For the following note on a ceremony, in which the potters take part,

I am indebted to an essay submitted in connection with the M.A. degree

of the Madras University. "Brahmans of Vedic times ate dogs, horses,

bulls, and goats. The fondness for mutton even in a raw state finds

its modern counterpart in the bloody hecatombs that disfigure some

of their annual sacrifices. In these ceremonies called Pasubandha,

Agnishtoma, Vajapeya, Garudachayana, etc., a goat is tied to a

post, and, after the usual mantrams (prayers) and the service of

frankincense, etc., is ablutioned in water mixed with turmeric and

taken to the slaughter-room. And the method of slaughtering is most

appalling. Two men appointed for the purpose, invariably men belonging

to the pot-making community, rush into the apartment. One catches

hold of the fore-quarter of the animal and keeps it from struggling,

while the other squeezes the scrotum with so much violence that the

animal succumbs in a few minutes, after writhing in the most painful

fashion. The man in charge of the fore-quarter puts a handful of salt

into the animal's mouth, and holds it tight, lest the animal should

bleat, and make the ceremony unsanctimonious. The carcase is now

brought to the mailing shed, where, with crude knives and untrained

hands, the Brahmans peel off the skin most savagely. Then they cut

open the chest, and it is a common sight to see these Brahmans,

uninitiated in the art of butchery, getting their hands severely

poked or lacerated by the cut sharp ends of the ribs. Then portions of

flesh are cut off from various portions of the carcase, such as the

buccal region, the cardiac region, the scapular region, the renal,

the scrotal, the gluteal and gastroenemial regions. The amount of

flesh thus chopped comes to not less than three big potfuls, and they

are cooked in water over the slow fire of a primitively constructed

oven. No salt is put to season the meat, but the Brahmans bolt it

without any condiment in an awful fashion."

The services of the potter are required in connection with the

marriage ceremonial of many castes. At some Brahman marriages, for

example, the tali is tied on the bride's neck in the presence of

33 crores (330 millions) of gods, who are represented by a number

of variously coloured pots, large and small. At a Lingayat wedding,

new pots are brought with much shouting, and deposited in the room

in which the household god is kept. An enclosure is made round the

bride and bridegroom with cotton thread passed round four pots placed

at the four corners of the marriage pandal. Among the Patnulkarans,

on the occasion of a wedding, a number of small pots are set up in

a room, and worshipped daily throughout the marriage ceremonies. The

ceremonial of breaking a pot containing water at the graveside prevails

among many classes, e.g., Oddes, Toreyas, and Paraiyans.

At the time of the Aruvaththimuvar festival, or festival of the

sixty-three saints, at Mylapore in the city of Madras, crowds may be

seen returning homeward after attending it, each carrying a new pot

(chatty), which they purchase so as not to go home empty-handed. At

the festival of Tiruvottiyur, stalks of Amarantus gangeticus are in

like manner purchased.

It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that "a Kusavan

can claim the hand of his paternal aunt's daughter. Marriage occurs

before puberty. The tali is tied by the bridegroom's sister, and the

usual bride-price is paid. The ceremonies last three days. One of them

consists in the bridegroom's sister sowing seeds in a pot, and, on the

last day of the wedding, the seedlings which have sprouted are taken

with music to a river or tank (pond), and thrown into it. When the

bride attains maturity, a ceremony is conducted by the caste priest,

and consummation follows on the next auspicious day."

Among the Kusavans, divorce and remarriage are permissible on mutual

agreement, on one party paying to the other the expenses of the

latter's original marriage (parisam). A case came before the High Court

of Madras, [77] in which a Kusavan woman in the Tinnevelly district,

on the ground of ill-treatment, repaid her husband the parisam,

thereby dissolving the marriage, and married another man.

The potters are considered to be adepts in the treatment of cases of

fracture. And it is still narrated how one of them successfully set in

splints the broken arm of Lord Elphinstone, when Governor of Madras,

after the English doctors had given up the job as hopeless. [78]

"In our village," it is recorded, [79] "cases of dislocations

of bones and fractures, whether simple, compound, comminuted or

complicated, are taken in hand by the bone-setters, who are no other

than our potters. The village barber and the village potter are our

surgeons. While the barber treats cases of boils, wounds, and tumours,

the potter confines himself to cases of fracture and dislocations

of bones." The amateur treatment by the unqualified potter sometimes

gives rise to what is known as potter's gangrene.

For the notes of the following case I am indebted to Captain

F. F. Elwes, I.M.S. A bricklayer, about a month and a half or two

months prior to admission into hospital, fell from a height, and

injured his left arm. He went to a potter, who placed the arm and

forearm in a splint, the former in a line with the latter, i.e.,

fully extended. He kept the splint on for about a month and, when

it was removed, found that he was unable to bend the arm at the

elbow-joint. When he was examined at the hospital, practically

no movement, either active or passive, could be obtained at the

elbow-joint. The lower end of the humerus could be felt to be decidedly

thickened both anteriorly and posteriorly. There had apparently been

a fracture of the lower end of the humerus. Röntgen ray photographs

showed an immense mass of callus extending over the anterior surface of

the elbow-joint from about two and a half inches above the lower end

of the humerus to about an inch below the elbow-joint. There was also

some callus on the posterior surface of the lower end of the humerus.

Concerning potter's gangrene, Captain W. J. Niblock, I.M.S., writes

as follows. [80] "Cases of gangrene, the result of treatment of

fractures by the village potters, used to be frequently met with

in the General Hospital, Madras. These were usually brought when

the only possible treatment consisted in amputation well above the

disease. Two of these cases are indelibly impressed on my mind. Both

were cases of gangrene of the leg, the result of tight splinting by

potters. The first patient was a boy of thirteen. Whilst a student

was removing the dressings on his admission, the foot came off in his

hands, leaving two inches of the lower ends of the tibia and fibula

exposed, and absolutely devoid of all the soft tissues, not even the

periosteum being left. The second case was that of a Hindu man, aged

46. He was taken to the operation theatre at once. Whilst engaged

in disinfecting my hands, I heard a dull thud on the floor of the

operation theatre, turned round, and found that the gangrenous leg,

as the result of a struggle whilst chloroform was being administered,

had become separated at the knee-joint, and had fallen on floor; or,

to put it tersely, the man had kicked his leg off."

In connection with the Tamil proverb "This is the law of my caste,

and this is the law of my belly," the Rev. H. Jensen notes [81]

that "potters are never Vaishnavas; but potters at Srirangam were

compelled by the Vaishnava Brahmans to put the Vaishnava mark on their

foreheads; otherwise the Brahmans would not buy their pots for the

temple. One clever potter, having considered the difficulty, after

making the Saivite symbol on his forehead, put a big Vaishnava mark

on his stomach. When rebuked for so doing by a Brahman, he replied as

above." The proverb "Does the dog that breaks the pots understand how

difficult it is to pile them up?" is said by Jensen to have reference

to the pots which are piled up at the potter's house. A variant is

"What is many days' work for the potter is but a few moment's work

for him who breaks the pots."

In the Madura district, the Kusavans have Velan as a title.

The insigne of the Kusavans, recorded at Conjeeveram, is a potter's

wheel. [82]

Kutikkar.--A name for Dasis in Travancore.

Kutraki (wild goat).--An exogamous sept of Jatapu.

Kuttadi.--Described, in the Census Report, 1901, as an occupational

name, meaning a rope-dancer, applied to Dommaras, Paraiyans,

or Koravas. Arya Kuttadi is a Tamil synonym for Maratha (Are)

Dommaras. Kuttadi also occurs as the name of a class of mendicants

attached to Kaikolans.

Kuttan.--A division of Toda.

Kuttina.--Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a

sub-division of Nayar.

Kuttiya.--A sub-division of Kond.

Kuzhal.--The name of the flute used by shepherds and snake-charmers. It

occurs as an exogamous sept of Toreyas, the members of which must

not hear the sound of this musical instrument when at meals.

Kuzhappara.--Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a

sub-division of Nayar.

Kuzhiyan.--A synonym derived from kuzhi a pit, for Thanda Pulayans,

in reference to the legend that they were found emerging in a state

of nudity from a pit.

L

Labbai.--The Labbais are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901,

as being "a Musalman caste of partly Tamil origin, the members of

which are traders and betel vine (Piper Betle) growers. They seem to

be distinct from the Marakkayars, as they do not intermarry with them,

and their Tamil contains a much smaller admixture of Arabic than that

used by the Marakkayars. In the Tanjore district, the Labbais are

largely betel vine cultivators, and are called Kodikkalkaran (betel

vine people)." In the Census Report, 1881, the Labbais are said to be

"found chiefly in Tanjore and Madura. They are the Mappilas of the

Coromandel coast, that is to say, converted Dravidians, or Hindus,

with a slight admixture of Arab blood. They are thrifty, industrious,

and enterprising; plucky mariners, and expert traders. They emigrate to

the Straits Settlements and Burma without restriction." In the Census

Report, 1891, they are described as "a mixed class of Muhammadans,

consisting partly of compulsory converts to Islam made by the early

Muhammadan invaders and Tippu Sultan." As regards their origin, Colonel

Wilks, the historian of Mysore, writes as follows. [83] "About the end

of the first century of the Hejirah, or the early part of the eighth

century A.D., Hijaj Ben Gusaff, Governor of Irak, a monster abhorred

for his cruelties even among Musalmans, drove some persons of the

house of Hashem to the desperate resolution of abandoning for ever

their native country. Some of them landed on that part of the western

coast of India called the Concan, the others to the eastward of Cape

Comorin. The descendants of the former are Navaiyats, of the latter

the Labbai, a name probably given to them by the natives from that

Arabic particle (a modification of labbick) corresponding with the

English 'Here I am,' indicating attention on being spoken to [i.e.,

the response of the servant to the call of his master. A further

explanation of the name is that the Labbais were originally few in

number, and were often oppressed by other Muhammadans and Hindus,

to whom they cried labbek, or we are your servants]. Another account

says they are the descendants of the Arabs, who, in the eleventh

and and twelfth centuries, came to India for trade. These Arabs were

persecuted by the Moghals, and they then returned to their country,

leaving behind their children born of Indian women. The word Labbai

seems to be of recent origin, for, in the Tamil lexicons, this caste

is usually known as Sonagan, i.e., a native of Sonagam (Arabia),

and this name is common at the present day. Most of the Labbais are

traders; some are engaged in weaving corah (sedge) mats; and others in

diving at the pearl and chank fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar. Tamil

is their home-speech, and they have furnished some fair Tamil poets. In

religion they are orthodox Musalmans. Their marriage ceremony, however,

closely resembles that of the lower Hindu castes, the only difference

being that the former cite passages from the Koran, and their females

do not appear in public even during marriages. Girls are not married

before puberty. Their titles are Marakkayan (Marakalar, boatmen), and

Ravuttan (a horse soldier). Their first colony appears to have been

Kayalpatnam in the Tinnevelly district." In the Manual of the Madura

district, the Labbais are described as "a fine, strong, active race,

who generally contrive to keep themselves in easy circumstances. Many

of them live by traffic. Many are smiths, and do excellent work as

such. Others are fishermen, boatmen, and the like. They are to be found

in great numbers in the Zamindaris, particularly near the sea-coast."

