Part 13

Kanakku.--A prefix to the name of Nayars, e.g., Kanakku Raman Krishnan, and also adopted as a prefix by the Todupuzha Vellalas of Travancore.

Kancharan.--A Malabar caste, the occupation of which is the manufacture of brass vessels.

Kanchera.--Kanchera and Kanchari are names of the Telugu section of metal-workers.

Kanchimandalam Vellala. --A name assumed by Malaiyalis of the Salem hills, who claim to be Vellalas who emigrated from Conjeeveram (Kanchipuram).

Kanchu (bell-metal).--An exogamous sept of Kuruba. Kansukejje (bronze bell) occurs as a sub-division of Toreya.

Kanchugara.--In the Madras and Mysore Census Reports, Kanchugara is recorded as a sub-division of Panchala, the members of which are workers in brass, copper, and bell-metal. The Kanchugaras of South Canara are described by Mr. H. A. Stuart [88] as "a Canarese caste of brass-workers. They are Hindus of the Vaishnava sect, and pay special reverence to Venkatramana of Tirupati. Their spiritual guru is the head of the Ramachandrapuram math. A man cannot marry within his own gotra or family. They have the ordinary system of inheritance through males. Girls must be married before puberty, and the dhare form of marriage (see Bant) is used. The marriage of widows is not permitted, and divorce is allowed only in the case of women who have proved unchaste. The dead are either cremated, or buried in a recumbent posture. Brahmans officiate as their priests. The use of spirituous liquors, and flesh and fish is permitted. Bell-metal is largely used for making household utensils, such as lamps, goglets, basins, jugs, etc. The process of manufacturing these articles is as follows. The moulds are made of clay, dried and coated with wax to the thickness of the articles required, and left to dry again, a hole being made in them so as to allow the wax to flow out when heated. After this has been done, the molten metal is poured in. The moulds are then broken, and the articles taken out and polished."

Kandappan.--A sub-division of Occhan.

Kandulu (dal: Cajanus indicus).--An exogamous sept of Yerukala. Kandikattu (dal soup) occurs as an exogamous sept of Medara.

Kangara.--The word Kangara means servant, and the Kangaras (or Khongars) were originally village watchmen in the Vizagapatam Agency tracts, corresponding to the Kavalgars of the Tamil country. They are described as follows by Lieutenant J. Macdonald Smith, who was Assistant Agent to the Governor in Jeypore in the sixties of the last century. "A Khongar, it seems, is nothing but a Kavilgar or village watchman. That these people, in many parts of India, are little better than a community of thieves, is pretty well known, and what was the true nature of the system in Jeypore was very clearly brought to light in a case which was committed to my Court. It was simply this. Before we entered the country, the entire police and magisterial authority of a taluk was lodged in the revenue ameen or renter. Whenever a theft occurred, and the property was of sufficient importance to warrant the trouble and expense, the traveller or householder, as the case might be, resorted at once to the ameen, who (if sufficiently fed by the complainant) forthwith sent for the Head Khongar of the quarter, and desired him to recover the goods, whatever they might be. The Khongar generally knows very well where to lay his hand on the property, and would come back with such portion of it as the urgency of the ameen's order seemed to require, while the zeal of that functionary of course varied in each case, according to the extent of the gratification the complainant seemed disposed to give. This is the Khongar system of Jeypore in its length and breadth, as proved at the trial referred to. Wherever a taluk is taken up by the Police, the system of course falls down of itself. As for the Khongars, they willingly enlist in our village constabulary, and are proving themselves both intelligent and fearless." The Meriah Officers (1845-61) remarked that the former Rajas of Jeypore, and their subordinate chiefs, retained in their service great numbers of professional robbers, called Khongars, whom they employed within the Jeypore country, and in the plains, on expeditions of rapine and bloodshed.

The Khongars were generally Paidis by caste, and their descendants are even now the most notorious among the dacoits of the Vizagapatam district. Their methods are thus described in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district (1907). "Like the Konda Doras, they have induced some of the people to employ watchmen of their caste as the price of immunity from theft. They are connected with the Dombus of the Rayagada and Gunupur taluks, who are even worse. These people dacoit houses at night in armed gangs of fifty or more, with their faces blackened to prevent recognition. Terrifying the villagers into staying quiet in their huts, they force their way into the house of some wealthy person (for choice the local Sondi, liquor-seller and sowcar [89]--usually the only man worth looting in an Agency village, and a shark who gets little pity from his neighbours when forced to disgorge), tie up the men, rape the women, and go off with everything of value. Their favourite method of extracting information regarding concealed property is to sprinkle the house-owner with boiling oil."

