142 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
The Lay-KuTgs were formerly a warlike race, but the 
long years of peace and security have to a certain extent 
softened their manners. Still they are strong and brave, 
and though now not called upon to face hostile armies, they 
courageously encounter the wild and fierce beasts which 
infest their woods and mountains. 
Their acknowledged bravery and the loyalty they dis- 
played towards Government secured to the Kurgs the dis- 
tinction of being exempted from the provisions of the 
Disarming Act after the suppression of the Great Mutiny. 
It has been asserted that polyandry exists, or has existed, 
among the Kodagas, and though this practice has probably 
become extinct in more recent times, there is no reason for 
supposing that it did not once exist. Polyandry is a custom 
peculiar to the Gauda-Dravidian tribes, and is still found 
among certain races. The households of the Kodagas, in 
which two or three, perhaps even four, generations live 
together, have been likened to those of the five Pandavas. 
having degenerated by degrees, and being at last carried away by the Turks, 
they ceased to put on the holy cord, and began to -wear the common Coorg 
dress. But it appears to me, that the truth differs much from the current 
statement. I suppose, that they wore the Uoorg-dress originally, knew 
nothing of Brahmanical pretensions and badges, and differed in nothing 
from their brethren, except their selection for the priestly oflSce. In more 
recent times they seem to have inclined towards the proffered patronage of 
the Brahmans, and to have gradually dropped into Brahmanical habits of 
thought and life. A good many now wear the holy cord, having laid 
aside the dress of their country, and all profess to abstain from meat and 
fermented liquors. This return to Brahmanical initiation and dress was 
brought about by a Havig-a Brahman, the late Karnika, Timappaya. His 
family still exercise spiritual rule over the Amma Kodagas. who appear to 
delight in the shade of Brahmanical patronage. 4 They have no Shastra. 
The whole Coorg race was unlettered from the beginning. Their own priest- 
hood also, like the priests of ancient Germany and Britain, had no need of 
books." Mr. Lewis Rice's statements, loco citato, pp. 227, 22S, coincide with 
those of Sir. Moegling. The Rev. G. Richter gives in his Ethnographical 
Compendium the following description of the Amma Kochigas on p. 21 : " The 
Amma Coorgs form but a small and exclusive sect. They are said to have 
been the indigenous pricsthooii, but there is no distinct priesthood attached 
to demon worship. The Coorgs being demon worshippers can have had no 
priesthood in the Bi-ahmanical sense and the Amma Coorgs may rather be 
considered as ha%-ing been, like the Ajjala Pa.'uas. the officiating rujurii at 
