore," Mr. W. Francis writes, [39] "seems to
have been the original abode of the Kallans before their migration to
the Pandya kingdom after its conquest by the Cholas about the eleventh
century A.D. But in Tanjore they have been greatly influenced by the
numerous Brahmans there, and have taken to shaving their heads and
employing Brahmans as priests. At their weddings also the bridegroom
ties the tali himself, while elsewhere his sister does it. Their
brethren across the border in Madura continue to merely tie their
hair in a knot, and employ their own folk to officiate as their
priests. This advance of one section will doubtless in time enhance
the social estimation of the caste as a whole."
It is further noted, in the Gazetteer of the Tanjore district, that the
ambitions of the Kallans have been assisted "by their own readiness,
especially in the more advanced portions of the district, to imitate
the practices of Brahmans and Vellalans. Great variations thus occur in
their customs in different localities, and a wide gap exists between
the Kallans of this district as a whole and those of Madura."
In the Manual of the Tanjore district, it is stated that "profitable
agriculture, coupled with security of property in land, has converted
the great bulk of the Kallar and Padeiyachi classes into a contented
and industrious population. They are now too fully occupied with
agriculture, and the incidental litigation, to think of their old
lawless pursuits, even if they had an inclination to follow them. The
bulk of the ryotwari proprietors in that richly cultivated part
of the Cauvery delta which constituted the greater part of the old
taluk of Tiruvadi are Kallars, and, as a rule, they are a wealthy and
well-to-do class. The Kallar ryots, who inhabit the villages along
the banks of the Cauvery, in their dress and appearance generally
look quite like Vellalas. Some of the less romantic and inoffensive
characteristics of the Kallars in Madura and Tinnevelly are found
among the recent immigrants from the south, who are distinguished
from the older Kallar colonies by the general term Terkattiyar,
literally southerns, which includes emigrants of other castes from
the south. The Terkattiyars are found chiefly in the parts of the
district which border on Pudukota. Kallars of this group grow their
hair long all over the head exactly like women, and both men and women
enlarge the holes in the lobes of their ears to an extraordinary size
by inserting rolls of palm-leaf into them." The term Terkattiyar is
applied to Kallan, Maravan, Agamudaiyan, and other immigrants into the
Tanjore district. At Mayaveram, for example, it is applied to Kalians,
Agamudaiyans, and Valaiyans. It is noted, in the Census Report,
1891, that Agamudaiyan and Kallan were returned as sub-divisions
of Maravans by a comparatively large number of persons. "Maravan
is also found among the sub-divisions of Kallan, and there can be
little doubt that there is a very close connection between Kallans,
Maravans, and Agamudaiyans." "The origin of the Kallar caste,"
Mr. F. S. Mullaly writes, [40] "as also that of the Maravars and
Ahambadayars, is mythologically traced to Indra and Aghalia, the wife
of Rishi Gautama. The legend is that Indra and Rishi Gautama were,
among others, rival suitors for the hand of Aghalia. Rishi Gautama
was the successful one. This so incensed Indra that he determined to
win Aghalia at all hazards, and, by means of a cleverly devised ruse,
succeeded, and Aghalia bore him three sons, who respectively took the
names Kalla, Marava, and Ahambadya. The three castes have the agnomen
Theva or god, and claim to be descendants of Thevan (Indra)." According
to another version of the legend "once upon a time Rishi Gautama left
his house to go abroad on business. Devendra, taking advantage of his
absence, debauched his wife, and three children were the result. When
the Rishi returned, one of the three hid himself behind a door, and, as
he thus acted like a thief, he was henceforward called Kallan. Another
got up a tree, and was therefore called Maravan from maram, a tree,
whilst the third brazened it out and stood his ground, thus earning
for himself the name of Ahamudeiyan, or the possessor of pride. This
name was corrupted into Ahambadiyan." [41] There is a Tamil proverb
that a Kallan may come to be a Maravan. By respectability he may
develop into an Agamudaiyan, and, by slow and small degrees, become
a Vellala, from which he may rise to be a Mudaliar.
"The Kallans," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [42] "will eat flesh,
excepting beef, and have no scruples regarding the use of intoxicating
liquor. They are usually farmers or field-labourers, but many of
them are employed as village or other watchmen, and not a few depend
for their subsistence upon the proceeds of thefts and robberies. In
Trichinopoly town, householders are obliged to keep a member of the
Kallan caste in their service as a protection against the depredations
of these thieves, and any refusal to give in to this custom invariably
results in loss of property. On the other hand, if a theft should,
by any chance, be committed in a house where a Kallan is employed,
the articles stolen will be recovered, and returned to the owner. In
Madura town, I am informed, a tax of four annas per annum is levied
on houses in certain streets by the head of the Kallan caste in return
for protection against theft." In the Census Report, 1901, Mr. Francis
records that "the Kallans, Maravans, and Agamudaiyans are responsible
for a share of the crime of the southern districts, which is out of all
proportion to their strength in them. In 1897, the Inspector-General of
Prisons reported that nearly 42 per cent. of the convicts in the Madura
jail, and 30 per cent, of those in the Palamcottah jail in Tinnevelly,
belonged to one or other of these three castes. In Tinnevelly, in 1894,
131 cattle thefts were committed by men of these three castes against
47 by members of others, which is one theft to 1,497 of the population
of the three bodies against one to 37,830 of the other castes. The
statistics of their criminality in Trichinopoly and Madura were also
bad. The Kallans had until recently a regular system of blackmail,
called kudikaval, under which each village paid certain fees to
be exempt from theft. The consequences of being in arrears with
their payments quickly followed in the shape of cattle thefts and
'accidental' fires in houses. In Madura the villagers recently struck
against this extortion. The agitation was started by a man of the
Idaiyan or shepherd caste, which naturally suffered greatly by the
system, and continued from 1893 to 1896." The origin of the agitation
is said [43] to have been the anger of certain of the Idaiyans with
a Kallan Lothario, who enticed away a woman of their caste, and
afterwards her daughter, and kept both women simultaneously under his
protection. The story of this anti-Kallan agitation is told as follows
in the Police Administration Report, 1896. "Many of the Kallans are the
kavalgars of the villages under the kaval system. Under that system
the kavalgars receive fees, and in some cases rent-free land for
undertaking to protect the property of the villagers against theft,
or to restore an equivalent in value for anything lost. The people
who suffer most at the hands of the Kallars are the shepherds (Konans
or Idaiyans). Their sheep and goats form a convenient subject for the
Kallar's raids. They are taken for kaval fees alleged to be overdue,
and also stolen, again to be restored on the payment of blackmail. The
anti-Kallar movement was started by a man of the shepherd caste, and
rapidly spread. Meetings of villagers were held, at which thousands
attended. They took oath on their ploughs to dispense with the
services of the Kallars; they formed funds to compensate such of
them as lost their cattle, or whose houses were burnt; they arranged
for watchmen among themselves to patrol the villages at night; they
provided horns to be sounded to carry the alarm in cases of theft
from village to village, and prescribed a regular scale of fines to
be paid by those villagers who failed to turn out on the sound of
the alarm. The Kallans in the north in many cases sold their lands,
and left their villages, but in some places they showed fight. For six
months crime is said to have ceased absolutely, and, as one deponent
put it, people even left their buckets at the wells. In one or two
places the Kallans gathered in large bodies in view to overawe the
villagers, and riots followed. In one village there were three murders,
and the Kallar quarter was destroyed by fire, but whether the fire was
the work of Konans or Kallars has never been discovered. In August,
large numbers of villagers attacked the Kallars in two villages in
the Dindigul division, and burnt the Kallar quarters."
"The crimes," Mr. F. S. Mullaly writes, [44] "that Kallars are addicted
to are dacoity in houses or on highways, robbery, house-breaking and
cattle-stealing. They are usually armed with vellari thadis or clubs
(the so-called boomerangs) and occasionally with knives similar to
those worn by the inhabitants of the western coast. Their method of
house-breaking is to make the breach in the wall under the door. A
lad of diminutive size then creeps in, and opens the door for the
elders. Jewels worn by sleepers are seldom touched. The stolen property
is hidden in convenient places, in drains, wells, or straw stacks, and
is sometimes returned to the owner on receipt of blackmail from him
called tuppu-kuli or clue hire. The women seldom join in crimes, but
assist the men in their dealings (for disposal of the stolen property)
with the Chettis." It is noted by the Abbé Dubois that the Kallars
"regard a robber's occupation as discreditable neither to themselves,
nor to their fellow castemen, for the simple reason that they consider
robbery a duty, and a right sanctioned by descent. If one were to
ask of a Kallar to what people he belonged, he would coolly answer,
I am a robber."
