four Kotas, who made a weird noise with drums and flutes as they drew
near the scene of action. The band, on arrival, took up a position
close to the mourning women. As each detachment arrived, the women,
recognising their relatives, came forward and saluted them in the
manner customary among Todas by falling at their feet, and placing
first the right and then the left foot on their head. Shortly after the
arrival of the band, signals were exchanged, by waving of putkulis,
between the assembled throng and a small detachment of men some
distance off. A general move was made, and an impromptu procession
formed, with men in front, band in the middle, and women bringing
up the rear. A halt was made opposite a narrow gap leading into the
shola; men and women sat apart as before; and the band walked round,
discoursing unsweet music. A party of girls went off to bring fire from
the spot just vacated for use in the coming ceremonial, but recourse
was finally had to a box of matches lent by one of our party. At this
stage we noticed a woman go up to the eldest son of the deceased,
who was seated apart from the other men, and would not be comforted
in spite of her efforts to console him. On receipt of a summons from
within the shola, the assembled Toda men and ourselves swarmed into
it by a narrow track leading to a small clear space round a big tree,
from a hole cut at the base of which an elderly Toda produced a piece
of the skull of the dead woman, wrapped round with long tresses of her
hair. It now became the men's turn to exhibit active signs of grief,
and all of one accord commenced to weep and mourn. Amid the scene
of lamentation, the hair was slowly unwrapt from off the skull, and
burned in an iron ladle, from which a smell as of incense arose. A
bamboo pot of ghi was produced, with which the skull was reverently
anointed, and placed in a cloth spread on the ground. To this relic
of the deceased the throng of men, amid a scene of wild excitement,
made obeisance by kneeling down before it, and touching it with their
foreheads. The females were not permitted to witness this stage of the
proceedings, with the exception of one or two near relatives of the
departed one, who supported themselves sobbing against the tree. The
ceremonial concluded, the fragment of skull, wrapt in the cloth, was
carried into the open, where, as men and boys had previously done,
women and girls made obeisance to it. A procession was then again
formed, and marched on until a place was reached, where were two
stone-walled kraals, large and small. Around the former the men,
and within the latter the women, took up their position, the men
engaging in chit-chat, and the women in mourning, which after a
time ceased, and they too engaged in conversation. A party of men,
carrying the skull, still in the cloth, set out for a neighbouring
shola, where a kedu of several other dead Todas was being celebrated;
and a long pause ensued, broken eventually by the arrival of the
other funeral party, the men advancing in several lines, with arms
linked, and crying out U, hah! U, hah, hah! in regular time. This
party brought with it pieces of the skulls of a woman and two men,
which were placed, wrapt in cloths, on the ground, saluted, and mourned
over by the assembled multitude. At this stage a small party of Kotas
arrived, and took up their position on a neighbouring hill, waiting,
vulture-like, for the carcase of the buffalo which was shortly to be
slain. Several young men now went off across the hill in search of
buffaloes, and speedily re-appeared, driving five buffaloes before
them with sticks. As soon as the beasts approached a swampy marsh
at the foot of the hill on which the expectant crowd of men was
gathered together, two young men of athletic build, throwing off
their putkulis, made a rush down the hill, and tried to seize one
of the buffaloes by the horns, with the result that one of them
was promptly thrown. The buffalo escaping, one of the remaining
four was quickly caught by the horns, and, with arms interlocked,
the men brought it down on its knees, amid a general scuffle. In
spite of marked objection and strenuous resistance on the part of
the animal--a barren cow--it was, by means of sticks freely applied,
slowly dragged up the hill, preceded by the Kota band, and with a
Toda youth pulling at its tail. Arrived at the open space between
the kraals, the buffalo, by this time thoroughly exasperated, and
with blood pouring from its nostrils, had a cloth put on its back,
and was despatched by a blow on the poll with an axe deftly wielded
by a young and muscular man. On this occasion no one was badly hurt
by the sacrificial cow, though one man was seen washing his legs in
the swamp after the preliminary struggle with the beast. But Colonel
Ross-King narrates how he saw a man receive a dangerous wound in the
neck from a thrust of the horn, which ripped open a wide gash from
the collar-bone to the ear. With the death of the buffalo, the last
scene, which terminated the strange rites, commenced; men, women, and
children pressing forward and jostling one another in their eagerness
to salute the dead beast by placing their hands between its horns,
and weeping and mourning in pairs; the facial expression of grief
being mimicked when tears refused to flow spontaneously.

The ceremonial connected with the final burning of the relics and
burial of the ashes at the stone circle (azaram) are described in
detail by Dr. Rivers.

A few days after the ceremony just described, I was invited to be
present at the funeral of a young girl who had died of smallpox five
days previously. I proceeded accordingly to the scene of the recent
ceremony, and there, in company with a small gathering of Todas from
the neighbouring mands, awaited the arrival of the funeral cortége,
the approach of which was announced by the advancing strains of
Kota music. Slowly the procession came over the brow of the hill;
the corpse, covered by a cloth, on a rude ladder-like bier, borne
on the shoulders of four men, followed by two Kota musicians; the
mother carried hidden within a sack; relatives and men carrying bags
of rice and jaggery, and bundles of wood of the kiaz tree (Eugenia
Arnottiana) for the funeral pyre. Arrived opposite a small hut,
which had been specially built for the ceremonial, the corpse was
removed from the bier, laid on the ground, face upwards, outside
the hut, and saluted by men, women, and children, with the same
manifestations of grief as on the previous occasion. Soon the men
moved away to a short distance, and engaged in quiet conversation,
leaving the females to continue mourning round the corpse, interrupted
from time to time by the arrival of detachments from distant mands,
whose first duty was to salute the dead body. Meanwhile a near
female relative of the dead child was busily engaged inside the hut,
collecting together in a basket small measures of rice, jaggery, sago,
honey-comb, and the girl's simple toys, which were subsequently to be
burned with the corpse. The mourning ceasing after a time, the corpse
was placed inside the hut, and followed by the near relatives, who
there continued to weep over it. A detachment of men and boys, who
had set out in search of the buffaloes which were to be sacrificed,
now returned driving before them three cows, which escaped from their
pursuers to rejoin the main herd. A long pause ensued, and, after a
very prolonged drive, three more cows were guided into a marshy swamp,
where one of them was caught by the horns, and dragged reluctantly,
but with little show of fight, to the strains of Kota drum and flute,
in front of the hut, where it was promptly despatched by a blow on
the poll. The corpse was now brought from within the hut, and placed,
face upwards, with its feet resting on the forehead of the buffalo,
whose neck was decorated with a silver chain, such as is worn by Todas
round the loins, as no bell was available, and the horns were smeared
with butter. Then followed frantic manifestations of grief, amid
which the unhappy mother fainted. Mourning over, the corpse was made
to go through a form of ceremony, resembling that which is performed
during pregnancy with the first child. A small boy, three years old,
was selected from among the relatives of the dead girl, and taken
by his father in search of a certain grass (Andropogon Schoenanthus)
and a twig of a shrub (Sophora glauca), which were brought to the spot
where the corpse was lying. The mother of the dead child then withdrew
one of its hands from the putkuli, and the boy placed the grass and
twig in the hand, and limes, plantains, rice, jaggery, honey-comb,
and butter in the pocket of the putkuli, which was then stitched with
needle and thread in a circular pattern. The boy's father then took
off his son's putkuli, and replaced it so as to cover him from head
to foot. Thus covered, the boy remained outside the hut till the
morning of the morrow, watched through the night by near relatives
of himself and his dead bride. [On the occasion of the funeral of an
unmarried lad, a girl is in like manner selected, covered with her
putkuli from head to foot, and a metal vessel filled with jaggery,
rice, etc., to be subsequently burnt on the funeral pyre, placed for
a short time within the folds of the putkuli. Thus covered, the girl
remains till next morning, watched through the dreary hours of the
night by relatives. The same ceremony is performed over the corpse
of a married woman who has not borne children, the husband acting as
such for the last time, in the vain hope that the woman may produce
issue in heaven.] The corpse was borne away to the burning-ground
within the shola, and, after removal of some of the hair by the
mother of the newly wedded boy, burned, with face upwards, amid the
music of the Kota band, the groans of the assembled crowd squatting
on the ground, and the genuine grief of the nearest relatives. The
burning concluded, a portion of the skull was removed from the ashes,
and handed over to the recently made mother-in-law of the dead girl,
and wrapped up with the hair in the bark of the tud tree (Meliosma
pungens). A second buffalo, which, properly speaking, should have
been slain before the corpse was burnt, was then sacrificed, and
rice and jaggery were distributed among the crowd, which dispersed,
leaving behind the youthful widower and his custodians, who, after
daybreak, partook of a meal of rice, and returned to their mands;
the boy's mother taking with her the skull and hair to her mand,
where it would remain until the celebration of the second funeral. No
attention is paid to the ashes after cremation, and they are left to
be scattered by the winds.

A further opportunity offered itself to be present at the funeral of
an elderly woman on the open downs not far from Paikara, in connection
with which certain details possess some interest. The corpse was, at
the time of our arrival, laid out on a rude bier within an improvised
arbour covered with leaves and open at each end, and tended by some
of the female relatives. At some little distance, a conclave of Toda
men, who rose of one accord to greet us, was squatting in a circle,
among whom were many venerable white-turbaned elders of the tribe,
protected from the scorching sun by palm-leaf umbrellas. Amid much
joking, and speech-making by the veterans, it was decided that,
as the eldest son of the deceased woman was dead, leaving a widow,
this daughter-in-law should be united to the second son, and that
they should live together as man and wife. On the announcement of the
decision, the bridegroom-elect saluted the principal Todas present
by placing his head on their feet, which were sometimes concealed
within the ample folds of the putkuli. At the funeral of a married
woman, three ceremonies must, I was told, be performed, if possible,
by a daughter or daughter-in-law, viz.:--

(1) Tying a leafy branch of the tiviri shrub (Atylosia Candolleana)
in the putkuli of the corpse;

(2) Tying balls of thread and cowry shells on the arm of the corpse,
just above the elbow;

(3) Setting fire to the funeral pyre, which was, on the present
occasion, done by lighting a rag fed with ghi with a match.

The buffalo capture took place amid the usual excitement, and with
freedom from accident; and, later in the day, the stalwart buffalo
catchers turned up at the travellers' bungalow for a pourboire in
return, as they said, for treating us to a good fight. The beasts
selected for sacrifice were a full-grown cow and a young calf. As
they were dragged near to the corpse, now removed from the arbour,
butter was smeared over the horns, and a bell tied round the neck. The
bell was subsequently removed by Kotas, in whose custody, it was said,
it was to remain till the next day funeral. The death-blow, or rather
series of blows, having been delivered with the butt end of an axe,
the feet of the corpse were placed at the mouth of the buffalo. In the
case of a male corpse, the right hand is made to clasp the horns. [It
is recorded by Dr. Rivers that, at the funeral of a male, men dance
after the buffalo is killed. In the dancing a tall pole, called
tadri or tadrsi, decorated with cowry shells, is used.] The customary
mourning in couples concluded, the corpse, clad in four cloths, was
carried on the stretcher to a clear space in the neighbouring shola,
and placed by the side of the funeral pyre, which had been rapidly
piled up. The innermost cloth was black in colour, and similar to that
worn by a palol. Next to it came a putkuli decorated with blue and
red embroidery, outside which again was a plain white cloth covered
over by a red cotton cloth of European manufacture. Seated by the
side of the pyre, near to which I was courteously invited to take a
seat on the stump of a rhododendron, was an elderly relative of the
dead woman, who, while watching the ceremonial, was placidly engaged
in the manufacture of a holly walking-stick with the aid of a glass
scraper. The proceedings were watched on behalf of Government by a
forest guard, and a police constable who, with marked affectation,
held his handkerchief to his nose throughout the ceremonial. The
corpse was decorated with brass rings, and within the putkuli were
stowed jaggery, a scroll of paper adorned with cowry shells, snuff
and tobacco, cocoanuts, biscuits, various kinds of grain, ghi, honey,
and a tin-framed looking-glass. A long purse, containing a silver
Japanese yen and an Arcot rupee of the East India Company, was tied
up in the putkuli close to the feet. These preliminaries concluded,
the corpse was hoisted up, and swung three times over the now burning
pyre, above which a mimic bier, made of slender twigs, was held. The
body was then stripped of its jewelry, and a lock of hair cut off by
the daughter-in-law for preservation, together with a fragment of the
skull. I was told that, when the corpse is swung over the pyre, the
dead person goes to amnodr (the world of the dead). In this connection,
Dr. Rivers writes that "it would seem as if this ceremony of swinging
the body over the fire was directly connected with the removal of the
objects of value. The swinging over the fire would be symbolic of its
destruction by fire; and this symbolic burning has the great advantage
that the objects of value are not consumed, and are available for use
another time. This is probably the real explanation of the ceremony,
but it is not the explanation given by the Todas themselves. They say
that long ago, about 400 years, a man supposed to be dead was put on
the funeral pyre, and, revived by the heat, he was found to be alive,
and was able to walk away from the funeral place. In consequence of
this, the rule was made that the body should always be swung three
times over the fire before it is finally placed thereon." [Colonel
Marshall narrates the story that a Toda who had revived from what
was thought his death-bed, has been observed parading about, very
proud and distinguished looking, wearing the finery with which he had
been bedecked for his own funeral, and which he would be permitted
to carry till he really departed this life.] As soon as the pyre was
fairly ablaze, the mourners, with the exception of some of the female
relatives, left the shola, and the men, congregating on the summit of
a neighbouring hill, invoked their god. Four men, seized, apparently
in imitation of the Kota Devadi, with divine frenzy, began to shiver
and gesticulate wildly, while running blindly to and fro with closed
eyes and shaking fists. They then began to talk in Malayalam, and offer
an explanation of an extraordinary phenomenon, which had appeared in
the form of a gigantic figure, which disappeared as suddenly as it
appeared. At the annual ceremony of walking through fire (hot ashes)
in that year, two factions arose owing to some dissension, and two sets
of ashes were used. This seems to have annoyed the gods, and those
concerned were threatened with speedy ruin. But the whole story was
very vague. The possession by some Todas of a smattering of Malayalam
is explained by the fact that, when grazing their buffaloes on the
northern and western slopes of the Nilgiris, they come in contact
with Malayalam-speaking people from the neighbouring Malabar district.

