Part 7

Moyili.--The Moyilis or Moilis of South Canara are said [53] by Mr. H. A. Stuart to be "admittedly the descendants of the children of women attached to the temples, and their ranks are even now swelled in this manner. Their duties are similar to those of the Stanikas" (q.v.). In the Madras Census report, 1901, Golaka (a bastard) is clubbed with Moili. In the Mysore Census Report, this term is said to be applied to children of Brahmans by Malerus (temple servants in Mysore).

The following account of the origin of the Moylars was given by Buchanan at the beginning of the nineteenth century. [54] "In the temples of Tuluva there prevails a very singular custom, which has given origin to a caste named Moylar. Any woman of the four pure castes--Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya or Sudra--who is tired of her husband, or who (being a widow, and consequently incapable of marriage) is tired of a life of celibacy, goes to a temple, and eats some of the rice that is offered to the idol. She is then taken before the officers of Government, who assemble some people of her caste to inquire into the cause of her resolution; and, if she be of the Brahman caste, to give her an option of living in the temple or out of its precincts. If she chooses the former, she gets a daily allowance of rice, and annually a piece of cloth. She must sweep the temple, fan the idol with a Tibet cow's tail and confine her amours to the Brahmans. In fact she generally becomes a concubine to some officer of revenue who gives her a trifle in addition to her public allowance, and who will flog her severely if she grants favours to any other person. The male children of these women are called Moylar, but are fond of assuming the title of Stanika, and wear the Brahmanical thread. As many of them as can procure employment live about the temples, sweep the areas, sprinkle them with an infusion of cow-dung, carry flambeaus before the gods, and perform other similar low offices."

The Moyilis are also called Devadigas, and should not be mixed with the Malerus (or Maleyavaru). Both do temple service, but the Maleru females are mostly prostitutes, whereas Moyili women are not. Malerus are dancing-girls attached to the temples in South Canara, and their ranks are swelled by Konkani, Shivalli, and other Brahman women of bad character.

The Moyilis have adopted the manners and customs of the Bants, and have the same balis (septs) as the Bants and Billavas.

Mucchi.--The Mucchis or Mochis are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as being a Marathi caste of painters and leather-workers. In the Mysore Census Report it is noted that "to the leather-working caste may be added a small body of Mochis, shoemakers and saddlers. They are immigrant Mahratas, who, it is said, came into Mysore with Khasim Khan, the general of Aurangzib. They claim to be Kshatriyas and Rajputs--pretensions which are not generally admitted. They are shoemakers and saddlers by trade, and are all Saivas by faith." "The Mucchi," Mr. A. Chatterton writes [55] "is not a tanner, and as a leather-worker only engages in the higher branches of the trade. Some of them make shoes, but draw the line at sandals. A considerable number are engaged as menial servants in Government offices. Throughout the country, nearly every office has its own Mucchi, whose principal duty is to keep in order the supplies of stationery, and from raw materials manufacture ink, envelopes and covers, and generally make himself useful. A good many of the so-called Mucchis, however, do not belong to the caste, as very few have wandered south of Madras, and they are mostly to be found in Ganjam and the Ceded Districts." The duties of the office Mucchi have further been summed up as "to mend pencils, prepare ink from powders, clean ink-bottles, stitch note-books, paste covers, rule forms, and affix stamps to covers and aid the despatch of tappals" (postal correspondence). In the Moochee's Hand-book [56] by the head Mucchi in the office of the Inspector-General of Ordnance, and contractor for black ink powder, it is stated that "the Rev. J. P. Rottler, in his Tamil and English dictionary, defines the word Mucchi as signifying trunk-maker, stationer, painter. Mucchi's work comprises the following duties:--

To make black, red, and blue writing ink, also ink of other colours as may seem requisite.

To mend quills, rule lines, make envelopes, mount or paste maps or plans on cloth with ribbon edges, pack parcels in wax-cloth, waterproof or common paper, seal letters and open boxes or trunk parcels.

To take charge of boxes, issue stationery for current use, and supply petty articles.

To file printed forms, etc., and bind books."

In the Fort St. George Gazette, 1906, applications were invited from persons who have passed the Matriculation examination of the Madras University for the post of Mucchi on Rs. 8 per mensem in the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police.

