Part 19

It is stated in the Manual of the Bellary district that "of the various Hindu castes in Bellary, the Boyas (called in Canarese Bedars, Byedas, or Byadas) are far the strongest numerically. Many of the Poligars whom Sir Thomas Munro found in virtual possession of the country when it was added to the Company belonged to this caste, and their irregular levies, and also a large proportion of Haidar's formidable force, were of the same breed. Harpanahalli was the seat of one of the most powerful Poligars in the district in the eighteenth century. The founder of the family was a Boya taliari, who, on the subversion of the Vijayanagar dynasty, seized on two small districts near Harpanahalli. The Boyas are perhaps the only people in the district who still retain any aptitude for manly sports. They are now for the most part cultivators and herdsmen or are engaged under Government as constables, peons, village watchmen (taliaris), and so forth. Their community provides an instructive example of the growth of caste sub-divisions. Both the Telugu-speaking Boyas and the Canarese-speaking Bedars are split into the two main divisions of Uru or village men, and Myasa or grass-land men, and each of these divisions is again sub-divided into a number of exogamous Bedagas. Four of the best known of these sub-divisions are Yemmalavaru or buffalo-men; Mandalavaru or men of the herd; Pulavaru or flower-men, and Minalavaru or fish-men. They are in no way totemistic. Curiously enough, each Bedagu has its own particular god, to which its members pay special reverence. But these Bedagas bear the same names among both the Boyas and the Bedars, and also among both the Uru and Myasa divisions of both Boyas and Bedars. It thus seems clear that, at some distant period, all the Boyas and all the Bedars must have belonged to one homogeneous caste. At present, though Uru Boyas will marry with Uru Bedars and Myasa Boyas with Myasa Bedars, there is no intermarriage between Urus and Myasas, whether they be Boyas or Bedars. Even if Urus and Myasas dine together, they sit in different rows, each division by themselves. Again, the Urus (whether Boyas or Bedars) will eat chicken and drink alcohol, but the Myasas will not touch a fowl or any form of strong drink, and are so strict in this last matter that they will not even sit on mats made of the leaf of the date-palm, the tree which in Bellary provides all the toddy. The Urus, moreover, celebrate their marriages with the ordinary ceremonial of the halu-kamba or milk-post, and the surge, or bathing of the happy pair; the bride sits on a flour-grinding stone, and the bridegroom stands on a basket full of cholam (millet), and they call in Brahmans to officiate. But the Myasas have a simpler ritual, which omits most of these points, and dispenses with the Brahman. Other differences are that the Uru women wear ravikkais or tight-fitting bodices, while the Myasas tuck them under their waist-string. Both divisions eat beef, and both have a hereditary headman called the ejaman, and hereditary Dasaris who act as their priests."

In the Madras Census Report, 1901, it is stated that the two main divisions of Boyas are called also Pedda (big) and Chinna (small) respectively, and, according to another account, the caste has four endogamous sections, Pedda, Chinna, Sadaru, and Myasa. Sadaru is the name of a sub-division of Lingayats, found mainly in the Bellary and Anantapur districts, where they are largely engaged in cultivation. Some Bedars who live amidst those Lingayats call themselves Sadaru. According to the Manual of the North Arcot district, the Boyas are a "Telugu hunting caste, chiefly found above the ghats. Many of the Poligars of that part of the country used to belong to the caste, and proved themselves so lawless that they were dispossessed. Now they are usually cultivators. They have several divisions, the chief of which are the Mulki Boyas and the Pala Boyas, who cannot intermarry." According to the Mysore Census Reports, 1891 and 1901, "the Bedas have two distinct divisions, the Kannada and Telugu, and own some twenty sub-divisions, of which the following are the chief:--Halu, Machi or Myasa, Nayaka, Pallegar, Barika, Kannaiyyanajati, and Kirataka. The Machi or Myasa Bedas comprise a distinct sub-division, also called the Chunchus. They live mostly in hills, and outside inhabited places in temporary huts. Portions of their community had, it is alleged, been coerced into living in villages, with whose descendants the others have kept up social intercourse. They do not, however, eat fowl or pork, but partake of beef; and the Myasa Bedas are the only Hindu class among whom the rite of circumcision is performed, [116] on boys of ten or twelve years of age. These customs, so characteristic of the Mussalmans, seem to have been imbibed when the members of this sub-caste were included in the hordes of Haidar Ali. Simultaneously with the circumcision, other rites, such as the panchagavyam, the burning of the tongue with a nim (Melia Azadirachta) stick, etc. (customs pre-eminently Brahmanical), are likewise practised prior to the youth being received into communion. Among their other peculiar customs, the exclusion from their ordinary dwellings of women in child-bed and in periodical sickness, may be noted. The Myasa Bedas are said to scrupulously avoid liquor of every kind, and eat the flesh of only two kinds of birds, viz., gauja (grey partridge), and lavga (rock-bush quail)." Of circumcision among the Myasa Bedars it is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Bellary district, that they practise this rite round about Rayadrug and Gudekota. "These Myasas seem quite proud of the custom, and scout with scorn the idea of marrying into any family in which it is not the rule. The rite is performed when a boy is seven or eight. A very small piece of the skin is cut off by a man of the caste, and the boy is then kept for eleven days in a separate hut, and touched by no one. His food is given him on a piece of stone. On the twelfth day he is bathed, given a new cloth, and brought back to the house, and his old cloth, and the stone on which his food was served, are thrown away. His relations in a body then take him to a tangedu (Cassia auriculata) bush, to which are offered cocoanuts, flowers, and so forth, and which is worshipped by them and him. Girls on first attaining puberty are similarly kept for eleven days in a separate hut, and afterwards made to do worship to a tangedu bush. This tree also receives reverence at funerals."

