Of the Mysorean heads, the following are a few typical examples:--

Average.

Cephalic Cephalic Cephalic

length. breadth. index.

cm. cm.

Ganiga 18.5 14.3 77.6

Bedar 18.3 14.3 77.7

Holeya 17.9 14.1 79.1

Mandya Brahman 18.5 14.8 80.2

Vakkaliga 17.7 14.5 81.7

Concerning the origin of the Badagas, the following legend is

current. Seven brothers and their sisters were living on the

Talamalai hills. A Muhammadan ruler attempted to ravish the girl,

whom the brother saved from him by flight. They settled down near

the present village of Bethalhada. After a short stay there, the

brothers separated, and settled in different parts of the Nilgiris,

which they peopled. Concerning the second brother, Hethappa, who

had two daughters, the story goes that, during his absence on one

occasion, two Todas forced their way into his house, ravished his

wife, and possessed themselves of his worldly effects. Hearing of

what had occurred, Hethappa sought the assistance of two Balayaru in

revenging himself on the Todas. They readily consented to help him,

in return for a promise that they should marry his daughters. The Todas

were killed, and the present inhabitants of the village Hulikallu are

supposed to be the descendants of the Balayaru and Badaga girls. The

seven brothers are now worshipped under the name Hethappa or Hetha.

In connection with the migration of the Badagas to the Nilgiris, the

following note is given in the Gazetteer of the Nilgiris. "When this

flitting took place there is little to show. It must have occurred

after the foundation of the Lingayat creed in the latter half of

the twelfth century, as many of the Badagas are Lingayats by faith,

and sometime before the end of the sixteenth century, since in 1602

the Catholic priests from the west coast found them settled on the

south of the plateau, and observing much the same relations with the

Todas as subsist to this day. The present state of our knowledge does

not enable us to fix more nearly the date of the migration. That the

language of the Badagas, which is a form of Canarese, should by now

have so widely altered from its original as to be classed as a separate

dialect argues that the movement took place nearer the twelfth than

the sixteenth century. On the other hand, the fact (pointed out by

Dr. Rivers [72]) that the Badagas are not mentioned in a single one

of the Todas' legends about their gods, whereas the Kotas, Kurumbas,

and Irulas, each play a part in one or more of these stories, raises

the inference that the relations between the Badagas and the Todas

are recent as compared with those between the other tribes. A critical

study of the Badaga dialect might perhaps serve to fix within closer

limits the date of the migration. As now spoken, this tongue contains

letters (two forms of r for instance) and numerous words, which

are otherwise met with only in ancient books, and which strike most

strangely upon the ear of the present generation of Canarese. The date

when some of these letters and words became obsolete might possibly

be traced, and thus aid in fixing the period when the Badagas left

the low country. It is known that the two forms of r, for example,

had dropped out of use prior to the time of the grammarian Kesiraja,

who lived in the thirteenth century, and that the word betta (a hill),

which the Badagas use in place of the modern bettu, is found in the

thirteenth century work Sabdamanidarpana."

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Nilgiris, that "Nellialam,

about eight miles north-west of Devala as the crow flies, is the

residence of the Nellialam Arasu (Urs), who has been recognised as the

janmi (landlord) of a considerable area in the Munanad amsam, but is

in reality a Canarese-speaking Lingayat of Canarese extraction, who

follows the ordinary Hindu law of inheritance, and is not a native of

the Wynad or of Malabar. Family tradition, though now somewhat misty,

says that in the beginning two brothers named Sadasiva Raja Urs and

Bhujanga Raja Urs moved (at some date and for some reason not stated)

from Ummattur (in the present Chamarajnagar taluk of Mysore), and

settled at Malaikota, the old fort near Kalhatti. Their family deities

were Bhujangesvara and Ummattur Urakatti, which are still worshipped

as such. They brought with them a following of Bedars and Badagas,

and thereafter always encouraged the immigration to the hills of more

Canarese people. The village of Bannimara, a mile west of Kalhatti,

is still peopled by Bedars who are said to be descendants of people of

that caste who came with the two brothers; and to this day, when the

Badagas of the plateau have disputes of difficulty, they are said to

go down to Nellialam with presents (kanikai) in their hands, and ask

the Arasu to settle their differences, while, at the time of their

periodical ceremonies (manavalai) to the memory of their ancestors,

they send a deputation to Nellialam to invite representatives of the

Arasu to be present."

Close to the village of Bethalhada is a row of cromlechs carved with

figures of the sun and moon, human beings, animals, etc., and enclosed

within a stone kraal, which the Badagas claim to be the work of their

ancestors, to whom periodical offerings are made. At the time of my

visit, there were within one of the cromlechs a conch shell, lingam,

bell, and flowers. A number of these sculptured cromlechs at Sholur,

Melur, and other spots on the Nilgiris, are described and figured

by Breeks, [73] who records that the cromlech at Jakata Kambe is

interesting as being the place of the yearly sacrifice performed by

the Badagas of the Jakaneri grama (village) by their Kani Kurumba. And

he adds that the Badagas would seem to have usually selected the

neighbourhood of these cromlechs for their temples, as for example,

at Melur, Kakusi, H'laiuru, Tudur, and Jakatada.

It is recorded [74], in connection with the legends of the Badagas,

that "in the heart of the Banagudi shola, not far from the Dodduru

group of cromlechs, is an odd little shrine to Karairaya, consisting of

a ruined stone hut surrounded by a low wall, within which are a tiny

cromlech, some sacred water-worn stones, and sundry little pottery

images representing a tiger, a mounted man, and some dogs. These

keep in memory, it is said, a Badaga who was slain in combat with a

tiger; and annually a festival is held, at which new images are placed

there, and vows are paid. A Kurumba makes fire by friction and burns

incense, throws sanctified water over the numerous goats brought

to be sacrificed, to see if they will shiver in the manner always

held necessary in sacrificial victims, and then slays, one after the

other, those which have shown themselves duly qualified. Hulikal Drug,

usually known as the Drug, is a precipitous bluff at the very end of

the range which borders on the south the great ravine which runs up

to Coonoor. It is named from the neighbouring village of Hulikal,

or tiger's stone, and the story goes that this latter is so called

because in it a Badaga killed a notorious man-eater which had long been

the terror of the country side. The spot where the beast was buried

is shown near the Pillaiyar temple to the south of Hulikal village,

and is marked by three stones. Burton says there used formerly to be a

stone image of the slain tiger thereabouts. Some two miles south-east

of Konakarai in a place known as Kottai-hada, or the fort flat, lie

the remains of the old fort Udaiya Raya Kota. Badaga tradition gives

a fairly detailed account of Udaiya Raya. It says he was a chief who

collected the taxes for the Ummattur Rajas, and that he had also a fort

at Kullanthorai, near Sirumugai, the remains of which are still to be

seen. He married a woman of Netlingi hamlet of Nedugula, named Muddu

Gavari, but she died by the wrath of the gods because she persuaded

him to celebrate the annual fire-walking festival in front of the

fort, instead of at the customary spot by the Mahalingasvami temple

about half a mile off. Anaikatti is a hamlet situated in the jungle

of the Moyar valley. The stream which flows past it tumbles over a

pretty fall on the slopes of Birmukku (Bimaka) hill. The Badagas call

the spot Kuduraihallo, or the ravine of the horse, and say the name

was given it because a Badaga, covered with shame at finding that his

wife gave him first sort rice but his brother who lived with them only

second sort, committed suicide by jumping his horse down the fall."

According to Mr. Grigg, the Badagas recognise eighteen different

"castes or sects." These are, however, simplified by Mr. S. M. Natesa

Sastri [75] into six, "five high castes and one low caste." They are--

1. Udaya. |

2. Haruva. |

3. Adhikari. | High caste.

4. Kanaka. |

5. Badaga. |

6. Toreya Low caste.

"Udayas are Lingayats in religion, and carry the Sivalinga--the Siva

image--tied round their necks. They claim to be superior to all the

other Badagas, and are regarded as such. They are priests to all the

Badagas of the Lingayat class, and are strict vegetarians. They do

not intermarry with any of the other high caste Badaga sects. Udaya

was, and is the title assumed by the Maisur Rajas, and those Badagas,

by being thus designated as a caste, claim superior blood in their

veins." The Lingayat Badagas are commonly called Lingakutti. "Next

in rank come the Haruvas. From their name being so closely connected

with the Aryas--the respectable--and from their habit of wearing

the Brahmanical thread, we are warranted in believing that they

must originally have been the poor Brahman priests of the Badagas

that migrated to this country (the Nilgiris), though they have now

got themselves closely mingled with the Badagas. These Haruvas are

also strict vegetarians, and act as priests." It has been suggested

that the Haruvas (jumper) derive their name from the fire-walking

ceremony, which they perform periodically. A further, and more

probable suggestion has been made to me that Haruva comes from a

Canarese word meaning to beg or pray; hence one who begs or prays,

and so a Brahman. The Canarese Basava Purana frequently uses the word

in sense. "The Adhikaris are to a certain extent vegetarians. The

other two high castes, and of course the low caste Toreyas also, have

no objection of any kind to eating flesh. It is also said that the

vegetarian Adhikari, if he marries into a flesh-eating caste of the

Badagas, betakes himself to this latter very readily." The Kanakas are

stated by Mr. Grigg to be the accountants, who were probably introduced

when the hills were under the sway of the Tamil chiefs. This would,

however, seem to be very improbable. "The Toreyas are regarded

as sons and servants to the five high caste Badaga sects--to the

Haruvas especially. They are the lowest in the scale, and they are

prohibited from intermarrying with the other or high caste Badagas,

as long as they are sons to them." The Toreya does the menial duties

for the tribe. He is the village servant, carries the corpses to the

burning-ground, conveys the news of a death from village to village,

is the first to get shaved when a death occurs, and is sent along with

a woman when she is going to visit her mother or mother-in-law at a

distance from her own home. "The Udayas, Adhikaris and Kanakas are

Lingayats in religion, and the other three, the Haruvas, Badagas,

and Toreyas are Saivites." Of the six divisions referred to, the

Udayas and Toreyas are endogamous, but intermarriage is permissible

between the other four. At the census, 1891, a large number of Badagas

returned as their sub-division Vakkaliga, which means cultivator,

and is the name of the great cultivating caste of Mysore.

Seven miles west of Coonoor is a village named Athikarihatti, or

village of the Athikari or Adhikari section of the Badagas. "The story

goes that these people, under a leader named Karibetta Raya, came

from Sarigur in Mysore territory, and settled first at Nelliturai

(a short distance south-west of Mettupalaiyam) and afterwards at

Tudur (on the plateau west of Kulakambi) and Tadasimarahatti (to the

north-west of Melur), and that it was they who erected the sculptured

cromlechs of Tudur and Melur. Tudur and Tadasimarahatti are now both

deserted; but in the former a cattle kraal, an old shrine, and a

pit for fire-walking may still be seen, and in the latter another

kraal, and one of the raised stone platforms called mandaikallu by

the Badagas. Tradition says that the Badagas left these places and

founded Athikarihatti and its hamlets instead, because the Kurumbas

round about continually troubled them with their magic arts, and indeed

killed by sorcery several of their most prominent citizens." [76]

Like other Canarese people, the Badagas have exogamous septs or kulas,

of which Mari, Madhave (marriage), Kasturi (musk), and Belli (silver)

are examples. A very large number of families belong to the Mari and

Madhave septs, which were time after time given as the sept name

in reply to my enquiries. It may be noted that Belli occurs as an

exogamous sept of the Canarese classes Vakkaliga, Toreya, and Kuruba,

and Kasturi is recorded in my notes as a sept of the Vakkaligas and

Telugu Kammas.

