Chapter XV: Part 15

Smith, Major J. McD. Practical Handbook of the Khond Language, 1876, Cuttack.

Taylor, Rev. W. On the Language, Manners, and Rites of the Khonds or Khoi Jati of the Goomsur Mountains from documents furnished by J. A. R. Stevenson. Madras Journ. Lit. and Science, VI, 17-46, 1837.

Taylor, Rev. W. Some Additional Notes on the Hill Inhabitants of the Goomsur Mountains. Madras Journ., Lit. and Science, VII, 89-104, 1838.

Kondra.--The Kondras or Kondoras are a fishing caste in Ganjam, who fish in ponds, lakes, rivers, and backwaters, but are never engaged in sea-fishing. It has been suggested that the name is derived from konkoda, a crab, as they catch crabs in the Chilka lake, and sell them. The Kondras rank very low in the social scale, and even the Haddis refuse to beat drums for them, and will not accept partially boiled rice, which they have touched. In some places, the members of the caste call themselves Dasa Divaro, and claim descent from the boatmen who rowed the boat when King Bharatha went to Chithrakutam, to inform Rama of the death of Dasaratha. Apparently the caste is divided into two endogamous sections, viz., Macha Kondras, who follow the traditional occupation of fishing, and Dandasi Khondras, who have taken to the duties of village watchmen. As examples of septs or bamsams, the following may be cited:--kako (crow), bilva (jackal), gaya (cow), kukkiriya (dogs), ghasia (grass), bholia (wild dog), sanguna (vulture). A few said that reverence is paid to the animals after which the bamsam is named before the marriage ceremonies, but this was denied by others. The headman of the caste is styled Behara, and he is assisted by the Dolobehara and Bhollobaya. There is also a caste messenger called Chattia. The Behara receives a fee of a rupee on occasions of marriage, and one anna for death ceremonies.

Girls are married either before or after puberty. Sometimes a girl is married in performance of a vow to the sahada (Streblus asper) tree. The ground round the tree is cleaned, a new cloth is then tied round the trunk, and a bow and arrow are rested against it. The Behara officiates as priest, and on behalf of the girl, places near the tree twelve handfuls or measures of rice and twelve of dal (peas: Cajanus indicus), and twelve pieces of string on a leaf, as provisions for the bridegroom. If the girl has not reached maturity, she must remain seven days near the tree; otherwise she remains four days. On the last day, the Behara, sitting close to the tree, says: "We have given you provisions for twelve years. Give us a tsado-patra (deed of separation)." This is written on a palmyra leaf, and thrown down near the tree.

The dead are cremated, and the corpses of both men and women are said to be placed face downwards on the pyre. Among many other castes, only those of women are placed in this position. The death ceremonies are similar to those observed by many Oriya castes. A bit of bone is removed from the burning-ground, and food offered to it daily until the tenth day, when all the agnates, as well as the brothers-in-law and sons-in-law of the deceased, are shaved. The sons of the sister of the dead person are also expected to be shaved if they are fatherless; but, if their father is alive, they are shaved on the following day.

The Kondras regard Ganga-devi as their caste deity, but worship also other deities, e.g., Chamunda, Buddhi, and Kalika.

Konga.--Konga or Kongu is a territorial term, meaning inhabitant of the Kongu country. It has, at recent times of census, been returned as a division of a large number of classes, mostly Tamil, which include Ambattan, Kaikolan, Kammalan, Kuravan, Kusavan, Malayan, Odde, Pallan, Paraiyan, Shanan, Uppara, and Vellala. It is used as a term of abuse among the Badagas of the Nilgiri hills. Those, for example, who made mistakes in matching Holmgren's wools, were scornfully called Konga by the onlookers. Similarly, in parts of the Tamil country, a tall, lean and stupid individual is called a Kongan.

Konga Vellala.--For the following note on the Konga Vellalas of the Trichinopoly district, I am indebted to Mr. F. R. Hemingway. They seem to have little in common with the other Vellalas, except their name, and appear to hold a lower position in society, for Reddis will not eat with them, and they will dine with Tottiyans and others of the lower non-Brahman castes. They live in compact communities, generally in hamlets. Their dwellings are generally thatched huts, containing only one room. They are cultivators, but not well off. Their men can generally be recognized by the number of large gold rings which they wear in the lobes of the ears, and the pendant (murugu), which hangs from the upper part of the ears. Their women have a characteristic tali (marriage badge) of large size, strung on to a number of cotton threads, which are not, as among other castes, twisted together. They also seem always to wear an ornament called tayittu, rather like the common cylindrical talisman, on the left arm.

The Konga Vellalas are split into two endogamous divisions, viz., the Konga Vellalas proper, and the Tondan or Ilakanban-kuttam (servant or inferior sub-division). The latter are admittedly the offspring of illegitimate intercourse with outsiders by girls and widows of the caste, who have been expelled in consequence of their breach of caste rules.

