Gābit.—A Bombay fishing caste returned at the census, 1901. To Malpe in the South Canara district, during the fishing season, come fishermen with a flotilla of keeled and outrigged sailing boats from Ratnagiri in the Bombay Presidency. Hither also come fishermen from Goa. The reasons given by the Ratnagiri fishermen for coming southward are that fish are not so abundant off their own coast, competition is keener, and salt more expensive. Moreover, the crystals of Bombay salt are too large for successful curing, and “do not agree with the fish, of which the flesh is turned black.” If, they said contemptuously, they were to sun-dry fish by the local method, their people would laugh at them for bringing back, not fish, but dried cow-dung for fuel. The Ratnagiri boats go well out of sight of land to the fishing ground, where they catch seir, pomfret, cat-fish (Arius), and other big fish near the surface, and sharks in deeper water. If the fishing is not good near Malpe, they may go south as far as Mangalore. To the Ratnagiri fishermen the seir (Cybium) is the most valuable and lucrative fish. Under existing arrangements, by which clashing of interests is avoided, the fishery at Malpe is divided into two zones, viz., the deep sea fished by the large Ratnagiri boats, and the shallow littoral water by the smaller local and Goa boats.Gadaba.—The Gadabas are a tribe of agriculturists, coolies, and hunters in the Vizagapatam district. Hunting is said to be gradually decreasing, as many of the forests are now preserved, and shooting without alicense is forbidden. Men sometimes occupy themselves in felling trees, catching birds and hares, and tracking and beating game for sportsmen. The Gadabas are also employed as bearers in the hills, and carry palanquins. There is a settlement of them on the main road between Sembliguda and Koraput, in a village where they are said to have been settled by a former Rāja expressly for such service. It is said that the Gadabas will not touch a horse, possibly because they are palanquin-bearers, and have the same objection to the rival animal that a cabman has for a motor-car.There is a tradition that the tribe owes its name to the fact that its ancestors emigrated from the banks of the Godābari (Godāvari) river, and settled at Nandapur, the former capital of the Rājas of Jeypore. The Gadabas have a language of their own, of which a vocabulary is given in the Vizagapatam Manual. This language is included by Mr. G. A. Grierson1in the Mundā linguistic family.The tribe is apparently divided into five sections, called Bodo (big) or Gutōb, Pārenga, Olāro, Kaththiri or Kaththara, and Kāpu. Of these, the last two are settled in the plains, and say that they are Bodo and Olāro Gadabas who migrated thither from the hills. As among the Gadabas, so among the Savaras, there is a section which has settled on the plains, and adopted Kāpu as its name. In the Madras Census Report, 1891, nearly a thousand Gadabas are returned as belonging to the Chenchu sub-division. Chenchu is the name of a separate jungle tribe in the Telugu country, and I have been unable to confirm the existence of a Chenchu sub-division among the Gadabas.In the Madras Census Report, 1871, Mr. H. G. Turner states that “very much akin to the Gadabas are a class called Kerang Kāpus. They will not admit any connexion with them; but, as their language is almost identical, such gainsaying cannot be permitted them. They are called Kerang Kāpu from the circumstance of their women weaving cloths, which they weave from the fibre of a jungle shrub called Kerang (Calotropis gigantea).” Mr. H. A. Stuart remarks2that “the Kāpu Gadabas are possibly the Kerang Kāpus mentioned by Mr. Turner as akin to the Gadabas, for I find no mention of the caste under the full name of Kerang Kāpu, nor is Kerang found as a sub-division of either Kāpu or Gadaba.” Writing concerning the numeral system of the Kerang Kāpus, Mr. Turner observes that it runs thus: Moi, Umbar, Jugi, O, Malloi, Turu, Gū, Tammar, Santing, Goa, and for eleven (1 and following numbers), they prefix the word Go,e.g., Gommoi, Gombāro, etc. The Kerang Kāpus can count up to nineteen, but have no conception of twenty. According to Mr. W. Francis, the only tribe on the hills which has this system of notation is the Bonda Poraja. The Gadabas have very similar names for the first five numerals; but, after that, lapse into Oriya,e.g., sāt, āt, nō, das, etc. The Bonda Poraja numerals recorded by Mr. Francis are mūyi, baar, gii, oo, moloi, thiri, goo, thamām, and so on up to nineteen, after which they cannot count. This system, as he points out, agrees with the one described by Mr. Turner as belonging to the Kerang Kāpus. The Gutōb Gadaba numerals recorded by Mr. C. A. Henderson include muititti (1 + a hand), and martitti (2 + a hand).Some Gadaba women wear a bustle or dress improver, called irrē or kittē. This article of attire is accounted for by the following tradition. “A goddess visited a Gadaba villageincognito, and asked leave of one of the women to rest on a cot. She was brusquely told that the proper seat for beggars was the floor, and she consequently decreed that thenceforth all Gadaba women should wear a bustle to remind them to avoid churlishness.”3The Gadaba female cloths are manufactured by themselves from cotton thread and the fibre of silloluvāda or ankudi chettu (Holarrhena antidysenterica) and bōda luvāda or bodda chettu (Ficus glomerata). The fibre is carefully dried, and dyed blue or reddish-brown. The edges of the cloth are white, a blue strip comes next, while the middle portion is reddish-brown with narrow stripes of white or blue at regular intervals. The Gadabas account for the dress of their women by the following legend. When Rāma, during his banishment, was wandering in the forests of Dandaka, his wife Sīta accompanied him in spite of his entreaties to the contrary. It was one of the cruel terms of his stepmother Kaika that Rāma should wear only clothing made from jungle fibre, before leaving the capital. According to the Hindu religion, a virtuous wife must share both the sorrows and joys of her lord. Consequently Sīta followed the example of Rāma, and wore the same kind of clothing. They then left the capital amidst the loud lamentation of the citizens. During their wanderings, they met some Gadaba women, who mocked and laughed at Sīta. Whereupon she cursed them, and condemned them to wear no other dress but the cloth made of fibre. In a note on theGadabas,4Mr. L. Lakshminarayan writes that “although mill-prepared cloths are fast replacing house-spun cloths in all communities, yet, in the case of the Gadabas, there is a strong superstition which prevents the use of cloths prepared outside, particularly in regard to the cloths worn by their women. The legend (about Sīta) is fully believed by the Gadabas, and hence their religious adherence to their particular cloth. At the time of marriage, it is absolute that the Gadaba maiden should wear this fibre-made cloth, else misfortune will ruin the family. A bundle of twigs is brought, and the stems freed of leaves are bruised and twisted to loosen the bark, and are then dried for two or three days, after which the bark is ripped out and beaten down smooth with heavy sticks, to separate the bark from the fibre. The fibre is then collected, and combed down smooth, and spun into a tolerably fine twist. It is this twist that the Gadaba maiden weaves in her crude loom, and prepares from it her marriage sāri. According to a good custom among these people, a Gadaba maiden must learn to weave her cloths before she becomes eligible for marriage. And no Gadaba ever thinks of marrying a wife who cannot prepare her own cloths. Men can use cotton and other cloths, whereas women cannot do so, for they are under the curse of Sīta. But the passion for fineries in woman is naturally so strong that the modern Gadaba woman is now taking the liberty of putting cotton thread for the woof and ankudu fibre for the warp, and thus is able to turn out a more comfortable and finer cloth. But some old crones informed me that this mixed cloth is not so auspicious as that prepared wholly from the fibre.”Some Gadaba women wear immense earrings made of long pieces of brass wire wound into a circle, which hang down from a hole in the ear, and sometimes reach to the shoulders. The wire is sold in the shandy (market) at so much a cubit. The head-dress of some of the women consists of a chaplet ofOlivashells, and strings of beads of various sizes and colours, or the red and black berries ofAbrus precatorius, with pendants which hang over the forehead. The women also wear bead necklaces, to which a coin may sometimes be seen attached as a pendant. Bracelets and rings are as a rule made of brass or copper, but sometimes silver rings are worn. Toe-rings and brass or silver anklets are considered fashionable ornaments. Among the Olāro Gadabas, the wearing of brass anklets by a woman indicates that she is married. For teaching backward children to walk, the Gadabas employ a bamboo stick split so as to make a fork, the prongs of which are connected by a cross-bar. The apparatus is held by the mother, and the child, clutching the cross-bar, toddles along.Among the Bodo and Olāro sections, the following septs occur:—Kōra (sun), Nāg (cobra), Bhāg (tiger), Kīra (parrot), and Gollāri (monkey). The Gadabas who have settled in the plains seem to have forgotten the sept names, but will not injure or kill certain animals,e.g., the cobra.Girls are as a rule married after puberty. When a young man’s parents think it time for him to get married, they repair to the home of an eligible girl with rice and liquor, and say that they have come to ask a boon, but do not mention what it is. They are treated to a meal, and return home. Some time afterwards, on a day fixed by the Disāri, three or four aged relatives of the youngman go to the girl’s house, and the match is fixed up. After a meal, they return to their homes. On the day appointed for the wedding ceremonies, the bridegroom’s relations go to the home of the bride, taking with them a rupee towards the marriage expenses, a new cloth for the girl’s mother, and half a rupee for the females of the bride’s village, which is regarded as compensation for the loss of the girl. To the bride are given a glass bead necklace, and brass bangles to be worn on the right wrist. A feast follows. On the following day, the bride is conducted to the village of the bridegroom, in front of whose home a pandal (booth), made of four bamboo poles, covered with green leaves, has been erected. Within the pandal, stems of the sāl (Shorea robusta), addagirli, and bamboo joined together, are set up as the auspicious post. Beside this a grindstone is placed, on which the bride sits, with the bridegroom seated on her thighs. The females present throw turmeric powder over them, and they are bathed with turmeric-water kept ready in a new pot. They are then presented with new cloths, and their hands are joined together by the officiating Disāri. A feast, with much drinking, follows, and the day’s proceedings conclude with a dance. On the following day, mud is heaped up near the pandal, into which the Disāri throws a handful of it. The remainder of the mud is carried into the pandal by the contracting couple, who pour water over it, and throw it over those who are assembled. All then proceed to a stream, and bathe. A further feast and dance follows, of which the newly married couple are spectators, without taking part in it.In a note on marriage among the Pārenga Gadabas, Mr. G. F. Paddison writes that they have two forms of marriage rite, one of which (bibā) is accompanied bymuch feasting, gifts of bullocks, toddy, rice, etc. The most interesting feature is the fight for the bride with fists. All the men on each side fight, and the bridegroom has to carry off the bride by force. Then they all sit down, and feast together. In the other form (lethulia), the couple go off together to the jungle, and, when they return, pay twenty rupees, or whatever they can afford, to the girl’s father as a fine. A dinner and regular marriage follow elopement and payment of the fine.The ghorojavai system, according to which a man works for a stated period for his future father-in-law, is practiced by the Gadabas. But a cash payment is said to be now substituted for service. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a younger brother may marry the widow of his elder brother. If she does not marry him, the second husband has to pay a sum of money, called in Oriya the rānd tonka, to him. When a man divorces his wife, her relations are summoned, and he pays her two rupees before sending her away. Of this sum, one rupee is paid as buchni for suspicion regarding her chastity, and the other as chatni for driving her away. A divorced woman may remarry.In the hills, the village headman is called Janni or Nāyako, and in the plains Naidādo. He is assisted by a Kīrasāni, who is also the caste priest.Concerning the religion of the Gadabas, Mr. H. D. Taylor writes5that it is “simple, and consists of feasts at stated intervals. The chief festival is Ittakaparva, or hunting feast, in March and April. On this occasion, the whole male population turns out to hunt, and, if they return unsuccessful, the women pelt them with cow-dung on their return to the village; if, however,successful, they have their revenge upon the women in another way. The chief deities (though spoken of generally under the term Dēvata or Mahāprabhu) are Ganga Dēvi or Tākurāni, Iswara or Mouli, Bhairava, and Jhankara. It is Iswara or Mouli who is worshipped at Chaitra. Jhankara is the god of land, rainfall and crops, and a cow is sacrificed to him. There are not, as a rule, temples, but the pūja (worship) place consists of a sacred grove surrounded with a circle of stones, which takes the name of Jhankara from the god to whom pūja is performed. Ganga Dēvi, Iswara and Mouli have temples at certain places, but as a rule there is no building, and the site of pūja is marked by trees and stones. To Iswara a she-buffalo is sacrificed at Chaitra. To the other Dēvatas cocks and goats are sacrificed. Ganga Dēvi or Tākurāni is the goddess of life and health, both of men and cattle; to her pigs, goats, and pigeons are sacrificed. There are one or two curious superstitions. If a member of the caste is supposed to be possessed of a devil, he or she is abused and beaten by other members of the caste until the devil is cast out. In some parts the superstition is that a piece of wild buffalo horn buried in the ground of the village will avert or cure cattle disease.” Sometimes a sāl or kōsangi tree is planted, and surrounded by a bamboo hedge. It is worshipped with animal sacrifices at harvest time, and the Kīrasāni acts as priest.“There is,” Mr. G. F. Paddison writes, “rather a curious custom in connection with a village goddess. Close to her shrine a swing is kept. On this swing, once a year at the great village festival, thorns are placed, and the village priest or priestess sits on them without harm. If the pūjāri is a male, he has been made neuter. But, if the village is not fortunate enoughto possess a eunuch, a woman performs the ceremony. [At the fire-walking ceremony at Nuvagōde in Ganjam, the priest sits on a thorny swing, and is endowed with prophetic powers.] When there is small-pox or other epidemic disease in a village, a little go-cart is built, composed of a box on legs fixed to a small board on wheels. In this box is placed a little clay image, or anything else holy, and carried away to a distant place, and left there. A white flag is hoisted, which looks like quarantine, but is really intended, I think, to draw the goddess back to her shrine. Vaccination is regarded as a religious ceremony, and the Gadabas, I believe, invariably present the vaccinator as the officiating priest with rice.”The Gadabas, like other hill tribes, name their children after the day of the week on which they are born. On the plains, however, some give their children low-country names,e.g., Rāmudu, Lachigadu, Arjanna, etc.Males are, as a rule, burnt; but, if a person dies in the night or on a rainy day, the corpse is sometimes buried. Women and children are usually buried, presumably because they are not thought worth the fuel necessary for cremation. Only relations are permitted to touch a corpse. Death pollution is observed for three days, during which the caste occupation must not be engaged in. Stone slabs are erected to the memory of the dead, and sacrifices are offered to them now and again.The Gadabas have a devil dance, which they are willing to perform before strangers in return for a small present. It has been thus described by Captain Glasfurd.6“At the time of the Dusserah, Hōli, and other holidays,both men and women dance to the music of a fife and drum. Sometimes they form a ring by joining hands all round, and with a long hop spring towards the centre, and then hop back to the full extent of their arms, while they at the same time keep circling round and round. At other times, the women dance singly or in pairs, their hands resting on each other’s wrists. When fatigued, they cease dancing, and sing. A man steps out of the crowd, and sings a verse or twoimpromptu. One of the women rejoins, and they sing at each other for a short time. The point of these songs appears to consist in giving the sharpest rejoinder to each other. The woman reflects upon the man’s ungainly appearance and want of skill as a cultivator or huntsman, and the man retorts by reproaching her with her ugliness and slatternly habits.” In connection with dancing, Mr. Henderson writes that “all the Gadaba dancing I have seen was the same as that of the Porjas, and consisted of a sort of women’s march, at times accompanied by a few men who wander round, and occasionally form a ring through which the line of women passes. Sometimes the men get on each other’s shoulders, and so form a sort of two-storied pyramid. The women’s song is comparatively quite melodious.”In recent years, some Gadabas have emigrated to Assam, to work in the tea-gardens. But emigration has now stopped by edict.For the information contained in this article, I am mainly indebted to notes by Mr. C. A. Henderson, Mr. W. Francis, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao, and the Kumara Rajā of Bobbili.Gādi(cart).