Kori (blanket).--An exogamous sept of Kuruba.
Koriannayya (fowl sept).--An exogamous sept of Bant.
Korono.--Karnam, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [1] "includes both
Karnam proper, and also Korono, the accountant caste of Ganjam and
Orissa. The following remarks relate solely to the Uriya Koronos. The
word Korono is said to be derived from kirani, which means a writer
or clerk. The origin of the Koronos is uncertain. One writer says
that they are Kayasts of Northern India, who are of Kshatriya
origin. Mr. R. C. Dutt says, in his History of Ancient India, that,
according to Manu, the Koronos belong to the Kshatriya Vratyas, who
do not perform the religious rites. And, in the Raghuvamsa, the poet
Kalidasa describes Koronos as the offspring of a Vaisya and a Sudra
woman, and he is supported by the lexicographer Amara Sinha. It is
said that the ancestors of the Koronos were brought from Northern
India by Yayatikesari, King of Orissa (447--526 A.D.), to supply the
want of writers and clerks in certain parts of Orissa. The Koronos are
worshippers of Vishnu. Their ceremonies are performed with the aid of
Brahman priests. The remarriage of widows is not permitted. They eat
fish, and the flesh of goats and deer. The Uriya Koronos observe the
gosha system, and carry it to such an extent that, after a girl attains
puberty, she is not allowed to appear before her elder brother. Their
titles are Patnaik and Mahanti."
The heads of the Ganjam villages are, Mr. S. P. Rice informs us,
"called Korono, the doer, and Karji, the manager. The Korono, who is
really only the accountant, but who, by reason of his higher education,
is generally the ultimate authority in the village, appropriates
to himself the title Potonaiko, as his caste distinction. The word
signifies the Naik or head of the town." It has been noted that
"in the Telugu districts, the Karnam is usually a Brahman. Being in
some respects the most intelligent, and the most unpopular man in
the village, he is both feared and hated. Murders of accountants,
though infrequent, are not unknown." Of proverbs relating to Karnams,
the following may be quoted:--
Even if a thousand pagodas are levied from a village, not even
a cash will be levied from the Karnam (a pagoda is a gold, and
a cash a copper coin).
The Karnam is the cause of the Kapu's (cultivator caste) death.
The hungry Karnam looks into his old accounts (to worry his
creditors).
The co-operation of the Karnam is as necessary as the axles to
the wheels of a cart.
One Karnam to one village.
A quiet Karnam is as little cared for as a tame elephant.
If a Karnam trusts another, his end is near.
If an enemy is his neighbour; if another Karnam is his superior;
if the Kapu bears complaints against him, a Karnam cannot live on.
The Koronos are divided into various sections, e.g., Sishta or
Srishti, Vaisya, Majjula, and Matihansa, some of which wear the sacred
thread. The Vaisyas are not allowed to marry their girls after puberty,
whereas the others may marry them before or after this event. A woman
of the Bhondari caste is employed on the occasion of marriage and
other ceremonies, to perform certain duties, for which her services
are indispensable.
Korra (millet: Setaria italica).--An exogamous sept of Gudala.
Korti.--An occupational name, derived from korto, a saw, of woodsawyers
in Ganjam.
Kosalya.--A sub-division of Mali, named after Kosala, the modern Oudh.
Koshti.--Koshti or Koshta is the name of a weaving and cultivating
caste of Chota Nagpur, a few members of which have settled in the
Madras Presidency (see Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal). Koshta is
also the name by which the Khatris of Conjeeveram call the Patnulkaran
silk weavers.
Kota.--According to Dr. Oppert [2] "it seems probable that the Todas
and Kotas lived near each other before the settlement of the latter on
the Nilagiri. Their dialects betray a great resemblance. According to a
tradition of theirs (the Kotas), they lived formerly on Kollimallai,
a mountain in Mysore. It is wrong to connect the name of the
Kotas with cow-slaying, and to derive it from the Sanskrit go-hatya
(cow-killer). The derivation of the term Kota is, as clearly indicated,
from the Gauda-dravidian word ko (ku) mountain, and the Kotas belong to
the Gandian branch." There is a tradition that the Kotas were formerly
one with the Todas, with whom they tended the herds of buffaloes in
common. But, on one occasion, they were found to be eating the flesh of
a buffalo which had died, and the Todas drove them out as being eaters
of carrion. A native report before me suggests that "it is probable
that, after the migration of the Kotas to the hills, anthropology
was at work, and they got into them an admixture of Toda blood."
The Kotas inhabit seven villages (Kotagiri or kokal), of which
six--Kotagiri, Kil Kotagiri, Todanad, Sholur, Kethi and Kunda--are
on the Nilgiri plateau, and one is at Gudalur at the north-west base
of these hills. They form compact communities, and, at Kotagiri,
their village consists of detached huts, and rows of huts arranged
in streets. The huts are built of mud, brick, or stone, roofed with
thatch or tiles, and divided into living and sleeping apartments. The
floor is raised above the ground, and there is a verandah in front
with a seat on each side whereon the Kota loves to "take his siesta,
and smoke his cheroot in the shade," or sleep off the effects of a
drinking bout. The door-posts of some of the huts are ornamented with
carving executed by wood-carvers in the plains. A few of the huts,
and one of the forges at Kotagiri, have stone pillars sculptured with
fishes, lotuses, and floral embellishments by stone-carvers from the
low country. It is noted by Breeks [3] that Kurguli (Sholur) is the
oldest of the Kota villages, and that the Badagas believe that the
Kotas of this village were made by the Todas. At Kurguli there is
a temple of the same form as the Toda dairy, and this is said to be
the only temple of the kind at any Kota village.