Concerning the use of a Malay blow-gun (glorified pea-shooter)

by the Labbais of the Madura district, Dr. N. Annandale writes as

follows. [84] "While visiting the sub-division of Ramnad in the

coast of the Madura district in 1905, I heard that there were, among

the Muhammadan people known locally as Lubbais or Labbis, certain

men who made a livelihood by shooting pigeons with blow-guns. At

Kilakarai, a port on the Gulf of Manaar, I was able to obtain a

specimen, as well as particulars. According to my Labbi informants,

the 'guns' are purchased by them in Singapore from Bugis traders,

and brought to India. There is still a considerable trade, although

diminished, between Kilakarai and the ports of Burma and the Straits

Settlements. It is carried on entirely by Muhammadans in native sailing

vessels, and a large proportion of the Musalmans of Kilakarai have

visited Penang and Singapore. It is not difficult to find among them

men who can speak Straits Malay. The local name for the blow-gun is

senguttan, and is derived in popular etymology from the Tamil sen

(above) and kutu (to stab). I have little doubt that it is really a

corruption of the Malay name of the weapon--sumpitan. The blow-gun

which I obtained measures 189.6 cm. in length: its external diameter

at the breech is 30mm., and at the other extremity 24 mm. The diameter

of the bore, however, is practically the same throughout, viz., 12

mm. Both ends are overlaid with tin, and the breech consists of a

solid piece of tin turned on a lathe and pierced, the diameter of the

aperture being the same as that of the bore. The solid tin measures

35 mm. in length, and is continuous with the foil which covers the

base of the wooden tube. The tube itself is of very hard, heavy, dark

wood, apparently that of a palm. It is smooth, polished and regular

on its outer surface, and the bore is extremely true and even. At a

distance of 126 mm. from the distal extremity, at the end of the foil

which protects the tip of the weapon, a lump of mud is fixed on the

tube as a 'sight.' The ornamentation of the weapon is characteristic,

and shows that it must have been made in North Borneo. It consists of

rings, leaf-shaped designs with an open centre, and longitudinal bars,

all inlaid with tin. The missiles used at Kilakarai were not darts,

but little pellets of soft clay worked with the fingers immediately

before use. The use of pellets instead of darts is probably an Indian

makeshift. Although a 'sight' is used in some Bornean blow-guns, I

was told, probably correctly, that the lump of mud on the Kilakarai

specimen had been added in India. I was told that it was the custom

at Kilakarai to lengthen the tin breech of the 'gun' in accordance

with the capacity of the owner's lungs. He first tried the tube by

blowing a pellet through it, and, if he felt he could blow through a

longer tube, he added another piece of tin at the proximal end. The

pellet is placed in the mouth, into which the butt of the tube

is also introduced. The pellet is then worked into the tube with

the tongue, and is propelled by a violent effort of the lungs. No

wadding is used. Aim is rendered inaccurate, in the first place by

the heaviness of the tube, and secondly by the unsuitable nature of

the missile." A toy blow-gun is also figured by Dr. Annandale, such

as is used as a plaything by Labbai boys, and consisting of a hollow

cane with a piece of tinned iron twisted round the butt, and fastened

by soldering the two ends together. I have received from the Madura

district a blowpipe consisting of a long black-japanned tin tube,

like a billiard-cue case, with brass fittings and terminals.

In connection with the dugong (Halicore dugong), which is caught

in the Gulf of Manaar, Dr. Annandale writes as follows. [85] "The

presence of large glands in connection with the eye afforded some

justification for the Malay's belief that the Dugong weeps when

captured. They regard the tears of the ikandugong ('Dugong fish')

as a powerful love-charm. Muhammadan fishermen on the Gulf of Manaar

appeared to be ignorant of this usage, but told me that a 'doctor'

once went out with them to collect the tears of a Dugong, should they

capture one. Though they do not call the animal a fish, they are less

particular about eating its flesh than are the Patani Malays and the

Trang Samsams, who will not do so unless the 'fish's' throat has been

cut in the manner orthodox for warm-blooded animals. The common Tamil

name for the Dugong is kadalpudru ('sea-pig'); but the fishermen at

Kilakarai (Lubbais) call it avilliah."

Concerning the Labbais of the South Arcot district, Mr. W. Francis

writes as follows. [86] "The Labbais are often growers of betel,

especially round about Nellikuppam, and they also conduct the

skin trade of the district, are petty shop-keepers, and engage in

commerce at the ports. Their women are clever at weaving mats from

the screw-pine (Pandanus fascicularis), which grows so abundantly

along the sandy shore of the Bay of Bengal. The Labbais very

generally wear a high hat of plaited coloured grass, and a tartan

(kambayam) waist-cloth, and so are not always readily distinguishable

in appearance from the Marakkayars, but some of them use the Hindu

turban and waist-cloth, and let their womankind dress almost exactly

like Hindu women. In the same way, some Labbais insist on the use of

Hindustani in their houses, while others speak Tamil. There seems to

be a growing dislike to the introduction of Hindu rites into domestic

ceremonies, and the processions and music, which were once common

at marriages, are slowly giving place to a simpler ritual more in

resemblance with the nikka ceremony of the Musalman faith."

In a note on the Labbais of the North Arcot district, [87]

Mr. H. A. Stuart describes them as being "very particular Muhammadans,

and many belong to the Wahabi section. Adhering to the rule of the

Koran, most of them refuse to lend money at interest, but get over the

difficulty by taking a share in the profits derived by others in their

loans. They are, as a rule, well-to-do, and excellently housed. The

first thing a Labbai does is to build himself a commodious tiled

building, and the next to provide himself with gay attire. They seem

to have a prejudice against repairing houses, and prefer letting them

go to ruin, and building new ones. The ordinary Musalmans appear to

entertain similar ideas on this point."

Some Kodikkalkaran Labbais have adopted Hindu customs in their

marriage ceremonies. Thus a bamboo is set up as a milk-post, and a

tali is tied round the neck of the bride while the Nikkadiva is being

read. In other respects, they practice Muhammadan rites.

Concerning the Labbais who have settled in the Mysore province, I

gather [88] that they are "an enterprising class of traders, settled in

nearly all the large towns. They are vendors of hardware and general

merchants, collectors of hides, and large traders in coffee produce,

and generally take up any kind of lucrative business. It is noteworthy,

as denoting the perseverance and pushing character of the race that,

in the large village of Gargesvari in Tirumakudlu, Narsipur taluk,

the Labbes have acquired by purchase or otherwise large extents of

river-irrigated lands, and have secured to themselves the leadership

among the villagers within a comparatively recent period."

For the purpose of the education of Labbai and Marakkayar children,

the Koran and other books have been published in the Tamil language,

but with Arabic characters. Concerning these Arab-Tamil books I gather

that "when a book thus written is read, it is hardly possible to say

that it is Tamil--it sounds like Arabic, and the guttural sounds of

certain words have softened down into Arabic sounds. Certain words,

mostly of religious connection, have been introduced, and even words of

familiar daily use. For instance, a Labbai would not use the familiar

word Annai for brother, Tagappan for father, or Chithammai for aunt,

but would call such relatives Bhai, Bava, and Khula. Since the books

are written in Arabic characters, they bear a religious aspect. The

Labbai considers it a sacred and meritorious duty to publish them,

and distribute them gratis among the school-going children. A book

so written or printed is called a kitab, rather than its Tamil

equivalent pustagam, and is considered sacred. It commands almost

the same respect as the Koran itself, in regard to which it has been

commanded 'Touch not with unclean hands.' A book of a religious nature,

written or printed in Tamil characters, may be left on the ground,

but a kitab of even secular character will always be placed on a

rihal or seat, and, when it falls to the ground, it is kissed and

raised to the forehead. The origin of this literature may be traced

to Kayalpatnam, Melapalayam, and other important Labbai towns in the

Tinnevelly district." The following rendering of the second Kalima

will serve as an example of Arab-Tamil.

Ladaf.--Recorded, at the census, 1901, as a synonym of Dudekula. A

corruption of nad-daf (a cotton-dresser).

Ladar.--It is noted, in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that "the

Ladars are a class of general merchants, found chiefly in the cities,

where they supply all kinds of stores, glass-ware, etc." I gather [89]

that the "Lad or Suryavaunshi Vanis say that they are the children

of Surya, the sun. They are said to have come from Benares to Maisur

under pressure of famine about 700 years ago. But their caste name

seems to show that their former settlement was not in Benares, but

in South Gujarat or Lat Desh. They are a branch of the Lad community

of Maisur, with whom they have social intercourse. They teach their

boys to read and write Kanarese, and succeed as traders in grain,

cloth, and groceries."

Lala.--The names of some Bondilis, or immigrants from Bandelkand,

who have settled in the North Arcot district and other localities,

terminate with Lala. Lala also occurs as a synonym for Kayasth,

the writer caste of Bengal, immigrants from Northern India, who

have settled in Madras, where there are a number of families. "In

Madras," Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri informs us, [90] "the Mahrattas and

Lalas--mostly non-Brahman--observe the Holi feast with all sorts of

hideousness. The youngsters of the Lala sect make, in each house or

in common for a whole street, an image of Holika, sing obscene songs

before it, offer sweetmeats, fruits and other things in mock worship

of the image, exchange horseplay compliments by syringing coloured

water on each other's clothes, and spend the whole period of the

feast singing, chatting, and abusing. Indecent language is allowed

to be indulged in during the continuance of this jolly occasion. At

about 1 A.M. on the full moon day, the image of Holika is burnt,

and children sit round the embers, and beat their mouths, making a

mock mourning sound. Tender children are swung over the fire for a

second by the fond mothers, and this is believed to remove all kinds

of danger from the babies."

Laligonda.--Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as Lingayats,

consisting of Canarese-speaking Kapus or Vakkaligas.

