Part 8

Marriages are arranged by the friends, and more often by the cousins on the mother's side of the bridegroom, who request the hand of a girl or woman from her parents. If they agree, the consent of the most remote relatives has also to be obtained, and, if everyone is amicable, a day is fixed, and the happy couple leave the village to live a few days in a cave by themselves. On their return, they announce whether they would like to go on with it, or not. In the former case, the man publicly gives ear-rings, a metal (generally brass) bangle, a cloth, and a comb to the woman, and takes her to his hut. The comb is a poor affair made of split ita or perhaps of bamboo, but it is the essential part of the ceremony. If the probationary period in the cave has not proved quite satisfactory to both parties, the marriage is put off, and the man and the woman are both at liberty to try again with some one else. Betrothal does not exist as a ceremony, though families often agree together to marry their children together, but this is not binding in any way. The tying of the tali (marriage badge) is said to have been tried in former days as part of the marriage ceremony, but, as the bride always died, the practice was discontinued. Remarriage of widows is permitted, and the widow by right belongs to, or should be taken over by her deceased husband's maternal aunt's son, and not, under any circumstances, by any of his brothers. In practice she marries almost any one but one of the brothers. No man should visit the house of his younger brother's wife, or even look at that lady. This prohibition does not extend to the wives of his elder brothers, but sexual intercourse even here would be incest. The same ceremonies are gone through at the remarriage of a widow as in an ordinary marriage, the ear-rings and bangles, which she discarded on the death of the previous husband, being replaced. Widows do not wear a special dress, but are known by the absence of jewelry. Elopements occur. When a man and woman do not obtain the consent of the proper parties, they run away into the jungle or a cave, visiting the village frequently, and getting grain, etc., from sympathisers. The anger aroused by their disgraceful conduct having subsided, they quietly return to the village, and live as man and wife. [It is noted, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, that, after a marriage is settled, the bridegroom forcibly takes away the maiden from her mother's house when she goes out for water or firewood, and lives with her separately for a few days or weeks in some secluded part of the forest. They then return, unless in the meantime they are searched for, and brought back by their relations.] In theory, a man may divorce his wife at will, but it is scarcely etiquette to do so, except for infidelity, or in the case of incompatibility of temper. If he wants to get rid of her for less horrible crimes, he can palm her off on a friend. A woman cannot divorce her husband at all in theory, but she can make his life so unbearable that he gladly allows her to palm herself off on somebody else. Wives who have been divorced marry again freely.

The tribe follow the west coast or marumakkatayam law of inheritance with a slight difference, the property descending to an elder or younger sister's son. Property, which seldom consists of more than a bill-hook, a blanket, and a few cattle, always goes to a nephew, and is not divided in any way.

The tribe professes to be Hindu, and the chief gods are Panaliandavar (a corruption of Palaniandi) and Kadavallu, who are supposed to live in the Madura temple with Minakshiammal and her husband Sokuru. They are also said to worship Chantiattu Bhagavati and Neriyamangalam Sasta. Suryan (the sun) is a beneficent deity. The deities which are considered maleficent are numerous, and all require propitiation. This is not very taxing, as a respectful attitude when passing their reputed haunts seems to suffice. They are alluded to as Karapu (black ones). One in particular is Nyamaru, who lives on Nyamamallai, the jungles round which were said to be badly haunted. At present they are flourishing tea estates, so Nyamaru has retired to the scrub at the top of the mountain. Certain caves are regarded as shrines, where spear-heads, a trident or two, and copper coins are placed, partly to mark them as holy places, and partly as offerings to bring good luck, good health, or good fortune. They occur in the most remote spots. The only important festival is Thai Pongal, when all who visit the village, be they who they may, must be fed. It occurs about the middle of January, and is a time of feasting and rejoicing.

The tribe does not employ priests of other castes to perform religious ceremonies. Muduvars who are half-witted, or it may be eccentric, are recognised as Swamyars or priests. If one desires to get rid of a headache or illness, the Swamyar is told that he will get four annas or so if the complaint is soon removed, but he is not expected to perform miracles, or to make any active demonstration over the matter. Swamyars who spend their time in talking to the sun and moon as their brethren, and in supplications to mysterious and unknown beings, are the usual sort, and, if they live a celibate life, they are greatly esteemed. For those who live principally on milk, in addition to practicing the other virtue, the greatest reverence is felt. Such an one occurs only once or twice in a century.