At the funeral of a man (a leper), the corpse was placed in front of
the entrance to a circle of loose stones about a yard and a half in
diameter, which had been specially constructed for the occasion. Just
before the buffalo sacrifice, a man of the Paiki clan standing near the
head of the corpse, dug a hole in the ground with a cane, and asked
a Kenna who was standing on the other side, "Puzhut, Kenna," [51]
shall I throw the earth?--three times. To which the Kenna, answering,
replied "Puzhut"--throw the earth--thrice. The Paiki then threw some
earth three times over the corpse, and three times into the miniature
kraal. It is suggested by Dr. Rivers that the circle was made to do
duty for a buffalo pen, as the funeral was held at a place where there
was no tu (pen), from the entrance of which earth could be dug up.

Several examples of laments relating to the virtues and life
of the deceased, which are sung or recited in the course of the
funeral ceremonies, are given by Dr. Rivers. On the occasion of
the reproduction of a lament in my phonograph, two young women were
seen to be crying bitterly. The selection of the particular lament
was unfortunate, as it had been sung at their father's funeral. The
reproduction of the recitation of a dead person's sins at a Badaga
funeral quickly restored them to a state of cheerfulness.

The following petition to the Collector of the Nilgiris on the subject
of buffalo sacrifice may be quoted as a sign of the times, when the
Todas employ petition-writers to express their grievances:--

"According to our religious custom for the long period, we are bringing
forward of our killing buffaloes without any irregular way. But,
in last year, when the late Collector came to see the said place,
by that he ordered to the Todas first not to keep the buffaloes
without feeding in the kraal, and second he ordered to kill each
for every day, and to clear away the buffaloes, and not to keep the
buffaloes without food. We did our work according to his orders, and
this excellent order was an ample one. Now this ----, a chief of the
Todas, son of ----, a deceased Toda, the above man joined with the
moniagar of ---- village, joined together, and, dealing with bribes,
now they arose against us, and doing this great troubles on us, and
also, by this great trouble, one day Mr. ---- came for shooting snapes
(snipe) by that side. By chance one grazing buffalo came to him, push
him by his horns very forcely, and wounded him on his leg. By the help
of another gentleman who came with him he escaped, or he would have
die at the moment. Now the said moniagar and ---- joined together,
want to finish the funeral to his late father on the 18th instant. For
this purpose they are going to shut the buffaloes without food in the
kraal on the 18th instant at 10 o'clock. They are going to kill the
buffaloes on the 19th instant at 4 o'clock in the evening. But this
is a great sin against god. But we beg your honour this way. That is,
let them leave the buffaloes in the grazing place, and ask them to
catch and kill them at the same moment. And also your honour cannot
ordered them to keep them in the kraal without food. And, if they
will desire to kill the buffaloes in this way, these buffaloes will
come on us, and also on the other peoples one who, coming to see funs
on those day, will kill them all by his anxious. And so we the Todas
begs your honour to enquire them before the 18th, the said funeral
ceremony commencing, and not to grant the above orders to them."

A Whit Monday at Paikara was given up to an exhibition of sports
and games, whereof the most exciting and interesting was a burlesque
representation of a Toda funeral by boys and girls. A Toda, who was
fond of his little joke, applied the term pacchai kedu (green funeral)
to the corpses of the flies entrapped by a viscous catch'em-alive-oh
on the bungalow table. To the mock funeral rites arrived a party of
youths, as from a distant mand, and crying out U, hah, in shrill
mimicry of their elders. The lad who was to play the leading part
of sacrificial buffalo, stripping off his putkuli, disappeared from
sight over the brow of a low hillock. Above this eminence his bent and
uplifted upper extremities shortly appeared as representatives of the
buffalo horns. At sight thereof, there was a wild rush of small boys
to catch him, and a mimic struggle took place, while the buffalo was
dragged, amid good-tempered scuffling, kicks, and shouting, to the
spot where the corpse should have been. This spot was, in the absence
of a pseudo-dead body or stage dummy, indicated by a group of little
girls, who had sat chatting together till the boy-beast arrived,
when they touched foreheads, and went, with due solemnity, through
the orthodox observance of mourning in couples. The buffalo was slain
by a smart tap on the back of the head with a cloth, which did duty
for an axe. As soon as the convulsive movements and twitchings of the
death struggle were over, the buffalo, without waiting for an encore,
retired behind the hillock once more, in order that the rough and
tumble fight, which was evidently the chief charm of the game, might
be repeated. The buffalo boy later on came in second in a flat race,
and he was last seen protecting us from a mischievous-looking member
of his herd, which was grazing on the main-road. Toda buffaloes, it
may be noted, are not at all popular with members of the Ootacamund
Hunt, as both horses and riders from time to time receive injuries
from their horns, when they come in collision.

While the funeral game was in progress, the men showed off their
prowess at a game (eln), [52] corresponding to the English tip-cat,
which is epidemic at a certain season in the London bye-streets. It
is played with a bat like a broomstick, and a cylindrical piece of
wood pointed at both ends. The latter is propped up against a stone,
and struck with the bat. As it flies off the stone, it is hit to a
distance with the bat, and caught (or missed) by the out fields.

At the Muttanad mand, we were treated to a further exhibition of
games. In one of these, called narthpimi, a flat slab of stone is
supported horizontally on two other slabs fixed perpendicularly in
the ground so as to form a narrow tunnel, through which a man can
just manage to wriggle his body with difficulty. Two men take part
in the game, one stationing himself at a distance of about thirty
yards, the other about sixty yards from the tunnel. The front man,
throwing off his mantle, runs as hard as he can to the tunnel, pursued
by the 'scratch' man, whose object is to touch the other man's feet
before he has squeezed himself through the tunnel. Another sport,
which we witnessed, consists of trial of strength with a heavy
globular stone, the object being to raise it up to the shoulder;
but a strong, well-built-man--he who was entrusted with slaying the
funeral buffalo--failed to raise it higher than the pit of the stomach,
though straining his muscles in the attempt. A splendidly made veteran
assured me that, when young and lusty, he was able to accomplish the
feat, and spoke sadly of degeneration in the physique of the younger
members of the tribe.

Mr. Breeks mentions that the Todas play a game resembling
puss-in-the-corner, called karialapimi, which was not included in
the programme of sports got up for our benefit. Dr. Rivers writes
that "the Todas, and especially the children, often play with
mimic representations of objects from practical life. Near the
villages I have seen small artificial buffalo-pens and fireplaces
made by the children in sport." I have, on several occasions, come
across young children playing with long and short pieces of twigs
representing buffaloes and their calves, and going solemnly through
the various incidents in the daily life of these animals. Todas,
both old and young, may constantly be seen twisting flexible twigs
into representations of buffaloes' heads and horns.

Of Toda songs, the following have been collected:--

    Sunshine is increasing. Mist is fast gathering. Rain may
    come. Thunder roars. Clouds are gathering.
    Rain is pouring. Wind and rain have combined.
    Oh, powerful god, may everything prosper!
    May charity increase!
    May the buffaloes become pregnant!
    See that the buffaloes have calves.
    See that the barren women have children.
    Go and tell this to the god of the land.
    Keygamor, Eygamor (names of buffaloes).
    Evening is approaching. The buffaloes are coming.
    The calves also have returned.
    The buffaloes are saluted.
    The dairy-man beats the calves with his stick.
    Milk has been offered to the bell.
    It is growing dark.
    This is a buffalo with beautiful horns.
    A buffalo stupidly given away by the Badaga.
    A buffalo brought to the Kandal mand.
    Innerovya (name of buffalo).
    Like this buffalo there is no other.
    Parkur (name of a Toda).
    Like him there is no man.
    The sun is shining. The wind is blowing.
    Rain is coming. The trees are in flower.
    Tears are falling. The nose is burning.
    He is coming, holding up his umbrella.
    He is coming, wearing a good body-cloth.
    He is coming, wearing a good under-cloth.
    He (the palol) is coming, wearing a black cloth.
    He is coming, holding his walking-stick of palai wood.
    I have a god. What is to become of me?
    I am inclined to cry, my heart being heavy.
    Oh, my child! Do not cry. It is still crying.
    Thuree. Thuree. See. Be quiet.
    A robust bull buffalo. Ach! Ach!
    A big buffalo not intended for killing. Ach! Ach!
    Is leading the cow buffalo. Ah! Ah!
    Two or three men are driving it. Ah! Ah!

Song in honour of the arrival of the Maharani-Regent of Mysore at
Ootacamund.

    All we Todas go to her house, and dance before her.
    She gives us fifteen rupees.
    She comes near our women, and talks to them.
    She gives cloths to us.
    Next day we take milk, eight bottles in the morning, four in
    the evening.
    Month by month she pays us for our milk.
    She goes back to Mysore, and, when she goes, we stand in a row
    before her.
    She gives us presents; cloths and three rupees.
    The women cut their hair, and stand before her.

Marriage Song.

    Boys and girls are singing.
    Much money are they spending.
    To the girl her father is giving five buffaloes.
    The husband tells his wife that she must curl her hair.
    If her hair is curled, all the people will rejoice.
    The buffalo is slain, and now we must all dance.
    Why are not more people here? More should come.
    My buffalo is big, very big.
    Go quickly and catch it.
    The Todas are all there. They are standing in a row.
    Who will run, and catch the buffalo first?
    To him will a present of five rupees be given.
    I will go and catch it first.
    The Todas are all fighting.
    The Todas are all feasting.
    People give them rice.
    The buffalo is coming. Two men run to catch it by the neck.
    Ten men collect the buffaloes. They pen them in a kraal.
    At one o'clock we take our food.
    The buffalo is running, and I hit it on the back with a stick.
    It swerves aside, but I drive it back to the path.
    Night comes, and we all dance.
    Next morning at ten o'clock we bring out the buffalo, and slay it.
    At four in the morning we wrap rice and grain in a white cloth,
    and burn it.
    At eleven we cut the hair of the boys and girls.
    At four in the morning the priest goes to the temple (dairy).
    He lights the lamp.
    At eight he milks his buffaloes.
    He puts on no cloth.
    He places butter and ghi before the god.
    Then he grazes his buffaloes, and eats his food.
    Then he puts on his cloth.
    At three in the afternoon he goes again to the temple.
    He kindles a fire, and lights the lamp.
    He puts milk in a chatty, and churns it into butter with a cane.
    He mixes water with the butter-milk, and gives it to the women
    to drink.
    He alone may sleep in the temple.
    At four in the morning he lets out the buffaloes to graze.
    At seven he milks them.
    The woman's house is down the hill.
    The priest must not go in unto the woman.
    He may not marry.
    When he is twenty, he may not enter the temple.
    Another is made priest in his stead.

The religious institutions of the Todas, including the elaborate
dairy ritual, and their religion, are described in full detail by
Dr. Rivers. The Todas have been to some extent influenced by Hinduism,
and some visit the temples at Nanjengod in Mysore, Karamadai in
the Coimbatore district, and other shrines, whereat they worship,
present votive offerings, and pray for offspring, etc. Writing in
1872, Mr. Breeks remarked that "about Ootacamund, a few Todas have
latterly begun to imitate the religious practices of their native
neighbours. Occasionally children's foreheads are marked with the
Siva spot, and my particular friend Kinniaven, after an absence of
some days, returned with a shaven head from a visit to the temple
of Siva at Nanjengudi." A man who came to my laboratory had his hair
hanging down in long tails reaching below his shoulders. He had, he
said, let it grow long because his wife, though married five years,
had borne no child. A child had, however, recently been born, and,
as soon as the second funeral of a relation had been performed, he
was going to sacrifice his locks as a thank-offering at the Nanjengod
temple. The following extracts from my notes will serve to illustrate
the practice of marking (in some instances apparently for beauty's
sake) and shaving as carried out at the present day.

(1) Man, aged 28. Has just performed a ceremony at the ti mand. White
curved line painted across forehead, and dots below outer ends thereof,
on glabella, and outside orbits. Smeared with white across chest,
over outer side of upper arms and left nipple, across knuckles and
lower end of left ulna, and on lobes of ears.

(2) Man, aged 21. Painted on forehead as above. Smeared over chest
and upper eye lids.

(3) Man, aged 35. White spot painted on forehead.

(4) Man, aged 30. Hair of head and beard cut short owing to death
of grandfather.

(5) Boy, aged 12. Shock head of hair, cut very short all over owing
to death of grandfather.

(6) Girl, aged 8. Hair shaved on top, back and sides of head, and in
median strip from vertex to forehead.

(7) Boy, aged 6. White spot painted between eyebrows. Hair shaved
on top and sides of head, and in median strip from vertex to
forehead. Hair brought forward in fringe over forehead on either side
of median strip, and hanging down back of neck.

(8) Male child, aged 18 months. White spot painted between
eyebrows. Shaved on top and sides of head.

Todupuzha Vellala.--For the following note, I am indebted to
Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar. Besides the Nanchinad Vellalas, there are,
in Travancore, two sections of the Vellala caste, inhabiting the
mountainous Todupuzha taluk. These are the Tenkanchi and Kumbakonam
Vellalas. The former are known by the popular name of Anjuttilkar,
or the five hundred, and the latter are designated Munnutilkar, or the
three hundred, in reference to the number of families which originally
settled in the taluk. Like the Nanchinad Vellalas, they take the
title of Pillai, and, in special cases, the honorific prefix Kanakku.

