214 
ON THE ORIGINAL tN HABITANTS 
a thousand feet ; wielding a thousand clubs, a thousand shafts, 
holding the shell, the discus, the mace, and bearing a blazing 
bow and battle-axe." ^'^^ It is now, I believe, impossible to 
decide whether the Virabhadra of the Kurumbas represents 
a national, or is a Hindu diyinity. According to our MS, 
the Kurumbas have no national worship, but revere only one 
deity whom they call Vira, Viralu, or Virabhadra. His feast 
is celebrated once a year, on new moon day of the Tamil 
month Tai, or about January. The idol is kept shut up in a 
box in a special room during the whole remaining time of the 
year. On the anniversary of the festival the box is reverently 
opened and the idol, which is made of brass, is taken out of it. 
The image is about a span long, and is placed in an upright 
position on a cloth spread over the floor, after it has been 
thoroughly cleaned with tamarind juice and well washed. 
The figure of the idol is then dressed in clothes, and 
flowers are placed on its head. Incense is burnt in front of 
it. Some raw rice is then cooked with milk and water in 
a new earthen pot, and presented to the idol on a plantain 
leaf. Plantains, betel-leaf and nuts, are besides offered, and 
cocoanuts are broken in its honor. After the ceremony 
is over, the idol is carried back to its usual place, and the 
people sit down to their meals. The feast lasts three con- 
fiecutive days, but eight days before its commencement the 
worshippers take an oil bath, abstain from all sensual enjoy- 
ments, prepare their food in clean unprofaned vessels, do 
not eat flesh but bathe daily. He who has observed aU the 
prescriptions most conscientiously, is placed in front of the 
idol, and the cocoanuts are broken on his head. The man 
who breaks the cocoanut, keeps it. If the man's head 
begins to bleed by the breaking of the cocoanuts, he is 
suspected of having committed some offence, and thus to 
have incurred pollution. He must bathe again, and the trial 
with the cocoanuts is repeated a second time. If his head 
1-8 See H. H. Wilsou'a Fishnii Fiaam, vol. I, pp. I'JS-loi. 
