A Brahman will learn if he suffers, and a Komati will learn if
he is ruined.
If I ask whether you have salt, you say that you have dhol (a
kind of pulse).
Like the burning of a Komati's house, which would mean a heavy
loss.
When two Komatis whisper on the other side of the lake, you will
hear them on this side. This has reference to the harsh voice
of the Komatis. In native theatricals, the Komati is a general
favourite with the audience, and he is usually represented as
short of stature, obese, and with a raucous voice.
The Komati that suits the stake. This has reference to a story in
which a Komati's stoutness, brought on by want of exercise and
sedentary habits, is said to have shown that he was the proper
person to be impaled on a stake. According to the Rev. H. Jensen,
[151] the proverb refers to an incident that took place in 'the
city of injustice.' A certain man was to be impaled for a crime,
but, at the last moment he pointed out that a certain fat merchant
(Komati) would be better suited for the instrument of punishment,
and so escaped. The proverb is now used of a person who is forced
to suffer for the faults of others.
The Komatis are satirically named Dhaniyala jati, or coriander caste,
because, as the coriander seed has to be crushed before it is sown,
so the Komati is supposed to come to terms only by rough treatment.
The Komatis have the title Setti or Chetti, which is said to be
a contracted form of Sreshti, meaning a precious person. In recent
times, some of them have assumed the title Ayya.
Kombara.--The name, meaning a cap made of the spathe of the areca palm
(Areca Catechu) of an exogamous sept of Kelasi. Such caps are worn
by various classes in South Canara, e.g., the Holeyas and Koragas.
Kombu (stick).--An exogamous sept of Kuruba.
Komma.--Komma (a musical horn) or Kommula has been recorded as an
exogamous sept of Kamma and Mala. Kommula is further a professional
title for horn-blowers, mainly Mala, Madiga, and Panisavan, who
perform at festivals and funerals.
Kommi.--A gotra of Gollas, the members of which may not use kommi fuel.
Kompala (houses).--An exogamous sept of Devanga.
Konan.--Konan or Konar is a title of Idaiyans. Some Gollas call
themselves Konanulu.
Konangi (buffoon).--An exogamous sept of Devanga.
Konda (mountain).--An exogamous sept of Devanga and Medara, and a
synonym for Konda Dora.
Konda Dora.--The Konda Doras are a caste of hill cultivators, found
chiefly in Vizagapatam. Concerning them Surgeon-Major W. R. Cornish
writes as follows. [152] "Contrasting strangely with the energetic,
patriarchal, and land-reverencing Parja (Poroja), are the neighbouring
indigenous tribes found along the slopes of the eastern ghauts. They
are known as Konda Doras, Konda Kapus, and Ojas. From what has been
ascertained of their languages, it seems certain that, divested of
the differences which have been engrafted upon them by the fact of
the one being influenced by Uriya and the other by Telugu, they are
substantially of the same origin as the Parja language and the Khond
language. But the people themselves seem to have entirely lost all
those rights to the soil, which are now characteristic of the more
northern tribes. They are completely at the mercy of late immigrants,
so much so that, though they call themselves Konda Doras, they are
called by the Bhaktas, their immediate superiors, Konda Kapus. If
they are found living in a village with no Telugu superior, they are
known as Doras. If, on the other hand, such a man is at the head of
the village affairs, they are to him as adscripti glebæ, and are
denominated Kapus or ryots (cultivators). It is apparent that the
comparatively degraded position that this particular soil-folk holds is
due to the influence of the Telugu colonists; and the reason why they
have been subjected to a greater extent than the cognate tribes further
inland is possibly that the Telugu colonization is of more ancient date
than the Uriya colonization. It may further be surmised that, from the
comparative proximity of the Telugu districts, the occupation of the
crests of these ghats partook rather of the character of a conquest
than that of mere settlings in the land. But, however it came about,
the result is most disastrous. Some parts of Pachipenta, Hill Madugulu,
and Kondakamberu, which have been occupied by Telugu-speaking folk,
are far inferior in agricultural prosperity to the inland parts,
where the Uriyas have assumed the lead in the direction of affairs."
In the Census Report, 1891, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes that "these
people all speak Telugu, and the majority of them have returned that
as their parent-tongue. But a large number returned their caste name
in the parent-tongue column. I have since received a vocabulary,
which is said to be taken from the dialect of the Konda Doras;
and, if this is correct, then the real speech of these people is a
dialect of Khond." One Durgi Patro, the head of a mutta (division
of a Zemindari) informed Mr. G. F. Paddison that Konda Doras and
Khonds are identical. In the Census Report, 1901, Mr. W. Francis
states that the Konda Doras "seem to be a section of the Khonds,
which has largely taken to speaking Telugu, has adopted some of the
Telugu customs, and is in the transitional stage between Animism and
Hinduism. They call themselves Hindus, and worship the Pandavas and a
goddess called Talupulamma. They drink alcohol, and eat pork, mutton,
etc., and will dine with Kapus." At times of census, Pandavakulam
(or Pandava caste) has been returned as a title of the Konda Doras.
For the following note I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. There
are, among the Konda Doras, two well-defined divisions, called Pedda
(big) and Chinna (little) Kondalu. Of these, the former have remained
in their old semi-independent position, while the latter have come
under Telugu domination. The Chinna Kondalu, who have been living
in contact with the Bhaktha caste, have adopted the Telugu system of
intiperulu, as exogamous septs, whereas the Pedda Kondalu have retained
the totem divisions, which occur among other hill castes, e.g., Naga
(cobra), Bhag (tiger), and Kochchimo (tortoise). Among the Chinna
Kondalu, the custom of menarikam, according to which a man marries his
maternal uncle's daughter, is observed, and may further marry his own
sister's daughter. The Chinna Kondalu women wear glass bangles and
beads, like women of the plains. Men of the Chinna Kondalu section
serve as bearers and Government employees, whereas those of the Pedda
Kondalu section are engaged in cultivation. The former have personal
names corresponding to those of the inhabitants of the plains, e.g.,
Linganna, Gangamma, while the names of the latter are taken from the
day of the week on which they were born, e.g., Bhudra (Wednesday),
Sukra (Friday).
Among the Chinna Kondalu, a girl is married before or after
puberty. When a marriage is decided on, the girl's parents receive a
present (voli) of four rupees and a female cloth. On an auspicious
day fixed by the Chukkamusti (star-gazer), the bride is conducted
to the home of the bridegroom. The contracting couple are bathed in
turmeric-water, put on new cloths presented by their fathers-in-law,
and wrist-threads are tied on their wrists. On the same day, or
the following morning, at a time settled by the Chukkamusti, the
bridegroom, under the direction of a caste elder, ties the sathamanam
(marriage badge) on the bride's neck. On the following day, the
wrist-threads are removed, and the newly married couple bathe.
Among the Pedda, as among the Chinna Kondalu, a girl is married
before or after puberty. When a man contemplates taking a wife, his
parents carry three pots of liquor to the home of the girl whose hand
he seeks. The acceptance of these by her father is a sign that the
match is agreeable to him, and a jholla tonka (bride-price) of five
rupees is paid to him. The future bridegroom's party has to give
three feasts to that of the bride-elect, for each of which a pig is
killed. The girl is conducted to the house of the bridegroom, and, if
she has reached puberty, remains there. Otherwise she returns home,
and joins her husband later on, the occasion being celebrated by a
further feast of pork.
Both sections allow the remarriage of widows. Among the Pedda Kondalu,
a younger brother may marry the widow of his elder brother. By both
sections divorce is permitted. Among the Chinna Kondalus, a man who
marries a divorcée has to pay her first husband twenty-four rupees,
of which half is divided among the neighbouring caste villages in
certain recognised proportions.
The dead are usually burnt by both sections. The Pedda Kondalu kill
a pig on the third day, and hold a feast, at which much liquor is
disposed of. By the Chinna Kondalu the chinna rozu (little day)
ceremony is observed, as it is by other castes dwelling in the plains.
The Chinna Kondalu bear the titles Anna or Ayya when they are
merely cultivators under Bhaktha landlords, and Dora under other
circumstances. The Pedda Kondalu usually have no title.
A riot took place, in 1900, at the village of Korravanivalasa in the
Vizagapatam district, under the following strange circumstances. "A
Konda Dora of this place, named Korra Mallayya, pretended that he
was inspired, and gradually gathered round him a camp of four or
five thousand people from various parts of the agency. At first his
proceedings were harmless enough, but in April he gave out that he
was a re-incarnation of one of the five Pandava brothers; that his
infant son was the god Krishna; that he would drive out the English
and rule the country himself; and that, to effect this, he would arm
his followers with bamboos, which should be turned by magic into guns,
and would change the weapons of the authorities into water. Bamboos
were cut, and rudely fashioned to resemble guns, and armed with
these, the camp was drilled by the Swami (god), as Mallayya had come
to be called. The assembly next sent word that they were going to
loot Pachipenta, and when, on the 1st May, two constables came to
see how matters stood, the fanatics fell upon them, and beat them
to death. The local police endeavoured to recover the bodies, but,
owing to the threatening attitude of the Swami's followers, had to
abandon the attempt. The District Magistrate then went to the place
in person, collected reserve police from Vizagapatam, Parvatipur,
and Jeypore, and at dawn on the 7th May rushed the camp to arrest the
Swami and the other leaders of the movement. The police were resisted
by the mob, and obliged to fire. Eleven of the rioters were killed,
others wounded or arrested, and the rest dispersed. Sixty of them
were tried for rioting, and three, including the Swami, for murdering
the constables. Of the latter, the Swami died in jail, and the other
two were hanged. The Swami's infant son, the god Krishna, also died,
and all trouble ended at once and completely."