The Kongas proper have an elaborate caste organisation. Their country is divided into twenty-four nadus, each comprising a certain number of villages, and possessing recognised head-quarters, which are arranged into four groups under the villages of Palayakottai, Kangayam, Pudur and Kadayur, all in the Coimbatore district. Each village is under a Kottukkaran, each nadu under a Nattu-kavundan or Periyatanakkaran, and each group under a Pattakkaran. The last is treated with considerable respect. He wears gold toe-rings, is not allowed to see a corpse, and is always saluted with clasped hands. He is only occasionally called in to settle caste disputes, small matters being settled by the Kottukkarans, and matrimonial questions by the Nattukavundan. Both the Kongas proper, and the Tondans have a large number of exogamous septs, the names of which generally denote some article, the use of which is taboo, e.g., kadai (quail), pannai (Celosia argentea, a pot-herb). The most desirable match for a boy is his maternal uncle's daughter. To such an extent is the preference for such unions carried out, that a young boy is often married to a grown-up woman, and it is admitted that, in such cases, the boy's father takes upon himself the duties of a husband until his son has reached maturity, and that the wife is allowed to consort with any one belonging to the caste whom she may fancy, provided that she continues to live in her husband's house. With widows, who are not allowed to remarry, the rules are more strict. A man convicted of undue intimacy with a widow is expelled from the caste, unless she consents to his leaving her and going back to the caste, and he provides her with adequate means to live separately. The form of consent is for the woman to say that she is only a mud vessel, and has been broken because polluted, whereas the man is of bell-metal, and cannot be utterly polluted. The erring man is readmitted to the caste by being taken to the village common, where he is beaten with an erukkan (arka: Calotropis gigantea) stick, and by providing a black sheep for a feast to his relatives.

At weddings and funerals, the Konga Vellalas employ priests of their own caste, called Arumaikkarans and Arumaikkaris. These must be married people, who have had children. The first stage, so far as a wife is concerned, is to become an elutingalkari (woman of seven Mondays), without which she cannot wear a red mark on her forehead, or get any of her children married. This is effected, after the birth of at least one child, by observing a ceremonial at her father's house. A pandal (booth) of green leaves is erected in the house, and a fillet of pungam (Pongamia glabra) and tamarind twigs is placed round her head. She is then presented with a new cloth, prepares some food and eats it, and steps over a mortar. A married couple wait until one of their children is married, and then undergo the ceremony called arumaimanam at the hands of ten Arumaikkarans and some Pulavans (bards among the Kaikolans), who touch the pair with some green grass dipped in sandal and water, oil, etc. The man then becomes an Arumaikkaran, and his wife an Arumaikkari. All people of arumai rank are treated with great respect, and, when one of them dies, a drum is beaten by a man standing on another man's shoulders, who receives as a present seven measures of grain measured, and an equal quantity unmeasured.

The betrothal ceremony takes place at the house of the future bride, in the presence of both the maternal uncles, and consists in tying fruit and betel leaf in the girl's cloth. On the wedding day, the bridegroom is shaved, and an Arumaikkari pours water over him. If he has a sister, the ceremony of betrothing his prospective daughter to her son, is performed. He then goes on horseback, carrying some fruit and a pestle, to a stone planted for the occasion, and called the nattukal, which he worships. The stone is supposed to represent the Kongu king, and the pestle the villagers, and the whole ceremony is said to be a relic of a custom of the ancient Kongu people, to which the caste formerly belonged, which required them to obtain the sanction of the king for every marriage. On his return from the nattukal, balls of white and coloured rice are taken round the bridegroom, to ward off the evil eye. His mother then gives him three mouthfuls of food, and eats the remainder herself, to indicate that henceforth she will not provide him with meals. A barber then blesses him, and he repairs on horseback to the bride's house, where he is received by one of her party similarly mounted. His ear-rings are put in the bride's ears, and the pair are carried on the shoulders of their maternal uncles to the nattukal. On their return thence, they are touched by an Arumaikkaran with a betel leaf dipped in oil, milk and water. The tali (marriage badge) is worshipped and blessed, and the Arumaikkaran ties it on her neck. The barber then pronounces an elaborate blessing, which runs as follows: "Live as long as the sun and moon may endure, or Pasupatisvarar (Siva) at Karur. May your branches spread like the banyan tree, and your roots like grass, and may you flourish like the bamboo. May ye twain be like the flower and the thread, which together form the garland and cleave together, like water and the reed growing in it." If a Pulavan is present, he adds a further blessing, and the little fingers of the contracting couple are linked together, anointed with milk, and then separated.

The death ceremonies are not peculiar, except that the torch for the pyre is carried by a Paraiyan, and not, as among most castes, by the chief mourner, and that no ceremonies are performed after the third day. The custom is to collect the bones on that day and throw them into water. The barber then pours a mixture of milk and ghi (clarified butter) over a green tree, crying poli, poli.

The caste has its own beggars, called Mudavandi (q.v.).

Kongara (crane).--An exogamous sept of Padma Sale, and Kamma.

Konhoro.--A title of Bolasi.

Konkani.--Defined, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a territorial or linguistic term, meaning a dweller in the Konkan country (Canara), or a person speaking the Konkani dialect of Marathi. Kadu Konkani (bastard Konkani) is a name opposed to the God or pure Konkanis. In South Canara, "the Konkani Brahmans are the trading and shop-keeping class, and, in the most out-of-the-way spots, the Konkani village shop is to be found." [184]

