The Kolams, Colonel Mackenzie states, recognise no god as a principle
of beneficence in the world; their principal deities are Sita, to
whom the first-fruits of the harvest are offered, and Devi who is the
guardian of the village, and is propitiated with offerings of goats
and fowls to preserve it from harm. She is represented by two stones
set up in the centre of the village when it is founded. They worship
their implements of agriculture on the last day of Chait (April),
applying turmeric and vermilion to them. In May they collect the stumps
of juari from a field, and, burning them to ashes, make an offering
of the same articles. They have a curious ceremony for protecting
the village from disease. All the men go outside the village and on
the boundary at the four points pointing north-east, north-west and
opposite place four stones known as bandi, burying a fowl beneath each
stone. The Naik or headman then sacrifices a goat and other fowls to
Sita, and placing four men by the stones, proceeds to sprinkle salt
all along the boundary line, except across one path on which he lays
his stick. He then calls out to the men that the village is closed
and that they must enter it only by that path. This rule remains in
force throughout the year, and if any stranger enters the village by
any other than the appointed route, they consider that he should pay
the expenses of drawing the boundary circuit again. But the rule is
often applied only to carts, and relaxed in favour of travellers on
foot. The line marked with salt is called bandesh, and it is believed
that wild animals cannot cross it, while they are prevented from
coming into the village along the only open road by the stick of
the Naik. Diseases also cannot cross the line. Women during their
monthly impurity are made to live in a hut in the fields outside
the boundary line. The open road does not lead across the village,
but terminates at the chauri or meeting-house.