Concerning the Konda Kapus or Konda Reddis of the Godavari district,
Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes as follows. [153] "The hill Reddis, or
Konda Reddis, are a caste of jungle men, having some characteristics
in common with the Koyas. They usually talk a rough Telugu, clipping
their words so that it is often difficult to understand them; but it
is said that some of them speak Koya. They are of slighter build than
the Koyas, and their villages are even smaller. They will not eat in
the house of a Koya. They call themselves by various high-sounding
titles, such as Pandava Reddis, Raja Reddis, and Reddis of the solar
race (Suryavamsa), and do not like the plain name of Konda Reddi. They
recognize no endogamous sub-divisions, but have exogamous septs. In
character they resemble the Koyas, but are less simple and stupid,
and in former years were much given to crime. They live by shifting
cultivation. They do not touch beef, but will eat pork. They profess
to be both Saivites and Vaishnavites, and occasionally employ Brahman
priests at their funerals; and yet they worship the Pandavas, the
spirits of the hills (or, as they call them, the sons of Racha),
their ancestors including women who have died before their husbands,
and the deity Muthyalamma and her brother Poturazu, Saralamma, and
Unamalamma. The last three are found in nearly every village. Other
deities are Doddiganga, who is the protector of cattle, and is
worshipped when the herds are driven into the forests to graze, and
Desaganga (or Paraganga), who takes the place of the Maridamma of the
plains, and the Muthyalamma of the Koyas as goddess of cholera and
small-pox. The shrine of Saralamma of Pedakonda, eight miles east of
Rekapalle, is a place of pilgrimage, and so is Bison Hill (Papikonda),
where an important Reddi festival is held every seven or eight years
in honour of the Pandava brothers, and a huge fat pig, fattened for the
occasion, is killed and eaten. The Reddis, like the Koyas, also observe
the harvest festivals. They are very superstitious, believing firmly
in sorcery, and calling in wizards in time of illness. Their villages
are formed into groups like those of the Koyas, and the hereditary
headmen over these are called by different names, such as Dora,
Muttadar, Varnapedda, and Kulapatradu. Headmen of villages are known
as Pettadars. They recognise, though they do not frequently practice,
marriage by capture. If a parent wishes to show his dislike for a
match, he absents himself when the suitor's party calls, and sends a
bundle of cold rice after them when they have departed. Children are
buried. Vaishnavite Reddis burn their adult dead, while the Saivites
bury them. Satanis officiate as priests to the former, and Jangams
to the latter. The pyre is kindled by the eldest male of the family,
and a feast is held on the fifth day after the funeral. The dead are
believed to be born again into their former families."
Kondaikatti.--The name of a sub-division of Vellalas, meaning those
who tie the whole mass of hair of the head (kondai) in a knot on the
top of the head, as opposed to the kudumi or knot at the back of the
partially shaved head.
Kondaita.--A sub-division of Doluva.
Kondaiyamkottai.--A sub-division of Maravan.
Kondalar.--Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a sub-caste
of Vellala. Kondalam means women's hair or a kind of dance, and it
is possible that the name was returned by people of the Deva-dasi
caste, who are rising in the social scale, and becoming absorbed in
the Vellala caste. Kondali, of doubtful meaning, has been returned
by cultivators and agricultural labourers in North Arcot.
Kondh.--In the Administration Report of the Ganjam Agency, 1902-3,
Mr. C. B. Cotterell writes that Kondh is an exact transliteration
from the vernacular, and he knows of no reason, either sentimental
or etymological, for keeping such spelling as Khond.
It is noted, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, that "the Khonds
inhabit the hill tracts of Ganjam and parts of Vizagapatam, and are
found also in Bengal and the Central Provinces. They call themselves
Kui, a name identical with the Koi or Koya of the Godavari agency
and the south of the Jeypore Zemindari. The Telugu people call them
Kotuvandlu. The origin of the name Khond is doubtful, but Macpherson
is, I think, right in deriving it from Telugu Konda, a hill. There is a
tribe in Vizagapatam called Konda Dora or Konda Kapu, and these people
are also frequently called Kotuvandlu. All these names are derivatives
of the root kô or kû, a mountain. The number of sub-divisions returned
is 58. The list includes many names of other castes, a fact which
must be in part ascribed to the impossibility of distinguishing the
true Khonds from persons returned as Kondavandlu, Kondalu, Kotuvandlu,
etc., terms which mean simply highlanders, and are applicable to all
the hill tribes. For example, 12,164 Panos have returned their main
caste as Khond."
In a note on the Kui, Kandhi, or Khond language, Mr. G. A. Grierson
writes as follows. [154] "The Kandhs or Khonds are a Dravidian
tribe in the hills of Orissa and neighbouring districts. The tribe
is commonly known under the name of Khond. The Oriyas call them
Kandhs, and the Telugu people Gonds or Kods. The name which they
use themselves is Ku, and their language should accordingly be
denominated Kui. The word Ku is probably related to Koi, one of the
names by which the Gonds used to denote themselves. The Koi dialect of
Gondi is, however, quite different from Kui. The Khonds live in the
midst of the Oriya territory. Their habitat is the hills separating
the districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatam in the Madras Presidency,
and continuing northwards into the Orissa Tributary States, Bod,
Daspalla, and Nayagarh, and, crossing the Mahanadi, into Angul and the
Khondmals. The Khond area further extends into the Central Provinces,
covering the northern part Kalahandi, and the south of Patna. Kui is
surrounded on all sides by Oriya. Towards the south it extends towards
the confines of the Telugu territory. The language varies locally,
all over this area. The differences are not, however, great, though
a man from one part of the country often experiences difficulty in
understanding the Kui spoken in other parts. There are two principal
dialects, one eastern, spoken in Gumsur and the adjoining parts
of Bengal, and one western, spoken in Chinna Kimedi. In the north,
Kui has come under the influence of the neighbouring Aryan forms of
speech, and a specimen forwarded from the Patna State was written in
Oriya with a slight admixture of Chattisgarhi. The number of Kandhs
returned at the census of 1891 was 627,388. The language returns,
however, give a much smaller figure. The reason is that many Kandhs
have abandoned their native speech."
It has been noted that "the character of the Khonds varies as much as
their language. Where there has been much contact with the plains,
it is not as favourable as elsewhere. As a rule, they may be taken
to be a bold, and fitfully laborious mountain peasantry of simple,
but not undignified manners; upright in their conduct; sincere in
their superstitions; proud of their position as landholders; and
tenacious of their rights. The Linepada Khonds affect manners like
Uriyas, and, among other things, will not eat pork (the flesh of
wild pigs excepted). The Khond villages have quite the appearance of
Uriya villages, the houses are built with mud walls, a thing unknown
with Khonds in other parts of the Maliahs; and there is also much
neat garden cultivation, which is rare elsewhere, probably because
the produce thereof would be appropriated by the Uriyas. In 1902,
the Linepada Muttah (settlement) presented the unusual spectacle of
a Khond ruler as Dolabehara, as well as Moliko, with the Uriya Paiks
really at his beck and call. In some places, the most valuable portions
of the land have passed into the possession of Sondis and low-country
sowcars (money-lenders), who have pandered to the Khonds by advancing
them money, the greater portion of which has been expended in drink,
the repayment being exacted in land. Except in the Goomsur Maliahs,
paddy (rice) cultivation is not extensively carried on by the Khonds;
elsewhere it is chiefly in the hands of the Uriyas. The Khonds take
little trouble in raising their crops. The result is that, except
in the Goomsur Maliahs, where they grow crops to sell in the market
for profit, we find a poverty-stricken race, possessing hardly any
agricultural stock, and no signs of affluence. In Kimedi, however, they
are beginning to follow the example of Goomsur, and doubtless their
material prosperity would much increase if some check could be devised
to save them from the Uriyas and Sondis, who are steadily acquiring
all the wet land, and utilising the Khonds merely as cultivators."
It is noted by Mr. F. Fawcett (1902) [155] that "up to within fifteen
years ago, the Khônds of the Ganjam hills would not engage in any
ordinary labour. They would not, for example, carry even the smallest
article of the district officer's luggage. Elephants were accordingly
provided by Government for carriage of tents and all camp luggage. But
there has come a change, and, within the last ten years or so, the
Khônds have taken to work in the ordinary way. Within the last few
years, for the first time, the Khônds have been emigrating to Assam,
to work in the tea-gardens. Accurate figures are not available, but the
estimate of the best authority gives the number as about 3,000. This
emigration is now stopped by edict. Of course, they do not set out,
and go of their own accord. They are taken. The strange thing is that
they go willingly." It was enacted, in an order of Government, in 1901,
[156] that "in exercise of the power conferred by section 3 of the
Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901, and with the previous sanction
of the Governor-General in Council, the Governor in Council is pleased
to prohibit absolutely all persons from recruiting, engaging, inducing,
or assisting any Native of India to emigrate from the tracts known
as the scheduled districts in the district of Ganjam to any labour
district of Assam."
