'They buy from him the ground for the dead.' This fee is still called in Canarese nela haga, from nela earth, and haga, a coin worth 1 anna 2 pies. In Munzerabad the Kulwadi does not receive this fee from those ryots who are related to the headman. Here the Kulwadi occupies a higher position. He has, in fact, been adopted into the Patel's family, for, on a death occurring in such family, the Kulwadi goes into mourning by shaving his head. He always receives from the friends the clothes the deceased wore, and a brass basin. The Kulwadi, however, owns a superior in the matter of burial fees. He pays yearly a fowl, one hana (4 annas 8 pies), and a handful of rice to the agent of the Sudgadu Siddha, or lord of the burning ground (q.v.)." A Kulwadi, whom I came across, was carrying a brass ladle bearing the figure of a couchant bull (Basava) and a lingam under a many-headed cobra canopy. This ladle is carried round, and filled with rice, money, and betel, on the occasion of marriages in those castes, of which the insignia are engraved on the handle. These insignia were as follows:-- Weavers--Shuttle and brush. Bestha--Fish. Uppara--Spade and basket for collecting salt. Korama--Baskets and knife for splitting canes and bamboos. Idiga--Knife, and apparatus for climbing palm-trees. Hajam--Barber's scissors, razor, and sharpening stone. Ganiga--Oil-press. Madavali--Washerman's pot, fire-place, mallet, and stone. Kumbara--Potter's wheel, pots, and mallet. Vakkaliga--Plough. Chetti--Scales and basket. Kuruba--Sheep-shears. A small whistle, called kola-singanatha, made of gold, silver, or copper, is tied round the neck of some Holeyas, Vakkaligas, Besthas, Agasas and Kurubas, by means of threads of sheep's wool intertwined sixteen times. All these castes are supposed to belong to the family of the God Bhaira, in whose name the whistle is tied by a Bairagi at Chunchingiri near Nagamangala. It is usually tied in fulfilment of a vow taken by the parents, and the ceremony costs from a hundred to two hundred rupees. Until the vow is fulfilled, the person concerned cannot marry. At the ceremony, the Bairagi bores a hole in the right ear-lobe of the celebrant with a needle called diksha churi, and from the wound ten drops of blood fall to the ground (cf. Jogi Purusha). He is then bathed before the whistle is tied round his neck. As the result of wearing the whistle, the man attains to the rank of a priest in his caste, and is entitled to receive alms and meals on festive and ceremonial occasions. He blows his whistle, which emits a thin squeak, before partaking of food, or performing his daily worship.