Part 14

For the following note on a Kanikar harvest festival I am indebted to an article by Mr. A. P. Smith. [90] It was performed in propitiation of the Baradevata, or household gods of a house in the neighbourhood, the presiding deity being Madan. The ceremony is commonly called the feeding ceremony, and should be carried out just before the harvesting of the grain commences. "The officiating Kani is generally an elderly and influential man, who professes inspiration and knowledge obtained when asleep. The articles necessary to perform the ceremony are called Paduka or sacrifice, and Ashtamangalyam. Paduka is for the adult gods or manes, male or female, called Chava, and Ashtamangalyam is for the virgins who have died, called Kanyakas. A temporary pavilion or pandal had been erected in front of the house, and from the canopy long streamers of tender cocoanut leaves, bunches of plantains, and tender cocoanuts, with their husk on, were hung. Branches of areca nuts and flowers adorned the posts and pillars. Small heaps, consisting of boiled rice, paddy, a tender cocoanut, a sprig of areca flowers, and betel were placed on plantain leaves in seven definite spots. The officiating Kanikar, after formally getting the permission of the assembled spectators, and especially of one who subsequently appeared on the scene as the chief dancer, began a monotonous chant in what appeared to be a mixed language. It was understood to be a history of the beginning of earthly kings, a record of the life and doings of departed souls, whose protection was prayed for, and a prayer for the souls of those persons for whose benefit the ceremony of propitiation was in progress. Now and again the feelings of the narrator or singer would overcome him, and he would indulge in a shout or in emphatic gesticulations. This went on for about three or four hours, punctuated at intervals by the firing of petards or old smooth-bore guns, and the shrill cries of the women. Before the chanting terminated, a large heap of the red flowers of Ixora coccinea (thetti pu), about a yard square at the base, had been raised in the centre of the pandal, and it was prettily picked out with areca flowers in artistic designs. The horrible sound of a human voice roaring like a wild beast aroused every one to a sense of activity. From behind the hut came the man already mentioned, very primitively clothed, his hair hanging loose, his eyes staring, and what appeared like foam at his mouth. He would stand, run short distances, leap, sit, agitate his body, and dance, keeping step to the rhythmic and muffled beating of the drum. This he did for ten minutes or so. Suddenly, with a shout, he dived into the hut specially set apart as the feeding place of the god Madan, and presently appeared with two long sticks adorned at their ends with bells, which emitted a jingling sound. The frenzy of motion, ecstatic, unregulated and ungovernable, was apparently infectious, for a young man, hitherto a silent spectator of the scene, gave a shout, and began to dance wildly, throwing up his arms, and stepping out quite actively. This encouragement stimulated the original performer, and he caught a man standing near by the neck, thrust the stick with the bells into his hand, and he thereupon started dancing as well. In about ten minutes there were some half a dozen wild dancing dervishes, shouting, gesticulating, revolving, and most certainly in an abnormal state of excitement. A dying but still glowing heap of fire and ashes became the centre of attraction, for the chief dancer danced over the fire, and sent the sparks flying, and scattered the wood, and evoked the admiration and eulogies of the crowd. Streaming with perspiration, spotted with ashes, wild, dishevelled and exhausted, the chief dancing demoniac stepped under the pandal, and finally sat himself before the heap of red flowers, and tossed the blossoms over his head in a kind of shower bath. He was assisted in this by the old Kanikar and other bystanders. A little boy was brought before him, and he called the lad by a name. This was his christening ceremony, for the lad assumed the name from that time. The chief dancer then stood up, and appeared to be still in a possessed state. A fine old rooster was brought, and its throat cut. It was then handed to the dancer, who applied his lips to the gaping wound, and drained the blood, swallowing the fluid audibly. Before relinquishing his hold of the bird, he swayed and fell on the ground in what seemed to be a swoon. This indicated that the sacrifice had been acceptable, that the propitiation was perfected, and that all the wishes of the persons interested in them would be granted. The crowd then set to eating and drinking the sacrificial elements, and dispersed."

Both adult and infant marriage are practiced. Those who had married 'infants,' on being questioned, stated that this is the safest course, as grown-up brides sometimes run away to their parents' house, whereas younger girls get accustomed to their husbands' home. On a fixed day, within a month of the marriage ceremony, four Kanikars, accompanied by a boy carrying betel leaves and areca nuts, go to the home of the future bride, and present them to the families of the settlement. On the wedding morning, all assemble at a pandal (booth), and the bridegroom distributes pan-supari (betel leaf and areca nuts). His sister then brings forward the bride, and the bridegroom presents her with a cloth, which she puts on. Bride, bridegroom, and a young boy, then stand on a mat beneath the pandal, and the bridegroom ties the minnu (marriage badge) round the neck of the bride if she is an infant. If she is an adult, he places the minnu in front of her neck, on which it is tied by his sister. A plantain leaf is then placed in front of the bridal couple, and curry and rice served thereon by their mothers. The two women then take hold of the bride's head, and press it seven times towards her husband's shoulders. This ceremony concluded, the young boy takes a small quantity of the curry and rice, and puts it in the mouth of the bridegroom seven times. The bridegroom's younger brother then gives a morsel to the bride. The ceremonial terminates with a feast. The dowry includes billhooks, brass vessels, choppers, grain, and pulses. The headman, according to Mateer, offers some advice to the husband concerning the management of his wife. The heads of his discourse are arranged under the following heads:--teaching by words, pinching, and blows, and casting the woman away at last, if she is not obedient. In the remarriage of widows, the bridegroom simply gives the woman a pair of cloths, and, with the consent of the male members of her family, takes her to his home.