The Kotas speak a mixture of Tamil and Kanarese, and speak Tamil
without the foreign accent which is noticeable in the case of the
Badagas and Todas. According to orthodox Kota views, a settlement
should consist of three streets or keris, in one of which the Terkaran
or Devadi, and in the other two the Munthakannans or Pujaris live. At
Kotagiri the three streets are named Kilkeri, Nadukeri, and Melkeri,
or lower, central, and upper street. People belonging to the same keri
may not intermarry, as they are supposed to belong to the same family,
and intermarriage would be distasteful. The following examples of
marriage between members of different keris are recorded in my notes:--
Husband. Wife.
Kilkeri. Nadukeri.
Kilkeri. Melkeri.
Nadukeri. Melkeri.
Melkeri. Nadukeri.
Nadukeri. First wife Kilkeri, second wife Melkeri.
The Kota settlement at Sholur is divided into four keris,
viz.:--amreri, kikeri, korakeri, and akkeri, or near street, lower
street, other street, and that street, which resolve themselves into
two exogamous groups. Of these, amreri and kikeri constitute one group,
and korakeri and akkeri the other.
On the day following my arrival at Kotagiri, a deputation of Kotas
waited on me, which included a very old man bearing a certificate
appointing him headman of the community in recognition of his services
and good character, and a confirmed drunkard with a grog-blossom
nose, who attributed the inordinate size thereof to the acrid juice
of a tree, which he was felling, dropping on it. The besetting
vice of the Kotas of Kotagiri is a partiality for drink, and they
congregate together towards dusk in the arrack shop and beer tavern
in the bazar, whence they stagger or are helped home in a state of
noisy and turbulent intoxication. It has been said [4] that the Kotas
"actually court venereal disease, and a young man who has not suffered
from this before he is of a certain age is looked upon as a disgrace."
The Kotas are looked down on as being unclean feeders, and eaters of
carrion; a custom which is to them no more filthy than that of eating
game when it is high, or using the same tooth-brush week after week,
is to a European. They have been described as a very carnivorous race,
who "have a great craving for flesh, and will devour animal food of
every kind without any squeamish scruples as to how the animal came by
its death. The carcase of a bullock which has died of disease, or the
remains of a deer half devoured by a tiger, are equally acceptable to
him." An unappetising sight, which may be witnessed on roads leading to
a Kota village, is that of a Kota carrying the flesh of a dead buffalo,
often in an advanced stage of putridity, slung on a stick across his
shoulders, with the entrails trailing on the ground. Colonel Ross
King narrates [5] how he once saw a Kota carrying home a dead rat,
thrown out of a stable a day or two previously. When I repeated this
story to my Kota informant, he glared at me, and bluntly remarked
in Tamil "The book tells lies." Despite its unpleasant nature, the
carrion diet evidently agrees with the Kotas, who are a sturdy set
of people, flourishing, it is said, most exceedingly when the hill
cattle are dying of epidemic disease, and the supply of meat is
consequently abundant.
The missionary Metz narrates [6] that "some years ago the Kotas
were anxious to keep buffaloes, but the headmen of the other tribes
immediately put their veto upon it, declaring that it was a great
presumption on the part of such unclean creatures to wish to have
anything to do with the holy occupation of milking buffaloes."
The Kotas are blacksmiths, goldsmiths, silversmiths, carpenters,
tanners, rope-makers, potters, washermen, and cultivators. They
are the musicians at Toda and Badaga funerals. It is noted by
Dr. W. H. R. Rivers [7] that "in addition they provide for the first
Toda funeral the cloak (putkuli) in which the body is wrapped, and
grain (patm or s(=a)mai) to the amount of five to ten kwa. They give
one or two rupees towards the expenses, and, if they should have no
grain, their contribution of money is increased. At the marvainolkedr
(second funeral ceremony) their contributions are more extensive. They
provide the putkuli, together with a sum of eight annas, for the
decoration of the cloak by the Toda women. They give two to five
rupees towards the general expenses, and provide the bow and arrow,
basket (tek), knife (kafkati), and the sieve called kudshmurn. The
Kotas receive at each funeral the bodies of the slaughtered buffaloes,
and are also usually given food."
Though all classes look down on the Kotas, all are agreed that they
are excellent artisans, whose services as smiths, rope and umbrella
makers, etc., are indispensable to the other hill tribes. The strong,
durable ropes, made out of buffalo hide, are much sought after by
Badagas for fastening their cattle. The Kotas at Gudalur have the
reputation of being excellent thatchers. The Todas claim that the
Kotas are a class of artisans specially brought up from the plains
to work for them. Each Toda, Badaga, Irula, and Kurumba settlement
has its Muttu Kotas, who work for the inhabitants thereof, and supply
them with sundry articles, called muttu, in return for the carcasses of
buffaloes and cattle, ney (clarified butter), grain, plantain, etc. The
Kotas eat the flesh of the animals which they receive, and sell the
horns to Labbai (Muhammadan) merchants from the plains. Chakkiliyans
(leather-workers) from the plains collect the bones, and purchase the
hides, which are roughly cured by the Kotas with chunam (lime) and
avaram (Cassia auriculata) bark, and pegged out on the ground to dry.
