Part 9

A member of the caste, called Mollana, officiates on ceremonial occasions. A pure Oriya casteman will not allow his son to marry his sister's daughter, but this is permitted in most places by the Aruvas. The marriage ceremonial, except in a few points of detail, conforms to the general Oriya type. On the day before the wedding, a milk-post of bamboo is erected, and in front of it a new cloth, and various articles for worship are placed. When the fingers of the contracting couple are linked together, and at other stages of the marriage rites, the Mollana recites certain formulæ, in which the words Bismillahi and Allah occur.

The dead are always buried. In former days, stone slabs, with Arabic or Hindustani legends in Oriya characters inscribed on them, used to be set up over the grave. For these, two sticks are now substituted. The corpse of a dead person is sewn up in a kind of sack. As it is being lowered into the grave, the Mollana recites formulæ, and those present throw earth over it before the grave is filled in. They then take their departure, and the Mollana, standing on one leg, recites further formulæ. On the following day, bitter food, consisting of rice and margosa (Melia Azadirachta) leaves, is prepared, and given to the agnates. On the third day after death, the burial-ground is visited, and, after water has been poured over the grave, a cloth is spread thereon. On this relations of the deceased throw earth and food. A purificatory ceremony, in which ghi (clarified butter) is touched, is performed on the fifteenth day. On the fortieth day, the Mollana officiates at a ceremony in which food is offered to the dead person.

The Aruvas do not take part in any Muhammadan ceremonial, and do not worship in mosques. Most of them are Paramarthos, and all worship various Hindu deities and Takuranis (village gods). At their houses, the god is represented by a mass of mud of conical shape, with an areca nut on the top of it. In recent times, a number of Aruva families, owing to a dispute with the Mollana, do not employ him for their ceremonials, in which they follow the standard Oriya type. They neither interdine nor intermarry with other sections of the community, and have become an independent section thereof.

Arya.--Arya or Ariya (noble) occurs as a class of Pattar Brahmans, a division of Samagaras, and an exogamous sept of Kurubas. Some Pattanavans call themselves Ariya Nattu Chetti (Chettis of the country of chiefs), Ariyar, or Ayyayirath Thalaivar (the five thousand chiefs).

Asadi.--The Asadis of the Bellary district are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as "a sub-caste of Mala or Holeya, which, in Bellary, are almost interchangeable terms. They are prostitutes and dancers." Among the Madigas, men called Asadi, who have undergone an initiation ceremony, go about, in company with the Matangis (dedicated prostitutes), playing on an instrument called the chaudike, and singing the praises and reciting the story of Ellamma. (See Madiga.)

Asan (teacher).--The title of Variyans, who have held the hereditary position of tutors in noblemen's families. Also a title of Pisharati and Kanisan.

Asari.--In most parts of the Madras Presidency, Mr. H. A. Sturat writes, "Asari (or Achari) is synonymous with Kammalan, and may denote any of the five artizan castes, but in Malabar it is practically confined to the carpenter caste. The Asari of Malabar is the Brahman of the Kammala castes. The Kammala castes generally pollute Nayars by approaching within twelve feet, and Brahmans by coming within thirty-six feet; but an Asari with his measuring rod in his hand has the privilege of approaching very near, and even entering the houses of higher castes without polluting them. This exception may have arisen out of necessity." At the census, 1901, some Sayakkarans (Tamil dyers) returned Asari as a title.

In a Government office, a short time ago, the head clerk, a Brahman named Rangachari, altered the spelling of the name of a Kammalan from Velayudachari to Velayudasari in the office books, on the ground that the former looked Brahmanical.

Ashtakshari (eight syllables).--A sub-division of Satanis, who believe in the efficacy of the eight syllables om-na-mo-na-ra-ya-na-ya in ensuring eternal bliss. The name ashtabhukkulu, or those who eat the eight greedily, also occurs as a sub-division of the same people.

