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
When they denied the theft, the
munsif took them to their village god, Karuppan (the black brother),
and made them swear in its presence. They perjured themselves again,
and were let off. Their master quietly questioned them afterwards,
asking them how they dared swear so falsely before their own god, and
to this they replied 'While we were swearing, we were mentally offering
a sacrifice to him of a sheep' (which they subsequently carried out),
to pacify him for the double crime of stealing and perjury."
As a typical example of devil worship, the practice of the Valaiyans
and Kallans of Orattanadu in the Tanjore district is described
by Mr. F. R. Hemingway. [59] "Valaiyan houses have generally an
odiyan (Odina Wodier) tree in the backyard, wherein the devils are
believed to live, and among Kallans every street has a tree for their
accommodation. They are propitiated at least once a year, the more
virulent under the tree itself, and the rest in the house, generally
on a Friday or Monday. Kallans attach importance to Friday in Adi
(July and August), the cattle Pongal day in Tai (January and February),
and Kartigai day in the month Kartigai (November and December). A man,
with his mouth covered with a cloth to indicate silence and purity,
cooks rice in the backyard, and pours it out in front of the tree,
mixed with milk and jaggery (crude sugar). Cocoanuts and toddy are
also placed there. These are offered to the devils, represented in
the form of bricks or mud images placed at the foot of the tree,
and camphor is set alight. A sheep is then brought and slaughtered,
and the devils are supposed to spring one after another from the
tree into one of the bystanders. This man then becomes filled with
the divine afflatus, works himself up into a kind of frenzy, becomes
the mouthpiece of the spirits, pronounces their satisfaction or the
reverse at the offerings, and gives utterance to cryptic phrases,
which are held to foretell good or evil fortune to those in answer
to whom they are made. When all the devils in turn have spoken and
vanished, the man recovers his senses. The devils are worshipped in
the same way in the houses, except that no blood is shed. All alike
are propitiated by animal sacrifices."
The Kallans are stated by Mr. Hemingway to be very fond of
bull-baiting. This is of two kinds. The first resembles the game
played by other castes, except that the Kallans train their animals
for the sport, and have regular meetings, at which all the villagers
congregate. These begin at Pongal, and go on till the end of May. The
sport is called tolu madu (byre bull). The best animals for it are the
Pulikkolam bulls from the Madura district. The other game is called
pachal madu (leaping bull). In this, the animals are tethered to a
long rope, and the object of the competition is to throw the animal,
and keep it down. A bull which is good at the game, and difficult to
throw, fetches a very high price.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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