Lambadi.--The Lambadis are also called Lambani, Brinjari or Banjari,

Boipari, Sugali or Sukali. By some Sugali is said to be a corruption of

supari (betel nut), because they formerly traded largely therein. [91]

"The Banjaras," Mr. G. A. Grierson writes, [92] "are the well-known

tribe of carriers who are found all over Western and Southern

India. [93] One of their principal sub-castes is known under the name

of Labhani, and this name (or some related one) is often applied to

the whole tribe. The two names appear each under many variations,

such as Banjari, Vanjari, Brinjari, Labhani, Labani, Labana, Lambadi,

and Lambani. The name Banjara and its congeners is probably derived

from the Sanskrit Vanijyakarakas, a merchant, through the Prakrit

Vanijjaarao, a trader. The derivation of Labhani or Labani, etc.,

is obscure. It has been suggested that it means salt carrier from

the Sanskrit lavanah, salt, because the tribe carried salt, but

this explanation goes against several phonetic rules, and does not

account for the forms of the word like Labhani or Lambani. Banjari

falls into two main dialects--that of the Panjab and Gujarat, and

that of elsewhere (of which we may take the Labhani of Berar as

the standard). All these different dialects are ultimately to be

referred to the language of Western Rajputana. The Labhani of Berar

possesses the characteristics of an old form of speech, which has

been preserved unchanged for some centuries. It may be said to be

based partly on Marwari and partly on Northern Gujarati." It is noted

by Mr. Grierson that the Banjari dialect of Southern India is mixed

with the surrounding Dravidian languages. In the Census Report, 1901,

Tanda (the name of the Lambadi settlements or camps), and Vali Sugriva

are given as synonyms for the tribal name. Vali and Sugriva were

two monkey chiefs mentioned in the Ramayana, from whom the Lambadis

claim to be descended. The legend, as given by Mr. F. S. Mullaly,

[94] is that "there were two brothers, Mota and Mola, descendants of

Sugriva. Mola had no issue, so, being an adept in gymnastic feats,

he went with his wife Radha, and exhibited his skill at 'Rathanatch'

before three rajahs. They were so taken with Mola's skill, and the

grace and beauty of Radha, and of her playing of the nagara or drum,

that they asked what they could do for them. Mola asked each of the

rajahs for a boy, that he might adopt him as his son. This request was

accorded, and Mola adopted three boys. Their names were Chavia, Lohia

Panchar, and Ratade. These three boys, in course of time, grew up and

married. From Bheekya, the eldest son of Ratade, started the clan known

as the Bhutyas, and from this clan three minor sub-divisions known as

the Maigavuth, Kurumtoths, and Kholas. The Bhutyas form the principal

class among the Lambadis." According to another legend, [95] "one

Chada left five sons, Mula, Mota, Nathad, Jogda, and Bhimda. Chavan

(Chauhan), one of the three sons of Mula, had six sons, each of whom

originated a clan. In the remote past, a Brahman from Ajmir, and a

Marata from Jotpur in the north of India, formed alliances with,

and settled among these people, the Marata living with Rathol,

a brother of Chavan. The Brahman married a girl of the latter's

family, and his offspring added a branch to the six distinct clans

of Chavan. These clans still retain the names of their respective

ancestors, and, by reason of cousinship, intermarriage between some

of them is still prohibited. They do, however, intermarry with the

Brahman offshoot, which was distinguished by the name of Vadtya,

from Chavan's family. Those belonging to the Vadtya clan still wear

the sacred thread. The Marata, who joined the Rathol family, likewise

founded an additional branch under the name of Khamdat to the six

clans of the latter, who intermarry with none but the former. It is

said that from the Khamdat clan are recruited most of the Lambadi

dacoits. The clan descended from Mota, the second son of Chada,

is not found in the Mysore country. The descendants of Nathad, the

third son, live by catching wild birds, and are known as Mirasikat,

Paradi, or Vagri (see Kuruvikkaran). The Jogdas are people of the

Jogi caste. Those belonging to the Bhimda family are the peripatetic

blacksmiths, called Bailu Kammara. The Lambani outcastes compose a

sub-division called Thalya, who, like the Holayas, are drum-beaters,

and live in detached habitations."

As pointing to a distinction between Sukalis and Banjaris, it is

noted by the Rev. J. Cain [96] that "the Sukalilu do not travel in

such large companies as the Banjarilu, nor are their women dressed as

gaudily as the Banjari women. There is but little friendship between

these two classes, and the Sukali would regard it as anything but

an honour to be called a Banjari, and the Banjari is not flattered

when called a Sukali." It is, however, noted, in the Madras Census

Report, 1891, that enquiries show that Lambadis and Sugalis are

practically the same. And Mr. H. A. Stuart, writing concerning the

inhabitants of the North Arcot district, states that the names Sugali,

Lambadi and Brinjari "seem to be applied to one and the same class

of people, though a distinction is made. The Sugalis are those who

have permanently settled in the district; the Lambadis are those who

commonly pass through from the coast to Mysore; and the Brinjaris

appear to be those who come down from Hyderabad or the Central

Provinces." It is noted by Mr. W. Francis [97] that, in the Bellary

district, the Lambadis do not recognise the name Sugali.

Orme mentions the Lambadis as having supplied the Comte de Bussy

with store, cattle and grain, when besieged by the Nizam's army at

Hyderabad. In an account of the Brinjaris towards the close of the

eighteenth century, Moor [98] writes that they "associate chiefly

together, seldom or never mixing with other tribes. They seem to have

no home, nor character, but that of merchants, in which capacity

they travel great distances to whatever parts are most in want of

merchandise, which is the greatest part corn. In times of war they

attend, and are of great assistance to armies, and, being neutral,

it is a matter of indifference to them who purchase their goods. They

marched and formed their own encampments apart, relying on their

own courage for protection; for which purpose the men are all armed

with swords or matchlocks. The women drive the cattle, and are the

most robust we ever saw in India, undergoing a great deal of labour

with apparent ease. Their dress is peculiar, and their ornaments are

so singularly chosen that we have, we are confident, seen women who

(not to mention a child at their backs) have had eight or ten pounds

weight in metal or ivory round their arms and legs. The favourite

ornaments appear to be rings of ivory from the wrist to the shoulder,

regularly increasing in size, so that the ring near the shoulder will

be immoderately large, sixteen or eighteen inches, or more perhaps

in circumference. These rings are sometimes dyed red. Silver, lead,

copper, or brass, in ponderous bars, encircle their shins, sometimes

round, others in the form of festoons, and truly we have seen some

so circumstanced that a criminal in irons would not have much more

to incommode him than these damsels deem ornamental and agreeable

trappings on a long march, for they are never dispensed with in the

hottest weather. A kind of stomacher, with holes for the arms, and

tied behind at the bottom, covers their breast, and has some strings

of cowries, [99] depending behind, dangling at their backs. The

stomacher is curiously studded with cowries, and their hair is also

bedecked with them. They wear likewise ear-rings, necklaces, rings

on the fingers and toes, and, we think, the nut or nose jewel. They

pay little attention to cleanliness; their hair, once plaited, is

not combed or opened perhaps for a month; their bodies or cloths are

seldom washed; their arms are indeed so encased with ivory that it

would be no easy matter to clean them. They are chaste and affable;

any indecorum offered to a woman would be resented by the men, who have

a high sense of honour on that head. Some are men of great property;

it is said that droves of loaded bullocks, to the number of fifty or

sixty thousand, have at different times followed the Bhow's army."

The Lambadis of Bellary "have a tradition among them of having first

come to the Deccan from the north with Moghul camps as commissariat

carriers. Captain J. Briggs, in writing about them in 1813, states

that, as the Deccan is devoid of a single navigable river, and has

no roads that admit of wheeled traffic, the whole of the extensive

intercourse is carried on by laden bullocks, the property of the

Banjaris." [100] Concerning the Lambadis of the same district,

Mr. Francis writes that "they used to live by pack-bullock trade, and

they still remember the names of some of the generals who employed

their forebears. When peace and the railways came and did away with

these callings, they fell back for a time upon crime as a livelihood,

but they have now mostly taken to agriculture and grazing." Some

Lambadis are, at the present time (1908), working in the Mysore

manganese mines.

Writing in 1825, Bishop Heber noted [101] that "we passed a number

of Brinjarees, who were carrying salt. They all had bows, arrows,

sword and shield. Even the children had, many of them, bows and arrows

suited to their strength, and I saw one young woman equipped in the

same manner."

Of the Lambadis in time of war, the Abbé Dubois inform us [102]

that "they attach themselves to the army where discipline is least

strict. They come swarming in from all parts, hoping, in the general

disorder and confusion, to be able to thieve with impunity. They make

themselves very useful by keeping the market well supplied with the

provisions that they have stolen on the march. They hire themselves

and their large herds of cattle to whichever contending party will

pay them best, acting as carriers of the supplies and baggage of the

army. They were thus employed, to the number of several thousands, by

the English in their last war with the Sultan of Mysore. The English,

however, had occasion to regret having taken these untrustworthy

and ill-disciplined people into their service, when they saw them

ravaging the country through which they passed, and causing more

annoyance than the whole of the enemy's army."

It is noted by Wilks [103] that the travelling grain merchants,

who furnished the English army under Cornwallis with grain during

the Mysore war, were Brinjaris, and, he adds, "they strenuously

objected, first, that no capital execution should take place without

the sanction of the regular judicial authority; second, that they

should be punishable for murder. The executions to which they demanded

assent, or the murders for which they were called to account, had

their invariable origin in witchcraft, or the power of communication

with evil spirits. If a child sickened, or a wife was inconstant,

the sorcerer was to be discovered and punished." It is recorded by

the Rev. J. Cain that many of the Lambadis "confessed that, in former

days, it was the custom among them before starting out on a journey to

procure a little child, and bury it in the ground up to the shoulders,

and then drive their loaded bullocks over the unfortunate victim,

and, in proportion to their thoroughly trampling the child to death,

so their belief in a successful journey increased. A Lambadi was seen

repeating a number of mantrams (magical formulæ) over his patients,

and touching their heads at the same time with a book, which was a

small edition of the Telugu translation of St. John's gospel. Neither

the physician nor patient could read, and had no idea of the contents

of the book." At the time when human (meriah) sacrifices prevailed in

the Vizagapatam Agency tracts, it was the regular duty of Lambadis

to kidnap or purchase human beings in the plains, and sell them to

the hill tribes for extravagant prices. A person, in order to be a

fitting meriah, had to be purchased for a price.