Ashtalohi.--The name, meaning workers in eight metals, of a small class of Oriya artizans. According to one version the eight metals are gold, silver, bell-metal, copper, lead, tin, iron, and brass; according to another, gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, load-stone, iron, and steel.

Ashtikurissi.--Ashtikurissi (ashti, a bone) or Attikurissi is an occupational sub-division of Nayars and Marans, who officiate at the funerals of Nambutiri Brahmans and Nayars, and help in collecting the remains of the bones after cremation.

Asili.--The name for Telugu toddy-drawers in the Cuddapah district. (See Idiga.)

Asupani.--An occupational name for Marans who play on the temple musical instruments asu and pani.

Asvo (horse).--An exogamous sept of Ghasi.

Atagara or Hatagara.--A sub-division of Devanga.

Aththi (Ficus glomerata).--An exogamous sept of Stanika.

Atikunnan.--Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a sub-division of Nayar.

Atreya.--A Brahmanical gotra of Bhatrazus. Atreyas are descendants of Atri, a rishi who is regarded by some as one of the ten Prajapatis of Manu.

Atta (mother).--A sub-division of Pallan.

Attangarai (river-bank).--A sub-division of Konga Vellala.

Attikankana (cotton marriage thread).--A sub-division of Kurubas, who tie a cotton thread round the wrist at weddings.

Atumpatram.--A name, meaning an object which dances, for Deva-dasis in Travancore.

Aunvallur (possessors of cattle).--A fanciful name for Idaiyans.

Avaru.--A synonym of Agaru.

Aviri (Indigofera tinctoria).--An exogamous sept of Padma Sales, who use indigo in the manufacture of coloured cloth fabrics.

Avisa (Sesbania grandiflora).--A gotra of Medara.

Avu (snake).--An exogamous sept of Kuruba.

Avula (cow).--An exogamous sept of Balija, Boya, Golla, Kapu, Korava, Mutracha, and Yerukala.

Ayar (cow-herd).--A synonym or sub-division of Idaiyan and Kolayan.

Ayodhya (Oudh).--A sub-division of Kapus, who say that they originally lived in Oudh.

Azhati.--Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a synonym of Pisharati.

Badaga.--As the Todas are the pastoral, and the Kotas the artisan tribe of the Nilgiris, so the agricultural element on these hills is represented by the Badagas (or, as they are sometimes called, Burghers). Their number was returned, at the census, 1901, as 34,178 against 1,267 Kotas, and 807 Todas. Though the primary occupation of the Badagas is agriculture, there are among their community schoolmasters, clerks, public works contractors, bricklayers, painters, carpenters, sawyers, tailors, gardeners, forest guards, barbers, washermen, and scavengers. Many work on tea and coffee estates, and gangs of Badagas can always be seen breaking stones on, and repairing the hill roads. Others are, at the present day, earning good wages in the Cordite Factory near Wellington. Some of the more prosperous possess tea and coffee estates of their own. The rising generation are, to some extent, learning Tamil and English, in addition to their own language, which is said to resemble old Canarese. And I have heard a youthful Badaga, tending a flock of sheep, address an errant member thereof in very fluent Billingsgate. There were, in 1904-1905, thirty-nine Badaga schools, which were attended by 1,222 pupils. In 1907, one Badaga had passed the Matriculation of the Madras University, and was a clerk in the Sub-judge's Court at Ootacamund.

