Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 6 of 7Thurston, Edgar
History
Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 6 of 7
Thurston, Edgar
Caste -- India, South; Ethnology -- India, South; India, South -- Social life and customs; Tribes -- India, South
feasters passed my camp on their way home, some carrying legs and other
large pieces of the sacrificed buffaloes, others trying to dance in a
drunken way, swinging their weapons. During my last visit to Kolakotta,
I witnessed a kind of combination of the Limma and Guar (an uncommon
arrangement there) made owing to peculiar circumstances. A deceased
Saora left no family, and his relatives thought it advisable to get
through his Limma and Guar without delay, so as to run no risk of the
non-performance of these feasts. He had been dead about a month. The
Limma was performed one day, the feast calling together the deceased
ancestors the same evening; and the Guar on the following day. Part of
the Limma was performed in a house. Three men, and a female Kudang sat
in a row; in front of them there was an inverted pot on the ground,
and around it were small leaf cups containing portions of food. All
chanted together, keeping excellent time. Some food in a little leaf
cup was held near the earthen pot, and now and then, as they sang,
passed round it. Some liquor was poured on the food in the leaf cup,
and put on one side for the Kulba. The men drank liquor from the leaf
cups which had been passed round the earthen pot. After some silence
there was a long chant, to call together all spirits of ancestors
who had died violent deaths, and request them to receive the spirit
of the deceased among them; and portions of food and liquor were put
aside for them. Then came another long chant, calling on the Kulbas
of all ancestors to come, and receive the deceased and not to be
angry with him."
It is stated [154] that, in the east of Gunupur, the Savaras commit
much cattle theft, partly, it is said, because custom enjoins big
periodical sacrifices of cattle to their deceased ancestors. In
connection with the Guar festival, Mr. Ramamurti Pantulu writes that
well-to-do individuals offer each one or two animals, while, among
the poorer members of the community, four or five subscribe small sums
for the purchase of a buffalo, and a goat. "There are," he continues,
"special portions of the sacrificed animals, which should, according
to custom, be presented to those that carried the dead bodies to
the grave, as well as to the Boya and Gomong. If a man is hanged,
a string is suspended in the house on the occasion of the Guar, so
that the spirit may descend along it. If a man dies of wounds caused
by a knife or iron weapon, a piece of iron or an arrow is thrust into
a rice-pot to represent the deceased." I gather further that, when a
Savara dies after a protracted illness, a pot is suspended by a string
from the roof of the house. On the ground is placed a pot, supported on
three stones. The pots are smeared with turmeric paste, and contain a
brass box, chillies, rice, onions, and salt. They are regarded as very
sacred, and it is believed that the ancestors sometimes visit them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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