Kangayan.--A division of Idaiyans settled in Travancore.

Kaniala (land-owners).--A sub-division of Vellala.

Kanigiri (a hill in the Nellore district).--An exogamous sept of Medara.

Kanikar.--The Kanikars, who are commonly known as Kanis, are a jungle tribe inhabiting the mountains of South Travancore. Till recently they were in the habit of sending all their women into the seclusion of the dense jungle on the arrival of a stranger near their settlements. But this is now seldom done, and some Kanikars have in modern times settled in the vicinity of towns, and become domesticated. The primitive short, dark-skinned and platyrhine type, though surviving, has become changed as the result of contact metamorphosis, and many leptorhine or mesorhine individuals above middle height are to be met with.

==============+=======================+====================== | Stature. | Nasal index. ==============+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+====== | AV. | MAX. | MIN. | AV. | MAX. | MIN. | | | | | | Jungle | 155.2 | 170.3 | 150.2 | 84.6 | 105 | 72.3 Domesticated | 158.7 | 170.4 | 148 | 81.2 | 90.5 | 70.8 ==============+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+======

The Kanikars are said to be characterised by a high standard of honour, and to be straightforward, honest and truthful. They are good trackers and fond of sport, and in clearing forest paths they have hardly any equals. Their help and guidance are sought by, and willingly given to any person who may have to travel through the forests.

The jungle Kanikars have no permanent abode, but shift about from one part of the forest to another. Their settlements, composed of lowly huts built of bamboo and reeds, are abandoned when they suffer from fever, or are harassed by wild beasts, or when the soil ceases to be productive. The settlements are generally situated, away from the tracks of elephants, on steep hill slopes, which are terraced and planted with useful trees. In their system of cultivation the Kanikars first clear a patch of forest, and then set fire to it. The ground is sown with hardly any previous tillage. When, after two or three years, the land diminishes in productiveness, they move onto another part of the forest, and follow the same rough and ready method of cultivation. Thus one patch of ground after another is used for agricultural purposes, until a whole tract of forest is cleared. But the Kanikars have now to a large extent abandoned this kind of migratory cultivation, because, according to the forest rules, forests may not be set fire to or trees felled at the unrestricted pleasure of individuals. They cultivate various kinds of cereals and pulses, as well as tapioca (Manihot utilissima), sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas), ganja (Indian hemp), and tobacco. Each settlement now has a forest block assigned to it for cultivation, with which other tribes are not allowed to interfere, and wherein the Kanikars are allowed to fell, clear, and grow their crops. They do not pay anything in the way of tax to the Government. Once a year they go in a group to visit the Maharaja at Trivandrum, and he "always receives them most kindly, accepting the nuzzur they offer in the shape of the bamboo plantain with large though few fruits, a parcel of Muttucheri hill rice, bamboo joints containing different varieties of honey, and virukachattam or a parcel of civet. The customary modes of court address, and the prescribed court etiquette are alike unknown to them, and the Maharaja, pleased with their simplicity and unaffected homage, rewards them with presents of cloth, money, salt, and tobacco, with which they return satisfied to their jungle home." The Rev. S. Mateer notes that he had difficulty in persuading the Kanikars to part with a sucker of the bamboo plantain, as they fancied it must be reserved for the use of the Maharaja alone.

Some Kanikars are engaged as coolies on planters' estates, or in felling timber and cutting bamboos for contractors, others in the manufacture of bows and arrows with blunt or barbed iron heads. Heated arrows are used by them, for hitting elephants which invade their sugar-cane or other crop, from the safe protection of a hut built on a platform of sticks in tall trees of branches or bamboo covered with leaves of Ochlandra Travancorica or other large leaves. In connection with these huts, which are called anamadam (elephant huts), it has been said that "the hills abound with game. 'Bison' (Bos gaurus), bears, and sambar (Cervus unicolor) are frequently met with, while elephants and tigers are so numerous that the Kanikars are in some parts compelled to build their houses high up in trees. These primitive houses are quickly and easily constructed. The walls are made of bamboo, and the roof is thatched with jungle leaves. They are generally built about fifty feet above the ground, and are securely fastened to the branches of a substantial tree, and a crude ladder of bamboo connects them with the ground. When all the inmates are safely housed for the night, the ladder is removed aloft out of the reach of elephants, who, mischievously inclined, might remove the obstruction, and leave the Kanikars to regain terra firma the best way they could." Sometimes a single bamboo, with the shoots on the sides cut short, does duty for a ladder. It has been said that, when the crops are ripening, the Kanikar watchmen are always at home in their arboreal houses, with their bows and arrows, and chanting their wild songs. Sometimes the blunt end of an arrow is used as a twirling stick in making fire by friction, for which purpose sticks made of Grewia tilioefolia, etc., are also used. In making fire, the Kanikars "procure two pieces of wood, one of which is soft, and contains a small hole or hollow about half an inch deep to receive the end of the other, which is a hard round stick about eighteen inches long, and as thick as an ordinary ruler. The Kanikar takes this stick between the palms of his hands, keeping it in a vertical position, with the end of it in the hollow referred to, and produces a quick rotary and reverse motion, and with slight pressure causes the friction necessary to produce a quantity of fluff, which soon ignites."