A newspaper discussion was carried on a few years ago as to the condition of the Badagas, and whether they are a down-trodden tribe, bankrupt and impoverished to such a degree that it is only a short time before something must be done to ameliorate their condition, and save them from extermination by inducing them to emigrate to the Wynad and Vizagapatam. A few have, in recent years, migrated to the Anaimalai hills, to work on the planters' estates, which have been opened up there. One writer stated that "the tiled houses, costing from Rs. 250 to Rs. 500, certainly point to their prosperity. They may frequently borrow from the Labbai to enable them to build, but, as I do not know of a single case in which the Labbai has ever seized the house and sold it, I believe this debt is soon discharged. The walled-in, terraced fields immediately around their villages, on which they grow their barley and other grains requiring rich cultivation, are well worked, and regularly manured. The coats, good thick blankets, and gold ear-rings, which most Badagas now possess, can only, I think, point to their prosperity, while their constant feasts, and disinclination to work on Sundays, show that the loss of a few days' pay does not affect them. On the other hand, a former Native official on the Nilgiris writes to me that "though the average Badaga is thrifty and hard-working, there is a tendency for him to be lazy when he is sure of his meal. When a person is sick in another village, his relatives make it an excuse to go and see him, and they have to be fed. When the first crop is raised, the idler pretends that 'worms' have crept into the crop, and the gods have to be propitiated, and there is a feast. Marriage or death, of course, draws a crowd to be fed or feasted. All this means extra expenditure, and a considerable drain on the slender income of the family. The Rowthan (Muhammadan merchant) from the Tamil country is near at hand to lend money, as he has carried his bazar to the very heart of the Badaga villages. First it is a bag of ragi (food grain), a piece of cloth to throw on the coffin, or a few rupees worth of rice and curry-stuff doled out by the all-accommodating Rowthan at a price out of all proportion to the market rate, and at a rate ranging from six pies to two annas for the rupee. The ever impecunious Badaga has no means of extricating himself, with a slender income, which leaves no margin for redeeming debts. The bond is renewed every quarter or half year, and the debt grows by leaps and bounds, and consumes all his earthly goods, including lands. The advent of lawyers on the hills has made the Badagas a most litigious people, and they resort to the courts, which means expenditure of money, and neglect of agriculture." In the funeral song of the Badagas, which has been translated by Mr. Gover, [70] one of the crimes enumerated, for which atonement must be made, is that of preferring a complaint to the Sirkar (Government), and one of their numerous proverbs embodies the same idea. "If you prefer a complaint to a Magistrate, it is as if you had put poison into your adversary's food." But Mr. Grigg writes, [71] "either the terrors of the Sirkar are not what they were, or this precept is much disregarded, for the Court-house at Ootacamund is constantly thronged with Badagas, and they are now very much given to litigation."

I gather from the notes, which Bishop Whitehead has kindly placed at my disposal, that "when the Badagas wish to take a very solemn oath, they go to the temple of Mariamma at Sigur, and, after bathing in the stream and putting on only one cloth, offer fruits, cocoanuts, etc., and kill a sheep or fowl. They put the head of the animal on the step of the shrine, and make a line on the ground just in front of it. The person who is taking the oath then walks from seven feet off in seven steps, putting one foot immediately in front of the other, up to the line, crosses it, goes inside the shrine, and puts out a lamp that is burning in front of the image. If the oath is true, the man will walk without any difficulty straight to the shrine. But, if the oath is not true, his eyes will be blinded, and he will not be able to walk straight to the shrine, or see the lamp. It is a common saying among Badagas, when a man tells lies, 'Will you go to Sigur, and take an oath?' Oaths are taken in much the same way at the temple of Mariamma at Ootacamund. When a Hindu gives evidence in the Court at Ootacamund, he is often asked by the Judge whether he will take an oath at the Mariamma temple. If he agrees, he is sent off to the temple with a Court official. The party for whom he gives evidence supplies a goat or sheep, which is killed at the temple, the head and carcase being placed in front of the image. The witness steps over the carcase, and this forms the oath. If the evidence is false, it is believed that some evil will happen to him."

The name Badaga or Vadugan means northerner, and the Badagas are believed to be descended from Canarese colonists from the Mysore country, who migrated to the Nilgiris three centuries ago owing to famine, political turmoil, or local oppression in their own country. It is worthy of notice, in this connection, that the head of the Badagas, like that of the Todas and Kotas, is dolichocephalic, and not of the mesaticephalic or sub-brachycephalic type, which prevails throughout Mysore, as in other Canarese areas.