It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that "dacoity
of travellers at night used to be the favourite pastime of the Kallans,
and their favourite haunts the various roads leading out of Madura,
and that from Ammayanayakkanur to Periyakulam. The method adopted
consisted in threatening the driver of the cart, and then turning the
vehicle into the ditch so that it upset. The unfortunate travellers
were then forced by some of the gang to sit at the side of the road,
with their backs to the cart and their faces to the ground, while
their baggage was searched for valuables by the remainder. The gangs
which frequented these roads have now broken up, and the caste has
practically quitted road dacoity for the simpler, more paying, and
less risky business of stealing officials' office-boxes and ryots'
cattle. Cattle-theft is now the most popular calling among them. They
are clever at handling animals, and probably the popularity of the
jallikats (see Maravan) has its origin in the demands of a life,
which always included much cattle-lifting. The stolen animals are
driven great distances (as much as 20 or 30 miles) on the night of the
theft, and are then hidden for the day either in a friend's house,
or among hills and jungles. The next night they are taken still
further, and again hidden. Pursuit is by this time hopeless, as the
owner has no idea even in which direction to search. He, therefore,
proceeds to the nearest go-between (these individuals are well-known
to every one), and offers him a reward if he will bring back the
cattle. This reward is called tuppu-kuli, or payment for clues, and
is very usually as much as half the value of the animals stolen. The
Kallan undertakes to search for the lost bullocks, returns soon,
and states that he has found them, receives his tuppu-kuli, and then
tells the owner of the property that, if he will go to a spot named,
which is usually in some lonely neighbourhood, he will find his cattle
tied up there. This information is always correct. If, on the other
hand, the owner reports the theft to the police, no Kallan will
help him to recover his animals, and these are eventually sold in
other districts or Travancore, or even sent across from Tuticorin to
Ceylon. Consequently, hardly any cattle-thefts are ever reported to the
police. Where the Kallans are most numerous, the fear of incendiarism
induces people to try to afford a tiled or terraced roof, instead
of being content with thatch. The cattle are always tied up in the
houses at night. Fear of the Kallans prevents them from being left
in the fields, and they may be seen coming into the villages every
evening in scores, choking every one with the dust they kick up,
and polluting the village site (instead of manuring the land) for
twelve hours out of every twenty-four. Buffaloes are tied up outside
the houses. Kallans do not care to steal them, as they are of little
value, are very troublesome when a stranger tries to handle them,
and cannot travel fast or far enough to be out of reach of detection
by daybreak. The Kallans' inveterate addiction to dacoity and theft
render the caste to this day a thorn in the flesh of the authorities. A
very large proportion of the thefts committed in the district are
attributable to them. Nor are they ashamed of the fact. One of them
defended his class by urging that every other class stole, the official
by taking bribes, the vakil (law pleader) by fostering animosities,
and so pocketing fees, the merchant by watering the arrack (spirit)
and sanding the sugar, and so on, and that the Kallans differed from
these only in the directness of their methods. Round about Melur,
the people of the caste are taking energetically to wet cultivation,
to the exclusion of cattle-lifting, with the Periyar water, which
has lately been brought there. In some of the villages to the south
of that town, they have drawn up a formal agreement (which has been
solemnly registered, and is most rigorously enforced by the headmen),
forbidding theft, recalling all the women who have emigrated to Ceylon
and elsewhere, and, with an enlightenment which puts other communities
to shame, prohibiting several other unwise practices which are only
too common, such as the removal from the fields of cow-dung for fuel,
and the pollution of drinking-water tanks (ponds) by stepping into
them. Hard things have been said about the Kallans, but points to
their credit are the chastity of their women, the cleanliness they
observe in and around their villages, and their marked sobriety. A
toddy-shop in a Kallan village is seldom a financial success."
From a recent note, [45] I gather the following additional
information concerning tuppu-kuli. "The Kallans are largely
guilty of cattle-thefts. In many cases, they return the cattle on
receiving tuppu-kuli. The official returns do not show many of these
cases. No cattle-owner thinks of reporting the loss of any of his
cattle. Naturally his first instinct is that it might have strayed
away, being live property. The tuppu-kuli system generally helps
the owner to recover his lost cattle. He has only to pay half of
its real value, and, when he recovers his animal, he goes home with
the belief that he has really made a profitable bargain. There is no
matter for complaint, but, on the other hand, he is glad that he got
back his animal for use, often at the most opportune time. Cattle are
indispensable to the agriculturist at all times of the year. Perhaps,
sometimes, when the rains fail, he may not use them. But if, after
a long drought, there is a shower, immediately every agriculturist
runs to his field with his plough and cattle, and tills it. If, at
such a time, his cattle be stolen, he considers as though he were
beaten on his belly, and his means of livelihood gone. No cattle will
be available then for hire. There is nothing that he will not part
with, to get back his cattle. There is then the nefarious system of
tuppu-kuli offering itself, and he freely resorts to it, and succeeds
in getting back his lost cattle sooner or later. On the other hand,
if a complaint is made to the Village Magistrate or Police, recovery
by this channel is impossible. The tuppu-kuli agents have their spies
or informants everywhere, dogging the footsteps of the owner of the
stolen cattle, and of those who are likely to help him in recovering
it. As soon as they know the case is recorded in the Police station,
they determine not to let the animal go back to its owner at any
risk, unless some mutual friend intervenes, and works mightily for
the recovery, in which case the restoration is generally through the
pound. Such a restoration is, primâ facie, cattle-straying, for only
stray cattle are taken to the pound. This, too, is done after a good
deal of hard swearing on both sides not to hand over the offender to
the authorities."
In connection with the 'vellari thadi' referred to above, Dr. Oppert
writes [46] that "boomerangs are used by the Tamil Maravans and Kallans
when hunting deer. The Madras Museum collection contains three (two
ivory, one wooden) from the Tanjore armoury. In the arsenal of the
Pudukkottai Raja a stock of wooden boomerangs is always kept. Their
name in Tamil is valai tadi (bent stick)." Concerning these boomerangs,
the Dewan of Pudukkottai writes to me as follows. "The valari or valai
tadi is a short weapon, generally made of some hard-grained wood. It
is also sometimes made of iron. It is crescent-shaped, one end being
heavier than the other, and the outer edge is sharpened. Men trained in
the use of the weapon hold it by the lighter end, whirl it a few times
over their shoulders to give it impetus, and then hurl it with great
force against the object aimed at. It is said that there were experts
in the art of throwing the valari, who could at one stroke despatch
small game, and even man. No such experts are now forthcoming in the
State, though the instrument is reported to be occasionally used in
hunting hares, jungle fowl, etc. Its days, however, must be counted as
past. Tradition states that the instrument played a considerable part
in the Poligar wars of the last century. But it now reposes peacefully
in the households of the descendants of the rude Kallan and Maravan
warriors, who plied it with such deadly effect in the last century,
preserved as a sacred relic of a chivalric past along with other
old family weapons in their puja room, brought out and scraped and
cleaned on occasions like the Ayudha puja day (when worship is paid
to weapons and implements of industry), and restored to its place of
rest immediately afterwards."
The sub-divisions of the Kallans, which were returned in greatest
numbers at the census, 1891, were Isanganadu (or Visangu-nadu),
Kungiliyan, Menadu, Nattu, Piramalainadu, and Sirukudi. In the Census
Report, 1901, it is recorded that "in Madura the Kallans are divided
into ten main endogamous divisions [47] which are territorial in
origin. These are (1) Mel-nadu, (2) Sirukudi-nadu, (3) Vellur-nadu, (4)
Malla-kottai nadu, (5) Pakaneri, (6) Kandramanikkam or Kunnan-kottai
nadu, (7) Kandadevi, (8) Puramalai-nadu, (9) Tennilai-nadu, and (10)
Palaya-nadu. The headman of the Puramalai-nadu section is said to be
installed by Idaiyans (herdsmen), but what the connection between
the two castes may be is not clear. The termination nadu means a
country. These sections are further divided into exogamous sections
called vaguppus. The Mel-nadu Kallans have three sections called
terus or streets, namely, Vadakku-teru (north street), Kilakku-teru
(east street), and Terku-teru (south street). The Sirukudi Kallans
have vaguppus named after the gods specially worshipped by each,
such as Andi, Mandai, Aiyanar, and Viramangali. Among the Vellur-nadu
Kallans the names of these sections seem merely fanciful. Some of
them are Vengai puli (cruel-handed tiger), Vekkali puli (cruel-legged
tiger), Sami puli (holy tiger), Sem puli (red tiger), Sammatti makkal
(hammer men), Tiruman (holy deer), and Sayumpadai tangi (supporter
of the vanquished army). A section of the Tanjore Kallans names its
sections from sundry high-sounding titles meaning King of the Pallavas,
King of Tanjore, conqueror of the south, mighty ruler, and so on."
Portions of the Madura and Tanjore districts are divided into areas
known as nadus, a name which, as observed by Mr. Nelson, is specially
applicable to Kallan tracts. In each nadu a certain caste, called the
Nattan, is the predominant factor in the settlement of social questions
which arise among the various castes living within the nadu. Round
about Devakotta in the Sivaganga zamindari there are fourteen nadus,
representatives of which meet once a year at Kandadevi, to arrange for
the annual festival at the temple dedicated to Swarnamurthi Swami. The
four nadus Unjanai, Sembonmari, Iravaseri, and Tennilai in the same
zamindari constitute a group, of which the last is considered the
chief nadu, whereat caste questions must come up for settlement. For
marriage purposes these four nadus constitute an endogamous section,
which is sub-divided into septs or karais. Among the Vallambans
these karais are exogamous, and run in the male line. But, among the
Kallans, the karai is recognised only in connection with property. A
certain tract of land is the property of a particular karai, and the
legal owners thereof are members of the same karai. When the land
has to be disposed of, this can only be effected with the consent of
representatives of the karai. The Nattar Kallans of Sivaganga have
exogamous septs called kilai or branches, which, as among the Maravans,
run in the female line, i.e., a child belongs to the mother's, not
the father's, sept. In some castes, and even among Brahmans, though
contrary to strict rule, it is permissible for a man to marry his
sister's daughter. This is not possible among the Kallans who have
kilais such as those referred to, because the maternal uncle of a
girl, the girl, and her mother all belong to the same sept. But the
children of a brother and sister may marry, because they belong to
different kilais, i.e., those of their respective mothers.
Subban = Pachchai
(Kurivili kilai). | (Arasiya kilai).
+====================|======================+
| |
Karuppan, son Ellamma, daughter
(Arasiya kilai) (Arasiya kilai)
| |
| |
Raman Minachi
(Pesadan kilai) (Arasiya kilai)
Example of allowable cousin-marriages.
In the above example, the girl Minachi may not marry Karuppan, as both
are members of the same kilai. But she ought, though he be a mere boy,
to marry Raman, who belongs to a different sept.
It is noted [48] that, among the Sivaganga Kallans, "when a member of a
certain kilai dies, a piece of new cloth should be given to the other
male member of the same kilai by the heir of the deceased. The cloth
thus obtained should be given to the sister of the person obtaining
it. If her brother fails to do so, her husband will consider himself
degraded, and consequently will divorce her." Round about Pudukkottai
and Tanjore, the Visangu-nadu Kallans have exogamous septs called
pattaperu, and they adopt the sept name as a title, e.g., Muthu
Udaiyan, Karuppa Tondaman, etc. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the
Tanjore district, that the sub-divisions of the Kallans are split
into groups, e.g., Onaiyan (wolfish), Singattan (lion-like), etc.