The Kanikars are employed by the Government to collect honey, wax, ginger, cardamoms, dammar, and elephant tusks, in return for a small remuneration known as kutivaram. Other occupations are trapping, capturing or killing elephants, tigers, and wild pigs, and making wicker-work articles of bamboo or rattan. The Rev. S. Mateer mentions having seen a wicker bridge, perhaps a hundred feet long, over which a pony could pass. A tiger trap is said to be a huge affair made of strong wooden bars, with a partition at one end for a live goat as bait. The timbers thereof are supported by a spring, which, on a wild beast entering, lets fall a crushing weight on it.

The Kanikars wander all over the hills in search of honey, and a resident in Travancore writes that "I have seen a high rugged rock, only accessible on one side, the other side being a sheer precipice of several hundred feet, and in its deep crevices scores of bees' nests. Some of them have been there for generations, and the Kanikars perform periodically most daring feats in endeavouring to secure at least a portion of the honey. On this precipice I have seen overhanging and fluttering in the breeze a rattan rope, made in rings and strongly linked together, the whole forming a rope ladder several hundred feet long, and securely fastened to a tree at the top of the precipice. Only a short time ago these people made one of their usual raids on the 'honey rock.' One of the tribe descended the rope ladder for a considerable distance, with a basket fastened to his back to receive the honey, and carrying with him torch-wood with which to smoke the bees out of the nests. Having arrived at his goal two hundred feet from the top, and over three hundred feet from the ground below, he ignited the torch, and, after the usual smoking process, which took some little time to perform, the bees made a hurried exit from the nests, and the Kanikar began the work of destruction, and with every movement the man and the ladder swayed to and fro, as if the whole thing would collapse at any moment. However, all was safe, and, after securing as much honey as he could conveniently carry, he began the return journey. Hand and foot he went up ring after ring until he reached the top in safety, performing the ascent with an air of nonchalant ease, which would have done credit to any steeple jack." The honey is brought for sale in hollow bamboo joints.

Sometimes Kanikars come into Trivandrum, bringing with them live animals for the zoological gardens.

The word Kanikaran means a hereditary proprietor of land. There is a tradition that there were once two hill kings, Sri Rangan and Virappan, whose descendants emigrated from the Pandyan territories beyond Agastyakutam under pressure from a superior force, and never returned to the low country. The following legend is current among the Kanikars. "The sea originally covered everything, but God caused the water to roll back, and leave bare all the hills. Then Parameswara and Parvati made a man and woman, whose descendants were divided into fifty-six races, and multiplied exceedingly, so that a sore famine invaded the land. In those days men were hunters, and lived by snaring animals and plucking wild fruits off the trees. There was no corn, for men did not know how to sow rice, and cultivate it. The cry of the famine-stricken reached Parameswara and Parvati, and they visited the earth in the form of a pair of hamsam (the bird which carries Brahma), and alighted on a kanjiram tree. While seated there, the god and goddess noticed a pair of dragon-flies, which paired together, and they too, their hearts swelling with love, embraced each other, and, taking pity on mankind, willed that a field of rice should sprout on the low-lying land near the sea-shore. The Paraiyans and Pulayans, who witnessed the rice growing, were the first to taste of the crop, and became prosperous. This was in Malabar, or the far north of Travancore. The Maharaja, hearing of the new grain, sent seven green parrots to go On a journey of discovery, and they returned with seven ears of rice. These the Maharaja placed in a granary, and gave some to the Paraiyans to sow, and the grain miraculously increased. But the Maharaja wanted to know how it was to be cooked. The parrots were accordingly once more brought into requisition, and they flew away, and brought back eighteen varieties of cooked rice which a Paraiyan's wife had prepared. Then the Maharaja, having got some rice prepared by his cooks, fell to and eat heartily. After eating, he went into the yard to wash his hands, and, before drying them on a cloth, wrung his right hand to get the last drops of water off. A valuable gold ring with three stones fell therefrom, and, burying itself in the dust, was never recovered. The Maharaja was sore distressed by his loss, but, Parameswara, as some recompense, caused to grow from the ground where the ring fell three trees which are very valuable in Travancore, and which, by the sale of their produce, would make the Maharaja wealthy and prosperous. The trees were the dammar tree, the resinous gum of which is useful in religious ceremonies, the sandal-wood tree so widely used for its perfume, and lastly the bamboo, which is so useful and necessary to the well-being of the Kanikars."