The dead are buried lying down, face upwards, and placed north and south. The grave has a little thatched roof, about six feet by two, put over it. A stone, weighing twenty or thirty pounds, is put at the head, and a similar stone at the feet. These serve to mark the spot when the roof perishes, or is burnt during the next grass fire. The depth of the grave is, for a man, judged sufficient if the gravedigger, standing on the bottom, finds the level of the ground up to his waist, but, for a woman, it must be up to his armpits. The reason is that the surviving women do not like to think that they will be very near the surface, but the men are brave, and know that, if they lie north and south, nothing can harm them, and no evil approach. The ghosts of those killed by accident or dying a violent death, haunt the spot till the memory of the occurrence fades from the minds of the survivors and of succeeding generations. These ghosts are not propitiated, but the haunted spots are avoided as much as possible. The Muduvars share with many other jungle-folk the idea that, if any animal killed by a tiger or leopard falls so as to lie north and south, it will not be eaten by the beast of prey. Nor will it be re-visited, so that sitting over a "kill" which has fallen north and south, in the hopes of getting a shot at the returning tiger or leopard, is a useless proceeding.

Totemism does not exist, but, in common with other jungle tribes, the tiger is often alluded to as jackal.

Fire is still often made by means of the flint and steel, though match-boxes are common enough. Some dry cotton (generally in a dirty condition) is placed along the flint, the edge of which is struck with the steel. The spark generated ignites the cotton, and is carefully nursed into flame in dead and dry grass. The Muduvars also know how to make fire by friction, but nowadays this is very seldom resorted to. A rotten log of a particular kind of tree has first to be found, the inside of which is in an extremely dry and powdery condition, while the outside is still fairly hard. Some of the top of the topmost side of the recumbent log having been cut away at a suitable place, and most of the inside removed, a very hard and pointed bit of wood is rapidly rotated against the inner shell of the log where the powdery stuff is likely to ignite, and this soon begins to smoke, the fire being then nursed much in the same way as with the fire generated by the flint and steel.

By the men, the languti and leg cloth of the Tamils are worn. A turban is also worn, and a cumbly or blanket is invariably carried, and put on when it rains. [It is noted, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, that males dress themselves like the Maravans of the low country. A huge turban is almost an invariable portion of the toilette. The chief of the Mudavars is known as Vakka, without whose consent the head-dress is not to be worn.] I have seen a Muduvar with an umbrella. Nowadays, the discarded coats of planters, and even trousers and tattered riding-breeches are common, and a Muduvar has been seen wearing a blazer. The men wear ear-rings, supposed to be, and sometimes in reality, of gold, with bits of glass of different colours in them, and also silver or brass finger and toe rings, and sometimes a bangle on each arm or on one leg. The women go in very largely for beads, strings of them adorning their necks, white and blue being favourite colours. Rings for the ears, fingers and toes, and sometimes many glass bangles on the arms, and an anklet on each leg, are the usual things, the pattern of the metal jewelry being often the same as seen on the women of the plains. The cloth, after being brought round the waist, and tucked in there, is carried over the body, and two corners are knotted on the right shoulder. Unmarried girls wear less jewelry than the married women, and widows wear no jewelry till they are remarried, when they can in no way be distinguished from their sisters. Tattooing is not practiced. Sometimes a stout thread is worn on the arm, with a metal cylinder containing some charm against illness or the evil eye, but only the wise men or elders of the caste lay much store on, or have knowledge of these things.

The Muduvars believe that they were originally cultivators of the soil, and their surroundings and tastes have made them become hunters and trappers, since coming to the hills. At the present day, they cut down a bit of secondary jungle or cheppukad, and, after burning it off, sow ragi (millet), or, where the rainfall is sufficient, hill-rice, which is weeded and tended by the women, the men contenting themselves by trying to keep out the enemies to their crops. After harvest there is not much to be done, except building a new village perhaps, making traps, and shooting. All they catch is game to them, though we should describe some of the animals as vermin. They catch rats, squirrels, quail, jungle fowl, porcupines, mouse-deer, and fish. They kill, with a blowpipe and dart, many small birds. The traps in use are varied, but there are three principal ones, one of which looks like a big bow. It is fixed upright in the ground as a spring to close with a snap a small upright triangle of sharp-edged bamboo, to which it is connected, and into which any luckless small game may have intruded its head, induced to do so by finding all other roads closed with a cunningly made fence. Another is a bent sapling, from which a loop of twine or fibre hangs on what appears to be the ground, but is really a little platform on which the jungle fowl treads, and immediately finds itself caught by both legs, and hanging in mid-air. The third is very much the same, but of stouter build. The loop is upright, and set in a hedge constructed for the purpose of keeping the fretful porcupine in the path, passing along which the beast unconsciously releases a pin, back flies the sapling, and the porcupine is hung. If fouled in any way, he generally uses his teeth to advantage, and escapes. The Muduvars are also adepts at catching 'ibex' (wild goat), which are driven towards a fence with nooses set in it at proper points, which cause the beasts to break their necks. Fish are caught in very beautifully constructed cruives, and also on the hook, while, on the larger rivers below the plateau, the use of the night-line is understood. With the gun, sambar, 'ibex,' barking deer, mungooses, monkeys, squirrels, and martens are killed. Besides being a good shot, the Muduvar, when using his own powder, takes no risks. The stalk is continued until game is approached, sometimes to within a few yards, when a charge of slugs from the antiquated match-lock has the same effect as the most up-to-date bullet from the most modern weapon. Mr. Bensley records how, on one occasion, two English planters went out with two Muduvars after 'bison.' One of the Muduvars, carrying a rifle, tripped, and the weapon exploded, killing one of the planters on the spot. The two Muduvars immediately took to their heels. The other planter covered them with his rifle, and threatened to shoot them if they did not return, which they at last did. Mr. Bensley held the magisterial enquiry, and the Muduvars were amazed at escaping capital punishment.