The titles of the Boyas are said to be Naidu or Nayudu, Naik, Dora, Dorabidda (children of chieftains), and Valmiki. They claim direct lineal descent from Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana. At times of census in Mysore, some Bedars have set themselves up as Valmiki Brahmans. The origin of the Myasa Bedas is accounted for in the following story. A certain Bedar woman had two sons, of whom the elder, after taking his food, went to work in the fields. The younger son, coming home, asked his mother to give him food, and she gave him only cholam (millet) and vegetables. While he was partaking thereof, he recognised the smell of meat, and was angry because his mother had given him none, and beat her to death. He then searched the house, and, on opening a pot from which the smell of meat emanated, found that it only contained the rotting fibre-yielding bark of some plant. Then, cursing his luck, he fled to the forest, where he remained, and became the forefather of the Myasa Bedars.

For the following note on the legendary origin of the Bedars, I am indebted to Mr. Mainwaring. "Many stories are told of how they came into existence, each story bringing out the name which the particular group may be known by. Some call themselves Nishadulu, and claim to be the legitimate descendants of Nishadu. When the great Venudu, who was directly descended from Brahma, ruled over the universe, he was unable to procure a son and heir to the throne. When he died, his death was regarded as an irreparable misfortune. In grief and doubt as to what was to be done, his body was preserved. The seven ruling planets, then sat in solemn conclave, and consulted together as to what they should do. Finally they agreed to create a being from the right thigh of the deceased Venudu, and they accordingly fashioned and gave life to Nishudu. But their work was not successful, for Nishudu turned out to be not only deformed in body, but repulsively ugly. It was accordingly agreed, at another meeting of the planets, that he was not a fit person to be placed on the throne. So they set to work again, and created a being from the right shoulder of Venudu. Their second effort was crowned with success. They called their second creation Chakravati, and, as he gave general satisfaction, he was placed on the throne. This supersession naturally caused Nishudu, the first born, to be discontented, and he sought a lonely place. There he communed with the gods, begging of them the reason why they had created him, if he was not to rule. The gods explained to him that he could not now be put on the throne, since Chakravati had already been installed, but that he should be a ruler over the forests. In this capacity, Nishudu begot the Koravas, Chenchus, Yanadis, and Boyas. The Boyas were his legitimate children, while the others were all illegitimate. According to the legend narrated in the Valmiki Ramayana, when king Vishwamitra quarrelled with the Rishi Vashista, the cow Kamadenu belonging to the latter, grew angry, and shook herself. From her body an army, which included Nishadulu, Turka (Muhammadans), and Yevannudu (Yerukalas) at once appeared.

"A myth related by the Boyas in explanation of their name Valmikudu runs as follows. In former days, a Brahman, who lived as a highwayman, murdering and robbing all the travellers he came across, kept a Boya female, and begot children by her. One day, when he went out to carry on his usual avocation, he met the seven Rishis, who were the incarnations of the seven planets. He ordered them to deliver their property, or risk their lives. The Rishis consented to give him all their property, which was little enough, but warned him that one day he would be called to account for his sinful deeds. The Brahman, however, haughtily replied that he had a large family to maintain, and, as they lived on his plunder, they would have to share the punishment that was inflicted upon himself. The Rishis doubted this, and advised him to go and find out from his family if they were willing to suffer an equal punishment with him for his sins. The Brahman went to his house, and confessed his misdeeds to his wife, explaining that it was through them that he had been able to keep the family in luxury. He then told her of his meeting with the Rishis, and asked her if she would share his responsibility. His wife and children emphatically refused to be in any way responsible for his sins, which they declared were entirely his business. Being at his wit's end, he returned to the Rishis, told them how unfortunate he was in his family affairs, and begged advice of them as to what he should do to be absolved from his sins. They told him that he should call upon the god Rama for forgiveness. But, owing to his bad bringing up and his misspent youth, he was unable to utter the god's name. So the Rishis taught him to say it backwards by syllables, thus:--ma ra, ma ra, ma ra, which, by rapid repetition a number of times, gradually grew into Rama. When he was able to call on his god without difficulty, the Brahman sat at the scene of his graver sins, and did penance. White-ants came out of the ground, and gradually enveloped him in a heap. After he had been thus buried alive, he became himself a Rishi, and was known as Valmiki Rishi, valmiki meaning an ant-hill. As he had left children by the Boya woman who lived with him during his prodigal days, the Boyas claim to be descended from these children and call themselves Valmikudu."