The Kota blacksmiths make hatches, bill-hooks, knives, and other
implements for the various hill tribes, especially the Badagas, and
also for European planters. Within the memory of men still living,
they used to work with iron ore brought up from the low country,
but now depend on scrap iron, which they purchase locally in the
bazar. The most flourishing smithy in the Kotagiri village is made
of bricks of local manufacture, roofed with zinc sheets, and fitted
with anvil pincers, etc., of European manufacture.
As agriculturists the Kotas are said to be quite on a par with the
Badagas, and they raise on the land adjacent to their villages crops
of potatoes, bearded wheat (akki or rice ganji), barley (beer ganji),
kirai (Amarantus), samai (Panicum miliare), korali (Setaria italica),
mustard, onions, etc.
At the revenue settlement, 1885, the Kotas were treated in the same way
as the Badagas and other tribes of the Nilgiris, except the Todas, and
the lands in their occupation were assigned to them at rates varying
from ten to twenty annas per acre. The bhurty or shifting system of
cultivation, under which the Kotas held their lands, was formally, but
nominally, abolished in 1862-64; but it was practically and finally
done away with at the revenue settlement of the Nilgiri plateau. The
Kota lands are now held on puttas under the ordinary ryotwari tenure.
In former days, opium of good quality was cultivated by the Badagas,
from whom the Kotas got poppy-heads, which their herbalists used for
medicinal purposes. At the present time, the Kotas purchase opium in
the bazar, and use it as an intoxicant.
The Kota women have none of the fearlessness and friendliness of the
Todas, and, on the approach of a European to their domain, bolt out of
sight, like frighted rabbits in a warren, and hide within the inmost
recesses of their huts. As a rule they are clad in filthily dirty
clothes, all tattered and torn, and frequently not reaching as low as
the knees. In addition to domestic duties, the women have to do work
in the fields, fetch water and collect firewood, with loads of which,
supported on the head by a pad of bracken fern (Pteris aquilina)
leaves, and bill-hook slung on the shoulder, old and young women,
girls and boys, may continually be seen returning to the Kotagiri
village. The women also make baskets, and rude earthen pots from
a black clay found in swamps on a potter's wheel. This consists of
a disc made of dry mud, with an iron spike, by means of which it is
made to revolve in a socket in a stone fixed in the space in front
of the houses, which also acts as a threshing-floor. The earthenware
vessels used by the Todas for cooking purposes, and those used in
dairy work, except those of the inner room of the ti (sacred dairy),
are said by Dr. Rivers to be made by the Kotas.
The Kota priesthood is represented by two classes, Munthakannan or
Pujari, and Terkaran or Devadi, of whom the former rank higher than
the latter. There may be more than two Terkarans in a village, but
the Munthakannans never exceed this number, and they should belong
to different keris. These representatives of the priesthood must
not be widowers, and, if they lose their wives while holding office,
their appointment lapses. They may eat the flesh of buffaloes, but
not drink their milk. Cow's flesh, but not its milk, is tabu. The
Kotas may not milk cows, or, under ordinary conditions, drink the
milk thereof in their own village, but are permitted to do so if
it is given to them by a Pujari, or in a village other than their
own. The duties of the Munthakannan include milking the cows of the
village, service to the god, and participation in the seed-sowing
and reaping ceremonial. They must use fire obtained by friction, and
should keep a fire constantly burning in a broken pot. In like manner,
the Terkarans must not use matches, but take fire from the house of
the Munthakannan. The members of the priesthood are not allowed to
work for others, but may do so on their own account in the fields or
at the forge. They should avoid pollution, and may not attend a Toda
or Badaga funeral, or approach the seclusion hut set apart for Kota
women. When a vacancy in the office of Munthakannan occurs, the Kotas
of the village gather together, and seek the guidance of the Terkaran,
who becomes inspired by the deity, and announces the name of the
successor. The selected individual has to be fed at the expense of
the community for three months, during which time he may not speak to
his wife or other woman direct, but only through the medium of a boy,
who acts as his assistant. Further, during this period of probation,
he may not sleep on a mat or use a blanket, but must lie on the ground
or on a plank, and use a dhupati (coarse cloth) as a covering. At
the time of the annual temple festival, neither the Munthakannans
nor the Terkarans may live or hold communion with their wives for
fear of pollution, and they have to cook their food themselves.
The seed-sowing ceremony is celebrated in the month of Kumbam
(February-March) on a Tuesday or Friday. For eight days the Pujari
abstains from meat and lives on vegetable dietary, and may not
communicate directly with his wife, a boy acting as spokesman. On the
Sunday before the ceremony, a number of cows are penned in a kraal,
and milked by the Pujari. The milk is preserved, and, if the omens are
favourable, is said not to turn sour. If it does, this is attributed
to the Pujari being under pollution from some cause or other. On the
day of the ceremony, the Pujari bathes in a stream, and proceeds,
accompanied by a boy, to a field or the forest. After worshipping
the gods, he makes a small seed-pan in the ground, and sows therein
a small quantity of ragi (Elusine Coracana). Meanwhile, the Kotas of
the village go to the temple, and clean it. Thither the Pujari and the
boy proceed, and the deity is worshipped with offerings of cocoanuts,
betel, flowers, etc. Sometimes the Terkaran becomes inspired, and
gives expression to oracular utterances. From the temple all go to
the house of the Pujari, who gives them a small quantity of milk and
food. Three months later, on an auspicious day, the reaping of the
crop is commenced with a very similar form of ceremonial.
