22G 



MANUAL OP THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



CHAP. IX, 

 PART V. 



Ethnology. 



Temples. 



The Lingayat priests from Gundelpetta pay a pastoral visit 

 to the Badagas of the hills every two or three years, for which 

 they receive a present of a cow or an ox. 



There are some hundreds of deities in the Hills, some of their 

 shrines being merely ruins of cromlechs or houses, but the 

 following are the principal shrines and idols : — The list is from 

 Mr. Metz. 



Knl-Kamharaya, or the stone pillar god. 



Koriaraya, a rusty knife preserved in the village of Jacka- 

 neri, and supposed to have belonged to a man who committed 

 suicide by leaping from St. Catherine's Fall. 



Kariabettaraya, a silver figure representing a charitable 

 Badaga of the AdhikAri caste, now deceased. 



Hiriadeva and Hette, a Badaga and his wife. The latter com- _ 

 mitted suicide when her husbaud died, and both are worshipped. 

 Other Badaga women emulating the example of Hette have 

 received the same honors, notably one called Manikamma. 



Mdhddesivara, an image of Siva copied from the one at Nanjana- 

 gudi, called Nanjanda. 



Rama, or Rangasdmi, is worshipped at only two places; at 

 Rangasami's Peak, where the officiating priest is an Irula, and at 

 Hiilikal Drug, there the priest is a Badaga and wears the Vishnu 

 mark. 



Yernasdmi, a refractory chief from Coimbatore, who took 

 refuge in the Nilagiris and was betrayed by the Badagas and 

 cursed them for their treachery. 



Jedeasdmiy a god said to have appeared to a Lingayat. He 

 is supposed to make the hair gi-ow. 



Ketaraya, a gold nose-ring, a god worshipped by the Toreas. 



Betasdmi, a god of sport. 



Oangamma, who presides at every stream. The T6das also 

 TVorship this deity. 



Kahkaraya, the god of vomiting, who is frequently fro])itiated 

 by an offering of a quarter rupee. 



Virahhataraya, a granite image well carved and supposed to 

 have been brought by the ancestors of the Badagas from Mysore. 



The principal temples are the Hette Kovil in the Peranganad, 

 two dedicated to the Mdhdlingaadvii at Ten ad in the Peranga- 

 nid, and at Melur in the Mekanad, Jedeasami's temple at 

 Nidunk.uum in the Peranganad, Hiriasdmi temples, one at 

 Kuddanad in the Todanad and the one at Melur. 



There are also three others dedicated to gods not included in 

 the above list, one to Kariabettaraya at Athiyarhatti in the 

 Mekanad, oneto BarigandthaSit Kurrachawadi in the Mekandd, and 