It is recorded [104] that not long after the accession of Vinayaka

Deo to the throne of Jeypore, in the fifteenth century, some of his

subjects rose against him, but he recovered his position with the help

of a leader of Brinjaris. Ever since then, in grateful recognition,

his descendants have appended to their signatures a wavy line (called

valatradu), which represents the rope with which Brinjaris tether

their cattle.

The common occupation of the Lambadis of Mysore is said [105] to be

"the transport, especially in the hill and forest tracts difficult

of access, of grain and other produce on pack bullocks, of which

they keep large herds. They live in detached clusters of rude huts,

called thandas, at some distance from established villages. Though

some of them have taken of late to agriculture, they have as yet

been only partially reclaimed from criminal habits." The thandas

are said to be mostly pitched on high ground affording coigns of

vantage for reconnoissance in predatory excursions. It is common

for the Lambadis of the Vizagapatam Agency, during their trade

peregrinations, to clear a level piece of land, and camp for

night, with fires lighted all round them. Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao

informs me that "they regard themselves as immune from the attacks

of tigers, if they take certain precautions. Most of them have to

pass through places infested with these beasts, and their favourite

method of keeping them off is as follows. As soon as they encamp

at a place, they level a square bit of ground, and light fires in

the middle of it, round which they pass the night. It is their firm

belief that the tiger will not enter the square, from fear lest it

should become blind, and eventually be shot. I was once travelling

towards Malkangiri from Jeypore, when I fell in with a party of

these people encamped in the manner described. At that time, several

villages about Malkangiri were being ravaged by a notorious man-eater

(tiger). In the Madras Census Reports the Lambadis are described as

a class of traders, herdsmen, cattle-breeders, and cattle-lifters,

found largely in the Deccan districts, in parts of which they have

settled down as agriculturists. In the Cuddapah district they are said

[106] to be found in most of the jungly tracts, living chiefly by

collecting firewood and jungle produce. In the Vizagapatam district,

Mr. G. F. Paddison informs me, the bullocks of the Lambadis are

ornamented with peacock's feathers and cowry shells, and generally a

small mirror on the forehead. The bullocks of the Brinjaris (Boiparis)

are described by the Rev. G. Gloyer [107] as having their horns,

foreheads, and necks decorated with richly embroidered cloth, and

carrying on their horns, plumes of peacock's feathers and tinkling

bells. When on the march, the men always have their mouths covered,

to avoid the awful dust which the hundreds of cattle kick up. Their

huts are very temporary structures made of wattle. The whole village

is moved about a furlong or so every two or three years--as early

a stage of the change from nomadic to a settled life as can be

found." The Lambadi tents, or pals, are said by Mr. Mullaly to be

"made of stout coarse cloth fastened with ropes. In moving camp,

these habitations are carried with their goods and chattels on

pack bullocks." Concerning the Lambadis of the Bellary district

Mr. S. P. Rice writes to me as follows. "They are wood-cutters,

carriers, and coolies, but some of them settle down and become

cultivators. A Lambadi hut generally consists of only one small

room, with no aperture except the doorway. Here are huddled together

the men, women, and children, the same room doing duty as kitchen,

dining and bedroom. The cattle are generally tied up outside in any

available spot of the village site, so that the whole village is a

sort of cattle pen interspersed with huts, in whatsoever places may

have seemed convenient to the particular individual. Dotted here and

there are a few shrines of a modest description, where I was told that

fires are lighted every night in honour of the deity. The roofs are

generally sloping and made of thatch, unlike the majority of houses

in the Deccan, which are almost always terraced or flat roofed. I have

been into one or two houses rather larger than those described, where

I found a buffalo or two, after the usual Canarese fashion. There is

an air of encampment about the village, which suggests a gipsy life."

The present day costume and personal adornments of the Lambadi

females have been variously described by different writers. By one,

the women are said to remind one of the Zingari of Wallachia and

the Gitani of Spain. "Married women," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [108]

"are distinguished from the unmarried in that they wear their bangles

between the elbow and shoulder, while the unmarried have them between

the elbow and wrist. Unmarried girls may wear black bead necklets,

which are taken off at marriage, at which time they first assume

the ravikkai or jacket. Matrons also use an earring called guriki

to distinguish them from widows or unmarried girls." In the Mysore

Census Report, 1901, it is noted that "the women wear a peculiar

dress, consisting of a lunga or gown of stout coarse print, a tartan

petticoat, and a mantle often elaborately embroidered, which also

covers the head and upper part of the body. The hair is worn in

ringlets or plaits hanging down each side of the face, and decorated

with shells, and terminating in tassels. The arms are profusely

covered with trinkets and rings made of bones, brass and other rude

materials. The men's dress consists of a white or red turband, and

a pair of white breeches or knicker-bockers, reaching a little below

the knee, with a string of red silk tassels hanging by the right side

from the waistband." "The men," Mr. F. S. Mullaly writes, "are fine

muscular fellows, capable of enduring long and fatiguing marches. Their

ordinary dress is the dhoty with short trousers, and frequently gaudy

turbans and caps, in which they indulge on festive occasions. They also

affect a considerable amount of jewellery. The women are, as a rule,

comely, and above the average height of women of the country. Their

costume is the laigna (langa) or gown of Karwar cloth, red or green,

with a quantity of embroidery. The chola (choli) or bodice, with

embroidery in the front and on the shoulders, covers the bosom, and

is tied by variegated cords at the back, the ends of the cords being

ornamented with cowries and beads. A covering cloth of Karwar cloth,

with embroidery, is fastened in at the waist, and hangs at the side

with a quantity of tassels and strings of cowries. Their jewels are

very numerous, and include strings of beads of ten or twenty rows

with a cowry as a pendant, called the cheed, threaded on horse-hair,

and a silver hasali (necklace), a sign of marriage equivalent to the

tali. Brass or horn bracelets, ten to twelve in number, extending to

the elbow on either arm, with a guzera or piece of embroidered silk,

one inch wide, tied to the right wrist. Anklets of ivory (or bone)

or horn are only worn by married women. They are removed on the death

of the husband. Pachala or silk embroidery adorned with tassels and

cowries is also worn as an anklet by women. Their other jewels are

mukaram or nose ornament, a silver kania or pendant from the upper part

of the ear attached to a silver chain which hangs to the shoulder,

and a profusion of silver, brass, and lead rings. Their hair is,

in the case of unmarried women, unadorned, brought up and tied in

a knot at the top of the head. With married women it is fastened,

in like manner, with a cowry or a brass button, and heavy pendants or

gujuris are fastened at the temples. This latter is an essential sign

of marriage, and its absence is a sign of widowhood. Lambadi women,

when carrying water, are fastidious in the adornment of the pad, called

gala, which is placed on their heads. They cover it with cowries,

and attach to it an embroidered cloth, called phulia, ornamented with

tassels and cowries." I gather that Lambadi women of the Lavidia and

Kimavath septs do not wear bracelets (chudo), because the man who went

to bring them for the marriage of a remote ancestor died. In describing

the dress of the Lambadi women, the Rev. G. N. Thomssen writes that

"the sari is thrown over the head as a hood, with a frontlet of coins

dangling over the forehead. This frontlet is removed in the case of

widows. At the ends of the tufts of hair at the ears, heavy ornaments

are tied or braided. Married women have a gold and silver coin at

the ends of these tufts, while widows remove them. But the dearest

possession of the women are large broad bracelets, made, some of wood,

and the large number of bone or ivory. Almost the whole arm is covered

with these ornaments. In case of the husband's death, the bracelets

on the upper arm are removed. They are kept in place by a cotton

bracelet, gorgeously made, the strings of which are ornamented with

the inevitable cowries. On the wrist broad heavy brass bracelets with

bells are worn, these being presents from the mother to her daughter."

Each thanda, Mr. Natesa Sastri writes, has "a headman

called the Nayaka, whose word is law, and whose office is

hereditary. Each settlement has also a priest, whose office is

likewise hereditary." According to Mr. H. A. Stuart, the thanda is

named after the headman, and he adds, "the head of the gang appears

to be regarded with great reverence, and credited with supernatural

powers. He is believed to rule the gang most rigorously, and to have

the power of life and death over its members."

Concerning the marriage ceremonies of the Sugalis of North Arcot,

Mr. Stuart informs us that these "last for three days. On the first

an intoxicating beverage compounded of bhang (Cannabis indica) leaves,

jaggery (crude sugar), and other things, is mixed and drunk. When all

are merry, the bridegroom's parents bring Rs. 35 and four bullocks

to those of the bride, and, after presenting them, the bridegroom

is allowed to tie a square silver bottu or tali (marriage badge)

to the bride's neck, and the marriage is complete; but the next two

days must be spent in drinking and feasting. At the conclusion of the

third day, the bride is arrayed in gay new clothes, and goes to the

bridegroom's house, driving a bullock before her. Upon the birth of

the first male child, a second silver bottu is tied to the mother's

neck, and a third when a second son is born. When a third is added

to the family, the three bottus are welded together, after which no

additions are made." Of the Lambadi marriage ceremony in the Bellary

district, the following detailed account is given by Mr. Francis. "As

acted before me by a number of both sexes of the caste, it runs as

follows. The bridegroom arrives at night at the bride's house with a

cloth covering his head, and an elaborately embroidered bag containing

betel and nut slung from his shoulder. Outside the house, at the four

corners of a square, are arranged four piles of earthen pots--five

pots in each. Within this square two grain-pounding pestles are stuck

upright in the ground. The bride is decked with the cloth peculiar to

married women, and taken outside the house to meet the bridegroom. Both

stand within the square of pots, and round their shoulders is tied a

cloth, in which the officiating Brahman knots a rupee. This Brahman,

it may be at once noted, has little more to do with the ceremony

beyond ejaculating at intervals 'Shobhana! Shobhana!' or 'May it

prosper!' Then the right hands of the couple are joined, and they

walk seven times round each of the upright pestles, while the women

chant the following song, one line being sung for each journey round

the pestle:

To yourself and myself marriage has taken place.

Together we will walk round the marriage pole.

Walk the third time; marriage has taken place.

You are mine by marriage.

Walk the fifth time; marriage has taken place.

Walk the sixth time; marriage has taken place.

Walk the seventh time; marriage has taken place.

We have walked seven times; I am yours.

Walk the seventh time; you are mine.