The following note on Konkanis is extracted from the Travancore Census Report, 1901. "The Konkanis include the Brahman, Kshatriya, and Vaisya castes of the Sarasvata section of the Gauda Brahmans. The Brahmans of this community differ, however, from the Konkanastha Maharashtra Brahmans belonging to the Dravida group. The Konkani Sudras who have settled on this coast are known by a different name, Kudumikkar. The Konkanis' original habitation is the bank of the Sarasvati, a river well known in early Sanskrit works, but said to have lost itself in the sands of the deserts north of Rajputana. According to the Sahyadrikanda, a branch of these Sarasvatas lived in Tirhut in Bengal, whence ten families were brought over by Parasurama to Gomantaka, the modern Goa, Panchakrosi, and Kusasthali. Attracted by the richness and beauty of the new country, others followed, and the whole population settled themselves in sixty villages and ninety-six hamlets in and around Goa, the settlers in the former being called Shashtis (Sanskrit for sixty), and those in the latter being called Shannavis or Shenavis (Sanskrit for ninety-six). The history of those Sarasvatas was one of uninterrupted general and commercial prosperity until about twenty years after the advent of the Portuguese. When King Emanuel died and King John succeeded him, the policy of the Goanese Government is believed to have changed in favour of religious persecution. A large efflux to the Canarese and Tulu countries was the result. Thence the Konkanis appear to have migrated to Travancore and Cochin, and found a safe haven under the rule of their Hindu sovereigns. In their last homes, the Konkanis extended and developed their commerce, built temples, and endowed them so magnificently that the religious institutions of that community, especially at Cochin and Alleppey, continue to this day almost the richest in all Malabar.

"Canter Visscher writes [185] that 'the Canarese who are permanently settled in Malabar are the race best known to the Europeans, not only because the East India Company trade with them and appoint one of their members to be their merchant, giving him the attendance of two Dutch soldiers: but also because from the shops of these people in town we obtain all our necessaries, except animal food. Some sell rice, others fruits, others various kinds of linen, and some again are money-changers, so that there is hardly one who is not engaged in trade.' The occupation of the Konkanis has been commerce ever since the advent of the Portuguese in India. Some of them make papatams [186] (popadams) which is a condiment of almost universal consumption in Malabar. Till recently, the Konkanis in Travancore knew nothing else than trade. But now, following the example of their kinsmen in Bombay and South Canara, they are gradually taking to other professions.

"Having settled themselves in the Canarese districts, most of the Konkanis came under the influence of Madhavacharya, unlike the Shenavis, who still continue to be Smartas. The worship of Venkataramana, the presiding deity of the Tirupati shrine, is held in great importance. Every Konkani temple is called Tirumala Devasmam, as the divinity that resides on the sacred hill (Tirumala) is represented in each."

Konsari.--The Konsaris derive their name from konsa, a bell-metal dish. They are Oriya workers in bell-metal, and manufacture dishes, cups and plates. Brahmans are employed by them as purohits (priests) and gurus (preceptors). They eat fish and mutton, but not fowls or beef, and drink liquor. Marriage is infant. Remarriage of widows and divorcées is permitted.

Koonapilli vandlu.--Beggars attached to Padma Sales.

Koppala.--A section of Velamas, who tie the hair in a knot (koppu) on the top of the head, and an exogamous sept of Mutrachas, whose females do up their hair in a knot when they reach puberty.

Kora (sun).--A sept of Gadaba, Muka Dora, and Rona.

Koracha.--See Korava.

Koraga.--The Koragas are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as being a wild tribe of basket-makers and labourers, chiefly found in Mudbidri, and in Puttur in the Uppinangadi taluk of South Canara. They are, Mr. M. T. Walhouse writes, [187] "a very quiet and inoffensive race; small and slight, the men seldom exceeding five feet six inches; black-skinned, like most Indian aborigines, thick-lipped, noses broad and flat, and hair rough and bushy. Their principal occupation is basket-making, and they must labour for their masters. They live on the outskirts of villages, and may not dwell in houses of clay or mud, but in huts of leaves, called koppus. Like many of the wild tribes of India, they are distinguished by unswerving truthfulness. The word of a Koragar is proverbial."

The Koragas rank below the Holeyas. In some towns, they are employed by the sanitary department as scavengers. They remove the hide, horns, and bones of cattle and buffaloes, which die in the villages, and sell them mainly to Mappilla merchants. They accept food, which is left over after feasts held by various castes. Some are skilful in the manufacture of cradles, baskets, cylinders to hold paddy, winnowing and sowing baskets, scale-pans, boxes, rice-water strainers, ring-stands for supporting pots, coir (cocoanut fibre) rope, brushes for washing cattle, etc. They also manufacture various domestic utensils from soapstone, which they sell at a very cheap rate to shopkeepers in the bazar.