It is a curious fact that the Puramalai-nadu Kallans practice the rite
of circumcision. The origin of this custom is uncertain, but it has
been suggested [49] that it is a survival of a forcible conversion
to Muhammadanism of a section of the Kurumbas who fled northwards
on the downfall of their kingdom. At the time appointed for the
initiatory ceremony, the Kallan youth is carried on the shoulders
of his maternal uncle to a grove or plain outside the village, where
betel is distributed among those who have assembled, and the operation
is performed by a barber-surgeon. En route to the selected site,
and throughout the ceremony, the conch shell (musical instrument)
is blown. The youth is presented with new cloths. It is noted, in the
Gazetteer of the Madura district, that "every Kallan boy has a right
to claim the hand of his paternal aunt's daughter in marriage. This
aunt bears the expenses connected with his circumcision. Similarly,
the maternal uncle pays the costs of the rites which are observed when
a girl attains maturity, for he has a claim on the girl as a bride
for his son. The two ceremonies are performed at one time for large
batches of boys and girls. On an auspicious day, the young people are
all feasted, and dressed in their best, and repair to a river or tank
(pond). The mothers of the girls make lamps of plantain leaves, and
float them on the water, and the boys are operated on by the local
barber." It is stated, in the Census Report, 1901, that the Sirukudi
Kallans use a tali, on which the Muhammadan badge of a crescent and
star is engraved.
In connection with marriage among the Kallans, it is noted by
Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri [50] that "at the Mattupongal feast, towards
evening, festoons of aloe fibre and cloths containing coins are tied
to the horns of bullocks and cows, and the animals are driven through
the streets with tom-tom and music. In the villages, especially those
inhabited by the Kallans in Madura and Tinnevelly, the maiden chooses
as her husband him who has safely untied and brought to her the cloth
tied to the horn of the fiercest bull. The animals are let loose with
their horns containing valuables, amidst the din of tom-tom and harsh
music, which terrifies and bewilders them. They run madly about,
and are purposely excited by the crowd. A young Kalla will declare
that he will run after such and such a bull--and this is sometimes a
risky pursuit--and recover the valuables tied to its horn. The Kallan
considers it a great disgrace to be injured while chasing the bull."
A poet of the early years of the present era, quoted by
Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai, [51] describes this custom as practiced
by the shepherd castes in those days. "A large area of ground is
enclosed with palisades and strong fences. Into the enclosure are
brought ferocious bulls with sharpened horns. On a spacious loft,
overlooking the enclosure, stand the shepherd girls, whom they intend
to give away in marriage. The shepherd youths, prepared for the fight,
first pray to their gods, whose images are placed under old banian
or peepul trees, or at watering places. They then deck themselves
with garlands made of the bright red flowers of the kanthal, and
the purple flowers of the kaya. At a signal given by the beating of
drums, the youths leap into the enclosure, and try to seize the bulls,
which, frightened by the noise of the drums, are now ready to charge
anyone who approaches them. Each youth approaches a bull, which he
chooses to capture. But the bulls rush furiously, with tails raised,
heads bent down, and horns levelled at their assailants. Some of the
youths face the bulls boldly, and seize their horns. Some jump aside,
and take hold of their tails. The more wary young men cling to the
animals till they force them to fall on the ground. Many a luckless
youth is now thrown down. Some escape without a scratch, while others
are trampled upon or gored by the bulls. Some, though wounded and
bleeding, again spring on the bulls. A few, who succeed in capturing
the animals, are declared the victors of that day's fight. The elders
then announce that the bull-fight is over. The wounded are carried
out of the enclosure, and attended to immediately, while the victors
and the brides-elect repair to an adjoining grove, and there, forming
into groups, dance joyously before preparing for their marriage."
In an account of marriage among the Kallans, Mr. Nelson writes that
"the most proper alliance in the opinion of a Kallan is one between
a man and the daughter of his father's sister, and, if an individual
have such a cousin, he must marry her, whatever disparity there may
be between their respective ages. A boy of fifteen must marry such
a cousin, even if she be thirty or forty years old, if her father
insists upon his so doing. Failing a cousin of this sort, he must marry
his aunt or his niece, or any near relative. If his father's brother
has a daughter, and insists upon him marrying her he cannot refuse;
and this whatever may be the woman's age. One of the customs of the
western Kallans is specially curious. It constantly happens that a
woman is the wife of ten, eight, six, or two husbands, who are held
to be the fathers jointly and severally of any children that may be
born of her body, and, still more curiously, when the children grow
up they, for some unknown reason, invariably style themselves the
children not of ten, eight or six fathers as the case may be, but of
eight and two, six and two, or four and two fathers. When a wedding
takes place, the sister of the bridegroom goes to the house of the
parents of the bride, and presents them with twenty-one Kali fanams
(coins) and a cloth, and, at the same time, ties some horse-hair round
the bride's neck. She then brings her and her relatives to the house
of the bridegroom, where a feast is prepared.
Sheep are killed, and stores of liquor kept ready, and all partake
of the good cheer provided. After this the bride and bridegroom
are conducted to the house of the latter, and the ceremony of an
exchange between them of vallari thadis or boomerangs is solemnly
performed. Another feast is then given in the bride's house, and
the bride is presented by her parents with one markal of rice and a
hen. She then goes with her husband to his house. During the first
twelve months after marriage, it is customary for the wife's parents
to invite the pair to stay with them a day or two on the occasion of
any feast, and to present them on their departure with a markal of rice
and a cock. At the time of the first Pongal feast after the marriage,
the presents customarily given to the son-in-law are five markals
of rice, five loads of pots and pans, five bunches of plantains,
five cocoanuts, and five lumps of jaggery (crude sugar). A divorce
is easily obtained on either side. A husband dissatisfied with his
wife can send her away if he be willing at the same time to give her
half of his property, and a wife can leave her husband at will upon
forfeiture of forty-two Kali fanams. A widow may marry any man she
fancies, if she can induce him to make her a present of ten fanams."
In connection with the foregoing account, I am informed that, among
the Nattar Kallans, the brother of a married woman must give her
annually at Pongal a present of rice, a goat, and a cloth until
her death. The custom of exchanging boomerangs appears to be fast
becoming a tradition. But, there is a common saying still current "Send
the valari tadi, and bring the bride." As regards the horse-hair,
which is mentioned as being tied round the bride's neck, I gather
that, as a rule, the tali is suspended from a cotton thread, and the
horse-hair necklet may be worn by girls prior to puberty and marriage,
and by widows. This form of necklet is also worn by females of other
castes, such as Maravans, Valaiyans, and Morasa Paraiyans. Puramalai
Kallan women can be distinguished by the triangular ornament, which
is attached to the tali string. It is stated, in the Gazetteer of
the Madura district, that "when a girl has attained maturity, she
puts away the necklace of coloured beads she wore as a child, and
dons the horse-hair necklet, which is characteristic of the Kallan
woman. This she retains till death, even if she becomes a widow. The
richer Kallans substitute for the horse-hair a necklace of many
strands of fine silver wire. In Tirumangalam, the women often hang
round their necks a most curious brass and silver pendant, six or
eight inches long, and elaborately worked."
It is noted in the Census Report, 1891, that as a token of divorce "a
Kallan gives his wife a piece of straw in the presence of his caste
people. In Tamil the expression 'to give a straw' means to divorce,
and 'to take a straw' means to accept divorce."
In their marriage customs, some Kallans have adopted the Puranic
form of rite owing to the influence of Brahman purohits, and, though
adult marriage is the rule, some Brahmanised Kallans have introduced
infant marriage. To this the Puramalai section has a strong objection,
as, from the time of marriage, they have to give annually till the
birth of the first child a present of fowls, rice, a goat, jaggery,
plantains, betel, turmeric, and condiments. By adult marriage the
time during which this present has to be made is shortened, and less
expenditure thereon is incurred. In connection with the marriage
ceremonies as carried out by some Kallans, I gather that the consent
of the maternal uncle of a girl to her marriage is essential. For
the betrothal ceremony, the father and maternal uncle of the future
bridegroom proceed to the girl's house, where a feast is held, and
the date fixed for the wedding written on two rolls of palm leaf
dyed with turmeric or red paper, which are exchanged between the
maternal uncles. On the wedding day, the sister of the bridegroom
goes to the house of the bride, accompanied by women, some of whom
carry flowers, cocoanuts, betel leaves, turmeric, leafy twigs of
Sesbania grandiflora, paddy (unhusked rice), milk, and ghi (clarified
butter). A basket containing a female cloth, and the tali string
wrapped up in a red cloth borrowed from a washerman, is given to a
sister of the bridegroom or to a woman belonging to his sept. On the
way to the bride's house, two of the women blow chank shells (musical
instrument). The bride's people question the bridegroom's party as
to his sept, and they ought to say that he belongs to Indra kulam,
Thalavala nadu, and Ahalya gotra. The bridegroom's sister, taking up
the tali, passes it round to be touched by all present, and ties the
string, which is decorated with flowers, tightly round the bride's
neck amid the blowing of the conch shell. The bride is then conducted
to the home of the bridegroom, whence they return to her house on the
following day. The newly married couple sit on a plank, and coloured
rice-balls or coloured water are waved, while women yell out "killa,
illa, illa; killa, illa, illa." This ceremony is called kulavi idal,
and is sometimes performed by Kallan women during the tali-tying.
The following details relating to the marriage ceremonies are
recorded in the Gazetteer of the Tanjore district. "The arrival
of the bridegroom has been described as being sometimes especially
ceremonious. Mounted on a horse, and attended by his maternal uncle,
he is met by a youth from the bride's house, also mounted, who conducts
the visitors to the marriage booth. Here he is given betel leaves,
areca nuts, and a rupee by the bride's father, and his feet are
washed in milk and water, and adorned with toe-rings by the bride's
mother. The tali is suspended from a necklet of gold or silver instead
of cotton thread, but this is afterwards changed to cotton for fear of
offending the god Karuppan. A lamp is often held by the bridegroom's
sister, or some married woman, while the tali is being tied. This is
left unlighted by the Kallans for fear it should go out, and thus cause
an evil omen. The marriage tie is in some localities very loose. Even
a woman who has borne her husband many children may leave him if she
likes, to seek a second husband, on condition that she pays him her
marriage expenses. In this case (as also when widows are remarried),
the children are left in the late husband's house. The freedom of
the Kallan women in these matters is noticed in the proverb that,
"though there may be no thread in the spinning-rod, there will always
be a (tali) thread on the neck of a Kallan woman," or that "though
other threads fail, the thread of a Kallan woman will never do so."