In the District Manuals, the various occupations of the Mucchis are summed up as book-binding, working in leather, making saddles and trunks, painting, making toys, and pen-making. At the present day, Mucchis (designers) are employed by piece-goods merchants in Madras in devising and painting new patterns for despatch to Europe, where they are engraved on copper cylinders. When, as at the present day, the bazars of Southern India are flooded with imported piece-goods of British manufacture, it is curious to look back and reflect that the term piece-goods was originally applied in trade to the Indian cotton fabrics exported to England.

The term Mucchi is applied to two entirely different sets of people. In Mysore and parts of the Ceded Districts, it refers to Marathi-speaking workers in leather. But it is further applied to Telugu-speaking people, called Raju, Jinigara, or Chitrakara, who are mainly engaged in painting, making toys, etc., and not in leather-work. (See Rachevar.)

Mucherikala.--Recorded by Mr. F. S. Mullaly [57] as a synonym of a thief class in the Telugu country.

Mudali.--The title Mudali is used chiefly by the offspring of Deva-dasis (dancing-girls), Kaikolans, and Vellalas. The Vellalas generally take the title Mudali in the northern, and Pillai in the southern districts. By some Vellalas, Mudali is considered discourteous, as it is also the title of weavers. [58] Mudali further occurs as a title of some Jains, Gadabas, Occhans, Pallis or Vanniyans, and Panisavans. Some Pattanavans style themselves Varunakula Mudali.

Mudavandi.--The Mudavandis are said [59] to be "a special begging class, descended from Vellala Goundans, since they had the immemorial privilege of taking possession, as of right, of any Vellala child that was infirm or maimed. The Modivandi made his claim by spitting into the child's face, and the parents were then obliged, even against their will, to give it up. Thenceforward it was a Modivandi, and married among them. The custom has fallen into desuetude for the last forty or fifty years, as a complaint of abduction would entail serious consequences. Their special village is Modivandi Satyamangalam near Erode. The chief Modivandi, in 1887, applied for sanction to employ peons (orderlies) with belts and badges upon their begging tours, probably because contributions are less willingly made nowadays to idle men. They claim to be entitled to sheep and grain from the ryats."

In a note on the Mudavandis, Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes that it is stated to be the custom that children born blind or lame in the Konga Vellala caste are handed over by their parents to become Mudavandis. If the parents hesitate to comply with the custom, the Mudavandis tie a red cloth round the head of the child, and the parents can then no longer withhold their consent. They have to give the boy a bullock to ride on if he is lame, or a stick if he is blind.

A Revenue Officer writes (1902) that, at the village of Andipalayam in the Salem district, there is a class of people called Modavandi, whose profession is the adoption of the infirm members of the Konga Vellalas. Andis are professional beggars. They go about among the Konga Vellalas, and all the blind and maimed children are pounced upon by them, and carried to their village. While parting with their children, the parents, always at the request of the children, give a few, sometimes rising to a hundred, rupees. The infirm never loses his status. He becomes the adopted child of the Andi, and inherits half of his property invariably. They are married among the Andis, and are well looked after. In return for their services, the Andis receive four annas a head from the Konga Vellala community annually, and the income from this source alone amounts to Rs. 6,400. A forty-first part share is given to the temple of Arthanariswara at Trichengodu. None of the Vellalas can refuse the annual subscription, on pain of being placed under the ban of social excommunication, and the Andi will not leave the Vellala's house until the infirm child is handed over to him. One Tahsildar (revenue officer) asked himself why the Andi's income should not be liable to income-tax, and the Andis were collectively assessed. Of course, it was cancelled on appeal.

Mudi (knot).--An exogamous sept of Mala.

Mudiya.--The name, derived from mudi, a preparation of fried rice, of a sub-division of Chuditiya.

Muduvar.--The Muduvars or Mudugars are a tribe of hill cultivators in Coimbatore, Madura, Malabar, and Travancore. For the following note on those who inhabit the Cardamom hills, I am indebted to Mr. Aylmer Ff. Martin.

The name of the tribe is usually spelt Muduvar in English, and in Tamil pronounced Muthuvar, or Muthuvanal. Outsiders sometimes call the tribe Thagappanmargal (a title sometimes used by low-caste people in addressing their masters). The Muduvars have a dialect of their own, closely allied to Tamil, with a few Malayalam words. Their names for males are mostly those of Hindu gods and heroes, but Kanjan (dry or stingy), Karupu Kunji (black chick), Kunjita (chicken) and Kar Megam (black cloud) are distinctive and common. For females, the names of goddesses and heroines, Karapayi (black), Koopi (sweepings), and Paychi (she-devil) are common. Boy twins are invariably Lutchuman and Raman, girl twins Lutchmi and Ramayi. Boy and girl twins are named Lutchman and Ramayi, or Lutchmi and Raman.

