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
It is noted by Mr. Ramamurti Pantulu that "the Kittungs are ten
in number, and are said to be all brothers. Their names are Bhima,
Rama, Jodepulu, Peda, Rung-rung, Tumanna, Garsada, Jaganta, Mutta,
and Tete. On some occasions, ten figures of men, representing the
Kittungs, are drawn on the walls of a house. Figures of horses and
elephants, the sun, moon and stars, are also drawn below them. The
Boya is also represented. When a woman is childless, or when her
children die frequently, she takes a vow that the Kittungpurpur
ceremony shall be celebrated, if a child is born to her, and grows
in a healthy state. If this comes to pass, a young pig is purchased,
and marked for sacrifice. It is fattened, and allowed to grow till
the child reaches the age of twelve, when the ceremony is performed.
The Madras Museum possesses a series of wooden votive offerings
which were found stacked in a structure, which has been described to
me as resembling a pigeon-cot. The offerings consisted of a lizard
(Varanus), paroquet, monkey, peacock, human figures, dagger, gun,
sword, pick-axe, and musical horn. The Savaras would not sell them
to the district officer, but parted with them on the understanding
that they would be worshipped by the Government.
I gather that, at the sale or transfer of land, the spirits are invoked
by the Boya, and, after the distribution of liquor, the seller or
mortgager holds a pipal (Ficus religiosa) leaf with a lighted wick
in it in his hand, while the purchaser or mortgagee holds another
leaf without a wick. The latter covers the palm of the former with
his leaf, and the terms of the transaction are then announced.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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