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
is attached a tuft of peacock's feathers. On returning to the post,
which is always placed near the village deity called Zakaree Pennoo,
and represented by three stones, near which the brass effigy in
the shape of a peacock is buried, they kill a hog in sacrifice and,
having allowed the blood to flow into a pit prepared for the purpose,
the victim, who, if it has been found possible, has been previously
made senseless from intoxication, is seized and thrown in, and his
face pressed down until he is suffocated in the bloody mire amid the
noise of instruments. The Zanee then cuts a piece of flesh from the
body, and buries it with ceremony near the effigy and village idol,
as an offering to the earth. All the rest afterwards go through the
same form, and carry the bloody prize to their villages, where the
same rites are performed, part being interred near the village idol,
and little bits on the boundaries. The head and face remain untouched,
and the bones, when bare, are buried with them in the pit. After this
horrid ceremony has been completed, a buffalo calf is brought in front
of the post, and, his forefeet having been cut off, is left there till
the following day. Women, dressed in male attire and armed as men, then
drink, dance and sing round the spot, the calf is killed and eaten,
and the Zanee is dismissed with a present of rice and a hog or calf."
In the same year, Mr. Arbuthnot, Collector of Vizagapatam, reported as
follows. "Of the hill tribe Codooloo, there are said to be two distinct
classes, the Cotia Codooloo and Jathapoo Codooloo. The former class
is that which is in the habit of offering human sacrifices to the god
called Jenkery, with a view to secure good crops. This ceremony is
generally performed on the Sunday preceding or following the Pongal
feast. The victim is seldom carried by force, but procured by purchase,
and there is a fixed price for each person, which consists of forty
articles such as a bullock, a male buffalo, a cow, a goat, a piece of
cloth, a silk cloth, a brass pot, a large plate, a bunch of plantains,
etc. The man who is destined for the sacrifice is carried before the
god, and a small quantity of rice coloured with saffron (turmeric)
is put upon his head. The influence of this is said to prevent his
attempting to escape, even though set at liberty. It would appear,
however, that, from the moment of his seizure till he is sacrificed,
he is kept in a continued state of stupefaction or intoxication. He
is allowed to wander about the village, to eat and drink anything
he may take a fancy to, and even to have connection with any of the
women whom he may meet. On the morning set apart for the sacrifice,
he is carried before the idol in a state of intoxication. One of the
villagers acts as priest, who cuts a small hole in the stomach of
the victim, and with the blood that flows from the wound the idol is
smeared. Then the crowds from the neighbouring villages rush forward,
and he is literally cut into pieces.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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