The Tenkanchi Vellalas appear to have dwelt originally in the
Tenkasi taluk of the Tinnevelly district, and to have emigrated,
as the legend goes, on account of the demand of a Vaduka ruler for
the hand of a member of their community in marriage. The Vadakkumkur
Rajas were ruling over Todupuzha at the time of their migration,
and afforded them a safe asylum. The Kumbakonam Vellalas believe
that they emigrated to Travancore about the commencement of the
Malabar era from Kumbakonam in the Tanjore district. Both divisions
speak Malayalam, but there are clear indications in their speech
that their mother-tongue was once Tamil, and they always use that
language in their ceremonial writings. The Anjuttilkar women have
adopted the dress and ornaments of the Nayars. Both sections wear
the tuft of hair in front, but the Munnutilkar women do not tie the
hair on the left side like the Nayars and Anjuttilkars, but behind
like the Pandi Vellalas. Nor do the Anjuttilkar women wear a white
dress like the Tenkanchis, but a coloured cloth, sixteen cubits in
length, in orthodox Tamil fashion. Again, while the Tenkanchi women
largely resort to the todu and other Nayar ornaments, the Kumbakonam
women are more conservative, and wear only the pampadam and melidu,
though they sometimes wear jewels, such as the nagapata tali for the
neck. Both sections are Saivites, in the sense that they abstain from
flesh and fish.

Their principal occupation is agriculture. They worship the
two mountain deities Bhadrakali and Durga. In the Kirikkot muri
of the Karikkod property there is a temple dedicated to Siva or
Unnamalanathar, with a large amount of property attached to it. This
belongs to the Tenkanchi Vellalas, and a Malayalam Brahman performs the
priestly functions. The Kumbakonam Vellalas have their own temples,
such as the Ankalamma koil, Annamala matam, Virabhadran koil, etc.,
and worship, besides the principal gods of the Hindu pantheon, such
minor deities as Virabhadran, Karuppan, Bhairavan, Mariamman, and
Muttaramman. The priests of both sections are East Coast Brahmans,
who live in the Todupuzha taluk. As their profession is regarded by
other Brahmans as degrading, they, especially in the case of the
Kumbakonam Vellalas, perform their duties stealthily. The headman
of the Kumbakonam section lives in the Periyakulam taluk of the
Madura district, and, by his order, an image of Siva is worshipped
at their homes.

Divorce is not permitted on any ground, and, in ancient days, widow
remarriage was forbidden. There is a legend that a woman of this caste,
who was a friend of the daughter of a certain Vadakkumkur Rajah, was
so aggrieved at the news of her newly married husband's death that,
at her intercession, the Rajah issued a proclamation permitting
the remarriage of widows. If no husband has been found for a girl
before she reaches puberty, certain propitiatory rites have to be
performed, at which one of her female relations represents her. On
the fourth day of the marriage ceremony, the bride and bridegroom,
before they bathe, rub each other's bodies with oil, and, going to a
large caldron containing water, throw a gold and silver ring into it,
and pick them out three times. Inheritance of both sections is from
father to son (makkathayam). A sambandham alliance does not confer
any rite of inheritance.

The names of both sections are such as are unknown among Nayars,
e.g., Sivalingam, Arunachalam, Chidambaram, Arumukham. The Tenkanchis
are considered to be higher in the social scale than the Kumbakonam
section, as they observe only twelve days' death pollution, whereas
the latter are under pollution for sixteen days. The Tenkanchis may
enter the temple, and, like Nayars, stand on the left side of the
inner shrine, whereas the Kumbakonam Vellalas may proceed only as far
as the balikkalpura, or out-house of the temple, and not enter the
nalambalam. Again, butter-milk is freely received by Brahmans from
the Tenkanchis, but not from members of the Kumbakonam section. While
Pandi Vellalas will not receive food from the Tenkanchis, or give
their daughters in marriage to them, the latter will not intermarry
with the Nanchinad Vellalas.

Togata.--The Togatas are Telugu weavers, most numerous in the
Cuddapah district, who manufacture the coarsest kind of cotton
cloths, such as are worn by the poorer classes. They are generally
Vaishnavites, wear the sacred thread, and have for their priests
Vaishnava Brahmans or Satanis. They eat flesh, and their widows are
allowed to remarry. Writing concerning the Togatas in 1807, Buchanan
states [53] that "widows cannot marry again, but are not expected to
kill themselves. The Panchanga, or village astrologer, attends at
births, marriages, funerals, at the ceremonies performed in honour
of their deceased parents, and at the building of a new house, and
on each occasion gets a fee of one fanam, or eight pence. On other
occasions, when a weaver wants to pray, he calls in a Satanana, who
reads something in an unknown language, and gives the votary some
holy water, which he consecrates by pouring it on the head of a small
image that he carries about for the purpose."

As regards their origin, some Togatas claim to be sons of Chaudesvari,
who threw some rice on to the fire, from which sprang a host of
warriors, whose descendants they are. Others give Puppandaja Rishi
as the name of their ancestor. Concerning Chaudesvari, Mr. Francis
writes as follows. [54] "Connected with the margosa tree (Melia
Azadirachta) is the worship of Chaudesvari, the goddess of the
Togata caste of weavers. She is supposed to reside in margosa trees,
and either the tree itself, or a stone representing the goddess and
placed at its foot, is worshipped by the Togatas at certain seasons,
such as the Telugu New Year Day. Apparently the other weaver castes
take no share in the ceremonies. They consist largely of animal
sacrifices. Nevertheless, a particular class of Brahmans, called
Nandavarikula Brahmans, take a prominent part in the festival. This
name Nandavarikula is derived from the village of Nandavaram in
Kurnool, and doubtless many stories are prevalent there about this
sub-division. The account given at Tadpatri, where they are fairly
numerous, is as follows. Once upon a time, a king from Southern
India went on a pilgrimage with his wife to Benares. While there,
he unwittingly incurred a nameless but heinous pollution. Horrified,
he applied to some Brahmans there to purify him, promising them half
his kingdom in return. They asked for some tangible record of this
promise, and the king called upon the goddess Chaudesvari, who had a
temple near by, to witness his oath. The purification was effected,
and he departed home. Later on the Brahmans came south, and asked for
the fulfilment of his promise. The king declared that he could not
remember having made any such undertaking. The Brahmans accordingly
went to Benares, and asked Chaudesvari to come south, and bear witness
to the king's oaths. She agreed, on the usual condition that they
should go in front, and not look back at her as she came. As happens
in other stories of the same kind, they are said to have broken the
condition. At Nandavaram they looked back, and the goddess instantly
stopped, and remained immoveable. A temple was built for her there,
and the Brahmans remained in the south, and still take part in the
worship of Chaudesvari which the Togatas inaugurate, even though she
is not one of the Hindu pantheon, and delights in animal sacrifice. At
Tadpatri other castes besides the Togatas help at the festival."

Though Chaudesvari is the patron god of the Togatas, they also worship
Poleramma, Ellamma, Kotamma, and other minor deities.

The original occupation of the Togatas is said to have been dyeing,
but, at the present day, owing to the depression in the hand-loom
weaving industry, a large number have taken to cultivation.

Like many other Telugu castes, they have exogamous septs, of which
the following are examples:--

    Patha, old.
    Kambhapu, pillar.
    Nili, indigo.
    Madaka, plough.
    Bana, pot.
    Jilakara, cummin seed.
    Annam, food.
    Mékala, goat.
    Gopalam, alms.
    Samanthi, Chrysanthemum indicum.
    Gurram, horse.
    Perumal, a god.
    Bandari, treasurer?
    Gudditi.

Pujaris (priests) for temple worship are always elected from the
Perumal sept, and caste messengers from the Bandari sept, if they
are represented in a settlement. Torches are generally carried, at
processions, by men of the Gudditi sept. Members of the Gurram sept
are not allowed to ride on horseback.

The panchayat (village council) system is in vogue, but, in some
places, a headman is selected, as occasion requires. In their marriage
and funeral ceremonies, the Togatas closely follow the Telugu standard
Puranic form of ceremonial. The dead are buried in a recumbent
posture. On the last day of the death rites, the Satani gives arrack
(liquor) to the Togatas, as to the Padma Sales, in lieu of holy water
(thirtham).

Tohala.--Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a small
class of Oriya hill cultivators and petty traders in the Ganjam Agency.

Tolagari.--Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a sub-caste
of Mutracha. In the North Arcot Manual the Tolagaris are described
as a small cultivating caste, who were formerly hunters, like the
Palayakkarans.

Tolar (Wolf).--An exogamous sept of Halepaik. The equivalent Tolana
occurs as a sept of Moger.

Tolkollan.--The Tolkollans or Tolans (skin people) are summed up in
the Madras Census Report, 1901, as "leather workers and dyers, and also
gymnasts and teachers of gymnastics. They are also called Vatti Kurup,
Chaya Kurup, and Vil Kurup. Their title is Kurup." The Tolkollans are
stated [55] to be "blacksmiths by caste, who abandoned their hereditary
trade for leather work, and they are chiefly employed by Mappillas. One
peculiar custom in this caste is that two or more brothers may have
one wife in common. Only those in good circumstances indulge in the
luxury of a private wife. The following information furnished by
Mr. S. Vaidyanadha Aiyar, the headmaster of the School of Commerce,
Calicut, gives some information regarding leather work in Malabar:--

(a) Boots and shoes of country make and English pattern.

(b) Harness making.

(c) Native shoes (ceruppu). These are of the special pattern peculiar
to Malabar, and are largely used by all classes of the Hindu and
Mappilla communities. The Arabs who visit this coast once a year
purchase a considerable number to take back with them. The price of a
pair varies from Rs. 1-8-0 to Rs. 5. Those with ornamental gold lace
work cost from Rs. 10 to Rs. 50. These shoes are generally used by
well-to-do Mappillas. White of egg is used to give a creaking sound to
the shoes. This work is mainly done by Tholperunkollans and Mappillas,
and the latter show more skill in finish and ornamental work.

(d) Knife sheaths. Almost every Nayar, Tiyan and Mappilla carries
a knife about a foot in length, and there is a demand for leather
sheaths. These are made by Panans as well as by Tholperunkollans
and Mappillas.

(e) Leather baskets are also made, and are largely used as receptacles
for carrying pepper, paddy (rice), and other grain.

(f) Winnowing fans are made of leather, and are used in pepper and
paddy yards, etc.

(g) Muttu ceruppu (clogs) are leather shoes with wooden soles. These
are largely used during the rainy season."

Tollakkadan (one with a big hole in the lobes of his ears).--Taken,
at the census, 1901, as a sub-caste of Shanan, as those returning
the name, who are vendors of husked rice in Madras, used the Shanan
title Nadan. The equivalent Tollakadu was returned as a sub-division
of Konga Vellala.

Tol Mestri.--A sub-division of Semman.

Tondaman.--It is stated, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, that the
Tondamans are "also called Sunnambukkaran (q.v.), a Tamil caste of
lime (chunam) burners found only in the Tinnevelly district. They are
said to be a branch of the Kallans who migrated to Tinnevelly from
Pudukkottai, or the Tondaman's country. Its members are now drummers
and pipers as well as lime-burners. Brahmans are their purohits,
but they are not allowed to go into Hindu temples. They will eat in
the houses of Maravans. Their title is Solagan." It is noted, in the
same report, that the Semman caste "has two sub-divisions, Tondaman
and Tol-mestri, and men of the former take wives from the latter,
but men of the latter may not marry girls of the former." Tondaman is
the family name of the Raja of Pudukkottai, a Native State surrounded
by the British districts of Tanjore, Madura, and Trichinopoly. The
Raja is the head of the Kallan caste. Copper coins, called amman kasu,
are current only within the State, and their greatest distribution is
during Navaratri or Dusserah, when they are issued to the people with
a dole of rice every day during the nine days of the festival. They
bear on one side the word "Vijaya," meaning victory, or more probably
having reference to our faithful ally Vijaya Ragunatha Tondaman,
in whose reign they were first struck, it is said in 1761, after the
surrender of Pondicherry to the British.

Tondamandalam.--The name of a sub-division of Vellala, derived from
Tondanadu, the ancient Pallava country.

Tonti.--The Tontis are said to be cotton-weavers of Bengal, who have
settled in Ganjam. [56] The name denotes threadmen, and the weaving
of rough white cloths is the traditional occupation of the caste. All
Tontis belong to a single gotra named after Kasyapa, one of the seven
important rishis, and the priest of Parasurama. Various bamsams or
exogamous septs, the names of some of which occur also as titles,
exist, e.g., Biswalo, Dasso, Palo, Bono, Chondo, Parimaniko, Korono,
Behara, and Mahapatro. The marriage and death ceremonies conform to
the standard Oriya type. On the fourth day of the marriage rites, a
Bhondari (barber) is presented with some beaten rice and sugar-candy
in a new earthen pot. These are sold to those who have assembled,
and the proceeds go to the Bhondari. The corpse of a dead person
is washed at the burning ground, instead of, in accordance with the
common custom among other castes, at the house.

Toppa Tali.--A name applied to certain Vaniyans in the North Arcot
district, owing to the peculiar tali (marriage badge) which married
women wear.

Torai.--A title of various Oriya castes.

Toreya.--The Toreyas are a Canarese class, living chiefly in the
Tamil districts of Coimbatore and Salem. They are said to have been
originally fishermen and palanquin bearers, and the name is derived
from turai, a river ghat. Most of them are now cultivators, especially
of the betel vine (Piper betle). Those whom I examined at Coimbatore
were earning their living as betel and sugar-cane cultivators, vendors
of tobacco, bakers, cloth merchants, contractors, petty traders,
and police constables.

By the Coimbatore Toreyas, the following endogamous divisions were
returned:--

    Elai, leaf. Betel cultivators.
    Chunam, lime. Lime burners.
    Gazul, glass bangle. The Toreya caste is said to have originated
    from the bangles of Machyagandhi or Gandhavati, the daughter
    of a fisherman on the Jumna. She was married to king Shantanu
    of Hastinapur, who was one of the ancestors of the heroes of
    the Mahabharata.