The Badagas dwell in extensive villages, generally situated on the

summit of a low hillock, composed of rows of comfortable thatched or

tiled houses, and surrounded by the fields, which yield the crops. The

houses are not separate tenements, but a line of dwellings under

one continuous roof, and divided by party walls. Sometimes there

are two or three, or more lines, forming streets. Each house is

partitioned off into an outer (edumane) and inner apartment (ozhaga

or ogamane). If the family has cows or buffaloes yielding milk, a

portion of the latter is converted into a milk-house (hagottu), in

which the milk is stored, and which no woman may enter. Even males

who are under pollution, from having touched or passed near a Kota

or Paraiyan, or other cause, may not enter it until they have had a

ceremonial bath. To some houses a loft, made of bamboo posts, is added,

to serve as a store-house. In every Badaga village there is a raised

platform composed of a single boulder or several stones with an erect

stone slab set up thereon, called suththu kallu. There is, further,

a platform, made of bricks and mud, called mandhe kallu, whereon

the Badagas, when not working, sit at ease. In their folk-tales men

seated thereon are made to give information concerning the approach of

strangers to the village. Strangers, who are not Badagas, are called

Holeya. The Rev. G. Richter gives [77] Badaga Holeya as a division

of the lowly Holeyas, who came to Coorg from the Mysore country. In

front of the houses, the operations of drying and threshing grain are

carried out. The cattle are kept in stone kraals, or covered sheds

close to the habitations, and the litter is kept till it is knee or

waist deep, and then carried away as manure for the Badaga's land,

or planters' estates.

"Nobody," it has been said, [78] "can beat the Badaga at making

mother earth produce to her utmost capacity, unless it be a Chinese

gardener. To-day we see a portion of the hill side covered with rocks

and boulders. The Badagas become possessed of this scene of chaos,

and turn out into the place in hundreds, reducing it, in a few weeks,

to neat order. The unwieldy boulders, having been rolled aside, serve

their purpose by being turned into a wall to keep out cattle, etc. The

soil is pounded and worried until it becomes amenable to reason,

and next we see a green crop running in waves over the surface. The

Badagas are the most progressive of all the hill tribes, and always

willing to test any new method of cultivation, or new crops brought

to their notice by the Nilgiri Horticultural Society."

Writing in 1832, Harkness states [79] that "on leaving his house in

the morning the Burgher pays his adoration to the god of day, proceeds

to the tu-el or yard, in which the cattle have been confined, and,

again addressing the sun as the emblem of Siva, asks his blessing,

and liberates the herd. He allows the cattle to stray about in the

neighbourhood of the village, on a piece of ground which is always

kept for this purpose, and, having performed his morning ablutions,

commences the milking. This is also preceded by further salutations and

praises to the sun. On entering the house in the evening, the Burgher

addresses the lamp, now the only light, or visible emblem of the

deity. 'Thou, creator of this and of all worlds, the greatest of the

great, who art with us, as well in the mountain as in the wilderness,

who keepeth the wreaths that adorn the head from fading, who guardeth

the foot from the thorn, God, among a hundred, may we be prosperous.'"

The Badaga understands the rotation of crops well. On his land

he cultivates bearded wheat (beer ganji), barley, onions, garlic,

potatoes, kire (Amarantus), samai (Panicum miliare), tenai (Setaria

italica), etc.

"Among the Badagas," Mr. Natesa Sastri writes, "the position of the

women is somewhat different from what it is among most peoples. Every

Badaga has a few acres to cultivate, but he does not mainly occupy

himself with them, for his wife does all the out-door farm work,

while he is engaged otherwise in earning something in hard cash. To a

Badaga, therefore, his wife is his capital. Her labour in the field

is considered to be worth one rupee per day, while an average male

Badaga earns merely three annas. A Badaga woman, who has not her

own acres to cultivate, finds work on some other lands. She thus

works hard for her husband and family, and is quite content with the

coarsest food--the korali (Setaria italica) flour--leaving the better

food to the male members of the family. This fact, and the hard work

the Badaga women have to perform, may perhaps account to some extent

for the slight build of the Badagas as a race. The male Badaga, too,

works in the field, or at his own craft if he is not a cultivator,

but his love for ready cash is always so great that, even if he had

a harvest to gather the next morning, he would run away as a cooly

for two annas wages." Further, Mr. Grigg states that "as the men

constantly leave their villages to work on coffee plantations, much

of the labour in their own fields, as well as ordinary household work,

is performed by the women. They are so industrious, and their services

of such value to their husbands, that a Badaga sometimes pays 150 or

200 rupees as dowry for his wife." In the off season for cultivation,

I am informed, the Badaga woman collects faggots for home consumption,

and stores them near her house, and the women prepare the fields for

cultivation by weeding, breaking the earth, and collecting manure.

In his report on the revenue settlement of the Nilgiris (1885),

Mr. (now Sir) R. S. Benson notes that "concurrently with the

so-called abolition of the bhurty (or shifting) system of cultivation,

Mr. Grant abolished the peculiar system in vogue up to that time in

Kundahnad, which had been transferred from Malabar to the Nilgiris

in 1860. This system was known as erkadu kothukadu. Under it, a tax

of Re. 1 to Re. 1-8-0 was levied for the right to use a plough or

er, and a tax of from 4 to 8 annas was levied for the right to use

a hoe or kothu. The so-called patta issued to the ryot under this

system was really no more than a license to use one or more hoes,

as the case might be. It merely specified the amount payable for each

instrument, but in no cases was the extent or position of the lands

to be cultivated specified. The ryot used his implements whenever and

wherever he pleased. No restrictions, even on the felling of forests,

were imposed, so that the hill-sides and valleys were cleared at

will. The system was abolished in 1862. But, during the settlement,

I found this erkadu kothukadu system still in force in the flourishing

Badaga village of Kinnakorai, with some fifty houses."

In connection with the local self-government of the Badagas,

Mr. A. Rajah Bahadur Mudaliar writes to me as follows. "In former

days, the monegar was a great personage, as he formed the unit of the

administration. The appointment was more or less hereditary, and it

generally fell to the lot of the richest and most well-to-do. All

disputes within his jurisdiction were placed before him, and his

decision was accepted as final. In simple matters, such as partition

of property, disputes between husband and wife, etc., the monegars

themselves disposed of them. But, when questions of a complicated

nature presented themselves, they took as their colleagues other

people of the villages, and the disputes were settled by the collective

wisdom of the village elders. They assembled at a place set apart for

the purpose beneath a nim (Melia Azadirachta) or pipal tree (Ficus

religiosa) on a raised platform (ratchai), generally situated at

the entrance to the village. The monegar was ex-officio president of

such councils. He and the committee had power to fine the parties,

to excommunicate them, and to readmit them to the caste. Parents

resorted to the monegar for counsel in the disposal of their daughters

in marriage, and in finding brides for their sons. If any one had

the audacity to run counter to the wishes of the monegar in matters

matrimonial, he had the power to throw obstacles in the way of such

marriages taking place. The monegar, in virtue of his position, wielded

much power, and ruled the village as he pleased." In the old days,

it is said, when he visited any village within his jurisdiction,

the monegar had the privilege of having the best women or maids of

the place to share his cot according to his choice. In former times,

the monegar used to wear a silver ring as the badge of office, and some

Badagas still have in their possession such rings, which are preserved

as heirlooms, and worshipped during festivals. The term monegar is,

at the present day, used for the village revenue official and munsiff.

I gather that each exogamous sept has its headman, called Gouda,

who is assisted by a Parpattikaran, and decides tribal matters,

such as disputes, divorce, etc. Fines, when inflicted, go towards

feasting the tribe, and doing puja (worship) to the gods. In the

case of a dispute between two parties, one challenges the other to

take an oath in a temple before the village council. A declaration on

oath settles the matter at issue, and the parties agree to abide by

it. It is the duty of the Parpattikaran to make arrangements for such

events as the Heththeswami, Devve and Bairaganni festivals, and the

buffalo sacrificing festival at Konakkore. The Parpattikaran takes

part in the purification of excommunicated members of the tribe,

when they are received back into it, for example, on release from

prison. The tongue of the delinquent is burnt with a hot sandal

stick, and a new waist thread put on. He is taken to the temple,

where he stands amidst the assembled Badagas, who touch his head with

a cane. He then prostrates himself at the feet of the Parpattikaran,

who smears his forehead with sacred ashes. It is, further, the duty

of the Parpattikaran to be present on the occasion of the Kannikattu

(pregnancy) ceremony.

A quarter of a century ago, a Badaga could be at once picked out

from the other tribes of the Nilgiris by his wearing a turban. But,

in the present advanced age, not only does the Toda sometimes appear

in the national head-dress, but even Irulas and Kurumbas, who only a

short time ago were buried in the jungles, living like pigs and bears

on roots, honey and other forest produce, turn up on Sundays in the

Kotagiri bazar, clad in turban and coat of English cut. And, as the

less civilised tribes don the turban, so the college student abandons

this picturesque form of head-gear in favour of the less becoming

and less washable porkpie cap, while the Badaga men and youths glory

in a knitted night-cap of flaring red or orange hue. The body of the

Badaga man is covered by a long body-cloth, sometimes with red and

blue stripes, wrapped "so loosely that, as a man works in the fields,

he is obliged to stop between every few strokes of his hoe, to gather

up his cloth, and throw one end over his shoulder." Male adornment

is limited to gold ear-rings of a special pattern made by Kotas or

goldsmiths, a silver waist-thread, silver bangle on the wrist, and

silver, copper, or brass rings. The women wear a white body-cloth,

a white under-cloth tied round the chest, tightly wrapped square

across the breasts, and reaching to the knees, and a white cloth worn

like a cap on the head. As types of female jewelry and tattooing,

the following examples may be cited:--

1. Tattooed on forehead with dashes, circles and crescent; spot

on chin; double row of dots on each upper arm over deltoid; and

devices and double row of dots on right forearm. Gold ornament in

left nostril. Necklets of glass beads and silver links with four-anna

piece pendent. Silver armlet above right elbow. Four copper armlets

above left elbow. Four silver and seven composition bangles on left

forearm. Two silver rings on right ring-finger; two steel rings on

left ring-finger.

2. Tattooed on forehead; quadruple row of dots over right deltoid;

star on right forearm.

3. Tattooed like the preceding on forehead and upper arm. Spot on chin;

elaborate device on right forearm; rayed star or sun on back of hand.

4. Tattooed like the preceding on forehead and arm. Triple row of

dots on back and front of left wrist, and double row of dots, with

circle surrounded by dots, across chest.

Toreya women are only allowed to wear bangles on the wrist.

The tattoo marks on the foreheads of Udayar women consist of a

crescent and dot, and they have a straight line tattooed at the

outer corners of the eyes. Women of the other sub-divisions have

on the forehead two circles with two vertical dashes between them,

and a horizontal or crescentic dash below. The circles are made by

pricking in the pigment over an impression made with a finger ring,

or over a black mark made by means of such a ring. The operation

is performed either by a Badaga or Korava woman. The former uses

as needles the spines of Carissa spinarum, and a mixture of finely

powdered charcoal or lamp-black mixed with rice gruel. The marks on

the forehead are made when a girl is about eight or nine years old,

and do not, as stated by Mr. Natesa Sastri, proclaim to the whole

Badaga world that a girl is of marriageable age.