By some Kallans pollution is, on the occasion of the first menstrual
period, observed for seven or nine days. On the sixteenth day, the
maternal uncle of the girl brings a sheep or goat, and rice. She is
bathed and decorated, and sits on a plank while a vessel of water,
coloured rice, and a measure filled with paddy with a style bearing
a betel leaf struck on it, are waved before her. Her head, knees,
and shoulders are touched with cakes, which are then thrown away. A
woman, conducting the girl round the plank, pours water from a vessel
on to a betel leaf held in her hand, so that it falls on the ground
at the four cardinal points of the compass, which the girl salutes.
A ceremony is generally celebrated in the seventh month of pregnancy,
for which the husband's sister prepares pongal (cooked rice). The
pregnant woman sits on a plank, and the rice is waved before her. She
then stands up, and bends down while her sister-in-law pours milk from
a betel or pipal (Ficus religiosa) leaf on her back. A feast brings the
ceremony to a close. Among the Vellur-nadu Kallans patterns are said
[52] to be drawn on the back of the pregnant woman with rice-flour,
and milk is poured over them. The husband's sister decorates a
grindstone in the same way, invokes a blessing on the woman, and
expresses a hope that she may have a male child as strong as a stone.
When a child is born in a family, the entire family observes
pollution for thirty days, during which entrance into a temple is
forbidden. Among the Nattar Kallans, children are said to be named
at any time after they are a month old. But, among the Puramalai
Kallans, a first-born female child is named on the seventh day,
after the ear-boring ceremony has been performed. "All Kallans,"
Mr. Francis writes, [52] "put on sacred ashes, the usual mark of a
Saivite, on festive occasions, but they are nevertheless generally
Vaishnavites. The dead are usually buried, and it is said that,
at funerals, cheroots are handed round, which those present smoke
while the ceremony proceeds." Some Kallans are said, [53] when a
death occurs in a family, to put a pot filled with dung or water,
a broomstick, and a fire-brand at some place where three roads meet,
or in front of the house, in order to prevent the ghost from returning.
It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that
"the Kilnad Kallans usually bury their dead. Lamps are periodically
lighted on the tomb, and it is whitewashed annually. The Piramalainad
division usually burn the dead. If a woman dies when with child, the
baby is taken out, and placed alongside her on the pyre. This, it may
be noted, is the rule with most castes in this district, and, in some
communities, the relations afterwards put up a stone burden-rest by
the side of a road, the idea being that the woman died with her burden,
and so her spirit rejoices to see others lightened of theirs. Tradition
says that the caste came originally from the north. The dead are buried
with their faces laid in that direction; and, when puja is done to
Karuppanaswami, the caste god, the worshippers turn to the north."
According to Mr. H. A. Stuart [54] "the Kallans are nominally
Saivites, but in reality the essence of their religious belief is
devil-worship. Their chief deity is Alagarswami, the god of the great
Alagar Kovil twelve miles to the north of the town of Madura. To this
temple they make large offerings, and the Swami, called Kalla Alagar,
has always been regarded as their own peculiar deity." The Kallans
are said by Mr. Mullaly to observe omens, and consult their household
gods before starting on depredations. "Two flowers, the one red and
the other white, are placed before the idol, a symbol of their god
Kalla Alagar. The white flower is the emblem of success. A child of
tender years is told to pluck a petal of one of the two flowers,
and the undertaking rests upon the choice made by the child." In
like manner, when a marriage is contemplated among the Idaiyans, the
parents of the prospective bride and bridegroom go to the temple, and
throw before the idol a red and white flower, each wrapped in a betel
leaf. A small child is then told to pick up one of the leaves. If the
one selected contains the white flower, it is considered auspicious,
and the marriage will take place.
In connection with the Alagar Kovil, I gather [55] that, when oaths
are to be taken, the person who is to swear is asked to worship Kallar
Alagar, and, with a parivattam (cloth worn as a mark of respect in the
presence of the god) on his head, and a garland round his neck, should
stand on the eighteenth step of the eighteen steps of Karuppanaswami,
and say: "I swear before Kallar Alagar and Karuppannaswami that I
have acted rightly, and so on. If the person swears falsely, he dies
on the third day; if truly the other person meets with the same fate."
It was noted by Mr. M. J. Walhouse, [56] that "at the bull games
(jellikattu) at Dindigul, the Kallans can alone officiate as priests,
and consult the presiding deity. On this occasion they hold quite
a Saturnalia of lordship and arrogance over the Brahmans." It is
recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that "the keenness
of the more virile sections of the community (especially the Kallans),
in this game, is extraordinary, and, in many villages, cattle are
bred and reared specially for it. The best jallikats are to be seen
in the Kallan country in Tirumangalam, and next come those in Melur
and Madura taluks." (See also Maravan.)
It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that
Karuppan is "essentially the god of the Kallans, especially of the
Kallans of the Melur side. In those parts, his shrine is usually the
Kallans' chavadi (assembly place). His priests are usually Kallans or
Kusavans. Alagarswami (the beautiful god) is held in special veneration
by the Kallans, and is often popularly called the Kallar Alagar. The
men of this caste have the right to drag his car at the car festival,
and, when he goes (from Alagar Kovil) on his visit to Madura, he is
dressed as a Kallan, exhibits the long ears characteristic of that
caste, and carries the boomerang and club, which were of their old
favourite weapons. It is whispered that Kallan dacoits invoke his
aid when they are setting out on marauding expeditions, and, if they
are successful therein, put part of their ill-gotten gains into the
offertory (undial) box, which is kept at his shrine."
For the following note I am indebted to the Rev. J. Sharrock. "The
chief temple of the Kallans is about ten miles west of Madura, and is
dedicated to Alagarswami, said to be an incarnation of Vishnu, but
also said to be the brother of Minatchi (the fish-eyed or beautiful
daughter of the Pandya king of Madura). Now Minatchi has been married
by the Brahmans to Siva, and so we see Hinduism wedded to Dravidianism,
and the spirit of compromise, the chief method of conversion adopted
by the Brahmans, carried to its utmost limit. At the great annual
festival, the idol of Alagarswami is carried, in the month of Chittra
(April-May), to the temple of Minatchi, and the banks of the river
Vaiga swarm with two to three lakhs [57] of worshippers, a large
proportion of whom are Kallans. At this festival, the Kallans have
the right of dragging with a rope the car of Alagarswami, though
other people may join in later on. As Alagarswami is a vegetarian,
no blood sacrifice is offered to him. This is probably due to the
influence of Brahmanism, for, in their ordinary ceremonies, the
Kallans invariably slaughter sheep as sacrifices to propitiate their
deities. True to their bold and thievish instincts, the Kallans do
not hesitate to steal a god, if they think he will be of use to them
in their predatory excursions, [58] and are not afraid to dig up
the coins or jewels that are generally buried under an idol. Though
they entertain little dread of their own village gods, they are often
afraid of others that they meet far from home, or in the jungles when
they are engaged in one of their stealing expeditions. As regards
their own village gods, there is a sort of understanding that, if
they help them in their thefts, they are to have a fair share of the
spoil, and, on the principle of honesty among thieves, the bargain
is always kept. At the annual festival for the village deities,
each family sacrifices a sheep, and the head of the victim is given
to the pujari (priest), while the body is taken home by the donor,
and partaken of as a communion feast. Two at least of the elements of
totem worship appear here: there is the shedding of the sacrificial
blood of an innocent victim to appease the wrath of the totem god, and
the common feasting together which follows it. The Brahmans sometimes
join in these sacrifices, but of course take no part of the victim,
the whole being the perquisite of the pujari, and there is no common
participation in the meal. When strange deities are met with by the
Kallans on their thieving expeditions, it is usual to make a vow that,
if the adventure turns out well, part of the spoil shall next day
be left at the shrine of the god, or be handed over to the pujari of
that particular deity. They are afraid that, if this precaution be not
taken, the god may make them blind, or cause them to be discovered,
or may go so far as to knock them down, and leave them to bleed to
death. If they have seen the deity, or been particularly frightened or
otherwise specially affected by these unknown gods, instead of leaving
a part of the body, they adopt a more thorough method of satisfying
the same. After a few days they return at midnight to make a special
sacrifice, which of course is conducted by the particular pujari, whose
god is to be appeased. They bring a sheep with rice, curry-stuffs and
liquors, and, after the sacrifice, give a considerable share of these
dainties, together with the animal's head, to the pujari, as well as
a sum of money for making the puja (worship) for them. Some of the
ceremonies are worth recording. First the idol is washed in water,
and a sandal spot is put on the forehead in the case of male deities,
and a kunkuma spot in the case of females. Garlands are placed round
the neck, and the bell is rung, while lamps are lighted all about. Then
the deity's name is repeatedly invoked, accompanied by beating on
the udukku. This is a small drum which tapers to a narrow waist in
the middle, and is held in the left hand of the pujari with one end
close to his left ear, while he taps on it with the fingers of his
right hand. Not only is this primitive music pleasing to the ears of
his barbarous audience, but, what is more important, it conveys the
oracular communications of the god himself. By means of the end of
the drum placed close to his ear, the pujari is enabled to hear what
the god has to say of the predatory excursion which has taken place,
and the pujari (who, like a clever gypsy, has taken care previously to
get as much information of what has happened as possible) retails all
that has occurred during the exploit to his wondering devotees. In
case his information is incomplete, he is easily able to find out,
by a few leading questions and a little cross-examination of these
ignorant people, all that he needs to impress them with the idea that
the god knows all about their transactions, having been present at
their plundering bout. At all such sacrifices, it is a common custom
to pour a little water over the sheep, to see if it will shake itself,
this being invariably a sign of the deity's acceptance of the animal
offered. In some sacrifices, if the sheep does not shake itself, it
is rejected, and another substituted for it; and, in some cases (be it
whispered, when the pujari thinks the sheep too thin and scraggy), he
pours over it only a little water, and so demands another animal. If,
however, the pujari, as the god's representative, is satisfied,
he goes on pouring more and more water till the half-drenched animal
has to shake itself, and so signs its own death-warrant. All who
have ventured forth in the night to take part in the sacrifice then
join together in the communal meal. An illustration of the value of
sacrifices may here be quoted, to show how little value may be attached
to an oath made in the presence of a god. Some pannaikarans (servants)
of a Kallan land-owner one day stole a sheep, for which they were
brought up before the village munsif. When they denied the theft, the
munsif took them to their village god, Karuppan (the black brother),
and made them swear in its presence. They perjured themselves again,
and were let off. Their master quietly questioned them afterwards,
asking them how they dared swear so falsely before their own god, and
to this they replied 'While we were swearing, we were mentally offering
a sacrifice to him of a sheep' (which they subsequently carried out),
to pacify him for the double crime of stealing and perjury."