Many exogamous septs exist among the Toreyas, of which the following
are examples:--

    Belli, silver. May not wear silver toe-rings.
    Naga, snake. The members of the sept, at times of marriage,
    worship ant-hills, which are the home of snakes.
    Alwar or Garuda.
    Chinnam, gold.
    Kansugaje, small bronze bells, tied to the legs when dancing.
    Urukathi, a kind of knife.
    Vajjira, diamond.
    Vasishta, a Hindu saint.
    Mogila, clouds.

Onne (Pterocarpus Marsupium). Do not mark their foreheads with the
juice from the trunk of this tree.

Kuzhal, the flute played by shepherd boys and snake charmers. If the
sound thereof is heard during a meal, what remains of the food should
be thrown away.

Rakshasa, a giant. Do not celebrate the Dipavali festival in honour
of the victory over, and death of, a rakshasa.

Erumai, buffalo.

The headman of the caste is called Ejaman, who has under him an
officer entitled Dalavayi. The caste messenger bears the name of
Kondikar. These three offices are hereditary. The Ejaman presides at
council meetings which are held at the temple of the caste. The eldest
member of each family is entitled to a seat on the council. Those
who come late to a meeting thereof prostrate themselves before the
assembly. Witnesses before the council have to take an oath, which
is administered by the Kondikar. He makes the witness stand within
a circle drawn on the ground, and makes him repeat the formula
"Before God and the elders assembled, with the sky above and the
earth beneath, I will state only the truth." The Kondikar then takes
up a pinch of earth, and puts it on the head of the witness. For
merely threatening to beat a person with shoes, the offender has
to feed twenty-five castemen. If he takes the shoes in his hands he
must feed fifty, and, if he actually resorts to beating with them,
he has to feed a hundred men. In addition, the culprit has to pay
a small fine, and both parties have to be purified at the temple. A
similar punishment is enforced for beating, or threatening to beat
with a broom. For adultery the guilty person is excommunicated, and
is admitted back into the caste only after the death of one of the
parties concerned. He then has to feed a large number of castemen,
or pay a money fine, and, prostrating himself before the assembly,
he is beaten with a tamarind switch. He further makes obeisance to
the Ejaman, and washes his feet. The Ejaman then purifies him by a
small piece of burning camphor in his mouth.

When a married girl reaches puberty, she is taken to her father's
house, and her husband constructs a hut with branches of Ficus
glomerata. On the last day of her confinement therein, the hut is
pulled down, and the girl sets fire to it. The house is purified, and
the female relations go to the houses of the Ejaman and caste people,
and invite them to be present at a ceremonial. A small quantity of
turmeric paste is stuck on the doors of the houses of all who are
invited. The relations and members of the caste carry betel, and
other articles, on trays in procession through the streets. The girl
is seated on a plank, and the trays are placed in front of her. Rice
flour, fruits, betel, etc., are tied in her cloth, and she is taken
into the house. In the case of an unmarried girl, the hut is built
by her maternal uncle.

Marriage is always celebrated at the house of the bridegroom, as there
is a legend that a Rajah belonging to the Toreya caste had a son, who
was taken to the house of his bride elect, and there murdered. The
bridegroom's father and relations go to the house of the bride, and
make presents of money, cloths, ornaments, etc. They also have to make
obeisance to, and feed five married women sumptuously. Pandals (booths)
are constructed at the houses of both the bride and bridegroom. Five
married women go, on behalf of each of the contracting parties,
to their houses, and pound rice there. On the second day, five such
women fetch water from a tank, and bathe the bride and bridegroom
respectively. The ten women then go to the potter's house, and bring
five decorated pots. Three of these are taken to a tank, and filled
with water. On the following day, the bridegroom and his sister take
the two remaining pots to the tank, and fill them with water. The five
pots are placed in the pandal, and represent the household gods. The
relations of the bridegroom take twelve kinds of ornaments, a new
cloth, flowers, etc., to the house of the Ejaman, and go with him
to the bride's house. She is then bathed, and decked with finery. A
Brahman does puja (worship) and ties on her forehead a mandaikettu or
bashingham (chaplet) made of gold leaf or tinsel. She is then carried
in procession to the house of the bridegroom. Meanwhile, the Brahman
ties a mandaikettu on the forehead of the bridegroom, who puts on the
sacred thread, and sits within the pandal, holding a katar (dagger)
in his hand, and closed in by a screen. The bride goes thrice round
this screen, and the Brahman does puja and gives advice (upadesam)
to the couple. The screen is then lowered slightly, and the bride and
bridegroom garland each other. The bride's parents place a few gingelly
(Sesamum) seeds in the hand of the bridegroom, and pour water thereon,
saying that their daughter belongs to him, and telling him to take care
of her. The tali, after being blessed by those assembled, is given by
the Brahman to the bridegroom, who ties it on the bride's neck. The
screen is then removed, and the couple sit side by side. The sacred
fire is lighted, their hands are linked together, and the ends of
their cloths tied together. They then leave the pandal, and, placing
their feet on a grindstone, look at the pole-star (Arundati). Entering
the pandal once more, they sit therein, and the elders bless them by
throwing rice coloured with turmeric over their heads. On the fourth
day, they again sit within the pandal, and cooked rice, coloured white,
red, yellow, green, and black, on five trays, and nine lighted wicks
on a tray are waved before them. Five married men and women, holding
a string, stand round them in a circle, within which is the bride's
brother with a twig of pipal (Ficus religiosa). The bridegroom places
his hands together, and small rice cakes are placed on the head,
shoulders, bend of the elbows and knees, and between the fingers of
the couple. They are then bathed, and, taking betel in their hands,
bow to the four corners of the earth. The bridegroom makes a namam
(Vaishnavite sect mark), or places vibhuti (sacred ashes) on the
twelve posts of the pandal, and the bride places a little cooked
rice and water before each post, to which camphor is burnt, and
puja done. They then start for the bride's house, but the bride's
sister meets them at the entrance thereto, and will not allow them
to go in until she has extracted a promise that their child shall
marry hers. The bride proceeds to a tank, sowing some paddy (rice)
on the way thither, and brings back a pot of water, with which she
washes her husband's hands and feet. Husband and wife then feed each
other with a small quantity of rice and milk. Their hands are then
cleaned, and the bride's brother puts a gold ring on the finger of
the bridegroom. A tray with betel leaves and areca nuts is brought,
and the bridegroom ties three handfuls thereof in his cloth. The
newly married couple then worship at the temple. On the fifth day,
they carry the earthen pots to a river, and, on their return, five
married women are worshipped and fed. Five men have to come forward
as sureties for the good behaviour of the couple, and declare before
those assembled that they will hold themselves responsible for it. In
the evening the pair go to the bride's house, and rub oil over each
other's head before bathing in turmeric water. On the following day
they repair to the house of the bridegroom.

The corpse of a dead Toreya is placed in a pandal constructed of
cocoanut leaves and stems of the milk-hedge (Euphorbia Tirucalli). Sect
marks are placed on the foreheads of the corpse and the widow. The
son of the deceased dons the sacred thread. The funeral ceremonies
resemble, in many particulars, those of the Oddes. A mound is
piled up over the grave. A Paraiyan places a small twig of the arka
plant (Calotropis gigantea) in three corners of the grave, leaving
out the north-east corner, and the son puts a small coin on each
twig. As he goes round the grave with a water-pot and fire-brand,
his maternal uncle, who stands at the head of the grave, makes holes
in the pot. On the third, fifth, seventh, or ninth day, the widow,
dressed in new cloths, and bedecked with ornaments and flowers, is
taken to the burial-ground, with offerings of milk, ghi (clarified
butter), tender cocoanut, sandal, camphor, etc. Five small stones,
smeared with turmeric and lime, are set up at the head of the grave,
and worshipped. The widow goes thrice round the grave, and seats
herself near the head thereof. Her brother holds up her arms, and one
of her husband's male relations breaks her bangles. She breaks, and
throws her tali on the grave, with the flowers which adorn her. Her
ornaments are removed, and she is covered with a cloth, and taken to
a river, where she is rubbed with cow-dung and bathed. The son and
other relatives go to the temple with butter and other articles. A
Brahman does puja, and shuts the doors of the temple. The son, with
his back to the temple, throws a little butter on the doors, which are
then opened by the Brahman. This is done thrice. On the seventh day,
pollution is removed by sprinkling holy water, and the caste people
are fed. A widow remains in seclusion (gosha) for three months. Sradh
(memorial ceremony) is performed.

The Toreyas worship both Siva and Vishnu, but consider Ayodhya Raman
as their special deity, and sacrifice sheep and fowls to Koriamma.

Toreya.--A sub-division of the Badagas of the Nilgiris.

Tota (garden).--Recorded as a sub-division of cultivating Balijas, and
an exogamous sept of Boya, Chenchu, Vada Balija (or Mila), Mutracha
and Bonthuk Savara. The equivalent Tota occurs as an exogamous sept
of Kapu and Yanadi. Tota Devaru, or garden god, is the name of an
exogamous sept of the Tigala gardeners and cultivators.

Totakura (Amarantus gangeticus).--An exogamous sept of Kamma.

Toththala or Tottadi.--A sub-division of Velama.

Toti.--The Toti or Totti is one of the village communal servants. The
name has been derived from tondu, to dig, or tott, to go round, as
the Toti is the purveyor of news, and has to summon people to appear
before the village council. The functions of this useful person to the
community have been summed up as follows by a district official. [57]
"This individual has all the dirty work of the village allotted to
him. He is of the lowest caste, and hence makes no scruple of doing
any manner of work that he may be called upon to perform. The removal
and sepulture of unclaimed dead bodies, the cleansing of choultries,
rest-houses and the like, where travellers carrying infectious
diseases might have halted, and other gruesome duties are entrusted
to him. In spite of all this, the Toti is one of the most trusted of
the humbler servants of the village community. Considering his humble
status and emoluments, which average between Rs. 3 and Rs. 4 a month,
his honesty with regard to pecuniary matters is wonderful. He may
be trusted with untold wealth, as is often done when he is the sole
custodian of the revenue collections of his village to the tune of
several thousands at a time, when on their way from the collecting
officers to the Government Treasury." Testimony is borne to the
industry of the Toti in the proverb that if you work like a Toti,
you can enjoy the comforts of a king.

In the Madras Census Report, 1891, Toti is returned as a sub-division
of Chakkiliyan. The Toti of Mysore is defined by Mr. L. Rice [58] as
a menial among the village servants, a deputy talari, who is employed
to watch the crops from the growing crop to the granary.

Odiya Toti is a Tamil synonym for Oriya Haddis employed as scavengers
in municipalities in the Tamil country.

Tottiyan.--In the Census Report, 1901, Mr. W. Francis writes that the
Tottiyans are "Telugu cultivators. The Tottiyans or Kambalattans of
the Tanjore district are, however, said to be vagrants, and to live
by pig-breeding, snake-charming, and begging. So are the sub-division
called Kattu Tottiyans in Tinnevelly. The headman among the Tinnevelly
Tottiyans is called the Mandai Periadanakkaran or Servaikaran. Their
marriages are not celebrated in their houses, but in pandals (booths)
of green leaves erected for the purpose on the village common. However
wealthy the couple may be, the only grain which they may eat at
the wedding festivities is either cumbu (Pennisetum typhoideum) or
horse-gram (Dolichos biflorus). The patron deities of the caste are
Jakkamma and Bommakka, two women who committed sati. The morality of
their women is loose. The custom of marrying boys to their paternal
aunt's or maternal uncle's daughter, however old she may be, also
obtains, and in such cases the bridegroom's father is said to take
upon himself the duty of begetting children to his own son. Divorce
is easy, and remarriage is freely allowed. They offer rice and
arrack (alcoholic liquor) to their ancestors. The Kattu Tottiyans
will eat jackals, rats, and the leavings of other people. Tottiya
women will not eat in the houses of Brahmans, but no explanation of
this is forthcoming. The men wear silver anklets on both legs, and
also a bracelet upon one of the upper arms, both of which practices
are uncommon, while the women wear bangles only on the left arm,
instead of on both as usual. Some of the Zamindars in Madura belong
to this caste. The caste title is Nayakkan." At the census, 1901,
Kudulukkaran was returned as a sub-caste of the Tottiyans in Madura and
Tinnevelly. The Urumikkaran, meaning those who play on the drum called
urumi, are said to be Tottiyans in Madura and Paraiyans elsewhere.

"The Tottiyans or Kambalattans," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [59] "are
a caste of Telugu cultivators settled in the districts of Madura,
Tinnevelly, Coimbatore and Salem. They are probably the descendants
of poligars and soldiers of the Nayakkan kings of Vijayanagar, who
conquered the Madura country about the beginning of the sixteenth
century. As regards the origin of their caste, the Tottiyans say with
pride that they are the descendants of the eight thousand gopastris
(milkmaids) of Krishna--a tradition which seems to indicate that their
original occupation was connected with the rearing and keeping of
cattle. The most important sub-divisions are Kollar and Erkollar, the
Tamil form of the Telugu Golla and Yerragolla, which are now shepherd
castes, though probably they formerly had as much to do with cattle
as sheep. Another large sub-division is Kille or Killavar, which I
take to be a corruption of the Telugu kilari, a herdman. The bride
and bridegroom, too, are always seated on bullock saddles. They do
not wear the sacred thread. Most of them are Vaishnavites, some of
whom employ Brahman priests, but the majority of them are guided
by gurus of their own, called Kodangi Nayakkan. [It is noted, in
the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that caste matters used to be
settled by the Mettu Nayakkan or headman, and a Kodangi Nayakkan,
or priest, so called because he carried a drum.] Each family has its
own household deity, which appears to be a sort of representation of
departed relations, chiefly women who have burned themselves on the
funeral pile of their husbands, or have led a chaste and continent
life, or died vestals. Their girls are married after they have attained
maturity. Adultery is no crime when committed within the family
circle, but a liaison with an outsider involves expulsion from the
caste. It is said that their newly married girls are even compelled
to cohabit with their husband's near relatives. [It is further said
to be believed that ill-luck will attend any refusal to do so, and
that, so far from any disgrace attaching to them in consequence, their
priests compel them to keep up the custom, if by any chance they are
unwilling. [60]] The pongu tree (Pongamia glabra) is the sacred tree
of the caste. Suttee was formerly very common, and the remarriage
of widows is discouraged, if not actually forbidden. The dead are
generally burned. Both men and women are supposed to practice magic,
and are on that account much dreaded by the people generally. They
are especially noted for their power of curing snake-bites by means
of mystical incantations, and the original inventor of this mode
of treatment has been deified under the name Pambalamman. They are
allowed to eat flesh. The majority speak Telugu in their houses."