The Muduvars do not believe themselves to be indigenous to the hills; the legend, handed down from father to son, is that they originally lived in Madura. Owing to troubles, or a war in which the Pandyan Raja of the times was engaged, they fled to the hills. When at Bodinayakanur, the pregnant women (or, as some say, a pregnant woman) were left behind, and eventually went with the offspring to the Nilgiris, while the bulk of the tribe came to the High Range of North Travancore. There is supposed to be enmity between these rather vague Nilgiri people and the Muduvars. The Nilgiri people are said occasionally to visit Bodinayakanur, but, if by chance they are met by Muduvars, there is no speech between them, though each is supposed instinctively or intuitively to recognise the presence of the other. Those that came to the High Range carried their children up the ghats on their backs, and it was thereupon decided to name the tribe Muduvar, or back people. According to another tradition, when they left Madura, they carried with them on their back the image of the goddess Minakshi, and brought it to Neriyamangalam. It is stated by Mr. P. E. Conner [60] that the Muduvars "rank high in point of precedency among the hill tribes. They were originally Vellalas, tradition representing them as having accompanied some of the Madura princes to the Travancore hills." The approximate time of the exodus from Madura cannot even be guessed by any of the tribe, but it was possibly at the time when the Pandyan Rajas entered the south, or more probably when the Telugu Naickers took possession of Bodinayakanur in the fourteenth century. It has also been suggested that the Muduvars were driven to the hills by the Muhammadan invaders in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Judging from the two distinct types of countenance, their language, and their curious mixture of customs, I hazard the conjecture that, when they arrived on the hills, they found a small tribe in possession, with whom they subsequently intermarried, this tribe having affinities with the west coast, while the new arrivals were connected with the east.

The tribe is settled on the northern and western portion of the Cardamom Hills, and the High Range of Travancore, known as the Kanan Devan hills, and there is, I believe, one village on the Anaimalai hills. They wander to some extent, less so now than formerly, owing to the establishment of the planting community in their midst. The head-quarters at present may be said to be on the western slopes of the High Range. The present Mel Vaken or headman lives in a village on the western slope of the High Range at about 2,000 feet elevation, but villages occur up to 6,000 feet above sea level, the majority of villages being about 4,000 feet above the sea. The wandering takes place between the reaping of the final crop on one piece of land, and the sowing of the next. About November sees the breaking up of the old village, and February the establishment of the new. On the plateau of the High Range their dwellings are small rectangular, rather flat-roofed huts, made of jungle sticks or grass (both walls and root), and are very neat in appearance. On the western slopes, although the materials lend themselves to even neater building, their houses are usually of a rougher type. The materials used are the stems and leaves of the large-leaved ita (bamboo: Ochlandra travancorica) owing to the absence of grass-land country. The back of the house has no wall, the roof sloping on to the hillside behind, and the other walls are generally made of a rough sort of matting made by plaiting split ita stems.

Outsiders are theoretically not received into the caste, but a weaver caste boy and girl who were starving (in the famine of 1877, as far as I can make out), and deserted on the hills, were adopted, and, when they grew up, were allowed the full privileges of the caste. Since then, a 'Thotiya Naicker' child was similarly adopted, and is now a full-blown Muduvar with a Muduvar wife. On similar occasions, adoptions from similar or higher castes might take place, but the adoption of Pariahs or low-caste people would be quite impossible. In a lecture delivered some years ago by Mr. O. H. Bensley, it was stated that the Muduvars permit the entry of members of the Vellala caste into their community, but insist upon a considerable period of probation before finally admitting the would-be Muduvar into their ranks.