As a typical example of devil worship, the practice of the Valaiyans
and Kallans of Orattanadu in the Tanjore district is described
by Mr. F. R. Hemingway. [59] "Valaiyan houses have generally an
odiyan (Odina Wodier) tree in the backyard, wherein the devils are
believed to live, and among Kallans every street has a tree for their
accommodation. They are propitiated at least once a year, the more
virulent under the tree itself, and the rest in the house, generally
on a Friday or Monday. Kallans attach importance to Friday in Adi
(July and August), the cattle Pongal day in Tai (January and February),
and Kartigai day in the month Kartigai (November and December). A man,
with his mouth covered with a cloth to indicate silence and purity,
cooks rice in the backyard, and pours it out in front of the tree,
mixed with milk and jaggery (crude sugar). Cocoanuts and toddy are
also placed there. These are offered to the devils, represented in
the form of bricks or mud images placed at the foot of the tree,
and camphor is set alight. A sheep is then brought and slaughtered,
and the devils are supposed to spring one after another from the
tree into one of the bystanders. This man then becomes filled with
the divine afflatus, works himself up into a kind of frenzy, becomes
the mouthpiece of the spirits, pronounces their satisfaction or the
reverse at the offerings, and gives utterance to cryptic phrases,
which are held to foretell good or evil fortune to those in answer
to whom they are made. When all the devils in turn have spoken and
vanished, the man recovers his senses. The devils are worshipped in
the same way in the houses, except that no blood is shed. All alike
are propitiated by animal sacrifices."
The Kallans are stated by Mr. Hemingway to be very fond of
bull-baiting. This is of two kinds. The first resembles the game
played by other castes, except that the Kallans train their animals
for the sport, and have regular meetings, at which all the villagers
congregate. These begin at Pongal, and go on till the end of May. The
sport is called tolu madu (byre bull). The best animals for it are the
Pulikkolam bulls from the Madura district. The other game is called
pachal madu (leaping bull). In this, the animals are tethered to a
long rope, and the object of the competition is to throw the animal,
and keep it down. A bull which is good at the game, and difficult to
throw, fetches a very high price.
It is noted in the Gazetteer of the Tanjore district, that "the
Kallans have village caste panchayats (councils) of the usual kind,
but in some places they are discontinuing these in imitation of the
Vellalans. According to the account given at Orattanadu, the members
of Ambalakaran families sit by hereditary right as Karyastans or
advisers to the headman in each village. One of these households
is considered superior to the others, and one of its members is
the headman (Ambalakaran) proper. The headmen of the panchayats of
villages which adjoin meet to form a further panchayat to decide
on matters common to them generally. In Kallan villages, the Kallan
headman often decides disputes between members of other lower castes,
and inflicts fines on the party at fault."
In the Gazetteer, of the Madura district, it is recorded that
"the organization of the Kilnad Kallans differs from that of their
brethren beyond the hills. Among the former, an hereditary headman,
called the Ambalakaran, rules in almost every village. He receives
small fees at domestic ceremonies, is entitled to the first betel
and nut, and settles caste disputes. Fines inflicted are credited
to the caste fund. The western Kallans are under a more monarchial
rule, an hereditary headman called Tirumala Pinnai Tevan deciding
most caste matters. He is said to get this hereditary name from the
fact that his ancestor was appointed (with three co-adjutors) by
King Tirumala Nayakkan, and given many insignia of office including
a state palanquin. If any one declines to abide by his decision,
excommunication is pronounced by the ceremony of 'placing the thorn,'
which consists in laying a thorny branch across the threshold of the
recalcitrant party's house, to signify that, for his contumacy, his
property will go to ruin and be overrun with jungle. The removal of
the thorn, and the restitution of the sinner to Kallan society can
only be procured by abject apologies to Pinnai Tevan."
The usual title of the Kallans is Ambalakaran (president of an
assembly), but some, like the Maravans and Agamudaiyans, style
themselves Tevan (god) or Servaikkaran (commander). [60]
Kallankanadoru (stone).--A sub-division of Komati, said to be descended
from those who sat on the stone (kallu) mantapa outside the Penukonda
Kanyakamma temple, when the question whether to enter the fire-pits
or not was being discussed by the caste elders.
Kallan Muppan.--In the Madras Census Report, 1901, Kallan Muppan
is returned as "a sub-caste of the Malabar Kammalans, the members of
which are stone-workers." A correspondent writes to me that, "while the
Kammalans are a polluting and polyandrous class, the Kallan Muppans
are allowed to enter the outside enclosure of temples. They do not
remarry their widows, and are strictly monogamous. Their purohits are
Tamil barbers, who officiate at their marriages. The barber shaves
the bridegroom before the wedding ceremony. The purohit has also to
blow the conch-shell all the way from the bridegroom's house to that
of the bride."
The names Kallan and Kalkotti are also those by which the Malabar
stone-masons are known.
Kallangi.--Kallangi and Kallaveli (Kallan's fence) are fanciful names,
returned by Pallis at times of census.
Kallasari (stone-workers).--The occupational name of a sub-division
of Malayalam Kammalans.
Kallatakurup.--A sub-division of Ambalavasis, who sing in Bhagavati
temples. They play on a stringed instrument, called nandurini, with
two strings and a number of wooden stops glued on to the long handle,
and a wooden plectrum.
Kallu (stone).--A sub-division of Ganiga and Odde. Kallukoti
(stone-mason) is a sub-division of Malabar Kammalans, who work
in stone.
Kallukatti.--It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the South Canara
district, that "a grinding stone made of granite is an article
peculiar to South Canara. It is a semicircular, oval-shaped block with
a flat bottom, and a round hole in the middle of the surface. It has
another oval-shaped block, thin and long, with one end so shaped as
to fit into the hole in the larger block. These two together make
what is known as the grinding-stone of the district, which is used
for grinding curry-stuff, rice, wheat, etc. Mill-stones for pounding
grain are also made of granite. Formerly, a class of people called
Kallukattis used to make such articles, but the industry is now taken
up by other castes as well. Mile-stones, slabs for temple door-frames,
idols and other figures for temple purposes are also made of granite."
Kallur.--Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a name
for the Pulikkappanikkan sub-division of Nayar.
Kalluri (stone village).--An exogamous sept of Medara.
Kal Tacchan (stone-mason).--A sub-division of Kammalan.
Kalti (expunged).--A degraded Paraiyan is known as a Kalti. Amongst
the Paraiyans of Madras, Chingleput and North Arcot, the rule
is that a man who does not abide by the customs of the caste is
formally excommunicated by a caste council. He then joins "those
at Vinnamangalam" near Vellore, i.e., those who have, like himself,
been driven out of the caste.
Kalugunadu (eagle's country).--An exogamous sept of Tamil goldsmiths
in the Madura district.
Kaluthai (possessors of donkeys).--A sub-division of Odde.
Kalyanakulam (marriage people).--A fanciful name returned by some
Mangalas at times of census, as they officiate as musicians at
marriages.
Kamadi (tortoise).--A gotra of Kurni.
Kamakshiamma.--Recorded, in the North Arcot Manual, as a sub-division
of Vaniyan. Kamakshiamma is the chief goddess worshipped at
Conjeeveram. She and Minakshi Amma of Madura are two well-known
goddesses worshipped by Saivites. Both names are synonyms of Parvati,
the wife of Siva.
Kamati (foolish).--A name sometimes applied to carpenters, and also
of a sub-division of Okkiliyans, who are said to have abandoned their
original occupation of cultivating land, and become bricklayers.
Kambalam.--The name Kambalam is applied to a group of nine castes
(Tottiyan, Annappan, Kappiliyan, Chakkiliyan, etc.), because at
their council meetings a blanket (kambli) is spread, on which is
placed a brass vessel (kalasam) filled with water, and decorated with
flowers. (See Tottiyan.)
Kambalattan.--A synonym of Tottiyan.
Kamban.--A title of the Occhans, to which caste the great Tamil epic
poet Kamban is reputed to have belonged.
Kambha.--Kambha or Kambhapu, meaning a pillar or post, has been
recorded as an exogamous sept of Madiga and Komati.
Kamma.--Writing collectively concerning the Kammas, Kapus or Reddis,
Velamas, and Telagas, Mr. W. Francis states [61] that "all four
of these large castes closely resemble one another in appearance
and customs, and seem to have branched off from one and the same
Dravidian stock. Originally soldiers by profession, they are now
mainly agriculturists and traders, and some of them in the north are
zamindars (land-owners). The Razus, who now claim to be Kshatriyas,
were probably descended from Kapus, Kammas, and Velamas. The Kammas
and Kapus of the Madura and Tinnevelly districts seem to have followed
the Vijayanagar army south, and settled in these districts when the
Nayak Governors were established there. Their women are less strict
in their deportment than those of the same castes further north,
the latter of whom are very careful of their reputations, and, in
the case of one section of the Kammas, are actually gosha (kept in
seclusion) like Musalmanis."