During the seventh month of pregnancy, a woman has to perform a ceremony called vaguthu pongal. Seven pots are placed on seven hearths, and, when the rice placed therein has boiled, the woman salutes it, and all present partake thereof. According to Mateer "the ceremony practised on the occasion of pregnancy is called vayaru pongal, when boiled rice is offered to the sun. First they mould an image of Ganesha, and, setting it in a suitable place, boil the rice. To this they add for an offering aval or flattened rice, parched rice, cakes, plantain fruits, young cocoanuts, and tender leaves of the same palm, with the flowers of the areca palm. The headman then commences dancing, and repeating mantrams. He waves the offerings to the sun. On first giving rice to a child, a feast is held, and an offering presented to the jungle demons."

Concerning the death ceremonies, Mateer writes that "when any one is taken ill, the headman is at once consulted. He visits the sick person, and orders two drumming and singing ceremonies to be performed. A whole night is spent in dancing, singing, drumming, and prayers for the recovery of the patient. The offerings consist of tapioca, flour and cocoanuts, and other articles. After some time the headman, with manifestations of demoniac possession, reveals whether the sufferer will die or not. If the former, he repeats a mantram (kudumi vettu mantram, or formula on cutting off the top-knot), and cuts off the sick man's kudumi. This being a sign of approaching death, the relatives and others pay their last visits to the sick. After death, a mixture of ganja (Indian hemp), raw rice, and cocoanut, is put into the mouth of the corpse by the son and nephews, and it is buried at some distance from their abode, mantrams being repeated over it. Occasionally the corpse is cremated. The relatives bathe before returning home, and cannot take any of the produce of their lands till the death pollution is removed, fearing that wild beasts will attack them or destroy their crops. To this end a small shed is built outside their clearing on the third day. Three measures of rice are boiled, and placed in a cup or on a plantain leaf inside the shed. Then all bathe, and return home. On the seventh day all this is repeated, the old shed being pulled down, and a new one put up. On returning to their dwelling, they sprinkle cow-dung on their houses and in the yard, which finally removes the defilement. People in better circumstances make a feast of curry and rice for all present." The cow-dung is sprinkled with leafy twigs of the mango or jak tree, or flower stalks of the areca palm. The ashes, after cremation, are said to be collected in a pot or leaf, and thrown into the nearest stream or river. An annual ceremony, in commemoration of ancestors, is held, at which rice is boiled and offered up.

The Kanikars, like the Irulas and Yanadis of the Tamil and Telugu countries, do not belong to the polluting classes. Pulayans, Kuruvans, and Vedans are not allowed to approach them.

The dietary of the jungle Kanikars includes wild pigs, deer, porcupines, hares, monkeys, fowls, sheep and goats, parakeets, doves, tortoises, fish, crabs, peacocks, tigers (said to taste like black monkey), owls, squirrels and field rats, in addition to many vegetable products of the forest. They will not eat beef or the flesh of 'bison.'

Some Kanikars are tattooed on the forehead with a crescent and dot, or a vertical stripe. The Kanikars say that their ancestors wore a garment made of jungle fibre, which has been replaced by a cotton loin-cloth. "Both men and women," Mr. M. Ratnaswami Aiyar writes, "wear on the neck numerous strings of red beads and rings made of shells, which hang down to the abdomen in the case of the women. The men wear ear-rings of brass or silver. The women wear bangles of brass and iron, and a number of brass rings on the fingers. The men bear suspended from one of their shoulders a cloth bag containing two or more partitions, in which they keep their vilangupetti or box containing betel, tobacco, and chunam. They carry, too, suspended from the shoulder, a cane basket wherein they place their day's crop of grain or roots, or any other food obtained by them. They attach to their waist-string or cloth a billhook and knife, and carry their bows and arrows slung on their shoulders. Whenever the Kanikars from the different kanis or settlements have to be gathered together for a common meeting, or for going together elsewhere on a common purpose, a messenger amongst them carries from one kani to another the message with a knot of fibres of creepers, which serves as a symbol of call. The knotted fibre is passed on from one kani to another till the required assembly is secured. It is thus that I secured my Kanikars to present them to their Excellencies Lord and Lady Curzon."

For most of the information contained in this article I am indebted to Mateer's 'Native Life in Travancore,' an article by Mr. Ratnaswami Aiyar, [91] and notes by Mr. N. Subrahmani Aiyar.