—An exogamous sept of Māla.Gādidhē Kandla(donkey’s eyes).—An exogamous sept of Bōya.Gādu.—A common suffix to the name of individuals among various Telugu classes,e.g., Rāmigādu, Subbigādu.Gaduge(throne).—A gōtra of Kurni.Gaita.—A sub-division of Konda Rāzu.Gajjal(a small bell).—A sub-division of Toreya.Gāli.—Gāli or Gālollu, meaning wind, devil, or spirit, is recorded as an exogamous sept of Kamma, Kuruba, and Māla.Gamalla.—The Gamallas are a class of toddy-drawers, and distillers and vendors of arrack in the Telugu country and are supposed to be Īdigas who have bettered themselves, and separated from that caste. Both Gamallas and Īdigas worship the deity Kāttamayya. At the census, 1891, some returned Īdiga as their sub-division. In the Cuddapah district some toddy-drawers style themselves Asilivāndlu. Possibly the Īdiga, Gamalla, and Asili toddy-drawing classes only represent three endogamous sections of a single caste. In the Nellore district, the toddy-drawers style themselves Gamandla or Gavandlavāndlu, and say that they have one gōtra Kaumandlapu or Gaumandlapu. It is probable that the name Gamandla or Gavandla has been coined by Brāhman purōhits, to connect the caste with Kaumandala Mahārishi of the Purānas. The Gamallas say that they were created to draw toddy by the sage Kavundinya, and that they belong to the Gaundla varnam (caste). I am informed that a Purānam, called Gamandla or Gamudi Purānam, has been created. In the social scale, the toddy-drawers appear to occupy a higher position in the Telugu than in the Tamil country, and they are sometimes said to be Telagas or Balijas, who have adopted toddy-drawing as a profession. The more prosperous members of the community are toddyand arrack (liquor) shop-keepers, and the poorer members extract toddy from the palm-trees.The Kāpus of the Nellore district employ Gamallas as their cooks and domestic servants, and all menial service and cooking are done by Gamallas in the houses of Kāpus on the occasion of festivals and marriages.Concerning the origin of the Gamallas, the following legend is current. A Rishi was doing penance by standing on his head, and, like the chamæleon, living on light and air, instead of food. According to some, the Rishi was Kaumandla, while others do not know his name. An Īdiga girl passed by the Rishi, carrying a pot filled with toddy, which polluted the air, so that the Rishi could not continue the penance. Being struck with the girl’s beauty, he followed her to her home, and pointed out to her that she was the cause of his mishap. He asked her to become his wife, but she announced that she was already married. Eventually, however, they became secretly united, and, in consequence, the whole town caught fire. The girl’s husband, returning home with some toddy, was amazed at the sight, and she, to protect him, hid the Rishi in a vat. Into this vat the husband poured the toddy, which made the Rishi breathe hard, so that the toddy, for the first time on record, began to foam. Noticing this, the husband found a lingam, into which the Rishi had been transformed. This lingam was worshipped by the Gamandlas, and they are at the present day Saivites.Like other Telugu castes, the Gamallas have exogamous septs, such as parvathāla (hills), kudumalu (a cake), annam (cooked rice), and pandhi (pig). Among gōtras, the following may be noted:—kavundinya, kārunya, vāchalya, and surāpāndēsvara (surā pānda, toddy pot).Marriage is, as a rule, adult, and remarriage of widows is permitted, though the tendency at the present day is to abandon the practice. At the wedding of a widow, the bottu (marriage badge) is tied round her neck at night. Prior to the marriage ceremony, the worship of female ancestors must be performed. A new female cloth, betel, and flowers, are placed on a tray, and worshipped by the mothers of the contracting couple. The cloth is given as a present to a sister or other near relation of the bride or bridegroom.Gamallas.Gamallas.The dead are cremated, and the widow breaks one or two of her bangles. Fire must be carried to the burning-ground by the father of the deceased, if he is alive. On the day following cremation, the hot embers are extinguished, and the ashes collected, and shaped into an effigy, near the head of which three conical masses of mud and ashes are set up. To these representatives of Rudra, Yama, and the spirit of the departed, cooked rice and vegetables are offered up on three leaves. One of the leaves is given to the Jangam, who officiates at the rite, another to a washerman, and the third is left, so that the food on it may be eaten by crows. All, who are assembled, wait till these birds collect, and the ashes are finally poured on a tree. On the ninth, tenth, or eleventh day after death, a ceremony called the peddadinam (big day) is performed. Cooked rice, curry, meat, and other things, are placed on a leaf inside the house. Sitting near this leaf, the widow weeps and breaks one or two of the glass bangles, which she wears on the wrist. The food is then taken to a stream or tank (pond), where the agnates, after shaving, bathing, and purification, make an effigy of the dead person on the ground. Close to this cooked rice and vegetables are placed on three leaves, and offered to theeffigy. The widow’s remaining bangles are broken, and she is presented with a new cloth, called munda koka (widow’s cloth) as a sign of her condition. All Gamallas, rich or poor, engage on this occasion the services of Māla Pambalas and Bainēdus (musicians and story-tellers) to recite the story of the goddess Ankamma. The performance is called Ankamma kolupu. Some of the Mālas make on the ground a design, called muggu, while the others play on the drum, and carry out the recitation. The design must be made in five colours, green (leaves ofCassia auriculata), white (rice flour), red (turmeric and lime), yellow (turmeric), and black (burnt rice-husk). It represents a male and female figure (Vīrulu, heroes), who are supposed to be the person whose peddadinam is being celebrated, and an ancestor of the opposite sex. If the family can afford it, other designs, for example of Ankamma, are also drawn. On the completion of the muggu, cocoanuts, rice, and betel are offered, and a fowl is sacrificed.Like many other Telugu castes, the Gamallas have a class of beggars, called Eneti, attached to them, for whom a subscription is raised when they turn up.The Gamallas are mostly Saivites, and their priests are Ārādhya Brāhmans,i.e., Telugu Brāhmans, who have adopted some of the customs of the Lingāyats. They worship a variety of gods and goddesses, who include Pōtharāju, Kātamayya, Gangamma, Mathamma, and Thallamma, or Thadlamma. Once or twice during the year, a pot of toddy is brought from every house to the shrine of Thallamma, and the liquor contained in some of the pots is poured on the floor, and the remainder given to those assembled, irrespective of caste.At the festival of Dīpāvali, the celebrants bathe in the early morning, and go, in wet clothes, to an ant-hill,before which they prostrate themselves, and pour a little water into one of the holes. Round the hill they wind five turns of cotton thread, and return home. Subsequently they come once more to the ant-hill with a lamp made of flour paste. Carrying the light, they go thrice or five times round the hill, and throw into a hole therein split pulse (Phaseolus Mungo). During the whole of this day they fast. On the following morning they again go to the hill, pour milk into it, and snap the threads wound round it.Gamalla muggu.Gamalla muggu.At the festival of Sankarānthi, the principal member of every family observes the worship of ancestors. Various articles are placed in a room on leaf plates representing the ancestors, who are worshipped by the celebrant after he has been purified by bathing. Taking a little of the food from each leaf, he places it on a single leaf, which is worshipped, and placed in the court-yard, so that the crows may partake thereof. The remainder of the food is distributed among the members of the family.At the census, 1901, some Gamallas returned themselves as Settigādu (Chetti).Gampa(basket).—A sub-division of Kamma and Telaga, and an exogamous sept of Oddē. The name, among the Kammas, refers to a deadly struggle at Gandikōta, in which some escaped by hiding in baskets. Gampa dhōmpti is the name of a sub-division of the Mādigas, whose marriage offerings to the god are placed in a basket.Ganāyata.—Recorded, at times of census, as a sub-division of Lingāyat Jangams in the Nellore, Cuddapah, and Kurnool districts. The Sanskrit word Ganam means Siva’s attendants.Gandham(sandal paste).—An exogamous sept of Balijas, one sub-division of whom is called Gandhavālluor Gandhapodi (sandal perfume sellers). The paste made by rubbing sandal (Santalum album) wood on a stone with water is widely used in connection with Hindu ceremonial observance. A Brāhman, for example, after worshipping, smears his body with the paste. At festivals, and other ceremonial occasions, sandal paste is distributed to guests along with betel leaves and areca nuts (pān-supāri). Gandhapodi also occurs as an exogamous sept of Bōya.Gandikōta.—A sub-division of Kamma. Gandi Kōttei is recorded7as a sub-division of Kāpu or Reddi, “found only in Madura and Tinnevelly, and also known simply as Kōttei Reddis. Kōttei is the Tamil for a fort, the corresponding Telugu word being kōta. Their females do not appear in public.”Gāndla.—SeeGāniga.Gangadikāra.—Gangadikāra, said doubtfully to mean those who lived on the banks of the Ganges, has been recorded as a sub-division of the Holeyas, Okkiliyans, and Vakkaligas. The name probably refers to Gangavādi, the country of the Gangas, a royal line which ruled over the greater part of the modern Mysore in former times.Gangeddu.—The Gangeddulu are a class of mendicants, who travel about the country exhibiting performing bulls. “The exhibition of sacred bulls, known as Gangeddulu (Ganga’s bulls) is very common in the towns and villages of Southern India. The presence of the swāmi (god) bull, as he is popularly called, is made known by his keeper playing on a small drum, which emits a dismal, booming sound, in the intervals of addressing his dumb companion in a piercing voice. The bull is ledabout from house to house, and made to go through several tricks, which he does with evident zest. The keeper in the meanwhile talks to him, and puts questions to him, to which he replies by shakes of his head. He will kneel down in an attitude of worship, with his head inclined to the ground, or he will approach you, and gently rub his nozzle against your hand. Usually a diminutive cow accompanies the bull, and, like him, is grandly attired, and resounds with tinkling bells. She is introduced to the spectators as the bull’s ammagaru, that is consort or spouse. Then a scene between the pair is enacted, the gist of which is that the husband is displeased with the wife, and declines to hold converse with her. As a result of the difference, he resolves to go away, and stalks off in high dudgeon. The keeper attempts to make peace between them, and is rewarded by being charged by the irate husband and knocked down, though no harm is done to him as the animal’s horns are padded. The keeper rises, shakes himself, and complains woefully of the treatment he has received. Indeed, it is only after a great deal of coaxing and wheedling, and promises of buying him endless quantities of rice cakes and other bazaar delicacies, that the bull condescends to return, and a reconciliation is effected.”For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The Gangeddulu, Erudāndis, or Perumāl Mādukkārans, often acquire and train deformed male calves. It is a popular superstition that for a family to keep such animals in its possession is to court destruction. Consequently, when one is born, information is sent to a Gangeddu, who, on his arrival, is sumptuously fed. The calf is then washed, and a new cloth tied to its horns. A small present of money is made to the Gangeddu, and he takes the animal away. Templessometimes dispose of their deformed calves in a similar manner. When the trained animals are exhibited in public, the deformity, which is the hall-mark of a genuine Gangeddu, is shown, usually at the commencement of the performance, or at any time at the bidding of any of the spectators. It is only after the exhibition of the deformity, which is usually concealed within the trappings of the animal, that remuneration, generally in kind, or in old rags and copper coins, is doled out to them. Villagers worship the bulls, when they happen to pass their houses, and, as soon as they enter a village, the females wash the feet of the animals with milk and water. They then adorn their foreheads with kunkumam (aniline powder) and turmeric paste, and burn incense and camphor before them. Cocoanuts, plantains, betel leaves and areca nuts, and money are also offered in a plate, and are the perquisite of the Gangeddu. The bulls are thus venerated, as they represent Basavanna, the sacred bull which is the vehicle of Siva.The language of the Gangeddulu is Telugu, but those who have migrated to the Tamil country also speak the language of the south. They profess the Vaishnavite religion, and are of the Tengalai persuasion. They have Brāhman gurus (religious preceptors), who reside at Srirangam, Tirupati, and other places. By them the Gangeddulu are branded on the shoulder with the emblems of the chank and chakram, and initiated into the mysteries of the Dāsari priesthood. But, though they call themselves Dāsaris, the Gangeddulu have no marital or other connection with the Dāsaris. In addition to training and exhibiting the performing bulls and cultivating land, the Gangeddulu officiate as Dāsaris in the month of Peratāsi (September-October). Their principal insignia of office are the chank shell, which isblown to announce their arrival, and the iron lamp (called Garudasthambha), which is kept burning, and is said to represent Venkatēsa, the presiding deity at Tirupati. As Dāsaris, little is expected of them, except offering fruits to the god, and assisting at funerals. Several proverbs, of which the following are examples, are current concerning this aspect of their life:—The mistake of a Dāsari is excused with an apology.The songs of a Dāsari are known only to the god,i.e., they are unintelligible and unreal.For the song of a Dāsari alms are the payment,i.e., that is all the song is worth.Sing again what you have sung, oh! Dāsari with dirty teeth.When a beggar was asked whether he was a Dāsari or a Jangam, he replied that it depends on the next village. This in reference to his being a time-server.A Gangeddu mendicant is, like his bulls, picturesquely attired. He is very punctilious about having his sect-mark on the forehead, invariably wears a turban, and his body is clothed in a long white cloth robe. When going about with the performing bulls, the Gangeddulu generally travel in pairs, one carrying a drum, and the other a bell-metal gong. One of them holds in one hand the nose-rope of the bull, and in the other the whip. The bulls are dressed up in a patch work quilt with two eye-holes in it. Of names which are given to the animals, Rāma and Lakshmana are very popular. The tameness of the bulls is referred to in the proverb “As mild as a Gangeddu.”The Perumāl Mādukkārans, or Perumāl Erudukkārans, both of which names indicate those who lead bulls about, are found chiefly in the Chingleput, North andSouth Arcot districts. “Every now and then,” Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri writes,8“throughout Madras, a man dressed up as a buffoon is to be seen leading about a bull, as fantastically got up as himself with cowries (Cypræa arabicashells) and rags of many colours, from door to door. The bull is called in Tamil Perumāl erudu, and in Telugu Ganga eddu, the former meaning Vishnu’s bull and the latter Ganga’s bull. The origin of the first is given in a legend, but that of the last is not clear. The conductors of these bulls are neatherds of high caste, called Pū Idaiyan,i.e., flower neatherds (seeIdaiyan), and come from villages in the North and South Arcot districts. They are a simple and ignorant set, who firmly believe that their occupation arises out of a command from the great god Venkatāchalapati, the lord of the Venkatāchala near Tirupaddi (Tirupati) in the North Arcot district. Their legend is as follows. Among the habitual gifts to the Venkatāchala temple atTirupaddiwere all the freaks of nature of the neighbourhood as exhibited in cattle, such as two-tailed cows, five-legged bulls, four-horned calves, and so on. The Pū Idaiyans, whose original duty was to string flowers for the temple, were set to graze these abortions. Now to graze cows is an honour, but to tend such creatures as these the Pū Idaiyans regarded as a sin. So they prayed to Venkatāchalapati to show them how they could purge it away. On this, the god gave them a bull called after himself the Perumāl bull and said: ‘My sons, if you take as much care of this bull as you would of your own children, and lead it from house to house, begging its food, your sin will be washed away.’ Ever since then they have been purging themselves of theiroriginal sin. The process is this. The bull leader takes it from house to house, and puts it questions, and the animal shakes its head in reply. This is proof positive that it can reason. The fact is the animal is bought when young for a small sum, and brought up to its profession. Long practice has made its purchasers experts in selecting the animals that will suit them. After purchase the training commences, which consists in pinching the animal’s ears whenever it is given bran, and it soon learns to shake its head at the sight of bran. I need hardly say that a handful of bran is ready in its conductor’s hands when the questions are put to it. It is also taught to butt at any person that speaks angrily to it. As regards the offerings made to these people, one-sixth goes to feeding the bulls, and the remaining five-sixths to the conductors. They look upon it as ‘good work’, but the village boys and girls think it the greatest fun in the world to watch its performances, and the advent of a Vishnu’s bull is hailed by the youngsters with the greatest delight.”Gangimakkalu.—Gangimakkalu, or Gangaputra, meaning children or sons of Ganga, the goddess of water, is the name of a sub-division of Kabbēra. The allied Gangavamsamu, or people of Ganga, is a name for Jālāris.Gāniga or Gāndla.—The name Gāniga is derived from the Telugu gānuga, meaning an oil-mill. The Gānigas are said9to be “the oil pressers of the Canarese people, corresponding to the Telugu Gāndla and the Tamil Vāniyan. This caste is sub-divided into three sections, none of whom eat together or intermarry. These sections are the Heggānigas, who yoke two oxen to a stone oil-mill; Kirgānigas, who make oil in woodenmills; and Ontiyeddu Gānigas, who yoke only one animal to the mill. They are collectively known as Jōtipans or Jōtinagarams (people of the city of light). In addition to pressing oil, they also make palm-leaf umbrellas, cultivate land, and work as labourers. They employ Brāhmans to perform their ceremonies. Their guru is the head of the Vyāsarāya mutt at Ānegundi. Early marriage is practiced. Widow remarriage is not allowed. They eat fish, mutton, and fowls, but do not drink liquor. Chetti is their title.” In the Madras Census Report, 1891, it is stated that the guru of the Gānigas is the head of the mutt at Sringeri, and that they employ Havig Brāhmans for their ceremonies. Sringeri is the name of a Smarta (Saivite) mutt or religious institution at several places, such as Tanjore and Kumbakōnam; and there is a town of this name in Mysore, from which the mutt derives its name.Concerning the Gānigas of the Mysore Province, Mr. V. N. Narasimmiyengar writes as follows.10“The account locally obtained connects this caste with the Nagartās, as forming the leading communities of the left-hand faction, in opposition to the Lingayats and other castes composing the right-hand faction. Caste supremacy is ever associated in India with preternatural mythology. If the average Brāhman traces his nobility literally to the face of Brahma, according to the Vēdic Purusha Sūkta, every other castelet claims a patent of superiority in a similar miraculous origin. The Gānigas allege that they immigrated from the north at a time beyond living memory. A Mysore noble, named Mallarāje Ars, established and first peopled the pēte (market town) of Bangalore, when the Gānigas first came there,followed by the Nagartās, who are said to have been co-emigrants with the Gānigas. Mallarāj made Sattis and Yajamāns (headmen) of the principal members of the two castes, and exempted them from the house-tax. The Gānigas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites. Their guru is known as Dharmasivāchārsvāmi in the Madras Presidency, and certain gōtras (family names) are said to be common to the Gānigas and Nagartās, but they never eat together or intermarry. The Gānigas claim the peculiar privilege of following the Vishnu image or car processions, throughout the province, with flags exhibiting the figures of Hanumān and Garuda, and torches. These insignia are alleged to have been aboriginally given to an ancestor, named Siriyāla Satti, by Rāma, as a reward for a valuable gem presented by him. The Gānigas call themselves Dharmasivāchār Vaisyās like the Nagartās, and the feud between them used often to culminate in much bitter unpleasantness. The order includes a small division of the linga-wearing oilmongers, known as Sajjanā (good men), whose population is a small fraction of the community. The Sajjanās, however, hold no social intercourse of any kind with the other sub-divisions.”The Gānigas of Sandūr, in the little Marātha State of that name, returned Yenne (oil) and Kallu (stone) as sub-divisions. The average cephalic index of these Gānigas was very high, being 80.5 as against 77.6 for the Gānigas of Mysore city.“The oil-mill of the Gānigas is,” Mr. W. Francis writes,11“a sort of large wooden mortar, usually formed out of the heart of a tamarind tree, and firmly imbedded in the ground. A wooden cylinder, shod with iron, fitsroughly into the cavity. A cross beam is lashed to this in such a way that one end is close to the ground, and to this a pair of bullocks or buffaloes are fastened. By an arrangement of pullies, the pressure of the cylinder can be increased at pleasure. As the bullocks go round the trough, the seeds are crushed by the action of the cylinder, so that the expressed oil falls to the bottom, while the residuum, as oil-cake, adheres to the side of the mortar.”The following note refers to the Onteddu (single bullock) Gānigas, who claim superiority over those who employ two bullocks in working their oil-mills. The former belong to the right-hand, and the latter to the left-hand faction. Among them are various sub-divisions, of which the Dēva and Onteddu may intermarry, while the Kasi, Teli (gingelly:Sesamum), and Chandanapu are endogamous. Like other Telugu castes they have gōtras, some of which are interesting, as there are certain prohibitions connected with them. For example, members of the Badranollu and Balanollu gōtras may not cut the treeErythroxylon monogynum. In like manner, members of the Vīranollu and Viththanollu gōtras are forbidden to cutFeronia elephantum, and those of the Vēdanollu gōtra to cutNyctanthes arbor-tristis. Members of certain other gōtras do not cultivate turmeric, sugarcane, or the millet (Panicum miliare).The Onteddu Gānigas are Saivites, and disciples of Lingāyat Brāhmans (Ārādhyas). Some, however, wear the sacred thread, and others bear on the forehead the red streak of the Vaishnavites. In some places, their special deity is Chaudeswara, who is the god of some of the weaving classes. In the Kistna district they claim Mallikārjunasvāmi as their deity.Their primary occupation is oil-pressing, but some are traders in cotton, oil-seeds, etc., or cultivators. In some localities, the animal which works the oil-mill is not blindfolded, while it is in others, because, it is said, it would otherwise fall down after a few revolutions. Crushing gingelly oil is, according to the Shāstras, a sinful act, but condoned inasmuch as Dēvatas use this oil for lamps, and men in temples. For the removal of the oil-cake, or turning the seeds in the mill, the left hand only is used. Burning the tongue with a piece of gold, as a means of purification after some offence has been committed, is a common practice.
Gābit.—A Bombay fishing caste returned at the census, 1901. To Malpe in the South Canara district, during the fishing season, come fishermen with a flotilla of keeled and outrigged sailing boats from Ratnagiri in the Bombay Presidency. Hither also come fishermen from Goa. The reasons given by the Ratnagiri fishermen for coming southward are that fish are not so abundant off their own coast, competition is keener, and salt more expensive. Moreover, the crystals of Bombay salt are too large for successful curing, and “do not agree with the fish, of which the flesh is turned black.” If, they said contemptuously, they were to sun-dry fish by the local method, their people would laugh at them for bringing back, not fish, but dried cow-dung for fuel. The Ratnagiri boats go well out of sight of land to the fishing ground, where they catch seir, pomfret, cat-fish (Arius), and other big fish near the surface, and sharks in deeper water. If the fishing is not good near Malpe, they may go south as far as Mangalore. To the Ratnagiri fishermen the seir (Cybium) is the most valuable and lucrative fish. Under existing arrangements, by which clashing of interests is avoided, the fishery at Malpe is divided into two zones, viz., the deep sea fished by the large Ratnagiri boats, and the shallow littoral water by the smaller local and Goa boats.Gadaba.—The Gadabas are a tribe of agriculturists, coolies, and hunters in the Vizagapatam district. Hunting is said to be gradually decreasing, as many of the forests are now preserved, and shooting without alicense is forbidden. Men sometimes occupy themselves in felling trees, catching birds and hares, and tracking and beating game for sportsmen. The Gadabas are also employed as bearers in the hills, and carry palanquins. There is a settlement of them on the main road between Sembliguda and Koraput, in a village where they are said to have been settled by a former Rāja expressly for such service. It is said that the Gadabas will not touch a horse, possibly because they are palanquin-bearers, and have the same objection to the rival animal that a cabman has for a motor-car.There is a tradition that the tribe owes its name to the fact that its ancestors emigrated from the banks of the Godābari (Godāvari) river, and settled at Nandapur, the former capital of the Rājas of Jeypore. The Gadabas have a language of their own, of which a vocabulary is given in the Vizagapatam Manual. This language is included by Mr. G. A. Grierson1in the Mundā linguistic family.The tribe is apparently divided into five sections, called Bodo (big) or Gutōb, Pārenga, Olāro, Kaththiri or Kaththara, and Kāpu. Of these, the last two are settled in the plains, and say that they are Bodo and Olāro Gadabas who migrated thither from the hills. As among the Gadabas, so among the Savaras, there is a section which has settled on the plains, and adopted Kāpu as its name. In the Madras Census Report, 1891, nearly a thousand Gadabas are returned as belonging to the Chenchu sub-division. Chenchu is the name of a separate jungle tribe in the Telugu country, and I have been unable to confirm the existence of a Chenchu sub-division among the Gadabas.In the Madras Census Report, 1871, Mr. H. G. Turner states that “very much akin to the Gadabas are a class called Kerang Kāpus. They will not admit any connexion with them; but, as their language is almost identical, such gainsaying cannot be permitted them. They are called Kerang Kāpu from the circumstance of their women weaving cloths, which they weave from the fibre of a jungle shrub called Kerang (Calotropis gigantea).” Mr. H. A. Stuart remarks2that “the Kāpu Gadabas are possibly the Kerang Kāpus mentioned by Mr. Turner as akin to the Gadabas, for I find no mention of the caste under the full name of Kerang Kāpu, nor is Kerang found as a sub-division of either Kāpu or Gadaba.” Writing concerning the numeral system of the Kerang Kāpus, Mr. Turner observes that it runs thus: Moi, Umbar, Jugi, O, Malloi, Turu, Gū, Tammar, Santing, Goa, and for eleven (1 and following numbers), they prefix the word Go,e.g., Gommoi, Gombāro, etc. The Kerang Kāpus can count up to nineteen, but have no conception of twenty. According to Mr. W. Francis, the only tribe on the hills which has this system of notation is the Bonda Poraja. The Gadabas have very similar names for the first five numerals; but, after that, lapse into Oriya,e.g., sāt, āt, nō, das, etc. The Bonda Poraja numerals recorded by Mr. Francis are mūyi, baar, gii, oo, moloi, thiri, goo, thamām, and so on up to nineteen, after which they cannot count. This system, as he points out, agrees with the one described by Mr. Turner as belonging to the Kerang Kāpus. The Gutōb Gadaba numerals recorded by Mr. C. A. Henderson include muititti (1 + a hand), and martitti (2 + a hand).Some Gadaba women wear a bustle or dress improver, called irrē or kittē. This article of attire is accounted for by the following tradition. “A goddess visited a Gadaba villageincognito, and asked leave of one of the women to rest on a cot. She was brusquely told that the proper seat for beggars was the floor, and she consequently decreed that thenceforth all Gadaba women should wear a bustle to remind them to avoid churlishness.”3The Gadaba female cloths are manufactured by themselves from cotton thread and the fibre of silloluvāda or ankudi chettu (Holarrhena antidysenterica) and bōda luvāda or bodda chettu (Ficus glomerata). The fibre is carefully dried, and dyed blue or reddish-brown. The edges of the cloth are white, a blue strip comes next, while the middle portion is reddish-brown with narrow stripes of white or blue at regular intervals. The Gadabas account for the dress of their women by the following legend. When Rāma, during his banishment, was wandering in the forests of Dandaka, his wife Sīta accompanied him in spite of his entreaties to the contrary. It was one of the cruel terms of his stepmother Kaika that Rāma should wear only clothing made from jungle fibre, before leaving the capital. According to the Hindu religion, a virtuous wife must share both the sorrows and joys of her lord. Consequently Sīta followed the example of Rāma, and wore the same kind of clothing. They then left the capital amidst the loud lamentation of the citizens. During their wanderings, they met some Gadaba women, who mocked and laughed at Sīta. Whereupon she cursed them, and condemned them to wear no other dress but the cloth made of fibre. In a note on theGadabas,4Mr. L. Lakshminarayan writes that “although mill-prepared cloths are fast replacing house-spun cloths in all communities, yet, in the case of the Gadabas, there is a strong superstition which prevents the use of cloths prepared outside, particularly in regard to the cloths worn by their women. The legend (about Sīta) is fully believed by the Gadabas, and hence their religious adherence to their particular cloth. At the time of marriage, it is absolute that the Gadaba maiden should wear this fibre-made cloth, else misfortune will ruin the family. A bundle of twigs is brought, and the stems freed of leaves are bruised and twisted to loosen the bark, and are then dried for two or three days, after which the bark is ripped out and beaten down smooth with heavy sticks, to separate the bark from the fibre. The fibre is then collected, and combed down smooth, and spun into a tolerably fine twist. It is this twist that the Gadaba maiden weaves in her crude loom, and prepares from it her marriage sāri. According to a good custom among these people, a Gadaba maiden must learn to weave her cloths before she becomes eligible for marriage. And no Gadaba ever thinks of marrying a wife who cannot prepare her own cloths. Men can use cotton and other cloths, whereas women cannot do so, for they are under the curse of Sīta. But the passion for fineries in woman is naturally so strong that the modern Gadaba woman is now taking the liberty of putting cotton thread for the woof and ankudu fibre for the warp, and thus is able to turn out a more comfortable and finer cloth. But some old crones informed me that this mixed cloth is not so auspicious as that prepared wholly from the fibre.”Some Gadaba women wear immense earrings made of long pieces of brass wire wound into a circle, which