Various stories are current, which point to the common ancestry of
the Kammas, Kapus, and Velamas. The word Kamma in Telugu means the
ear-ornament, such as is worn by women. According to one legend
"the Rishis, being troubled by Rakshasas, applied to Vishnu for
protection, and he referred them to Lakshmi. The goddess gave them
a casket containing one of her ear ornaments (kamma), and enjoined
them to worship it for a hundred years. At the expiry of that period,
a band of five hundred armed warriors sprang up from the casket, who,
at the request of the Rishis, attacked and destroyed the giants. After
this they were directed to engage in agriculture, being promised
extensive estates, and the consideration paid to Kshatriyas. They
accordingly became possessed of large territories, such as Amravati
and others in the Kistna, Nellore and other districts, and have always
been most successful agriculturists." [62]
Some Kammas, when questioned by Mr. F. R. Hemingway in the Godavari
district, stated that they were originally Kshatriyas, but were long
ago persecuted by a king of the family of Parikshat, because one of
them called him a bastard. They sought refuge with the Kapus, who took
them in, and they adopted the customs of their protectors. According
to another legend, a valuable ear ornament, belonging to Raja Pratapa
Rudra, fell into the hands of an enemy, whom a section of the Kapus
boldly attacked, and recovered the jewel. This feat earned for
them and their descendants the title Kamma. Some of the Kapus ran
away, and they are reputed to be the ancestors of the Velamas (veli,
away). At the time when the Kammas and Velamas formed a single caste,
they observed the Muhammadan gosha system, whereby the women are kept
in seclusion. This was, however, found to be very inconvenient for
their agricultural pursuits. They accordingly determined to abandon
it, and an agreement was drawn up on a palm-leaf scroll. Those who
signed it are said to have become Kammas, and those who declined to
do so Velamas, or outsiders. One meaning of the word kamma is the
palm-leaf roll, such as is used to produce dilatation of the lobes
of the ears. According to another story, there once lived a king,
Belthi Reddi by name, who had a large number of wives, the favourite
among whom he appointed Rani. The other wives, being jealous, induced
their sons to steal all the jewels of the Rani, but they were caught
in the act by the king, who on the following day asked his wife for
her jewels, which she could not produce. Some of the sons ran away,
and gave origin to the Velamas; others restored the kamma, and became
Kammas. Yet one more story. Pratapa Rudra's wife lost her ear ornament,
and four of the king's captains were sent in search of it. Of these,
one restored the jewel, and his descendants became Kammas; the second
attacked the thieves, and gave origin to the Velamas; the third ran
away, and so his children became the ancestors of the Pakanatis;
and the fourth disappeared.
According to the Census Report, 1891, the main sub-divisions of the
Kammas are Gampa, Illuvellani, Godajati, Kavali, Vaduga, Pedda, and
Bangaru. It would seem that there are two main endogamous sections,
Gampa (basket) Chatu, and Goda (wall) Chatu. Chatu is said to mean a
screen or hiding place. Concerning the origin of these sections, the
following story is told. Two sisters were bathing in a tank (pond),
when a king happened to pass by. To hide themselves, one of the girls
hid behind a basket, and the other behind a wall. The descendants of
the two sisters became the Gampa and Goda Chatu Kammas, who may not
intermarry by reason of their original close relationship. According
to another legend, after a desperate battle, some members of the caste
escaped by hiding behind baskets, others behind a wall. The terms
Illuvellani and Pedda seem to be synonymous with Godachatu. The women
of this section were gosha, and not allowed to appear in public,
and even at the present day they do not go out and work freely
in the fields. The name Illuvellani indicates those who do not go
(vellani) out of the house (illu). The name Pedda (great) refers to
the superiority of the section. Vaduga simply means Telugu, and is
probably a name given by Tamilians to the Kammas who live amongst
them. The name Bangaru is said to refer to the custom of the women of
this sub-division wearing only gold nose ornaments (bangaramu). The
Godajati sub-division is said to be most numerously represented in
North Arcot and Chingleput, the Illuvellani in Kistna, Nellore and
Anantapur. The Kavali sub-division is practically confined to the
Godavari, and the Pedda to the Kistna district. The Vaduga Kammas
are found chiefly in Coimbatore.
In his note on the Kammas of the Godavari district, Mr. Hemingway
writes that "in this district they are divided into Kavitis, Eredis,
Gampas or Gudas, Uggams, and Rachas. These names are, according to
local accounts, derived from curious household customs, generally
from traditional methods of carrying water. Thus, the Kavitis will
not ordinarily carry water except in pots on a kavidi, the Eredis
except on a pack-bullock, the Uggams except in pots held in the hand,
and not on the hip or head, the Rachas except in a pot carried by
two persons. The Gampa women, when they first go to their husbands'
houses, take the customary presents in a basket. It is said that
these practices are generally observed at the present day."
Writing concerning the Iluvedalani (Illuvellani) Kammas, the editor
of the Kurnool Manual (1886) states that "a few families only exist
in the district. The women are kept in strict gosha. They consider
it beneath them to spin thread, or to do other work. A sub-division
of this caste lives in Pullalcheruvu, whose families, also gosha,
work at the spindles, like other women of the country. Another class
of indoor Kammas resides about Owk. They are apparently descendants
of the Kammas, who followed the Naiks from Guntur to Gandikota in the
sixteenth century. They are now reduced, and the females work, like
Kapus, in the field. The Gampas are distinguished from the indoor
Kammas by their women wearing the cloth over the right, instead of
the left shoulder."
As with other Telugu castes, there are, among the Kammas, a number
of exogamous septs or intiperu, of which the following are examples:--
Anumollu, Dolichos Lablab.
Tsanda, tax or subscription.
Jasthi, too much.
Mallela, jasmine.
Lanka, island.
Thota kura, Amarantus gangetícus.
Komma, horn, or branch of a tree.
Cheni, dry field.
Palakala, planks.
Kasturi, musk.
Baththala, rice.
Karnam, accountant.
Irpina, combs.
Gali, wind.
Dhaniala, coriander.
The Kammas also have gotras such as Chittipoola, Kurunollu, Kulakala,
Uppala, Cheruku (sugar-cane), Vallotla, and Yenamalla.
When matters affecting the community have to be decided, a council
of the leading members thereof assembles. But, in some places, there
is a permanent headman, called Mannemantri or Chaudri.
The Kammas will work as coolies in the fields, but will, on no account,
engage themselves as domestic servants. "They are," the Rev. J. Cain
writes, [63] "as a rule a fine well-built class of cultivators, very
proud and exclusive, and have a great aversion to town life. Many
of them never allow their wives to leave their compounds, and it is
said that many never do field work on Sundays, but confine themselves
on that day to their house-work." "If," a correspondent writes from
the Kistna district, "you ask in a village whether so-and-so is a
Brahman, and they say 'No. He is an asami (ordinary man),' he will
be a Kamma or Kapu. If you ask how many pay income-tax in a village,
they may tell you two Baniyas (merchants), and two Samsari-vallu,
i.e., two prosperous Kamma ryots."
The Kammas are stated by Mr. H. A. Stuart [64] to be "most industrious
and intelligent cultivators, who, now that gosha has been generally
abandoned, beat all rivals out of the field--a fact which is recognised
by several proverbs, such as Kamma vani chetulu kattina nilavadu
(though you tie a Kamma's hands, he will not be quiet); Kamma vandlu
cherite kadama jatula vellunu (if Kammas come in, other castes go out);
Kamma variki bhumi bhayapadu tunnadi (the earth fears the Kammas),
and many others to the same effect. In addition to being industrious
and well-to-do they are very proud, an instance of which occurred in
the Kistna district, when the Revenue Settlement Officer offered them
pattas, in which they were simply called Naidu without the honorific
ending garu. They refused on this account to accept them, and finally
the desired alteration was made, as they proved that all of their
caste were considered entitled to the distinction. In North Arcot,
however, they are not so particular, though some refuse to have their
head shaved, because they scruple to bow down before a barber. Besides
Vishnu the Kammas worship Ganga, because they say that long ago they
fled from Northern India, to avoid the anger of a certain Raja,
who had been refused a bride from among them. They were pursued,
but their women, on reaching the Mahanadi, prayed for a passage to
Ganga, who opened a dry path for them through the river. Crossing,
they all hid themselves in a dholl (Cajanus indicus) field, and thus
escaped from their pursuers. For this reason, at their marriages,
they tie a bunch of dholl leaves to the north-eastern post of the
wedding booth, and worship Ganga before tying the tali."
Among the Kammas of the Tamil country, the bridegroom is said to be
sometimes much younger than the bride, and a case is on record of a
wife of twenty-two years of age, who used to carry her boy-husband
on her hip, as a mother carries her child. [65] A parallel is to be
found in Russia, where not very long ago grown-up women were to be
seen carrying about boys of six, to whom they were betrothed. [66]
Widow remarriage is not permitted. Widows of the Goda chatu section
wear white, and those of the Gampa chatu section coloured cloths.