The Bedars, whom I examined at Hospet in the Bellary district, used to go out on hunting expeditions, equipped with guns, deer or hog spears, nets like lawn-tennis nets used in drives for young deer or hares. Several men had cicatrices, as the result of encounters with wild boars during hunting expeditions, or when working in the sugar plantations. It is noted in the Bellary Gazetteer that "the only caste which goes in for manly sports seems to be the Boyas, or Bedars, as they are called in Canarese. They organise drives for pig, hunt bears in some parts in a fearless manner, and are regular attendants at the village gymnasium (garidi mane), a building without any ventilation often constructed partly underground, in which the ideal exercise consists in using dumbbells and clubs until a profuse perspiration follows. They get up wrestling matches, tie a band of straw round one leg, and challenge all and sundry to remove it, or back themselves to perform feats of strength, such as running up the steep Joladarasi hill near Hospet with a bag of grain on their back." At Hospet wrestling matches are held at a quiet spot outside the town, to witness which a crowd of many hundreds collect. The wrestlers, who performed before me, had the hair shaved clean behind so that the adversary could not seize them by the back hair, and the moustache was trimmed short for the same reason. Two young wrestlers, whose measurements I place on record, were splendid specimens of youthful muscularity.

cm. cm.

Height 163.2 163 Shoulders 41.8 42.8 Chest 84 82 Upper arm, flexed 28 29 Thigh 47 51

In the Gazetteer of Anantapur it is stated that the Telugu New Year's day is the great occasion for driving pig, and the Boyas are the chief organisers of the beats. All except children, the aged and infirm, join in them, and, since to have good sport is held to be the best of auguries for the coming year, the excitement aroused is almost ludicrous in its intensity. It runs so high that the parties from rival villages have been known to use their weapons upon one another, instead of upon the beasts of the chase. In an article entitled "Boyas and bears" [117] a European sportsman gives the following graphic description of a bear hunt. "We used to sleep out on the top of one of the hills on a moonlight night. On the top of every hill round, a Boya was watching for the bears to come home at dawn, and frantic signals showed when one had been spotted. We hurried off to the place, to try and cut the bear off from his residence among the boulders, but the country was terribly rough, and the hills were covered with a peculiarly persistent wait-a-bit-thorn. This, however, did not baulk the Boyas. Telling me to wait outside the jumble of rocks, each man took off his turban, wound it round his left forearm, to act as a shield against attacks from the bear, lit a rude torch, grasped his long iron-headed spear, and coolly walked into the inky blackness of the enemy's stronghold, to turn him out for me to shoot at. I used to feel ashamed of the minor part assigned to me in the entertainment, and asked to be allowed to go inside with them. But this suggestion was always respectfully, but very firmly put aside. One could not see to shoot in such darkness, they explained, and, if one fired, smoke hung so long in the still air of the caves that the bear obtained an unpleasant advantage, and, finally, bullets fired at close quarters into naked rock were apt to splash or re-bound in an uncanny manner. So I had to wait outside until the bear appeared with a crowd of cheering and yelling Boyas after him." Of a certain cunning bear the same writer records that, unable to shake the Boyas off, "he had at last taken refuge at the bottom of a sort of dark pit, 'four men deep' as the Boyas put it, under a ledge of rock, where neither spears nor torches could reach him. Not to be beaten, three of the Boyas at length clambered down after him, and unable otherwise to get him to budge from under the mass of rock beneath which he had squeezed himself, fired a cheap little nickel-plated revolver one of them had brought twice into his face. The bear then concluded that his refuge was after all an unhealthy spot, rushed out, knocking one of the three men against the rocks as he did so, with a force which badly barked one shoulder, clambered out of the pit, and was thereafter kept straight by the Boyas until he got to the entrance of his residence, where I was waiting for him."