In colour the Badagas are lighter than the other hill tribes, and

the comparative pallor of the skin is specially noticeable in the

females, whom, with very few exceptions, I was only able to study by

surreptitious examination, when we met on the roads. In physique,

the typical Badaga man is below middle height, smooth-skinned, of

slender build, with narrow chest and shoulders.

Badaga men have cicatrices on the shoulder and forearm as the result

of branding with a fire-stick when they are lads, with the object,

it is said, of giving strength, and preventing pain when milking or

churning. In like manner, the Todas have raised cicatrices (keloids)

on the shoulder produced by branding with a fire-stick. They believe

that the branding enables them to milk the buffaloes with perfect ease.

The Badagas have a very extensive repertoire of hora hesaru, or

nicknames, of which the following are examples:--

One who eats in bed during the night.

Snorer.

Stupid.

Bald head.

Brown-eyed.

Thin and bony.

Big head.

Bandy-legged.

One who returned alive from the burning ground.

Ripe fruit.

Big-thighed.

Blind.

Lame.

Big calves.

Piles.

Liar.

Cat-eyed.

Fond of pot-herbs.

Rheumatic.

Bad-tempered.

Left-handed.

Buffalo grazer.

Saliva dribbling.

Honey-eater.

Black.

Spleen.

Teeth.

Potato-eater.

Glutton.

Belly.

Itch legged.

One who was slow in learning to walk.

Tall.

Thief-eyed.

Pustule-bodied.

Scarred.

Hairy.

Weak, like partially baked pots.

Strong, like portland cement.

Among the Badagas, Konga is used as a term of abuse. Those who made

mistakes in matching Holmgren's wools, with which I tested them,

were, always called Konga by the onlookers.

When two Badagas meet each other, the elder touches the head of

the younger with his right hand. This form of salutation is known

as giving the head. A person of the Badaga section gives the head,

as it is called, to an Udaiyar, in token of the superiority of the

latter. When people belong to the same sept, they say "Ba, anna,

appa, thamma, amma, akka" (come, father, brother, mother, sister,

etc.). But, if they are of different septs, they will say "Ba, mama,

mami, bava" (come, uncle, aunt, brother-in-law, etc.). "Whenever,"

Dr. Rivers writes, [80] "a Toda meets a Badaga monegar (headman), or

an old Badaga with whom he is acquainted, a salutation passes between

the two. The Toda stands before the Badaga, inclines his head slightly,

and says 'Madtin pudia.' (Madtin, you have come). The Badaga replies

'Buthuk! buthuk!' (blessing, blessing), and rests his hand on the

top of the Toda's head. This greeting only takes place between Todas

and the more important of the Badaga community. It would seem that

every Badaga headman may be greeted in this way, but a Toda will only

greet other Badaga elders, if he is already acquainted with them. The

salutation is made to members of all the various castes of the Badagas,

except the Toreyas. It has been held to imply that the Todas regard

the Badagas as their superiors, but it is doubtful how far this is

the case. The Todas themselves say they follow the custom because

the Badagas help to support them. It seems to be a mark of respect

paid by the Todas to the elders of a tribe with which they have very

close relations, and it is perhaps significant that no similar sign

of respect is shown to Toda elders by the Badagas."

Every Badaga family has its Muttu Kota, from whom it gets the

agricultural implements, pots, hoes, etc. In return, the Kotas

receive an annual present of food-grains, mustard and potatoes. For a

Kota funeral, the Badagas have to give five rupees or a quantity of

rice, and a buffalo. The pots obtained from the Kotas are not used

immediately, but kept for three days in the jungle, or in a bush in

some open spot. They are then taken to the outer apartment of the

house, and kept there for three days, when they are smeared with the

bark of Meliosma pungens (the tud tree of the Todas) and culms of

Andropogon Schoenanthus (bzambe hullu). Thus purified, the pots are

used for boiling water in for three days, and may then be used for

any purpose. The Badagas are said to give a present of grain annually

to the Todas. Every Toda mand (or mad) seems to have its own group

of Badaga families, who pay them this gudu, as it is called. "There

are," Dr. Rivers writes, "several regulations concerning the food of

the palol (dairy man of a Toda sacred dairy). Any grain he eats must

be that provided by the Badagas. At the present time more rice is

eaten than was formerly the case. This is not grown by the Badagas,

but nevertheless the rice for the palol must be obtained through

them. The palol wears garments of a dark grey material made in the

Coimbatore district. They are brought to the palol by the Badaga

called tikelfmav. The earthenware vessels of the inner room (of the

ti dairy) are not obtained from the Kotas, like the ordinary vessels,

but are made by Hindus, and are procured through the Badagas."

The Badagas live in dread of the Kurumbas, and the Kurumba constantly

comes under reference in their folk-stories. The Kurumba is the

necromancer of the hills, and believed to be possessed of the power of

outraging women, removing their livers, and so causing their death,

while the wound heals by magic, so that no trace of the operation is

left. He is supposed, too, to have the power of opening the bolts of

doors by magic and effecting an entrance into a house at night for some

nefarious purpose. The Toda or Badaga requires the services of the

Kurumba, when he fancies that any member of his family is possessed

of the devil, or when he wants to remove the evil eye, to which he

imagines that his children have been subjected. The Kurumba does

his best to remove the malady by repeating various mantrams (magical

formulæ). If he fails, and if any suspicion is aroused in the mind of

the Toda or Badaga that he is allowing the devil to play his pranks

instead of loosing his hold on the supposed victim, woe betide him. The

wrath of the entire village, or even the whole tribe, is raised against

the unhappy Kurumba. His hut is surrounded at night, and the entire

household massacred in cold blood, and their huts set on fire. This is

very cleverly carried out, and the isolated position of the Kurumba

settlements allows of very little clue for identification. In 1835

no less than fifty-eight Kurumbas were thus murdered, and a smaller

number in 1875 and 1882. In 1891 the live inmates of a single hut

were murdered, and their hut burnt to ashes, because, it was said,

one of them who had been treating a sick Badaga child failed to cure

it. The crime was traced to some Kotas in conjunction with Badagas,

but the District Judge disbelieved the evidence, and all who were

charged were acquitted. Every Badaga family pays an annual tax of

four annas to the Kurumbas, and, if a Kurumba comes to a Badaga hatti

(village), a subscription is raised as an inducement to him to take

his departure. The Kurumba receives a fee for every Badaga funeral,

and for the pregnancy ceremony (kannikattu).

It is noted by Dr. Rivers that "the Toda sorcerers are not only feared

by their fellow Todas, but also by the Badagas, and it is probably

largely owing to fear of Toda sorcery that the Badagas continue to pay

their tribute of grain. The Badagas may also consult the Toda diviners,

and it is probable that the belief of the Badagas in the magical powers

of the Todas is turned to good account by the latter. In some cases,

Todas, have been killed by Badagas owing to this belief."

Among the Todas, the duties of milking the buffaloes and dairy-work

are entrusted to special individuals, whereas any Badaga male may,

after initiation, milk the cows and buffaloes, provided that he is

free from pollution. Every Badaga boy, when he is about seven or nine

years old, is made to milk a cow on an auspicious day, or on new year's

day. The ceremony is thus described by Mr. Natesa Sastri. "Early in

the morning of the day appointed for this ceremony, the boy is bathed,

and appears in his holiday dress. A she-buffalo, with her calf, stands

before his house, waiting to be milked. The parents, or other elder

relations of the boy, and those who have been invited to be present

on the occasion, or whose duty it is to be present, then conduct

the boy to the spot. The father, or some one of the agnatic kindred,

gives into the hands of the boy a bamboo vessel called hone, which

is already very nearly full of fresh-drawn milk. The boy receives

the vessel with both his hands, and is conducted to the buffalo. The

elder relations show him the process, and the boy, sitting down, milks

a small quantity into the hone. This is his first initiation into the

duty of milking, and it is that he may not commit mistakes on the very

first day of his milking that the hone is previously filled almost to

the brim. The boy takes the vessel filled with milk into his house,

and pours some of the sacred fluid into all his household eating

vessels--a sign that from that day he has taken up on himself the

responsibility of supplying the family with milk. He also throws some

milk in the faces of his parents and relatives. They receive it very

kindly, and bless him, and request him to continue thus to milk the

buffaloes, and bring plenty and prosperity to the house. After this,

the boy enters the milk-house (hagottu), and places milk in his hone

there. From this moment, and all through his life, he may enter into

that room, and this is therefore considered a very important ceremony."

A cow or buffalo, which has calved for the first time, has to

be treated in a special manner. For three or five days it is not

milked. A boy is then selected to milk it. He must not sleep on a mat,

or wear a turban, and, instead of tying his cloth round his waist,

must wear it loosely over his body. Meat is forbidden, and he must

avoid, and not speak to polluting classes, such as Irulas and Kotas,

and menstruating women. On the day appointed for milking the animal,

the boy bathes, and proceeds to milk it into a new hone purified by

smearing a paste of Meliosma (tud) leaves and bark over it, and heating

it over a fire. The milk is taken to a stream, where three cups are

made of Argyreia (minige) leaves, into which a small quantity of the

milk is placed. The cups are then put in the water. The remainder of

the milk in the hone is also poured into the stream. In some places,

especially where a Madeswara temple is close at hand, the milk is

taken to the temple, and given to the pujari. With a portion of the

milk some plantain fruits are made into a pulp, and given to an Udaya,

who throws them into a stream. The boy is treated with some respect

by his family during the period when he milks the animal, and is

given food first. This he must eat off a plate made of Argvreia,

or plantain leaves.

Besides the hagottu within the house, the Badagas have, at certain

places, separate dairy-houses near a temple dedicated to Heththeswami,

of which the one at Bairaganni (or Berganni) appears to be the

most important. The dairy pujari is here, like the Toda palol, a

celibate. In 1905, he was a young lad, whom my Brahman assistant

set forth to photograph. He was, however, met at a distance from

the village by a headman, who assured him that he could not take the

photograph without the sanction of fifteen villages. The pujari is

not allowed to wander freely about the village, or talk to grown-up

women. He cooks his own food within the temple grounds, and wears

his cloth thrown loosely over his body. Once a year, on the occasion

of a festival, he is presented with new cloths and turban, which

alone he may wear. He must be a strict vegetarian. A desire to marry

and abandon the priesthood is believed to be conveyed in dreams,

or through one inspired. Before leaving the temple service, he must

train his successor in the duties, and retires with the gains acquired

by the sale of the products of the herd and temple offerings. The

village of Bairaganni is regarded as sacred, and possesses no holagudi

(menstrual hut).

