36 Wilber Theodore Elmore 



them in a man's back is undoubtedly carried out, if the police are 

 not too near.^ 



In the evening the sports still continue, this time a Madiga be- 

 ing disguised as a warrior. He enacts scenes from the Purana, 

 his chief feat being to cut off a pith post with a sword. After 

 this he leaps and dances about the temple while the shopkeepers 



® See Oppert, Original Inhabitants of India, pp. 477, 481. On hook- 

 swinging in Madura District, Mrs. J. S. Chandler sends the following in- 

 teresting information. " Hook swinging was done in honor of the god- 

 dess Mariamman, goddess of smallpox and cholera. The swinging took 

 place in Sholanandan, about twelve miles from Madura, and has not oc- 

 curred since 1892. In J. S. Chandler's Seventy- five Years in the Madura 

 Mission, page 16, is this paragraph. ' Hook swinging was practised in 

 the first part of the nineteenth century. In 1856 the collector forbade it, 

 but it was revived and stopped two or three times after that. In 1868 

 it was publicly revived with the consent of the government, and in many 

 places was celebrated by great festivals and vast crowds of spectators. 

 It so happened, however, that in that same year the Governor of Madras, 

 Lord Napier of Merchistown, visited Madura. Mr. Chandler secured 

 the knives and hooks used in the swinging of one of the men, and showed 

 them to His Excellency. This led to the suppression of the practice for 

 the time. The last time it was publicly revived in the District was in the 

 years 1891-2.' 



" In the Madura Gazetteer, page 324, Mr. Francis speaks of a village by 

 the name of Virapandi where there is a shrine to Mariamman, and adds, 

 ' Ward's Survey account of 1821 says that in those days hook-swinging 

 took place at this shrine. Another village in the district where the cere- 

 mony was once regularly performed is Nallamaram in the Tirumangalam 

 taluq. The last swinging occurred there only a dozen years ago.' This 

 book was published in 1906. It is strange that the author did not know 

 about Sholanandan, which was famous for this ceremony. 



" Mr. Chandler saw the last hook-swinging. The man did not seem to 

 mind it, and when he was let down said he would go around again if 

 they would give him a present ! While the man was swinging, the car on 

 which the swinging pole was erected was dragged around the temple. 

 The ceremony has not taken place since this time. It was performed to 

 get rain, good crops, and general prosperity. The man was chosen by 

 lot, the right to swing being confined to certain families only. Young 

 men only would be selected. It was considered an honor and a privilege 

 to be chosen, and for several months after the swinging the young man 

 received money from bazaar men and others by showing the knife and 

 hooks. He was probably under the influence of liquor when he was 

 swung." 



36 