In 1908, the Madras Government approved of certain proposals made by
the Collector of Ganjam for utilising the services of the Kondhs in
the conservancy of the forests in the Pondakhol Agency. The following
is a summary of these proposals. [157] The chief difficulty to be
contended against in Pondakhol is podu cultivation. This cultivation
is not only devastating the hill tops and upper slopes, which should
be kept well covered to preserve water for the upper reaches of the
Rushikulya river, the chief source of irrigation in Ganjam, but is also
the origin of most of the forest fires that rage throughout Pondakhol
in the hot weather. The District Forest Officer, in discussing matters
with the Kondhs, was told by some of the villagers that they would
forego poduing if they had cattle to plough the lands in the plains
and valleys. The supply of buffaloes would form the compensation for
a right relinquished. The next aim should be to give the people work
in the non-cultivation season, which is from the middle of January to
the middle of July. This luckily coincides with the fire season. There
is an abundance of useful work that the Kondhs can be engaged in,
e.g., rendering the demarcation lines permanent, making fire lines,
constructing roads, and building inspection sheds. The question arises
as to how the Khonds should be repaid for their labour. Money is of
little use to them in this out-of-the-way part of the country, and,
if they got it, they would probably go to Surada to get drunk on
it. It would be better to pay them in food-grain and cloths, and for
this purpose departmental shops, and a regular system of accounts,
such as are in force among the Chenchus in Kurnool, would be necessary.
In the course of a lament over the change which has come over the
Kondhs who live in the range of hills near Berhampore, Mr. S. P. Rice
writes as follows. [158] "Here they live in seclusion and in freedom,
but also in the lowest depths of squalor and poverty. Once they
loved gay colours. True Khond dresses, both male and female, are
full of stripes and patterns, in blue, yellow, and red. Where has
gone the love of colour? Instead of the long waistcloth ending in
tails of blue and red, the man binds about him a wretched rag that
can hardly be called a garment. Once the women took a delight in
decking themselves with flowers, and a pride in the silver ornaments
that jangled on their naked breasts. Where are now the grasses that
adorned them, and the innocence that allowed them to go clothed
only to the waist? Gone! withered by the blast of the breath of a
'superior civilization.' Gone are the hairpins of sambur bone--an
inestimable treasure in the eyes of the true hill Khond. Gone are
the floral decorations, and the fantastic head-dresses, which are
the pride of the mountain tribes. In dull, unromantic squalor our
Khond lives, moves, and has his being; arid, ever as he moves, is
heard the clanking upon his wrists of the fetters of his debt. Yet
for all that he is happy." The hairpins referred to above are made
from sambur (deer: Cervus unicolor) bones, and stuck in the hair of
male Kondhs. Porcupine quills are sometimes used by them as hairpins.
The following brief, but interesting summary of the Kondhs of Ganjam
is given by Mr. C. F. MacCartie. [159] "The staple food of the Oriyas
is rice, and of the Khond also during the two or three months that
succeed the harvest. In February, they gather the crop of hill dholl,
which, eked out with dry mohwa (Bassia) fruit, fresh mangoes, and mango
stones ground to a sort of flour, pull them through the hot weather,
with the help of various yams and edible roots that are plentiful in
the jungles. When the south-west monsoon sets in, dry crops, consisting
of millets, hill paddy, and Indian corn, are sown, which ripen from
August on, and thus afford plentiful means of subsistence. The hot
weather is generally called the sukki kalo, or hungry season, as the
people are rather pinched just then. Turmeric is perhaps the most
valuable crop which the Khonds raise, as it is the most laborious,
in consequence of the time it takes to mature--two full years, and
the constant field-work thus entailed, first in sheltering the young
plants from the sun by artificial shade, and afterwards in digging,
boiling, and burnishing the root for market. Tobacco is raised much as
in the low country. It is generally grown in back-yards, as elsewhere,
and a good deal of care is devoted to its cultivation, as the Khonds
are inveterate smokers. Among the products of the jungles may be
included myrabolams (Terminalia fruits), tassar silk, cocoons, and
dammar, all of which are bartered by the finders to trading Panos
in small quantities, generally for salt. [Honey and wax are said to
be collected by the Kondhs and Benias, who are expert climbers of
precipitous rocks and lofty trees. The Kondhs recognise four different
kinds of bees, known by the following Oriya names:--(a) bhaga mohu,
a large-sized bee (Apis dorsata); (b) sattapuri mohu, building its
comb in seven layers (Apis indica); (c) binchina mohu, with a comb
like a fan; (d) nikiti mohu, a very small bee.] [160] Wet paddy is,
of course, grown in the valleys and low-lying bottoms, where water is
available, and much ingenuity is exercised in the formation of bunds
(embankments) to retain the natural supply of moisture. The Khond
has a dead eye for a natural level; it is surprising how speedily
a seemingly impracticable tract of jungle will be converted into
paddy fields by a laborious process of levelling by means of a flat
board attached to a pair of buffaloes. The chief feature of the dry
cultivation is the destructive practice of kumeri. A strip of forest,
primeval, if possible, as being more fertile, is burnt, cultivated,
and then deserted for a term of years, which may vary from three to
thirty, according to the density or otherwise of the population. The
Kutiah Khonds are the chief offenders in respect of kumeri, to which
they confine themselves, as they have no ploughs or agricultural
cattle. In the rare instances when they grow a little rice, the fields
are prepared by manual and pedal labour, as men, women, and children,
assemble in the field, and puddle the mud and water until it assumes
the desired consistency for the reception of the seed.
"The hair is worn long during childhood, but tied into a club when
maturity is reached, and turbans are seldom worn. A narrow cloth is
bound round the loins, with Tartan ends which hang down in front
and behind, and a coarse long-cloth is wrapped round the figure
when the weather is cold. The war dress of the Khonds is elaborate,
and consists of a leather cuirass in front, and a flowing red cloak,
which, with an arrangement of 'bison' horns and peacock's feathers,
is supposed to strike awe into the beholder's mind. Khond women
wear a red or parti-coloured skirt reaching the knee, the neck
and bosom being left bare. Pano females generally wear an upper
cloth. All tattoo their faces. [Tattooing is said to be performed,
concurrently with ear-boring, when girls are about ten years old. The
tattoo marks are said to represent the implement used in tilling the
soil for cultivation, moustache, beard, etc.] Ornaments of beads and
brass bangles are worn, but the usage of diverse muttas (settlements)
varies very much. In some parts of the Goomsur Maliahs, the use of
glass and brass beads is confined to married women, virgins being
restricted to decorations composed of plaited grass. Matrons wear ten
or twelve ear-rings of different patterns, but, in many parts, young
girls substitute pieces of broom, which are worn till the wedding
day, and then discarded for brazen rings. Anklets are indispensable
in the dance on account of the jingling noise they make, and gold or
silver noserings are very commonly worn. [The Kondh of the Ganjam
Maliahs has been described as follows. [161] "He centres his great
love of decoration in his hair. This he tends, combs and oils, with
infinite care, and twists into a large loose knot, which is caught with
curiously shaped pins of sambur bone, gaily coloured combs and bronze
hairpins with curiously ornamented designs, and it is then gracefully
pinned over the left eyebrow. This knot he decorates according to
his fancy with the blue feathers of the jay (Indian roller, Coracias
indica), or the white feathers of the crane and stork, or the feathers
of the more gorgeous peacock. Two feathers generally wave in front,
while many more float behind. This knot, in the simple economy of his
life, also does duty as a pocket or pincushion, for into it he stuffs
his knife, his half-smoked cigarette of home-grown tobacco rolled in
a sal (Shorea robusta) leaf, or even his snuff wrapped in another leaf
pinned together with a thorn. Round his waist he wraps a white cloth,
bordered with a curious design in blue and red, of excellent home
manufacture, and over his shoulder is borne his almost inseparable
companion, the tanghi, of many curious shapes, consisting of an iron
blade with a long wooden handle ornamented with brass wire. In certain
places, he very frequently carries a bow and arrows, the former made
of bent bamboo, the string of a long strip of bark, and the handle
ornamented with stripes of the white quills of the peacock.]
"The Khonds are very keen in the pursuit of game, for which the hot
weather is the appointed time, and, during this period, a sambar or
'bison' has but little chance of escape if once wounded by an arrow,
as they stick to the trail like sleuth hounds, and appear insensible
to distance or fatigue. The arms they carry are the bow, arrows,
and tangi, a species of light battle-axe that inflicts a serious
wound. The women are not addicted to drink, but the males are
universally attached to liquor, especially during the hot weather,
when the sago palm (solopo: Caryota urens) is in full flow. They
often run up sheds in the jungle, near especially good trees, and
drink for days together. A great many deaths occur at this season
by falls from trees when tapping the liquor. Feasts and sacrifices
are occasions for drinking to excess, and the latter especially
are often scenes of wild intoxication, the liquor used being either
mohwa, or a species of strong beer brewed from rice or koeri. Khond
women, when once married, appear to keep pretty straight, but there
is a good deal of quiet immorality among the young men and girls,
especially during the commencement of the hot weather, when parties
are made up for fishing or the collection of mohwa fruit and other
jungle berries. At the same time, a certain sense of shame exists,
as instances are not at all uncommon of double suicide, when a pair
of too ardent lovers are blown upon, and their liaison is discovered.
"The generality of Khond and Pâno houses are constructed of broad sâl
logs hewn out with the axe, and thatched with jungle grass, which is
impervious to white-ants. In bamboo jungles, bamboo is substituted
for sâl. The Khond houses are substantially built but very low, the
pitch of the roof never exceeding 8 feet, and the eaves being only
about 4 feet from the ground, the object being to ensure resistance
to the violent storms that prevail during the monsoons.