Bishop Whitehead adds that "buffaloes are given as offerings to the

temple at Bairaganni, and become the property of the pujari, who milks

them, and uses the milk for his food. All the villagers give him rice

every day. He may only eat once a day, at about 3 P.M. He cooks the

meal himself, and empties the rice from the cooking-pot by turning

it over once. If the rice does not come out the first time, he cannot

take it at all. When he wants to get married, another boy is appointed

in his place. The buffaloes are handed over to his successor." The

following legend in connection with Bairaganni is also recorded by

Bishop Whitehead. "There is a village in the Mekanad division of the

Nilgiris called Nundala. A man had a daughter. He wanted to marry her

to a man in the Paranganad division about a hundred years ago. She did

not wish to marry him. The father insisted, but she refused again and

again. At last she wished to die, and came near a tank, on the bank

of which was a tree. She sat under the tree and washed, and then threw

herself into the tank. One of the men of Bairaganni in the Paranganad

division saw the woman in a dream. She told him that she was not a

human being but a goddess, an incarnation of Parvati. The people of

Nundala built a strong bund (embankment) round the tank, and allow

no woman to go on it. Only the pujari, and Badagas who have prepared

themselves by fasting and ablution, are allowed to go on the bund to

offer puja, which is done by breaking cocoanuts, and offering rice,

flowers, and fruits. The woman told the man in his dream to build a

temple at Bairaganni, which is now the chief temple of Heththeswami."

Concerning the initiation of a Lingayat Badaga into his religion,

which takes place at about his thirteenth birthday, Mr. Natesa Sastri

writes as follows. "The priest conducts this ceremony, and the elder

relations of the family have only to arrange for the performance

of it. The priests belong to the Udaya sect. They live in their own

villages, and are specially sent for, and come to the boy's village

for the occasion. The ceremony is generally done to several boys of

about the same age on the same day. On the day appointed, all the

people in the Badaga village, where this ceremony is to take place,

observe a strict fast. The cows and buffaloes are all milked very

early in the morning, and not a drop of the milk thus collected is

given out, or taken by even the tenderest children of the village, who

may require it very badly. The Udaya priest arrives near the village

between 10 A.M. and noon on the day appointed. He never goes into the

village, but stops near some rivulet adjacent to it. The relations of

the boy approach him with a new basket, containing five measures of

uncooked rice, pulse, ghi, etc., and a quarter of a rupee--one fanam,

as it is generally designated. The priest sits near the water-course,

and lights a fire on the bank. Perfumes are thrown profusely into

it, and this is almost the only ceremony before the fire. The boys,

whose turn it is to receive the linga that day, are all directed

to bathe in the river. A plantain leaf, cut into one foot square,

is placed in front of the fire towards the east of it. The lingas,

kept in readiness by the parents of the boys, are now received by

the priest, and placed on the leaves. The boys are asked to wash

them--each one the linga meant for his wearing--in water and milk. Then

comes the time for the expenditure of all the collected milk of the

morning. Profusely the white fluid is poured, till the whole rivulet

is nothing but a stream of milk. After the lingas are thus washed,

the boys give them to the priest, who places them in his left palm,

and, covering them with his right, utters, with all the solemnity

due to the occasion, the following incantation, while the boys and

the whole village assembled there listen to it with the most profound

respect and veneration 'Oh! Siva, Hara, Basava, the Lord of all the

six thousand and three thousand names and glories, the Lord of one

lakh and ninety-six thousand ganas (body-guards of Siva), the donor of

water, the daily-to-be worshipped, the husband of Parvati. Oh! Lord,

O! Siva Linga, thy feet alone are our resort. Oh! Siva, Siva, Siva,

Siva.' While pronouncing this prayer, the priest now and then removes

his right palm, and pours water and milk round the sacred fire,

and over the lingas resting in his left palm. He then places each of

the lingas in a cloth of one cubit square, rolls it up, and requests

the boys to hold out their right palms. The young Badaga receives it,

repeats the prayer given about five times, and, during each repetition,

the palm holding the linga tied up in the cloth is carried nearer

and nearer to his neck. When that is reached (on the fifth utterance

of the incantation), the priest ties the ends of the rolled up cloth

containing the Siva emblem loosely round the boy's neck, while the

latter is all the while kneeling down, holding with both his hands

the feet of the priest. After the linga has been tied, the priest

blesses him thus: 'May one become one thousand to you. May you ever

preserve in you the Siva Linga. If you do so, you will have plenty

of milk and food, and you will prosper for one thousand years in name

and fame, kine and coin.' If more than one have to receive the linga

on the same day, each of them has to undergo this ceremony. After the

ceremony is over, the priest returns to his village with the rice,

etc., and fees. Every house, in which a boy has received the linga,

has to give a grand feast on that day. Even the poorest Badaga must

feed at least five other Badagas."

The foregoing account of the investiture with the lingam apparently

applies to the Mekanad Udayas. The following note is based on

information supplied by the Udayas of Paranginad. The ceremony of

investiture is performed either on new year's day or Sivarathri by

an Udaya priest in the house of a respected member of the community

(doddamane), which is vacated for the occasion. The houses of the boys

and girls who are to receive lingams are cleaned, and festoons of tud

and mango leaves, lime fruits, and flowers of Leucas aspera (thumbe)

are tied across the doorways, and in front of the house where the

ceremony is to be performed. Until the conclusion thereof, all the

people of the village fast. The candidates, with their parents, and

the officiating priest repair to the doddamane. The lingams are handed

over to the priest, who, taking them up one by one, does puja to them,

and gives them to the children. They in turn do puja, and the lingams,

wrapped in pink silk or cotton cloths, are tied round their necks. The

puja consists of washing the lingams in cow's urine and milk, smearing

them with sandal and turmeric paste, throwing flowers on them, and

waving incense and burning camphor before them. After the investiture,

the novices are taught a prayer, which is not a stereotyped formula,

but varies with the priest and village.

Like other Lingayats, the Udayas respect the Jangam, but do not employ

the Jangama thirtham (water used for washing the Jangam's feet)

for bathing their lingams. In Udaya villages there is no special

menstrual hut (holagudi). Milk is not regarded by them as a sacred

product, so there is no hagottu in their houses. Nor do they observe

the Manavalai festival in honour of ancestors. Other ceremonies are

celebrated by them, as by other Badagas, but they do not employ the

services of a Kurumba.

Important agricultural ceremonies are performed by the Badagas at

the time of sowing and harvest. The seed-sowing ceremony takes place

in March, and, in some places, e.g., the Mekanad and Paranginad, a

Kurumba plays an important part in it. On an auspicious day--a Tuesday

before the crescent moon--a pujari of the Devve temple sets out several

hours before dawn with five or seven kinds of grain in a basket and

sickle, accompanied by a Kurumba, and leading a pair of bullocks with a

plough. On reaching the field selected, the pujari pours the grain into

the cloth of the Kurumba, and, yoking the animals to the plough, makes

three furrows in the soil. The Kurumba, stopping the bullocks, kneels

on the ground between the furrows facing east. Removing his turban,

he places it on the ground, and, closing his ears with his palms,

bawls out "Dho, Dho," thrice. He then rises, and scatters the grain

thrice on the soil. The pujari and Kurumba then return to the village,

and the former deposits what remains of the grain in the store-room

(attu). A new pot, full of water, is placed in the milk-house,

and the pujari dips his right hand therein, saying "Nerathubitta"

(it is full). This ceremony is an important one for the Badagas, as,

until it has been performed, sowing may not commence. It is a day of

feasting, and, in addition to rice, Dolichos Lablab is cooked.

The other agricultural ceremony is called Devve habba or tenai

(Setaria italica), and is usually celebrated in June or July, always

on a Monday. It is apparently performed in honour of the two gods

Mahalingaswami and Hiriya Udaya, to whom a group of villages will have

temples dedicated. For example, the Badagas in the neighbourhood of

Kotagiri have their Hiriya Udaya temple at Tandanad, and Mahalingaswami

temple at Kannermukku. This Devve festival, which should on no account

be pronounced duvve, which means burning-ground, is celebrated at one

place, whither the Badagas from other villages proceed, to take part

in it. About midday, some Badagas and the temple pujari go from the

temple of Hiriya Udaya to that of Mahalingaswami. The procession is

usually headed by a Kurumba, who scatters fragments of tud bark and

wood as he goes on his way. The pujari takes with him the materials

necessary for doing puja, and, after worshipping Mahalingaswami,

the party return to the Hiriya Udaya temple, where milk and cooked

rice are offered to the various gods within the temple precincts. On

the following day, all assemble at the temple, and a Kurumba brings

a few sheaves of Setaria italica, and ties them to a stone set up at

the main entrance. After this, puja is done, and the people offer

cocoanuts to the god. Later on, all the women of the Madhave sept,

who have given birth to a first-born child, come, dressed up in

holiday attire, with their babies, to the temple. On this day they

wear a special nose ornament, called elemukkuththi, which is only

worn on one other occasion, at the funeral of a husband. The women do

puja to Hiriya Udaya, and the pujari gives them a small quantity of

rice on minige (Argyreia) leaves. After eating this, they leave the

temple in a line, and wash their hands with water given to them by

the pujari. This ceremonial, performed by women of the Madhave sept,

is called Mandedhanda. As soon as the Devve festival is concluded,

the reaping of the crop commences, and a measure or two of grain from

the crop gathered on the first day, called nisal, is set apart for

the Mahalingaswami temple.

The most important gods of the Badagas are Heththeswami,

Mahalingaswami, Hiriya Udaya, Madeswara, Mankali, Jadeswami, and

Nilgiri Rangaswami. And at the present day, some Badagas proceed to the

plains, to worship at the Saivite temple at Karamadai in Coimbatore,

or at Nanjangod in Mysore.

The festival in honour of Heththeswami is celebrated in the month

of January at Baireganni. It is sometimes called ermathohabba, as,

with it, ploughing operations cease. It always commences on a Monday,

and usually lasts eight days. A Sedan or Devanga weaver comes with his

portable hand-loom, and sufficient thread for weaving a dhubati (coarse

cloth) and turban. At Baireganni there is a special house, in which

these articles are woven. But, at other places where the festival is

observed, the Badagas go to the weaver's village to fetch the required

cloths. Early on the second morning of the festival, some of the more

respected Badagas and the weaver proceed to the weaving house after

bathing. The weaver sets up his loom, and worships it by offering

incense, and other things. The Badagas give him a new cloth, and a

small sum of money, and ask him to weave a dhubati and two kachches

(narrow strips of cloth). Daily, throughout the festival, the Badagas

collect near the temple, and indulge in music and songs. Until the last

day, they are not permitted to set eyes on the god Heththeswami. On

the morning of the last day, the pujari, accompanied by all the

Badagas, takes the newly woven cloths to a stream, in which they are

washed. When they are dry, all proceed to the temple, where the idol

is dressed up in them, and all, on this occasion only, are allowed to

look at it. Devotees pay a small offering of money, which is placed on

a tray near the idol. The crowd begins to disperse in the afternoon,

and, on their way back to their villages, the wants of the travellers

are attended to by people posted at intervals with coffee, fruit,

and other articles of food. If the Badagas have to go to a weaver's

village for the cloths, the weaver is, when the order is given for

them, presented with four annas, after he has bathed. When handing

the money to him, the Badagas bawl out "This is the fee for making

the cloths to be worn by Heththe Iramasthi and Parasakti Parvati." On

the last day of the festival, the cloths are washed, and one of them

is made to represent an idol, which is decorated with waist and neck

ornaments, and an umbrella. All prostrate themselves before it, and

make offerings of money. Fruits and other things are then offered

to Heththeswami and some recite the following prayer. "May all good

acts be remembered, and all bad ones be forgotten. Though there may

be a thousand and one sins, may I reach the feet of God."