Kani Kuruppu.--Barbers of the Kaniyans.

Kani Razu.--A name, denoting fortune-telling Razus, sometimes used as a synonym by Bhatrazus, in whose songs it occurs. The name Kani-vandlu, or fortune-tellers, occurs as a synonym of Yerukala.

Kaniyan.--Kaniyan, spelt and pronounced Kanisan in Malabar, is a Malayalam corruption of the Sanskrit Ganika, meaning an astrologer. The word was originally Kani, in which form it invariably appears in Malayalam works and Tamil documents. The honorific suffix 'an' has been added subsequently.

The two titles, generally applied to Kaniyans, are Panikkar and Asan. The former is said to be a common title in Malabar, but in Travancore it seems to be restricted to the north. The word Panikkar comes from pani, or work, viz., that of military training. The fact that most of the families, who own this title at present, were once teachers of bodily exercises, is evident not only from the name kalari, literally a military school, by which their houses are usually known, but also from the Keralolpatti, which assigns military training as a duty of the caste. Asan, a corruption of the Sanskrit Acharya, is a common title among Kaniyans in South Travancore. Special titles, such as Anantapadmanabham, Sivasankaran, and Sankili, are said to be possessed by certain families in the south, having been conferred on them by kings in olden times. Some Kaniyans in the north enjoy the surname of Nampikuruppu.

Kaniyans are divided into two endogamous sections, viz., Kaniyar and Tinta (or polluting). The occupations of the latter are umbrella-making and spirit-exorcising, while the others remain astrologers, pure and simple. A few families, living at Alengad, are called Vattakan Kaniyans, and are believed to have come there on the eve of Tipu Sultan's invasion. The women of the Kaniyans proper do not eat with them. According to tradition, eight sub-septs are said to have existed among the Kaniyans, four of which were known as kiriyams, and four as illams. The names of the former are Annavikkannam, Karivattam, Kutappilla, and Nanna; of the latter Pampara, Tachchazham, Netumkanam, and Ayyarkala. These divisions were once endogamous, but this distinction has now disappeared.

In a note on the Kaniyans of the Cochin State, [92] Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer writes that "there is some difference in the social status between the Kaniyans of the southern, and the Kalari Panikkans of the northern parts of the State. The latter profess a kind of superiority in status, on the ground that the former have no kalaris. It is also said by the latter that the occupation of the former was once that of umbrella-making, and that astrology as a profession has been recently adopted by them. There is at present neither intermarriage, nor interdining between them. The Kaniyans pollute the Kalari Panikkans by touch." In connection with the old village organisation in Malabar, Cochin, and Travancore, Mr. Anantha Krishna Iyer writes further that "every tara or kara (village) consisted of all castemen below Brahmans, especially the Nayars of all classes, more or less living in a community, the Kammalans, Izhuvans, Panans, Mannans, and other castemen living further apart. For every such village in the northern part of the State, there was also a Kalari Panikkan, with a kalari (gymnastic or military school), where the young men of the village, chiefly the Nayars, were trained in all kinds of athletic feats, and in arms. The institution of the kalaris has now disappeared, though the building remains in some places, and the Panikkans are now mainly astrologers and village schoolmasters. According to their own statement, Parasurama, the great coloniser of Kerala, established kalaris throughout the kingdom, and appointed them as the masters to train Sudra young men in all kinds of feats (one thousand and eight in number), for the protection of the country against foreign invaders. The Nayars, who then formed the fighting race, were mostly trained by the Panikkans. In memory of this, the Kalari Panikkans of the northern portions of the State, and of South Malabar, profess even now a preceptorship to the Nayars, and the Nayars show them some respect, being present at their marriages and other ceremonies. The Pannikkans say that the Nayars obtained their kalaris from them. There are still a few among the Panikkans, here and there, fit to teach young men various feats. The following are the names of some of them:--

(1) Pitichu Kali. Two persons play on their drums (chenda), while a third person, well dressed in a kacha, and with a turban on his head, and provided with a sword and shield, performs various feats in harmony with the drum beating. It is a kind of sword-dance.

(2) Parishathalam Kali. A large pandal (booth) is erected in front of the house where the performance is to take place, and the boys below sixteen, who have been previously trained for it, are brought there. The performance takes place at night. The chenda, maddhalam, chengala, and elathalam (circular bell-metal plates slightly concave in the middle) are the instruments used in the performance. After the performance, the boys, whom the Asan has trained, present themselves before him, and remunerate him with whatever they can afford. Parties are organised to give this performance on all auspicious occasions in rural districts.

(3) Kolati. Around a lighted lamp, a number of persons stand in a circle, each with a stick a foot in length, and as thick as a thumb, in each hand. They begin to sing, first in slow time, and gradually in rapid measure. The time is marked by each one hitting his neighbours' sticks with his own on both sides. Much dexterity and precision are required, as also experience in combined action and movements, lest the amateur should be hit by his neighbours as the measure is accelerated. The songs are invariably in praise of God or man.