Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 3 of 7Thurston, Edgar
History
Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 3 of 7
Thurston, Edgar
Caste -- India, South; Ethnology -- India, South; India, South -- Social life and customs; Tribes -- India, South
A riot took place, in 1900, at the village of Korravanivalasa in the
Vizagapatam district, under the following strange circumstances. "A
Konda Dora of this place, named Korra Mallayya, pretended that he
was inspired, and gradually gathered round him a camp of four or
five thousand people from various parts of the agency. At first his
proceedings were harmless enough, but in April he gave out that he
was a re-incarnation of one of the five Pandava brothers; that his
infant son was the god Krishna; that he would drive out the English
and rule the country himself; and that, to effect this, he would arm
his followers with bamboos, which should be turned by magic into guns,
and would change the weapons of the authorities into water. Bamboos
were cut, and rudely fashioned to resemble guns, and armed with
these, the camp was drilled by the Swami (god), as Mallayya had come
to be called. The assembly next sent word that they were going to
loot Pachipenta, and when, on the 1st May, two constables came to
see how matters stood, the fanatics fell upon them, and beat them
to death. The local police endeavoured to recover the bodies, but,
owing to the threatening attitude of the Swami's followers, had to
abandon the attempt. The District Magistrate then went to the place
in person, collected reserve police from Vizagapatam, Parvatipur,
and Jeypore, and at dawn on the 7th May rushed the camp to arrest the
Swami and the other leaders of the movement. The police were resisted
by the mob, and obliged to fire. Eleven of the rioters were killed,
others wounded or arrested, and the rest dispersed. Sixty of them
were tried for rioting, and three, including the Swami, for murdering
the constables. Of the latter, the Swami died in jail, and the other
two were hanged. The Swami's infant son, the god Krishna, also died,
and all trouble ended at once and completely."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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