In their agricultural operations, the Muduvars are very happy-go-lucky. They have no scare-crows to avert injury to crops or frighten away demons, but they employ many devices for keeping off pigs, sambar, and barking deer from their crops, none of which appear to be efficacious for long. The implement par excellence of the Muduvar is the bill-hook, from which he never parts company, and with which he can do almost anything, from building a house to skinning a rat, or from hammering sheet-lead into bullets to planting maize.

The bulk of the tribe live on ragi or hill-rice, and whatever vegetables they can grow, and whatever meat they trap or shoot. They esteem the flesh of the black monkey (Semnopithecus johni) above everything, and lust after it. I have seen a Muduvar much pulled down by illness seize an expiring monkey, and suck the blood from its jugular vein. Muduvars will not eat beef, dog, jackals, or snakes, but will eat several sorts of lizards, and rats, 'ibex,' and all the deer tribe, fish, fowl, and other birds, except kites and vultures, are put into the pot. The plateau Muduvars, and those on the eastern slopes, will not eat pig in any shape or form. Those on the western slopes are very keen on wild pig, and this fact causes them to be somewhat looked down upon by the others. I think this pork-eating habit is due to the absence of sambar or other deer in the heart of the forests. Muduvars are fond of alcohol in any shape or form. They take a liquor from a wild palm which grows on the western slopes, and, after allowing it to become fermented, drink it freely. Some members of the tribe, living in the vicinity of these palms, are more or less in a state of intoxication during the whole time it is in season. Their name for the drink is tippily-kal, and the palm resembles the kittul (Caryota urens). The western slope Muduvars are acquainted with opium from the west coast, and some of them are slaves to the habit. The Muduvars do not admit that any other caste is good enough to eat, drink, or smoke with them. They say that, once upon a time, they permitted these privileges to Vellalans, but this fact induced so many visitors to arrive that they really could not afford it any more, so they eat, drink, and smoke with no one now, but will give uncooked food to passing strangers.

I have never heard any proverb, song, or folk-tale of the Muduvars, and believe the story of their arrival on the hills to be their stock tale. They have a story, which is more a statement of belief than anything else, that, when a certain bamboo below Pallivasal flowers, a son of the Maharaja of Travancore turns into a tiger or puli-manisan, and devours people. Men often turn into puli-manisan owing chiefly to witchcraft on the part of others, and stories of such happenings are often told. The nearest approach to a proverb I have heard is Tingakilamei nalla tingalam, which sounds rather tame and meaningless in English, "On Monday you can eat well"--the play on the words being quite lost.

The Muduvars make a miniature tom-tom by stretching monkey skin over a firm frame of split bamboo or ita, on which the maker thereof will strum by the hour much to his own enjoyment.

In former days, the whole tribe were very shy of strangers, and it is only within the last thirty years that they have become used to having dealings with outsiders. Old men still tell of the days when robbers from the Coimbatore side used to come up, burn the Muduvar villages, and carry off what cattle or fowls they could find. Even now, there are some of the men in whom this fear of strangers seems to be innate, and who have never spoken to Europeans. In the women this feeling is accentuated, for, when suddenly met with, they make themselves scarce in the most surprising way, and find cover as instinctively as a quail chick. There are now and again men in the tribe who aspire to read, but I do not know how far any of them succeed.

