1838.] 



Topographical Report on the Neilgherries, 



115 



Koters, and the following day the body is taken out of the village, and 

 burned with such cloths and jewels as may be on It ; the liiird day the 

 pile is extinguished with water, the jewels taken from the cisbes, and 

 the bones buried. The relatives of the deceased .shave Iheir heads, and 

 after taking refreshments in the house, separate. On whatever day the 

 death may have occurred, Monday is fixed upon for the performance of 

 the second ceremony ; when the fiiends and relations of the deceased as- 

 semble together in a house built for the i)urpose. A quantity of rice, 

 boiled with avaray, or country beans, is first placed in the middle of 

 the floor, and then on the top of the roof, after which it is thrown 

 away the people then wash themselves, and return to the house of 

 the deceased, and partake of refreshments. Within six years after 

 the second ceremony, the relations of the deceased perform the third 

 ceremoay, called munmalla^ which is always celebrated in the month 

 of March, and commences on a Monday. The day being appointed, 

 and the articles required collected, viz. rice, dhal, ghee, curry stuflT, 

 opium and tobacco,, all their friends are invited, and assemble in a 

 liouse built at the expense of the community for this purpose, in which 

 all the above articles are placed. A cage is built in front of the house, 

 and covered over with cloths of various colours, so as to be four times 

 us showy as those used at the first ceremony. All the people, men, 

 women and children, enjoy themselves in eating, dancing and singing, 

 till the following Monday^ when the cage is destroyed. 



The annual cereraoRy to their Mahalingum^ or idol, is performed in 

 the season for reaping. The temple is thatched anew, the walls and 

 floor are cleaned and repaired on Sunday, and on the following Mon- 

 day the Coirumber of the district is sent for to reap a handful of the 

 produce, which is hung in front of the temple, and some water, in 

 which some bark from a tree had been soaked, is poured on the idol. 

 Plantains and flowers are then offered up, with prayers, to preserve them 

 from sickness. Afterwards, should sickness occur, no medicines are used. 



Their children are never taught to read or write any languMge. One 

 man,, from having frequented gentlemen's houses, has learned from the 

 servants to read, w'rite, and speak the tamil language. 



Their clothing in general consists of coarse tlnck white cotton cloth. 

 The men have a piece of cloth for the head, another for the body, and 

 a lungooty ; the women wear a kind of petticoat of the same stuff, 

 which extends from above the breast down to the knees, and is sus- 

 pended by a string. They wash their own cloths, but they never ap- 

 pear clean. A few of them eat mutton, but beef is never maile use of. 



The Burgher caste consists of three or four grades, who do not in- 

 termarry, but their habits, ceremonies, &c. are much the same. 