The traditional story of the migration of the Tottiyans to the
Madura district is given in several of the Mackenzie manuscripts,
and is still repeated by the people of the caste. "Centuries ago,
says this legend, the Tottiyans lived to the north of the Tungabhadra
river. The Muhammadans there tried to marry their women, and make
them eat beef. So one fine night they fled southwards in a body. The
Muhammadans pursued them, and their path was blocked by a deep and
rapid river. They had just given themselves up for lost when a pongu
(Pongamia glabra) tree on either side of the stream leant forward, and,
meeting in the middle, made a bridge across it. Over this they hurried,
and, as soon as they had passed, the trees stood erect once more,
before the Mussulmans could similarly cross by them. The Tottiyans in
consequence still reverence the pongu tree, and their marriage pandals
(booths) are always made from its wood. They travelled on until they
came to the city of Vijayanagar, under whose king they took service,
and it was in the train of the Vijayanagar armies that they came to
Madura." [61]

The Tottiyans are most numerous in the Madura and Tinnevelly districts,
and include two grades in the social scale. Of these, one consists
of those who are engaged in cultivation, and petty Zamindars. The
other is made up of those who wander about begging, and doing
menial work. Between the two classes there is neither interdining
nor intermarriage. In districts other than Madura and Tinnevelly,
the name Tottiyan is applied by Tamil-speaking castes to the Jogis,
who are beggars and pig breeders, and, like the Tottiyans, speak
Telugu. The following legend is current, to account for the division
of the Tottiyans into two sections. They once gave a girl in marriage
to a Muhammadan ruler, and all the Tottiyans followed him. A large
number went to sleep on one side of a river, while the rest crossed,
and went away. The latter are represented today by the respectable
section, and the begging class is descended from the former. To this
day the Muhammadans and Tottiyans of the Trichinopoly district are
said to address each other as if they were relations, and to be on
terms of unusual intimacy.

In the Madura district, the Tottiyans are apparently divided into
three endogamous sections, viz., Vekkili, Thokala, and Yerrakolla,
of which the last is considered inferior to the other two. Other names
for the Vekkili section are Kambalattar, or Raja Kambalattar. In some
places, e.g., in Tinnevelly, there seem to be six divisions, Thokala,
Chilla or Silla, Kolla, Narasilla, Kanthikolla and Pala. Of these,
Pala may intermarry with Chilla, but the other four are endogamous. As
examples of exogamous septs occurring among the Yerrakollas may be
noted Chikala (broom), and Udama (lizard, Varanus), of which the
latter also occurs as an exogamous sept of the Kapus.

In the neighbourhood of Nellakota in the Madura district,
the Yerrakollas have a group of seven septs called Revala,
Gollavirappa, Kambli-nayudi, Karadi (bear), Uduma, Chila, and
Gelipithi. Intermarriage between these is forbidden, as they are all
considered as blood-relations, and they must marry into a group of
seven other septs called Gundagala, Busala, Manni, Sukka, Alivirappa,
Sikka, and Madha. The names of these septs are remembered by a system
of mnemonics.

In a note on the Tottiyans of the Trichinopoly district,
Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes as follows. "Three endogamous sub-divisions
exist in the caste, namely, the Erra (red) Gollas or Pedda Inti
(big family), the Nalla (black) Gollas or Chinna Inti (small family),
and the Valus, who are also called Kudukuduppai Tottiyans. The Valus
are said to be a restless class of beggars and sorcerers. The red
Gollas are, as a rule, fairer than the blacks (whence perhaps the
names). The women of the former wear white cloths, while those of
the latter do not. Again, they tie their hair in different ways, and
their ornaments differ a good deal. The red women carry no emblem
of marriage at all, while the black women wear the pottu. The reds
allow their widows to remarry, but the blacks do not. Both sections
have exogamous sections, called Kambalams--the reds fourteen, and the
blacks nine. The reds are divided, for purposes of caste discipline,
into nine nadus and the blacks into fourteen mandais. Each village is
under a headman called the Ur-Nayakan, and each nadu or mandai under a
Pattakaran. The former decide petty disputes, and the latter the more
serious cases. The Pattakaran is treated with great deference. He is
always saluted with clasped hands, ought never to look on a corpse, and
is said to be allowed to consort with any married woman of the caste."

The Tottiyans are supposed to be one of the nine Kambalam (blanket)
castes, which, according to one version, are made up of Kappiliyans,
Anappans, Tottiyans, Kurubas, Kummaras, Parivarams, Urumikkarans,
Mangalas, and Chakkiliyans. According to another version, the nine
castes are Kappiliyan, Anappan, Tottiyan, Kolla Tottiyan, Kuruba,
Kummara, Medara, Odde, and Chakkiliyan. At tribal council-meetings,
representatives of each of the nine Kambalams should be present. But,
for the nine castes, some have substituted nine septs. The Vekkiliyans
seem to have three headmen, called Mettu Nayakan, Kodia Nayakan, and
Kambli Nayakan, of whom the first mentioned is the most important, and
acts as priest on various ceremonial occasions, such as puberty and
marriage rites, and the worship of Jakkamma and Bommakka. The Kambli
Nayakan attends to the purification of peccant or erring members of
the community, in connection with which the head of a sheep or goat
is taken into the house by the Kambli Nayakan. It is noted, in the
Gazetteer of the Madura district, that "persons charged with offences
are invited to prove their innocence by undergoing ordeals. These
are now harmless enough, such as attempting to cook rice in a pot
which has not been fired, but Turnbull says that he saw the boiling
oil ordeal in 1813 in Pudukkottai territory. Perhaps the most serious
caste offence is adultery with a man of another community. Turnbull
says that women convicted of this used to be sentenced to be killed
by Chakkiliyans, but nowadays rigid excommunication is the penalty."

The Kambalam caste is so called because, at caste council meetings, a
kambli (blanket) is spread, on which is placed a kalasam (brass vessel)
filled with water, and containing margosa (Melia Azadirachta) leaves,
and decorated with flowers. Its mouth is closed by mango leaves and
a cocoanut.

A correspondent writes to me that "the Zamindars in the western parts
of Madura, and parts of Tinnevelly, are known as Kambala Palayapat. If
a man belongs to a Zamindar's family, he is said to be of the Raja
Kambala caste. The marriage ceremony is carried out in two temporary
huts erected outside the village, one for the bridegroom, the other
for the bride. The tali is tied round the bride's neck by an elderly
female or male belonging to the family. If the marriage is contracted
with a woman of an inferior class, the bridegroom's hut is not made
use of, and he does not personally take part in the ceremony. A dagger
(kattar), or rude sword, is sent to represent him, and the tali is
tied in the presence thereof."

In a zamindari suit, details of which are published in the Madras
Law Reports, Vol. XVII, 1894, the Judge found that the plaintiff's
mother was married to the plaintiff's father in the dagger form;
that a dagger is used by the Saptur Zamindars, who are called Kattari
Kamaya, in the case of inequality in the caste or social position of
the bride; that, though the customary rites of the Kambala caste were
also performed, yet the use of the dagger was an essential addition;
and that, though she was of a different and inferior caste to that of
the plaintiff's father, yet that did not invalidate the marriage. The
defendant's argument was that the dagger was used to represent
the Zamindar bridegroom as he did not attend in person, and that,
by his non-attendance, there could have been no joining of hands,
or other essential for constituting a valid marriage. The plaintiff
argued that the nuptial rites were duly performed, the Zamindar
being present; that the dagger was there merely as an ornament; and
that it was customary for people of the Zamindar's caste to have a
dagger paraded on the occasion of marriages. The Judge found that the
dagger was there for the purpose of indicating that the two ladies,
whom the Zamindar married, were of an inferior caste and rank.

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that, when
a Tottiyan girl attains maturity, "she is kept in a separate hut,
which is watched by a Chakkiliyan. Marriage is either infant or
adult. A man has the usual claim to his paternal aunt's daughter,
and so rigorously is this rule followed that boys of tender years are
frequently married to grown women. These latter are allowed to consort
with their husband's near relations, and the boy is held to be the
father of any children which may be born. Weddings last three days,
and involve very numerous ceremonies. They take place in a special
pandal erected in the village, on either side of which are smaller
pandals for the bride and bridegroom. Two uncommon rites are the
slaughtering of a red ram without blemish, and marking the foreheads
of the couple with its blood, and the pursuit by the bridegroom, with a
bow and arrow, of a man who pretends to flee, but is at length captured
and bound. The ram is first sprinkled with water, and, if it shivers,
this, as usual, is held to be a good omen. The bride-price is seven
kalams of kumbu (Pennisetum typhoideum), and the couple may eat only
this grain and horse-gram until the wedding is over. A bottu (marriage
badge) is tied round the bride's neck by the bridegroom's sister."

Concerning the marriage ceremonies of the Yerrakollas, I gather that,
on the betrothal day, kumbu must be cooked. Food is given to seven
people belonging to seven different septs. They are then presented
with betel leaves and areca nuts and four annas tied in a cloth, and
the approaching marriage is announced. On the wedding day, the bride
and bridegroom are seated on planks on the marriage dais, and milk is
sprinkled over them by people of their own sex. A few hours later,
the bridegroom takes his seat in the pandal, whither the bride is
brought in the arms of her maternal uncle. She sits by the side of the
bridegroom, and the Mettu Nayakan links together the little fingers
of the contracting couple, and tells them to exchange rings. This
is the binding portion of the ceremony, and no bottu is tied round
the bride's neck. At a marriage among the Vekkiliyans, two huts are
constructed in an open space outside the village, in front of which
a pandal is erected, supported by twelve posts, and roofed with leafy
twigs of the pongu tree and Mimusops hexandra. On the following day,
the bride and bridegroom are conducted to the huts, the bride being
sometimes carried in the arms of her maternal uncle. They worship the
ancestral heroes, who are represented by new cloths folded, and placed
on a tray. The bridegroom's sister ties the bottu on the bride's neck
inside her hut, in front of which kumbu grain is scattered. Betel and
a fanam (coin) are placed in the bride's lap. On the third day the
bridegroom is dressed up, and, mounting a horse, goes, accompanied
by the marriage pots, three times round the huts. He then enters
the bride's hut, and she is carried in the arms of the cousins of
the bridegroom thrice round the huts. The contracting couple then
sit on planks, and the cousins, by order of the Mettu Nayakan, link
their little fingers together. They then enter the bridegroom's hut,
and a mock ploughing ceremony is performed. Coming out from the hut,
they take up a child, and carry it three times round the huts. This
is, it is said, done because, in former days, the Tottiyan bride and
bridegroom had to remain in the marriage huts till a child was born,
because the Mettu Nayakan was so busy that he had no time to complete
the marriage ceremony until nearly a year had elapsed.

At a wedding among the nomad Tottiyans, a fowl is killed near
the marriage (araveni) pots, and with its blood a mark is made on
the foreheads of the bride and bridegroom on their entry into the
booths. The Vekkiliyans sacrifice a goat or sheep instead of a fowl,
and the more advanced among them substitute the breaking of a cocoanut
for the animal sacrifice.

In connection with marriage, Mr. Hemingway writes that "the Tottiyans
very commonly marry a young boy to a grown woman, and, as among the
Konga Vellalas, the boy's father takes the duties of a husband upon
himself until the boy is grown up. Married women are allowed to bestow
their favours upon their husbands' relations, and it is said to be an
understood thing that a man should not enter his dwelling, if he sees
another's slippers placed outside as a sign that the owner of them
is with the mistress of the house. Intercourse with men of another
caste is, however, punished by expulsion, and widows and unmarried
girls who go astray are severely dealt with. Formerly, it is said,
they were killed."

At a Tottiyan funeral, fire is carried to the burning-ground by a
Chakkiliyan, and the pyre is lighted, not by the sons, but by the
sammandhis (relations by marriage).

The Tottiyans of the Madura district observe the worship of ancestors,
who are represented by a number of stones set up somewhere within
the village boundaries. Such places are called male. According to
Mr. Hemingway, when a member of the caste dies, some of the bones are
buried in this shed, along with a coin, and a stone is planted on the
spot. The stones are arranged in an irregular circle. The circles of
the Yerrakollas are exceedingly simple, and recall to mind those of
the Nayadis of Malabar, but without the tree. The stones are set up
in an open space close to the burning-ground. When a death occurs,
a stone is erected among the ashes of the deceased on the last day
of the funeral ceremonies (karmandhiram), and worshipped. It is
immediately transferred to the ancestral circle. The male of the
Vekkiliyan section of the Tottiyans consists of a massive central
wooden pillar, carved with male and female human figures, set up in
a cavity in a round boulder, and covered over by a conical canopy
supported on pillars. When this canopy is set in motion, the central
pillar appears to be shaking. This illusion, it is claimed, is due
to the power of the ancestral gods. All round the central pillar,
which is about ten feet high, a number of stones of different sizes
are set up. The central pillar represents Jakkamma and other remote
ancestors. The surrounding stones are the representatives of those
who have died in recent times. Like the Yerrakollas, the Vekkiliyans
erect a stone on the karmandhiram day at the spot where the body was
cremated, but, instead of transferring it at once to the ancestral
circle, they wait till the day of periodical male worship, which, being
an expensive ceremonial, may take place only once in twelve years. If
the interval is long, the number of stones representing those who
have died meanwhile may be very large. News of the approaching male
worship is sent to the neighbouring villages, and, on the appointed
day, people of all castes pour in, bringing with them several hundred
bulls. The hosts supply their guests with fodder, pots, and a liberal
allowance of sugar-cane. Refusal to bestow sugar-cane freely would
involve failure of the object of the ceremonial. After the completion
of the worship, the bulls are let loose, and the animal which reaches
the male first is decorated, and held in reverence. Its owner is
presented with cloths, money, etc. The ceremony may be compared with
that of selecting the king bull among the Kappiliyans.