Average.

Cephalic Cephalic Cephalic length. breadth. index. cm. cm.

Badaga 18.9 13.6 71.7 Toda 19.4 14.2 73.3 Kota 19.2 14.2 74.1

Of the Mysorean heads, the following are a few typical examples:--

Average.

Cephalic Cephalic Cephalic length. breadth. index. cm. cm.

Ganiga 18.5 14.3 77.6 Bedar 18.3 14.3 77.7 Holeya 17.9 14.1 79.1 Mandya Brahman 18.5 14.8 80.2 Vakkaliga 17.7 14.5 81.7

Concerning the origin of the Badagas, the following legend is current. Seven brothers and their sisters were living on the Talamalai hills. A Muhammadan ruler attempted to ravish the girl, whom the brother saved from him by flight. They settled down near the present village of Bethalhada. After a short stay there, the brothers separated, and settled in different parts of the Nilgiris, which they peopled. Concerning the second brother, Hethappa, who had two daughters, the story goes that, during his absence on one occasion, two Todas forced their way into his house, ravished his wife, and possessed themselves of his worldly effects. Hearing of what had occurred, Hethappa sought the assistance of two Balayaru in revenging himself on the Todas. They readily consented to help him, in return for a promise that they should marry his daughters. The Todas were killed, and the present inhabitants of the village Hulikallu are supposed to be the descendants of the Balayaru and Badaga girls. The seven brothers are now worshipped under the name Hethappa or Hetha.

In connection with the migration of the Badagas to the Nilgiris, the following note is given in the Gazetteer of the Nilgiris. "When this flitting took place there is little to show. It must have occurred after the foundation of the Lingayat creed in the latter half of the twelfth century, as many of the Badagas are Lingayats by faith, and sometime before the end of the sixteenth century, since in 1602 the Catholic priests from the west coast found them settled on the south of the plateau, and observing much the same relations with the Todas as subsist to this day. The present state of our knowledge does not enable us to fix more nearly the date of the migration. That the language of the Badagas, which is a form of Canarese, should by now have so widely altered from its original as to be classed as a separate dialect argues that the movement took place nearer the twelfth than the sixteenth century. On the other hand, the fact (pointed out by Dr. Rivers [72]) that the Badagas are not mentioned in a single one of the Todas' legends about their gods, whereas the Kotas, Kurumbas, and Irulas, each play a part in one or more of these stories, raises the inference that the relations between the Badagas and the Todas are recent as compared with those between the other tribes. A critical study of the Badaga dialect might perhaps serve to fix within closer limits the date of the migration. As now spoken, this tongue contains letters (two forms of r for instance) and numerous words, which are otherwise met with only in ancient books, and which strike most strangely upon the ear of the present generation of Canarese. The date when some of these letters and words became obsolete might possibly be traced, and thus aid in fixing the period when the Badagas left the low country. It is known that the two forms of r, for example, had dropped out of use prior to the time of the grammarian Kesiraja, who lived in the thirteenth century, and that the word betta (a hill), which the Badagas use in place of the modern bettu, is found in the thirteenth century work Sabdamanidarpana."

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Nilgiris, that "Nellialam, about eight miles north-west of Devala as the crow flies, is the residence of the Nellialam Arasu (Urs), who has been recognised as the janmi (landlord) of a considerable area in the Munanad amsam, but is in reality a Canarese-speaking Lingayat of Canarese extraction, who follows the ordinary Hindu law of inheritance, and is not a native of the Wynad or of Malabar. Family tradition, though now somewhat misty, says that in the beginning two brothers named Sadasiva Raja Urs and Bhujanga Raja Urs moved (at some date and for some reason not stated) from Ummattur (in the present Chamarajnagar taluk of Mysore), and settled at Malaikota, the old fort near Kalhatti. Their family deities were Bhujangesvara and Ummattur Urakatti, which are still worshipped as such. They brought with them a following of Bedars and Badagas, and thereafter always encouraged the immigration to the hills of more Canarese people. The village of Bannimara, a mile west of Kalhatti, is still peopled by Bedars who are said to be descendants of people of that caste who came with the two brothers; and to this day, when the Badagas of the plateau have disputes of difficulty, they are said to go down to Nellialam with presents (kanikai) in their hands, and ask the Arasu to settle their differences, while, at the time of their periodical ceremonies (manavalai) to the memory of their ancestors, they send a deputation to Nellialam to invite representatives of the Arasu to be present."