The following further information in connection with the Baireganni

festival is given by Bishop Whitehead. "The people from other villages

offer money, rice, fruits, umbrellas of gold or silver for the goddess,

cloths, and buffaloes. The buffaloes are never killed, but remain

as the property of the temple. The pujari calls the representatives

of one village, and tells them what Hetheswami says to him, e.g.,

'This year you will have good [or bad] crops; cholera or small-pox,

good [or bad] rain, etc.' As the people present their offerings, they

prostrate themselves, kneeling down and touching the ground with their

foreheads, and the pujari gives them some flowers, which they wear

in their hair. The people and the pujari play on the kombu [horn],

and ring bells while the offerings are being made. After the offerings

have finished, all the men dance, in two companies, in front of the

temple, one shouting 'How-ko, How-ko,' and the other 'Is-holi.' The

dance was taught them by the Todas, and the words are Toda."

In connection with the Jadeswami festival the ceremony of walking

through fire [burning embers] is carried out at Melur, Tangalu,

Mainele, Jakkanare, Tenad, and Nidugala. At Melur and Tangalu,

the temples belong to the Haruvas, who carry out all the details

of ceremony. The temple at Tenad is owned by the Udayas, by whom

the ceremonial is performed. In other places, the celebrants are

Badagas. The festival is observed, on an elaborate scale, at Nidugala

during the month of January. All those who are going to walk over the

burning embers fast for eight days, and go through the rite on the

ninth day. For its performance, Monday is considered an auspicious

day. The omens are taken by boiling two pots of milk side by side on

two hearths. If the milk overflows uniformly on all sides, the crops

will be abundant for all the villages. But, if it flows over on one

side only, there will be plentiful crops for villages on that side

only. The space over which the embers are spread is said to be about

five yards long, and three yards broad. But, in some places, e.g.,

Jakkanare and Melur, it is circular as at the Muhammadan fire-walking

ceremony. For making the embers, the wood of Eugenia Jambolana and

Phyllanthus Emblica are used. For boiling the milk, and setting fire

to the wood, a light obtained by friction must be used. The process

is known as niligolu, or upright stick. The vertical stick is made of

a twig of Rhodomyrtus tomentosus, which is rotated in a socket in a

long thick piece of a bough of Debregeasia velutina, in which a row

of sockets has been made. The rotation is produced by a cord passed

several times round the vertical stick, of which each end is pulled

alternately. The horizontal block is pressed firmly on the ground by

the toes of a man, who presses a half cocoanut shell down on the top of

the vertical stick, so as to force it down into the socket. A Badaga,

who failed in an attempt to demonstrate the making of fire by this

method, gave as an excuse that he was under worldly pollution, from

which he would be free at the time of the fire-walking ceremony. Though

the Badagas make fire by friction, reference is made in their folk

legends, not to this mode of obtaining fire, but to chakkamukki

(flint and steel), which is repeatedly referred to in connection

with cremation. After the milk boiling ceremonial, the pujari, tying

bells on his legs, approaches the fire pit, carrying milk freshly

drawn from a cow, which has calved for the first time, and flowers of

Rhododendron arboreum, Leucas aspera, or jasmine. After doing puja,

he throws the flowers on the embers, and they should remain unscorched

for a few seconds. He then pours some of the milk over the embers,

and no hissing sound should be produced. The omens being propitious,

he walks over the glowing embers, followed by an Udaya, and the crowd

of celebrants, who, before going through the ordeal, count the hairs on

their feet. If any are singed, it is a sign of approaching ill fortune,

or even death. In an account of the fire-walking ceremony, in 1902,

it is noted that "the Badagas strongly repudiate the insinuation

of preparing their feet to face the fire ordeal. It is done to

propitiate Jeddayswami, to whom vows are invoked, in token of which

they grow one twist or plait of hair, which is treasured for years,

and finally cut off as an offering to Jeddayswami. Numbers of Chettis

were catering to the crowd, offering their wares, bangles, gay-coloured

handkerchiefs, as well as edibles. The Kotas supplied the music, and

an ancient patriarch worked himself up to a high pitch of inspiration,

and predicted all sorts of good things for the Badagas with regard

to the ensuing season and crops."

The following legend, relating to the fire-walking ceremony, is

recorded by Bishop Whitehead. "When they first began to perform the

ceremony fifty or sixty years ago, they were afraid to walk over the

fire. Then the stone image of Mahalinga Swami turned into a snake,

and made a hole through the temple wall. It came out, and crawled

over the fire, and then went back to the temple. Then their fear

vanished, and they walked over the embers. The hole is still to be

seen in the temple."

Of the fire-walking ceremony at Melur, the following account is

given in the Gazetteer of the Nilgiris. "It takes place on the Monday

after the March new moon, just before the cultivation season begins,

and is attended by Badagas from all over Merkunad. The inhabitants

of certain villages (six in number), who are supposed to be the

descendants of an early Badaga named Guruvajja, have first, however,

to signify through their Gottukars, or headmen, that the festival may

take place; and the Gottukars choose three, five, or seven men to walk

through the fire. On the day appointed, the fire is lit by certain

Badaga priests and a Kurumba. The men chosen by the Gottukars then

bathe, adorn themselves with sandal, do obeisance to the Udayas of

Udayarhatti near Keti, who are specially invited and feasted; pour

into the adjacent stream milk from cows which have calved for the

first time during the year; and, in the afternoon, throw more milk

and some flowers from the Mahalingasvami temple into the fire pit,

and then walk across it. Earth is next thrown on the embers, and they

walk across twice more. A general feast closes the ceremony, and next

day the first ploughings are done, the Kurumba sowing the first seeds,

and the priests the next lot. Finally, a net is brought. The priest

of the temple, standing over it, puts up prayers for a favourable

agricultural season; two fowls are thrown into it, and a pretence is

made of spearing them; and then it is taken and put across some game

path, and some wild animal (a sambhar deer if possible) is driven

into it, slain, and divided among the villagers. This same custom of

annually killing a sambhar is also observed at other villages on the

plateau, and in 1883 and 1894 special orders were passed to permit

of its being done during the close season. Latterly, disputes about

precedence in the matter of walking through the fire at Melur have been

carried as far as the civil courts, and the two factions celebrate the

festival separately in alternate years. A fire-walking ceremony also

takes place annually at the Jadayasvami temple in Jakkaneri under the

auspices of a Sivachari Badaga. It seems to have originally had some

connection with agricultural prospects, as a young bull is made to go

partly across the fire-pit before the other devotees, and the owners

of young cows which have had their first calves during the year take

precedence of others in the ceremony, and bring offerings of milk,

which are sprinkled over the burning embers."

At the Sakalathi festival, in the month of October, Badagas, towards

evening, throw on the roofs of their houses flowers of Plectranthus

Wightii, Crotalaria obtecta, Lobelia nicotianoefolia, Achyranthes

aspera, and Leucas aspera. On the following day, they clean their

houses, and have a feast. In the afternoon, numbers of them may be

seen in the streets drawing in front of their houses pictures in

wood-ashes of buffaloes, bulls, cows, ploughs, stars, sun and moon,

snakes, lizards, etc. They then go into their houses, and wash their

hands. Taking up in his clean hands a big cake, on which are placed a

little rice and butter, the Badaga puts on it three wicks steeped in

castor oil, and lights them. The cake is then waved round the heads

of all the children of the house taken to a field, and thrown therein

with the words "Sakalathi has come." The cake-thrower returns home,

and prostrates himself before a lamp placed in the inner room, and

repeats a long formula, composed of the various synonyms of Siva.

In the month of November, a festival called Dodda Habba (big feast)

is celebrated. In the afternoon, rice is cooked in whey within the

hagottu, and eaten on minige leaves. Throughout the day the villagers

play at various ball games.

A festival, which is purely local, is celebrated near Konakore in

honour of Mahangkali. A buffalo is led to the side of a precipice,

killed by a Kurumba with a spear, and thrown over the edge

thereof. There is a legend that, in olden days, a pujari used to put

a stick in the crevice of a rock, and, on removing it, get the value

of a buffalo in fanams (gold coins). But, on one occasion, he put

the stick in a second time, in the hopes of gaining more money. No

money, however, was forthcoming and, as a punishment for his greed,

he died on the spot.

All Badaga villages, except those of the Udayas, have a hut, called

holagudi, for the exclusive use of women during their monthly

periods. A few months before a girl is expected to reach puberty,

she is sent to the holagudi, on a Friday, four or five days before

the new moon day. This is done lest, in the ordinary course of events,

the first menstruation should commence on an inauspicious day. The girl

remains in the holagudi one night, and returns home on the following

day clad in new cloths, leaving the old ones in the hut. When she

arrives at her house, she salutes all the people who are there, and

receives their blessing. On Sunday she goes to the houses of her

relations, where she is given kadalai (Cicer arietinum) and other

food. She may not enter the inner apartment of her house until she

has seen the crescent moon. Badaga women observe five days menstrual

pollution. If a woman discovers her condition before washing her

face in the early morning, that day is included in the pollution

period. Otherwise, the period must be prolonged over six days. On

the third day she bathes in cold water, using the bark of Pouzolzia

(thorekolu), and on the fourth day is allowed a change of clothing

after a bath. On this day she leaves the hut, and passes a portion

of the night in the verandah of her house. After cooking and eating

her evening meal, she bathes, and enters the outer room. Early on

the following morning, the spot which she has occupied is cleaned,

and she bathes in a stream. Returning home, she eats her food in the

outer room, where she remains till next morning. Even children may

not be touched by a menstruating woman. If, by chance, this happens,

the child must be washed to remove the pollution, before it can be

handled by others. This restriction is apparently not observed by

any other tribe or caste.

Writing concerning marriage among the Badagas, Harkness states [81]

that "it is said to be common for one who is in want of labourers to

promise his daughter in marriage to the son or other relative of a

neighbour not in circumstances so flourishing as himself. And, these

engagements being entered into, the intended bridegroom serves the

father of his betrothed as one of his own family till the girl comes

of age, when the marriage is consummated, and he becomes a partner

in the general property of the family of his father-in-law."

A man may marry a girl belonging to the same village as himself, if

he and she are not members of the same exogamous sept. In most cases,

however, all the inhabitants of a village are of the same sept, and

a man has to take as his wife a girl from a village other than his own.

Among all sections of the Badagas, adult marriage is the general rule,

though infant marriage is also practised. Marriage is preceded by a

simple form of courtship, but the consent of the parents to the union

is necessary. A girl does not suffer in reputation if she is rejected

by a number of suitors, before she finally settles down. Except among

the Udayas, the marriage ceremony is of a very simple nature. A

day or two before that fixed for taking the girl to the house of

her husband-elect, the latter proceeds to her village, accompanied

by his brothers, who, as a token of respect, touch the feet of all

the Badagas who are assembled. The bride is taken to the house of the

bridegroom, accompanied by the Kota band. Arrived there, she stands at

the entrance, and her mother-in-law or sister-in-law brings water in

a vessel, and pours it into her hands thrice. Each time she lets the

water fall over her feet. The mother-in-law then ties round her neck a

string of beads (male mani), and leads her to the outer room (edumane),

where cooked samai (Panicum miliare) and milk is given to her. This she

pretends to eat, and the bridegroom's sister gives her water to wash

her hands with. The bride and two married women or virgins (preferably

the bridegroom's sisters) go to a stream in procession, accompanied

by the Kota musicians, and bring therefrom water for cooking purposes

in decorated new pots. The bride then salutes all her new relations,

and they in turn give her their blessing. The ceremonial concludes

with a feast, at the conclusion of which, in some cases, the bride

and bridegroom sit on the raised verandah (pial), and receive presents.