hang down from a hole in the ear, and sometimes reach to the shoulders. The wire is sold in the shandy (market) at so much a cubit. The head-dress of some of the women consists of a chaplet ofOlivashells, and strings of beads of various sizes and colours, or the red and black berries ofAbrus precatorius, with pendants which hang over the forehead. The women also wear bead necklaces, to which a coin may sometimes be seen attached as a pendant. Bracelets and rings are as a rule made of brass or copper, but sometimes silver rings are worn. Toe-rings and brass or silver anklets are considered fashionable ornaments. Among the Olāro Gadabas, the wearing of brass anklets by a woman indicates that she is married. For teaching backward children to walk, the Gadabas employ a bamboo stick split so as to make a fork, the prongs of which are connected by a cross-bar. The apparatus is held by the mother, and the child, clutching the cross-bar, toddles along.Among the Bodo and Olāro sections, the following septs occur:—Kōra (sun), Nāg (cobra), Bhāg (tiger), Kīra (parrot), and Gollāri (monkey). The Gadabas who have settled in the plains seem to have forgotten the sept names, but will not injure or kill certain animals,e.g., the cobra.Girls are as a rule married after puberty. When a young man’s parents think it time for him to get married, they repair to the home of an eligible girl with rice and liquor, and say that they have come to ask a boon, but do not mention what it is. They are treated to a meal, and return home. Some time afterwards, on a day fixed by the Disāri, three or four aged relatives of the youngman go to the girl’s house, and the match is fixed up. After a meal, they return to their homes. On the day appointed for the wedding ceremonies, the bridegroom’s relations go to the home of the bride, taking with them a rupee towards the marriage expenses, a new cloth for the girl’s mother, and half a rupee for the females of the bride’s village, which is regarded as compensation for the loss of the girl. To the bride are given a glass bead necklace, and brass bangles to be worn on the right wrist. A feast follows. On the following day, the bride is conducted to the village of the bridegroom, in front of whose home a pandal (booth), made of four bamboo poles, covered with green leaves, has been erected. Within the pandal, stems of the sāl (Shorea robusta), addagirli, and bamboo joined together, are set up as the auspicious post. Beside this a grindstone is placed, on which the bride sits, with the bridegroom seated on her thighs. The females present throw turmeric powder over them, and they are bathed with turmeric-water kept ready in a new pot. They are then presented with new cloths, and their hands are joined together by the officiating Disāri. A feast, with much drinking, follows, and the day’s proceedings conclude with a dance. On the following day, mud is heaped up near the pandal, into which the Disāri throws a handful of it. The remainder of the mud is carried into the pandal by the contracting couple, who pour water over it, and throw it over those who are assembled. All then proceed to a stream, and bathe. A further feast and dance follows, of which the newly married couple are spectators, without taking part in it.In a note on marriage among the Pārenga Gadabas, Mr. G. F. Paddison writes that they have two forms of marriage rite, one of which (bibā) is accompanied bymuch feasting, gifts of bullocks, toddy, rice, etc. The most interesting feature is the fight for the bride with fists. All the men on each side fight, and the bridegroom has to carry off the bride by force. Then they all sit down, and feast together. In the other form (lethulia), the couple go off together to the jungle, and, when they return, pay twenty rupees, or whatever they can afford, to the girl’s father as a fine. A dinner and regular marriage follow elopement and payment of the fine.The ghorojavai system, according to which a man works for a stated period for his future father-in-law, is practiced by the Gadabas. But a cash payment is said to be now substituted for service. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a younger brother may marry the widow of his elder brother. If she does not marry him, the second husband has to pay a sum of money, called in Oriya the rānd tonka, to him. When a man divorces his wife, her relations are summoned, and he pays her two rupees before sending her away. Of this sum, one rupee is paid as buchni for suspicion regarding her chastity, and the other as chatni for driving her away. A divorced woman may remarry.In the hills, the village headman is called Janni or Nāyako, and in the plains Naidādo. He is assisted by a Kīrasāni, who is also the caste priest.Concerning the religion of the Gadabas, Mr. H. D. Taylor writes5that it is “simple, and consists of feasts at stated intervals. The chief festival is Ittakaparva, or hunting feast, in March and April. On this occasion, the whole male population turns out to hunt, and, if they return unsuccessful, the women pelt them with cow-dung on their return to the village; if, however,successful, they have their revenge upon the women in another way. The chief deities (though spoken of generally under the term Dēvata or Mahāprabhu) are Ganga Dēvi or Tākurāni, Iswara or Mouli, Bhairava, and Jhankara. It is Iswara or Mouli who is worshipped at Chaitra. Jhankara is the god of land, rainfall and crops, and a cow is sacrificed to him. There are not, as a rule, temples, but the pūja (worship) place consists of a sacred grove surrounded with a circle of stones, which takes the name of Jhankara from the god to whom pūja is performed. Ganga Dēvi, Iswara and Mouli have temples at certain places, but as a rule there is no building, and the site of pūja is marked by trees and stones. To Iswara a she-buffalo is sacrificed at Chaitra. To the other Dēvatas cocks and goats are sacrificed. Ganga Dēvi or Tākurāni is the goddess of life and health, both of men and cattle; to her pigs, goats, and pigeons are sacrificed. There are one or two curious superstitions. If a member of the caste is supposed to be possessed of a devil, he or she is abused and beaten by other members of the caste until the devil is cast out. In some parts the superstition is that a piece of wild buffalo horn buried in the ground of the village will avert or cure cattle disease.” Sometimes a sāl or kōsangi tree is planted, and surrounded by a bamboo hedge. It is worshipped with animal sacrifices at harvest time, and the Kīrasāni acts as priest.“There is,” Mr. G. F. Paddison writes, “rather a curious custom in connection with a village goddess. Close to her shrine a swing is kept. On this swing, once a year at the great village festival, thorns are placed, and the village priest or priestess sits on them without harm. If the pūjāri is a male, he has been made neuter. But, if the village is not fortunate enoughto possess a eunuch, a woman performs the ceremony. [At the fire-walking ceremony at Nuvagōde in Ganjam, the priest sits on a thorny swing, and is endowed with prophetic powers.] When there is small-pox or other epidemic disease in a village, a little go-cart is built, composed of a box on legs fixed to a small board on wheels. In this box is placed a little clay image, or anything else holy, and carried away to a distant place, and left there. A white flag is hoisted, which looks like quarantine, but is really intended, I think, to draw the goddess back to her shrine. Vaccination is regarded as a religious ceremony, and the Gadabas, I believe, invariably present the vaccinator as the officiating priest with rice.”The Gadabas, like other hill tribes, name their children after the day of the week on which they are born. On the plains, however, some give their children low-country names,e.g., Rāmudu, Lachigadu, Arjanna, etc.Males are, as a rule, burnt; but, if a person dies in the night or on a rainy day, the corpse is sometimes buried. Women and children are usually buried, presumably because they are not thought worth the fuel necessary for cremation. Only relations are permitted to touch a corpse. Death pollution is observed for three days, during which the caste occupation must not be engaged in. Stone slabs are erected to the memory of the dead, and sacrifices are offered to them now and again.The Gadabas have a devil dance, which they are willing to perform before strangers in return for a small present. It has been thus described by Captain Glasfurd.6“At the time of the Dusserah, Hōli, and other holidays,both men and women dance to the music of a fife and drum. Sometimes they form a ring by joining hands all round, and with a long hop spring towards the centre, and then hop back to the full extent of their arms, while they at the same time keep circling round and round. At other times, the women dance singly or in pairs, their hands resting on each other’s wrists. When fatigued, they cease dancing, and sing. A man steps out of the crowd, and sings a verse or twoimpromptu. One of the women rejoins, and they sing at each other for a short time. The point of these songs appears to consist in giving the sharpest rejoinder to each other. The woman reflects upon the man’s ungainly appearance and want of skill as a cultivator or huntsman, and the man retorts by reproaching her with her ugliness and slatternly habits.” In connection with dancing, Mr. Henderson writes that “all the Gadaba dancing I have seen was the same as that of the Porjas, and consisted of a sort of women’s march, at times accompanied by a few men who wander round, and occasionally form a ring through which the line of women passes. Sometimes the men get on each other’s shoulders, and so form a sort of two-storied pyramid. The women’s song is comparatively quite melodious.”In recent years, some Gadabas have emigrated to Assam, to work in the tea-gardens. But emigration has now stopped by edict.For the information contained in this article, I am mainly indebted to notes by Mr. C. A. Henderson, Mr. W. Francis, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao, and the Kumara Rajā of Bobbili.Gādi(cart).—An exogamous sept of Māla.Gādidhē Kandla(donkey’s eyes).—An exogamous sept of Bōya.Gādu.—A common suffix to the name of individuals among various Telugu classes,e.g., Rāmigādu, Subbigādu.Gaduge(throne).—A gōtra of Kurni.Gaita.—A sub-division of Konda Rāzu.Gajjal(a small bell).—A sub-division of Toreya.Gāli.—Gāli or Gālollu, meaning wind, devil, or spirit, is recorded as an exogamous sept of Kamma, Kuruba, and Māla.Gamalla.—The Gamallas are a class of toddy-drawers, and distillers and vendors of arrack in the Telugu country and are supposed to be Īdigas who have bettered themselves, and separated from that caste. Both Gamallas and Īdigas worship the deity Kāttamayya. At the census, 1891, some returned Īdiga as their sub-division. In the Cuddapah district some toddy-drawers style themselves Asilivāndlu. Possibly the Īdiga, Gamalla, and Asili toddy-drawing classes only represent three endogamous sections of a single caste. In the Nellore district, the toddy-drawers style themselves Gamandla or Gavandlavāndlu, and say that they have one gōtra Kaumandlapu or Gaumandlapu. It is probable that the name Gamandla or Gavandla has been coined by Brāhman purōhits, to connect the caste with Kaumandala Mahārishi of the Purānas. The Gamallas say that they were created to draw toddy by the sage Kavundinya, and that they belong to the Gaundla varnam (caste). I am informed that a Purānam, called Gamandla or Gamudi Purānam, has been created. In the social scale, the toddy-drawers appear to occupy a higher position in the Telugu than in the Tamil country, and they are sometimes said to be Telagas or Balijas, who have adopted toddy-drawing as a profession. The more prosperous members of the community are toddyand arrack (liquor) shop-keepers, and the poorer members extract toddy from the palm-trees.The Kāpus of the Nellore district employ Gamallas as their cooks and domestic servants, and all menial service and cooking are done by Gamallas in the houses of Kāpus on the occasion of festivals and marriages.Concerning the origin of the Gamallas, the following legend is current. A Rishi was doing penance by standing on his head, and, like the chamæleon, living on light and air, instead of food. According to some, the Rishi was Kaumandla, while others do not know his name. An Īdiga girl passed by the Rishi, carrying a pot filled with toddy, which polluted the air, so that the Rishi could not continue the penance. Being struck with the girl’s beauty, he followed her to her home, and pointed out to her that she was the cause of his mishap. He asked her to become his wife, but she announced that she was already married. Eventually, however, they became secretly united, and, in consequence, the whole town caught fire. The girl’s husband, returning home with some toddy, was amazed at the sight, and she, to protect him, hid the Rishi in a vat. Into this vat the husband poured the toddy, which made the Rishi breathe hard, so that the toddy, for the first time on record, began to foam. Noticing this, the husband found a lingam, into which the Rishi had been transformed. This lingam was worshipped by the Gamandlas, and they are at the present day Saivites.Like other Telugu castes, the Gamallas have exogamous septs, such as parvathāla (hills), kudumalu (a cake), annam (cooked rice), and pandhi (pig). Among gōtras, the following may be noted:—kavundinya, kārunya, vāchalya, and surāpāndēsvara (surā pānda, toddy pot).Marriage is, as a rule, adult, and remarriage of widows is permitted, though the tendency at the present day is to abandon the practice. At the wedding of a widow, the bottu (marriage badge) is tied round her neck at night. Prior to the marriage ceremony, the worship of female ancestors must be performed. A new female cloth, betel, and flowers, are placed on a tray, and worshipped by the mothers of the contracting couple. The cloth is given as a present to a sister or other near relation of the bride or bridegroom.Gamallas.Gamallas.The dead are cremated, and the widow breaks one or two of her bangles. Fire must be carried to the burning-ground by the father of the deceased, if he is alive. On the day following cremation, the hot embers are extinguished, and the ashes collected, and shaped into an effigy, near the head of which three conical masses of mud and ashes are set up. To these representatives of Rudra, Yama, and the spirit of the departed, cooked rice and vegetables are offered up on three leaves. One of the leaves is given to the Jangam, who officiates at the rite, another to a washerman, and the third is left, so that the food on it may be eaten by crows. All, who are assembled, wait till these birds collect, and the ashes are finally poured on a tree. On the ninth, tenth, or eleventh day after death, a ceremony called the peddadinam (big day) is performed. Cooked rice, curry, meat, and other things, are placed on a leaf inside the house. Sitting near this leaf, the widow weeps and breaks one or two of the glass bangles, which she wears on the wrist. The food is then taken to a stream or tank (pond), where the agnates, after shaving, bathing, and purification, make an effigy of the dead person on the ground. Close to this cooked rice and vegetables are placed on three leaves, and offered to theeffigy. The widow’s remaining bangles are broken, and she is presented with a new cloth, called munda koka (widow’s cloth) as a sign of her condition. All Gamallas, rich or poor, engage on this occasion the services of Māla Pambalas and Bainēdus (musicians and story-tellers) to recite the story of the goddess Ankamma. The performance is called Ankamma kolupu. Some of the Mālas make on the ground a design, called muggu, while the others play on the drum, and carry out the recitation. The design must be made in five colours, green (leaves ofCassia auriculata), white (rice flour), red (turmeric and lime), yellow (turmeric), and black (burnt rice-husk). It represents a male and female figure (Vīrulu, heroes), who are supposed to be the person whose peddadinam is being celebrated, and an ancestor of the opposite sex. If the family can afford it, other designs, for example of Ankamma, are also drawn. On the completion of the muggu, cocoanuts, rice, and betel are offered, and a fowl is sacrificed.Like many other Telugu castes, the Gamallas have a class of beggars, called Eneti, attached to them, for whom a subscription is raised when they turn up.The Gamallas are mostly Saivites, and their priests are Ārādhya Brāhmans,i.e., Telugu Brāhmans, who have adopted some of the customs of the Lingāyats. They worship a variety of gods and goddesses, who include Pōtharāju, Kātamayya, Gangamma, Mathamma, and Thallamma, or Thadlamma. Once or twice during the year, a pot of toddy is brought from every house to the shrine of Thallamma, and the liquor contained in some of the pots is poured on the floor, and the remainder given to those assembled, irrespective of caste.At the festival of Dīpāvali, the celebrants bathe in the early morning, and go, in wet clothes, to an ant-hill,before which they prostrate themselves, and pour a little water into one of the holes. Round the hill they wind five turns of cotton thread, and return home. Subsequently they come once more to the ant-hill with a lamp made of flour paste. Carrying the light, they go thrice or five times round the hill, and throw into a hole therein split pulse (Phaseolus Mungo). During the whole of this day they fast. On the following morning they again go to the hill, pour milk into it, and snap the threads wound round it.Gamalla muggu.Gamalla muggu.At the festival of Sankarānthi, the principal member of every family observes the worship of ancestors. Various articles are placed in a room on leaf plates representing the ancestors, who are worshipped by the celebrant after he has been purified by bathing. Taking a little of the food from each leaf, he places it on a single leaf, which is worshipped, and placed in the court-yard, so that the crows may partake thereof. The remainder of the food is distributed among the members of the family.At the census, 1901, some Gamallas returned themselves as Settigādu (Chetti).Gampa(basket).