Here their houses contain only a single room with a small store-house,
and all the family sleep together without privacy. Consequently
there is no opportunity at night for conjugal intimacy, and husband
and wife seek the solitude of the forest in the daytime. Colonel
Mackenzie states: "All Kolams are great smokers, but they are not
allowed to smoke in their own houses, but only at the chauri or
meeting-house, where pipes and fire are kept; and this rule is
enforced so that the Naik or headman can keep an eye on all male
members of the community; if these do not appear at least once a day,
satisfactory reasons are demanded for their absence, and from this
rule only the sick and infirm are exempt. The Kolams have two musical
instruments: the tapate or drum, and the wass or flute, the name of
which is probably derived from the Sanskrit waunsh, meaning bamboo
(of which the instrument is made). In old times all Kolams could read
and write, and it is probably only poverty which prevents them from
having all their children educated now." This last statement must,
however, be accepted with reserve in the absence of intimation of
the evidence on which it is based. At present they are, as a rule,
quite illiterate. The Naik or headman formerly had considerable
powers, being entrusted with the distribution of land among the
cultivators, and exercising civil and criminal jurisdiction with
the assistance of the panchayat. His own land was ploughed for him
by the villagers. Even now they seldom enter a court of justice
and their disputes are settled by the panchayat. A strong feeling
of clannishness exists among them, and the village unites to avenge
an injury done to one of its members. Excommunication from caste is
imposed for the usual offences, and the ceremony of readmission is
as follows: The offender dips his head in a river or stream and the
village barber shaves his head and moustaches. He then sits beside a
lighted pile of wood, being held to be purified by the proximity of the
holy element, and afterwards bathes, and drinks some water into which
the caste-fellows have dipped their toes. A woman has to undergo the
same ceremony and have her head shaved. If an unmarried girl becomes
with child by a member of the caste, she is married to him by the
simple rite used for widow-remarriage. A Kolam must not swear by a
dog or cat, and is expelled from caste for killing either of these
two animals. A Kolam does not visit a friend's house in the evening,
as he would be suspected in such an event of having designs upon his
wife's virtue. The tribe are cultivators and labourers. They have
not a very good reputation for honesty, and are said to be addicted
to stealing the ripe cotton from the bolls. They never wear shoes,
and the soles of their feet become nearly invulnerable and capable
of traversing the most thorny ground without injury. They have an
excellent knowledge of the medicinal and other uses of all trees,
shrubs and herbs.