"Though," a correspondent writes, "the Badaga is simple, and his wants

are few, he cannot resist the temptation of wine and women. The Badaga

woman can change husbands as often as she pleases by a simple system

of divorce, and can also carry on with impunity intimacy within

the pale of her own community. It is not uncommon to find Badaga

women changing husbands, so long as youth and vigour tempt them to

do so, and confining themselves eventually to the last individual,

after age and infirmity have made their mark, and render such frolics

inexpedient." A former Magistrate of the Nilgiris informs me that he

tried more than one case, in which a married man filed a complaint

against another man for kidnapping or enticing away his wife for

immoral purposes. The father of the woman was always charged as an

abetter, and pleaded that, as no pariyam (bride price) had been paid

by the husband, though he and the woman lived together as man and

wife, no criminal offence could be proved against either the father

or the abductor. Polygamy is permitted, and the plurality of wives

is a gain to the husband, as each wife becomes a bread-winner, and

supports her children, and the man makes each wife superintend one

department of the day's work. Remarriage of widows is very common,

and a widow may marry the brother of her deceased husband. It is

said to be etiquette among the Badagas that, when a woman's husband

is away, she should be accessible to her brothers-in-law. Instances

occur, in which the husband is much younger than his wife, who,

until he has reached maturity, cohabits with her paternal aunt's son,

or some one whom she may have a fancy for. The marriage ceremony of

the Udayas is carried out on an elaborate scale, and is based on

the type of ceremonial which is carried out by some castes in the

plains. Before dawn on the marriage day, the brothers and cousins

of the bridegroom go, accompanied by some Udayas and the Kota band,

to the forest, whence they bring two sticks of Mimusops hexandra,

to do duty as the milk-posts. The early hour is selected, to avoid

the chance of coming across inauspicious objects. The sticks should

be cut off the tree at a single stroke of the bill-hook, and they

may not be laid flat on the ground, but placed on a blanket spread

thereon. The Udayas, who joined in the procession, collect twelve

posts of Mimusops as supports for the marriage booth (pandal). In

front of the house, which is to be the scene of the wedding, two pits

are dug, into which cow-dung water is poured. The pujari does puja

to the milk-posts by offering sugar-cane, jaggery (crude sugar),

etc., and ties two threads thereto. The posts are then placed in

the pits by five people--the parents of the bridal couple and the

priest. The booth, and dais or enclosure, are then erected close to

the milk-posts. On the second day, the bridegroom's party, attended

by Kota musicians, dressed up in dancing costume, go to the house of

the bride, where a feast is held. The bride then salutes a lamp, and

prostrates herself at the feet of her parents, who bless her, saying

"May your body and hands soon be filled (i.e., may you have a child),

and may your life be prosperous." The bride is taken in procession

to the house of the bridegroom, accompanied by some Udayas, and a

Toreya carrying a bag of rice. At the entrance to the house she is

blindfolded, and her mother-in-law pours water over her feet, and

waves coloured water (arathi) in front of her. She then enters the

house, right foot foremost, and sits on a mat. Three married women,

nearly related to the bridegroom, proceed, with the Kota musicians,

to a stream, carrying three pots decorated with leaves of Leucas

aspera. The priest does puja, and the pots are filled with water, and

brought back in procession to the marriage dais. The water is poured

into three vessels placed thereon three times by each of the three

women. Within the marriage enclosure, two raised platforms are set up

by a Toreya. The bridegroom, after going round the enclosure three

times with his brothers and sisters, enters it, and bathes with the

water contained in the vessels. He then dresses himself in new clothes,

and is carried to the outer room by his maternal uncle. The bride is

then treated in like manner, but is taken to the inner room. At a fixed

auspicious hour, the bridal couple repair to the enclosure, where the

bridegroom stands on a mat. A screen is held up by four or five men

between him and the bride, who stands facing him, while the priest

ties the ends of their clothes together. They then link their little

fingers together, the screen is removed, and they seat themselves on

the mat. The bridegroom's sister brings a tray with a mass of rice

scooped out into a cavity to hold ghi for feeding a lighted wick

(annadha arathi) on it, and, placing it before the bridal pair, sits

down. The tali, consisting of a golden disc, is worshipped by the

priest, and given to the bridegroom, who ties it on to the bride's

neck. In some places it is tied by four or five elders, belonging

to different villages, who are not widowers. The contracting couple

then put on wreaths called sammandha malai, or wreaths establishing

relationship, and the wrist threads are tied on. The bride's sister

brings some rice and milk in a cup, into which the linked fingers of

the bride and bridegroom are thrust. Taking up some of the rice, they

put it into each other's mouths three times. After they have washed

their hands, the maternal uncle or priest asks them if they have seen

Aranjoti (the pole-star), and they reply in the affirmative. On the

third day, presents are given to the newly-married couple, and the

wrist threads are removed. Going to a stream, they perform a mimic

ceremony of sowing, and scatter cotton and rice seed in two small

pans made by a Toreya with cow-dung. Widow remarriage is permitted

among the Udayas, and a widow may marry a cousin, but not her dead

husband's brother. At the marriage ceremony, a priest makes a mark

with sacred ashes on the foreheads of the contracting couple, and

announces the fact of their union.

It is noted by Dr. Rivers that "Breeks has stated that the Toda

custom is that the house shall pass to the youngest son. It seems

quite clear that this is wrong, and that this custom is absolutely

unknown among the Todas. It is, however, a Badaga custom, and among

them I was told that it is due to the fact that, as the sons of a

family grow up and marry, they leave the house of the parents and build

houses elsewhere. It is the duty of the youngest son to dwell with his

parents, and support them as long as they live, and, when they die, he

continues to live in the paternal home, of which he becomes the owner."

A ceremony is performed in the seventh month of a woman's first

pregnancy, which is important, inasmuch as it seals the marriage

contract, and, after its performance, divorce can only be obtained

through the decree of the panchayat (tribal council). Moreover, if

it has not been performed, a man cannot claim the paternity of the

child. The ceremony is called kanni kattodu or kanni hakodu (thread

tying or throwing). The husband and wife are seated in the midst of

those who have assembled for the occasion, and the former asks his

father-in-law whether he may throw the thread round his wife's neck,

and, having received permission, proceeds to do so. If he gets the

thread, which must have no knots in it, entangled in the woman's

bunch of hair (kondai), which is made large for the occasion by the

addition of false hair, he is fined three rupees. On the day of the

ceremony, the man and his wife are supposed to be under pollution,

and sit in the verandah to receive presents. The mats used by them

for sleeping on are cleaned on the following morning, and they get

rid of the pollution by bathing.

A first confinement must not take place within the house, and

the verandah is converted into a lying-in chamber, from which the

woman is, after delivery, removed to the outer apartment, where she

remains till she is free from pollution by catching sight of the

crescent moon. If a woman has been delivered at her father's house,

she returns to the home of her husband within a month of the birth

of the child on an auspicious day. On arrival there, the infant is

placed near the feet of an old man standing by a lamp within the

milk-house. Placing his right hand over the head of the infant, the

old man blesses it, and a feast is held, before the commencement of

which two cups, one containing milk, and the other cooked rice, are

produced. All the relations take up a little of the milk and rice,

and touch the tongue of the baby with them.

A child receives its name on the seventh, ninth, or eleventh day. A

sumptuous meal is given to the community, and the grandfather

(paternal, if possible) milks a cow, and pours the milk into a brass

cup placed in the milk-house. With it a little cooked samai grain is

mixed. The babe is washed with water brought from a stream; marked on

the forehead with sacred ashes; a turmeric-dyed thread is tied round

its waist; a silver or iron bangle placed on its wrists; and a silver

bead tied by a thread round its neck. Thus decorated, the infant is

taken up by the oldest man of the village who is not a widower, who

gives it a name, which has already been chosen. The elder, and the

child's parents and grandparents then place a little milk in its mouth.

Children, both male and female, go through a shaving ceremony, usually

when they are seven months old. The infant is seated in the lap of a

Badaga, and, after water has been applied to its head by a Badaga or

a barber, the maternal uncle removes some of the hair with a razor,

and then hands it over to another Badaga or a barber to complete

the operation.

Of the death rites as carried out by the Badaga sub-division,

the following note was recorded during a visit to Kotagiri. When

death is drawing near, a gold coin, called Viraraya hana or fanam,

dipped in butter or ghi, is given to the dying man to swallow. If he

is too far gone to be capable of swallowing, the coin is, according

to Mr. Natesa Sastri, tied round the arm. But our informants told us

that this is not done at the present day. "If," Mr. Gover writes, [82]

"the tiny coin slips down, well. He will need both gold and ghi, the

one to sustain his strength in the dark journey to the river of death,

the other to fee the guardian of the fairy-like bridge that spans the

dreaded tide. If sense remains to the wretched man, he knows that now

his death is nigh. Despair and the gold make recovery impossible,

and there are none who have swallowed the Birianhana, and yet have

lived. If insensibility or deathly weakness make it impossible for the

coin to pass the thorax, it is carefully bound in cloth, and tied to

the right arm, so that there may be nought to hinder the passage of a

worthy soul into the regions of the blessed." The giving of the coin

to the dying man is apparently an important item, and, in the Badaga

folk-tales, a man on the point of death is made to ask for a Viraraya

fanam. When life is extinct, the corpse is kept within the house

until the erection of the funeral car (gudikattu) is completed. Though

Gover states that the burning must not be delayed more than twenty-four

hours, at the present day the Badagas postpone the funeral till all the

near relations have assembled, even if this necessitates the keeping of

the corpse for two or three days. Cremation may take place on any day,

except Tuesday. News of a death is conveyed to distant hamlets (hattis)