—A sub-division of Kamma and Telaga, and an exogamous sept of Oddē. The name, among the Kammas, refers to a deadly struggle at Gandikōta, in which some escaped by hiding in baskets. Gampa dhōmpti is the name of a sub-division of the Mādigas, whose marriage offerings to the god are placed in a basket.Ganāyata.—Recorded, at times of census, as a sub-division of Lingāyat Jangams in the Nellore, Cuddapah, and Kurnool districts. The Sanskrit word Ganam means Siva’s attendants.Gandham(sandal paste).—An exogamous sept of Balijas, one sub-division of whom is called Gandhavālluor Gandhapodi (sandal perfume sellers). The paste made by rubbing sandal (Santalum album) wood on a stone with water is widely used in connection with Hindu ceremonial observance. A Brāhman, for example, after worshipping, smears his body with the paste. At festivals, and other ceremonial occasions, sandal paste is distributed to guests along with betel leaves and areca nuts (pān-supāri). Gandhapodi also occurs as an exogamous sept of Bōya.Gandikōta.—A sub-division of Kamma. Gandi Kōttei is recorded7as a sub-division of Kāpu or Reddi, “found only in Madura and Tinnevelly, and also known simply as Kōttei Reddis. Kōttei is the Tamil for a fort, the corresponding Telugu word being kōta. Their females do not appear in public.”Gāndla.—SeeGāniga.Gangadikāra.—Gangadikāra, said doubtfully to mean those who lived on the banks of the Ganges, has been recorded as a sub-division of the Holeyas, Okkiliyans, and Vakkaligas. The name probably refers to Gangavādi, the country of the Gangas, a royal line which ruled over the greater part of the modern Mysore in former times.Gangeddu.—The Gangeddulu are a class of mendicants, who travel about the country exhibiting performing bulls. “The exhibition of sacred bulls, known as Gangeddulu (Ganga’s bulls) is very common in the towns and villages of Southern India. The presence of the swāmi (god) bull, as he is popularly called, is made known by his keeper playing on a small drum, which emits a dismal, booming sound, in the intervals of addressing his dumb companion in a piercing voice. The bull is ledabout from house to house, and made to go through several tricks, which he does with evident zest. The keeper in the meanwhile talks to him, and puts questions to him, to which he replies by shakes of his head. He will kneel down in an attitude of worship, with his head inclined to the ground, or he will approach you, and gently rub his nozzle against your hand. Usually a diminutive cow accompanies the bull, and, like him, is grandly attired, and resounds with tinkling bells. She is introduced to the spectators as the bull’s ammagaru, that is consort or spouse. Then a scene between the pair is enacted, the gist of which is that the husband is displeased with the wife, and declines to hold converse with her. As a result of the difference, he resolves to go away, and stalks off in high dudgeon. The keeper attempts to make peace between them, and is rewarded by being charged by the irate husband and knocked down, though no harm is done to him as the animal’s horns are padded. The keeper rises, shakes himself, and complains woefully of the treatment he has received. Indeed, it is only after a great deal of coaxing and wheedling, and promises of buying him endless quantities of rice cakes and other bazaar delicacies, that the bull condescends to return, and a reconciliation is effected.”For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The Gangeddulu, Erudāndis, or Perumāl Mādukkārans, often acquire and train deformed male calves. It is a popular superstition that for a family to keep such animals in its possession is to court destruction. Consequently, when one is born, information is sent to a Gangeddu, who, on his arrival, is sumptuously fed. The calf is then washed, and a new cloth tied to its horns. A small present of money is made to the Gangeddu, and he takes the animal away. Templessometimes dispose of their deformed calves in a similar manner. When the trained animals are exhibited in public, the deformity, which is the hall-mark of a genuine Gangeddu, is shown, usually at the commencement of the performance, or at any time at the bidding of any of the spectators. It is only after the exhibition of the deformity, which is usually concealed within the trappings of the animal, that remuneration, generally in kind, or in old rags and copper coins, is doled out to them. Villagers worship the bulls, when they happen to pass their houses, and, as soon as they enter a village, the females wash the feet of the animals with milk and water. They then adorn their foreheads with kunkumam (aniline powder) and turmeric paste, and burn incense and camphor before them. Cocoanuts, plantains, betel leaves and areca nuts, and money are also offered in a plate, and are the perquisite of the Gangeddu. The bulls are thus venerated, as they represent Basavanna, the sacred bull which is the vehicle of Siva.The language of the Gangeddulu is Telugu, but those who have migrated to the Tamil country also speak the language of the south. They profess the Vaishnavite religion, and are of the Tengalai persuasion. They have Brāhman gurus (religious preceptors), who reside at Srirangam, Tirupati, and other places. By them the Gangeddulu are branded on the shoulder with the emblems of the chank and chakram, and initiated into the mysteries of the Dāsari priesthood. But, though they call themselves Dāsaris, the Gangeddulu have no marital or other connection with the Dāsaris. In addition to training and exhibiting the performing bulls and cultivating land, the Gangeddulu officiate as Dāsaris in the month of Peratāsi (September-October). Their principal insignia of office are the chank shell, which isblown to announce their arrival, and the iron lamp (called Garudasthambha), which is kept burning, and is said to represent Venkatēsa, the presiding deity at Tirupati. As Dāsaris, little is expected of them, except offering fruits to the god, and assisting at funerals. Several proverbs, of which the following are examples, are current concerning this aspect of their life:—The mistake of a Dāsari is excused with an apology.The songs of a Dāsari are known only to the god,i.e., they are unintelligible and unreal.For the song of a Dāsari alms are the payment,i.e., that is all the song is worth.Sing again what you have sung, oh! Dāsari with dirty teeth.When a beggar was asked whether he was a Dāsari or a Jangam, he replied that it depends on the next village. This in reference to his being a time-server.A Gangeddu mendicant is, like his bulls, picturesquely attired. He is very punctilious about having his sect-mark on the forehead, invariably wears a turban, and his body is clothed in a long white cloth robe. When going about with the performing bulls, the Gangeddulu generally travel in pairs, one carrying a drum, and the other a bell-metal gong. One of them holds in one hand the nose-rope of the bull, and in the other the whip. The bulls are dressed up in a patch work quilt with two eye-holes in it. Of names which are given to the animals, Rāma and Lakshmana are very popular. The tameness of the bulls is referred to in the proverb “As mild as a Gangeddu.”The Perumāl Mādukkārans, or Perumāl Erudukkārans, both of which names indicate those who lead bulls about, are found chiefly in the Chingleput, North andSouth Arcot districts. “Every now and then,” Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri writes,8“throughout Madras, a man dressed up as a buffoon is to be seen leading about a bull, as fantastically got up as himself with cowries (Cypræa arabicashells) and rags of many colours, from door to door. The bull is called in Tamil Perumāl erudu, and in Telugu Ganga eddu, the former meaning Vishnu’s bull and the latter Ganga’s bull. The origin of the first is given in a legend, but that of the last is not clear. The conductors of these bulls are neatherds of high caste, called Pū Idaiyan,i.e., flower neatherds (seeIdaiyan), and come from villages in the North and South Arcot districts. They are a simple and ignorant set, who firmly believe that their occupation arises out of a command from the great god Venkatāchalapati, the lord of the Venkatāchala near Tirupaddi (Tirupati) in the North Arcot district. Their legend is as follows. Among the habitual gifts to the Venkatāchala temple atTirupaddiwere all the freaks of nature of the neighbourhood as exhibited in cattle, such as two-tailed cows, five-legged bulls, four-horned calves, and so on. The Pū Idaiyans, whose original duty was to string flowers for the temple, were set to graze these abortions. Now to graze cows is an honour, but to tend such creatures as these the Pū Idaiyans regarded as a sin. So they prayed to Venkatāchalapati to show them how they could purge it away. On this, the god gave them a bull called after himself the Perumāl bull and said: ‘My sons, if you take as much care of this bull as you would of your own children, and lead it from house to house, begging its food, your sin will be washed away.’ Ever since then they have been purging themselves of theiroriginal sin. The process is this. The bull leader takes it from house to house, and puts it questions, and the animal shakes its head in reply. This is proof positive that it can reason. The fact is the animal is bought when young for a small sum, and brought up to its profession. Long practice has made its purchasers experts in selecting the animals that will suit them. After purchase the training commences, which consists in pinching the animal’s ears whenever it is given bran, and it soon learns to shake its head at the sight of bran. I need hardly say that a handful of bran is ready in its conductor’s hands when the questions are put to it. It is also taught to butt at any person that speaks angrily to it. As regards the offerings made to these people, one-sixth goes to feeding the bulls, and the remaining five-sixths to the conductors. They look upon it as ‘good work’, but the village boys and girls think it the greatest fun in the world to watch its performances, and the advent of a Vishnu’s bull is hailed by the youngsters with the greatest delight.”Gangimakkalu.—Gangimakkalu, or Gangaputra, meaning children or sons of Ganga, the goddess of water, is the name of a sub-division of Kabbēra. The allied Gangavamsamu, or people of Ganga, is a name for Jālāris.Gāniga or Gāndla.—The name Gāniga is derived from the Telugu gānuga, meaning an oil-mill. The Gānigas are said9to be “the oil pressers of the Canarese people, corresponding to the Telugu Gāndla and the Tamil Vāniyan. This caste is sub-divided into three sections, none of whom eat together or intermarry. These sections are the Heggānigas, who yoke two oxen to a stone oil-mill; Kirgānigas, who make oil in woodenmills; and Ontiyeddu Gānigas, who yoke only one animal to the mill. They are collectively known as Jōtipans or Jōtinagarams (people of the city of light). In addition to pressing oil, they also make palm-leaf umbrellas, cultivate land, and work as labourers. They employ Brāhmans to perform their ceremonies. Their guru is the head of the Vyāsarāya mutt at Ānegundi. Early marriage is practiced. Widow remarriage is not allowed. They eat fish, mutton, and fowls, but do not drink liquor. Chetti is their title.” In the Madras Census Report, 1891, it is stated that the guru of the Gānigas is the head of the mutt at Sringeri, and that they employ Havig Brāhmans for their ceremonies. Sringeri is the name of a Smarta (Saivite) mutt or religious institution at several places, such as Tanjore and Kumbakōnam; and there is a town of this name in Mysore, from which the mutt derives its name.Concerning the Gānigas of the Mysore Province, Mr. V. N. Narasimmiyengar writes as follows.10“The account locally obtained connects this caste with the Nagartās, as forming the leading communities of the left-hand faction, in opposition to the Lingayats and other castes composing the right-hand faction. Caste supremacy is ever associated in India with preternatural mythology. If the average Brāhman traces his nobility literally to the face of Brahma, according to the Vēdic Purusha Sūkta, every other castelet claims a patent of superiority in a similar miraculous origin. The Gānigas allege that they immigrated from the north at a time beyond living memory. A Mysore noble, named Mallarāje Ars, established and first peopled the pēte (market town) of Bangalore, when the Gānigas first came there,followed by the Nagartās, who are said to have been co-emigrants with the Gānigas. Mallarāj made Sattis and Yajamāns (headmen) of the principal members of the two castes, and exempted them from the house-tax. The Gānigas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites. Their guru is known as Dharmasivāchārsvāmi in the Madras Presidency, and certain gōtras (family names) are said to be common to the Gānigas and Nagartās, but they never eat together or intermarry. The Gānigas claim the peculiar privilege of following the Vishnu image or car processions, throughout the province, with flags exhibiting the figures of Hanumān and Garuda, and torches. These insignia are alleged to have been aboriginally given to an ancestor, named Siriyāla Satti, by Rāma, as a reward for a valuable gem presented by him. The Gānigas call themselves Dharmasivāchār Vaisyās like the Nagartās, and the feud between them used often to culminate in much bitter unpleasantness. The order includes a small division of the linga-wearing oilmongers, known as Sajjanā (good men), whose population is a small fraction of the community. The Sajjanās, however, hold no social intercourse of any kind with the other sub-divisions.”The Gānigas of Sandūr, in the little Marātha State of that name, returned Yenne (oil) and Kallu (stone) as sub-divisions. The average cephalic index of these Gānigas was very high, being 80.5 as against 77.6 for the Gānigas of Mysore city.“The oil-mill of the Gānigas is,” Mr. W. Francis writes,11“a sort of large wooden mortar, usually formed out of the heart of a tamarind tree, and firmly imbedded in the ground. A wooden cylinder, shod with iron, fitsroughly into the cavity. A cross beam is lashed to this in such a way that one end is close to the ground, and to this a pair of bullocks or buffaloes are fastened. By an arrangement of pullies, the pressure of the cylinder can be increased at pleasure. As the bullocks go round the trough, the seeds are crushed by the action of the cylinder, so that the expressed oil falls to the bottom, while the residuum, as oil-cake, adheres to the side of the mortar.”The following note refers to the Onteddu (single bullock) Gānigas, who claim superiority over those who employ two bullocks in working their oil-mills. The former belong to the right-hand, and the latter to the left-hand faction. Among them are various sub-divisions, of which the Dēva and Onteddu may intermarry, while the Kasi, Teli (gingelly:Sesamum), and Chandanapu are endogamous. Like other Telugu castes they have gōtras, some of which are interesting, as there are certain prohibitions connected with them. For example, members of the Badranollu and Balanollu gōtras may not cut the treeErythroxylon monogynum. In like manner, members of the Vīranollu and Viththanollu gōtras are forbidden to cutFeronia elephantum, and those of the Vēdanollu gōtra to cutNyctanthes arbor-tristis. Members of certain other gōtras do not cultivate turmeric, sugarcane, or the millet (Panicum miliare).The Onteddu Gānigas are Saivites, and disciples of Lingāyat Brāhmans (Ārādhyas). Some, however, wear the sacred thread, and others bear on the forehead the red streak of the Vaishnavites. In some places, their special deity is Chaudeswara, who is the god of some of the weaving classes. In the Kistna district they claim Mallikārjunasvāmi as their deity.Their primary occupation is oil-pressing, but some are traders in cotton, oil-seeds, etc., or cultivators. In some localities, the animal which works the oil-mill is not blindfolded, while it is in others, because, it is said, it would otherwise fall down after a few revolutions. Crushing gingelly oil is, according to the Shāstras, a sinful act, but condoned inasmuch as Dēvatas use this oil for lamps, and men in temples. For the removal of the oil-cake, or turning the seeds in the mill, the left hand only is used. Burning the tongue with a piece of gold, as a means of purification after some offence has been committed, is a common practice.
