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MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



CHAP. IX, 

 PART III. 



Ethnology. 



Rites and 

 Ceremonies. 

 — Birth and 

 Marriage. 



Kuribattri-aya (lord of many sheep) and the wife of Siva under the 

 name of Musni. They worship also a rough round stone under the 

 name of Hiriadeva, setting it up either in a cave or in a circle of 

 stones like the so-called " Kurumba Kovi^" of the Badagas, which the 

 latter would seem to have borrowed from the Karumbas ; to this they 

 make puja, and offer cooked rice at the sowing time. They also pro- 

 fess to sacrifice to Hiriadeva a goat, which they kill at their own 

 hf>uses, after sprinkling water, and eat, giving a portion of the flesh 

 to the pujari- Others say they have no pujari ; among such a scattered 

 tribe customs probably vary in each motta. They do not consider the 

 stone as a Iwgam, although they profess to be Saivites They make 

 no -ptvja at home. They profess some small caste scruple, and will not 

 eat with any tribe but the Badagas ; but they will accept uncooked 

 food from Todas, though not from Kotas. — Beeeks. 



They are very much dreaded as sorcerers by all the tribes 

 except the Todas. As these have some pretension to being 

 workers in the black art too and are probably in a measure behind 

 the scenes they do not appear to have any fear of their witch- 

 craft. It is a curious fact that neither Kota^ Irula, or Badaga 

 will slay a Kurumba until a Toda has struck the first blow; but 

 so soon as his sanctity has been violated by a blow they hasten 

 to complete the murderous work which the sacred hand of a Toda 

 has begun. I am not aware of any attempt ever having been 

 made on the life of a Toda by either Kurumbas or other hill men. 

 They probably owe this immunity to their general benevolence. 

 The Badagas, on the contrai'y, are in such fear of them that one of 

 their tribe has been known to die of terror merely from meeting 

 a Kurumba in a lonely place ; nevertheless they recognize their 

 services on many occasions, for example, to turn the first sod at 

 the ploughing, to reap the first sheaf at the harvest. They, like 

 the Pareiyar of the low country, enjoy some privileges which seem 

 to have come down to them from a time when they were the occu- 

 pants of the land who had to be propitiated by immigrant tribes. 

 The following extract from an article in the ''Antiquary" by 

 Mr. Walhouse, quoted by Dr. Caldwell, forcibly expresses this : — 



" It is well known," he writes, " that the servile caste of Southern 

 India once held far higher positions, and were indeed masters of 

 the land on the arrival of the Brahminical races. Many curious 

 vestiges of their ancient power still sui'vive in the shape of certain 

 privileges, which are jealously cherished, and, their origin being 

 forgotten, are much misunderstood. These privileges are remarkable 

 instances of survivals from an extinct order of society — shadows of 

 a long-departed supremacy, bearing witness to a period when the 

 present haughty high caste races were suppliants before the ancestors 

 of degraded classes, whose touch is now regarded as pollution." 



They have no ceremony to celebrate the birth of a child, and 

 their marriages are contracted without any early betrothal or any 