by a Toreya, who is paid a rupee for his services. On approaching a

hamlet, he removes his turban, to signify the nature of his errand,

and, standing on the side of a hill, yells out "Dho! Dho! who is in

the hamlet?" Having imparted his news, he proceeds on his journey

to the next hamlet. On the morning of the day fixed for the funeral,

the corpse is taken on a charpoy or native cot to an open space, and

a buffalo led thrice round it. The right hand of the corpse is then

lifted up, and passed over the horns of the buffalo. A little milk is

drawn, and poured into the mouth of the corpse. Prior to this ceremony,

two or three buffaloes may be let loose, and one of them captured,

after the manner of the Todas, brought near the corpse, and conducted

round the cot. The funeral car is built up in five to eleven tiers,

decorated with cloths and streamers, and one tier must be covered with

black chintz. At the funeral of a young man, the Rev. A. C. Clayton

noticed that the car was surmounted by a flag, and hung about with

bread, oranges, plantains, and the bag containing the books which

the youth had used in the Basel Mission School. [83] By the poorer

members of the community the car is replaced by a cot covered with

cloth, and surmounted by five umbrellas. Immediately after the buffalo

ceremony, the corpse is carried to the car, and placed in the lowest

storey thereof, washed, and dressed in coat and turban. A new dhupati

(coarse cloth) is wrapped round it. Two silver coins (Japanese yens

or rupees) are stuck on the forehead. Beneath the cot are placed a

crowbar, and baskets containing cakes, parched paddy, tobacco, chick

pea (Cicer arietinum), jaggery and samai flour. A number of women,

relations and friends of the dead man, then make a rush to the cot,

and, sitting on it round the corpse, keep on waiting, while a woman

near its head rings a bell. When one batch is tired, it is replaced

by another. Badaga men then pour in in large numbers, and salute the

corpse by touching the head, Toreyas and female relations touching

the feet. Of those who salute, a few place inside the dhupati a piece

of white cloth with red and yellow stripes, which has been specially

prepared for the purpose. All then proceed to dance round the car

to the music of the Kota band, near male relations removing their

turban or woollen night cap, as a mark of respect, during the first

three revolutions. Most of the male dancers are dressed up in gaudy

petticoats and smart turbans. "No woman," Mr. Natesa Sastri writes,

"mingles in the funeral dance if the dead person is a man, but,

if the deceased is a woman, one old woman, the nearest relative of

the dead, takes part in it." But, at the funerals of two men which

we witnessed, a few women danced together with the men. Usually the

tribesmen continue to arrive until 2 or 3 P.M. Relations collect

outside the village, and advance in a body towards the car, some,

especially the sons-in-law of the dead man, riding on ponies, some

of them carrying samai grain. As they approach the car, they shout

"Ja! hoch; Ja! hoch." The Muttu Kotas bring a double iron sickle with

imitation buffalo horns on the tip, which is placed, with a hatchet,

buguri (flute), and walking stick, on the car or on the ground beside

it. When all are assembled, the cot is carried to an open space

between the house and the burning-ground, followed by the car and a

party of women carrying the baskets containing grain, etc. The car

is then stripped of its trappings, and hacked to pieces. The widow is

brought close to the cot, and removes her nose ornament (elemukkuthi),

and other jewels. At both the funerals which we witnessed, the widow

had a narrow strip of coloured chintz over her shoulders. Standing

near the corpse, she removed a bit of wire from her ear-rings, a lock

of hair, and a palm leaf roll from the lobe of the ear, and tied them

up in the cloth of her dead husband. After her, the sisters of the

dead man cut off a lock of hair, and, in like manner, tied it in the

cloth. Women attached to a man by illegitimate ties sometimes also cut

off a lock of hair, and, tying it to a twig of Dodonæa viscosa, place

it inside the cloth. Very impressive is the recitation, or after-death

confession of a dead man's sins by an elder of the tribe standing at

the head of the corpse, and rapidly chanting the following lines, or

a variation thereof, while he waves his right hand during each line

towards the feet. The reproduction of the recitation in my phonograph

never failed to impress the daily audience of Badagas, Kotas and Todas.

This is the death of Andi.

In his memory the calf of the cow Belle has been set free.

From this world to the other.

He goes in a car.

Everything the man did in this world.

All the sins committed by his ancestors.

All the sins committed by his forefathers.

All the sins committed by his parents.

All the sins committed by himself.

The estranging of brothers.

Shifting the boundary line.

Encroaching on a neighbour's land by removing the hedge.

Driving away brothers and sisters.

Cutting the kalli tree stealthily.

Cutting the mulli tree outside his boundary.

Dragging the thorny branches of the kotte tree.

Sweeping with a broom.

Splitting green branches.

Telling lies.

Uprooting seedlings.

Plucking growing plants, and throwing them in the sun.

Giving young birds to cats.

Troubling the poor and cripples.

Throwing refuse water in front of the sun.

Going to sleep after seeing an eclipse of the moon.

Looking enviously at a buffalo yielding an abundance of milk.

Being jealous of the good crops of others.

Removing boundary stones.

Using a calf set free at the funeral.

Polluting water with dirt.

Urinating on burning embers.

Ingratitude to the priest.

Carrying tales to the higher authorities.

Poisoning food.

Not feeding a hungry person.

Not giving fire to one half frozen.

Killing snakes and cows.

Killing lizards and blood-suckers.

Showing a wrong path.

Getting on the cot, and allowing his father-in-law to sleep on

the ground.

Sitting on a raised verandah, and driving thence his mother-in-law.

Going against natural instincts.

Troubling daughters-in-law.

Breaking open lakes.

Breaking open reservoirs of water.

Being envious of the prosperity of other villages.

Getting angry with people.

Misleading travellers in the forest.

Though there be three hundred such sins,

Let them all go with the calf set free to-day.

May the sins be completely removed!

May the sins be forgiven!

May the door of heaven be open!

May the door of hell be closed!

May the hand of charity be extended!

May the wicked hand be shrivelled!

May the door open suddenly!

May beauty or splendour prevail everywhere!

May the hot pillar be cooled!

May the thread bridge [84] become light!

May the pit of perdition be closed!

May he reach the golden pillar!

Holding the feet of the six thousand Athis,

Holding the feet of the twelve thousand Pathis,

Holding the feet of Brahma,

Holding the feet of the calf set free to-day,

May he reach the abode of Siva!

So mote it be.

The recitation is repeated thrice, and a few Badagas repeat the

last words of each line after the elder. It was noticed by the

Rev. A. C. Clayton that, during the recitation, the people surrounded

the bier on three sides, leaving a lane open to the west. The sins

of the dead man were transferred to another as sin-bearer, and

finally passed away down the lane. As the ceremony witnessed by us

differs materially from the account thereof given by Gover nearly

forty years ago, I may quote his description. "By a conventional

mode of expression, the sum total of sins a man may do is said to

be thirteen hundred. Admitting that the deceased has committed them

all, the performer cries aloud 'Stay not their flight to God's pure

feet.' As he closes, the whole assembly chants aloud 'Stay not their

flight.' Again the performer enters into details, and cries 'He killed

the crawling snake. It is a sin.' In a moment the last word is caught

up, and all the people cry 'It is a sin.' As they shout, the performer

lays his hand upon the calf. The sin is transferred to the calf. Thus

the whole catalogue is gone through in this impressive way. But this

is not enough. As the last shout 'Let all be well' dies away, the

performer gives place to another, and again confession is made, and

all the people shout 'It is a sin.' A third time it is done. Then,

still in solemn silence, the calf is let loose. Like the Jewish

scapegoat, it may never be used for secular work." Dr. Rivers writes

that "the Badagas let loose a calf at a funeral, to bear the sins of

the deceased. It is possible that the calf in the Toda ceremony may

have the same significance. If so, the practice has not improbably

been borrowed, and the fact that the bell which is hung on the neck

of the calf is kept by Kotas or Badagas suggests that the whole

incident may have been borrowed by the Todas from one or other of

these races." At the funerals, of which we were spectators, no calf

was brought near the corpse, and the celebrants of the rites were

satisfied with the mere mention by name of a calf, which is male or

female according to the sex of the deceased. At the funeral witnessed

by the Rev. A. C. Clayton, a cow-buffalo was led three times round the

bier, and a little of its milk, drawn at the time, put into the mouth

of the corpse. Then a buffalo calf was led thrice round the bier,

and the dead man's hand laid on its head. By this act, the calf was

supposed to receive all the sins of the deceased. It was then driven

away to a great distance, that it might contaminate no one, and it

was said that it would never be sold, but looked on as a dedicated

sacred animal. If a dead man leaves a widow in a state of pregnancy,

who has not performed the kanni kattodu or marriage thread ceremony,

this must be gone through before the corpse is taken to the pyre, in

order to render the child legitimate. The pregnant woman is, at the

time of the funeral, brought close to the cot, and a near relation

of the deceased, taking up a cotton thread, twisted in the form of a

necklace without any knots, throws it round her neck. Sometimes the

hand of the corpse is lifted up with the thread, and made to place it

round the neck. At the funeral of the young man, Mr. Clayton saw this

ceremony performed on his pregnant wife. After a turmeric-dyed cord

had been taken from the hands of the corpse and tied round her neck,

she was again brought to the side of the bier, and her ear-rings,

nose ornaments, and other articles of jewellery, were removed in token

that she had become a widow. Soon after the recitation of sins, all

the agnates go to the house of the dead man, at the entrance to which

a gunny-bag is spread, whereon a small quantity of paddy is poured,

and a few culms of Cynodon Dactylon and a little cow-dung are placed

on it. The eldest of the agnates, sickle in hand, takes some of the

paddy, and moves on, raising both hands to his forehead. The other

agnates then do the same, and proceed in Indian file, males in front

and females in the rear, to the corpse. Round it they walk, men from

left to right, and women in the reverse direction, and at the end

of each circuit put some of the paddy on its face. The cot is then

carried to the burning-ground, a woman heading the procession, and

shaking the end of her cloth all the way. The corpse is laid on the

pyre with its feet to the south, and the pyre lighted by the eldest son

standing at the head. The sticks of which the car was constructed are

added to the fuel, of which the pyre is built up. In some places the

son, when lighting the pyre, repeats the words "Being begotten by my

father and mother, I, in the presence of all and the Deva, set fire

at the head after the manner of my ancestors and forefathers." The

Rev. A. C. Clayton records that, before the procession started for

the burning-ground, some female relatives of the dead man tied locks

of their hair round the toes of the corpse, and others went three

times round the bier. On the day following the funeral, the bereaved

family distribute rice to all the Badagas of the hamlet, and all the

near relations of the deceased go to the burning-ground, taking with

them two new pots. The fire is extinguished, and the fragments of the

bones are collected. A tray is made of the fronds of the bracken fern

(Pteris aquilina) covered with a cloth, on which the bones are placed

together with culms of Cynodon grass and ghi. The Badagas of the hamlet

who are younger than the deceased salute the bones by touching them,

and a few men, including the chief mourner, hold the tray, and convey

it to the bone pit, which every hamlet possesses. Into it the bones

are thrown, while an elder repeats the words "Become united with the

line of your relations, with your class, and with the big people," or

"May the young and old who have died, may all those who have died from

time immemorial up to the present time, mingle in one." When the pit

has been closed up, all return to the spot where the body was burnt,

and, clearing a space, make a puddle, round which they stand, and

throw into it a handful of korali (Setaria italica), uttering the words

"May deaths cease; may evils cease; may good prevail in the village; in

virtue of the good deeds of the ancestors and forefathers, may this one

mingle with them." This ceremony concluded, they repair to a stream,

where a member of the bereaved family shaves a Toreya partially or

completely. Some take a razor, and, after removing a patch of hair,

pass the Toreya on to a barber. All the agnates are then shaved by

a Badaga or a barber. The chief mourner then prostrates himself on

the ground, and is blessed by all. He and the Toreya proceed to the

house of the deceased. Taking a three-pronged twig of Rhodomyrtus

tomentosus, and placing a minige (Argyreia) leaf on the prongs,

he thrusts it into a rubbish heap near the house. He then places a

small quantity of samai grain, called street food, on the leaf, and,

after sprinkling it thrice with water, goes away.

It was noted by Harkness that, at the burning-ground, the son or

representative of the deceased dropped a little grain into the mouth

of the corpse, carrying in his left hand a small bar of iron, which

is supposed to have a repulsive power over the spirits that hover

about the dead.