"Numerous slave-castes," Mr. Walhouse continues, "exist throughout India, not of course recognised by law--indeed formally emancipated by an Act of Government in 1843--but still, though improved in condition, virtually slaves. Their origin and status are thus described. After the four principal classes, who sprang from Brahma, came six Anuloma castes, which arose from the intercourse of Brahmans and Kshatriyas with women of the classes below them respectively. The term Anuloma denotes straight and regular hair, which in India characterises the Aryan stock. After these came six Pratiloma castes, originating in reverse order from Brahman and Kshatriya women by fathers of the inferior classes. The third among these was the Chandala, the offspring of Shudra fathers by Brahman women. The Chandalas, or slaves, were sub-divided into fifteen classes, none of which might intermarry, a rule still strictly observed. The two last, and lowest of the fifteen classes, are the Kapata or rag-wearing, and the Soppu or leaf-wearing Koragas. Such is the account given by Brahman chroniclers; but the probability is that these lowest slave-castes are the descendants of that primitive population which the Aryan invaders from the north found occupying the soil, and, after a struggle of ages, gradually dispossessed, driving some to the hills and jungles, and reducing others to the condition of slaves. All these races are regarded by their Hindu masters with boundless contempt, and held unspeakably unclean. This feeling seems the result and witness of times when the despised races were powerful, and to be approached as lords by their now haughty masters, and was probably intensified by struggles and uprisings, and the memory of humiliations inflicted on the ultimately successful conquerors. Evidences for this may be inferred from many curious rights and privileges, which the despised castes possess and tenaciously retain. Moreover, the contempt and loathing in which they are ordinarily held are curiously tinctured with superstitious fear, for they are believed to possess secret powers of magic and witchcraft, and influence with the old malignant deities of the soil, who can direct good or evil fortune. As an instance, if a Brahman mother's children die off when young, she calls a Koragar woman, gives her some oil, rice, and copper money, and places the surviving child in her arms. The out-caste woman, who may not at other times be touched, gives the child suck, puts on it her iron bracelets, and, if a boy, names it Koragar, if a girl, Korapulu. She then returns it to the mother. This is believed to give a new lease of life. Again, when a man is dangerously ill, or perhaps unfortunate, he pours oil into an earthen vessel, worships it in the same way as the family god, looks at his face reflected in the oil, and puts into it a hair from his head and a nail paring from his toe. The oil is then presented to the Koragars, and the hostile gods or stars are believed to be propitiated." According to Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao, [188] old superstitious Hindus never venture to utter the word Koraga during the night.

It is noted in the Manual of the South Canara district, that "all traditions unite in attributing the introduction of the Tulu Brahmins of the present day to Mayur Varma (of the Kadamba dynasty), but they vary in details connected with the manner in which they obtained a firm footing in the land. One account says that Habashika, chief of the Koragas, drove out Mayur Varma, but was in turn expelled by Mayur Varma's son, or son-in-law, Lokaditya of Gokarnam, who brought Brahmins from Ahi-kshetra, and settled them in thirty-two villages." Concerning the power, and eventual degradation of the Koragas, the following version of the tradition is cited by Mr. Walhouse. "When Lokadiraya, whose date is fixed by Wilks about 1450 B.C., was king of Bhanvarshe in North Canara (a place noted by Ptolemy), an invader, by name Habashika, brought an army from above the ghauts, consisting of all the present Chandala or slave-castes, overwhelmed that part of the country, and marched southward to Mangalore, the present capital of South Canara. The invading host was scourged with small-pox, and greatly annoyed by ants, so Habashika moved on to Manjeshwar, a place of ancient repute, twelve miles to the south, subdued the local ruler Angarawarma, son of Virawarma, and reigned there in conjunction with his nephew; but after twelve years both died--one legend says through enchantments devised by Angarawarma; another that a neighbouring ruler treacherously proposed a marriage between his sister and Habashika, and, on the bridegroom and his caste-men attending for the nuptials, a wholesale massacre of them all was effected. Angarawarma, then returning, drove the invading army into the jungles, where they were reduced to such extremity that they consented to become slaves, and were apportioned amongst the Brahmans and original landholders. Some were, set to watch the crops and cattle, some to cultivate, others to various drudgeries, which are still allotted to the existing slave-castes, but the Koragars, who had been raised by Habashika to the highest posts under his government, were stripped and driven towards the sea-shore, there to be hanged, but, being ashamed of their naked condition, they gathered the leaves of the nicki bush (Vitex Negundo), which grows abundantly in waste places, and made small coverings for themselves in front. On this the executioners took pity on them and let them go, but condemned them to be the lowest of the low, and wear no other covering but leaves. The Koragas are now the lowest of the slave divisions, and regarded with such intense loathing and hatred that up to quite recent times one section of them, called Ande or pot Koragars, continually wore a pot suspended from their necks, into which they were compelled to spit, being so utterly unclean as to be prohibited from even spitting on the highway; and to this day their women continue to show in their leafy aprons a memorial of the abject degradation to which their whole race was doomed." It is said that in pre-British days an Ande Koraga had to take out a licence to come into the towns and villages by day. At night mere approach thereto was forbidden, as his presence would cause terrible calamity. The Koragas of those days could cook their food only in broken vessels. The name Vastra, by which one class of Koragas is called, has reference to their wearing vastra, or clothes, such as were used to shroud a dead body, and given to them in the shape of charity, the use of a new cloth being prohibited. According to another account the three divisions of the Koragas are (1) Kappada, those who wear clothes, (2) Tippi, who wear ornaments made of the cocoanut shell, and (3) Vanti, who wear a peculiar kind of large ear-ring. These three clans may eat together, but not intermarry. Each clan is divided into exogamous septs called balis, and it may be noted that some of the Koraga balis, such as Haledennaya and Kumerdennaya, are also found among the Mari and Mundala Holeyas.

On the subject of Koraga dress, Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao informs us that "while the males gird a piece of cloth round their loins, the females cover their waist with leaves of the forest woven together. Various reasons are assigned for this custom. According to a tradition, at the time when the Koragars had reigned, now far distant, one of these 'blacklegged' (this is usually the expression by which they are referred to during the night) demanded a girl of high birth in marriage. Being enraged at this, the upper class withheld, after the overthrow of the Koragas, every kind of dress from Koraga women, who, to protect themselves from disgrace, have since had recourse to the leaves of the forest, conceiving in the meantime that god had decreed this kind of covering." Mr. Walhouse writes [189] further that the Koragas wear an "apron of twigs and leaves over the buttocks. Once this was the only covering allowed them, and a mark of their deep degradation. But now, when no longer compulsory, and of no use, as it is worn over the clothes, the women still retain it, believing its disuse would be unlucky." "The Koragas," Mr. H. A. Stuart tells us, [190] "cover the lower part of their body with a black cloth and the upper part with a white one, and their head-dress is a cap made of the areca-nut spathe, like that worn by the Holeyas. Their ornaments consist of brass ear-rings, an iron bracelet, and beads of bone strung on a thread and tied around their waist." The waist-belt of a Koraga, whom I saw at Udipi, was made of owl bones.