During the seed-sowing festival, Mr. Harkness, writing in 1832, [8]
informs us, "offerings are made in the temples, and, on the day of the
full moon, after the whole have partaken of a feast, the blacksmith
and the gold and silversmith, constructing separately a forge and
furnace within the temple, each makes something in the way of has
avocation, the blacksmith a chopper or axe, the silversmith a ring
or other kind of ornament."
"Some rude image," Dr. Shortt writes, [9] "of wood or stone, a rock
or tree in a secluded locality, frequently forms the Kota's object of
worship, to which sacrificial offerings are made; but the recognised
place of worship in each village consists of a large square of ground,
walled round with loose stones, three feet high, and containing in its
centre two [10] pent-shaped sheds of thatch, open before and behind,
and on the posts (of stone) that support them some rude circles and
other figures are drawn. No image of any sort is visible here." These
sheds, which at Kotagiri are a very short distance apart, are dedicated
to Siva and his consort Parvati under the names of Kamataraya and
Kalikai. Though no representation thereof is exhibited in the temples
at ordinary times, their spirits are believed to pervade the buildings,
and at the annual ceremony they are represented by two thin plates of
silver, which are attached to the upright posts of the temples. The
stones surrounding the temples at Kotagiri are scratched with various
quaint devices, and lines for the games of kote and hulikote. The
Kotas go, I was told, to the temple once a month, at full moon, and
worship the gods. Their belief is that Kamataraya created the Kotas,
Todas, and Kurumbas, but not the Irulas. "Tradition says of Kamataraya
that, perspiring profusely, he wiped from his forehead three drops of
perspiration, and out of them formed the three most ancient of the
hill tribes--the Todas, Kurumbas, and Kotas. The Todas were told to
live principally upon milk, the Kurumbas were permitted to eat the
flesh of buffalo calves, and the Kotas were allowed perfect liberty
in the choice of food, being informed that they might eat carrion
if they could get nothing better." According to another version of
this legend given by Dr. Rivers, Kamataraya "gave to each people a
pot. In the Toda pot was calf-flesh, and so the Todas eat the flesh
of calves at the erkumptthpimi ceremony; the Kurumba pot contained
the flesh of a male buffalo, so this is eaten by the Kurumbas. The
pot of the Kotas contained the flesh of a cow-buffalo, which may,
therefore, be eaten by this people."
In addition to Kamataraya and Mangkali, the Kotas at Gudalur, which is
near the Malabar frontier, worship Vettakaraswami, Adiral and Udiral,
and observe the Malabar Onam festival. The Kotas worship further
Magali, to whose influence outbreaks of cholera are attributed, and
Mariamma, who is held responsible for smallpox. When cholera breaks out
among the Kota community, special sacrifices are performed with a view
to propitiating the wrath of the goddess. Magali is represented by an
upright stone in a rude temple at a little distance from Kotagiri,
where an annual ceremony takes place, at which some man becomes
possessed, and announces to the people that Magali has come. The
Pujari offers up plantains and cocoanuts, and sacrifices a sheep and
fowls. My informant was, or pretended to be ignorant of the following
legend recorded by Breeks as to the origin of the worship of the
smallpox goddess. "A virulent disease carried off a number of Kotas of
Peranganoda, and the village was abandoned by the survivors. A Badaga
named Munda Jogi, who was bringing his tools to the Kotagiri to be
sharpened, saw near a tree something in the form of a tiger, which
spoke to him, and told him to summon the run-away Kotas. He obeyed,
whereupon the tiger form addressed the Kotas in an unknown tongue, and
vanished. For some time, the purport of this communication remained
a mystery. At last, however, a Kota came forward to interpret, and
declared that the god ordered the Kotas to return to the village on
pain of a recurrence of the pestilence. The command was obeyed, and
a Swami house (shrine) was built on the spot where the form appeared
to the Badaga (who doubtless felt keenly the inconvenience of having
no Kotas at hand to sharpen his tools)." The Kotas are not allowed
to approach Toda or Badaga temples.
It was noted by Lieutenant R. F. Burton [11] that, in some hamlets,
the Kotas have set up curiously carved stones, which they consider
sacred, and attribute to them the power of curing diseases, if the
member affected be only rubbed against the talisman.
A great annual festival is held in honour of Kamataraya with the
ostensible object of propitiating him with a view to his giving the
Kotas an abundant harvest and general prosperity. The feast commences
on the first Monday after the January new moon, and lasts over many
days, which are observed as a general holiday. The festival is said to
be a continuous scene of licentiousness and debauchery, much indecent
dancing taking place between men and women. According to Metz,
[12] the chief men among the Badagas must attend, otherwise their
absence would be regarded as a breach of friendship and etiquette,
and the Kotas would avenge themselves by refusing to make ploughs or
earthen vessels for the Badagas. The programme, when the festival is
carried out in full detail, is, as far as I have been able to gather,
as follows:--
First day. A fire is kindled by one of the priests in the temple,
and carried to the Nadukeri section of the village, where it is
kept burning throughout the festival. Around the fire men, women,
adolescent boys and girls, dance to the weird music of the Kota band,
whose instruments consist of clarionet, drum, tambourine, brass horn
and flute (buguri).
[**TODO: Verify table]
Second day Dance at night.
Third day
Fourth day
Fifth day
Sixth day. The villagers go to the jungle and collect bamboos and
rattans, with which to re-roof the temple. Dance at night.
