Part 4

Writing a century ago (1807) concerning the Kaikolan Dasis, Buchanan says [24] that "these dancing women, and their musicians, now form a separate kind of caste; and a certain number of them are attached to every temple of any consequence. The allowances which the musicians receive for their public duty is very small, yet, morning and evening, they are bound to attend at the temple to perform before the image. They must also receive every person travelling on account of the Government, meet him at some distance from the town, and conduct him to his quarters with music and dancing. All the handsome girls are instructed to dance and sing, and are all prostitutes, at least to the Brahmans. In ordinary sets they are quite common; but, under the Company's government, those attached to temples of extraordinary sanctity are reserved entirely for the use of the native officers, who are all Brahmans, and who would turn out from the set any girl that profaned herself by communication with persons of low caste, or of no caste at all, such as Christians or Mussulmans. Indeed, almost every one of these girls that is tolerably sightly is taken by some officer of revenue for his own special use, and is seldom permitted to go to the temple, except in his presence. Most of these officers have more than one wife, and the women of the Brahmans are very beautiful; but the insipidity of their conduct, from a total want of education or accomplishment, makes the dancing women to be sought after by all natives with great avidity. The Mussulman officers in particular were exceedingly attached to this kind of company, and lavished away on these women a great part of their incomes. The women very much regret their loss, as the Mussulmans paid liberally, and the Brahmans durst not presume to hinder any girl who chose, from amusing an Asoph, or any of his friends. The Brahmans are not near so lavish of their money, especially where it is secured by the Company's government, but trust to their authority for obtaining the favour of the dancers. To my taste, nothing can be more silly and unanimated than the dancing of the women, nor more harsh and barbarous than their music. Some Europeans, however, from long habit, I suppose, have taken a liking to it, and have even been captivated by the women. Most of them I have had an opportunity of seeing have been very ordinary in their looks, very inelegant in their dress, and very dirty in their persons; a large proportion of them have the itch, and a still larger proportion are most severely diseased."

Though the Kaikolans are considered to belong to the left-hand faction, Dasis, except those who are specially engaged by the Beri Chettis and Kammalans, are placed in the right-hand faction. Kaikolan Dasis, when passing through a Kammalan street, stop dancing, and they will not salute Kammalans or Beri Chettis.

A peculiar method of selecting a bride, called siru tali kattu (tying the small tali), is said to be in vogue among some Kaikolans. A man, who wishes to marry his maternal uncle's or paternal aunt's daughter, has to tie a tali, or simply a bit of cloth torn from her clothing, round her neck, and report the fact to his parents and the headman. If the girl eludes him, he cannot claim her, but, should he succeed, she belongs to him. In some places, the consent of the maternal uncle to a marriage is signified by his carrying the bride in his arms to the marriage pandal (booth). The milk-post is made of Erythrina indica. After the tali has been tied, the bridegroom lifts the bride's left leg, and places it on a grinding-stone. Widows are stated by Mr. Stuart to be "allowed to remarry if they have no issue, but not otherwise; and, if the prevalent idea that a Kaikola woman is never barren be true, this must seldom take place."

On the final day of the death ceremonies, a small hut is erected, and inside it stones, brought by the barber, are set up, and offerings made to them.

The following proverbs are current about or among the Kaikolans:--

Narrate stories in villages where there are no Kaikolans.

Why should a weaver have a monkey?

This, it has been suggested, [25] implies that a monkey would only damage the work.

On examining the various occupations, weaving will be found to be the best.

A peep outside will cut out eight threads.

The person who was too lazy to weave went to the stars.

The Chetti (money-lender) decreases the money, and the weaver the thread.

The titles of the Kaikolans are Mudali and Nayanar.

Among the Kaikolan musicians, I have seen every gradation of colour and type, from leptorhine men with fair skin and chiselled features, to men very dark and platyrhine, with nasal index exceeding 90.