"It may," Mr. Walhouse states, [191] "be noted that, according to the traditional accounts, when the invading hosts under Habashika were in their turn overthrown and subjected, they accepted slavery under certain conditions that preserved to them some shadow of right. Whilst it was declared that they should be for ever in a state of servitude, and be allowed a meal daily, but never the means of providing for the next day's meal. Each slave was ascripted to his master under the following forms, which have come down to our days, and were observed in the purchase or transfer of slaves within living memory. The slave having washed, anointed himself with oil, and put on a new cloth, his future owner took a metal plate, filled it with water, and dropped in a gold coin, which the slave appropriated after drinking up the water. The slave then took some earth from his future master's estate, and threw it on the spot he chose for his hut, which was given over to him with all the trees thereon. When land was transferred, the slaves went with it, and might also be sold separately. Occasionally they were presented to a temple for the service of the deity. This was done publicly by the master approaching the temple, putting some earth from before its entrance into the slave's mouth, and declaring that he abjured his rights, and transferred them to the deity within. Rules were laid down, with the Hindoo passion for regulating small matters, not only detailing what work the slaves should do, but what allowances of food they should receive, and what presents on certain festival occasions they should obtain from, or make to the master. On marriages among themselves, they prostrated themselves before the master and obtained his consent, which was accompanied with a small present of money and rice. The marriage over, they again came before the master, who gave them betel nuts, and poured some oil on the bride's head. On the master's death, his head slave immediately shaved his hair and moustache. There was also a list of offences for which masters might punish slaves, amongst which the employment of witchcraft, or sending out evil spirits against others, expressly figures; and the punishments with which each offence might be visited are specified, the worst of which are branding and flogging with switches. There was no power of life and death, and in cases of withholding the usual allowance, or of punishments severer than prescribed, slaves might complain to the authorities."

On the subject of Koraga slavery, Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao writes that "although these slaves are in a degraded condition, yet they by no means appear to be dejected or unhappy. A male slave gets three hanis of paddy (unhusked rice) or a hani and a half of rice daily, besides a small quantity of salt. The female slave gets two hanis of paddy, and, if they be man and wife, they can easily sell a portion of the rice to procure other necessaries of life. They are also allowed one cloth each every year, and, besides, when transferred from one master to another, they get a cocoanut, a jack tree (Artocarpus integrifolia), and a piece of land where they can sow ten or twenty seers of rice. The greater number of slaves belong to the Alia Santanam castes (inheritance in the female line), and among these people a male slave is sold for three pagodas (fourteen rupees) and a female slave for five pagoda; whereas the few slaves who belong to the Makkala Santanam castes (inheritance in the male line) fetch five pagodas for the man slave, and three pagodas for the female. This is because the children of the latter go to the husband's master, while those of the former go to the mother's master, who has the benefit of the husband's services also. He has, however, to pay the expenses of their marriage, which amount to a pagoda and a half; and, in like manner, the master of the Makkala Santana slave pays two pagodas for his marriage, and gets possession of the female slave and her children. The master has the power of hiring out his slave, for whose services he receives annually about a mura of rice, or forty seers. They are also mortgaged for three or four pagodas."

For the marriages of the Koragas, Mr. Walhouse informs us that "Sunday is an auspicious day, though Monday is for the other slave castes. The bridegroom and bride, after bathing in cold water, sit on a mat in the former's house, with a handful of rice placed before them. An old man presides, takes a few grains of rice and sprinkles on their heads, as do the others present, first the males and then the females. The bridegroom then presents two silver coins to his wife, and must afterwards give six feasts to the community." At these feasts every Koraga is said to vie with his neighbour in eating and drinking. "Though amongst the other slave castes divorce is allowed by consent of the community, often simply on grounds of disagreement, and the women may marry again, with the Koragars marriage is indissoluble, but a widow is entitled to re-marriage, and a man may have a second, and even third wife, all living with him."

Concerning the ceremonies observed on the birth of a child, Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao writes that "after a child is born, the mother (as among Hindoos) is unholy, and cannot be touched or approached. The inmates take leave of the koppu for five nights, and depend on the hospitality of their friends, placing the mother under the sole charge of a nurse or midwife. On the sixth night the master of the koppu calls his neighbours, who can hardly refuse to oblige him with their presence. The mother and the child are then given a tepid bath, and this makes them holy. Members of each house bring with them a seer of rice, half a seer of cocoanut oil, and a cocoanut. The woman with the baby is seated on a mat--her neighbour's presents before her in a flat basket. The oldest man present consults with his comrades as to what name will best suit the child. A black string is then tied round the waist of the baby. The rice, which comes in heaps from the neighbours, is used for dinner on the occasion, and the cocoanuts are split into two pieces, the lower half being given to the mother of the child, and the upper half the owner. This is the custom followed when the baby is a male one; in case of a female child, the owner receives the upper half, leaving the lower half for the mother. Koragars were originally worshippers of the sun, and they are still called after the names of the days of the week--as Aita (a corruption of Aditya, or the sun); Toma (Soma, or the moon); Angara (Mangala); Gurva (Jupiter); Tanya (Shani, or Saturn); Tukra (Shukra, or Venus). They have no separate temples for their God, but a place beneath a kasaracana tree (Strychnos Nux-vomica) is consecrated for the worship of the deity which is exclusively their own, and is called Kata. Worship in honour of this deity is usually performed in the months of May, July, or October. Two plantain leaves are placed on the spot, with a heap of boiled rice mixed with turmeric. As is usual in every ceremony observed by a Koragar, the senior in age takes the lead, and prays to the deity to accept the offering and be satisfied. But now they have, by following the example of Bants and Sudras, exchanged their original object of worship for that of Bhutas (demons)."