Prior to the betrothal ceremony, female ancestors, Vigneswara, and
the Grama Devata (village deities) are worshipped. A near relation
of the future bridegroom proceeds, with a party, to the home of
the future bride. On their way thither, they look for omens, such
as the crossing of birds in an auspicious direction. Immediately on
the occurrence of a favourable omen, they burn camphor, and break a
cocoanut, which must split in two with clean edges. One half is sent to
the would-be bridegroom, and the other taken to the bride's house. If
the first cocoanut does not split properly, others are broken till the
wished-for result is obtained. When the girl's house is reached, she
demands the sagunam (omen) cocoanut. Her lap is filled with flowers,
cocoanuts, turmeric, plantains, betel leaves and areca nuts, combs,
sandal paste, and coloured powder (kunkumam). The wedding day is
then fixed. Marriage is generally celebrated at the house of the
bridegroom, but, if it is a case of kannikadhanam (presenting the girl
without claiming the bride's price), at the house of the bride. The
bride-price is highest in the Gampa section. On the first day of
the marriage rites, the petta mugada sangyam, or box-lid ceremony
is performed. The new cloths for the bridal couple, five plantains,
nuts, and pieces of turmeric, one or two combs, four rupees, and
the bride-price in money or jewels, are placed in a box, which is
placed near the parents of the contracting couple. The contents of
the box are then laid out on the lid, and examined by the sammandhis
(new relations by marriage). The bride's father gives betel leaves
and areca nuts to the father of the bridegroom, saying "The girl is
yours, and the money mine." The bridegroom's father hands them back,
saying "The girl is mine, and the money yours." This is repeated
three times. The officiating purohit (priest) then announces that
the man's daughter is to be given in marriage to so-and-so, and
the promise is made before the assembled Deva Brahmanas, and in the
presence of light, Agni, and the Devatas. This ceremony is binding,
and, should the bridegroom perchance die before the bottu (marriage
badge) is tied, she becomes, and remains a widow. The milk-post is
next set up, the marriage pots are arranged, and the nalagu ceremony
is performed. This consists of the anointing of the bridal couple with
oil, and smearing the shoulders with turmeric flour, or Acacia Concinna
paste. A barber pares the nails of the bridegroom, and simply touches
those of the bride with a mango leaf dipped in milk. In some places
this rite is omitted by the Gampa section. A small wooden framework,
called dhornam, with cotton threads wound round it, is generally tied
to the marriage pandal (booth) by a Tsakali (washerman) not only
at a marriage among the Kammas, but also among the Balijas, Kapus,
and Velamas. After the return of the bridal couple from bathing,
the bridegroom is decorated, and taken to a specially prepared place
within or outside the house, to perform Vira-gudimokkadam, or worship
of heroes in their temple. At the spot selected a pandal has been
erected, and beneath it three or five bricks, representing the heroes
(viralu), are set up. The bricks are smeared with turmeric paste,
and painted with red dots. In front of the bricks an equal number of
pots are placed, and they are worshipped by breaking a cocoanut, and
burning camphor and incense. The bridegroom then prostrates himself
before the bricks, and, taking up a sword, cuts some lime fruits,
and touches the pots three times. In former days, a goat or sheep
was sacrificed. The hero worship, as performed by the Goda section,
differs from the above rite as practiced by the Gampa section. Instead
of erecting a pandal, the Godas go to a pipal (Ficus religiosa) tree,
near which one or more daggers are placed. A yellow cotton thread is
wound three or five times round the tree, which is worshipped. As a
substitute for animal sacrifice, lime fruits are cut. The hero worship
concluded, the wrist-threads of cotton and wool (kankanam) are tied
on the bride and bridegroom, who is taken to the temple after he has
bathed and dressed himself in new clothes. On his return to the booth,
the purohit lights the sacred fire, and the contracting couple sit
side by side on a plank. They then stand, with a screen spread between
them, and the bridegroom, with his right big toe on that of the bride,
ties the bottu round her neck. They then go three times round the dais,
with the ends of their cloths knotted together. The bottu of the Gampas
is a concave disc of gold, that of the Godas a larger flat disc. On
the following day, the usual nagavali, or sacrifice to the Devas is
offered, and a nagavali bottu (small gold disc) tied. All the relations
make presents to the bridal pair, who indulge in a mock representation
of domestic life. On the third day, pongal (rice) is offered to the
pots, and the wrist-threads are removed. Like the Palli bridegroom,
the Kamma bridegroom performs a mimic ploughing ceremony, but at the
house instead of at a tank (pond). He goes to a basket filled with
earth, carrying the iron bar of a ploughshare, an ox-goad, and rope,
accompanied by the bride carrying in her lap seeds or seedlings. While
he pretends to be ploughing, his sister stops him, and will not let him
continue till he has promised to give his first-born daughter to her
son in marriage. The marriage pots are presented to the sisters of the
bridegroom. During the marriage celebration, meat must not be cooked.
Among the Kammas, consummation does not take place till three months
after the marriage ceremony, as it is considered unlucky to have three
heads of a family in a household during the first year of marriage. By
the delay, the birth of a child should take place only in the second
year, so that, during the first year, there will be only two heads,
husband and wife. In like manner, it is noted by Mr. Francis [67] that,
among the Gangimakkalu and Madigas, the marriage is not consummated
till three months after its celebration.
When a pregnant woman is delivered, twigs of Balanites Roxburghii
are placed round the house.
The dead are usually cremated. As the moment of death approaches,
a cocoanut is broken, and camphor burnt. The thumbs and great
toes of the corpse are tied together. A woman, who is left a widow,
exchanges betel with her dead husband, and the women put rice into his
mouth. The corpse is carried to the burning-ground on a bier, with the
head towards the house. When it approaches a spot called Arichandra's
temple, the bier is placed on the ground, and food is placed at the
four corners. Then a Paraiyan or Mala repeats the formula "I am the
first born (i.e., the representative of the oldest caste). I wore the
sacred thread at the outset. I am Sangu Paraiyan (or Reddi Mala). I
was the patron of Arichandra. Lift the corpse, and turn it round with
its head towards the smasanam (burning-ground), and feet towards the
house." When the corpse has been laid on the pyre, the relations throw
rice over it, and the chief mourner goes three times round the pyre,
carrying on his shoulder a pot of water, in which a barber makes
holes. During the third turn he lights the pyre, and throwing down
the pot, goes off to bathe. On the following day, a stone is placed
on the spot where the deceased breathed his last, and his clothes are
put close to it. The women pour milk over the stone, and offer milk,
cocoanuts, cooked rice, betel, etc., to it. These are taken by the
males to the burning-ground. When Arichandra's temple is reached, they
place there a small quantity of food on a leaf. At the burning-ground,
the fire is extinguished, and the charred bones are collected, and
placed on a plantain leaf. Out of the ashes they make an effigy on
the ground, to which food is offered on four leaves, one of which is
placed on the abdomen of the figure, and the other three are set by
the side of it. The first of these is taken by the Paraiyan, and the
others are given to a barber, washerman, and Panisavan (a mendicant
caste). The final death ceremonies (karmandhiram) are performed on
the sixteenth day. They commence with the punyaham, or purificatory
ceremony, and the giving of presents to Brahmans. Inside the house,
the dead person's clothes are worshipped by the women. The widow is
taken to a tank or well, where her nagavali bottu is removed. This
usually wears out in a very short time, so a new one is worn for the
purpose of the death ceremony. The males proceed to a tank, and make
an effigy on the ground, near which three small stones are set up. On
these libations of water are poured, and cooked rice, vegetables, etc.,
are offered. The chief mourner then goes into the water, carrying the
effigy, which is thrown in, and dives as many times as there have been
days between the funeral and the karmandhiram. The ceremony closes
with the making of presents to the Brahmans and agnates. Towards
evening, the widow sits on a small quantity of rice on the ground,
and her marriage bottu is removed. The Kammas perform a first annual
ceremony, but not a regular sradh afterwards. [68]
As regards their religion, some Kammas are Saivites, others
Vaishnavites. Most of the Saivites are disciples of Aradhya Brahmans,
and the Vaishnavites of Vaishnava Brahmans or Satanis. The Gampas
reverence Draupadi, Mannarsami, Gangamma, Ankamma, and Padavetiamma;
the Godas Poleramma, Veikandla Thalli (the thousand-eyed goddess)
and Padavetiamma.
Kamma (ear ornament).--An exogamous sept of Motati Kapu.
Kammalan (Tamil).--The original form of the name Kammalan appears to
have been Kannalan or Kannalar, both of which occur in Tamil poems,
e.g., Thondamandala Satakam and Er Ezhuvathu, attributed to the
celebrated poet Kamban. Kannalan denotes one who rules the eye, or
one who gives the eye. When an image is made, its consecration takes
place at the temple. Towards the close of the ceremonial, the Kammalan
who made it comes forward, and carves out the eyes of the image. The
name is said also to refer to those who make articles, and open the
eyes of the people, i.e., who make articles pleasing to the eyes.
A very interesting account of the netra mangalya, or ceremony of
painting the eyes of images, as performed by craftsmen in Ceylon, has
been published by Mr. A. K. Coomaraswamy. [69] Therein he writes that
"by far the most important ceremony connected with the building and
decoration of a vihara (temple), or with its renovation, was the actual
netra mangalya or eye ceremonial. The ceremony had to be performed
in the case of any image, whether set up in a vihara or not. Even in
the case of flat paintings it was necessary. D. S. Muhandiram, when
making for me a book of drawings of gods according to the Rupavaliya,
left the eyes to be subsequently inserted on a suitable auspicious
occasion, with some simpler form of the ceremony described.
"Knox has a reference to the subject as follows. 'Some, being
devoutly disposed, will make the image of this god (Buddha) at their
own charge. For the making whereof they must bountifully reward the
Founder. Before the eyes are made, it is not accounted a god, but a
lump of ordinary metal, and thrown about the shop with no more regard
than anything else. But, when the eyes are to be made, the artificer is
to have a good gratification, besides the first agreed upon reward. The
eyes being formed, it is thenceforward a god. And then, being brought
with honour from the workman's shop, it is dedicated by solemnities
and sacrifices, and carried with great state into its shrine or little
house, which is before built and prepared for it.'" The pupils of the
eyes of a series of clay votive offerings, which were specially made
for me, were not painted at the potter's house, but in the verandah
of the traveller's bungalow where I was staying.
The Tamil Kammalans are divided into three endogamous territorial
groups, Pandya, Sozia (or Chola), and Kongan. The Pandyas live
principally in the Madura and Tinnevelly districts, and the Sozias
in the Trichinopoly, Tanjore, Chingleput, North and South Arcot
districts, and Madras. The Kongas are found chiefly in the Salem
and Coimbatore districts. In some places, there are still further
sub-divisions of territorial origin. Thus, the Pandya Tattans are
divided into Karakattar, Vambanattar, Pennaikku-akkarayar (those on
the other side of the Pennaiyar river), Munnuru-vittukarar (those of
the three hundred families), and so forth. They are further divided
into exogamous septs, the names of which are derived from places,
e.g., Perugumani, Musiri, Oryanadu, Thiruchendurai, and Kalagunadu.
The Kammalans are made up of five occupational sections, viz., Tattan
(goldsmith), Kannan (brass-smith), Tac'chan (carpenter), Kal-Tac'chan
(stone-mason), and Kollan or Karuman (blacksmith). The name Panchala,
which is sometimes used by the Tamil as well as the Canarese artisan
classes, has reference to the fivefold occupations. The various
sections intermarry, but the goldsmiths have, especially in towns,
ceased to intermarry with the blacksmiths. The Kammalans, claiming,
as will be seen later on, to be Brahmans, have adopted Brahmanical
gotras, and the five sections have five gotras called Visvagu, Janagha,
Ahima, Janardana, and Ubhendra, after certain Rishis (sages). Each of
these gotras, it is said, has twenty-five subordinate gotras attached
to it. The names of these, however, are not forthcoming, and indeed,
except some individuals who act as priests for the Kammalans, few seem
to have any knowledge of them. In their marriages the Kammalans closely
imitate the Brahmanical ceremonial, and the ceremonies last for three
or five days according to the means of the parties. The parisam, or
bride's money, is paid, as among other non-Brahmanical castes. Widows
are allowed the use of ordinary jewelry and betel, which is not the
case among Brahmans, and they are not compelled to make the usual
fasts, or observe the feasts commonly observed by Brahmans.