The seventh day is busily spent in re-roofing and decorating the
temples, and it is said to be essential that the work should be
concluded before nightfall. Dance at night.
Eighth day. In the morning the Kotas go to Badaga villages, and
cadge for presents of grain and ghi (clarified butter), which they
subsequently cook, place in front of the temple as an offering to
the god, and, after the priests have eaten, partake of, seated round
the temple.
Ninth day. Kotas, Todas, Badagas, Kurumbas, Irulas, and 'Hindus'
come to the Kota village, where an elaborate nautch is performed,
in which men are the principal actors, dressed up in gaudy attire
consisting of skirt, petticoat, trousers, turban and scarves, and
freely decorated with jewelry, which is either their own property,
or borrowed from Badagas for the occasion. Women merely dressed in
clean cloths also take part in a dance called kumi, which consists
of a walk round to time beaten with the hands. I was present at a
private performance of the male nautch, which was as dreary as such
entertainments usually are, but it lacked the go which is doubtless
put into it when it is performed under natural conditions away from
the restraining influence of the European. The nautch is apparently
repeated daily until the conclusion of the festival.
Eleventh and twelfth days. A burlesque representation of a Toda
funeral is given, at which the part of the sacrificial buffaloes is
played by men with buffalo horns fixed on the head, and body covered
with a black cloth.
At the close of the festival, the Kota priests and leading members
of the community go out hunting with bows and arrows, leaving the
village at 1 A.M., and returning at 3 A.M. They are said to have
formerly shot 'bison' (Bos gaurus) at this nocturnal expedition,
but what takes place at the present day is said to be unknown to
the villagers, who are forbidden to leave their houses during the
absence of the hunting party. On their return to the village, a fire
is lighted by friction. Into the fire a piece of iron is put by one
of the priests, made red hot with the assistance of the bellows,
and hammered. The priests then offer up a parting prayer to the god,
and the festival is at an end.
The following is a translation of a description by Dr. Emil Schmidt
[13] of the dancing at the Kota annual festival, at which he had the
good fortune to be present as an eye-witness:--
"During my stay at Kotagiri the Kotas were celebrating the big
festival in honour of their chief god. The feast lasted over twelve
days, during which homage was offered to the god every evening, and a
dance performed round a fire kept burning near the temple throughout
the feast. On the last evening but one, females, as well as males,
took part in the dance. As darkness set in, the shrill music, which
penetrated to my hotel, attracted me to the Kota village. At the end of
the street, which adjoins the back of the temple, a big fire was kept
up by continually putting on large long bundles of brushwood. On one
side of the fire, close to the flames, stood the musicians with their
musical instruments, two hand-drums, a tambourine, beaten by blows on
the back, a brass cymbal beaten with a stick, and two pipes resembling
oboes. Over and over again the same monotonous tune was repeated by the
two latter in quick four-eight time to the accompaniment of the other
instruments. On my arrival, about forty male Kotas, young and old, were
dancing round the fire, describing a semicircle, first to one side,
then the other, raising the hands, bending the knees, and executing
fantastic steps with the feet. The entire circle moved thus slowly
forwards, one or the other from time to time giving vent to a shout
that sounded like Hau! and, at the conclusion of the dance, there was
a general shout all round. Around the circle, partly on the piles of
stone near the temple, were seated a number of Kotas of both sexes. A
number of Badagas of good position, who had been specially invited
to the feast, sat round a small fire on a raised place, which abuts
on the back wall of the temple. The dance over, the circle of dancers
broke up. The drummers held their instruments, rendered damp and lax
by the moist evening breeze, so close to the flames that I thought
they would get burnt. Soon the music began again to a new tune; first
the oboes, and then, as soon as they had got into the proper swing,
the other instruments. The melody was not the same as before, but its
two movements were repeated without intercession or change. In this
dance females, as well as males, took part, grouped in a semicircle,
while the men completed the circle. The men danced boisterously and
irregularly. Moving slowly forwards with the entire circle, each
dancer turned right round from right to left and from left to right,
so that, after every turn, they were facing the fire. The women danced
with more precision and more artistically than the men. When they set
out on the dance, they first bowed themselves before the fire, and
then made left and right half turns with artistic regular steps. Their
countenances expressed a mixture of pleasure and embarrassment. None of
the dancers wore any special costume, but the women, who were nearly
all old and ugly, had, for the most part, a quantity of ornaments in
the ears and nose and on the neck, arms and legs. In the third dance,
played once more in four-eight times, only females took part. It was
the most artistic of all, and the slow movements had evidently been
well rehearsed beforehand. The various figures consisted of stepping
radially to and fro, turning, stepping forwards and backwards, etc.,
with measured seriousness and solemn dignity. It was for the women,
who, at other times, get very little enjoyment, the most important
and happiest day in the whole year."
In connection with Kota ceremonials, Dr. Rivers notes that "once a year
there is a definite ceremony, in which the Todas go to the Kota village
with which they are connected, taking an offering of clarified butter,
and receiving in return an offering of grain from the Kotas. I only
obtained an account of this ceremony as performed between the people
of Kars and the Kota village of Tizgudr, and I do not know whether
the details would be the same in other cases. In the Kars ceremony,
the Todas go on the appointed day to the Kota village, headed by a
man carrying the clarified butter. Outside the village they are met
by two Kota priests whom the Todas call teupuli, who bring with them a
dairy vessel of the kind the Todas call mu, which is filled with patm
grain. Other Kotas follow with music. All stand outside the village,
and one of the Kotas puts ten measures (kwa) of patm into the pocket
of the cloak of the leading Toda, and the teupuli give the mu filled
with the same grain. The teupuli then go to their temple and return,
each bringing a mu, and the clarified butter brought by the Todas is
divided into two equal parts, and half is poured into each mu. The
leading Toda then takes some of the butter, and rubs it on the heads
of the two Kota priests, who prostrate themselves, one at each foot
of the Toda, and the Toda prays as follows:--
May it be well; Kotas two, may it be well; fields flourish may;
rain may; buffalo milk may; disease go may.