"Intermarriage between Khonds, Pânos, and Uriyas is not recognised,
but cases do occur when a Pâno induces a Khond woman to go off
with him. She may live with him as his wife, but no ceremony takes
place. If a Pâno commits adultery with a Khond married woman, he has
to pay a paronjo, or a fine of a buffalo, to the husband who retains
his wife, and in addition a goat, a pig, a basket of paddy, a rupee,
and a cavady (shoulder-pole) load of pots. If the adulterer is a
Khond, he gets off with payment of the buffalo, which is slaughtered
for the entertainment of the village. The husband retains his wife
in this case, as also if he finds her pregnant when first she comes
to him; this is not an uncommon incident. Divorce of the wife on the
husband's part is thus very rare, if it occurs at all, but cases are
not unknown where the wife divorces her husband, and adopts a fresh
alliance. When this takes place, her father has to return the whole
of the gifts known as gontis, which the bridegroom paid for his wife
when the marriage was originally arranged."
In a note on the tribes of the Agency tracts of the Vizagapatam
district, Mr. W. Francis writes as follows. [162] "Of these, by far
the most numerous are the Khonds, who are about 150,000 strong. An
overwhelming majority of this number, however, are not the wild
barbarous Khonds regarding whom there is such a considerable
literature, and who are so prominent in Ganjam, but a series of
communities descended from them, which exhibit infinite degrees of
difference from their more interesting progenitors, according to the
grade of civilisation to which they have attained. The only really
primitive Khonds in Vizagapatam are the Dongria (jungle) Khonds of the
north of Bissamkatak taluk, the Desya Khonds who live just south-west
of them in and around the Nimgiris, and the Kuttiya (hill) Khonds of
the hills in the north-east of the Gunupur taluk. The Kuttiya Khond
men wear ample necklets of white beads and prominent brass earrings,
but otherwise they dress like any other hill people. Their women,
however, have a distinctive garb, putting on a kind of turban on state
occasions, wearing nothing above the waist except masses of white bead
necklaces which almost cover their breasts, and carrying a series of
heavy brass bracelets half way up their forearms. The dhangadi basa
system (separate hut for unmarried girls to sleep in) prevails among
them in its simplest form, and girls have opportunities for the most
intimate acquaintance before they need inform their parents they wish
to marry. Special ceremonies are practiced to prevent the spirits
of the dead (especially of those killed by tigers) from returning to
molest the living. Except totemistic septs, they have apparently no
sub-divisions. [163] The dress of the civilised Khonds of both sexes
is ordinary and uninteresting. These civilised Khonds worship all
degrees of deities, from their own tribal Jakara down to the orthodox
Hindu gods; follow every gradation of marriage and funeral customs
from those of their primitive forefathers to those of the low-country
Telugu; speak dialects which range from good Khond through bastard
patois down to corrupt Telugu; and allow their totemistic septs to
be degraded down to, or divided into, the intiperulu of the plains."
There is a tradition that, in olden days, four Kondhs, named
Kasi, Mendora, Bolti, and Bolo, with eyes the size of brass pots,
teeth like axe-heads, and ears like elephant's ears, brought their
ancestor Mandia Patro from Jorasingi in Boad, and gave him and his
children authority all over the country now comprised in Mahasingi,
and in Kurtilli Barakhumma, Bodogodo, Balliguda, and Pussangia,
on condition of settling their disputes, and aiding them in their
rights. The following legendary account of the origin of the Kondhs
is given by Mr. A. B. Jayaram Moodaliar. Once upon a time, the ground
was all wet, and there were only two females on the earth, named
Karaboodi and Tharthaboodi, each of whom was blessed with a single
male child. The names of the children were Kasarodi and Singarodi. All
these individuals sprang from the interior of the earth, together
with two small plants called nangakoocha and badokoocha, on which
they depended for subsistence. One day, when Karaboodi was cutting
these plants for cooking, she accidentally cut the little finger of
her left hand, and the blood dropped on the ground. Instantly, the
wet soft earth on which it fell became dry and hard. The woman then
cooked the food, and gave some of it to her son, who asked her why it
tasted so much sweeter than usual. She replied that she might have
a dream that night, and, if so, would let him know. Next morning,
the woman told him that, if he would act on her advice, he would
prosper in this world, that he was not to think of her as his mother,
and was to cut away the flesh of her back, dig several holes in the
ground, bury the flesh, and cover the holes with stones. This her
son did, and the rest of the body was cremated. The wet soil dried
up and became hard, and all kinds of animals and trees came into
existence. A partridge scratched the ground with its feet, and ragi
(millet), maize, dhal (pea), and rice sprung forth from it. The
two brothers argued that, as the sacrifice of their mother brought
forth such abundance, they must sacrifice their brothers, sisters,
and others, once a year in future.A god, by name Boora Panoo, came,
with his wife and children, to Tharthaboodi and the two young men,
to whom Boora Panoo's daughters were married. They begat children,
who were divided equally between Boora Panoo the grandfather and
their fathers. Tharthaboodi objected to this division on the grounds
that Boora Panoo's son would stand in the relation of Mamoo to the
children of Kasarodi and Singarodi; that, if the child was a female,
when she got married, she would have to give a rupee to her Mamoo;
and that, if it was a male that Boora Panoo's daughter brought forth,
the boy when he grew up would have to give the head of any animal he
shot to Mamoo (Boora Panoo's son). Then Boora Panoo built a house,
and Kasarodi and Singarodi built two houses. All lived happily for
two years. Then Karaboodi appeared in a dream, and told Kasarodi and
Singarodi that, if they offered another human victim, their lands would
be very fertile, and their cattle could flourish. In the absence of
a suitable being, they sacrificed a monkey. Then Karaboodi appeared
once more, and said that she was not pleased with the substitution of
the monkey, and that a human being must be sacrificed. The two men,
with their eight children, sought for a victim for twelve years. At
the end of that time, they found a poor man, who had a son four
years old, and found him, his wife and child good food, clothing, and
shelter for a year. They then asked permission to sacrifice the son in
return for their kindness, and the father gave his assent. The boy was
fettered and handcuffed to prevent his running away, and taken good
care of. Liquor was prepared from grains, and a bamboo, with a flag
hoisted on it, planted in the ground. Next day, a pig was sacrificed
near this post, and a feast was held. It was proclaimed that the boy
would be tied to a post on the following day, and sacrificed on the
third day. On the night previous to the sacrifice, the Janni (priest)
took a reed, and poked it into the ground in several places. When
it entered to a depth of about eight inches, it was believed that
the god and goddess Tadapanoo and Dasapanoo were there. Round this
spot, seven pieces of wood were arranged lengthways and crossways,
and an egg was placed in the centre of the structure. The Khonds
arrived from the various villages, and indulged in drink. The boy
was teased, and told that he had been sold to them, that his sorrow
would affect his parents only, and that he was to be sacrificed for
the prosperity of the people. He was conducted to the spot where the
god and goddess had been found, tied with ropes, and held fast by the
Khonds. He was made to lie on his stomach on the wooden structure, and
held there. Pieces of flesh were removed from his back, arms and legs,
and portions thereof buried at the Khond's place of worship. Portions
were also set up near a well of drinking water, and placed around
the villages. The remainder of the sacrificed corpse was cremated on
a pyre set alight with fire produced by the friction of two pieces
of wood. On the following day, a buffalo was sacrificed, and a feast
partaken of. Next day, the bamboo post was removed outside the village,
and a fowl and eggs were offered to the deity. The following stanza
is still recited by the Janni at the buffalo sacrifice, which has
been substituted for that of a human victim:--Oh! come, male slave;
come, female slave. What do you say? What do you call out for? You
have been brought, ensnared by the Haddi. You have been called,
ensnared by the Domba. What can I do, even if you are my child? You
are sold for a pot of food.
The ethnological section of the Madras Museum received a few years ago
a very interesting relic in the shape of a human (Meriah) sacrifice
post from Baligudu in Ganjam. This post, which was fast being reduced
to a mere shell by white-ants, is, I believe, the only one now in
existence. It was brought by Colonel Pickance, who was Assistant
Superintendent of Police, and set up in the ground near the gate of
the reserve Police barracks. The veteran members of a party of Kondhs,
who were brought to Madras for the purpose of performing before the
Prince and Princess of Wales in 1906, became wildly excited when they
came across this relic of their former barbarous custom.
"The best known case," Mr. Frazer writes, [164] "of human sacrifices
systematically offered to ensure good crops is supplied by the Khonds
or Kandhs. Our knowledge of them is derived from the accounts written
by British officers, who, forty or fifty years ago, were engaged in
putting them down. The sacrifices were offered to the earth goddess,
Tari Pennu or Bera Pennu, and were believed to ensure good crops,
and immunity from all diseases and accidents. In particular, they
were considered necessary in the cultivation of turmeric, the Khonds
arguing that the turmeric could not have a deep red colour without
the shedding of blood. The victim, a Meriah, was acceptable to the
goddess only if he had been purchased, or had been born a victim,
that is the son of a victim father, or had been devoted as a child
by his father or guardian."