On the subject of the religion of the Koragas, Mr. Walhouse states that "like all the slave castes and lower races, the Koragars worship Mari Amma, the goddess presiding over small-pox, the most dreadful form of Parvati, the wife of Siva. She is the most popular deity in Canara, represented under the most frightful form, and worshipped with bloody rites. Goats, buffaloes, pigs, fowls, etc., are slaughtered at a single blow by an Asadi, one of the slave tribes from above the ghauts. Although the Koragars, in common with all slaves, are looked upon as excommunicated and unfit to approach any Brahminical temple or deity, they have adopted the popular Hindoo festivals of the Gokalastami or Krishna's birthday, and the Chowti. In the latter, the preliminaries and prayers must be performed by a virgin." Concerning these festivals, Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao gives the following details. "The Koragars have no fixed feasts exclusively of their own, but for a long time they have been observing those of the Hindus. Of these two are important. One is Gokula Ashtami, or the birthday of Krishna, and the other is the Chowti or Pooliyar feast. The latter is of greater importance than the former. The former is a holy day of abstinence and temperance, while the latter is associated with feasting and merry-making, and looks more like a gala-day set apart for anything but religious performance. On the Ashtami some cakes of black gram are made in addition to the usual dainties. The services of Bacchus are called in aid, and the master of the koppu invites his relatives and friends. A regular feasting commences, when the master takes the lead, and enjoys the company of his guests by seating himself in their midst. They are made to sit on the floor crosswise with a little space intervening between every guest, who pays strict regard to all the rules of decency and rank. To keep up the distinction of sexes, females are seated in an opposite row. The host calls upon some of his intimates or friends to serve on the occasion. The first dish is curry, the second rice; and cakes and dainties come in next. The butler Koragar serves out to the company the food for the banquet, while the guests eat it heartily. If one of them lets so much as a grain of rice fall on his neighbour's plate, the whole company ceases eating. The offender is at once brought before the guests, and charged with having spoiled the dinner. He is tried there and then, and sentenced to pay a fine that will cover the expenses of another banquet. In case of resistance to the authority of the tribunal, he is excommunicated and abandoned by his wife, children and relatives. No one dare touch or speak to him. A plea of poverty of course receives a kind consideration. The offender is made to pay a small sum as a fine, which is paid for him by a well-to-do Koragar. To crown the feast, a large quantity of toddy finds its way into the midst of the company. A small piece of dry areca leaf sewed together covers the head of a Koragar, and forms for him his hat. This hat he uses as a cup, which contains a pretty large quantity of liquid. A sufficient quantity is poured into their cup, and if, in pouring, a drop finds its way to the ground, the butler is sure to undergo the same penalty that attaches itself to any irregularity in the dinner as described above. After the banquet, some male members of the group join in a dance to the pipe and drum, while others are stimulated by the intoxicating drink into frisking and jumping about. To turn to the other festival. The inmates of the house are required to fast the previous night--one and all of them--and on the previous day flesh or drink is not allowed. The next morning before sunrise, a virgin bathes, and smears cowdung over a part of the house. The place having been consecrated, a new basket, specially made for the occasion, is placed on that spot. It contains a handful of beaten rice, two plantains, and two pieces of sugar-cane. The basket is then said to contain the god of the day, whom the sugar-cane represents, and the spot is too holy to be approached by man or woman. A common belief which they hold, that the prayers made by a virgin are duly responded to on account of her virgin purity, does not admit of the worship being conducted by any one else. The girl adorns the basket with flowers of the forest, and prays for the choicest blessings on the inmates of the house all the year round.

A Koraga woman, when found guilty of adultery, is said to be treated in the following extraordinary way. If her paramour is of low caste similar to herself, he has to marry her. But, in order to purify her for the ceremony, he has to build a hut, and put the woman inside. It is then set on fire, and the woman escapes as best she can to another place where the same performance is gone through, and so on until she has been burnt out seven times. She is then considered once more an honest woman, and fit to be again married. According to Mr. Walhouse, "a row of seven small huts is built on a river-bank, set fire to, and the offender made to run over the burning sticks and ashes as a penance." A similar form of ordeal has been described as occurring among the Bakutas of South Canara by Mr. Stuart. "When a man is excommunicated, he must perform a ceremony called yelu halli sudodu, which means burning seven villages, in order to re-enter the caste. For this ceremony, seven small booths are built, and bundles of grass are piled against them. The excommunicated man has then to pass through these huts one after the other, and, as he does so, the headman sets fire to the grass" (cf. Koyi). It is suggested by Mr. R. E. Enthoven that the idea seems to be "a rapid representation of seven existences, the outcast regaining his status after seven generations have passed without further transgression. The parallel suggested is the law of Manu that seven generations are necessary to efface a lapse from the law of endogamous marriage."