The Kaikolans take part in the annual festival at Tirupati in honour of the goddess Gangamma. "It is," Mr. Stuart writes, [26] "distinguished from the majority of similar festivals by a custom, which requires the people to appear in a different disguise (vesham) every morning and evening. The Matangi vesham of Sunday morning deserves special mention. The devotee who consents to undergo this ceremony dances in front of an image or representation of the goddess, and, when he is worked up to the proper pitch of frenzy, a metal wire is passed through the middle of his tongue. It is believed that this operation causes no pain, or even bleeding, and the only remedy adopted is the chewing of a few margosa (Melia Azadirachta) leaves, and some kunkumam (red powder) of the goddess. This vesham is undertaken only by a Kaikolan (weaver), and is performed only in two places--the house of a certain Brahman and the Mahant's math. The concluding disguise is that known as the perantalu vesham. Perantalu signifies the deceased married women of a family who have died before their husbands, or, more particularly, the most distinguished of such women. This vesham is accordingly represented by a Kaikolan disguised as a female, who rides round the town on a horse, and distributes to the respectable inhabitants of the place the kunkumam, saffron paste, and flowers of the goddess."

For the following account of a ceremony, which took place at Conjeeveram in August, 1908, I am indebted to the Rev. J. H. Maclean. "On a small and very lightly built car, about eight feet high, and running on four little wheels, an image of Kali was placed. It was then dragged by about thirty men, attached to it by cords passed through the flesh of their backs. I saw one of the young men two days later. Two cords had been drawn through his flesh, about twelve inches apart. The wounds were covered over with white stuff, said to be vibuthi (sacred ashes). The festival was organised by a class of weavers calling themselves Sankunram (Sengundar) Mudaliars, the inhabitants of seven streets in the part of Conjeeveram known as Pillaipalyam. The total amount spent is said to have been Rs. 500. The people were far from clear in their account of the meaning of the ceremony. One said it was a preventive of small-pox, but this view did not receive general support. Most said it was simply an old custom: what good it did they could not say. Thirty years had elapsed since the last festival. One man said that Kali had given no commands on the subject, and that it was simply a device to make money circulate. The festival is called Punter (flower car)."

In September, 1908, an official notification was issued in the Fort St. George Gazette to the following effect. "Whereas it appears that hook-swinging, dragging of cars by men harnessed to them by hooks which pierce their sides, and similar acts are performed during the Mariyamman festival at Samayapuram and other places in the Trichinopoly division, Trichinopoly district, and whereas such acts are dangerous to human life, the Governor in Council is pleased, under section 144, sub-section (5), of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, to direct that the order of the Sub-divisional Magistrate, dated the 7th August, 1908, prohibiting such acts, shall remain in force until further orders."

It is noted by Mr. F. R. Hemingway [27] that, at Ratnagiri, in the Trichinopoly district, the Kaikolans, in performance of a vow, thrust a spear through the muscles of the abdomen in honour of their god Sahanayanar.

Kaila (measuring grain in the threshing-floor).--An exogamous sept of Mala.

Kaimal.--A title of Nayars, derived from kai, hand, signifying power.

Kaipuda.--A sub-division of Holeya.

Kaivarta.--A sub-division of Kevuto.

Kaka (crow).--The legend relating to the Kaka people is narrated in the article on Koyis. The equivalent Kaki occurs as a sept of Malas, and Kako as a sept of Kondras.

Kakara or Kakarla (Momordica Charantia).--An exogamous sept of Kamma and Muka Dora.

Kakirekka-vandlu (crows' feather people).--Mendicants who beg from Mutrachas, and derive their name from the fact that, when begging, they tie round their waists strings on which crows', paddy birds' (heron) feathers, etc., are tied.

Kakka Kuravan.--A division of Kuravas of Travancore.

Kakkalan.--The Kakkalans or Kakkans are a vagrant tribe met with in north and central Travancore, who are identical with the Kakka Kuravans of south Travancore. There are among them four endogamous divisions called Kavitiyan, Manipparayan, Meluttan, and Chattaparayan, of which the two first are the most important. The Kavitiyans are further sub-divided into Kollak Kavitiyan residing in central Travancore, Malayalam Kavitiyan, and Pandi Kavitiyan or immigrants from the Pandyan country.

