Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7Thurston, Edgar
General
Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7
Thurston, Edgar
Caste -- India, South; Ethnology -- India, South; India, South -- Social life and customs; Tribes -- India, South
virivallam. They possess copper and brass vessels, mortar, chopping
knives, sickles, spades, flint and steel. A man after marriage lives
with his wife, apart from his parents. Pollution of a very aggravated
kind is observed during the menstrual and puerperal periods. On these
occasions a separate matam (hut), called the pattu-pandal, is put up
at a distance from the dwelling hut. Here the woman stays for three
days. After bathing on the fourth day, she shifts to another matam
still nearer, and stays there for one or two days. On the seventh day
she rejoins the family. In cases of confinement, twelve days are spent
in the remotest hut, and five days in the nearer one. But for another
period of twenty days the woman is not permitted to touch any one in
the house, or even the roofing of the hut. During these days food is
prepared by others, and given to her. The water in which those who are
confined, and those who are in their menses bathe, is considered to be
defiled beyond remedy. Hence, for bathing purposes some secluded and
out-of-the-way pool, called pattuvellam, is selected. Uralis coming
to the low country hesitate to drink water, on the score that it might
be thus polluted. When the woman delivers herself of her first child,
her husband observes three days' pollution, but none for subsequent
confinements. On all such occasions, the maternal relations of the
woman have to observe five days' pollution. On the eighteenth day after
birth, the eldest member of the family names the child, and bores the
ear. The head of the child is shaved as soon as it is able to walk,
and a tuft of hair is left in front. The corpses of the Uralis are not
burnt, but buried at a sufficient distance from the house. A new cloth
is put into the grave by each relative. After filling in the grave,
they erect a shed over it, within which the chopping knife of the
deceased, a quantity of boiled rice, and some chewing materials (betel
and nuts) are placed. After the lapse of seven years, an offering
of food and drink is made to the departed soul. Death pollution
lasts for sixteen days. The Uralis address their father as appan,
and maternal uncle as achchan. Marumakkathayam is the prevailing
form of inheritance (in the female line). Marriage is settled by the
parents. There is no tali symbol to indicate the wedded state. After
the marriage is settled, the girl is merely sent to the pandal or
hut of the husband. The Uralis intermarry with the Ulladans, and in
rare cases with Muduvans. Remarriage is permitted. An Urali, wishing
to get married into a particular family, has to wed into the family
a girl belonging to his own. The Uralis have a fine ear for music,
and sing many songs in the night before going to bed. Like the Kanis
(Kanikars), they resort to enchantments called cheppuka and chattuka
for the cure of diseases. Their would-be sorcerers have to leave the
community, and wander alone in the forest for a number of months. They
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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