In 1837, Mr. Russell, in a report on the districts entrusted to
his control, wrote as follows. [165] "The ceremonies attending
the barbarous rite, and still more the mode of destroying life,
vary in different parts of the country. In the Maliahs of Goomsur,
the sacrifice is offered annually to Thadha Pennoo (the earth) under
the effigy of a bird intended to represent a peacock, with the view
of propitiating the deity to grant favourable seasons and crops. The
ceremony is performed at the expense of, and in rotation by, certain
mootahs (settlements) composing a community, and connected together
from local circumstances. Besides these periodical sacrifices, others
are made by single mootahs, and even by individuals, to avert any
threatening calamity from sickness, murrain, or other cause. Grown men
are the most esteemed (as victims), because the most costly. Children
are purchased, and reared for years with the family of the person
who ultimately devotes them to a cruel death, when circumstances are
supposed to demand a sacrifice at his hands. They seem to be treated
with kindness, and, if young, are kept under no constraint; but,
when old enough to be sensible of the fate which awaits them, they
are placed in fetters and guarded. Most of those who were rescued
had been sold by their parents or nearest relations, a practice
which, from all we could learn, is very common. Persons of riper
age are kidnapped by wretches who trade in human flesh. The victim
must always be purchased. Criminals, or prisoners captured in war,
are not considered fitting subjects. The price is paid indifferently
in brass utensils, cattle or corn. The Zanee (or priest), who may
be of any caste, officiates at the sacrifice, but he performs the
poojah (offering of flowers, incense, etc.) to the idol through the
medium of the Toomba, who must be a Khond child under seven years of
age. This child is fed and clothed at the public expense, eats with no
other person, and is subjected to no act deemed impure. For a month
prior to the sacrifice, there is much feasting and intoxication,
and dancing round the Meriah, who is adorned with garlands, etc.,
and, on the day before the performance of the barbarous rite, is
stupefied with toddy, and made to sit, or, if necessary, is bound at
the bottom of a post bearing the effigy above described. The assembled
multitude then dance around to music, and addressing the earth, say:
'Oh! God, we offer the sacrifice to you. Give us good crops, seasons,
and health.' After which they address the victim, 'We bought you with
a price, and did not seize you. Now we sacrifice you according to
custom, and no sin rests with us.' On the following day, the victim
being again intoxicated and anointed with oil, each individual present
touches the anointed part, and wipes the oil on his own head. All
then proceed in procession around the village and its boundaries,
preceded by music, bearing the victim and a pole, to the top of which
is attached a tuft of peacock's feathers. On returning to the post,
which is always placed near the village deity called Zakaree Pennoo,
and represented by three stones, near which the brass effigy in
the shape of a peacock is buried, they kill a hog in sacrifice and,
having allowed the blood to flow into a pit prepared for the purpose,
the victim, who, if it has been found possible, has been previously
made senseless from intoxication, is seized and thrown in, and his
face pressed down until he is suffocated in the bloody mire amid the
noise of instruments. The Zanee then cuts a piece of flesh from the
body, and buries it with ceremony near the effigy and village idol,
as an offering to the earth. All the rest afterwards go through the
same form, and carry the bloody prize to their villages, where the
same rites are performed, part being interred near the village idol,
and little bits on the boundaries. The head and face remain untouched,
and the bones, when bare, are buried with them in the pit. After this
horrid ceremony has been completed, a buffalo calf is brought in front
of the post, and, his forefeet having been cut off, is left there till
the following day. Women, dressed in male attire and armed as men, then
drink, dance and sing round the spot, the calf is killed and eaten,
and the Zanee is dismissed with a present of rice and a hog or calf."
In the same year, Mr. Arbuthnot, Collector of Vizagapatam, reported as
follows. "Of the hill tribe Codooloo, there are said to be two distinct
classes, the Cotia Codooloo and Jathapoo Codooloo. The former class
is that which is in the habit of offering human sacrifices to the god
called Jenkery, with a view to secure good crops. This ceremony is
generally performed on the Sunday preceding or following the Pongal
feast. The victim is seldom carried by force, but procured by purchase,
and there is a fixed price for each person, which consists of forty
articles such as a bullock, a male buffalo, a cow, a goat, a piece of
cloth, a silk cloth, a brass pot, a large plate, a bunch of plantains,
etc. The man who is destined for the sacrifice is carried before the
god, and a small quantity of rice coloured with saffron (turmeric)
is put upon his head. The influence of this is said to prevent his
attempting to escape, even though set at liberty. It would appear,
however, that, from the moment of his seizure till he is sacrificed,
he is kept in a continued state of stupefaction or intoxication. He
is allowed to wander about the village, to eat and drink anything
he may take a fancy to, and even to have connection with any of the
women whom he may meet. On the morning set apart for the sacrifice,
he is carried before the idol in a state of intoxication. One of the
villagers acts as priest, who cuts a small hole in the stomach of
the victim, and with the blood that flows from the wound the idol is
smeared. Then the crowds from the neighbouring villages rush forward,
and he is literally cut into pieces. Each person who is so fortunate
as to procure it carries away a morsel of the flesh, and presents it
to the idol of his own village."
Concerning a method of sacrifice, which is illustrated by the post
preserved in the Madras Museum, Colonel Campbell records [166] that
"one of the most common ways of offering the sacrifice in Chinna Kimedi
is to the effigy of an elephant (hatti mundo or elephant's head) rudely
carved in wood, fixed on the top of a stout post, on which it is made
to revolve. After the performance of the usual ceremonies, the intended
victim is fastened to the proboscis of the elephant, and, amidst the
shouts and yells of the excited multitude of Khonds, is rapidly whirled
round, when, at a given signal by the officiating Zanee or priest,
the crowd rush in, seize the Meriah, and with their knives cut the
flesh off the shrieking wretch as long as life remains. He is then cut
down, the skeleton burnt, and the horrid orgies are over. In several
villages I counted as many as fourteen effigies of elephants, which
had been used in former sacrifices. These I caused to be overthrown
by the baggage elephants attached to my camp in the presence of the
assembled Khonds, to show them that these venerated objects had no
power against the living animal, and to remove all vestiges of their
bloody superstition." In another report, Colonel Campbell describes
how the miserable victim is dragged along the fields, surrounded by
a crowd of half intoxicated Khonds, who, shouting and screaming,
rush upon him, and with their knives cut the flesh piecemeal from
the bones, avoiding the head and bowels, till the living skeleton,
dying from loss of blood, is relieved from torture, when its remains
are burnt, and the ashes mixed with the new grain to preserve it from
insects." Yet again, he describes a sacrifice which was peculiar to
the Khonds of Jeypore. "It is," he writes, "always succeeded by the
sacrifice of three human beings, two to the sun to the east and west
of the village, and one in the centre, with the usual barbarities
of the Meriah. A stout wooden post about six feet long is firmly
fixed in the ground, at the foot of it a narrow grave is dug, and to
the top of the post the victim is firmly fastened by the long hair
of his head. Four assistants hold his outstretched arms and legs,
the body being suspended horizontally over the grave, with the face
towards the earth. The officiating Junna or priest, standing on the
right side, repeats the following invocation, at intervals hacking
with his sacrificial knife the back part of the shrieking victim's
neck. 'O! mighty Manicksoro, this is your festal day. To the Khonds
the offering is Meriah, to kings Junna. On account of this sacrifice,
you have given to kings kingdoms, guns and swords. The sacrifice we now
offer you must eat, and we pray that our battle-axes may be converted
into swords, our bows and arrows into gunpowder and balls; and, if we
have any quarrels with other tribes, give us the victory. Preserve us
from the tyranny of kings and their officers.' Then, addressing the
victim:--'That we may enjoy prosperity, we offer you a sacrifice to our
God Manicksoro, who will immediately eat you, so be not grieved at our
slaying you. Your parents were aware, when we purchased you from them
for sixty rupees, that we did so with intent to sacrifice you. There
is, therefore, no sin on our heads, but on your parents. After you are
dead, we shall perform your obsequies.' The victim is then decapitated,
the body thrown into the grave, and the head left suspended from
the post till devoured by wild beasts. The knife remains fastened to
the post till the three sacrifices have been performed, when it is
removed with much ceremony. In an account by Captain Mac Viccar of
the sacrifice as carried out at Eaji Deso, it is stated that on the
day of sacrifice the Meriah is surrounded by the Khonds, who beat
him violently on the head with the heavy metal bangles which they
purchase at the fairs, and wear on these occasions. If this inhuman
smashing does not immediately destroy the victim's life, an end is
put to his sufferings by strangulation, a slit bamboo being used
for the purpose. Strips of flesh are then cut off the back, and each
recipient of the precious treasure carries his portion to the stream
which waters his fields, and there suspends it on a pole. The remains
of the mangled corpse are then buried, and funeral obsequies are
performed seven days subsequently, and repeated one year afterwards."
The Kondhs of Bara Mootah promised to relinquish the rite on condition,
inter alia, that they should be at liberty to sacrifice buffaloes,
monkeys, goats, etc., to their deities with all the solemnities
observed on occasions of human sacrifice; and that they should be at
liberty, upon all occasions, to denounce to their gods the Government,
and some of its servants in particular, as the cause of their having
relinquished the great rite.
The last recorded Meriah sacrifice in the Ganjam Maliahs occurred
in 1852, and there are still Kondhs alive, who were present at
it. Twenty-five descendants of persons who were reserved for sacrifice,
but were rescued by Government officers, returned themselves as
Meriah at the census, 1901. The Kondhs have now substituted a buffalo
for a human being. The animal is hewn to pieces while alive, and the
villagers rush home to their villages, to bury the flesh in the soil,
and so secure prosperous crops. The sacrifice is not unaccompanied
by risk to the performers, as the buffalo, before dying, frequently
kills one or more of its tormenters. This was the case near Baliguda
in 1899, when a buffalo killed the sacrificer. In the previous year,
the desire of a village to intercept the bearer of the flesh for a
neighbouring village led to a fight, in which two men were killed.
