MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 227 



one to KaffaJcal Mariavimen, probably the small-pox goddess, at CHAP. IX, 

 Shdlilr in the Todanad. part v. 



As far as I can learn, no special ceremonies are usual on the ethnology. 



birth of a child among' the Badag-as. In this they seem to „. ■ 7 



resemble ordinary Hindus. Their marriages, too, are contracted Ceremonies. 



without any especial rites. The looseness of the marriage tie 



among them may in part account for this. A time of probation 



is permitted after marriage, during which either husband or wife 



may change their minds. It is not unusual for a Badaga to form 



a temporary alliance with two or more young women, sending them 



back to their parents when he is tired of them, or even turning 



them out of doors before he settles down in earnest with a wife for 



life. A little feasting and the music of the Kotas is all the 



display that most of the castes indulge in. The Wodeas and 



Toreas alone employ a priest to perform some marriage ceremonies 



and make offerings to the gods. They also erect a rustic pandal, 



hung with garlands, under which the bride and the bridegroom 



take their seat, while the women sing songs and betel-nut is 



handed round. Feasting and dancing to the music of the Kotas 



concludes the marriage rites. 



Their funerals ai'e far more elaborate. Their forms begin 

 before life is extinct and continue for several days. When a man 

 or a woman is pronounced hopelessly ill, a small gold coin, worth 

 quarter rupee and called a Birian hanna, is dipped in ghee and 

 placed between his lips. If he can swallow it all the better ; if not, 

 it is tied to his arm, for it is intended to go with him on his long 

 journey to pay his expenses until he has crossed the bridge of 

 thread which leads to the next world. 'When the end has come, 

 messengers are sent in all directions to summon the friends of the 

 deceased, to call from the villages far and near the Kota musicians, 

 and to bring in wood and branches from the neighbouring sholas. 

 A funeral car, a tower-like structure, is made close to the house of 

 the deceased and hung with cloth. When it is ready the body is 

 brought out on a cot and placed under it. 



Strangely enough, the Kotas are employed as at a Tdda funeral 

 in making bows and arrows which are laid on the bier, though a 

 long time must have elapsed since the Badagas have possessed, 

 much less used, any weapon of war or of the chase. The hoe and 

 other tools of the deceased are also placed beside him, with his 

 walking stick and flute. In the case of a woman, a rice-beater is 

 substituted as being a more fitting emblem of her duties when alive, 

 although she has generally a claim to the agricultural implements 

 as well. On the following morning, when a large number of people 

 have assembled, the death dance begins. It continues until 

 sim-set, growing wilder and wilder as the day draws towards its 

 close. The near relations of the dead do not join in it, but walk 