The Kammalan caste is highly organised, and its organisation is
one of its most interesting features. Each of the five divisions
has at its head a Nattamaikkaran or headman, and a Karyasthan, or
chief executive officer, under him, who are elected by members of the
particular division. Over them is the Anjivittu Nattamaikkaran (also
known as Ainduvittu Periyathanakkaran or Anjijati Nattamaikkaran),
who is elected by lot by representatives chosen from among the five
sub-divisions. Each of these chooses ten persons to represent it at
the election. These ten again select one of their number, who is the
local Nattamaikkaran, or one who is likely to become so. The five men
thus selected meet on an appointed day, with the castemen, at the
temple of the caste goddess Kamakshi Amman. The names of the five
men are written on five slips of paper, which, together with some
blank slips, are thrown before the shrine of the goddess. A child,
taken at random from the assembled crowd, is made to pick up the
slips, and he whose name first turns up is proclaimed as Anjivittu
Nattamaikkaran, and a big turban is tied on his head by the caste
priest. This is called Uruma Kattaradu, and is symbolic of his having
been appointed the general head of the caste. Lots are then drawn, to
decide which of the remaining four shall be the Anjivittu Karyasthan
of the newly-elected chief. At the conclusion of the ceremony, betel
leaf and areca nut are given first to the new officers, then to the
local officers, and finally to the assembled spectators. With this,
the installation ceremony, which is called pattam-kattaradu, comes
to an end. The money for the expenses thereof is, if necessary,
taken from the funds of the temple, but a special collection is
generally made for the occasion, and is, it is said, responded to with
alacrity. The Anjivittu Nattamaikkaran is theoretically invested with
full powers over the caste, and all members thereof are expected to
obey his orders. He is the final adjudicator of civil and matrimonial
causes. The divisional heads have power to decide such causes, and
they report their decisions to the Anjivittu Nattamaikkaran, who
generally confirms them. If, for any reason, the parties concerned
do not agree to abide by the decision, they are advised to take their
cause to one of the established courts. The Anjivittu Nattamaikkaran
has at times to nominate, and always the right to confirm or not, the
selection of the divisional heads. In conjunction with the Karyasthan
and the local heads, he may appoint Nattamaikkarans and Karyasthans
to particular places, and delegate his powers to them. This is done
in places where the caste is represented in considerable numbers,
as at Sholavandan and Vattalagundu in the Madura district. In this
connection, a quaint custom may be noted. The Pallans, who are known
as "the sons of the caste" in villages of the Madura and Tinnevelly
districts, are called together, and informed that a particular
village is about to be converted into a local Anjivittu Nattanmai,
and that they must possess a Nattamaikkaran and Karyasthan for
themselves. These are nominated in practice by the Pallans, and the
nomination is confirmed by the Anjivittu Nattamaikkaran. From that day,
they have a right to get new ploughs from the Kallans free of charge,
and give them in return a portion of the produce of the land. The local
Nattamaikkarans are practically under the control of the Karyasthan
of the Anjivittu Nattamaikkaran, and, as the phrase goes, they are
"bound down to" the words of this official, who possesses great power
and influence with the community. The local officials may be removed
from office by the Anjivittu Nattamaikkaran or his Karyasthan, but this
is rarely done, and only when, for any valid reason, the sub-divisions
insist on it. The mode of resigning office is for the Nattamaikkaran
or Karyasthan to bring betel leaf and areca nut, lay them before the
Anjivittu Nattamaikkaran, or his Karyasthan, and prostrate himself in
front of him. There is a tendency for the various offices to become
hereditary, provided those succeeding to them are rich and respected
by the community. The Anjivittu Nattamaikkaran is entitled to the first
betel at caste weddings, even outside his own jurisdiction. His powers
are in striking contrast with those of the caste Guru, who resides in
Tinnevelly, and occasionally travels northwards. He purifies, it is
said, those who are charged with drinking intoxicating liquor, eating
flesh, or crossing the sea, if such persons subject themselves to his
jurisdiction. If they do not, he does not even exercise the power of
excommunication, which he nominally possesses. He is not a Sanyasi,
but a Grihastha or householder. He marries his daughters to castemen,
though he refrains from eating in their houses.
The dead are, as a rule, buried in a sitting posture, but, at the
present day, cremation is sometimes resorted to. Death pollution, as
among some other non-Brahmanical castes, lasts for sixteen days. It is
usual for a Pandaram to officiate at the death ceremonies. On the first
day, the corpse is anointed with oil, and given a soap-nut bath. On
the third day, five lingams are made with mud, of which four are
placed in the four corners at the spot where the corpse was buried,
and the fifth is placed in the centre. Food is distributed on the
fifth day to Pandarams and the castemen. Sradh (annual death ceremony)
is not as a rule performed, except in some of the larger towns.
The Kammalans profess the Saiva form of the Brahman religion, and
reverence greatly Pillaiyar, the favourite son of Siva. A few have
come under the Lingayat influence. The caste, however, has its own
special goddess Kamakshi Amma, who is commonly spoken of as Vriththi
Daivam. She is worshipped by all the sub-divisions, and female
children are frequently named after her. She is represented by the
firepot and bellows-fire at which the castemen work, and presides
over them. On all auspicious occasions, the first betel and dakshina
(present of money) are set apart in her name, and sent to the pujari
(priest) of the local temple dedicated to her. Oaths are taken in
her name, and disputes affecting the caste are settled before her
temple. There also elections to caste offices are held. The exact
connection of the goddess Kamakshi with the caste is not known. There
is, however, a vague tradition that she was one of the virgins
who committed suicide by throwing herself into a fire, and was in
consequence deified. Various village goddesses (grama devata) are
also worshipped, and, though the Kammalans profess to be vegetarians,
animal sacrifices are offered to them. Among these deities are the
Saptha Kannimar or seven virgins, Kochade Periyandavan, and Periya
Nayanar. Those who worship the Saptha Kannimar are known by the name
of Madavaguppu, or the division that worships the mothers. Those who
revere the other two deities mentioned are called Nadika Vamsathal,
or those descended from men who, through the seven virgins, attained
eternal bliss. Kochade Periyandavan is said to be a corruption of
Or Jate Periya Pandyan, meaning the great Pandya with the single
lock. He is regarded as Vishnu, and Periya Nayanar is held to be a
manifestation of Siva. The former is said to have been the person who
invited the Tattans (who called themselves Pandya Tattans) to settle
in his kingdom. It is traditionally stated that they emigrated from
the north, and settled in the Madura and Tinnevelly districts. An
annual festival in honour of Kochade Periyandavan is held in these
districts, for the expenses in connection with which a subscription
is raised among the five sub-divisions. The festival lasts over three
days. On the first day, the image of the deified king is anointed
with water, and a mixture of the juices of the mango, jak (Artocarpus
integrifolia), and plantain, called muppala pujai. On the second
day, rice is boiled, and offered to the god, and, on the last day,
a healthy ram is sacrificed to him. This festival is said to be held,
in order to secure the caste as a whole against evils that might
overtake it. Tac'chans (carpenters) usually kill, or cut the ear of
a ram or sheep, whenever they commence the woodwork of a new house,
and smear the blood of the animal on a pillar or wall of the house.
The Kammalans claim to be descended from Visvakarma, the
architect of the gods, and, in some places, claim to be superior
to Brahmans, calling the latter Go-Brahmans, and themselves Visva
Brahmans. Visvakarma is said to have had five sons, named Manu,
Maya, Silpa, Tvashtra, and Daivagna. These five sons were the
originators of the five crafts, which their descendants severally
follow. Accordingly, some engage in smithy work, and are called Manus;
others, in their turn, devote their attention to carpentry. These
are named Mayas. Others again, who work at stone-carving,
are known as Silpis. Those who do metal work are Tvashtras, and
those who are engaged in making jewelry are known as Visvagnas or
Daivagnas. According to one story of the origin of the Kammalans,
they are the descendants of the issue of a Brahman and a Beri Chetti
woman. Hence the proverb that the Kammalans and the Beri Chettis are
one. Another story, recorded in the Mackenzie manuscripts, which is
current all over the Tamil country, is briefly as follows. In the
town of Mandapuri, the Kammalans of the five divisions formerly lived
closely united together. They were employed by all sorts of people,
as there were no other artificers in the country, and charged very
high rates for their wares. They feared and respected no king. This
offended the kings of the country, who combined against them. As the
fort in which the Kammalans concealed themselves, called Kantakkottai,
was entirely constructed of loadstone, all the weapons were drawn away
by it. The king then promised a big reward to anyone who would burn
down the fort, and at length the Deva-dasis (courtesans) of a temple
undertook to do this, and took betel and nut in signification of
their promise. The king built a fort for them opposite Kantakkottai,
and they attracted the Kammalans by their singing, and had children
by them. One of the Deva-dasis at length succeeded in extracting
from a young Kammalan the secret that, if the fort was surrounded
with varaghu straw and set on fire, it would be destroyed. The king
ordered that this should be done, and, in attempting to escape from the
sudden conflagration, some of the Kammalans lost their lives. Others
reached the ships, and escaped by sea, or were captured and put to
death. In consequence of this, artificers ceased to exist in the
country. One pregnant Kammalan woman, however, took refuge in the
house of a Beri Chetti, and escaped decapitation by being passed off
as his daughter. The country was sorely troubled owing to the want
of artificers, and agriculture, manufactures, and weaving suffered a
great deal. One of the kings wanted to know if any Kammalan escaped
the general destruction, and sent round his kingdom a piece of coral
possessing a tortuous aperture running through it, and a piece of
thread. A big reward was promised to anyone who should succeed in
passing the thread through the coral. At last, the boy born of the
Kammalan woman in the Chetti's house undertook to do it. He placed the
coral over the mouth of an ant-hole, and, having steeped the thread
in sugar, laid it down at some distance from the hole. The ants took
the thread, and drew it through the coral. The king, being pleased
with the boy, sent him presents, and gave him more work to do. This
he performed with the assistance of his mother, and satisfied the
king. The king, however, grew suspicious, and, having sent for the
Chetti, enquired concerning the boy's parentage. The Chetti thereon
detailed the story of his birth. The king provided him with the means
for making ploughshares on a large scale, and got him married to the
daughter of a Chetti, and made gifts of land for the maintenance of
the couple. The Chetti woman bore him five sons, who followed the
five branches of work now carried out by the Kammalan caste. The king
gave them the title of Panchayudhattar, or those of the five kin
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