The final death ceremonies, or korambu, are celebrated on a

Sunday. Towards evening the house of the deceased is cleansed

with cow-dung, and Badaga men assemble therein, sending away all

women. The chief mourner, accompanied by two Badagas carrying new

pots, proceeds to a stream, where the pots are cleaned with cow-dung,

and rubbed over with culms of Andropogon Schoenanthus. They are

then filled with water, carried to the house, and deposited in the

milk-room. At the entrance to the inner apartment, five agnates stand,

holding a circular bamboo tray (kerachi) made of plaited bamboo, on

which the chief mourner pours a small quantity of paddy, and spreads

it with a sickle. The widow and other female relations come near,

and cry. A few sickles or knives (preferably those which were used

at the funeral) are placed on the tray, which is saluted by all the

Badagas present. The paddy is husked in a mortar, and the rice cooked

with Dolichos Lablab, Cicer arietinum, and other pulses, without

the addition of salt. Early on the following morning, the eldest

son, taking a small quantity of the rice to the roof of the house,

places seven balls made therefrom on plantain or minige leaves, and

recites the names of the male and female ancestors and forefathers,

his mother, father, and brothers. The remainder of the rice is eaten

by relations. In some places, the whole of the rice is divided into

seven balls, and taken outside the house. Water is sprinkled over the

roof, and a portion of the rice thrown thereon. Standing up before

the assembled Badagas, an elder says "To-day we have acted up to the

observances of our ancestors and forefathers. New ones should not be

considered as old, or old as new. There is not a man carrying a head

(wise man), or a woman carrying breasts (wise woman). May he become

united with the men of his clan and caste."

The funeral rites of the Udayas differ in some important details from

those of the Badaga sub-division. The buffalo catching, and leading

the animal round the corpse, are omitted. But a steer and heifer are

selected, and branded on the thigh, by means of a hot iron, with the

lingam and other emblems. Bedecked with cloths and jewels, they are

led to the side of the corpse, and made to stand on a blanket spread

on the ground. They are treated as if they were lingams, and puja is

done to them by offering cocoanuts and betel leaves, and throwing

flowers over them. Round their necks kankanams (marriage threads)

are tied. They are made to turn so as to face away from the corpse,

and their tails are placed in the hands thereof. An elder then proceeds

with the recitation of the dead person's sins. The Udayas bury their

dead in a sitting posture in a cell dug out of the side of the grave,

and, like the Irulas, prefer to use a grave in which a previous burial

has taken place. At the four corners of the grave they place in the

ground a plant of Leucas aspera, and pass a cotton thread laterally

and diagonally across the grave, leaving out the side opposite the

cell. Two men descend into the grave, and deposit the corpse in its

resting place with two lighted lamps.

In 1905, an elaborate Badaga memorial ceremony for ancestors called

manavalai, which takes place at long intervals, was celebrated on

the Nilgiris. I gather from the notes of a Native official that an

enormous car, called elu kudi teru (seven-storeyed car) was built of

wood and bamboo, and decorated with silk and woollen fabrics, flags,

and umbrellas. Inside the ground floor were a cot with a mattress and

pillow, and the stem of a plantain tree. The souls of the ancestors

are supposed to be reclining on the cot, resting their heads on the

pillow, and chewing the plantain, while the umbrellas protect them from

the sun and rain. The ear ornaments of all those who have died since

the previous ceremony should be placed on the cot. "A Badaga fell

and hurt himself during the erection of the car. Whereupon, another

Badaga became possessed, and announced that the god was angry because

a Kurumba had something to do with the building of the structure. A

council meeting was held, and the Kurumba fined twenty-five rupees,

which were credited to the god. Sixty-nine petty bazars and three beer

taverns had been opened for the convenience of all classes of people

that had assembled. One very old Badaga woman said that she was twelve

years old when the first European was carried in a chair by the Todas,

and brought up the ghat to the Nilgiris from Coimbatore. On Wednesday

at 10 A.M. people from the adjoining villages were announced, and

the Kota band, with the village people, went forward, greeted them,

and brought them to the car. As each man approached it, he removed

his turban, stooped over the pillow and laid his head on it, and then

went to join the ring for the dance. The dancers wore skirts made of

white long-cloth, white and cream silks and satins with border of red

and blue trimming, frock dresses, and dressing-gowns, while the coats,

blouses, and jackets were of the most gaudy colours of silk, velvet,

velveteen, tweed, and home-spun. As each group of people arrived,

they went first to the temple door, saluted the god, and went to the

basement of the car to venerate the deceased, and then proceeded to

dance for an hour, received their supplies of rice, etc., and cleared

off. Thursday and Friday were the grandest days. Nearly three thousand

females, and six thousand males, assembled on Thursday. To crown all

the confusion, there appeared nearly a thousand Badagas armed with

new mamotis (spades). They came on dancing for some distance, rushed

into the crowd, and danced round the car. These Badagas belonged

to a gang of public works, local fund, and municipal maistries. On

the last day a sheep was slaughtered in honour of the deity. The

musicians throughout the festivities were Kotas and Kurumbas. The

dancing of the men of three score showed that they danced to music,

and the stepping was admirable, while the dancing of young men did not

show that they had any idea of dancing, or either taste or knowledge

of music. They were merely skipping and jumping. This shows that the

old art of the Badaga dance is fast decaying." The cot is eventually

burnt at the burning-ground, as if it contained a corpse.

A kind of edible truffle (Mylitta lapidescens) is known as little

man's bread on the Nilgiris. The Badaga legendary name for it is

Pandva-unna-buthi, or dwarf bundle of food, [85] i.e., food of the

dwarfs, who are supposed once to have inhabited the Nilgiris and

built the pandu kulis or kistvaens.

The story goes that Lord Elphinstone, a former Governor of Madras,

was anxious to build a residence at Kaiti. But the Badagas, who had

on the desired site a sacred tree, would not part with the land. The

Governor's steward succeeded in making the Badaga headman drunk,

and secured, for a rental of thirty-five rupees annually, the site,

whereon a villa was built, which now belongs to the Basel Mission. [86]

In a recent work, [87] Mr. A. H. Keane, in a note on the "Dravidian

Aborigines," writes as follows. "All stand on the very lowest

rung of the social ladder, being rude hillmen without any culture

strictly so called, and often betraying marked negroid characters,

as if they were originally Negroes or Negritos, later assimilated

in some respects to their Dravidian conquerors. As they never had

a collective racial name, they should now be called, not Dravidians

or proto-Dravidians, but rather pre-Dravidians, as more collectively

indicating their true ethnical relations. Such are the Kotas, Irulas,

Badagas, and Kurumbas." It may be pointed out that the Badagas and

Kotas of the Nilgiri plateau are not "wild tribes," have no trace of

negroid characters, and no affinities with the Kurumbas and Irulas

of the Nilgiri slopes. The figures in the following table speak for

themselves:--

=========+=======================+======================

| Stature. | Nasal Index.

+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+======

| A | B | C | D | E | F

=========+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+======

Badaga | 164.1 | 180.2 | 159.9 | 75.6 | 88.4 | 62.7

Kota | 162.9 | 174.2 | 155. | 77.2 | 92.9 | 64.

Irula | 159.8 | 168. | 152. | 84.9 | 100. | 72.3

Kurumba | 157.5 | 163.6 | 149.6 | 88.8 | 111. | 79.1

=========+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+======

Column Headers: A = Average cm. B = Maximum cm.

C = Minimum cm. D = Average. E = Maximum. F = Minimum.

Badagi.--The carpenter sub-division of Panchalas.

Badhoyi.--The Badhoyis are Oriya carpenters and blacksmiths, of whom

the former are known as Badhoyi, and the latter as Komaro. These

are not separate castes, and the two sections both interdine and

intermarry. The name Badhoyi is said to be derived from the Sanskrit

vardhaki, which, in Oriya, becomes bardhaki, and indicates one who

changes the form, i.e., of timber. Korti, derived from korto, a saw,

occurs as the name of a section of the caste, the members of which

are wood-sawyers. Socially, the Badhoyis occupy the same position as

Doluvas, Kalinjis, and various other agricultural classes, and they

do not, like the Tamil Kammalans, claim to be Viswakarma Brahmans,

descended from Viswakarma, the architect of the gods.

The hereditary headman is called Maharana, and, in some places,

there seem to be three grades of Maharana, viz., Maharana, Dondopato

Maharana, and Swangso Maharana. These headmen are assisted by a

Bhollobhaya or Dolobehara, and there is a further official called

Agopothiria, whose duty it is to eat with an individual who is

re-admitted into the caste after a council meeting. This duty is

sometimes performed by the Maharana. Ordinary meetings of council

are convened by the Maharana and Bhollobhaya. But, if a case of a

serious nature is to be tried, a special council meeting, called kulo

panchayat, is held in a grove or open space outside the village. All

the Maharanas and other officers, and representatives of five castes

(panchapatako) equal or superior to the Badhoyis in the social scale,

attend such a council. The complainant goes to the Swangso Maharana,

and, giving him fifty areca nuts, asks him to convene the council

meeting. Punishment inflicted by the caste council usually assumes the

form of a fine, the amount of which depends on the worldly prosperity

of the delinquent, who, if very indigent, may be let off with a

reprimand and warning. Sometimes offences are condoned by feeding

Brahmans or the Badhoyi community. Small sums, collected as fines,

are appropriated by the headman, and large sums are set apart towards

a fund for meeting the marriage expenses of the poorer members of

the caste, and the expenditure in connection with kulo panchayats.

Concerning the marriage ceremonies, Mr. D. Mahanty writes as

follows. "At a marriage among the Badhoyis, and various other castes in

Ganjam, two pith crowns are placed on the head of the bridegroom. On

his way to the bride's house, he is met by her purohit (priest) and

relations, and her barber washes his feet, and presents him with a new

yellow cloth, flowers, and kusa grass (also called dharbha grass). When

he arrives at the house, amid the recitations of stanzas by the priest,

the blowing of conch shells and other music, the women of the bride's

party make a noise called hulu-huli, and shower kusa grass over him. At

the marriage booth, the bridegroom sits upon a raised 'altar,' and

the bride, who arrives accompanied by his maternal uncle, pours salt,

yellow-coloured rice, and parched paddy (rice) over the head of the

bridegroom, by whose side she seats herself. One of the pith crowns

is removed from the bridegroom's forehead, and placed on that of the

bride. Various Brahmanical rites are then performed, and the bride's

father places her hand in that of the bridegroom. A bundle of straw

is now placed on the altar, on which the contracting parties sit, the

bridegroom facing east, and the bride west. The purohit rubs a little

jaggery over the bridegroom's right palm, joins it to the palm of the

bride, and ties their two hands together with a rope made of kusa grass

(hasthagonti). A yellow cloth is tied to the cloths which the bridal

pair are wearing, and stretched over their shoulders (gontiyala). The

hands are then untied by a married woman. Sradha is performed for the

propitiation of ancestors, and the purohit, repeating some mantrams

(prayers), blesses the pair by throwing yellow rice over them. On the

sixth day of the ceremony, the bridegroom runs away from the house of

his father-in-law, as if he was displeased, and goes to the house of

a relation in the same or an adjacent village. His brother-in-law,

or other male relation of the bride, goes in search of him, and,

when he has found him, rubs some jaggery over his face, and brings

him back." As an example of the stanzas recited by the purohit,

the following may be cited:--

I have presented with my mind and word, and also with kusa grass

and water.

The witnesses of this are fire, Brahmans, women, relations,

and all the devatas.

Forgive this presentable faithful maid.