The Kakkalans have a legend concerning their origin to the effect that Siva was once going about begging as a Kapaladharin, and arrived at a Brahman street, from which the inhabitants drove him away. The offended god immediately reduced the village to ashes, and the guilty villagers begged his pardon, but were reduced to the position of the Kakkalans, and made to earn their livelihood by begging.

The women wear iron and silver bangles, and a palunka mala or necklace of variously coloured beads. They are tattooed, and tattooing members of other castes is one of their occupations, which include the following:--

Katukuttu, or boring the lobes of the ears.

Katuvaippu, or plastic operations on the ear, which Nayar women and others who wear heavy pendant ear ornaments often require.

Kainokku or palmistry, in which the women are more proficient than the men.

Kompuvaippu, or placing the twig of a plant on any swelling of the body, and dissipating it by blowing on it.

Taiyyal, or tailoring.

Pampatam or snake dance, in which the Kakkalans are unrivalled.

Fortune telling.

The chief object of worship by the Kakkalans is the rising sun, to which boiled rice is offered on Sunday. They have no temples of their own, but stand at some distance from Hindu temples, and worship the gods thereof. Though leading a wandering life, they try to be at home for the Malabar new year, on which occasion they wear new clothes, and hold a feast. They do not observe the national Onam and Vishu festivals.

The Kakkalans are conspicuously polygamous, and some have as many as twelve wives, who are easily supported, as they earn money by their professional engagements. A first marriage must be celebrated on Sunday, and the festivities last from Saturday to Monday. Subsequent marriages may also be celebrated on Thursday. On the night of the day before the wedding, a brother, or other near relation of the bridegroom, places the sambandham (alliance) by bringing a fanam (coin), material for chewing, and cooked rice to the marriage pandal (booth). Fruit and other things are flung at him by the bride's people. On the following day the bridegroom arrives at the pandal, and, after raising the tali (marriage badge) three times towards heaven, and, invoking a blessing from on high, ties it round the bride's neck. When a girl reaches puberty, a merry celebration is kept up for a week. The dead are buried. Inheritance is from father to son. A childless widow is a coparcener with the brothers of the deceased, and forfeits this right if she remarries.

Though in the presence of other castes the Kakkalans speak Malayalam, they have a peculiar language which is used among themselves, and is not understood by others. [28]

Kakke (Indian laburnum: Cassia fistula).--A gotra of Kurni.

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

Kalaikuttadi (pole-dancer).--A Tamil synonym of Dommara.

Kalal.--A Hindustani synonym of Gamalla.

Kalamkotti (potter).--An occupational title of Nayar.

Kalasi.--A name given to Vada fishermen by Oriya people.

Kalava (channel or ditch).--An exogamous sept of Padma Sale.

Kalavant.--The Kalavants are dancers and singers, who, like other dancing-girls, are courtesans. The name occurs not only in South Canara, but also in the Telugu country.

Kalinga.--A sub-division of Komatis, who "were formerly the inhabitants of the ancient Kalinga country. They are considered inferior to the other sub-divisions, on account of their eating flesh. Their titles are Subaddhi, Patro, and Chaudari." [29] In the Ganjam Manual, they are described as "traders and shopkeepers, principally prevalent in the Chicacole division. The name Kling or Kaling is applied, in the Malay countries, including the Straits Settlements, to the people of peninsular India, who trade thither, or are settled in those regions." It is recorded by Dr. N. Annandale that the phrase Orang Kling Islam (i.e., a Muhammadan from the Madras coast) occurs in Patani Malay.