It was the practice, a few years ago, at every Dassara festival in
Jeypore, Vizagapatam, to select a specially fine ram, wash it, shave
its head, affix thereto red and white bottu and namam (sect marks)
between the eyes and down the nose, and gird it with a new white cloth
after the manner of a human being. The animal being then fastened in
a sitting posture, certain puja (worship) was performed by a Brahman
priest, and it was decapitated. The substitution of animals for human
victims is indicated by various religious legends. Thus, a hind was
substituted for Iphigenia, and a ram for Isaac.
It was stated by the officers of the Meriah Agency that there was
reason to believe that the Raja of Jeypore, when he was installed on
his father's death in 1860-61, sacrificed a girl thirteen years of
age at the shrine of the goddess Durga in the town of Jeypore. [167]
It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district (1907),
that "goats and buffaloes now-a-days take the place of human Meriah
victims, but the belief in the superior efficacy of the latter dies
hard, and every now and again revives. When the Rampa rebellion of
1879-80 spread in this district, several cases of human sacrifice
occurred in the disturbed tracts. In 1880, two persons were convicted
of attempting a Meriah sacrifice near Ambadala in Bissamkatak. In
1883, a man (a beggar and a stranger) was found at daybreak murdered
in one of the temples in Jeypore, in circumstances which pointed
to his having been slain as a Meriah; and, as late as 1886, a formal
enquiry showed that there were ample grounds for the suspicion that the
kidnapping of victims still went on in Bastar." As recently as 1902,
a petition was presented to the District Magistrate of Ganjam, asking
him to sanction the performance of a human sacrifice. The memory of
the abandoned practice is kept green by one of the Kondh songs, for a
translation of which we are indebted to Mr. J. E. Friend-Pereira. [168]
"At the time of the great Kiabon (Campbell) Sahib's coming,
the country was in darkness; it was enveloped in mist.
Having sent paiks to collect the people of the land, they, having
surrounded them, caught the Meriah sacrificers.
Having caught the Meriah sacrificers, they brought them, and
again they went and seized the evil councillors.
Having seen the chains and shackles, the people were afraid;
murder and bloodshed were quelled.
Then the land became beautiful, and a certain Mokodella
(Macpherson) Sahib came.
He destroyed the lairs of the tigers and bears in the hills and
rocks, and taught wisdom to the people.
After the lapse of a month, he built bungalows and schools;
and he advised them to learn reading and law.
They learnt wisdom and reading; they acquired silver and gold. Then
all the people became wealthy."
Human sacrifice was not practiced in the Kurtilli Muttah of the Ganjam
Maliahs. The reason of this is assigned to the fact that the first
attempt was made with a crooked knife, and the sacrificers made such
a bad business of it that they gave it up. Colonel Campbell gives
another tradition, that, through humanity, one of the Kurtilli Patros
(head of a group of villages) threatened to leave the muttah if the
practice was carried out.
Of a substituted sacrifice, which was carried out in the Ganjam Maliahs
in 1894, [169] the following graphic account has been given. "Suddenly
we came upon a number of Khonds carrying an immensely long bamboo,
about fifty feet in length, surmounted by a gorgeous sort of balloon
made of red and white cloth stretched on a bamboo frame. Attached
to this were dried strips of pig's flesh, and the whole of the
extraordinary structure was surmounted by a huge plume of peacock's
feathers that waved gaily in the breeze. Along with this was carried
another bamboo, not so long, slung all over with iron bells. We found
that the men had been worshipping, and presenting these structures
to a sylvan deity close by, and were now hastening to the small Khond
village of Dhuttiegaum, the scene of the present Meriah sacrifice. Half
a mile brought us to this hamlet, situated amongst a dense grove
of trees, in the midst of which was tied to a curiously fluted and
carved wooden post the sacrificial buffalo, a placid animal, with
its body glistening with the oil of many anointings. The huge bamboo
pole, with its crown of red and white cloth and peacock's feathers,
and incongruous shreds of dried pig's flesh, was now erected in
the centre of the village. The comparative quiet in the village did
not last long, for on a sudden the air was rent with a succession of
shrieks. With the sound of the beating of Maliah drums, and the blowing
of buffalo horns, a party of Khonds came madly dancing and rushing
down a steep hillside from some neighbouring village. They dashed
up to the buffalo, and began frantically dancing with the villagers
already assembled round and round the animal. Each man carried a green
bough of some tree, a sharp knife, and a tanghi. They were all adorned
in holiday attire, their hair combed and knotted on the forehead, and
profusely decorated with waving feathers. All of them were more or less
intoxicated. Various other villagers now began to arrive, thick and
fast, in the same manner, with wavings of green boughs, flourishing
of knives, and hideous yells. Each party was led by the headman or
Moliko of the village. The dancing now became more general, and faster
and more furious, as more and more joined the human 'merry go round,'
circling about the unfortunate buffalo. The women, who had followed
their lords and masters at a discreet distance, stood sedately by in
a group, and took no part whatever in the revels. They were for the
most part fine buxom girls, well groomed and oiled, and stood demurely
watching everything with their sharp black eyes. The hitherto quiet
buffalo, who for nearly two days had been without food and water, now
began to get excited, and, straining at its tether, plunged and butted
at the dancers, catching one man neatly on the nose so that the blood
flowed copiously. However, the Khonds were too excited to care, and
circled round and round the poor maddened brute, singing and blowing
horns into its ears, beating drums, and every now and then offering it
cakes brought with them from their villages, and then laying them on
the top of the post as offerings. As they thus madly careered about,
we had ample time to note their extraordinary costumes. One man had
somehow got hold of an old blue Police overcoat, which he had put
on inside out, and round his waist he had gathered what seemed to
be a number of striped tent carpets, forming a stiff ballet skirt or
kilt. He was one of the most athletic in spinning round the buffalo,
flourishing a kitchen chopper. Another man's costume consisted of
almost nothing at all. He had, however, profusely daubed his body
with white and black spots, and on his head he had centred all his
decorative genius. The head in question was swathed in yards of cloth,
terminating at the back in a perfect cascade of cock's feathers. He
excitedly waved over this erection an ancient and very rusty umbrella,
with many ventilations, with streamers of white cloth attached to the
top. Others had tied on to their heads with bands of cloth the horns
of buffaloes, or brass horns made in imitation of those of the spotted
deer. Their long, black and curly hair hung in masses from beneath
this strange erection, giving them a most startling appearance. The
dancing round the buffalo lasted quite two hours, as they were waiting
for the arrival of the Patro, before concluding the final ceremonies,
and the great man was fashionably late. To incite their jaded energies
to further terpsichorean efforts, from time to time the dancers drank
copious draughts of a kind of beer, used specially on these occasions,
and made from kukuri, a species of grain. At last, the long expected
Patro arrived with the usual uproar of many deafening sounds, both
artificial and natural, and with the waving of green boughs. On this
occasion he walked last, while the whole of his retinue preceded
him dancing, headed by an ancient and withered hag, carrying on
her shoulders a Maliah drum of cow-hide stretched tightly over a
hoop of iron, and vigorously beaten from behind her by a Khond with
stiff thongs of dried leather. The great man himself walked sedately,
followed by his 'charger,' a broken-kneed tat (pony), extraordinarily
caparisoned, and led by a youth of tender years, whose sole garment
consisted of a faded red drummer's coat of antiquated cut. As soon as
the Patro had seated himself comfortably on a log near the dancers, a
change came over the scene. The hitherto shouting and madly revolving
throng stopped their gyrations round the stupefied beast, too much
exhausted and frightened to offer any resistance, and, falling on
its neck and body, began to smother it with caresses and endearments,
and, to a low plaintive air, crooned and wailed over it, the following
dirge, of which I append a rude translation. Tradition says that they
used to sing it, with slight variations, over their human victims
before the sacrifice:--
Blame us not, O buffalo!
Thus for sacrificing thee,
For our fathers have ordained
This ancient mystery.
We have bought thee with a price,
Have paid for thee all thy worth.
What blame can rest upon us,
Who save our land from dearth?
Famine stares us in the face,
Parched are our fields, and dry,
Death looks in at ev'ry door,
For food our young ones cry.
Thadi Pennoo veils her face,
Propitiate me, she cries,
Give to me of flesh and blood,
A willing sacrifice.
That where'er its blood is shed,
On land, or field, or hill,
There the gen'rous grain may spring,
So ye may eat your fill.
Then be glad, O buffalo!
Willing sacrifice to be,
Soon in Thadi's meadows green,
Thou shalt brouse eternally.
After the Khonds had been chanting this sacrificial hymn for some time,
the buffalo was untied from the carved post, and led, with singing,
dancing and shouting, and with the noise of many musical instruments,
to a sacred grove a few hundred yards off, and there tied to a
stake. As soon as it had been firmly tied, the Khonds threw off all
their superfluous clothing to the large crowd of womankind waiting
near, and stood round the animal, each man with his hand uplifted,
and holding a sharp knife ready to strike at a moment's notice,
as soon as the priest or Janni had given the word of command. The
Janni, who did not differ outwardly from the others, now gave the
buffalo a slight tap on the head with a small axe. An indescribable
scene followed. The Khonds in a body fell on the animal, and, in an
amazingly short time, literally tore the living victim to shreds with
their knives, leaving nothing but the head, bones, and stomach. Death
must, mercifully, have been almost instantaneous. Every particle of
flesh and skin had been stripped off during the few minutes they
fought and struggled over the buffalo, eagerly grasping for every
atom of flesh. As soon as a man had secured a piece of flesh, he
rushed away with the gory mass, as fast as he could, to his fields,
to bury it therein according to ancient custom, before the sun had
set. As some of them had to do good distances to effect this, it was
imperative that they should run very fast. A curious scene now took
place, for which we could obtain no explanation. As the men ran,
all the women flung after them clods of earth, some of them taking
very good effect. The sacred grove was cleared of people, save a
few that guarded the remnants left of the buffalo, which were taken,
and burnt with ceremony at the foot of the stake."