"The Todas then give the two mu containing the clarified butter
to the Kota priests, and he and his companions return home. This
ceremony is obviously one in which the Todas are believed to promote
the prosperity of the Kotas, their crops, and their buffaloes.
"In another ceremonial relation between Todas and Kotas, the
kwòdrdoni ti (sacred dairy) is especially concerned. The chief annual
ceremony of the Kotas is held about January in honour of the Kota
god Kambataraya. In order that this ceremony may take place, it is
essential that there should be a palol (dairy man) at the kwòdrdoni ti,
and at the present time it is only occupied every year shortly before
and during the ceremony. The palol gives clarified butter to the Kotas,
which should be made from the milk of the arsaiir, the buffaloes of
the ti. Some Kotas of Kotagiri whom I interviewed claimed that these
buffaloes belonged to them, and that something was done by the palol
at the kwòdrdoni ti in connection with the Kambataraya ceremony,
but they could not, or would not, tell me what it was."
In making fire by friction (nejkol), the Kotas employ three forms of
apparatus:--(1) a vertical stick, and horizontal stick with sockets
and grooves, both made of twigs of Rhodomyrtus tomentosus; (2) a
small piece of the root of Salix tetrasperma is spliced into a stick,
which is rotated in a socket in a piece of the root of the same tree;
(3) a small piece of the root of this tree, made tapering at each
end with a knife or fragment of bottle glass, is firmly fixed in the
wooden handle of a drill. A shallow cavity and groove are made in a
block of the same wood, and a few crystalline particles from the ground
are dropped into the cavity. The block is placed on several layers of
cotton cloth, on which chips of wood, broken up small by crushing them
in the palm of the hand, are piled up round the block in the vicinity
of the grove. The handle is, by means of a half cocoanut shell, pressed
firmly down, and twisted between the palms, or rotated by means of a
cord. The incandescent particles, falling on to the chips, ignite them.
In a report by Lieutenant Evans, written in 1820, it is stated that
"the marriages of this caste (the Kothewars) remind one of what is
called bundling in Wales. The bride and bridegroom being together for
the night, in the morning the bride is questioned by her relatives
whether she is pleased with her husband-elect. If she answers
in the affirmative, it is a marriage; if not, the bridegroom is
immediately discharged, and the lady does not suffer in reputation
if she thus discards half a dozen suitors." The recital of this
account, translated into Tamil, raised a smile on the face of my
Kota informant, who volunteered the following information relating
to the betrothal and marriage ceremonies at the present day. Girls as
a rule marry when they are from twelve to sixteen years old, between
which years they reach the age of puberty. A wife is selected for a
lad by his parents, subject to the consent of the girl's parents;
or, if a lad has no near relatives, the selection is made for him
by the villagers. Betrothal takes place when the girl is a child
(eight to ten). The boy goes, accompanied by his father and mother,
to the house where the girl lives, prostrates himself at the feet of
her parents, and, if he is accepted, presents his future father-in-law
with a four-anna piece, which is understood to represent a larger sum,
and seals the contract. According to Breeks, the boy also makes a
present of a birianhana of gold, and the betrothal ceremony is called
balimeddeni (bali, bracelet, meddeni, I have made). Both betrothal
and marriage ceremonies take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday,
which are regarded as auspicious days. The ceremonial in connection
with marriage is of a very simple nature. The bridegroom, accompanied
by his relatives, attends a feast at the house of the bride, and the
wedding day is fixed. On the appointed day the bridegroom pays a dowry,
ranging from ten to fifty rupees, to the bride's father, and takes the
girl to his house, where the wedding guests, who have accompanied them,
are feasted. The Kotas as a rule have only one wife, and polyandry is
unknown among them. But polygamy is sometimes practiced. My informant,
for example, had two wives, of whom the first had only presented him
with a daughter, and, as he was anxious to have a son, he had taken
to himself a second wife. If a woman bears no children, her husband
may marry a second, or even a third wife; and, if they can get on
together without fighting, all the wives may live under the same roof.
Divorce may, I was told, be obtained for incompatibility of temper,
drunkenness, or immorality; and a man can get rid of his wife 'if she
is of no use to him', i.e., if she does not feed him well, or assist
him in the cultivation of his land. Divorce is decided by a panchayat
(council) of representative villagers, and judgment given, after the
evidence has been taken, by an elder of the community. Cases of theft,
assault, or other mild offence, are also settled by a panchayat,
and, in the event of a case arising which cannot be settled by the
members of council representing a single village, delegates from
all the Kota villages meet together. If then a decision cannot be
arrived at, recourse is had to the district court, of which the Kotas
steer clear if possible. At a big panchayat the headman (Pittakar)
of the Kotas gives the decision, referring, if necessary, to some
'sensible member' of the council for a second opinion.