Gābit.—A Bombay fishing caste returned at the census, 1901. To Malpe in the South Canara district, during the fishing season, come fishermen with a flotilla of keeled and outrigged sailing boats from Ratnagiri in the Bombay Presidency. Hither also come fishermen from Goa. The reasons given by the Ratnagiri fishermen for coming southward are that fish are not so abundant off their own coast, competition is keener, and salt more expensive. Moreover, the crystals of Bombay salt are too large for successful curing, and “do not agree with the fish, of which the flesh is turned black.” If, they said contemptuously, they were to sun-dry fish by the local method, their people would laugh at them for bringing back, not fish, but dried cow-dung for fuel. The Ratnagiri boats go well out of sight of land to the fishing ground, where they catch seir, pomfret, cat-fish (Arius), and other big fish near the surface, and sharks in deeper water. If the fishing is not good near Malpe, they may go south as far as Mangalore. To the Ratnagiri fishermen the seir (Cybium) is the most valuable and lucrative fish. Under existing arrangements, by which clashing of interests is avoided, the fishery at Malpe is divided into two zones, viz., the deep sea fished by the large Ratnagiri boats, and the shallow littoral water by the smaller local and Goa boats.Gadaba.—The Gadabas are a tribe of agriculturists, coolies, and hunters in the Vizagapatam district. Hunting is said to be gradually decreasing, as many of the forests are now preserved, and shooting without alicense is forbidden. Men sometimes occupy themselves in felling trees, catching birds and hares, and tracking and beating game for sportsmen. The Gadabas are also employed as bearers in the hills, and carry palanquins. There is a settlement of them on the main road between Sembliguda and Koraput, in a village where they are said to have been settled by a former Rāja expressly for such service. It is said that the Gadabas will not touch a horse, possibly because they are palanquin-bearers, and have the same objection to the rival animal that a cabman has for a motor-car.There is a tradition that the tribe owes its name to the fact that its ancestors emigrated from the banks of the Godābari (Godāvari) river, and settled at Nandapur, the former capital of the Rājas of Jeypore. The Gadabas have a language of their own, of which a vocabulary is given in the Vizagapatam Manual. This language is included by Mr. G. A. Grierson1in the Mundā linguistic family.The tribe is apparently divided into five sections, called Bodo (big) or Gutōb, Pārenga, Olāro, Kaththiri or Kaththara, and Kāpu. Of these, the last two are settled in the plains, and say that they are Bodo and Olāro Gadabas who migrated thither from the hills. As among the Gadabas, so among the Savaras, there is a section which has settled on the plains, and adopted Kāpu as its name. In the Madras Census Report, 1891, nearly a thousand Gadabas are returned as belonging to the Chenchu sub-division. Chenchu is the name of a separate jungle tribe in the Telugu country, and I have been unable to confirm the existence of a Chenchu sub-division among the Gadabas.In the Madras Census Report, 1871, Mr. H. G. Turner states that “very much akin to the Gadabas are a class called Kerang Kāpus. They will not admit any connexion with them; but, as their language is almost identical, such gainsaying cannot be permitted them. They are called Kerang Kāpu from the circumstance of their women weaving cloths, which they weave from the fibre of a jungle shrub called Kerang (Calotropis gigantea).” Mr. H. A. Stuart remarks2that “the Kāpu Gadabas are possibly the Kerang Kāpus mentioned by Mr. Turner as akin to the Gadabas, for I find no mention of the caste under the full name of Kerang Kāpu, nor is Kerang found as a sub-division of either Kāpu or Gadaba.” Writing concerning the numeral system of the Kerang Kāpus, Mr. Turner observes that it runs thus: Moi, Umbar, Jugi, O, Malloi, Turu, Gū, Tammar, Santing, Goa, and for eleven (1 and following numbers), they prefix the word Go,e.g., Gommoi, Gombāro, etc. The Kerang Kāpus can count up to nineteen, but have no conception of twenty. According to Mr. W. Francis, the only tribe on the hills which has this system of notation is the Bonda Poraja. The Gadabas have very similar names for the first five numerals; but, after that, lapse into Oriya,e.g., sāt, āt, nō, das, etc. The Bonda Poraja numerals recorded by Mr. Francis are mūyi, baar, gii, oo, moloi, thiri, goo, thamām, and so on up to nineteen, after which they cannot count. This system, as he points out, agrees with the one described by Mr. Turner as belonging to the Kerang Kāpus. The Gutōb Gadaba numerals recorded by Mr. C. A. Henderson include muititti (1 + a hand), and martitti (2 + a hand).Some Gadaba women wear a bustle or dress improver, called irrē or kittē. This article of attire is accounted for by the following tradition. “A goddess visited a Gadaba villageincognito, and asked leave of one of the women to rest on a cot. She was brusquely told that the proper seat for beggars was the floor, and she consequently decreed that thenceforth all Gadaba women should wear a bustle to remind them to avoid churlishness.”3The Gadaba female cloths are manufactured by themselves from cotton thread and the fibre of silloluvāda or ankudi chettu (Holarrhena antidysenterica) and bōda luvāda or bodda chettu (Ficus glomerata). The fibre is carefully dried, and dyed blue or reddish-brown. The edges of the cloth are white, a blue strip comes next, while the middle portion is reddish-brown with narrow stripes of white or blue at regular intervals. The Gadabas account for the dress of their women by the following legend. When Rāma, during his banishment, was wandering in the forests of Dandaka, his wife Sīta accompanied him in spite of his entreaties to the contrary. It was one of the cruel terms of his stepmother Kaika that Rāma should wear only clothing made from jungle fibre, before leaving the capital. According to the Hindu religion, a virtuous wife must share both the sorrows and joys of her lord. Consequently Sīta followed the example of Rāma, and wore the same kind of clothing. They then left the capital amidst the loud lamentation of the citizens. During their wanderings, they met some Gadaba women, who mocked and laughed at Sīta. Whereupon she cursed them, and condemned them to wear no other dress but the cloth made of fibre. In a note on theGadabas,4Mr. L. Lakshminarayan writes that “although mill-prepared cloths are fast replacing house-spun cloths in all communities, yet, in the case of the Gadabas, there is a strong superstition which prevents the use of cloths prepared outside, particularly in regard to the cloths worn by their women. The legend (about Sīta) is fully believed by the Gadabas, and hence their religious adherence to their particular cloth. At the time of marriage, it is absolute that the Gadaba maiden should wear this fibre-made cloth, else misfortune will ruin the family. A bundle of twigs is brought, and the stems freed of leaves are bruised and twisted to loosen the bark, and are then dried for two or three days, after which the bark is ripped out and beaten down smooth with heavy sticks, to separate the bark from the fibre. The fibre is then collected, and combed down smooth, and spun into a tolerably fine twist. It is this twist that the Gadaba maiden weaves in her crude loom, and prepares from it her marriage sāri. According to a good custom among these people, a Gadaba maiden must learn to weave her cloths before she becomes eligible for marriage. And no Gadaba ever thinks of marrying a wife who cannot prepare her own cloths. Men can use cotton and other cloths, whereas women cannot do so, for they are under the curse of Sīta. But the passion for fineries in woman is naturally so strong that the modern Gadaba woman is now taking the liberty of putting cotton thread for the woof and ankudu fibre for the warp, and thus is able to turn out a more comfortable and finer cloth. But some old crones informed me that this mixed cloth is not so auspicious as that prepared wholly from the fibre.”Some Gadaba women wear immense earrings made of long pieces of brass wire wound into a circle, which hang down from a hole in the ear, and sometimes reach to the shoulders. The wire is sold in the shandy (market) at so much a cubit. The head-dress of some of the women consists of a chaplet ofOlivashells, and strings of beads of various sizes and colours, or the red and black berries ofAbrus precatorius, with pendants which hang over the forehead. The women also wear bead necklaces, to which a coin may sometimes be seen attached as a pendant. Bracelets and rings are as a rule made of brass or copper, but sometimes silver rings are worn. Toe-rings and brass or silver anklets are considered fashionable ornaments. Among the Olāro Gadabas, the wearing of brass anklets by a woman indicates that she is married. For teaching backward children to walk, the Gadabas employ a bamboo stick split so as to make a fork, the prongs of which are connected by a cross-bar. The apparatus is held by the mother, and the child, clutching the cross-bar, toddles along.Among the Bodo and Olāro sections, the following septs occur:—Kōra (sun), Nāg (cobra), Bhāg (tiger), Kīra (parrot), and Gollāri (monkey). The Gadabas who have settled in the plains seem to have forgotten the sept names, but will not injure or kill certain animals,e.g., the cobra.Girls are as a rule married after puberty. When a young man’s parents think it time for him to get married, they repair to the home of an eligible girl with rice and liquor, and say that they have come to ask a boon, but do not mention what it is. They are treated to a meal, and return home. Some time afterwards, on a day fixed by the Disāri, three or four aged relatives of the youngman go to the girl’s house, and the match is fixed up. After a meal, they return to their homes. On the day appointed for the wedding ceremonies, the bridegroom’s relations go to the home of the bride, taking with them a rupee towards the marriage expenses, a new cloth for the girl’s mother, and half a rupee for the females of the bride’s village, which is regarded as compensation for the loss of the girl. To the bride are given a glass bead necklace, and brass bangles to be worn on the right wrist. A feast follows. On the following day, the bride is conducted to the village of the bridegroom, in front of whose home a pandal (booth), made of four bamboo poles, covered with green leaves, has been erected. Within the pandal, stems of the sāl (Shorea robusta), addagirli, and bamboo joined together, are set up as the auspicious post. Beside this a grindstone is placed, on which the bride sits, with the bridegroom seated on her thighs. The females present throw turmeric powder over them, and they are bathed with turmeric-water kept ready in a new pot. They are then presented with new cloths, and their hands are joined together by the officiating Disāri. A feast, with much drinking, follows, and the day’s proceedings conclude with a dance. On the following day, mud is heaped up near the pandal, into which the Disāri throws a handful of it. The remainder of the mud is carried into the pandal by the contracting couple, who pour water over it, and throw it over those who are assembled. All then proceed to a stream, and bathe. A further feast and dance follows, of which the newly married couple are spectators, without taking part in it.In a note on marriage among the Pārenga Gadabas, Mr. G. F. Paddison writes that they have two forms of marriage rite, one of which (bibā) is accompanied bymuch feasting, gifts of bullocks, toddy, rice, etc. The most interesting feature is the fight for the bride with fists. All the men on each side fight, and the bridegroom has to carry off the bride by force. Then they all sit down, and feast together. In the other form (lethulia), the couple go off together to the jungle, and, when they return, pay twenty rupees, or whatever they can afford, to the girl’s father as a fine. A dinner and regular marriage follow elopement and payment of the fine.The ghorojavai system, according to which a man works for a stated period for his future father-in-law, is practiced by the Gadabas. But a cash payment is said to be now substituted for service. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a younger brother may marry the widow of his elder brother. If she does not marry him, the second husband has to pay a sum of money, called in Oriya the rānd tonka, to him. When a man divorces his wife, her relations are summoned, and he pays her two rupees before sending her away. Of this sum, one rupee is paid as buchni for suspicion regarding her chastity, and the other as chatni for driving her away. A divorced woman may remarry.In the hills, the village headman is called Janni or Nāyako, and in the plains Naidādo. He is assisted by a Kīrasāni, who is also the caste priest.Concerning the religion of the Gadabas, Mr. H. D. Taylor writes5that it is “simple, and consists of feasts at stated intervals. The chief festival is Ittakaparva, or hunting feast, in March and April. On this occasion, the whole male population turns out to hunt, and, if they return unsuccessful, the women pelt them with cow-dung on their return to the village; if, however,successful, they have their revenge upon the women in another way. The chief deities (though spoken of generally under the term Dēvata or Mahāprabhu) are Ganga Dēvi or Tākurāni, Iswara or Mouli, Bhairava, and Jhankara. It is Iswara or Mouli who is worshipped at Chaitra. Jhankara is the god of land, rainfall and crops, and a cow is sacrificed to him. There are not, as a rule, temples, but the pūja (worship) place consists of a sacred grove surrounded with a circle of stones, which takes the name of Jhankara from the god to whom pūja is performed. Ganga Dēvi, Iswara and Mouli have temples at certain places, but as a rule there is no building, and the site of pūja is marked by trees and stones. To Iswara a she-buffalo is sacrificed at Chaitra. To the other Dēvatas cocks and goats are sacrificed. Ganga Dēvi or Tākurāni is the goddess of life and health, both of men and cattle; to her pigs, goats, and pigeons are sacrificed. There are one or two curious superstitions. If a member of the caste is supposed to be possessed of a devil, he or she is abused and beaten by other members of the caste until the devil is cast out. In some parts the superstition is that a piece of wild buffalo horn buried in the ground of the village will avert or cure cattle disease.” Sometimes a sāl or kōsangi tree is planted, and surrounded by a bamboo hedge. It is worshipped with animal sacrifices at harvest time, and the Kīrasāni acts as priest.