I pass on to the subject of infanticide among the Kondhs. It is
stated, in the Manual of the Vizagapatam district, that female
infanticide used to be very common all over the Jeypore country, and
the Rajah is said to have made money out of it in one large taluk
(division). The custom was to consult the Dasari (priest) when a
child was born as to its fate. If it was to be killed, the parents
had to pay the Amin of the taluk a fee for the privilege of killing
it; and the Amin used to pay the Rajah three hundred rupees a year
for renting the privilege of giving the license and pocketing the
fees. The practice of female infanticide was formerly very prevalent
among the Kondhs of Ganjam, and, in 1841, Lieutenant Macpherson was
deputed to carry into effect the measures which had been proposed by
Lord Elphinstone for the suppression of the Meriah sacrifices and
infanticide. The custom was ascribed to various beliefs, viz., (1)
that it was an injunction by god, as one woman made the whole world
suffer; (2) that it conduces to male offspring; (3) that woman, being
a mischief-maker, is better out of the world than in it; (4) that the
difficulty, owing to poverty, in providing marriage portions was an
objection to rearing females. From Macpherson's well known report [170]
the following extracts are taken. "The portion of the Khond country,
in which the practice of female infanticide is known to prevail, is
roughly estimated at 2,400 square miles, its population at 60,000, and
the number of infants destroyed annually at 1,200 to 1,500. The tribes
(who practice infanticide) belong to the division of the Khond people
which does not offer human sacrifices. The usage of infanticide has
existed amongst them from time immemorial. It owes its origin and its
maintenance partly to religious opinions, partly to ideas from which
certain very important features of Khond manners arise. The Khonds
believe that the supreme deity, the sun god, created all things good;
that the earth goddess introduced evil into the world; and that these
two powers have since conflicted. The non-sacrificing tribes make
the supreme deity the great object of their adoration, neglecting the
earth goddess. The sacrificing tribes, on the other hand, believe the
propitiation of the latter power to be the most necessary worship. Now
the tribes which practice female infanticide hold that the sun god,
in contemplating the deplorable effects produced by the creation
of feminine nature, charged men to bring up only as many females
as they could restrain from producing evil to society. This is the
first idea upon which the usage is founded. Again, the Khonds believe
that souls almost invariably return to animate human forms in the
families in which they have been first born and received. But the
reception of the soul of an infant into a family is completed only
on the performance of the ceremony of naming upon the seventh day
after its birth. The death of a female infant, therefore, before that
ceremonial of reception, is believed to exclude its soul from the
circle of family spirits, diminishing by one the chance of future
female births in the family. And, as the first aspiration of every
Khond is to have male children, this belief is a powerful incentive
to infanticide." Macpherson, during his campaign, came across many
villages of about a hundred houses, in which there was not a single
female child. In like manner, in 1855, Captain Frye found many Baro
Bori Khond villages without a single female child in them.
In savage societies, it has been said, sexual unions were generally
effected by the violent capture of the woman. By degrees these captures
have become friendly ones, and have ended in a peaceful exogamy,
retaining the ancient custom only in the ceremonial form. Whereof
an excellent example is afforded by the Kondhs, concerning whom
the author of the Ganjam Manual writes as follows. "The parents
arrange the marriages of their children. The bride is looked upon as
a commercial speculation, and is paid for in gontis. A gonti is one
of anything, such as a buffalo, a pig, or a brass pot; for instance,
a hundred gontis might consist of ten bullocks, ten buffaloes, ten
sacks of corn, ten sets of brass, twenty sheep, ten pigs, and thirty
fowls. The usual price, however, paid by the bridegroom's father for
the bride, is twenty or thirty gontis. A Khond finds his wife from
among the women of any mutah (village) than his own. On the day fixed
for the bride being taken home to her husband's house, the pieces of
broom in her ears are removed, and are replaced by brass rings. The
bride is covered over with a red blanket, and carried astride on
her uncle's back towards the husband's village, accompanied by the
young women of her own village. Music is played, and in the rear are
carried brass playthings, such as horses, etc., for the bridegroom,
and cloths and brass pins as presents for the bridegroom from the
bride's father. On the road, at the village boundary, the procession
is met by the bridegroom and the young men of his village, with their
heads and bodies wrapped up in blankets and cloths. Each is armed
with a bundle of long thin bamboo sticks. The young women of the
bride's village at once attack the bridegroom's party with sticks,
stones, and clods of earth, which the young men ward off with the
bamboo sticks. A running fight is in this manner kept up until the
village is reached, when the stone-throwing invariably ceases, and
the bridegroom's uncle, snatching up the bride, carries her off to her
husband's house. This fighting is by no means child's play, and the men
are sometimes seriously injured. The whole party is then entertained by
the bridegroom as lavishly as his means will permit. On the day after
the bride's arrival, a buffalo and a pig are slaughtered and eaten,
and, upon the bride's attendants returning home on the evening of the
second day, a male and female buffalo, or some less valuable present,
is given to them. On the third day, all the Khonds of the village have
a grand dance or tamasha (festivity), and on the fourth day there is
another grand assembly at the house of the bridegroom. The bride and
bridegroom are then made to sit down on a cot, and the bridegroom's
brother, pointing upwards to the roof of the house, says: "As long
as this girl stays with us, may her children be as men and tigers;
but, if she goes astray, may her children be as snakes and monkeys,
and die and be destroyed!" In his report upon the Kondhs (1842),
Macpherson tells us that "they hold a feast at the bride's house. Far
into the night the principals in the scene are raised by an uncle of
each upon his shoulders, and borne through the dance. The burdens
are suddenly exchanged, and the uncle of the youth disappears with
the bride. The assembly divides itself into two parties. The friends
of the bride endeavour to arrest, those of the bridegroom to cover
her flight, and men, women, and children mingle in mock conflict. I
saw a man bearing away upon his back something enveloped in an ample
covering of scarlet cloth. He was surrounded by twenty or thirty
young fellows, and by them protected from the desperate attacks made
upon him by a party of young women. The man was just married, and
the burden was his blooming bride, whom he was conveying to his own
village. Her youthful friends were, according to custom, seeking to
regain possession of her, and hurled stones and bamboos at the head
of the devoted bridegroom, until he reached the confines of his own
village. Then the tables were turned, and the bride was fairly won;
and off her young friends scampered, screaming and laughing, but not
relaxing their speed till they reached their own village." Among
the Kondhs of Gumsur, the friends and relations of the bride and
bridegroom collect at an appointed spot. The people of the female
convoy call out to the others to come and take the bride, and then
a mock fight with stones and thorny brambles is begun by the female
convoy against the parties composing the other one. In the midst of
the tumult the assaulted party takes possession of the bride, and all
the furniture brought with her, and carry all off together. [171]
According to another account, the bride, as soon as she enters the
bridegroom's house, has two enormous bracelets, or rather handcuffs of
brass, each weighing from twenty to thirty pounds, attached to each
wrist. The unfortunate girl has to sit with her two wrists resting
on her shoulders, so as to support these enormous weights. This is
to prevent her from running away to her old home. On the third day
the bangles are removed, as it is supposed that by then the girl has
become reconciled to her fate. These marriage bangles are made on the
hills, and are curiously carved in fluted and zigzag lines, and kept
as heirlooms in the family, to be used at the next marriage in the
house. According to a still more recent account of marriage among the
Kondhs [172] an old woman suddenly rushes forward, seizes the bride,
flings her on her back, and carries her off. A man comes to the front,
catches the groom, and places him astride on his shoulder. The human
horses neigh and prance about like the live quadruped, and finally
rush away to the outskirts of the village. This is a signal for the
bride's girl friends to chase the couple, and pelt them with clods of
earth, stones, mud, cowdung, and rice. When the mock assault is at an
end, the older people come up, and all accompany the bridal pair to
the groom's village. A correspondent informs me that he once saw a
Kondh bride going to her new home, riding on her uncle's shoulders,
and wrapped in a red blanket. She was followed by a bevy of girls
and relations, and preceded by drums and horns. He was told that the
uncle had to carry her the whole way, and that, if he had to put her
down, a fine of a buffalo was inflicted, the animal being killed and
eaten. It is recorded that a European magistrate once mistook a Kondh
marriage for a riot, but, on enquiry, discovered his mistake.
Reference has been made above to certain brass playthings,
which are carried in the bridal procession. The figures include
peacocks, chamæleons, cobras, crabs, horses, deer, tigers, cocks,
elephants, human beings, musicians, etc. They are cast by the cire
perdue process. The core of the figure is roughly shaped in clay,
according to the usual practice, but, instead of laying on the wax
in an even thickness, thin wax threads are first made, and arranged
over the core so as to form a network, or placed in parallel lines
or diagonally, according as the form of the figure or fancy of the
workman dictates. The head, arms, and feet are modelled in the ordinary
way. The wax threads are made by means of a bamboo tube, into the
end of which a moveable brass plate is fitted. The wax, being made
sufficiently soft by heat, is pressed through the perforation at the
end of the tube, and comes out in the form of long threads, which must
be used by the workmen before they become hard and brittle. The chief
place where these figures are made is Belugunta, near Russellkonda in
Ganjam. It is noted by Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson [173] that the Kondhs
of Gumsur, to represent their deities Jara Pennu, the Linga Devata,
or Petri Devata, keep in their houses brass figures of elephants,
peacocks, dolls, fishes, etc. If affliction happens to any one
belonging to the household, or if the country skin eruption breaks out
on any of them, they put rice into milk, and, mixing turmeric with it,
sprinkle the mixture on the figures, and, killing fowls and sheep,
cause worship to be made by the Jani, and, making baji, eat.