"The couple then sit on a blanket on the ground near one of the

pestles, and are completely covered with a cloth. The bride gives the

groom seven little balls compounded of rice, ghee (clarified butter)

and sugar, which he eats. He then gives her seven others, which she in

turn eats. The process is repeated near the other pestle. The women

keep on chanting all the while. Then the pair go into the house,

and the cloth into which the rupee was knotted is untied, and the

ceremonies for that night are over. Next day the couple are bathed

separately, and feasting takes place. That evening the girl's mother

or near female relations tie to the locks on each side of her temples

the curious badges, called gugri, which distinguish a married from an

unmarried woman, fasten a bunch of tassels to her back hair, and girdle

her with a tasselled waistband, from which is suspended a little bag,

into which the bridegroom puts five rupees. These last two are donned

thereafter on great occasions, but are not worn every day. The next

day the girl is taken home by her new husband." It is noted in the

Mysore Census Report, 1891, that "one unique custom, distinguishing

the Lambani marriage ceremonial, is that the officiating Brahman priest

is the only individual of the masculine persuasion who is permitted to

be present. Immediately after the betrothal, the females surround and

pinch the priest on all sides, repeating all the time songs in their

mixed Kutni dialect. The vicarious punishment to which the solitary

male Brahman is thus subjected is said to be apt retribution for

the cruel conduct, according to a mythological legend, of a Brahman

parent who heartlessly abandoned his two daughters in the jungle,

as they had attained puberty before marriage. The pinching episode is

notoriously a painful reality. It is said, however, that the Brahman,

willingly undergoes the operation in consideration of the fees paid for

the rite." The treatment of the Brahman as acted before me by Lambadi

women at Nandyal, included an attempt to strip him stark naked. In

the Census Report, it is stated that, at Lambadi weddings, the women

"weep and cry aloud, and the bride and bridegroom pour milk into an

ant-hill, and offer the snake which lives therein cocoanuts, flowers,

and so on. Brahmans are sometimes engaged to celebrate weddings,

and, failing a Brahman, a youth of the tribe will put on the thread,

and perform the ceremony."

The following variant of the marriage ceremonies was acted before me

at Kadur in Mysore. A pandal (booth) is erected, and beneath it two

pestles or rice-pounders are set up. At the four corners, a row of

five pots is placed, and the pots are covered with leafy twigs of

Calotropis procera, which are tied with Calotropis fibre or cotton

thread. Sometimes a pestle is set up near each row of pots. The bridal

couple seat themselves near the pestles, and the ends of their cloths,

with a silver coin in them, are tied together. They are then smeared

with turmeric, and, after a wave-offering to ward off the evil eye,

they go seven times round the pestles, while the women sing:--

Oh! girl, walk along, walk.

You boasted that you would not marry.

Now you are married.

Walk, girl, walk on.

There is no good in your boasting.

You have eaten the pudding.

Walk, girl, walk.

Leave off boasting.

You sat on the plank with the bridegroom's thigh on yours.

The bride and bridegroom take their seats on a plank, and the former

throws a string round the neck of the latter, and ties seven knots

in it. The bridegroom then does the same to the bride. The knots are

untied. Cloths are then placed over the backs of the couple, and a

swastika mark ([swastika]) is drawn on them with turmeric paste. A

Brahman purohit is then brought to the pandal, and seats himself on

a plank. A clean white cloth is placed on his head, and fastened

tightly with string. Into this improvised turban, leafy twigs of

mango and Cassia auriculata are stuck. Some of the Lambadi women

present, while chanting a tune, throw sticks of Ficus glomerata,

Artocarpus integrifolia, and mango in front of the Brahman, pour

gingelly (Sesamum) oil over them, and set them on fire. The Brahman

is made a bridegroom, and he must give out the name of his bride. He

is then slapped on the cheeks by the women, thrown down, and his

clothing stripped off. The Brahman ceremonial concluded, a woman

puts the badges of marriage on the bride. On the following day, she

is dressed up, and made to stand on a bullock, and keep on crooning

a mournful song, which makes her cry eventually. As she repeats the

song, she waves her arms, and folds them over her head. The words of

the song, the reproduction of which in my phonograph invariably made

the women weep, are somewhat as follows:--

Oh! father, you brought me up so carefully by spending much money.

All this was to no purpose.

Oh! mother, the time has come when I have to leave you.

Is it to send me away that you nourished me?

Oh! how can I live away from you,

My brothers and sisters?

Among the Lambadis of Mysore, widow remarriage and polygamy are said

[109] to freely prevail, "and it is customary for divorced women to

marry again during the lifetime of the husband under the sire udike

(tying of a new cloth) form of remarriage, which also obtains among the

Vakkaligas and others. In such cases, the second husband, under the

award of the caste arbitration, is made to pay a certain sum (tera)

as amends to the first husband, accompanied by a caste dinner. The

woman is then readmitted into society. But certain disabilities are

attached to widow remarriage. Widows remarried are forbidden entry

into a regular marriage party, whilst their offspring are disabled

from legal marriage for three generations, although allowed to take

wives from families similarly circumstanced." According to Mr. Stuart,

the Sugalis of the North Arcot district "do not allow the marriage of

widows, but on payment of Rs. 15 and three buffaloes to her family,

who take charge of her children, a widow may be taken by any man as a

concubine, and her children are considered legitimate. Even during her

husband's life, a woman may desert him for any one else, the latter

paying the husband the cost of the original marriage ceremony. The

Sugalis burn the married, but bury all others, and have no ceremonies

after death for the rest of the soul of the deceased." If the head

of a burning corpse falls off the pyre, the Lambadis pluck some grass

or leaves, which they put in their mouths "like goats," and run home.

A custom called Valli Sukkeri is recorded by the Rev. G. N. Thomssen,

according to which "if an elder brother marries and dies without

offspring, the younger brother must marry the widow, and raise up

children, such children being regarded as those of the deceased elder

brother. If, however, the elder brother dies leaving offspring, and

the younger brother wishes to marry the widow, he must give fifteen

rupees and three oxen to his brother's children. Then he may marry the

widow." The custom here referred to is said to be practiced because

the Lambadi's ancestor Sugriva married his elder brother Vali's widow.

I am informed by Mr. F. A. Hamilton that, among the Lambadis of

Kollegal in the Coimbatore district, "if a widower remarries, he may

go through the ordinary marriage ceremony, or the kuttuvali rite,

in which all that is necessary is to declare his selection of a

bride to four or five castemen, whom he feeds. A widow may remarry

according to the same rite, her new husband paying the expenses of the

feast. Married people are burnt. Unmarried, and those who have been

married by the kuttuvali rite, are buried. When cremation is resorted

to, the eldest son sets fire to the funeral pyre. On the third day

he makes a heap of the ashes, on which he sprinkles milk. He and

his relations then return home, and hold a feast. When a corpse is

buried, no such ceremonies are performed. Both males and females are

addicted to heavy drinking. Arrack is their favourite beverage, and a

Lambadi's boast is that he spent so much on drink on such and such an

occasion. The women dance and sing songs in eulogy of their goddess. At

bed-time they strip off all their clothes, and use them as a pillow."

The Lambadis are said to purchase children from other castes, and

bring them up as their own. Such children are not allowed to marry

into the superior Lambadi section called Thanda. The adopted children

are classified as Koris, and a Kori may only marry a Lambadi after

several generations.

Concerning the religion of the Lambadis, it is noted in the Mysore

Census Report, 1891, that they are "Vishnuvaits, and their principal

object of worship is Krishna. Bana Sankari, the goddess of forests,

is also worshipped, and they pay homage to Basava on grounds dissimilar

to those professed by the Lingayets. Basava is revered by the Lambadis

because Krishna had tended cattle in his incarnation. The writer

interviewed the chief Lambani priests domiciled in the Holalkere

taluk. The priests belong to the same race, but are much less

disreputable than the generality of their compatriots. It is said that

they periodically offer sacrificial oblations in the agni or fire,

at which a mantram is repeated, which may be paraphrased thus:--

I adore Bharma (Bramha) in the roots;

Vishnu who is the trunk;

Rudra (Mahadev) pervading the branches;

And the Devas in every leaf.

"The likening of the Creator's omnipotence to a tree among a people

so far impervious to the traditions of Sanskrit lore may not appear

very strange to those who will call to mind the Scandinavian tree of

Igdrasil so graphically described by Carlyle, and the all-pervading

Asvat'tha (pipal) tree of the Bhagavatgita." It is added in the Mysore

Census Report, 1901, that "the Lambanis own the Gosayis (Goswami) as

their priests or gurus. These are the genealogists of the Lambanis,

as the Helavas are of the Sivachars." Of the Sugalis of Punganur

and Palmaner in the North Arcot district Mr. Stuart writes that

"all worship the Tirupati Swami, and also two Saktis called Kosa

Sakti and Mani Sakti. Some three hundred years ago, they say that

there was a feud between the Bukia and Mudu Sugalis, and in a combat

many were killed on both sides; but the widows of only two of the

men who died were willing to perform sati, in consequence of which

they have been deified, and are now worshipped as saktis by all

the divisions." It is said [110] that, near Rolla in the Anantapur

district, there is a small community of priests to the Lambadis who

call themselves Muhammadans, but cannot intermarry with others of the

faith, and that in the south-west of Madakasira taluk there is another

sub-division, called the Mondu Tulukar (who are usually stone-cutters

and live in hamlets by themselves), who similarly cannot marry with

other Musalmans. It is noted by the Rev. J. Cain [111] that in some

places the Lambadis "fasten small rags torn from some old garment

to a bush in honour of Kampalamma (kampa, a thicket). On the side

of one of the roads from Bastar are several large heaps of stones,

which they have piled up in honour of the goddess Guttalamma. Every

Lambadi who passes the heaps is bound to place one stone on the heap,

and to make a salaam to it." The goddess of the Lambadis of Kollegal

is, according to Mr. Hamilton, Satthi. A silver image of a female,

seated tailor-fashion, is kept by the head of the family, and is an

heirloom. At times of festival it is set up and worshipped. Cooked food

is placed before it, and a feast, with much arrack drinking, singing,

beating of tom-tom, and dancing through the small hours of the night,

is held. Examples of the Lambadi songs relating to incidents in the

Ramayana, in honour of the goddesses Durga and Bhavani, etc., have

been published by Mr. F. Fawcett. [112]

The Brinjaris are described by the Rev. G. Gloyer as carrying their

principal goddess "Bonjairini Mata," on the horns of their cattle

(leitochsen).