Self-cremation is said [62] to have been "habitually practiced by
Tottiya widows in the times anterior to British domination; and
great respect was always shown to the memory of such as observed the
custom. Small tombs termed thipanjankovil (fire-torch temple) were
erected in their honour on the high-roads, and at these oblations
were once a year offered to the manes of the deceased heroines. Sati
was not, however, compulsory among them, and, if a widow lived at all
times a perfectly chaste and religious life, she was honoured equally
with such as performed the rite." It is noted, in the Gazetteer of
the Madura district, that "sati was formerly very common in the caste,
and the two caste goddesses, Jakkamma and Bommayya, are deifications of
women who thus sacrificed themselves. Every four years a festival is
held in their honour, one of the chief events in which is a bullock
race. The owner of the winning animal receives a prize, and gets
the first betel and nut during the feast. The caste god is Perumal,
who is worshipped in the form of a curry-grinding stone. The story
goes that, when the Tottiyans were fleeing to the south, one of their
women found her grinding-stone so intolerably heavy that she threw
it away. It, however, re-appeared in her basket. Thrown away again,
it once more re-appeared, and she then realised that the caste god
must be accompanying them."

"The Tottiyans," Mr. Hemingway writes, "do not recognise the
superiority of Brahmans, or employ them as priests at marriages or
funerals. They are deeply devoted to their own caste deities. Some of
these are Bommaka and Mallamma (the spirits of women who committed
sati long ago), Virakaran or Viramati (a bridegroom who was killed
in a fight with a tiger), Pattalamma (who helped them in their flight
from the north), and Malai Tambiran, the god of ancestors. Muttalamma
and Jakkamma are also found. Malai Tambiran is worshipped in the
male. The Tottiyans are known for their uncanny devotion to sorcery
and witchcraft. All of them are supposed to possess unholy powers,
especially the Nalla Gollas, and they are much dreaded by their
neighbours. They do not allow any stranger to enter their villages with
shoes on, or on horseback, or holding up an umbrella, lest their god
should be offended. It is generally believed that, if any one breaks
this rule, he will be visited with illness or some other punishment."

The Tottiyans have attached to them a class of beggars called Pichiga
vadu, concerning whose origin the following legend is narrated. There
were, once upon a time, seven brothers and a sister belonging to the
Irrivaru exogamous sept. The brothers went on a pilgrimage to Benares,
leaving their sister behind. One day, while she was bathing, a sacred
bull (Nandi) left its sperm on her cloth, and she conceived. Her
condition was noticed by her brothers on their return, and, suspecting
her of immorality, they were about to excommunicate her. But they
discovered some cows in calf as the result of parthenogenesis, and
six of the brothers were satisfied as to the girl's innocence. The
seventh, however, required further proof. After the child was born,
it was tied to a branch of a dead chilla tree (Strychnos potatorum),
which at once burst into leaf and flower. The doubting brother became
a cripple, and his descendants are called Pichiga varu, and those of
the baby Chilla varu.

Traivarnika (third caste men).--Recorded, in the Madras Census Report,
1901, as a section of Komatis (who claim to be Vaisyas, or members
of the third caste of Manu), who follow the details of Brahmanical
customs more scrupulously than the others. They are described, in
the Vizagapatam Manual, as followers of the Ramanuja faith, who deal
chiefly in gold and silver, and ornaments made thereof.

Triputa (Ipomæa Turpethum, Indian jalap).--A sept of Viramushti.

Tsakala.--The Tsakalas, Sakalas, or Chakalas, who derive their name
from chaku (to wash), are the washermen of the Telugu country, and
also act as torch and palanquin bearers. In the Census Report, 1901,
Tellakula (the white class) is given as a synonym. The Rev. J. Cain
writes [63] that the "Tellakulavandlu are really washermen who,
in consequence of having obtained employment as peons (orderlies)
in Government offices, feel themselves to be superior to their
old caste people. In their own towns or villages they acknowledge
themselves to be washermen, but in other places they disclaim all
such connection." It is noted in the Kurnool Manual (1886) that,
in the Cumbum division, "they serve as palanquin-bearers, and are
always at the mercy of Government officials, and are compelled to
carry baggage for little or no wage. Some are Inamdars (landholders),
while others work for wages."

The ordinary Tsakalas are called Bana Tsakala, in contradistinction to
the Guna or Velama Tsakala. Bana is the Telugu name for the large pot,
which the washermen use for boiling the clothes. [64] The Guna Tsakalas
are dyers. In a note on the Velamas, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes [65]
that "some say they form a sub-division of the Balijas, but this they
themselves most vehemently deny, and the Balijas derisively call them
Guni Sakalavandlu (hunchbacked washermen). The pride and jealousy of
Hindu castes was amusingly illustrated by the Velamas of Kalahasti. The
Deputy Tahsildar of that town was desired to ascertain the origin of
the name Guni Sakalavandlu, but, as soon as he asked the question,
a member of the caste lodged a complaint of defamation against him
before the District Magistrate. The nickname appears to have been
applied to them because in the northern districts some print chintz,
and, carrying their goods in a bundle on their backs, walk stooping
like a laden washerman. This derivation is more than doubtful, for,
in the Godavari district, the name is Guna Sakalavandlu, guna being
the large pot in which they dye the chintzes."

Like other Telugu castes, the Tsakalas have exogamous septs or
intiperu, among which chimala (ant) is of common occurrence. Members
of the gummadi sept do not cultivate, or eat the fruit of Cucurbita
maxima (gummadi), and those of the magili pula gotra avoid the fruit
of Pandanus fascicularis. In like manner, sword beans (Canavalia
ensiformis) may not be eaten by those who belong to the thamballa
gotra.

Among the sub-divisions of the caste are Reddi Bhumi (Reddi earth),
Murikinati, Pakanati (eastern country), Desa, and Golkonda. Of these,
some are also sub-divisions of other Telugu classes, as follows:--

Desa or Desur Balija--Kapu.

Murikinati or Murikinadu--Kamsala, Mangala, Mala and Razu.

Pakanati--Balija, Golla, Kamsala, Kapu, and Mala.

Reddi Bhumi--Mala, Mangala.

At the census, 1891, Odde was recorded as a sub-division of
the Tsakalas, and it is noted in the Vizagapatam Manual (1869)
that the Vadde or Odde Cakali wash clothes, and carry torches
in that district. The name Odde Tsakala refers to Oriya-speaking
washermen. Telugus call the Oriya country Odra or Odde desam and
Oriyas Odra or Odde Vandlu.

Like the Tamil Vannans, the Tsakalas prepare for various castes torches
for processional or other ceremonial occasions, and the face cloth,
and paddy piled up at the head of a corpse, are their perquisite. The
Reddi Bhumi and other sub-divisions wash the clothes of all classes,
except Malas and Madigas, while the Desa and Golkonda sub-divisions
will wash for both Malas and Madigas, provided that the clothes are
steeped in water, and not handed to them, but left therein, to be taken
by the washerman. Every village has its families of washermen, who, in
return for their services, receive an allowance of grain once a year,
and may have land allotted to them. Whenever a goat or fowl has to
be sacrificed to a deity, it is the privilege of the Tsakala to cut
off the head, or wring the neck of the animal. When Kapu women go on
a visit to a distant village, they are accompanied by a Tsakala. At
a Kapu wedding, a small party of Kapus, taking with them some food
and gingelly (Sesamum) oil, proceed in procession to the house of a
Tsakala, in order to obtain from him a framework made of bamboo or
sticks, over which cotton threads (dhornam) are wound, and the Ganga
idol, which is kept in his custody. The food is presented to him,
and some rice poured into his cloth. Receiving these things, he says
that he cannot find the dhornam and idol without a torch-light, and
demands gingelly oil. This is given to him, and the Kapus return with
the Tsakala carrying the dhornam and idol to the marriage house. The
Tsakala is asked to tie the dhornam to the pandal (marriage booth)
or roof of the house, and he demands some paddy (unhusked rice) which
is heaped up on the ground. Standing thereon, he ties the dhornam. At
a Panta Kapu wedding, the Ganga idol, together with a goat and kavadi
(bamboo pole), with baskets of rice, cakes, betel leaves and areca
nuts, is carried in procession to a pond or temple. The washerman,
dressed up as a woman, heads the procession, and keeps on dancing
and singing till the destination is reached. At the conclusion of the
ceremonial, he takes charge of the idol, and goes his way. Among the
Panta Reddis of the Tamil country, the idol is taken in procession by
the washerman, who goes to every Reddi house, and receives a present
of money. At a wedding among the Idigas (Telugu toddy-drawers), the
brother of the bride is fantastically dressed, with margosa (Melia
Azadirachta) leaves in his turban, and carries a bow and arrow. This
kodangi (buffoon) is conducted in procession to the temple by a few
married women, and made to walk over cloths spread on the ground by
the village washerman. The cloth worn by a Kapu girl at the time of
her first menstrual ceremony is the perquisite of the washerwoman.

The tribal deity of the Tsakalas is Madivalayya, in whose honour a
feast, called Mailar or Mailar Pandaga, is held in January immediately
after the Pongal festival. Small models of pots, slabs of stone such
as are used for beating the wet clothes on, and other articles used
in their work, are made in rice and flour paste. After they have been
worshipped, fruits, cooked vegetables, etc., are offered, and a sheep
or goat is sacrificed. Some of its blood is mixed with the food, of
which a little is sprinkled over the pots, stones, etc., used during
washing operations. If this ceremonial was not observed, it is believed
that the clothes, when boiling in the water pot, would catch fire, and
be ruined. The festival, which is not observed by the Desa and Golkonda
Tsakalas, lasts for five or seven days, and is a time of holiday.

At the first menstrual ceremony, the maternal uncle of the girl has
to erect a hut made of seven different kinds of sticks, of which one
must be from a Strychnos Nux-vomica tree. The details of the marriage
ceremony are very similar to those of the Balijas and Kammas. The
distribution of pan-supari, and the tying of the dhornam to the pandal
must be carried out by an assistant headman called Gatamdar. On the
last day, a goat or sheep is sacrificed to the marriage pots. Liberal
potations of toddy are given to those who attend the wedding.

The Tsakalas have a caste beggar called Mailari, or Patam, because
he carries a brass plate (patam) with the figure of a deity engraved
on it. He is said to be a Lingayat.

Tsalla or Challa (butter-milk).--An exogamous sept of Mala.

Tsanda or Chanda (tax or subscription).--An exogamous sept of Kamma
and Medara.

Tulabharam.--In his description [66] of the Tulabharam or
Tulapurushadanam ceremony performed by the Maharajas of Travancore,
Mr. Shungoony Menon explains that the latter word is a compound
of three Sanskrit words, tula (scales), purusha (man), and danam
(gift, particularly of a religious character). And he gives the
following description of the ceremonial, for the performance of
which a Tulamandapam is erected, wherein the scales are set up,
and the weighing and other rites performed. On the eighth day
"after worshipping and making offerings, the Maharaja proceeds to
the Tulamandapam, where, in the south-east corner, he is sprinkled
with punyaham water. Then he goes to the side room, where the 'nine
grains' are sown in silver flower pots, where the acharya anoints
him with nine fresh-water kalasas. Thence the Maharaja retires to
the palace, changes clothes, wears certain jewels specially made
for the occasion, and, holding the State sword in his right hand
and the State shield in his left, he proceeds to the pagoda; and,
having presented a bull elephant at the foot of the great golden
flagstaff, and silks, gold coins, jewels and other rich offerings in
the interior, he walks round by the Sevaimandapam, and re-enters the
Tulamandapam. He walks thrice round the scales, prostrates himself
before it, bows before the priests and elderly relatives, and obtains
their sanction to perform the Tulapurushadanam. He then mounts the
western scale, holding Yama's and Surya's pratimas in his right and
left hand respectively. He sits facing to the east on a circular heavy
plank cut out of fresh jack-wood (Artocarpus integrifolia), and covered
with silk. He repeats mantras (prayers) in this position. The opposite
or eastern scale then receives the gold, both coined and in ingots,
till it not only attains equality but touches the ground, and the scale
occupied by the Maharaja rises high. The Maharaja then comes down, and,
sitting facing to the east, places the gold, the Tulupurusha pratima
and other pratimas, with flowers, sandal paste, etc., in a basin of
water, and, meditating on Brahma or the Supreme Being, he offers the
contents to Brahmans generically." Of the gold placed in the scale,
one-fourth is divided among the priests who conduct the ceremony, and
the remaining three-fourths are distributed among Brahmans. For use
in connection with the ceremony, gold coins, called tulabhara kasu,
are specially struck. They bear on one side the Malayalam legend Sri
Padmanabha, and on the other a chank shell.

In connection with the tulabharam ceremony as performed at the temple
of Kali, the goddess of cholera and small-pox at Cranganore in the
Cochin State, Mr. T. K. Gopal Panikkar writes as follows. [67] "When
a man is taken ill of any infectious disease, his relations generally
pray to this goddess for his recovery, solemnly covenanting to perform
what goes by the name of a thulabharam ceremony. The process consists
in placing the patient in one of the scale-pans of a huge balance,
and weighing him against gold or more generally pepper (and sometimes
other substances as well) deposited in the other scale-pan. Then
this weight of the substance is offered to the goddess. This is to
be performed right in front of the goddess in the temple yard."