Of death ceremonies Mr. Walhouse tells us that "on death the bodies of all the slave castes used to be burnt, except in cases of death from small-pox. This may have been to obviate the pollution of the soil by their carcases when their degradation was deepest, but now, and from long past, burial is universal. The master's permission is still asked, and, after burial, four balls of cooked rice are placed on the grave, possibly a trace of the ancient notion of supplying food to the ghost of the deceased." A handful is said [192] to be "removed from the grave on the sixteenth day after burial, and buried in a pit. A stone is erected over it, on which some rice and toddy are placed as a last offering to the departed soul which is then asked to join its ancestors."

"It may," Mr. Walhouse writes, "be noted that the Koragars alone of all the slave or other castes eat the flesh of alligators (crocodiles), and they share with one or two other divisions of the slaves a curious scruple or prejudice against carrying any four-legged animal, dead or alive. This extends to anything with four legs, such as chairs, tables, cots, etc., which they cannot be prevailed upon to lift unless one leg be removed. As they work as coolies, this sometimes produces inconvenience. A somewhat similar scruple obtains among the Bygas of Central India, whose women are not allowed to sit or lie on any four-legged bed or stool." Like the Koragas, the Bakudas of South Canara "will not carry a bedstead unless the legs are first taken off, and it is said that this objection rests upon a supposed resemblance between the four-legged cot and the four-legged ox." [193]

Of the language spoken by the Koragars, Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao states that "it is a common belief that the Koragar has a peculiar dialect generally spoken by him at his koppu. He may be induced to give an account of his feasts, his gods, his family, but a word about his dialect will frighten him out of his wits. Generally polite and well-behaved, he becomes impolite and unmannerly when questioned about his dialect." "All the Hindoos," Mr. Walhouse writes, "believe that the Koragars have a language of their own, understood only by themselves, but it seems doubtful whether this is anything more than an idiom, or slang." A vocabulary of the Koraga dialect is contained in the South Canara Manual (1895).

Korama.--See Korava.

Korava.--Members of this nomad tribe, which permeates the length of the Indian peninsula, through countries where many languages and dialects are spoken, are likely to be known by different names in different localities, and this is the case. They are known as Korava from the extreme south to the north of the North Arcot district, where they are called Koracha or Korcha, and in the Ceded Districts they become Yerukala or Yerakala. In Calcutta they have been traced practising as quack doctors, and assuming Maratha names, or adding terminations to their own, which suggest that they belong to a caste in the south higher in the social scale than they really do. Some Koravas pass for Vellalas, calling themselves Agambadiar Vellalas with the title Pillai. Others call themselves Palli, Kavarai, Idaiyan, Reddi, etc. [194] As railways spread over the country, they readily adapted themselves to travelling by them, and the opportunities afforded for going quickly far from the scene of a recently committed crime, or for stealing from sleeping passengers, were soon availed of. In 1899, the Superintendent of Government Railways reported that "the large organization of thieves, commonly called Kepmari Koravas (though they never call themselves so), use the railway to travel far. Some of them are now settled at Cuttack, where they have set up as native doctors, whose speciality is curing piles. Some are at Midnapur, and are going on to Calcutta, and there were some at Puri some time ago. It is said that a gang of them has gone recently to Tinnevelly, and taken up their abode near Sermadevi, calling themselves Servaikars. One morning, in Tinnevelly, while the butler in a missionary's house was attending to his duties, an individual turned up with a fine fowl for sale. The butler, finding that he could purchase it for about half the real price, bought it, and showed it to his wife with no small pride in his ability in making a bargain. But he was distinctly crestfallen when his wife pointed out that it was his own bird, which had been lost on the previous night. The seller was a Korava."

In 1903, a gang of Koravas, travelling in the guise of pujaris, was arrested at Puri. The Police discovered that a warrant remained unexecuted against one of them, who had been concerned in a dacoity case in North Arcot many years previously. The report of the case states that "cognate with the Kepmaries is a class of Korava pujaris (as they call themselves in their own village), who, emanating from one small hamlet in the Tanjore district, are spread more or less all over India. There are, or were until the other day, and probably are still some of them in Cuttack, Balasore, Midnapur, Ahmedabad, Patna, Bombay, Secunderabad, and other places. One of them attained a high position in Bombay. Their ostensible profession is that of curing piles and fistulas, but it is noticeable that, sooner or later after their taking up their abode at any place, the Kepmaries are to be found somewhere near, and the impression, which is not quite a certainty but very nearly so, is that they play the convenient rôle of receivers of property stolen by the Kepmaries." Kepmari is regarded as a very strong term of abuse, indicating, as it does, a rogue of the worst character. In the southern districts, the Kasukkar Chettis and Shanans are said to be very much trusted by the Koravas in the disposal of property.