It is noted by the Rev. G. N. Thomssen that the Lambadis "worship the

Supreme Being in a very pathetic manner. A stake, either a carved

stick, or a peg, or a knife, is planted on the ground, and men and

women form a circle round this, and a wild, weird chant is sung, while

all bend very low to the earth. They all keep on circling about the

stake, swinging their arms in despair, clasping them in prayer, and

at last raising them in the air. Their whole cry is symbolic of the

child crying in the night, the child crying for the light. If there

are very many gathered together for worship, the men form one circle,

and the women another. Another peculiar custom is their sacrifice of

a goat or a chicken in case of removal from one part of the jungle

to another, when sickness has come. They hope to escape death by

leaving one camping ground for another. Half-way between the old

and new grounds, a chicken or goat is buried alive, the head being

allowed to be above ground. Then all the cattle are driven over the

buried creature, and the whole camp walk over the buried victim." In

former days, the Lambadis are reputed to have offered up human

sacrifices. "When," the Abbé Dubois writes, "they wish to perform

this horrible act, it is said, they secretly carry off the first

person they meet. Having conducted the victim to some lonely spot,

they dig a hole, in which they bury him up to the neck. While he is

still alive, they make a sort of lump of dough made of flour, which

they place on his head. This they fill with oil, and light four wicks

in it. Having done this, the men and women join hands, and, forming a

circle, dance round their victim, singing and making a great noise,

till he expires." The interesting fact is recorded by Mr. Mullaly

"that, before the Lambadis proceed on a predatory excursion, a token,

usually a leaf, is secreted in some hidden place before proceeding to

invoke Durga. The Durgamma pujari (priest), one of their own class,

who wears the sacred thread, and is invested with his sacred office

by reason of his powers of divination, lights a fire, and, calling on

the goddess for aid, treads the fire out, and names the token hidden

by the party. His word is considered an oracle, and the pujari points

out the direction the party is to take."

From a further note on the religion of the Lambadis, I gather that

they worship the following:--

(1) Balaji, whose temple is at Tirupati. Offerings of money are

made to this deity for the bestowal of children, etc. When their

prayers are answered, the Lambadis walk all the way to Tirupati,

and will not travel thither by railway.

(2) Hanuman, the monkey god.

(3) Poleramma. To ward off devils and evil spirits.

(4) Mallalamma. To confer freedom to their cattle from attacks

of tigers and other wild beasts.

(5) Ankalamma. To protect them from epidemic disease.

(6) Peddamma.

(7) Maremma.

The Lambadis observe the Holi festival, for the celebration of which

money is collected in towns and villages. On the Holi day, the headman

and his wife fast, and worship two images of mud, representing Kama

(the Indian cupid) and his wife Rati. On the following morning,

cooked food is offered to the images, which are then burnt. Men and

women sing and dance, in separate groups, round the burning fire. On

the third day, they again sing and dance, and dress themselves in gala

attire. The men snatch the food which has been prepared by the women,

and run away amid protests from the women, who sometimes chastise them.

It is narrated by Moor [113] that "he passed a tree, on which were

hanging several hundred bells. This was a superstitious sacrifice by

the Bandjanahs, who, passing this tree, are in the habit of hanging

a bell or bells upon it, which they take from the necks of their sick

cattle, expecting to leave behind them the complaint also. Our servants

particularly cautioned us against touching these diabolical bells; but,

as a few were taken for our own cattle, several accidents that happened

were imputed to the anger of the deity, to whom these offerings were

made, who, they say, inflicts the same disorder on the unhappy bullock

who carries a bell from this tree as he relieved the donor from."

There is a legend in connection with the matsya gundam (fish pool)

close under the Yendrika hill in the Vizagapatam district. The

fish therein are very tame, and are protected by the Madgole

Zamindars. "Once, goes the story, a Brinjari caught one and turned

it into curry, whereon the king of the fish solemnly cursed him,

and he and all his pack-bullocks were turned into rocks, which may

be seen there to this day." [114]

Lambadi women often have elaborate tattooed patterns on the backs

of the hands, and a tattooed dot on the left side of the nose may be

accepted as a distinguishing character of the tribe in some parts. My

assistant once pointed out that, in a group of Lambadis, some of the

girls did not look like members of the tribe. This roused the anger

of an old woman, who said "You can see the tattoo marks on the nose,

so they must be Lambadis."

Lambadi women will not drink water from running streams or big tanks.

In the Mysore Province, there is a class of people called Thamburi,

who dress like Lambadis, but do not intermarry with them. They are

Muhammadans, and their children are circumcised. Their marriages are

carried out according to the Muhammadan nikka rite, but they also go

through the Lambadi form of marriage, except that marriage pots are

not placed in the pandal (wedding booth). The Lambadis apparently pay

some respect to them, and give them money at marriages or on other

occasions. They seem to be bards and panegyrists of the Lambadis,

in the same way that other classes have their Nokkans, Viramushtis,

Bhatrazus, etc. It is noted by Mr. Stuart [115] that the Lambadis

have priests called Bhats, to whom it is probable that the Thamburis

correspond in Mysore.

The methods of the criminal Lambadis are dealt with at length by

Mr. Mullaly. And it must suffice for the present purpose to note that

they commit dacoities and have their receivers of stolen property,

and that the Naik or headman of the gang takes an active share in

the commission of crime.

Lampata.--A name, signifying a gallant, returned by some Sanis at

times of census.

Landa.--A synonym of Mondi.

Lanka (island).--An exogamous sept of Boya and Kamma.

Lattikar.--Recorded, at the census, 1901, as a sub-division of

Vakkaliga (Okkiliyan) in the Salem district. Latti means a reckless

woman, and latvi, an unchaste woman, and the name possibly refers to

Vakkaligas who are not true-bred.

Lekavali.--A division of Marathas in the Sandur State. Many of them

are servants in the Raja's palace. They are stated, in the Gazetteer

of the Bellary district, to be the offspring of irregular unions

among other Marathas.

Lekkala (accounts).--An exogamous sept of Kamma.

Linga Balija.--The Linga Balijas (traders) are summed up, in the

Madras Census Report, 1901, as a Lingayat sub-caste of Balija. In a

note on Lingayats, Mr. R. C. C. Carr records that the Linga Banjigs

or Banajigas are essentially traders, though many are now cultivators,

and that Telugu Lingayats often call themselves Linga Balijas.

The following legendary account of the origin of the "Linga

Bhojunnalawaru" is given in the Baramahal Records. [116] "Para

Brahma or the great god Brahma created the god Pralayakala Rudra or

the terrific at the day of destruction, a character of the god Siva,

and he created the Chatur Acharyulu or four sages named Panditaraju,

Yekcoramalu, Murralaradulu, and Somaluradulu, and taught them mantras

or prayers, and made them his deputies. On a time, the Asuras and

Devatas, or the giants and the gods, made war on each other, and

the god Pralayakala Rudra produced from his nose a being whom he

named Muchari Rudra, and he had five sons, with whom he went to the

assistance of the devatas or gods, and enabled them to defeat the

giants, and for his service the gods conferred upon him and his sons

the following honorary distinctions:--

A flag with the figure of an alligator (crocodile) portrayed on it.

A flag with the figure of a fish portrayed on it.

A flag with the figure of a bullock.

A flag with the figure of an eagle.

A flag with the figure of a bell.

A bell.

A modee ganta, or iron for marking cattle.

The use of burning lamps and flambeaus in their public processions

during the day.

The use of tents.

"On a time, when the god Pralayakala Rudra and Mochari Rudra and

his five sons, with other celestial attendants, were assembled on

the Kailasa parvata or mountain of Paradise, the god directed the

latter to descend into the Bhuloka or earthly world, and increase

and multiply these species. They humbly prayed to know how they were

again to reach the divine presence. He answered 'I shall manifest

myself in the Bhuloka under the form of the Lingam or Priapus; do

you worship me under that form, and you will again be permitted to

approach me.' They accordingly descended into the earthly regions,

and from them the present castes of Baljawaras deduce their origin."

In a note on the Linga Balijas of the North Arcot district,

Mr. H. A. Stuart writes [117] that "Linga Balija appears rather to

be the name of the followers of a religious faith than of a distinct

caste, for the Linga Balijas state that their caste contains eleven

sub-divisions, each with a separate occupation, viz., Jangam (priests),

Reddi (cultivators), Gandla (oil-mongers), and the like. Almost all the

Linga Balijas of North Arcot are traders, who speak Canarese and are

immigrants from Mysore, in which their gurus (religious preceptors)

live, and whither they still refer their caste disputes. At one

time they enjoyed much importance in this district, particularly in

its large trading towns. Headmen among them, styled Chettis, were

by the Arcot Nawabs assigned districts, in which they possessed

both magisterial and civil authority, and levied taxes from other

merchants for their own personal use. They carried on very extensive

trade with Mysore and the Ceded districts, and are said to have had

enormous warehouses, which they enclosed and fortified. Breaches

of the peace are also described as not infrequent, resulting from

the interference of one Linga Balija Chetti with matters relating to

the district of another. Their authority has long since disappeared,

and is only a matter of tradition. Every Linga Balija wears a Siva

lingam, usually encased in a silver casket (or gold casket set with

precious stones), and suspended from the neck, but the very poor

place theirs in a cloth, and sometimes tie it to their arm. It is a

strict rule that one should be tied to a child's neck on the tenth

day of its birth, otherwise it is not entitled to be classed as a

Linga Balija. The Siva lingam worn by these people differs from the

Buta or Preta lingams used by Pandarams, Kaikolans, or others who

profess the Lingayat faith. They acknowledge two puranams, called

respectively the Siva and Basava puranams, and differ in very many

respects from other Hindus. They bury and do not burn their dead,

and do not recognise the five kinds of pollution resulting from a

birth, death, spittle, etc., and they do not therefore bathe in order

to remove such pollution. Widow remarriage is allowed even where the

widow has children, but these are handed over to the relatives of her

first husband. To widow remarriages no women who are not widows are

admitted, and, similarly, when a maiden is married, all widows are

excluded. Unlike most Hindus, Linga Balijas shave off the whole of the

hair of their heads, without leaving the usual lock at the back. They

deny metempsychosis, and believe that after death the soul is united

with the divine spirit. They are particular in some of their customs,

disallowing liquor and flesh-eating, and invariably eating privately,

where none can see them. They decline even to eat in the house of

a Brahman."

A Linga Banajiga (Canarese trader), whom I interviewed at Sandur, was

smeared with white marks on the forehead, upper extremities, chest,

and abdomen in imitation of a Hubli priest. Some orthodox Lingayat

traders remove their lingam during the transaction of the day's work,

on the ground, as given to me, that it is necessary to tell little

falsehoods in the course of business.

Lingadari.--A general term, meaning one who wears a lingam, for

Lingayat.

