222 



MANUAL OF THE NILAGIEI DISTRICT. 



Ethnology. 



— Toreas 

 — Kurabaras 



Mode of life, 



Music and 

 song. 



CHAP. IX, live exclusively in the Todanad, the Mari, the Khasiuri, who live 

 PART V. at Kaity and are also called Gangaluru and whom Mr. Metz 

 regards as VelMlas, the Dumas, the Gonajas, and the Manika 

 or gem caste. The origin of this name I have been unable to 

 trace. 



There are two castes of Velldlas scattered in diiferent districts, 

 as well as the Toreas or lowest class, and the Kumhararu or 

 potters. These last occupy two villages near Kalhatti, and are 

 probably the same caste as the Kumbararu of Mysore. They 

 do not intermarry with other Badagas, which seems to point to 

 their being late arrivals. It was a Torea ^ chief who sought to 

 marry the maiden who was rescued by Vijaya, the founder of the 

 Mysore house. 



Their villages form a pleasing contrast to those of the other 

 tribes, although they are by no means so picturesque as the mands 

 of the Todas. Their long rows of neatly thatched or tiled houses 

 stand in the midst of smiling fields of korali and s4mi, and are 

 surrounded by well-stocked farm yards. They have an air of 

 thriving industry which is very characteristic ; for the Badagas 

 are becoming a comparatively wealthy race, thanks to their 

 industrious habits. As the men constantly leave their villages to 

 work in the nearest coffee plantations, much of the labor 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 Eupees 

 150 or Rupees 200 as dowry for his wife. 



They are a gentle, light-hearted race, as any one will testify who 

 has heard their ringing laughter as they wind their way in Indian 

 file along any of the numerous paths which intersect the sholas 

 or climb the hills about Ootacamand. On the afternoon of the 

 market day especially large parties of them may be seen returning 

 to their villages laden with fairings, the foremost man in the row 

 relating some incident in a stentorian voice for the benefit of the 

 rest, who show their attention by an occasional grunt, as they jog 

 along, and their appreciation of his wit by a chorus of laughter. 



They are fond of music and song ; their tunes are quaint and 

 original and, when heard from a distance, have an uncultured 

 sweetness about them in keeping with the soft coloring and wild 

 beauty of the scenery of the land which is their home. They 

 have many ballads of great length, which are sung to a monotonous 

 kind of chant, and are an endless source of amusement, judging 

 by the eagerness with which a Badaga audience listens to them. 

 They are divided into stanzas of unequal length, and when a 

 ' break ' occurs, or the performer pauses to take breath, the 



1 An account of this caste -will be found in Bichanan. 