When a married woman is known to be pregnant with her first child,
her husband allows the hair on the head and face to grow long,
and leaves the finger nails uncut. On the birth of the child, he
is under pollution until he sees the next crescent moon, and should
cook his own food and remain at home. At the time of delivery a woman
is removed to a hut (a permanent structure), which is divided into
two rooms called dodda (big) telullu and eda (the other) telullu,
which serve as a lying-in chamber and as a retreat for women at
their menstrual periods. The dodda telullu is exclusively used for
confinements. Menstruating women may occupy either room, if the
dodda telullu is not occupied for the former purpose. They remain in
seclusion for three days, and then pass another day in the raised
verandah of the house, or two days if the husband is a Pujari. A
woman, after her first confinement, lives for three months in the
dodda telullu, and, on subsequent occasions, until the appearance of
the crescent moon. She is attended during her confinement and stay in
the hut by an elderly Kota woman. The actual confinement takes place
outside the hut, and, after the child is born, the woman is bathed,
and taken inside. Her husband brings five leafy twigs of five different
thorny plants, and places them separately in a row in front of the
telullu. With each twig a stick of Dodonæa viscosa, set alight with
fire made by friction, must be placed. The woman, carrying the baby,
has to enter the hut by walking backwards between the thorny twigs.
A common name for females at Kotagiri is Madi, one of the synonyms
of the goddess Kalikai, and, at that village, the first male child is
always called Komuttan (Kamataraya). At Sholur and Gudalur this name
is scrupulously avoided, as the name of the god should not be taken
by mortal man. As examples of nicknames, the following may be cited.
Small mouth.
Head.
Slit nose.
Burnt-legged.
Monkey.
Dung or rubbish.
Deaf.
Tobacco.
Hunchback.
Crooked-bodied.
Long-striding.
Dwarf.
Opium eater.
Irritable.
Bad-eyed.
Curly-haired.
Cat-eyed.
Left-handed.
Stone.
Stammerer.
Short.
Knee.
Chank-blower.
Chinaman.
The nickname Chinaman was due to the resemblance of a Kota to the
Chinese, of whom a small colony has squatted on the slopes of the
hills between Naduvatam and Gudalur.
A few days after my arrival at Kotagiri, the dismal sound of mourning,
to the weird strains of the Kota band, announced that death reigned
in the Kota village. The dead man was a venerable carpenter, of
high position in the community. Soon after daybreak, a detachment of
villagers hastened to convey the tidings of the death to the Kotas
of the neighbouring villages, who arrived on the scene later in the
day in Indian file, men in front and women in the rear. As they drew
near the place of mourning, they all, of one accord, commenced the
orthodox manifestations of grief, and were met by a deputation of
villagers accompanied by the band. Meanwhile a red flag, tied to the
top of a bamboo pole, was hoisted as a signal of death in the village,
and a party had gone off to a glade, some two miles distant, to obtain
wood for the construction of the funeral car (teru). The car, when
completed, was an elaborate structure, about eighteen feet in height,
made of wood and bamboo, in four tiers, each with a canopy of turkey
red and yellow cloth, and an upper canopy of white cloth trimmed with
red, surmounted by a black umbrella of European manufacture, decorated
with red ribbands. The car was profusely adorned with red flags and
long white streamers, and with young plantain trees at the base. Tied
to the car were a calabash and a bell. During the construction of the
car the corpse remained within the house of the deceased man, outside
which the villagers continued mourning to the dirge-like music of the
band, which plays so prominent a part at the death ceremonies of both
Todas and Kotas. On the completion of the car, late in the afternoon,
it was deposited in front of the house. The corpse, dressed up in a
coloured turban and gaudy coat, with a garland of flowers round the
neck, and two rupees, a half-rupee, and sovereign gummed on to the
forehead, was brought from within the house, lying face upwards on a
cot, and placed beneath the lowest canopy of the car. Near the head
were placed iron implements and a bag of rice, at the feet a bag of
tobacco, and beneath the cot baskets of grain, rice, cakes, etc. The
corpse was covered with cloths offered to it as presents, and before it
those Kotas who were younger than the dead man prostrated themselves,
while those who were older touched the head of the corpse and bowed to
it. Around the car the male members of the community executed a wild
step-dance, keeping time with the music in the execution of various
fantastic movements of the arms and legs. During the long hours of the
night mourning was kept up to the almost incessant music of the band,
and the early morn discovered many of the villagers in an advanced
stage of intoxication. Throughout the morning, dancing round the car
was continued by men, sober and inebriated, with brief intervals of
rest, and a young buffalo was slaughtered as a matter of routine form,
with no special ceremonial, in a pen outside the village, by blows on
the back and neck administered with the keen edge of an adze. Towards
midday presents of rice from the relatives of the dead man arrived on
the back of a pony, which was paraded round the car. From a vessel
containing rice and rice water, water was crammed into the mouths
of the near relatives, some of the water poured over their heads,
and the remainder offered to the corpse. At intervals a musket,
charged with gunpowder, which proved later on a dangerous weapon in
the hands of an intoxicated Kota, was let off, and the bell on the car
rung. About 2 P.M., the time announced for the funeral, the cot bearing
the corpse, from the forehead of which the coins had been removed,
was carried to a spot outside the village called the thavachivadam,
followed by the widow and a throng of Kotas of both sexes, young and
old. The cot was then set down, and, seated at some distance from it,
the women continued to mourn until the funeral procession was out of
sight, those who could not cry spontaneously mimicking the expression