Lingakatti.--A name applied to Lingayat Badagas of the Nilgiri hills.

Lingam.--A title of Jangams and Silavants.

Lingayat.--For the following note I am mainly indebted to

Mr. R. C. C. Carr, who took great interest in its preparation when he

was Collector of Bellary. Some additional information was supplied

by Mr. R. E. Enthoven, Superintendent of the Ethnographic Survey,

Bombay. The word Lingayat is the anglicised form of Lingavant, which is

the vernacular term commonly used for any member of the community. The

Lingayats have been aptly described as a peaceable race of Hindu

Puritans. Their religion is a simple one. They acknowledge only one

God, Siva, and reject the other two persons of the Hindu Triad, They

reverence the Vedas, but disregard the later commentaries on which the

Brahmans rely. Their faith purports to be the primitive Hindu faith,

cleared of all priestly mysticism. They deny the supremacy of Brahmans,

and pretend to be free from caste distinctions, though at the present

day caste is in fact observed amongst them. They declare that there is

no need for sacrifices, penances, pilgrimages or fasts. The cardinal

principle of the faith is an unquestioning belief in the efficacy of

the lingam, the image which has always been regarded as symbolical

of the God Siva. This image, which is called the jangama lingam or

moveable lingam, to distinguish it from the sthavara or fixed lingam of

Hindu temples, is always carried on some part of the body, usually the

neck or the left arm, and is placed in the left hand of the deceased

when the body is committed to the grave Men and women, old and young,

rich and poor, all alike wear this symbol of their faith, and its

loss is regarded as spiritual death, though in practice the loser can

after a few ceremonies, be invested with a new one. They are strict

disciplinarians in the matter of food and drink, and no true Lingayat

is permitted to touch meat in any form, or to partake of any kind

of liquor. This Puritan simplicity raises them in the social scale,

and has resulted in producing a steady law-abiding race, who are

conservative of the customs of their forefathers and have hitherto

opposed a fairly unbroken front to the advancing tide of foreign

ideas. To this tendency is due the very slow spread of modern education

amongst them, while, on the other hand, their isolation from outside

influence has without doubt assisted largely in preserving intact

their beautiful, highly polished, and powerful language, Canarese.

It is matter of debate whether the Lingayat religion is an innovation

or a revival of the most ancient Saivaite faith, but the story of

the so-called founder of the sect, Basava, may with some limitations

be accepted as history. The events therein narrated occurred in the

latter half of the twelfth century at Kalyan, a city which was then

the capital of the Western Chalukyas, and is now included in the

province of Bidar in the Nizam's Dominions. It lies about a hundred

miles to the west of Hyderabad. The Chalukyas came originally from

the north of India, but appeared to the south of the Nerbudda as

early as the fourth century. They separated into two branches during

the seventh century, and the western line was still represented

at Kalyan 500 years later. The southern portion of Hindustan had

for centuries been split up between rival kingdoms, and had been

the theatre of the long struggle between the Buddhists, the Jains,

and the Hindus. At the time of Basava's appearance, a Jain king,

Bijjala by name, was in power at Kalyan. He was a representative of

the Kalachuryas, a race which had been conquered by the Chalukyas,

and occupied the position of feudatories. Bijjala appears to have

been the Commander-in-chief of the Chalukyan forces, and to have

usurped the throne, ousting his royal master, Taila III. The date

of the usurpation was 1156 A.D., though, according to some accounts,

Bijjala did not assume the full titles till some years later. He was

succeeded by his sons, but the Chalukyan claimant recovered his throne

in 1182, only to lose it again some seven years afterwards, when the

kingdom itself was divided between the neighbouring powers. The final

downfall of the Chalukyan Deccani kingdom was probably due to the

rise of the Lingayat religion. The Hindus ousted the Jains, but the

tenets inculcated by Basava had caused a serious split in the ranks

of the former. The house divided against itself could not stand,

and the Chalukyas were absorbed into the kingdoms of their younger

neighbours, the Hoysala Ballalas from Mysore in the south, and the

Yadavas from Devagiri (now identified with Daulatabad) in the north.

At about this time there appears to have been a great revival of the

worship of Siva in the Deccan and in Southern India. A large number

of important Saivaite temples are known to have been built during

the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and inscriptions speak of many

learned and holy men who were devoted to this worship. The movement

was probably accentuated by the opposition of the Jains, who seem

to have been very powerful in the Western Deccan, and in Mysore. An

inscription which will be more fully noticed later on tells of the

God Siva specially creating a man in order to "put a stop to the

hostile observances of the Jains and Buddhists." This was written

about the year 1200 A.D., and it may be gathered that Buddhism was

still recognised in the Deccan as a religious power. Mr. Rice tells

us that the labours of the Saivaite Brahman, Sankaracharya, had in

the eighth century dealt a deathblow to Buddhism, and raised the Saiva

faith to the first place. [118] Its position was, however, challenged

by the Jains, and, even as late as the twelfth century, it was still

battling with them. The Vaishnavaite reformer, Ramanujacharya, appeared

at about this time, and, according to Mr. Rice, was mainly instrumental

in ousting Jainism; but the followers of Vishnu built many of their

big temples in the thirteenth century, two hundred years later than

their Saivaite brethren, so it may be presumed that the latter faith

was in the ascendancy prior to that time. Chaitanya, the Vaishnavaite

counterpart of Basava, appeared at a much later date (1485 A.D.). It

is interesting to note that the thirteenth century is regarded as the

culminating period of the middle ages in Italy, when religious fervour

also displayed itself in the building of great cathedrals. [119]

The actual date of Basava's birth is uncertain, but is given by

some authorities as 1106 A.D. The story of his career is told in

the sacred writings of the Lingayats, of which the principal books

are known as the Basava Purana and the Channabasava Purana. The

former was apparently finished during the fourteenth century, and

the latter was not written till 1585. The accounts are, therefore,

entirely traditionary, and, as might have been expected, are full

of miraculous occurrences, which mar their historical value. The

Jain version of the story is given in the Bijjalarayacharitra, and

differs in many particulars. The main facts accepted by Lingayat

tradition are given by Dr. Fleet in the Epigraphia Indica [Vol. V,

p. 239] from which the following account is extracted. To a certain

Madiraja and his wife Madalambika, pious Saivas of the Brahman caste,

and residents of a place called Bagevadi, which is usually supposed

to be the sub-divisional town of that name in the Bijapur district,

there was born a son who, being an incarnation of Siva's bull,

Nandi, sent to earth to revive the declining Saiva rites, was named

Basava. This word is the Canarese equivalent for a bull, an animal

sacred to Siva. When the usual time of investiture arrived, Basava,

then eight years of age, having meanwhile acquired much knowledge of

the Siva scriptures, refused to be invested with the sacred Brahmanical

thread, declaring himself a special worshipper of Siva, and stating

that he had come to destroy the distinctions of caste. This refusal,

coupled with his singular wisdom and piety, attracted the notice of

his uncle Baladeva, prime minister of the Kalachurya king Bijjala,

who had come to be present at the ceremony; and Baladeva gave him

his daughter, Gangadevi or Gangamba, in marriage. The Brahmans,

however, began to persecute Basava on account of the novel practices

propounded by him, and he consequently left his native town and went

to a village named Kappadi, where he spent his early years, receiving

instruction from the God Siva. Meanwhile his uncle Baladeva died,

and Bijjala resolved to secure the services of Basava, whose ability

and virtues had now become publicly known. After some demur Basava

accepted the post, in the hope that the influence attached to it

would help him in propagating his peculiar tenets. And, accompanied by

his elder sister, Nagalambika, he proceeded to Kalyana, where he was

welcomed with deference by the king and installed as prime minister,

commander-in-chief and treasurer, second in power to the king himself;

and the king, in order to bind him as closely as possible to himself,

gave him his younger sister Nilalochana to wife. Somewhere about this

time, from Basava's unmarried sister Nagalambika there was born,

by the working of the spirit of Siva, a son who was an incarnation

of Siva's son Shanmukha, the god of war. The story says that Basava

was worshipping in the holy mountain and was praying for some gift,

when he saw an ant emerge from the ground with a small seed in its

mouth. Basava took this seed home, and his sister without Basava's

knowledge swallowed it, and became pregnant. The child was called

Channabasava, or the beautiful Basava, and assisted his uncle in

spreading the new doctrines. Indeed, he is depicted as playing a more

important part than even Basava himself.

The two Puranas are occupied for the most part with doctrinal

expositions, recitals of mythology, praises of previous Siva saints,

and accounts of miracles worked by Basava. They assert, however,

that uncle and nephew were very energetic promoters of the faith,

and that they preached the persecution and extermination of all

persons (especially the Jains), whose creed differed from that of the

Lingayats. Coupled with the lavish expenditure incurred by Basava

from the public coffers in support of Jangams or Lingayat priests,

these proceedings aroused in Bijjala, himself a Jain, feelings of

distrust, which were fanned by a rival minister, Manchanna, although

the latter was himself a Vira Saiva, and at length an event occurred

which ended in the assassination of Bijjala and the death of Basava.

At Kalyana there were two specially pious Lingayats, whom Bijjala in

mere wantonness caused to be blinded. Thereupon Basava left Kalyana,

and deputed one of his followers Jagaddeva to slay the king. Jagaddeva,

with two others, succeeded in forcing his way into the palace, where he

stabbed the king in the midst of his court. Basava meanwhile reached

Kudali-Sangameshvara, and was there absorbed into the lingam, while

Channabasava fled to Ulvi in North Canara, where he found refuge in

a cave.

The above story is taken mainly from the Basava Purana. The account

given in the Channabasava Purana differs in various details,

and declares that Bijjala was assassinated under the orders of

Channabasava, who had succeeded his uncle in office. The Jain account

states that Basava's influence with the king was due to Basava's

sister, whom Bijjala took as a concubine. The death of Bijjala was

caused by poisoned fruit sent by Basava, who, to escape the vengeance

of Bijjala's son, threw himself into a well and died. The version

of Basava's story, which is found in most books of reference, makes

him appear at Kalyan as a youth flying from the persecution of his

father. His uncle, Baladeva, sheltered him and eventually gave him his

daughter; and, when Baladeva died, Basava succeeded to his office. This

seems to have been copied from the account given by Mr. C. P. Brown,

but later translations of the Purana show that it is erroneous. When

Basava came to Kalyan, Bijjala was in power, and his arrival must

therefore have been subsequent to 1156 A. D. If the date of birth

be accepted as 1106, Basava would have been a man of fifty years of

age or more when summoned to office by Bijjala. The latter resigned

in favour of his son in 1167, and may have been assassinated shortly

afterwards. On the other hand, Baladeva could not have been Bijjala's

minister when he came to Basava's upanayanam ceremony, for this

event occurred in 1114, long before the commencement of Bijjala's

reign. There is no reason, however, for crediting the Purana with

any great historical accuracy, and, in fact, the evidence now coming

to light from inscriptions, which the industry of archæologists is

giving to the world, throws great doubt upon the traditional narrative.

