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
A long account of a big sacrifice is given by Mr. Fawcett, of which
the following is a summary. The Kudang was a lean individual of about
40 or 45, with a grizzled beard a couple of inches in length. He
had a large bunch of feathers in his hair, and the ordinary Saora
waist-cloth with a tail before and behind. There were tom-toms with
the party. A buffalo was tied up in front of the house, and was to be
sacrificed to a deity who had seized on a young boy, and was giving him
fever. The boy's mother came out with some grain, and other necessaries
for a feed, in a basket on her head. All started, the father of the
boy carrying him, a man dragging the buffalo along, and the Kudang
driving it from behind. As they started, the Kudang shouted out some
gibberish, apparently addressed to the deity, to whom the sacrifice
was to be made. The party halted in the shade of some big trees. They
said that the sacrifice was to the road god, who would go away by the
path after the sacrifice. Having arrived at the place, the woman set
down her basket, the men laid down their axes and the tom-toms, and a
fire was lighted. The buffalo was tied up 20 yards off on the path,
and began to graze. After a quarter of an hour, the father took the
boy in his lap as he sat on the path, and the Kudang's assistant sat
on his left with a tom-tom before him. The Kudang stood before the
father on the path, holding a small new earthen pot in his hand. The
assistant beat the tom-tom at the rate of 150 beats to the minute. The
Kudang held the earthen pot to his mouth, and, looking up to the sun
(it was 9 A.M.), shouted some gibberish into it, and then danced round
and round without leaving his place, throwing up the pot an inch or so,
and catching it with both hands, in perfect time with the tom-tom,
while he chanted gibberish for a quarter of an hour. Occasionally,
he held the pot up to the sun, as if saluting it, shouted into it, and
passed it round the father's head and then round the boy's head, every
motion in time with the tom-tom. The chant over, he put down the pot,
and took up a toy-like bow and arrow. The bow was about two feet long,
through which was fixed an arrow with a large head, so that it could be
pulled only to a certain extent. The arrow was fastened to the string,
so that it could not be detached from the bow. He then stuck a small
wax ball on to the point of the arrow head, and, dancing as before,
went on with his chant accompanied by the tom-tom. Looking up at
the sun, he took aim with the bow, and fired the wax ball at it. He
then fired balls of wax, and afterwards other small balls, which the
Uriyas present said were medicine of some kind, at the boy's head,
stomach, and legs. As each ball struck him, he cried. The Kudang,
still chanting, then went to the buffalo, and fired a wax ball at
its head. He came back to where the father was sitting, and, putting
down the bow, took up two thin pieces of wood a foot long, an inch
wide, and blackened at the ends.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account