The sub-divisions among the Kanikars are known as illams or families, of which five are said to be endogamous, and five exogamous. The former are called Machchampi or brother-in-law illams, and the latter Annantampi or brother illams. They are named after mountains (e.g., Palamala, Talamala), places (e.g., Vellanat), etc. The Kanikars who live south of the Kodayar river cannot marry those living north of it, the river forming a marital boundary.

Among the names of Kanikars are Parapan (broad-faced), Chanthiran (moon), Marthandan (sun), Muntan (dwarf), Kaliyan (little Kali), Madan (a deity), Nili (blue) and Karumpi (black). The first name is sometimes that of the settlement in which they live. For example, the various Mullans are known as Kuzhumbi Mullan, Anaimalai Mullan, Chembilakayam Mullan, etc.

The Kanikars live together in small communities under a Muttakani or headman, who wields considerable influence over them, and enjoys various perquisites. He presides over tribal council meetings, at which all social questions are discussed and settled, and fixes the time for clearing the jungle, sowing the seed, gathering the harvest, worshipping the gods, etc. Fines which are inflicted are spent in propitiating the gods.

The language of the Kanikars is a dialect of Malayalam, with a large admixture of Tamil, which they call Malampashai or language of the hills.

The system of inheritance among those who live in the hills is makkathayam (from father to son). But a moiety of the personal property goes to the nephews. With those who live in the plains, an equal distribution of their self-acquired property is made between the sons and nephews. If there are no sons, the nephews inherit the property, the widow being entitled to maintenance.

The chief object of worship is said to be Sasthan, a forest god. But the Kanikars also make offerings to a variety of deities, including Amman, Poothathan, Vetikad Pootham, Vadamala Poothathan, and Amcala. They have, it has been said, "certain spots, trees or rocks, where their relations or friends have met with some unusual good luck or calamity, where they generally offer their prayers. Here they periodically assemble, and pray that the catastrophe that had befallen a comrade may not fall on them, or that the blessings which another had received may be showered on them." Generally in February a festival called kodai is held, whereat the Kanikars assemble. Goats and fowls are sacrificed, and the pujari (priest) offers boiled rice and meat to the sylvan deities in a consecrated place. The festival, to which many come from the low country, winds up with drinking and dancing. The Kanikar musical instruments include a reed flute or clarionet, and men dance to the music, while the women clap their hands in time with it. The Kanikars worship their gods twice a year, in the months of Minam and Kanni. On the morning of the celebration, every family takes rice and plantains to the dwelling of the headman. With the exception of a small quantity which is set aside, the rice is husked and ground to flour by boys or men, after bathing and washing their hands and feet. The rice is taken to a clearing in the fields, whither a Kanikar who knows how to invoke the deity comes after bathing. He lays out a row of plantain leaves, and spreads on each leaf a little rice, on which plantains are laid. These are covered over with a plantain leaf, on which rice is sprinkled. The officiating Kanikar then burns incense, carries it round the trophy, and places it in front thereof. All do obeisance by raising their hands to their foreheads, and pray for a fruitful harvest. Sometimes the officiating Kanikar becomes inspired like a Velichapad, and gives expression to oracular utterances. At the close of the ceremony, a distribution of the rice and plantains takes place. When the land is to be cleared for cultivation, the headman is invited to attend, and some rice and cocoanuts are presented to him, which he offers up, and clears a small portion with his own hand. On the first appearance of the ears of grain, the Kanikars spend two nights in drumming, singing, and repeating mantrams at the field, and put up a tattu or platform on four sticks as a shrine for the spirits, to whom they offer raw rice, tender cocoanuts, flowers, etc. At harvest time rice, plantains, sweetmeats, and flowers are offered to the various hill demons, Purcha Mallan Pey, the cat giant, Athirakodi Pey, the boundary flag demon, and others.