216 



MANUAL OP THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



CHAP. IX, 

 PART IV. 



Ethnology. 



Dwellings. 



Religion. 



more they may require to the Badagas, with whom they barter 

 wood, honey, bees^ wax, and other forest produce. 



Their method of preparing their food is thus described in 

 Captain Harkness^ account of the Nilagiris : — 



" Each morning they pluck as much as they think they may 

 require for the use of that day, kindle a fire upon the nearest large 

 stone or fragment of rock, and when it is well heated, brush away 

 the embers and scatter the grain upon it, which, soon becoming 

 parched and dry, is then readily reduced to meal. This part of 

 the process over, or as soon as the rock has cooled, the parched giain, 

 which in the meantime has been partially cleansed of the husk, is, 

 with the assistance of a smaller stone, rubbed into meal, mixed up 

 with water, and made into cakes. The stone is heated a S(5Cond 

 time, and the cakes are put on it to bake ; or, where they have met 

 with a stone which has a little concavity, they will, after heating it 

 the second time, fill the hollow with water, and with this, when 

 warmed, they mix up the meal and form a sort of porridge. In this 

 way the tvhole of the family, their friends, and neighbours will live 

 till all the grain has been consumed, and it seems to be considered 

 among them as superlative meanness to reserve any, either for seed or 

 future nourishment." 



Of late years they have mixed more with civilized tribes, and 

 some are to be found among the coolies on coffee plantations. 

 They will only eat with the Badagas. 



Their houses are made of split bamboo interwoven like basket- 

 work and plastered with mud inside, without any attempts at 

 ornament. 



The Irulas have two temples, which have a general interest 

 apparently for all the tribes, one on Rangasami's Peak dedi- 

 cated to Vishnu under the name of Rangasami. They are only 

 circles of rough stones, each enclosing an upright one, with iron 

 tridents fixed in the ground. They are called dodda and chikka, 

 the great and the little. The pujari or priest is an Irula, and 

 he wears the Vishnu mark on his forehead. Although the 

 Badagas are for the most part Sivaites, they come in large numbers 

 to these temples once a year about sowing time, and make offer- 

 ings of plantains, milk, &c., to the god. No animals are 

 sacrificed. In a cave on the hill there is earth regarded as holy, 

 which is much valued by worshippers. 



There is also a temple at Kallampalla in the Sattiamangalam 

 Taluq near Devanaikenkota, where an Irula priest officiates, but 

 this one is dedicated to Siva. In this temple there is a stone 

 called Mariamma or Mariatha, a form of Dilrga, the goddess of 

 small-pox. To her they make offerings of goats and cocks. A 

 sheep is sometimes sacrificed. Irulas make no piija in their 

 homes, and seem to have very vague ideas even of the Hinduism 

 they profess. Having paid the pujari two annas for each 

 village once a year, their coji.sciences are at rest. 