Close to the village of Bethalhada is a row of cromlechs carved with figures of the sun and moon, human beings, animals, etc., and enclosed within a stone kraal, which the Badagas claim to be the work of their ancestors, to whom periodical offerings are made. At the time of my visit, there were within one of the cromlechs a conch shell, lingam, bell, and flowers. A number of these sculptured cromlechs at Sholur, Melur, and other spots on the Nilgiris, are described and figured by Breeks, [73] who records that the cromlech at Jakata Kambe is interesting as being the place of the yearly sacrifice performed by the Badagas of the Jakaneri grama (village) by their Kani Kurumba. And he adds that the Badagas would seem to have usually selected the neighbourhood of these cromlechs for their temples, as for example, at Melur, Kakusi, H'laiuru, Tudur, and Jakatada.

It is recorded [74], in connection with the legends of the Badagas, that "in the heart of the Banagudi shola, not far from the Dodduru group of cromlechs, is an odd little shrine to Karairaya, consisting of a ruined stone hut surrounded by a low wall, within which are a tiny cromlech, some sacred water-worn stones, and sundry little pottery images representing a tiger, a mounted man, and some dogs. These keep in memory, it is said, a Badaga who was slain in combat with a tiger; and annually a festival is held, at which new images are placed there, and vows are paid. A Kurumba makes fire by friction and burns incense, throws sanctified water over the numerous goats brought to be sacrificed, to see if they will shiver in the manner always held necessary in sacrificial victims, and then slays, one after the other, those which have shown themselves duly qualified. Hulikal Drug, usually known as the Drug, is a precipitous bluff at the very end of the range which borders on the south the great ravine which runs up to Coonoor. It is named from the neighbouring village of Hulikal, or tiger's stone, and the story goes that this latter is so called because in it a Badaga killed a notorious man-eater which had long been the terror of the country side. The spot where the beast was buried is shown near the Pillaiyar temple to the south of Hulikal village, and is marked by three stones. Burton says there used formerly to be a stone image of the slain tiger thereabouts. Some two miles south-east of Konakarai in a place known as Kottai-hada, or the fort flat, lie the remains of the old fort Udaiya Raya Kota. Badaga tradition gives a fairly detailed account of Udaiya Raya. It says he was a chief who collected the taxes for the Ummattur Rajas, and that he had also a fort at Kullanthorai, near Sirumugai, the remains of which are still to be seen. He married a woman of Netlingi hamlet of Nedugula, named Muddu Gavari, but she died by the wrath of the gods because she persuaded him to celebrate the annual fire-walking festival in front of the fort, instead of at the customary spot by the Mahalingasvami temple about half a mile off. Anaikatti is a hamlet situated in the jungle of the Moyar valley. The stream which flows past it tumbles over a pretty fall on the slopes of Birmukku (Bimaka) hill. The Badagas call the spot Kuduraihallo, or the ravine of the horse, and say the name was given it because a Badaga, covered with shame at finding that his wife gave him first sort rice but his brother who lived with them only second sort, committed suicide by jumping his horse down the fall."

According to Mr. Grigg, the Badagas recognise eighteen different "castes or sects." These are, however, simplified by Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri [75] into six, "five high castes and one low caste." They are--

1. Udaya. | 2. Haruva. | 3. Adhikari. | High caste. 4. Kanaka. | 5. Badaga. | 6. Toreya Low caste.