If any dispute arises in the community, it is referred to the men of the village, who form an informal panchayat (council), with the eldest or most influential man at its head. References are sometimes, but only seldom, made to the Muppen, a sort of sub-headman of the tribe, except, perhaps, in the particular village in which he resides. The office of both Muppen and Mel Vaken is hereditary, and follows the marumakkatayam custom, i.e., descent to the eldest son of the eldest sister. The orders of the panchayat, or of the headman, are not enforceable by any specified means. A sort of sending a delinquent to Coventry exists, but falls through when the matter has blown over. Adjudications only occur at the request of the parties concerned, or in the case of cohabitation between the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, when, on it becoming known, the guilty pair are banished to the jungle, but seem nevertheless to be able to visit the village at will. When disputes between parties are settled against any one, he may be fined, generally in kind--a calf, a cow, a bull, or grain. There is no trial by ordeal. Oaths by the accuser, the accused, and partisans of both, are freely taken. The form of oath is to call upon God that the person swearing, or his child, may die within so many days if the oath is untrue, at the same time stepping over the Rama kodu, which consists of lines drawn on the ground, one line for each day. It may consist of any number of lines, but three, five, or seven are usual. Increasing the number of lines indefinitely would be considered to be trifling with the subject.

There do not seem to be any good omens, but evil omens are numerous. The barking of 'jungle sheep' (barking deer) or sambar, the hill robin crossing the path when shifting the village, are examples. Oracles, magic, sorcery, witchcraft, and especially the evil eye, are believed in very firmly, but are not practiced by Muduvars. I was myself supposed to have exercised the evil eye at one time. It once became my duty to apportion to Muduvars land for their next year's cultivation, and I went round with some of them for this purpose, visiting the jungle they wished to clear. A particular friend of mine, called Kanjan, asked for a bit of secondary growth very close to a cinchona estate; it was, in fact, situated between Lower Nettigudy and Upper Nettigudy, and the main road passed quite close. I told him that there was no objection, except that it was most unusual, and that probably the estate coolies would rob the place; and I warned him very distinctly that, if evil came of his choice, he was not to put the blame on me. Shortly afterwards I left India, and was absent about three months, and, when I returned, I found that small-pox had practically wiped out that village, thirty-seven out of forty inhabitants having died, including Kanjan. I was, of course, very sorry; but, as I found a small bit of the land in question had been felled, and there being no claimants, I planted it up with cinchona. As the smallpox had visited all the Muduvar villages, and had spread great havoc among them, I was not surprised at their being scarce, but I noticed, on the few occasions when I did see them, that they were always running away. When I got the opportunity, I cornered a man by practically riding him down, and asked for an explanation. He then told me that, of course, the tribe had been sorely troubled, because I told Kanjan in so many words that evil would come. I had then disappeared (to work my magic, no doubt), and returned just in time to take that very bit of land for myself. That was nearly five years ago, and confidence in me is only now being gradually restored.

The Muduvans have lucky days for starting on a journey--

Monday, start before sunrise. Tuesday, start in the forenoon. Wednesday start before 7 A.M. Thursday, start after eating the morning meal. Friday, never make a start; it is a bad day. Saturday and Sunday, start as soon as the sun has risen.

When boys reach puberty, the parents give a feast to the village. In the case of a girl, a feast is likewise given, and she occupies, for the duration of the menstrual period, a hut set apart for all the women in the village to occupy during their uncleanness. When it is over, she washes her clothes, and takes a bath, washing her head. This is just what every woman of the village always does. There is no mutilation, and the girl just changes her child's dress for that of a woman. The married women of the village assist at confinements. Twins bring good luck. Monsters are said to be sometimes born, bearing the form of little tigers, cows, monkeys, etc. On these occasions, the mother is said generally to die, but, when she does not die, she is said to eat the monster. Monstrosities must anyway be killed. Childless couples are dieted to make them fruitful, the principal diet for a man being plenty of black monkey, and for a woman a compound of various herbs and spices.

A man may not marry the daughter of his brother or sister; he ought to marry his uncle's daughter, and he may have two or three wives, who may or may not be sisters. Among the plateau Muduvars, both polygamy and polyandry are permitted, the former being common, and the latter occasional. In the case of the latter, brothers are prohibited from having a common wife, as also are cousins on the father's side. In the case of polygamy, the first married is the head wife, and the others take orders from her, but she has no other privileges. If the wives are amicably disposed, they live together, but, when inclined to disagree, they are given separate houses for the sake of peace and harmony. With quarrelsome women, one wife may be in one village, and the others in another. A man may be polygamous in one village, and be one of a polyandrous lot of men a few miles off. On the Cardamom Hills, and on the western slopes, where the majority of the tribe live, they are monogamous, and express abhorrence of both the polygamous and polyandrous condition, though they admit, with an affectation of amused disgust, that both are practiced by their brethren on the high lands.