Kalingi and Kalinji.--There has been some confusion, in recorded accounts, between these two classes. In the Ganjam Manual, the Kalinjis are described as agriculturists in that district, and, in the Vizagapatam Manual, the Kalingas or Kalingulu are stated to be cultivators in the Vizagapatam district, and a caste of Paiks or fighting men in Jeypore. In the Census Report, 1891, the Kalingis are said to be "most numerous in Ganjam, but there is a considerable number of them in Vizagapatam also. The word means a native of Kalinga, the name of the sea-board of the Telugu country; the word Telugu itself is supposed by Dr. Caldwell to be a corruption of Tri-Kalinga. The three large sub-divisions of the caste are Buragam, Kintala, and Odiya. In the Kintala sub-division, a widow may remarry if she has no male issue, but the remarriage of widows is not allowed in other sub-divisions. The use of flesh and alcoholic liquor is permitted. Naidu and Chaudari are their titles." Further, in the Census Report, 1901, the Kalingis are described as follows: "A caste of temple priests and cultivators, found mainly in Ganjam and Vizagapatam, whither they are supposed to have been brought by the Kalinga kings to do service in the Hindu temples, before the advent of the Brahmans. They speak either Oriya or Telugu. They have two sub-divisions, the Kintali Kalingas, who live south of the Langulya river, and the Buragam Kalingis, who reside to the north of it, and the customs of the two differ a great deal. There is also a third section, called Pandiri or Bevarani, which is composed of outcastes from the other two. Except the Kalingis of Mokhalingam in Vizagapatam, [30] they have headmen called Nayakabalis or Santos. They also have priests called Kularazus, each of whom sees to the spiritual needs of a definite group of villages. They are divided into several exogamous gotras, each comprising a number of families or vamsas, some of which, such as Arudra, a lady-bird, and Revi-chettu, the Ficus religiosa tree, are of totemistic origin. Each section is said to worship its totem. Marriage before puberty is the rule, and the caste is remarkable for the proportion of its girls under twelve years of age who are married or widowed. Widow marriage is not recognised by the Buragam Kalingis, but the Kintalis freely allow it. As usual, the ceremonies at the wedding of a widow differ from those at the marriage of a maid. Some turmeric paste is placed on a new cloth, which is then put over a pot of water, and the ceremony takes place near this. The binding portion of it is the tying of a saffron-coloured string to the woman's wrist. The Kalingis pay special reverence to Sri Radha Krishna and Chaitanya. Some of the caste officiate in temples, wear the sacred thread, and call themselves Brahmans, but they are not received on terms of equality by other Brahmans. All Kalingis bury their dead, but sraddhas (memorial services) are performed only by the Kintali sub-division. The Buragam Kalingis do not shave their heads in front. Kalingi women wear heavy bangles of brass, silver bell-metal and glass, extending from the wrist to the elbow. The titles of the castes are Naidu, Nayarlu, Chowdari, Bissoyi, Podhano, Jenna, Swayi, and Naiko."

In the foregoing account, the Oriya-speaking Kalinjis, and Telugu-speaking Kalingis, are both referred to. The confusion seems to have arisen from the fact that the Kalinjis are sometimes called Kalingis by other castes. The Kalingis are essentially Telugus, and are found mainly on the borderland between the districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatam. The Kalinjis are, on the other hand, Oriyas, and seem to be closely allied to the agricultural castes, Doluva, Alia, Bosantiya, etc., like which they are mainly agriculturists. The Kalinjis can be easily distinguished from the Kalingis, as the latter wear the sacred thread. The following story is told in connection with the origin of the Kalinji caste. A band of robbers was once upon a time staying in a fort near Bhattu Kunnarade, and molesting the people, who invited the king of Puri to come and drive the robbers away. Among the warriors who were recruited for this purpose, was a member of the Khondaito caste, who, with the permission of the king, succeeded in expelling the robbers. He was named by the people Bodo-Kalinja, or one having a stout heart. He and his followers remained in the Ganjam country, and the Kalinjis are their descendants. The caste is widespread in the northern part thereof.