At a marriage among the Kondhs of Baliguda, after the heads of
the bride and bridegroom have been brought together, an arrow is
discharged from a bow by the younger brother of the bridegroom into
the grass roof of the hut. At the betrothal ceremony of some Kondhs,
a buffalo and pig are killed, and some of the viscera eaten. Various
parts are distributed according to an abiding rule, viz., the head
to the bridegroom's maternal uncle, the flesh of the sides to his
sisters, and of the back among other relations and friends. Some
Kondh boys of ten or twelve years of age are said to be married to
girls of fifteen or sixteen. At Shubernagiri, in the Ganjam Maliahs,
are two trysting trees, consisting of a jak (Artocarpus integrifolia)
and mango growing close together. The custom was for a Kondh, who
was unable to pay the marriage fees to the Patro (headman), to meet
his love here by night and plight his troth, and then for the two to
retire into the jungle for three days and nights before returning to
the village. Afterwards, they were considered to be man and wife.
It is noted by Mr. Friend-Pereira [174] that, at the ceremonial for
settling the preliminaries of a Kondh marriage, a knotted string is
put into the hands of the seridahpa gataru (searchers for the bride),
and a similar string is kept by the girl's people. The reckoning of
the date of the betrothal ceremony is kept by undoing a knot in the
string every morning.
Some years ago, a young Kondh was betrothed to the daughter of another
Kondh, and, after a few years, managed to pay up the necessary number
of gifts. He then applied to the girl's father to name the day for
the marriage. Before the wedding took place, however, a Pano went
to the girl's father, and said that she was his daughter (she had
been born before her parents were married), and that he was the man
to whom the gifts should have been paid. The case was referred to a
council meeting, which decided in favour of the Pano.
Of birth ceremonies, the following account is given by Mr. Jayaram
Moodaliar. The woman is attended in her confinement by an elderly
Kondh midwife, who shampooes her abdomen with castor-oil. The umbilical
cord is cut by the mother of the infant. For this purpose, the right
thigh of the baby is flexed towards its abdomen, and a piece of cooled
charcoal placed on its right knee. The cord is placed on the charcoal,
and divided with the sharp edge of an arrow. The placenta is buried
close to the house near a wall. After the cord has been severed,
the mother daubs the region of the infant's navel with her saliva,
over which she smears castor-oil. She then warms her hands at a
fire, and applies them to the infant's body. [It is stated, in the
Ganjam Manual, that the infant is held before a hot fire, and half
roasted.] The warming is repeated several times daily for four or five
days. When the umbilical cord has sloughed off, a spider is burnt to
ashes over a fire, placed in a cocoanut shell, mixed with castor-oil,
and applied by means of a fowl's feather to the navel. The infant's
head is shaved, except over the anterior fontanelle, the hair from
which is removed after about a month. Its body is smeared all over
daily with castor-oil and turmeric paste until it is a month old. The
mother then goes with her baby and husband to her brother's house,
where the infant is presented with a fowl, which is taken home,
and eaten by her husband. The appropriation of the fowl varies
according to the locality. In some places, the infant's father,
and other relations, except the mother, may eat it, and, in others,
both its parents, and relations living in the house, may do so. In
still other places, the father, paternal grandfather and grandmother,
and paternal uncle, may partake of it.
The naming ceremony among the Kondhs of Gumsur is thus described
by Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson. "Six months after birth, on a fixed day,
they make gaduthuva (the ceremony of naming the child). On that day,
killing a dog, and procuring liquor, they make baji. They wash the feet
of the child. The Jani being come, he ties a cord from the haft to the
point of a sickle, and they divine by means of it. Having assembled
the petrilu (literally ancestors, but here denoting household images
or gods), they put rice on the sickle. As the names (of the ancestors
or family?) are repeated in order, each time the rice is put on,
that name is chosen on the mention of which the sickle moves, and is
given to the child. They then drink liquor, and eat baji. They give
rice and flesh to the Jani."
Of death ceremonies, the following account is given in the manual
of the Ganjam district. "Immediately after death, a cloth is wrapped
round the corpse, but no cloths or valuables are removed. A portion of
paddy (unhusked rice), and all the cooking utensils of the deceased
are given to the village Sitra. [The Sitras manufacture the brass
rings and bangles worn by the Kondhs.] The body is then burnt. On the
following day, a little rice is cooked, put on a dish, and laid on the
spot where the corpse was burnt. An incantation is then pronounced,
requesting the spirit of the deceased person to eat the rice and
enjoy itself, and not to change itself into a devil or tiger, and
come bothering the survivors in the village. Three days after death,
the madda ceremony is performed. An effigy of the deceased is prepared
of straw, which is stuck up in front of or on the roof of the house,
and the relations and friends assemble, lament, and eat at the expense
of the people of the deceased's house. Each person brings a present of
some kind or other, and, on his departure on the next day, receives
something of slightly higher value. The death of a man in a village
requires a purification, which is made by the sacrifice of a buffalo
on the seventh day after death. If a man is killed by a tiger, the
purification is made by the sacrifice of a pig, the head of which,
cut off with a tangi (axe) by a Pano, is passed between the legs
of the men in the village, who stand in a line astraddle. It is a
bad omen for him if the head touches any man's legs. If the Patro
attends a funeral, he gets a fee of a goat for firing his gun, to
drive away the dead man's ghost." According to Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar,
if a person is killed by a tiger, the head of the decapitated pig is
placed in a stream, and, as it floats down, it has to pass between
the legs of the villagers. If it touches the legs of any of them,
it forebodes that he will be killed by a tiger.
In a note on the death ceremonies in Gumsur, Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson
writes as follows. "On life ceasing, they tie a sheep to the foot
of the corpse. They carry the clothes, brass eating-dish, brass
drinking-vessel, ornaments, grain in store, and the said sheep to
the burning-ground. Having burned the body, and gone around about
the pile, they leave all those things there, and, beating drums,
return home. The garments the Panos take away. They procure liquor,
and drink it. They then go to their respective houses, and eat. On the
next day, they kill a she-buffalo, and get together a great quantity
of liquor. The whole of the tribe (near and distant relations)
being assembled, they make baji, and eat. They beat drums. If the
deceased were of any consequence, dancers come and dance to the
sound of the drums, to whom some animal is given, which they take,
and go away. Subsequently, on the twelfth day, they carry a hog to
the spot where the body was burned, and, after perambulating the
site of the pyre, return to their home, where they kill a hog in
the place set apart for their household gods, and, procuring liquor,
make baji, the members of the tribe eating together. Should a tiger
carry off any one, they throw out of doors all the (preserved) flesh
belonging to him, and all the people of the village, not excepting
children, quit their homes. The Jani, being come with two rods of
the tummeca tree (Acacia arabica), he plants these in the earth, and
then, bringing one rod of the condatamara tree (Smilax macrophylla),
he places it transversely across the other two. The Jani, performing
some incantation, sprinkles water on them. Beginning with the children,
as these and the people pass through the passage so formed, the Jani
sprinkles water on them all. Afterwards, the whole of them go to
their houses, without looking behind them."
In connection with customs observed in the event of death, Mr. Jayaram
Moodaliar writes that "if a woman's husband dies, she removes the beads
from her neck, the metal finger rings, ankle and wrist ornaments, and
the ornament worn in the lobe of one ear, that worn in the lobe of the
other ear being retained. These are thrown on the chest of the corpse,
before it is cremated. The widow does not remove the ornaments worn in
the helices of the ears, and in the alæ and septum of the nose. When
a Khond dies, his body is cremated. The people in the house of the
deceased are not allowed to cook their food on that or the next day,
but are fed by their relations and friends in the village. On the day
after death, rice and a fowl are cooked separately, put in big leaf
cups, and placed on the spot where the corpse was burnt. The spirit
of the deceased is invited to eat the meal, and asked not to do them
any harm. On the third day, the relations bathe, and smear their heads
with clay. An effigy of the deceased is made, and stuck up on the roof
of the house. The practice of making an image of the deceased obtains
among the Goomsur Khonds, but, in some other places, is considered
inauspicious. On the seventh day, a purificatory ceremony is gone
through, and a buffalo killed, with which, and the indispensable
liquor, the guests are entertained. At a village two miles from
Baliguda, a boy, about sixteen years old, died. His gold ear-rings and
silver bracelets were not removed, but burnt. His cloths were thrown
on the pyre. Ragi and other grains, paddy, etc., were placed near the
funeral pyre, but not in the fire. The food-stuffs, and a buffalo,
were divided among the Haddis, who are the servants of the headman
(Patro) of the muttah. They also took the remains of the jewels,
recovered from the ashes after cremation."
It is recorded by Mr. F. Fawcett [175] that "once after death,
a propitiatory sacrifice is made of animals of the deceased to the
Pidari Pitta (ancestor) for the sake of the deceased's spirit, which,
after this festive introduction to the shades, must take its chance. A
curious ceremony, which I do not remember seeing noted anywhere,
is performed the day after death. Some boiled rice and a small fowl
are taken to the burning place. The fowl is split down the breast,
and placed on the spot; it is afterwards eaten, and the soul is
invoked to enter a new-Aborn child."