It is noted by Mr. H. A. Stuart [195] that the Koravas or Yerukalas are a vagrant tribe found throughout the Presidency, and in many parts of India. In the Telugu country they are called Yerukalavandlu or Korachavandlu, but they always speak of themselves as Kurru, and there is not the slightest room for the doubt that has been expressed regarding the identity of the Koravas and Yerukalas. Several derivations of Yerukala have been proposed by Wilson and others. It has been suggested, for example, that yeru is connected with erra, meaning red. In Telugu Yerukalavandlu would mean fortune-tellers, and Dr. Oppert suggests that this is the origin of the name Yerukala. He says [196] "it is highly probable that the name and the occupation of the fortune-telling Kuruvandlu or Kuluvandlu induced the Telugu people to call this tribe Yerukulavandlu. Dr. Oppert further connects Kurru with the root ku, a mountain; and, in a Tamil work of the ninth century, [197] Kurru or Kura (Kuramagal) is given as the name of a hill tribe." A strong argument in favour of the caste name being connected with the profession of fortune-telling is afforded by the fact that women go about the streets, calling out "Yeruko, amma, yeruku," i.e., prophecies, mother, prophecies. The Kuravas are, Mr. Francis writes, [198] "a gipsy tribe found all over the Tamil country, but chiefly in Kurnool, Salem, Coimbatore and South Arcot. Kuravas have usually been treated as being the same as the Yerukalas. Both castes are wandering gipsies, both live by basket-making and fortune-telling, both speak a corrupt Tamil, and both may have sprung from one original stock. It is noteworthy in this connection that the Yerukalas are said to call one another Kurru or Kura. But their names are not used as interchangeable in the districts where each is found, and there seem to be no real differences between the two bodies. They do not intermarry, or eat together. The Kuravas are said to tie a piece of thread soaked in turmeric water round the bride's neck at weddings, while Yerukalas use a necklace of black beads. The Yerukalas have a tradition that those who went to fetch the tali and pipe never returned, and they consequently use black beads as a substitute for the tali, and a bell for the pipe. The Kuravas worship Subramanya, the son of Siva, while the Yerukalas worship Vishnu in the form of Venkateswara and his wife Lakshmi. It may be noted that, in a very early Sanskrit drama, the Brahman thief mocks Subramanya as being the patron saint of thieves. The Kuravas treat the gentler sex in a very casual manner, mortgaging or selling their wives without compunction, but the Yerukalas are particular about the reputation of their womankind, and consider it a serious matter if any of them return home without an escort after sunset. The statistics of this year accordingly show Yerukalas separately from Koravas. The reports from the various districts, however, give such discrepant accounts of both castes, that the matter is clearly in need of further enquiry." There is no district in the Madras Presidency or elsewhere, where both Koravas and Yerukalas live, unless it be the smallest possible corner of the Coimbatore district bordering on the south-east of Mysore, for the name Korcha intervenes; and, for a wide strip of country including the north of the North Arcot district and south of the Cuddapah district, the Korava is known as a Korcha, and the Census Superintendent, in common with other authorities, has admitted these names to be synonymous. It is in the north of the Cuddapah district that the Yerukalas first appear in co-existence with the Korcha. The Korcha being admitted on all sides to be the same as the Korava, our doubt regarding the identity of the Korava with the Yerukala will be disposed of if we can establish the fact that the Korcha and the Yerukala are the same. The Rev. J. Cain, writing [199] about the Yerukalas of the Godavari district, states that "among themselves they call each other Kuluvaru, but the Telugu people call them Erakavaru or Erakalavaru, and this name has been derived from the Telugu word eruka, which means knowledge or acquaintance, as they are great fortune-tellers."

According to Balfour, [200] the Koravas, or a certain section of them, i.e., the Kunchi Koravas, were known as Yerkal Koravar, and they called the language they spoke Yerkal. The same authority, writing of the Yerkalwadu, alludes to them as Kurshiwanloo, and goes on to say that they style themselves Yerkal, and give the same appellation to the language in which they hold communication. The word Yerkal here undoubtedly stands for Yerukala, and Kurshi for Korcha. It is evident from this, supported by authorities such as Wilson, Campbell, Brown and Shortt, that the doubt mentioned by the Census Superintendent in regard to the identity of the Yerukala and Korava had not arisen when the Cyclopædia of India was published, and it is the subsequent reports of later investigators that are responsible for it. The divergencies of practices reported must be reckoned with, and accounted for. They may be due to local customs existing in widely separated areas. It is contended that the Koravas and Yerukalas do not intermarry or eat together. A Korava, who has made a permanent home in a village in the south, if asked whether he would marry a Yerukala, would most certainly answer in the negative, probably having never heard of such a person. A circular letter, submitted to a number of Police Inspectors in several districts, produced the same sort of discrepant information complained of by the Census Superintendent. But one Inspector extracted from his notes the information that, in 1895, marriages took place between the southern Koravas of a gang from the Madura district and the Yerukalas of the Cuddapah district; and, further, that the son of one of a gang of Yerukalas in the Anantapur district married a Korcha girl from a gang belonging to the Mysore State. The consensus of opinion also goes to prove that they will eat together. Yerukalas undoubtedly place a string of black beads as a tali round the bride's neck on marriage occasions, and the same is used by the Koravas. Information concerning the use of a turmeric-dyed string came from only one source, namely, Hosur in the Salem district, and it was necessary even here for the string to be furnished with a round bottu, which might be a bead. A plain turmeric-soaked thread appears to be more the exception than the rule. Yerukalas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites, and a god worshipped by any one gang cannot be taken as a representative god for the whole class. Yerukalas may treat their womankind better than the southern Koravas, but this is only a matter of degree, as the morals of both are slack. The Yerukalas, occupying, as they do, the parched centre of the peninsula, more frequently devastated by famine than the localities occupied by the Koravas, may have learnt in a hard school the necessity of taking care of their wives; for, if they allowed them to pass to another man, and a drought ruined his crop and killed the cattle, he would find it hard to procure another, the probability being that the price of wives rises in a common ratio with other commodities in a time of scarcity.