Holia. [167]--A low caste of drummers and leather-workers who claim
to be degraded Golars or Telugu Ahirs, under which caste most of the
Holias seem to have returned themselves in 1901. [168] The Holias
relate the following story of their origin. Once upon a time two
brothers, Golar by caste, set out in search of service, having with
them a bullock. On the way the elder brother went to worship his
tutelary deity Holiari Deva; but while he was doing so the bullock
accidentally died, and the ceremony could not be proceeded with until
the carcase was removed. Neither a Chamar nor anybody else could
be got to do this, so at length the younger brother was prevailed
upon by the elder one to take away the body. When he returned,
the elder brother would not touch him, saying that he had lost his
caste. The younger brother resigned himself to his fate and called
himself Holu, after the god whom he had been worshipping at the time
he lost his caste. His descendants were named Holias. But he prayed
to the god to avenge him for the treachery of his brother, and from
that moment misfortunes commenced to shower upon the Golar until he
repented and made what reparation he could; and in memory of this,
whenever a Golar dies, the Holias are feasted by the other Golars to
the present day. The story indicates a connection between the castes,
and it is highly probable that the Holias are a degraded class of
Golars who took to the trade of tanning and leather-working. When
a Holia goes to a Golar's house he must be asked to come in and sit
down or the Golar will be put out of caste; and when a Golar dies the
house must be purified by a Holia. The caste is a very numerous one in
Madras. Here the Holia is superior only to the Madiga or Chamar. [169]
In the Central Provinces they are held to be impure and to rank below
the Mahars, and they live on the outskirts of the village. Their caste
customs resemble generally those of the Golars. They believe their
traditional occupation to be the playing of leathern drums, and they
still follow this trade, and also make slippers and leather thongs
for agricultural purposes. But they must not make or mend shoes on
pain of excommunication from caste. They are of middle stature, dark
in colour, and very dirty in their person and habits. Like the Golars,
the Holias speak a dialect of Canarese, which is known as Golari, Holia
or Komtau. Mr. Thurston gives the following interesting particulars
about the Holias: [170] "If a man of another caste enters the house
of a Mysore Holia, the owner takes care to tear the intruder's cloth,
and turn him out. This will avert any evil which might have befallen
him. It is said that Brahmans consider great luck will wait upon them
if they can manage to pass through a Holia village unmolested. Should
a Brahman attempt to enter their quarters, the Holias turn him out,
and slipper him, in former times it is said to death."