In connection with weighing ceremonies, it may be noted that, at Mulki
in South Canara, there is a temple of Venkateswara, which is maintained
by Konkani Brahmans. A Konkani Brahman, who is attached to the temple,
becomes inspired almost daily between 10 and 11 A.M. immediately after
puja (worship), and people consult him. Some time ago, a rich merchant
(a Baniya from Gujarat) consulted the inspired man (Darsana) as to what
steps should be taken to enable his wife to be safely delivered. The
Darsana told him to take a vow that he would present to the god of the
temple silver, sugar-candy, and date fruits, equal in weight to that of
his wife. This he did, and his wife was delivered of a male child. The
cost of the ceremonial is said to have been five thousand rupees.

Tulabina.--The Tulabinas are a class of cotton-cleaners, who are
scattered over the Ganjam district, and said to be more numerous in
Cuttack. It is suggested that the name is derived from tula, the beam
of a balance, and bina (or vina) a stringed musical instrument. The
apparatus used by them in cleaning cotton, which bears a fanciful
resemblance to a vina, is suspended by a rope so that it is properly
balanced, and the gut-string thereof struck with a dumb-bell shaped
implement, to set it vibrating.

Tulasi (Ocimum sanctum, sacred basil).--A sub-division of Velama,
and gotra of Komati. The tulsi plant is planted in Hindu houses and
worshipped by women, and the wood is made into beads for rosaries.

Tulukkar (Turks).--A Tamil name sometimes applied to Muhammadans.

Tuluva.--Tulu, Tuluva, or Tuluvan occurs as the name of a sub-division
of the Tamil Vellalas, and of the Agasas, Billavas, Gaudas, Kumbaras,
and other classes in South Canara. The equivalent Tulumar is recorded
as a sub-caste of Mavilan, which speaks Tulu.

Concerning the Tuluva Vellalas, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes [68] that
these are immigrants from the Tulu country, a part of the modern
district of South Canara. Mr. Nelson is of opinion that these are
the original Vellalas, who were invited to Tondamandalam after its
conquest by the Chola king Adondai Chakravarti. [69]

Tunnaran (tailor).--An occupational sub-division of Nayar.

Tupakala.--Tupakala or Tupaki (gun) has been recorded as an exogamous
sept of Balija, Kavarai, and Yanadi.

Turaka.--Recorded as a sept of Kuruba. It is further a Telugu name
sometimes applied to Muhammadans. There is also a thief class, known
as Bhattu Turaka. (See Bhatrazu.)

Turuvalar.--Recorded in the Salem Manual as a caste name, by which
some of the Vedans call themselves. "The Turuvalar are distinguished
as the Kattukudugirajati, a name derived from a custom among them
which authorizes informal temporary matrimonial arrangements."

U

Udasi.--A few members of this Central India sect of religious
mendicants and devotees have been returned at times of census. It is
said to have been founded three hundred years ago by one Gopaldas.

Udaiya.--Udaiya, meaning lord, is the title of many well-to-do
Lingayats and of some Jains, and Udaiya or Wodeiyar occurs as the name
of a Lingayat sub-division of the Badagas of the Niligiri hills. The
Maharajas of Mysore belong to the Wodeiyar dynasty, which was restored
after the Muhammadan usurpation of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan. The
name of the present Maharaja is Sri Krishna Raja Wodeiyar Bahadur.

Udaiyan.--It is noted in the Madras Census Report, 1891, that "the
four Tamil castes Nattaman, Malaiman, Sudarman (or Suruthiman), and
Udaiyan are closely connected. The last is probably a title rather
than a caste, and is the usual agnomen of the Nattamans, Malaimans,
and Sudarmans, as also of the potter caste (Kusavan). Nattaman means a
man of the plains, Malaiman a man of the hills, and Sudarman one who
does good, a hero. Nattampadi is another form of Nattaman. Tradition
traces the descent of the three castes from a certain Deva Raja,
a Chera king, who had three wives, by each of whom he had a son,
and these were the ancestors of the three castes. There are other
stories, but all agree in ascribing the origin of the castes to
a single progenitor of the Chera dynasty. It seems probable that
they are descendants of the Vedar soldiers of the Kongu country,
who were induced to settle in the eastern districts of the Chera
kingdom. Additional evidence of the important position they once
held is afforded by the titles Pandariyar, Pandarattar (custodians
of the treasury), which some of them still use. Some of them again
are locally styled Poligars (Palayakkaran) by the ordinary ryots,
and the title Kavalgar is not infrequent."

In a note on the Udaiyans, Malaiyamans, Nattamans, and Sudarmans of the
Trichinopoly district, Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes as follows. "Though,
in the Census Report, 1901, they are shown as separate castes, in this
district they are endogamous sub-divisions of one and the same caste,
namely the Udaiyans. The three sub-divisions are unanimous in saying
that they are the descendants of the three Paraiyan foster-daughters
of the poetess Auvaiyar, all of whom became the wives of the king
of Tirukkoyilur in South Arcot, a certain Daivika, who was warned
that only by marrying these women could he save his family from
disaster. The Chola, Pandya, and Chera kings were present at the
wedding, and, on their blessing the bridegroom and his brides, they
were themselves blessed by the poetess, to whom the Chera kingdom
owes its unfailing rain, the Chola country its rice fields, and the
Pandyan realm its cotton. The poorness of the last blessing is due to
the fact that the Pandya king was slow to offer his good wishes. The
three sub-divisions eat together, and recognise the tie of a common
descent, but do not intermarry. The section called Arisakkara
Nattaman is looked down upon by the rest, and may not intermarry
with any of them. All have well-defined exogamous sub-divisions,
called kanis, derived from places where their different ancestors
are supposed to have lived, e.g., Kolattur, Kannanur, Ariyalur. The
Udaiyans put on sacred threads at marriages and funerals, and some
of them have recently begun to wear them always. They are generally
cultivators, and, with the exception of the Sudarmans, who are
supposed to have a turn for crime, are law-abiding citizens. One
section of the Sudarmans, the Muppans of Kapistalam in Tanjore,
have a bad reputation for criminality. A curious practice is that,
before arranging a marriage, it is customary for the bride's party to
go to the bridegroom's house, to dine with him, and test his health
by seeing how much he can eat. They allow a boy, whose suit for the
hand of a girl within certain degrees of relationship is refused by
her parents, to marry the girl, notwithstanding, by tying a tali
(marriage emblem) round her neck. They also permit the betrothal
of infants, the form observed being to present the child with a new
cloth and a mat, and to apply sacred ashes to its forehead. At their
funerals, the mourning party has to chew some rice and spit it out
on the return from the burning-ground, and, on the sixteenth day,
the widow is made to worship a light, and to touch a salt pot. The
Nattaman women do not, as a rule, cover their breasts. The lobes of
their ears are very distended, and they tattoo their chins and cheeks
in the Paraiyan fashion. This is supposed to be in recollection of
their origin. The Malaiyaman women wear their tali on a golden wire
instead of on a thread."

"The Udaiyans," Mr. Francis writes, [70] are a caste, which is
specially numerous in South Arcot. Most of them are cultivators, and
in Kallakurchi many are also money-lenders on a large scale. They
adopt numerous different titles in an indiscriminate way, and four
brothers have been known to call themselves respectively Nayak, Pillai,
Mudali, and Udaiyan. They have three sub-divisions--Malaiyaman,
Nattaman, and Sudarman--which all admit that they are descended
from one common stock, will usually dine together, but do not
intermarry. Some of the caste, however, are now turning vegetarians,
and these will not only not eat with the others, but will not let
their girls marry them. They do not, nevertheless, object to their
sons taking brides from the meat-eating classes, and thus provide
an interesting, if small, instance of the (on this coast) uncommon
practice of hypergamy. In all general matters the ways of the three
sub-divisions are similar. Sudarmans are uncommon in this district,
and are stated to be chiefly found in Trichinopoly and Tanjore. The
Udaiyans say that the three groups are the descendants of a king
who once ruled at Tirukkoyilur, the first of whom took the hilly
part of his father's country, and so was called Malaiyaman; the
second the level tracts, whence his name Nattaman, and the third was
the scholar of the family, and learned in the holy books (srutas),
and so was called Sudarman. These Udaiyans are the caste from which
were drawn some of the kavalgars (watchmen) who, in pre-British days,
were appointed to perform police duties, and keep the country clear
of thieves; and some of the descendants of these men, who are known
to their neighbours as poligars, and still have considerable local
influence, are even now to be met with. The connection of the members
of the caste with the Vepur (criminal) Paraiyans, which is of course
confined to the less reputable sections among them, seems to have had
its origin in the days when they were still head kavalgars, and these
Paraiyans were their talaiyaris, entrusted, under their orders, with
police duties in the different villages. It now consists in acting as
receivers of the property these people steal, and in protecting them
in diverse ways--finding and feeing a vakil (law pleader) for their
defence, for instance--when they are in trouble with the police. It
is commonly declared that their relations are sometimes of a closer
nature, and that the wives of Veppur Paraiyans who are in enforced
retirement are cared for by the Udaiyans. To this is popularly
attributed the undoubted fact that these Paraiyans are often much
fairer in complexion than other members of that caste."

The village of Mangalam in the South Arcot district is "chiefly
interesting on account of its being the only village in the
district where buffalo sacrifices on any scale are still regularly
made. Buffaloes are dedicated to the Kali shrine in Mangalam even
by persons in the Salem, Tanjore and Trichinopoly districts, and the
village is commonly known as Maduvetti Mangalam, or buffalo-sacrificing
Mangalam. When a man or any of his belongings gets seriously sick,
he consecrates an animal to this shrine, and, if the illness ends
favourably, it is sent to its fate at the temple on the date of the
annual sacrifice (May-June). When the buffalo is dedicated, a piece
of saffron-coloured cloth, in which is placed some small coin and
a cadjan (palm) leaf containing an announcement of the dedication,
is tied to its horns, and it is allowed to roam wherever it likes
through the fields. On the day of the sacrifice, fourteen of the
best of the animals which have been dedicated and brought to the
temple are selected, and seven of them are tied to an equal number
of stone posts in front of the goddess' shrine. The pujari (priest),
who is an Udaiyan by caste, then walks down the line, and beheads
them one after the other. The goddess is next taken round on a car,
and, on her return to the temple, the other seven buffaloes are
similarly killed. The animals which are not selected are sold, and
the proceeds paid into the temple treasury. There are two images in
the temple, one of Kali, and the other, which is placed at the back
of the shrine, of Mangalayachi. The latter goddess does not approve
of animal sacrifices, and, while the above ceremonies are proceeding,
a blanket is hung in front of her so that she may not see them." [71]

It is noted by Bishop Whitehead that, a few years ago, an untoward
event occurred in connection with a Pidari festival at a village in the
Trichinopoly district. "The festival had commenced, and the pujari had
tied the kapu (cord dyed with turmeric) on his wrist, when a dispute
arose between the trustees of the shrine, which caused the festival
to be stopped. The dispute could not be settled, and the festival was
suspended for three years, and, during all that time, there could be
no marriages among the Udaya caste, while the poor pujari, with the
kapu on his wrist, had to remain the whole of the three years in the
temple, not daring to go out lest Pidari in her wrath should slay him."

It is recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, that "the Nattamans
say they originally settled in South Arcot, and then spread to Tanjore
and Trichinopoly, and finally to Madura, and this theory is supported
by the fact that they have fifteen exogamous sub-divisions called
kanis or fields, which are all named after villages (e.g., Ariyalur,
Puththur) in the first three of these districts. A man has a right
to marry the daughter of his father's sister, and, if she is given
to another man, the father's sister has to return to her father or
brother the dowry which she received at the time of her marriage,
and this is given to the man who had the claim upon the girl. The
same custom occurs among the Kuravans and the Kallans. The eldest
son in each family has to be named after the god of the village which
gives its name to the kani or sept to which the family belongs, and
the child is usually taken to that village to be named. Marriage is
infant or adult. Widow marriage is forbidden. Brahmans are employed
for ceremonies, but these are not received on terms of equality by
other Brahmans. Both cremation and burial are practised. Vellalas will
eat with Nattamans. The caste title is Udaiyan." Another title is
Nayinar, which is also used by Pallis and Jains. There is a proverb
"Nattumuththinal Nayinar", i.e., when the Nattaman ripens, he is a
Nayinar. At the census, 1901, some Nattamans returned themselves as
Natramiludaiyan, meaning the repository of chaste Tamil; and Ur-Udaiyan
(lord of a village) was given as their caste name. Nattaman also
occurs as a sub-division of the Pallis.

Under the name Nattamadi, the Nattamans are described in the Tanjore
Manual as "peasant population. Some are ryotwari land-holders in
their own right and possess large estates. The word is derived from
nattam, village, and is used in three forms, Nattamakkal, Nattamar,
and Nattamadi. A considerable proportion are converts to the Roman
Catholic religion, and, in the neighbourhood of Vallam, there are
very few who profess any other faith." In the Madura Manual, the
Nattambadiyans are further described as being "usually respectable
cultivators. They are said to have emigrated into the Madura country
not more than about eight years ago. They are an interesting class of
Tamils, inasmuch as very many of them have adopted the Roman Catholic
faith under the leadership of the Jesuit missionaries. They are said to
be a fine race physically; finer even than the Vellalans. They are also
called Udaiyans, and tradition says that they came from the Toreiyur
nadu or district in Tanjore, from a village called Udeiyapaleiyam. They
are chiefly resident in the great zamindaris, and contrast favourably
with the Maravans, being very orderly, frugal, and industrious."

I am informed that Nattaman women will do cooly work and carry food
for their husbands when at work in the fields, but that Malaiman
women will not do so.

The Sudarmans are described, in the Madras Census Report, 1901,
as "cultivators chiefly found in the districts of Tanjore and
Trichinopoly. They are imitating the Brahmans and Vellalas in
their social customs, and some of them have left off eating meat,
with the idea of raising themselves in general estimation; but they
nevertheless eat in the houses of Kallans and Idaiyans. Their title
is Muppan." Some Sudarmans, I am told, have become Agamudaiyans.

Uddari.--A synonym for the village Taliyari.

Uddu (Phaseolus Mungo).--An exogamous sept of Kappiliyan.