There do not seem to be any sub-divisions among the Kalinjis, but there is a small endogamous group, called Mohiri Kalinji. Mohiri is a well-known division in Ganjam, and Kalinjis who dwell therein intermarry with others, and do not form a separate community. It has been suggested that the Mohiri Kalinjis are Telugu Kalingis, who have settled in the Oriya country. Like other Oriya castes, the Kalinjis have gotras, e.g., bano (sun), sukro (star), sanko (conch-shell), bhago (tiger) and nago (cobra). There is a good deal of confusion regarding the gotras in their connection with marriage. The same gotra, e.g., sukro, is exogamous in some places, and not so in others. Many titles occur among the Kalinjis, e.g., Borado, Bissoyi, Bariko, Behara, Dolei, Gaudo, Jenna, Moliko, Naiko, Patro, Podhano, Pulleyi, Ravuto, Santo, Savu, Swayi, Guru. In some places, the titles are taken as representing bamsams (or vamsams), and, as such, are exogamous. Families as a rule refrain from marrying into families bearing the same title. For example, a Dolei man will not marry a Dolei girl, especially if their gotras are the same. But a Dolei may marry a Pullei, even if they have the same gotra.

The headman of the Kalinjis is styled Santo, and he is assisted by a Patro. There is also a caste messenger, called Bhollobhaya. For the whole community there are said to be four Santos and four Patros, residing at Attagada, Chinna Kimedi, Pedda Kimedi, and Mohiri. A man who is suffering from a wound or sore infested by maggots is said to be excommunicated, and, when he has recovered, to submit himself before the caste-council before he is received back into the community.

Girls are generally married before puberty, and, if a real husband is not forthcoming, a maid goes through a mock marriage ceremony with her elder sister's husband, or some elder of the community. A bachelor must be married to the sado (Streblus asper) tree before he can marry a widow. The remarriage of widows (thuvathuvvi) is freely allowed. A widow, who has a brother-in-law, may not marry anyone else, until she has obtained a deed of separation (tsado patro) from him. The marriage ceremonies conform to the standard Oriya type. In some places, the little fingers of the contracting couple are linked, instead of their hands being tied together with thread. On the fourth day, a Bhondari (barber) places on the marriage dais some beaten rice and sugar-candy, which the bride and bridegroom sell to relations for money and grain. The proceeds of the sale are the perquisite of the Bhondari. On the seventh day, the bridegroom breaks a pot on the dais, and, as he and the bride go away, the brother of the latter throws brinjal (Solanum Melongena) fruits at him.

The dead are as a rule cremated. On the day after death, food, made bitter by the addition of margosa (Melia Azadirachta) leaves, is offered. A piece of bone is carried away from the burning-ground, and buried under a pipal (Ficus religiosa) tree. Daily, until the tenth day, water is poured seven times over the spot where the bone is buried. On the tenth day, if the deceased was an elder of the community, the jola-jola handi ceremony is performed with a pot riddled with holes. (See Bhondari.)

Kalkatta.--An occupation name for stone-masons in South Canara.

Kalkatti.--Kalkatti, denoting, it has been suggested, those who wear glass beads, is a sub-division of Idaiyan. The Lingayats among Badagas of the Nilgiri hills are called Kalkatti, because they hang a stone (the lingam) from their necks in a casket. Some Irulas of the same hills are also said to go by the name Kalkatti.

Kalla.--Recorded as a sub-division of Shanan, and of Idaiyans in localities where Kallans are most numerous.

Kalladi.--The title of a Cheruman who performs important duties, and becomes possessed by the spirit of the deceased, at a Cheruman funeral.

Kalladi Mangan.--A synonym of Mondi.

Kalladi Siddhan.--The name, meaning a beggar who beats himself with a stone, of a class of Telugu mendicants, who are very clamorous and persistent in their demands for alms. The name is applied as a term of contempt for any obstinate and troublesome individual. These beggars carry with them a gourd, have tortoise and cowry shells tied on their elbows, and carry an iron rod, with which they beat an iron ring worn on the hand. They present a very revolting spectacle, as they smear their bodies with rice done up so as to resemble vomit, and with the juice of the prickly-pear (Opuntia Dillenii), to make people believe that it is blood oozing from cuts made with a knife. They are said to be very fond of eating crows, which they catch with nets. (See Mondi.)

Kallamu (threshing-floor).--An exogamous sept of Panta Reddi.