The Muduvars are becoming accustomed to quite wonderful things--the harnessing of water which generates electricity to work machinery, the mono-rail tram which now runs through their country, and, most wonderful of all, the telephone. An old man described how he would raise envy and wonder in the hearts of his tribe by relating his experience. "I am the first of my caste to speak and hear over five miles," said he, with evident delight.

I have alluded to the two different types of countenance; perhaps there is a third resulting from a mixture of the other two. The first is distinctly aquiline-nosed and thin-lipped, and to this type the men generally belong. The second is flat-nosed, wide-nostrilled, and thick-lipped, and this fairly represents the women, who compare most unfavourably with the men in face. I have never seen men of the second type, but of an intermediate type they are not uncommon. On the Cardamom Hills there may still exist a tribe of dwarfs, of which very little is known. The late Mr. J. D. Munro had collected a little information about them. Mr. A. W. Turner had the luck to come across one, who was caught eating part of a barking deer raw. Mr. Turner managed to do a little conversation with the man by signs, and afterwards he related the incident to Srirangam, a good old Muduvar shikari (sportsman), who listened thoughtfully, and then asked "Did you not shoot him?" The question put a new complexion on to the character of the usually peaceful and timid Muduvar.

I know the Muduvars to be capable of real affection. Kanjan was very proud of his little son, and used to make plans for wounding an ibex, so that his boy might finish it off, and thus become accustomed to shooting.

In South Coimbatore, "honey-combs are collected by Irulas, Muduvars, and Kadirs. The collection is a dangerous occupation. A hill-man, with a torch in his hand and a number of bamboo tubes suspended from his shoulders, descends by means of ropes or creepers to the vicinity of the comb. The sight of the torch drives away the bees, and he proceeds to fill the bamboos with the comb, and then ascends to the top of the rock." [61]

Mugi (dumb).--An exogamous sept of Golla.

Muka.--A sub-division of Konda Razu.

Muka Dora.--Muka is recorded, in the Madras Census Reports, 1891 and 1901, as a sub-division and synonym of Konda Dora, and I am informed that the Muka Doras, in Vizagapatam, hold a high position, and most of the chiefs among the Konda Doras are Muka Doras. Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao, to whom I am indebted to the following note, inclines to the opinion that the Muka Doras form a caste distinct from the Konda Doras. They are traditionally regarded as one of the primitive hill tribes, but their customs at the present day exhibit a great deal of low-country influence. They speak Telugu, their personal names are pure Telugu, and their titles are Anna and Ayya as well as Dora. They recognize one Vantari Dora of Padmapuram as their head.

The Muka Doras are agriculturists and pushing petty traders. They may be seen travelling about the country with pack bullocks at the rice harvest season. They irrigate their lands with liquid manure in a manner similar to the Kunnuvans of the Palni hills in the Madura country.

They are divided into two sections, viz., Kora-vamsam, which reveres the sun, and Naga-vamsam, which reveres the cobra, and have further various exogamous septs or intiperulu, such as vemu or nim tree (Melia Azadirachta), chikkudi (Dolickos Lablab), velanga (Feronia elephantum), kakara (Momordica Charantia).

Girls are married either before or after puberty. The menarikam system is in force, according to which a man should marry his maternal uncle's daughter. On an auspicious day, some of the elders of the future bridegroom's family take a cock or goat, a new cloth for the girl's mother, rice and liquor to the girl's house. The presents are usually accepted, and the pasupu (turmeric) ceremony, practiced by many Telugu castes, is performed. On an appointed day, the bridegroom's party repair to the house of the bride, and bring her in procession to the house of the bridegroom. Early next morning, the contracting couple enter a pandal (booth), the two central pillars of which are made of the neredi (Eugenia Jambolana) and relli (Cassia Fistula) trees. The maternal uncle, who officiates, links their little fingers together. Their bodies are anointed with castor-oil mixed with turmeric powder, and they bathe. New cloths are then given to them by their fathers-in-law. Some rice is poured over the floor of the house, and the bride and bridegroom measure this three times. The ends of their cloths are tied together, and a procession is formed, which proceeds to the bank of a stream, where the bride fetches tooth-cleaning sticks three times, and gives them to the bridegroom, who repeats the process. They then sit down together, and clean their teeth. After a bath in the stream, the ends of their clothes are once more tied together, and the procession returns to the bridegroom's house. The bride cooks some of the rice which has already been measured with water brought from the stream, and the pair partake thereof. A caste feast, with much drinking, is held on this and the two following days. The newly-married couple then proceed, in the company of an old man, to the bride's house, and remain there from three to five days. If the girl is adult, she then goes to the home of her husband.