Udhdhandra.--A title conferred by Zamindars on some Kurumos.

Uduma.--Uduma or Udumala, meaning the lizard Varanus, has been recorded
as an exogamous sept of Boya, Kapu, Tottiyan, and Yanadi.

Ugrani.--A village servant in South Canara, appointed to watch
the store-rooms (ugrana), e.g., the village granary, treasury, or
bhuta-sthana. In 1907, the powers of village policeman were conferred
on the Ugrani, who now wears a brass badge on his arm, with the words
Village Police in the vernacular engraved on it. It is the duty of
the Ugrani to report the following to the village magistrate:--

1. The commission of grave crimes, such as theft, house-breaking,
robbery, dacoity, accidental deaths, suicides, etc.

2. The existence of disputes in connection with landed property,
likely to give occasion to any fight or rioting.

3. The arrival of Fakirs, Bairagis, or other strangers in the village.

4. The arrival or residence in the village of any person whom the
villagers suspect to be a bad character.

5. The commission of mischief in respect of any public property, such
as roads, road avenues, bridges, cattle pounds, Government trees on
unreserved lands, etc.

Uliyakaran.--A synonym, denoting menial servant, of Parivaram.

Ulladan.--It is recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901,
that "the Ullatans and Nayatis are found in the low country, as well
as on the hills. At a remote period, certain Ullata families from
the plains settled themselves at Talpurakkotta near Sabarimala, and
even to-day pilgrims to Sabarimala consider this place as sacred. In
the low country, the offerings to the same deities as the Ullatans
worship are offered by the Valans. Hence the Ullatans were called by
them Kochchuvalans. The place near Sabarimala where they once dwelt is
known as Kochuvalakkuti, or the cottage of the Kochchuvalan. Most of
these Ullatans have left this place for fear of wild beasts, and are
now straying in the woods with no fixed abode. It is said that they
are the descendants from a Nambutiri woman, who, on being proclaimed
an outcast, said Ullatana, meaning that (the offence for which she
was ostracised) is true. [According to another derivation, the name
is derived from ull, within, and otunnu, runs, and means one who runs
away into the forest at the sight of a member of any of the higher
castes.] They are good hunters, and experts in the collection of wax
and other forest produce. A curious marriage custom, prevalent among
them, is thus related by Dr. Day. 'A large round building is made
of leaves, and inside this the bride is ensconced. All the eligible
young men of the village then assemble, and form a ring round this
hut. At a short distance sits the girl's father or the nearest male
relative with tom-tom in his hands, and a few more musical instruments
complete the scene. Presently the music begins. The young men, each
armed with a bamboo, commence dancing round the hut, into which each of
them thrusts his stick. This continues about an hour, when the owner
of whichever bamboo she seizes becomes the fortunate husband of the
concealed bride. A feast then follows.' [72] They subsist chiefly on
fruits, wild yams, and other forest products, and eke out a wretched
existence. When armed with guns, they make excellent sportsmen."

It is noted by the Rev. S. Mateer [73] that the Ulladans "subsist
chiefly on wild yams, arrowroot, and other esculents, which they find
in the jungle, and for the grubbing up of which they are generally
armed with a long pointed staff. They also further enjoy the fruits
of the chase, and are adepts in the use of the bow and arrow. The
arrow they use has an iron spear-head, and an Ulladan has been known
to cut a wriggling cobra in half at the first shot. They were claimed
as the property of celebrated hill temples, or great proprietors, who
exacted service of them, and sometimes sold their services to Nairs,
Syrians, and others. A few Ulladans in the low country say they or
their fathers were stolen in childhood, and brought down as slaves."

At Kottayam in Travancore, I came across a party of Ulladans carrying
cross-bows. These were said to be used for catching fish in rivers,
lagoons, and tanks. The arrow is between two and three feet in length,
and has an iron hook at one end. Attached to it is a thin but strong
string, one end of which is tied to the hook, while the other end
passes through a small hole in the wooden part of the arrow, and is
fastened to the cross-bar of the bow. This string is about thirty feet
in length, and serves not only to drag the captured fish out of the
water, and land it, but also to prevent the arrow from being lost. The
origin of the cross-bow, which I have not found in the possession of
any other tribe, puzzled me until the word Firingi was mentioned in
connection with it. The use of this word would seem to indicate that
the cross-bow is a survival from the days of the Portuguese on the
west coast, Firingi (a Frank) or Parangi being used by Natives for
European or Portuguese.

For the following note on the Ulladans of the Cochin State, I
am indebted to Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer. [74] "Their huts
are situated in the forest of the plains, by the side of paddy
(rice) flats, or in cocoanut gardens remote from those of the
members of the higher castes. Only Christian Moplahs are found in
the neighbourhood. Their huts are erected on short bamboo posts,
the roof and four sides of which are covered with plaited cocoanut
leaves. A bamboo framework, of the same leaves, serves the purpose of
a door. A few plaited cocoanut leaves, and a mat of their own weaving,
form the only furniture, and serve as beds for them at night. Their
vessels in domestic use consist of a few earthen pots for cooking and
keeping water in, and a few shallow earthen dishes, from which they
drink water, and take their food. Some large pieces of the bark of the
areca palm, containing salt, chillies, etc., were also seen by me. What
little they possess as food and clothing is placed in small baskets
suspended from the framework of the roof by means of wooden hooks.

"The caste assembly consists of the elderly members of the caste. There
is a headman, who is called Muppan, and he has an assistant who
is known as Ponamban. The headman has to preside at all marriage
and funeral ceremonies, and to decide all disputes connected with
the caste. The caste assembly meets chiefly to deal with cases of
immorality. The guilty parties are summoned before the assembly. The
headman, who presides, inquires into the matter, and, in the event
of the accused parties confessing their guilt, they are taken before
His Highness the Raja, who is informed of the circumstances. The male
culprit is sometimes beaten or fined. The woman is given some water
or the milk of a green cocoanut, and this is supposed to set her free
from all sin. When a fine is imposed, it is sometimes spent on the
purchase of toddy, which is shared among the castemen present. The
headman gets a few puthans (Cochin coins) for his trouble.

"In religion, the Ulladans are pure animists or demon worshippers. All
cases of sickness, and other calamities, are attributed to the
malignant influence of demons, whom it is necessary to propitiate. They
worship Kappiri, Thikutti, and Chathan, all of whom are represented
by a few stones placed under a thatched roof called kottil. Offerings
of rice flour, sheep, fowls, toddy, rice, cocoanuts and plantains,
are given on Fridays in the month of Kanni (September-October). One
of the castemen acts as Velichapad (oracle), and speaks as if by
inspiration. He also casts out demons from the bodies of women who are
believed to be influenced by them. When he resumes his former self,
he takes half the offerings to himself, allowing the other half for
distribution among the bystanders. They also worship the spirits of
the departed members of their families, who, they think, sometimes
appear to them in dreams, and ask them for whatever they want. They
believe that, in the event of their neglecting to give what is asked,
these spirits will cause serious calamity to their family.

"The Ulladans generally bury their dead in special places called
chotala, but some of them bury the corpse a few yards away from their
huts. The young are buried deep in the ground, while the old ones are
buried not so deep. The dead body is placed on a new piece of cloth
spread on a bamboo bier, which is carried by the relatives to the
grave-yard. The castemen of the neighbourhood, including the relations
and friends of the deceased, accompany the bier to the burial-ground,
and return home after bathing. The members of the family fast for
the night. They observe pollution for fifteen days, and, on the
morning of the sixteenth day, the Thalippan (barber priest) comes
and cleans the huts and its surrounding, and sprinkles cow-dung mixed
with water on the members of the family as they return from bathing,
in order that they may be freed from pollution. They entertain their
castemen on that day. It is a custom among the Ulladans, Pulayas,
and other low classes, that, when they are invited to a feast,
they bring with them some rice, curry stuffs, toddy, or a few annas
to meet the expenses of the feast. Very often the above articles
are obtained as a gift from the charitably disposed members of the
higher castes. At the end of the year, a similar feast is given to
the castemen. Among the Ulladans, the nephew is the chief mourner,
for he usually succeeds to the property of the dead, and proves his
right of ownership by acting as the chief mourner.

"The Ulladans on the sea-coast make boats, and cut timber. Their
brethren in the interior gather honey, and collect minor forest
produce, and sell it to contractors. During the agricultural season,
they engage in every kind of agricultural work, such as ploughing,
sowing, transplanting, reaping, etc. They also graze the cattle of
the farmers. They get a few annas worth of paddy (unhusked rice)
for their labour. For most of the months in the year they are in
a half-starving condition, and resort to eating wild roots, and
animals, which they can get hold of (e.g., rats, tortoises, fish,
or crocodiles). They know where rats are to be found. They thrust
a long stick into their holes, moving it so violently as to kill
them there, or forcing them to come out, when they catch and kill
them. Very often in the rural parts, both men and women are found
with long poles ready to be thrust into any holes there may be by
the side of a fence, or where bamboos are growing luxuriantly. They
also catch crocodiles. They place the carcase of a fowl, sheep, or
other animal, on the bank of a canal, or by the side of a tank where
crocodiles are to be found. Into it is thrust a pointed piece of iron,
fastened to a long cord. When a crocodile comes out of the water to
eat it, or tries to get away with it, the piece of iron is fixed
firmly into its mouth, upon which the Ulladans, who are watching,
approach and kill it with their clubs and knives. They catch fish
by means of bait, and by poisoning the water. They are also very
skilful in spearing fish swimming near the surface. They are more
trackers of game than hunters, and very often accompany Moplahs, who
go out hunting to provide themselves with meat of all kinds for feasts
during their weddings. The Ulladans are engaged only as beaters. For
this service, they are given meals during the wedding, in addition
to three annas worth of paddy for each beater. They are armed with
clubs, and seldom go with dogs, fearing that they may drive away the
game. When any animal is killed in hunting, the right side of the
back of the animal goes to the Government. It is given to the Forest
Officer, who auctions it, and the money obtained is sent to the taluk
treasury. The left side of the back goes to the member of the party
who shoots the animal. He also gets the face with the tongue. The
headman among the Ulladans also gets a share. The remainder of the
carcase is equally divided among the members who have formed the
party. Should any dispute arise regarding the division of the game,
the man who shoots the animal is entrusted with the settlement of the
dispute, and his decision is final. In cases where the hunting party
is organised by the Moplahs, the Ulladans get wages and meals for their
trouble. In places where elephant pits are dug, hunting is forbidden.

"As regards their social status, the Ulladans, like the Nayadis,
form the Chandalas of the plains. Their approach to within a radius
of sixty-four feet pollutes Brahmans, and all higher castes, including
the Sudras (Nayars). The Ulladans cannot walk along the public roads,
or come to the bazaars. Nor can they approach the precincts of any town
or locality where the members of higher castes reside. The Pulayas
and Parayas profess to be polluted by them. It is curious to note
that the Ullada women consider it degrading to go to work like the
Pulaya woman. They say that their husbands have to provide for them."

Ulli (onions or garlic).--A sub-division of the Tigala
market-gardeners. The equivalent Ullipoyala occurs as an exogamous
sept of Golla, and Ulligadda as a sept of Boya and Korava.

Ulumban.--It is recorded in the Gazetteer of Malabar that "an
endogamous sub-caste (of Nayars) of foreign origin are the Ulumbans or
cowherds. According to one tradition, they were originally immigrants
from Dvaraka (Guzerat). Their original occupation still survives in the
privileges of supplying ghee (clarified butter) for the abhishegam or
libation at the great annual festival at the jungle shrine of Kottiyur,
and of supplying butter-milk to the Tiruvangad temple at Tellicherry,
which are exercised by families of this caste; and in the general
privilege of offering milk in any temple without previous ablution."

Uluvala (seeds of horse-gram: Dolichos biflorus).--An exogamous sept
of Boya and Jogi.

Ungara.--Ungara and Ungarala, meaning rings, have been recorded as
exogamous septs of Balija and Kuruba.

Unittiri.--Unittiri, or Unyatiri, meaning, it is said, venerable boy,
has been recorded as a sub-division of Samantam. Unnittan appears,
in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a title of Nayars, and is
said to be derived from unni, small, tan, a title of dignity.

Unnekankana.--A sub-division of Kurubas, who tie a woollen thread
(unne kankana) round the wrist at times of marriage.

Unni.--For the following note on the Unnis of Travancore, I am indebted
to Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar. The word Unni, whatever its significance may
have been of old, at present forms the common title of four castes of
the Ambalavasi group, whose manners and custom differ considerably in
their details. They are known, respectively, as Pushpakans, Brahmanis,
Tiyattunnis, and Nattu Pattars, their social precedence being in this
order. Pushpakan comes from pushpa, which in Sanskrit means either
a flower or menses. Brahmanis, more vulgarly known as Pappinis,
are so named because they perform some of the priestly functions of
the Brahmans for the Sudra population of Travancore. Tiyattunnis,
also known as Taiyampatis in British Malabar, are so called from the
peculiar religious service they perform in some Hindu temples. Nattu
Pattars are also known as Pattar Unnis and Karappuram Unnis. Unni means
a child, and is used as an honorific term to denote the male children
of a Nambutiri's household. The reason why these Ambalavasi castes came
to be so called was that they were looked upon as more respectable than
the Nayars, by whom the term must doubtless have been made use of at
first. The Pushpakans are said to be divided into three classes, namely
Pushpakans, Nambiassans, and Puppallis. The first section live only
as far south as Evur in Central Travancore, and are called Nambiyars
in the north. The Nambiyassans live in Cochin and North Travancore,
while the Puppallis are found only towards the south. There are
no sub-divisions among the Brahmanis and Karappuramunnis. But the
Tiyattunnis are divided into two classes, namely the Tiyatinambiyans
of the north, who are generally employed in the temples of Sastha,
and Tiyattunnis proper, who perform a similar function in the shrines
of Bhadrakali. Women are also known as Atovarammamar and Kovillammamar.

Pushpakans are said to have arisen out of the union of a Brahman