of woe by contortion of the grief muscles. The most poignant sorrow was
displayed by a man in a state of extreme intoxication, who sat apart
by himself, howling and sobbing, and wound up by creating considerable
disturbance at the burning-ground. Three young bulls were brought from
the village, and led round the corpse. Of these, two were permitted
to escape for the time being, while a vain attempt, which would have
excited the derision of the expert Toda buffalo-catchers, was made by
three men, hanging on to the head and tail, to steer the third bull
up to the head of the corpse. The animal, however, proving refractory,
it was deemed discreet to put an end to its existence by a blow on the
poll with the butt-end of an adze, at some distance from the corpse,
which was carried up to it, and made to salute the dead beast's
head with the right hand, in feeble imitation of the impressive Toda
ceremonial. The carcase of the bull was saluted by a few of the Kota
men, and subsequently carried off by Pariahs. Supported by females,
the exhausted widow of the dead man was dragged up to the corpse,
and, lying back beside it, had to submit to the ordeal of removal
of all her jewellery, the heavy brass bangle being hammered off the
wrist, supported on a wooden roller, by oft-repeated blows with mallet
and chisel delivered by a village blacksmith assisted by a besotten
individual noted as a consumer of twelve grains of opium daily. The
ornaments, as removed, were collected in a basket, to be worn again
by the widow after several months. This revolting ceremony concluded,
and a last salutation given by the widow to her dead husband, arches
of bamboo were attached to the cot, which was covered over with a
coloured table-cloth hiding the corpse from sight. A procession was
then formed, composed of the corpse on the cot, preceded by the car
and musicians, and followed by male Kotas and Badagas, Kota women
carrying the baskets of grain, cakes, etc., a vessel containing
fire, and burning camphor. Quickly the procession marched to the
burning-ground beyond the bazar, situated in a valley by the side of
a stream running through a glade in a dense undergrowth of bracken
fern and trailing passion-flower. On arrival at the selected spot,
a number of agile Kotas swarmed up the sides of the car, and stripped
it of its adornments including the umbrella, and a free fight for the
possession of the cloths and flags ensued. The denuded car was then
placed over the corpse, which, deprived of all valuable ornaments and
still lying on the cot, had been meanwhile placed, amid a noisy scene
of brawling, on the rapidly constructed funeral pyre. Around the car
faggots of wood, supplied in lieu of wreaths by different families
in the dead man's village as a tribute of respect, were piled up, and
the pyre was lighted with torches kindled at a fire which was burning
on the ground close by. As soon as the pyre was in a blaze, tobacco,
cigars, cloths, and grain were distributed among those present, and
the funeral party dispersed, leaving a few men behind in charge of the
burning corpse, and peace reigned once more in the Kota village. A few
days later, the funeral of an elderly woman took place with a very
similar ceremonial. But, suspended from the handle of the umbrella
on the top of the car, was a rag doll, which in appearance resembled
an Aunt Sally. I was told that, on the day following the funeral,
the smouldering ashes are extinguished with water, and the ashes,
collected together, and buried in a pit, the situation of which
is marked by a heap of stones. A piece of the skull, wrapped in
bracken fronds, is placed between two fragments of an earthen pot,
and deposited in the crevice of a rock or in a chink in a stone wall.
The Kotas celebrate annually a second funeral ceremony in imitation of
the Todas. For eight days before the day appointed for its observance,
a dance takes place in front of the houses of those Kotas whose
memorial rites are to be celebrated, and three days before they are
performed invitations are issued to the different Kota villages. On
a Sunday night, fire is lighted by friction, and the time is spent in
dancing. On the following day, the relatives of the departed who have
to perform the ceremony purify the open space in front of their houses
with cow-dung. They bring three basketfuls of paddy (unhusked rice),
which are saluted and set down on the cleansed space. The Pujari and
the rest of the community, in like manner, salute the paddy, which is
taken inside the house. On the Monday, cots corresponding in number to
that of the deceased whose dry funeral is being held, are taken to the
thavachivadam, and the fragments of skulls are laid thereon. Buffaloes
(one or more for each skull) are killed, and a cow is brought near
the cots, and, after a piece of skull has been placed on its horns,
sacrificed. A dance takes place around the cots, which are removed to
the burning-ground, and set on fire. The Kotas spend the night near
the thavachivadam. On the following day a feast is held, and they
return to their homes towards evening, those who have performed the
ceremony breaking a small pot full of water in front of their houses.
Like the Todas, the Kotas indulge in trials of strength with heavy
spherical stones, which they raise, or attempt to raise, from the
ground to the shoulders, and in a game resembling tip-cat. In another
game, sides are chosen, of about ten on each side. One side takes
shots with a ball made of cloth at a brick propped up against a wall,
near which the other side stands. Each man is allowed three shots at
the brick. If it is hit and falls over, one of the 'out-side' picks
up the ball, and throws it at the other side, who run away, and try
to avoid being hit. If the ball touches one of them, the side is put
out, and the other side goes in. A game, called hulikote, which bears
a resemblance to the English child's game of fox and geese, is played
on a stone chiselled with lines, which forms a rude game-board. In one
form of the game, two tigers and twenty-five bulls, and in another
three tigers and fifteen bulls engage, and the object is for the
tigers to take, or, as the Kotas express it, kill all the bulls. In
a further game, called kote, a labyrinthiform pattern, or maze,
is chiselled on a stone, to get to the centre of which is the problem.