An inscription on stone tablets which have now been built into the wall

of a modern temple at Managoli, a village in the Bijapur district of

the Bombay Presidency about eleven miles to the north-west of Bagevadi,

the supposed birth place of Basava, contains a record of the time of

the Kalachuri king, Bijjala. Two dates are given in the inscription,

and from one of them it is calculated with certainty that Bijjala's

reign began in 1156 A.D. The record gives a certain date as "the

sixth of the years of the glorious Kalachurya Bijjaladeva, an emperor

by the strength of his arm, the sole hero of the three worlds." The

corresponding English date is Tuesday, 12th September, 1161 A.D., so

that Bijjala must have come into power, by the strength of his arm, in

1156. But a still more important piece of information is furnished by

the mention of a certain Basava or Basavarasayya as the builder of the

temple, in which the inscription was first placed, and of one Madiraja,

who held the post of Mahaprabhu of the village when the grants in

support of the temple were made. The record runs as follows. [120]

"Among the five hundred of Manigavalli there sprang up a certain

Govardhana, the moon of the ocean that was the Kasyappa gotra, an

excellent member of the race of the Vajins. His son was Revadasa. The

latter had four sons.... The youngest of these became the greatest,

and, under the name of Chandramas, made his reputation reach even as

far as the Himalaya mountains. To that lord there was born a son,

Basava. There were none who were like him in devotion to the feet

of (the God) Maheshvara (Siva); and this Basava attained the fame

of being esteemed the sun that caused to bloom the water-lily that

was the affection of the five hundred Brahmans of Manigavalli. This

Basavarasayya came to be considered the father of the world, since

the whole world, putting their hands to their foreheads, saluted him

with the words 'our virtuous father'; and thus he brought greatness

to the famous Manigavalli, manifesting the height of graciousness in

saying this is the abode of the essence of the three Vedas; this is

the accomplishment of that which has no end and no beginning; this

is the lustrous divine linga."

Dr. Fleet suggests that we have at last met with an epigraphic mention

of the Lingayat founder, Basava. This is eminently satisfactory, but

is somewhat upsetting, for the inscription makes Basava a member of

the Kasyapa gotra, while Madiraja is placed in an entirely different

family. As regards the latter, the record says; (l. 20) "in the

lineage of that lord (Taila II, the leader of the Chalukyas) there

was a certain Madhava, the Prabhu of the town of Manigavalli, the very

Vishnu of the renowned Harita gotra;" and later on the same person is

spoken of as the Mahaprabhu Madiraja. If Basava and Madiraja, herein

mentioned, are really the heroes of the Lingayats, it is clear that

they were not father and son, as stated in the Lingayat writings. But

it must be borne in mind that this is the only inscription yet

deciphered which contains any allusion whatever to Basava, and

the statement that "he caused to bloom the water-lily that was the

affection of the five hundred Brahmans of Manigavalli," is directly

opposed to the theory that he broke away from the Brahman fold, and

set up a religion, of which one of the main features is a disregard

of Brahman supremacy. The fact that the inscription was found so near

to Basava's birthplace is, however, strong evidence in favour of the

presumption that it refers to the Basava of Lingayat tradition, and the

wording itself is very suggestive of the same idea. The record gives

a long pedigree to introduce the Basava whom it proceeds to extol,

and puts into his mouth the noteworthy utterance, which ascribes godly

qualities to the "lustrous divine linga." The date of this record is

contemporary with the events and persons named therein, and it must

therefore be far more reliable than the traditionary stories given in

the Puranas, which, as already indicated, are not at all in accordance

with each other. Dr. Fleet is of opinion that the Purana versions are

little better than legends. This is perhaps going too far, but there

can be no doubt that later research will in this, as in the case of

all traditionary history, bring to knowledge facts which will require

a considerable rearrangement of the long accepted picture.

Another inscription, discovered at Ablur in the Dharwar district of

the Bombay Presidency, is of great importance in this connection. It

is dated about A.D. 1200, and mentions the Western Chalukya king

Somesvara IV, and his predecessor the Kalachurya prince Bijjala. It

narrates the doings of a certain Ekantada Ramayya, so called because

he was an ardent and exclusive worshipper of Siva. This individual got

into controversy with the Jains, who were apparently very powerful

at Ablur, and the latter agreed to destroy their Jina and to set

up Siva instead, if Ramayya would cut off his own head before his

god, and have it restored to his body after seven days without a

scar. Ramayya appears to have won his wager, but the Jains refused

to perform their part of the contract. The dispute was then referred

to king Bijjala, himself a Jain, and Ramayya was given a jayapatra,

or certificate of success. This king and his Chalukyan successor also

presented Ramayya with lands in support of certain Siva temples. It

is noteworthy that the story is told also in the Channabasava Purana,

but the controversy is narrated as having occurred at Kalyan, where

Ramayya had gone to see king Bijjala. The same passage makes Ramayya

quote an instance of a previous saint, Mahalaka, having performed

the same feat at a village named Jambar, which may conceivably be

the Ablur of the inscription. But the interest and importance of the

inscription centre in the fact that it discloses the name of another

devout and exclusive worshipper of Siva, who, it is said, caused this

man to be born into the world with the express object of "putting a

stop to the hostile observances of the Jains and the Buddhists who

had become furious" or aggressive. Dr. Fleet considers that, making

allowance for the supernatural agency introduced into the story, the

narrative is reasonable and plain, and has the ring of truth in it;

and, in his opinion, it shows us the real person to whom the revival

of the ancient Saivaite faith was due. The exploits of Ramayya are

placed shortly before A.D. 1162, in which year Bijjala is said to

have completed his usurpation of the sovereignty by assuming the

paramount titles. Ramayya was thus a contemporary of Basava, but the

Ablur inscription makes no mention of the latter.

This fresh evidence does not appear to run counter to the commonly

accepted story of the origin of the Lingayats. It confirms the theory

that the religion of Siva received a great impetus at this period,

but there is nothing in the inscription ascribing to Ramayya the

position of a reformer of Saivaite doctrines. He appears as the

champion of Siva against the rival creeds, not as the Saivaite Luther

who is attacking the priestly mysticism of the Saivaite divines; and,

as Dr. Fleet points out, there is nothing improbable in the mention

of several persons as helping on the same movement. Both Ramayya and

Basava are, however, represented in these inscriptions as being the

chief of Saivaite Brahmans, and there is no mention of any schism

such as the Protestant revolt which is associated with the name of

Luther. It is possible, therefore, that the establishment of the

Lingayat sect may have been brought about by the followers of these

two great men--a fact that is hinted at in Lingayat tradition by the

very name of Channabasava, which means Basava the beautiful, because,

according to the Channabasava Purana, he was more beautiful in many

respects than Basava, who is represented as receiving instruction from

his superior nephew in important points connected with their faith. The

two inscriptions and numerous others, which have been deciphered by

the same authority, are of the greatest value from a historical point

of view, and paint in bold colours the chief actors in the drama. The

closing years of the Western Chalukyan kingdom are given to us by the

hand of an actor who was on the same stage, and, if the birth of the

Lingayat creed is still obscured in the mist of the past, the figures

of those who witnessed it stand out with surprising clearness.

It has been already stated that one of the principles of the

religion is a disregard of caste distinctions. The prevailing

races were Dravidian, and it is an accepted fact that the theory

of caste as propounded by Manu is altogether foreign to Dravidian

ideas. Historians cannot tell us how long the process of grafting the

caste system on to the Dravidian tree lasted, but it is clear that,

when Basava appeared, the united growth was well established. Brahmans

were acknowledged as the leaders in religious matters, and, as the

secular is closely interwoven with the religious in all eastern

countries, the priestly class was gradually usurping to itself a

position of general control. But, as was the case in Europe during the

sixteenth century, a movement was on foot to replace the authority

of the priests by something more in accordance with the growing

intelligence of the laity. And, as in Europe, the reformers were

found amongst the priests themselves. Luther and Erasmus were monks,

who had been trained to support the very system of priestcraft, which

they afterwards demolished. Basava and Ramayya, as already stated, were

Saivaite Brahmans, from whom has sprung a race of free thinkers, who

affect the disregard of caste and many of the ceremonial observances

created by the Brahman priesthood. The comparison may even be carried

further. Luther was an iconoclast, who worked upon men's passions,

while Erasmus was a philosopher, who addressed himself to their

intellects. Basava, according to the traditionary account, was the

counterpart of Luther. Ramayya may be fairly called the Indian Erasmus.

This freedom from the narrowing influence of caste was doubtless a

great incentive to the spread of the reformed religion. The lingam

was to be regarded as the universal leveller, rendering all its

wearers equal in the eye of the Deity. High and low were to be brought

together by its influence, and all caste distinctions were to be swept

away. According to Basava's teaching, all men are holy in proportion

as they are temples of the great spirit; by birth all are equal;

men are not superior to women, and the gentle sex must be treated

with all respect and delicacy; marriage in childhood is wrong, and

the contracting parties are to be allowed a voice in the matter of

their union; and widows are to be allowed to remarry. All the iron

fetters of Brahmanical tyranny are, in fact, torn asunder, and the

Lingayat is to be allowed that freedom of individual action, which is

found amongst the more advanced Christian communities. Even the lowest

castes are to be raised to the level of all others by the investiture

of the lingam, and all Lingadharis, or wearers of the divine symbol,

are to eat together, to intermarry, and to live at unity.

But social distinctions inevitably asserted themselves later. As the

Lingayats, or Panchamsalis as they styled themselves, increased in

importance, number and wealth, elaborate forms of worship and ceremony

were introduced, rules of conduct were framed, and a religious system

was devised, on which the influence of the rival Brahman aristocracy

can be freely traced. Thus, in course of time, the Panchamsalis became

a closed caste, new converts were placed on a lower social footing,

the priests alone continuing as a privileged class to dine freely

with them. This development is alleged to have occurred about the

close of the seventeenth century.

Among the many ceremonies introduced in the course of the changes

just described, one known as the ashtavarna or eight-fold protection

is of special importance.