Mr. Mainwaring writes that "the Boyas are adepts at shikar (hunting). They use a bullock to stalk antelope, which they shoot with matchlocks. Some keep a tame buck, which they let loose in the vicinity of a herd of antelope, having previously fastened a net over his horns. As soon as the tame animal approaches the herd, the leading buck will come forward to investigate the intruder. The tame buck does not run away, as he probably would if he had been brought up from infancy to respect the authority of the buck of the herd. A fight naturally ensues, and the exchange of a few butts finds them fastened together by the net. It is then only necessary for the shikaris to rush up, and finish the strife with a knife."

Among other occupations, the Boyas and Bedars collect honey-combs, which, in some places, have to be gathered from crevices in overhanging rocks, which have to be skilfully manipulated from above or below.

The Bedar men, whom I saw during the rainy season, wore a black woollen kambli (blanket) as a body-cloth, and it was also held over the head as a protection against the driving showers of the south-west monsoon. The same cloth further does duty as a basket for bringing back to the town heavy loads of grass. Some of the men wore a garment with the waist high up in the chest, something like an English rustic's smock frock. Those who worked in the fields carried steel tweezers on a string round the loins, with which to remove babul (Acacia arabica) thorns, twigs of which tree are used as a protective hedge for fields under cultivation. As examples of charms worn by men the following may be cited:--

String tied round right upper arm with metal talisman box attached to it, to drive away devils. String round ankle for the same purpose.

Quarter-anna rolled up in cotton cloth, and worn on upper arm in performance of a vow.

A man, who had dislocated his shoulder when a lad, had been tattooed with a figure of Hanuman (the monkey god) over the deltoid muscle to remove the pain.

Necklet of coral and ivory beads worn as a vow to the Goddess Huligamma, whose shrine is in Hyderabad.

Necklets of ivory beads and a gold disc with the Vishnupad (feet of Vishnu) engraved on it. Purchased from a religious mendicant to bring good luck.

Myasa Bedar women are said [118] to be debarred from wearing toe-rings. Both Uru and Myasa women are tattooed on the face, and on the upper extremities with elaborate designs of cars, scorpions, centipedes, Sita's jade (plaited hair), Hanuman, parrots, etc. Men are branded by the priest of a Hanuman shrine on the shoulders with the emblem of the chank shell (Turbinella rapa) and chakram (wheel of the law) in the belief that it enables them to go to Swarga (heaven). When a Myasa man is branded, he has to purchase a cylindrical basket called gopala made by a special Medara woman, a bamboo stick, fan, and winnow. Female Bedars who are branded become Basavis (dedicated prostitutes), and are dedicated to a male deity, and called Gandu Basavioru (male Basavis). They are thus dedicated when there happens to be no male child in a family; or, if a girl falls ill, a vow is made to the effect that, if she recovers, she shall become a Basavi. If a son is born to such a woman, he is affiliated with her father's family. Some Bedar women, whose house deities are goddesses instead of gods, are not branded, but a string with white bone beads strung on it, and a gold disc with two feet (Vishnupad) impressed on it, is tied round their neck by a Kuruba woman called Pattantha Ellamma (priestess to Uligamma). Bedar girls, whose house deities are females, when they are dedicated as Basavis, have in like manner a necklace, but with black beads, tied round the neck, and are called Hennu Basavis (female Basavis). For the ceremony of dedication to a female deity, the presence of the Madiga goddess Matangi is necessary. The Madigas bring a bent iron rod with a cup at one end, and twigs of Vitex Negundo to represent the goddess, to whom goats are sacrificed. The iron rod is set up in front of the doorway, a wick and oil are placed in the cup, and the impromptu lamp is lighted. Various cooked articles of food are offered, and partaken of by the assembled Bedars. Bedar women sometimes live in concubinage with Muhammadans. And some Bedars, at the time of the Mohurram festival, wear a thread across the chest like Muhammadans, and may not enter their houses till they have washed themselves.

According to the Mysore Census Report, 1901, the chief deity of the Bedars is "Tirupati Venkataramanaswami worshipped locally under the name of Tirumaladevaru, but offerings and sacrifices are also made to Mariamma. Their guru is known as Tirumalatatacharya, who is also a head of the Srivaishnava Brahmans. The Uru Boyas employ Brahmans and Jangams as priests." In addition to the deities mentioned, the Bedars worship a variety of minor gods, such as Kanimiraya, Kanakarayan, Uligamma, Palaya, Poleramma, and others, to whom offerings of fruits and vegetables, and sacrifices of sheep and goats are made. The Dewan of Sandur informs me that, in recent times, some Myasa Bedars have changed their faith, and are now Saivas, showing special reverence to Mahadeva. They were apparently converted by Jangams, but not to the fullest extent. The guru is the head of the Ujjani Lingayat matt (religious institution) in the Kudligi taluk of Bellary. They do not wear the lingam. In the Madras Census Report, 1901, the patron deity of the Boyas is said to be Kanya Devudu.