“There is,” Mr. G. F. Paddison writes, “rather a curious custom in connection with a village goddess. Close to her shrine a swing is kept. On this swing, once a year at the great village festival, thorns are placed, and the village priest or priestess sits on them without harm. If the pūjāri is a male, he has been made neuter. But, if the village is not fortunate enoughto possess a eunuch, a woman performs the ceremony. [At the fire-walking ceremony at Nuvagōde in Ganjam, the priest sits on a thorny swing, and is endowed with prophetic powers.] When there is small-pox or other epidemic disease in a village, a little go-cart is built, composed of a box on legs fixed to a small board on wheels. In this box is placed a little clay image, or anything else holy, and carried away to a distant place, and left there. A white flag is hoisted, which looks like quarantine, but is really intended, I think, to draw the goddess back to her shrine. Vaccination is regarded as a religious ceremony, and the Gadabas, I believe, invariably present the vaccinator as the officiating priest with rice.”The Gadabas, like other hill tribes, name their children after the day of the week on which they are born. On the plains, however, some give their children low-country names,e.g., Rāmudu, Lachigadu, Arjanna, etc.Males are, as a rule, burnt; but, if a person dies in the night or on a rainy day, the corpse is sometimes buried. Women and children are usually buried, presumably because they are not thought worth the fuel necessary for cremation. Only relations are permitted to touch a corpse. Death pollution is observed for three days, during which the caste occupation must not be engaged in. Stone slabs are erected to the memory of the dead, and sacrifices are offered to them now and again.The Gadabas have a devil dance, which they are willing to perform before strangers in return for a small present. It has been thus described by Captain Glasfurd.6“At the time of the Dusserah, Hōli, and other holidays,both men and women dance to the music of a fife and drum. Sometimes they form a ring by joining hands all round, and with a long hop spring towards the centre, and then hop back to the full extent of their arms, while they at the same time keep circling round and round. At other times, the women dance singly or in pairs, their hands resting on each other’s wrists. When fatigued, they cease dancing, and sing. A man steps out of the crowd, and sings a verse or twoimpromptu. One of the women rejoins, and they sing at each other for a short time. The point of these songs appears to consist in giving the sharpest rejoinder to each other. The woman reflects upon the man’s ungainly appearance and want of skill as a cultivator or huntsman, and the man retorts by reproaching her with her ugliness and slatternly habits.” In connection with dancing, Mr. Henderson writes that “all the Gadaba dancing I have seen was the same as that of the Porjas, and consisted of a sort of women’s march, at times accompanied by a few men who wander round, and occasionally form a ring through which the line of women passes. Sometimes the men get on each other’s shoulders, and so form a sort of two-storied pyramid. The women’s song is comparatively quite melodious.”In recent years, some Gadabas have emigrated to Assam, to work in the tea-gardens. But emigration has now stopped by edict.For the information contained in this article, I am mainly indebted to notes by Mr. C. A. Henderson, Mr. W. Francis, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao, and the Kumara Rajā of Bobbili.Gādi(cart).—An exogamous sept of Māla.Gādidhē Kandla(donkey’s eyes).—An exogamous sept of Bōya.Gādu.—A common suffix to the name of individuals among various Telugu classes,e.g., Rāmigādu, Subbigādu.Gaduge(throne).—A gōtra of Kurni.Gaita.—A sub-division of Konda Rāzu.Gajjal(a small bell).—A sub-division of Toreya.Gāli.—Gāli or Gālollu, meaning wind, devil, or spirit, is recorded as an exogamous sept of Kamma, Kuruba, and Māla.Gamalla.—The Gamallas are a class of toddy-drawers, and distillers and vendors of arrack in the Telugu country and are supposed to be Īdigas who have bettered themselves, and separated from that caste. Both Gamallas and Īdigas worship the deity Kāttamayya. At the census, 1891, some returned Īdiga as their sub-division. In the Cuddapah district some toddy-drawers style themselves Asilivāndlu. Possibly the Īdiga, Gamalla, and Asili toddy-drawing classes only represent three endogamous sections of a single caste. In the Nellore district, the toddy-drawers style themselves Gamandla or Gavandlavāndlu, and say that they have one gōtra Kaumandlapu or Gaumandlapu. It is probable that the name Gamandla or Gavandla has been coined by Brāhman purōhits, to connect the caste with Kaumandala Mahārishi of the Purānas. The Gamallas say that they were created to draw toddy by the sage Kavundinya, and that they belong to the Gaundla varnam (caste). I am informed that a Purānam, called Gamandla or Gamudi Purānam, has been created. In the social scale, the toddy-drawers appear to occupy a higher position in the Telugu than in the Tamil country, and they are sometimes said to be Telagas or Balijas, who have adopted toddy-drawing as a profession. The more prosperous members of the community are toddyand arrack (liquor) shop-keepers, and the poorer members extract toddy from the palm-trees.The Kāpus of the Nellore district employ Gamallas as their cooks and domestic servants, and all menial service and cooking are done by Gamallas in the houses of Kāpus on the occasion of festivals and marriages.Concerning the origin of the Gamallas, the following legend is current. A Rishi was doing penance by standing on his head, and, like the chamæleon, living on light and air, instead of food. According to some, the Rishi was Kaumandla, while others do not know his name. An Īdiga girl passed by the Rishi, carrying a pot filled with toddy, which polluted the air, so that the Rishi could not continue the penance. Being struck with the girl’s beauty, he followed her to her home, and pointed out to her that she was the cause of his mishap. He asked her to become his wife, but she announced that she was already married. Eventually, however, they became secretly united, and, in consequence, the whole town caught fire. The girl’s husband, returning home with some toddy, was amazed at the sight, and she, to protect him, hid the Rishi in a vat. Into this vat the husband poured the toddy, which made the Rishi breathe hard, so that the toddy, for the first time on record, began to foam. Noticing this, the husband found a lingam, into which the Rishi had been transformed. This lingam was worshipped by the Gamandlas, and they are at the present day Saivites.Like other Telugu castes, the Gamallas have exogamous septs, such as parvathāla (hills), kudumalu (a cake), annam (cooked rice), and pandhi (pig). Among gōtras, the following may be noted:—kavundinya, kārunya, vāchalya, and surāpāndēsvara (surā pānda, toddy pot).Marriage is, as a rule, adult, and remarriage of widows is permitted, though the tendency at the present day is to abandon the practice. At the wedding of a widow, the bottu (marriage badge) is tied round her neck at night. Prior to the marriage ceremony, the worship of female ancestors must be performed. A new female cloth, betel, and flowers, are placed on a tray, and worshipped by the mothers of the contracting couple. The cloth is given as a present to a sister or other near relation of the bride or bridegroom.Gamallas.Gamallas.The dead are cremated, and the widow breaks one or two of her bangles. Fire must be carried to the burning-ground by the father of the deceased, if he is alive. On the day following cremation, the hot embers are extinguished, and the ashes collected, and shaped into an effigy, near the head of which three conical masses of mud and ashes are set up. To these representatives of Rudra, Yama, and the spirit of the departed, cooked rice and vegetables are offered up on three leaves. One of the leaves is given to the Jangam, who officiates at the rite, another to a washerman, and the third is left, so that the food on it may be eaten by crows. All, who are assembled, wait till these birds collect, and the ashes are finally poured on a tree. On the ninth, tenth, or eleventh day after death, a ceremony called the peddadinam (big day) is performed. Cooked rice, curry, meat, and other things, are placed on a leaf inside the house. Sitting near this leaf, the widow weeps and breaks one or two of the glass bangles, which she wears on the wrist. The food is then taken to a stream or tank (pond), where the agnates, after shaving, bathing, and purification, make an effigy of the dead person on the ground. Close to this cooked rice and vegetables are placed on three leaves, and offered to theeffigy. The widow’s remaining bangles are broken, and she is presented with a new cloth, called munda koka (widow’s cloth) as a sign of her condition. All Gamallas, rich or poor, engage on this occasion the services of Māla Pambalas and Bainēdus (musicians and story-tellers) to recite the story of the goddess Ankamma. The performance is called Ankamma kolupu. Some of the Mālas make on the ground a design, called muggu, while the others play on the drum, and carry out the recitation. The design must be made in five colours, green (leaves ofCassia auriculata), white (rice flour), red (turmeric and lime), yellow (turmeric), and black (burnt rice-husk). It represents a male and female figure (Vīrulu, heroes), who are supposed to be the person whose peddadinam is being celebrated, and an ancestor of the opposite sex. If the family can afford it, other designs, for example of Ankamma, are also drawn. On the completion of the muggu, cocoanuts, rice, and betel are offered, and a fowl is sacrificed.Like many other Telugu castes, the Gamallas have a class of beggars, called Eneti, attached to them, for whom a subscription is raised when they turn up.The Gamallas are mostly Saivites, and their priests are Ārādhya Brāhmans,i.e., Telugu Brāhmans, who have adopted some of the customs of the Lingāyats. They worship a variety of gods and goddesses, who include Pōtharāju, Kātamayya, Gangamma, Mathamma, and Thallamma, or Thadlamma. Once or twice during the year, a pot of toddy is brought from every house to the shrine of Thallamma, and the liquor contained in some of the pots is poured on the floor, and the remainder given to those assembled, irrespective of caste.At the festival of Dīpāvali, the celebrants bathe in the early morning, and go, in wet clothes, to an ant-hill,before which they prostrate themselves, and pour a little water into one of the holes. Round the hill they wind five turns of cotton thread, and return home. Subsequently they come once more to the ant-hill with a lamp made of flour paste. Carrying the light, they go thrice or five times round the hill, and throw into a hole therein split pulse (Phaseolus Mungo). During the whole of this day they fast. On the following morning they again go to the hill, pour milk into it, and snap the threads wound round it.Gamalla muggu.Gamalla muggu.At the festival of Sankarānthi, the principal member of every family observes the worship of ancestors. Various articles are placed in a room on leaf plates representing the ancestors, who are worshipped by the celebrant after he has been purified by bathing. Taking a little of the food from each leaf, he places it on a single leaf, which is worshipped, and placed in the court-yard, so that the crows may partake thereof. The remainder of the food is distributed among the members of the family.At the census, 1901, some Gamallas returned themselves as Settigādu (Chetti).Gampa(basket).—A sub-division of Kamma and Telaga, and an exogamous sept of Oddē. The name, among the Kammas, refers to a deadly struggle at Gandikōta, in which some escaped by hiding in baskets. Gampa dhōmpti is the name of a sub-division of the Mādigas, whose marriage offerings to the god are placed in a basket.Ganāyata.—Recorded, at times of census, as a sub-division of Lingāyat Jangams in the Nellore, Cuddapah, and Kurnool districts. The Sanskrit word Ganam means Siva’s attendants.Gandham(sandal paste).—An exogamous sept of Balijas, one sub-division of whom is called Gandhavālluor Gandhapodi (sandal perfume sellers). The paste made by rubbing sandal (Santalum album) wood on a stone with water is widely used in connection with Hindu ceremonial observance. A Brāhman, for example, after worshipping, smears his body with the paste. At festivals, and other ceremonial occasions, sandal paste is distributed to guests along with betel leaves and areca nuts (pān-supāri). Gandhapodi also occurs as an exogamous sept of Bōya.Gandikōta.—A sub-division of Kamma. Gandi Kōttei is recorded7as a sub-division of Kāpu or Reddi, “found only in Madura and Tinnevelly, and also known simply as Kōttei Reddis. Kōttei is the Tamil for a fort, the corresponding Telugu word being kōta. Their females do not appear in public.”Gāndla.—SeeGāniga.Gangadikāra.—Gangadikāra, said doubtfully to mean those who lived on the banks of the Ganges, has been recorded as a sub-division of the Holeyas, Okkiliyans, and Vakkaligas. The name probably refers to Gangavādi, the country of the Gangas, a royal line which ruled over the greater part of the modern Mysore in former times.Gangeddu.—The Gangeddulu are a class of mendicants, who travel about the country exhibiting performing bulls. “The exhibition of sacred bulls, known as Gangeddulu (Ganga’s bulls) is very common in the towns and villages of Southern India. The presence of the swāmi (god) bull, as he is popularly called, is made known by his keeper playing on a small drum, which emits a dismal, booming sound, in the intervals of addressing his dumb companion in a piercing voice. The bull is ledabout from house to house, and made to go through several tricks, which he does with evident zest. The keeper in the meanwhile talks to him, and puts questions to him, to which he replies by shakes of his head. He will kneel down in an attitude of worship, with his head inclined to the ground, or he will approach you, and gently rub his nozzle against your hand. Usually a diminutive cow accompanies the bull, and, like him, is grandly attired, and resounds with tinkling bells. She is introduced to the spectators as the bull’s ammagaru, that is consort or spouse. Then a scene between the pair is enacted, the gist of which is that the husband is displeased with the wife, and declines to hold converse with her. As a result of the difference, he resolves to go away, and stalks off in high dudgeon. The keeper attempts to make peace between them, and is rewarded by being charged by the irate husband and knocked down, though no harm is done to him as the animal’s horns are padded. The keeper rises, shakes himself, and complains woefully of the treatment he has received. Indeed, it is only after a great deal of coaxing and wheedling, and promises of buying him endless quantities of rice cakes and other bazaar delicacies, that the bull condescends to return, and a reconciliation is effected.”For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The Gangeddulu, Erudāndis, or Perumāl Mādukkārans, often acquire and train deformed male calves. It is a popular superstition that for a family to keep such animals in its possession is to court destruction. Consequently, when one is born, information is sent to a Gangeddu, who, on his arrival, is sumptuously fed. The calf is then washed, and a new cloth tied to its horns. A small present of money is made to the Gangeddu, and he takes the animal away. Templessometimes dispose of their deformed calves in a similar manner. When the trained animals are exhibited in public, the deformity, which is the hall-mark of a genuine Gangeddu, is shown, usually at the commencement of the performance, or at any time at the bidding of any of the spectators. It is only after the exhibition of the deformity, which is usually concealed within the trappings of the animal, that remuneration, generally in kind, or in old rags and copper coins, is doled out to them. Villagers worship the bulls, when they happen to pass their houses, and, as soon as they enter a village, the females wash the feet of the animals with milk and water. They then adorn their foreheads with kunkumam (aniline powder) and turmeric paste, and burn incense and camphor before them. Cocoanuts, plantains, betel leaves and areca nuts, and money are also offered in a plate, and are the perquisite of the Gangeddu. The bulls are thus venerated, as they represent Basavanna, the sacred bull which is the vehicle of Siva.The language of the Gangeddulu is Telugu, but those who have migrated to the Tamil country also speak the language of the south. They profess the Vaishnavite religion, and are of the Tengalai persuasion. They have Brāhman gurus (religious preceptors), who reside at Srirangam, Tirupati, and other places. By them the Gangeddulu are branded on the shoulder with the emblems of the chank and chakram, and initiated into the mysteries of the Dāsari priesthood. But, though they call themselves Dāsaris, the Gangeddulu have no marital or other connection with the Dāsaris. In addition to training and exhibiting the performing bulls and cultivating land, the Gangeddulu officiate as Dāsaris in the month of Peratāsi (September-October). Their principal insignia of office are the chank shell, which isblown to announce their arrival, and the iron lamp (called Garudasthambha), which is kept burning, and is said to represent Venkatēsa, the presiding deity at Tirupati. As Dāsaris, little is expected of them, except offering fruits to the god, and assisting at funerals. Several proverbs, of which the following are examples, are current concerning this aspect of their life:—The mistake of a Dāsari is excused with an apology.The songs of a Dāsari are known only to the god,i.e., they are unintelligible and unreal.For the song of a Dāsari alms are the payment,i.e., that is all the song is worth.Sing again what you have sung, oh! Dāsari with dirty teeth.When a beggar was asked whether he was a Dāsari or a Jangam, he replied that it depends on the next village. This in reference to his being a time-server.A Gangeddu mendicant is, like his bulls, picturesquely attired. He is very punctilious about having his sect-mark on the forehead, invariably wears a turban, and his body is clothed in a long white cloth robe. When going about with the performing bulls, the Gangeddulu generally travel in pairs, one carrying a drum, and the other a bell-metal gong. One of them holds in one hand the nose-rope of the bull, and in the other the whip. The bulls are dressed up in a patch work quilt with two eye-holes in it. Of names which are given to the animals, Rāma and Lakshmana are very popular. The tameness of the bulls is referred to in the proverb “As mild as a Gangeddu.”The Perumāl Mādukkārans, or Perumāl Erudukkārans, both of which names indicate those who lead bulls about, are found chiefly in the Chingleput, North andSouth Arcot districts. “Every now and then,” Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri writes,8“throughout Madras, a man dressed up as a buffoon is to be seen leading about a bull, as fantastically got up as himself with cowries (Cypræa arabicashells) and rags of many colours, from door to door. The bull is called in Tamil Perumāl erudu, and in Telugu Ganga eddu, the former meaning Vishnu’s bull and the latter Ganga’s bull. The origin of the first is given in a legend, but that of the last is not clear. The conductors of these bulls are neatherds of high caste, called Pū Idaiyan,i.e., flower neatherds (seeIdaiyan), and come from villages in the North and South Arcot districts. They are a simple and ignorant set, who firmly believe that their occupation arises out of a command from the great god Venkatāchalapati, the lord of the Venkatāchala near Tirupaddi (Tirupati) in the North Arcot district. Their legend is as follows. Among the habitual gifts to the Venkatāchala temple atTirupaddiwere all the freaks of nature of the neighbourhood as exhibited in cattle, such as two-tailed cows, five-legged bulls, four-horned calves, and so on. The Pū Idaiyans, whose original duty was to string flowers for the temple, were set to graze these abortions. Now to graze cows is an honour, but to tend such creatures as these the Pū Idaiyans regarded as a sin. So they prayed to Venkatāchalapati to show them how they could purge it away. On this, the god gave them a bull called after himself the Perumāl bull and said: ‘My sons, if you take as much care of this bull as you would of your own children, and lead it from house to house, begging its food, your sin will be washed away.’ Ever since then they have been purging themselves of theiroriginal sin. The process is this. The bull leader takes it from house to house, and puts it questions, and the animal shakes its head in reply. This is proof positive that it can reason. The fact is the animal is bought when young for a small sum, and brought up to its profession. Long practice has made its purchasers experts in selecting the animals that will suit them. After purchase the training commences, which consists in pinching the animal’s ears whenever it is given bran, and it soon learns to shake its head at the sight of bran. I need hardly say that a handful of bran is ready in its conductor’s hands when the questions are put to it. It is also taught to butt at any person that speaks angrily to it. As regards the offerings made to these people, one-sixth goes to feeding the bulls, and the remaining five-sixths to the conductors. They look upon it as ‘good work’, but the village boys and girls think it the greatest fun in the world to watch its performances, and the advent of a Vishnu’s bull is hailed by the youngsters with the greatest delight.”Gangimakkalu.—Gangimakkalu, or Gangaputra, meaning children or sons of Ganga, the goddess of water, is the name of a sub-division of Kabbēra. The allied Gangavamsamu, or people of Ganga, is a name for Jālāris.Gāniga or Gāndla.—The name Gāniga is derived from the Telugu gānuga, meaning an oil-mill. The Gānigas are said9to be “the oil pressers of the Canarese people, corresponding to the Telugu Gāndla and the Tamil Vāniyan. This caste is sub-divided into three sections, none of whom eat together or intermarry. These sections are the Heggānigas, who yoke two oxen to a stone oil-mill; Kirgānigas, who make oil in woodenmills; and Ontiyeddu Gānigas, who yoke only one animal to the mill. They are collectively known as Jōtipans or Jōtinagarams (people of the city of light). In addition to pressing oil, they also make palm-leaf umbrellas, cultivate land, and work as labourers. They employ Brāhmans to perform their ceremonies. Their guru is the head of the Vyāsarāya mutt at Ānegundi. Early marriage is practiced. Widow remarriage is not allowed. They eat fish, mutton, and fowls, but do not drink liquor. Chetti is their title.” In the Madras Census Report, 1891, it is stated that the guru of the Gānigas is the head of the mutt at Sringeri, and that they employ Havig Brāhmans for their ceremonies. Sringeri is the name of a Smarta (Saivite) mutt or religious institution at several places, such as Tanjore and Kumbakōnam; and there is a town of this name in Mysore, from which the mutt derives its name.Concerning the Gānigas of the Mysore Province, Mr. V. N. Narasimmiyengar writes as follows.10“The account locally obtained connects this caste with the Nagartās, as forming the leading communities of the left-hand faction, in opposition to the Lingayats and other castes composing the right-hand faction. Caste supremacy is ever associated in India with preternatural mythology. If the average Brāhman traces his nobility literally to the face of Brahma, according to the Vēdic Purusha Sūkta, every other castelet claims a patent of superiority in a similar miraculous origin. The Gānigas allege that they immigrated from the north at a time beyond living memory. A Mysore noble, named Mallarāje Ars, established and first peopled the pēte (market town) of Bangalore, when the Gānigas first came there,followed by the Nagartās, who are said to have been co-emigrants with the Gānigas. Mallarāj made Sattis and Yajamāns (headmen) of the principal members of the two castes, and exempted them from the house-tax. The Gānigas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites. Their guru is known as Dharmasivāchārsvāmi in the Madras Presidency, and certain gōtras (family names) are said to be common to the Gānigas and Nagartās, but they never eat together or intermarry. The Gānigas claim the peculiar privilege of following the Vishnu image or car processions, throughout the province, with flags exhibiting the figures of Hanumān and Garuda, and torches. These insignia are alleged to have been aboriginally given to an ancestor, named Siriyāla Satti, by Rāma, as a reward for a valuable gem presented by him. The Gānigas call themselves Dharmasivāchār Vaisyās like the Nagartās, and the feud between them used often to culminate in much bitter unpleasantness. The order includes a small division of the linga-wearing oilmongers, known as Sajjanā (good men), whose population is a small fraction of the community. The Sajjanās, however, hold no social intercourse of any kind with the other sub-divisions.”The Gānigas of Sandūr, in the little Marātha State of that name, returned Yenne (oil) and Kallu (stone) as sub-divisions. The average cephalic index of these Gānigas was very high, being 80.5 as against 77.6 for the Gānigas of Mysore city.“The oil-mill of the Gānigas is,” Mr. W. Francis writes,11“a sort of large wooden mortar, usually formed out of the heart of a tamarind tree, and firmly imbedded in the ground. A wooden cylinder, shod with iron, fitsroughly into the cavity. A cross beam is lashed to this in such a way that one end is close to the ground, and to this a pair of bullocks or buffaloes are fastened. By an arrangement of pullies, the pressure of the cylinder can be increased at pleasure. As the bullocks go round the trough, the seeds are crushed by the action of the cylinder, so that the expressed oil falls to the bottom, while the residuum, as oil-cake, adheres to the side of the mortar.”The following note refers to the Onteddu (single bullock) Gānigas, who claim superiority over those who employ two bullocks in working their oil-mills. The former belong to the right-hand, and the latter to the left-hand faction. Among them are various sub-divisions, of which the Dēva and Onteddu may intermarry, while the Kasi, Teli (gingelly:Sesamum), and Chandanapu are endogamous. Like other Telugu castes they have gōtras, some of which are interesting, as there are certain prohibitions connected with them. For example, members of the Badranollu and Balanollu gōtras may not cut the treeErythroxylon monogynum. In like manner, members of the Vīranollu and Viththanollu gōtras are forbidden to cutFeronia elephantum, and those of the Vēdanollu gōtra to cutNyctanthes arbor-tristis. Members of certain other gōtras do not cultivate turmeric, sugarcane, or the millet (Panicum miliare).The Onteddu Gānigas are Saivites, and disciples of Lingāyat Brāhmans (Ārādhyas). Some, however, wear the sacred thread, and others bear on the forehead the red streak of the Vaishnavites. In some places, their special deity is Chaudeswara, who is the god of some of the weaving classes. In the Kistna district they claim Mallikārjunasvāmi as their deity.Their primary occupation is oil-pressing, but some are traders in cotton, oil-seeds, etc., or cultivators. In some localities, the animal which works the oil-mill is not blindfolded, while it is in others, because, it is said, it would otherwise fall down after a few revolutions. Crushing gingelly oil is, according to the Shāstras, a sinful act, but condoned inasmuch as Dēvatas use this oil for lamps, and men in temples. For the removal of the oil-cake, or turning the seeds in the mill, the left hand only is used. Burning the tongue with a piece of gold, as a means of purification after some offence has been committed, is a common practice.
Gābit.—A Bombay fishing caste returned at the census, 1901. To Malpe in the South Canara district, during the fishing season, come fishermen with a flotilla of keeled and outrigged sailing boats from Ratnagiri in the Bombay Presidency. Hither also come fishermen from Goa. The reasons given by the Ratnagiri fishermen for coming southward are that fish are not so abundant off their own coast, competition is keener, and salt more expensive. Moreover, the crystals of Bombay salt are too large for successful curing, and “do not agree with the fish, of which the flesh is turned black.” If, they said contemptuously, they were to sun-dry fish by the local method, their people would laugh at them for bringing back, not fish, but dried cow-dung for fuel. The Ratnagiri boats go well out of sight of land to the fishing ground, where they catch seir, pomfret, cat-fish (Arius), and other big fish near the surface, and sharks in deeper water. If the fishing is not good near Malpe, they may go south as far as Mangalore. To the Ratnagiri fishermen the seir (Cybium) is the most valuable and lucrative fish. Under existing arrangements, by which clashing of interests is avoided, the fishery at Malpe is divided into two zones, viz., the deep sea fished by the large Ratnagiri boats, and the shallow littoral water by the smaller local and Goa boats.Gadaba.—The Gadabas are a tribe of agriculturists, coolies, and hunters in the Vizagapatam district. Hunting is said to be gradually decreasing, as many of the forests are now preserved, and shooting without alicense is forbidden. Men sometimes occupy themselves in felling trees, catching birds and hares, and tracking and beating game for sportsmen. The Gadabas are also employed as bearers in the hills, and carry palanquins. There is a settlement of them on the main road between Sembliguda and Koraput, in a village where they are said to have been settled by a former Rāja expressly for such service. It is said that the Gadabas will not touch a horse, possibly because they are palanquin-bearers, and have the same objection to the rival animal that a cabman has for a motor-car.There is a tradition that the tribe owes its name to the fact that its ancestors emigrated from the banks of the Godābari (Godāvari) river, and settled at Nandapur, the former capital of the Rājas of Jeypore. The Gadabas have a language of their own, of which a vocabulary is given in the Vizagapatam Manual. This language is included by Mr. G. A. Grierson1in the Mundā linguistic family.The tribe is apparently divided into five sections, called Bodo (big) or Gutōb, Pārenga, Olāro, Kaththiri or Kaththara, and Kāpu. Of these, the last two are settled in the plains, and say that they are Bodo and Olāro Gadabas who migrated thither from the hills. As among the Gadabas, so among the Savaras, there is a section which has settled on the plains, and adopted Kāpu as its name. In the Madras Census Report, 1891, nearly a thousand Gadabas are returned as belonging to the Chenchu sub-division. Chenchu is the name of a separate jungle tribe in the Telugu country, and I have been unable to confirm the existence of a Chenchu sub-division among the Gadabas.In the Madras Census Report, 1871, Mr. H. G. Turner states that “very much akin to the Gadabas are a class called Kerang Kāpus. They will not admit any connexion with them; but, as their language is almost identical, such gainsaying cannot be permitted them. They are called Kerang Kāpu from the circumstance of their women weaving cloths, which they weave from the fibre of a jungle shrub called Kerang (Calotropis gigantea).” Mr. H. A. Stuart remarks2that “the Kāpu Gadabas are possibly the Kerang Kāpus mentioned by Mr. Turner as akin to the Gadabas, for I find no mention of the caste under the full name of Kerang Kāpu, nor is Kerang found as a sub-division of either Kāpu or Gadaba.” Writing concerning the numeral system of the Kerang Kāpus, Mr. Turner observes that it runs thus: Moi, Umbar, Jugi, O, Malloi, Turu, Gū, Tammar, Santing, Goa, and for eleven (1 and following numbers), they prefix the word Go,e.g., Gommoi, Gombāro, etc. The Kerang Kāpus can count up to nineteen, but have no conception of twenty. According to Mr. W. Francis, the only tribe on the hills which has this system of notation is the Bonda Poraja. The Gadabas have very similar names for the first five numerals; but, after that, lapse into Oriya,e.g., sāt, āt, nō, das, etc. The Bonda Poraja numerals recorded by Mr. Francis are mūyi, baar, gii, oo, moloi, thiri, goo, thamām, and so on up to nineteen, after which they cannot count. This system, as he points out, agrees with the one described by Mr. Turner as belonging to the Kerang Kāpus. The Gutōb Gadaba numerals recorded by Mr. C. A. Henderson include muititti (1 + a hand), and martitti (2 + a hand).Some Gadaba women wear a bustle or dress improver, called irrē or kittē. This article of attire is accounted for by the following tradition. “A goddess visited a Gadaba villageincognito, and asked leave of one of the women to rest on a cot. She was brusquely told that the proper seat for beggars was the floor, and she consequently decreed that thenceforth all Gadaba women should wear a bustle to remind them to avoid churlishness.”3The Gadaba female cloths are manufactured by themselves from cotton thread and the fibre of silloluvāda or ankudi chettu (Holarrhena antidysenterica) and bōda luvāda or bodda chettu (Ficus glomerata). The fibre is carefully dried, and dyed blue or reddish-brown. The edges of the cloth are white, a blue strip comes next, while the middle portion is reddish-brown with narrow stripes of white or blue at regular intervals. The Gadabas account for the dress of their women by the following legend. When Rāma, during his banishment, was wandering in the forests of Dandaka, his wife Sīta accompanied him in spite of his entreaties to the contrary. It was one of the cruel terms of his stepmother Kaika that Rāma should wear only clothing made from jungle fibre, before leaving the capital. According to the Hindu religion, a virtuous wife must share both the sorrows and joys of her lord. Consequently Sīta followed the example of Rāma, and wore the same kind of clothing. They then left the capital amidst the loud lamentation of the citizens. During their wanderings, they met some Gadaba women, who mocked and laughed at Sīta. Whereupon she cursed them, and condemned them to wear no other dress but the cloth made of fibre. In a note on theGadabas,4Mr. L. Lakshminarayan writes that “although mill-prepared cloths are fast replacing house-spun cloths in all communities, yet, in the case of the Gadabas, there is a strong superstition which prevents the use of cloths prepared outside, particularly in regard to the cloths worn by their women. The legend (about Sīta) is fully believed by the Gadabas, and hence their religious adherence to their particular cloth. At the time of marriage, it is absolute that the Gadaba maiden should wear this fibre-made cloth, else misfortune will ruin the family. A bundle of twigs is brought, and the stems freed of leaves are bruised and twisted to loosen the bark, and are then dried for two or three days, after which the bark is ripped out and beaten down smooth with heavy sticks, to separate the bark from the fibre. The fibre is then collected, and combed down smooth, and spun into a tolerably fine twist. It is this twist that the Gadaba maiden weaves in her crude loom, and prepares from it her marriage sāri. According to a good custom among these people, a Gadaba maiden must learn to weave her cloths before she becomes eligible for marriage. And no Gadaba ever thinks of marrying a wife who cannot prepare her own cloths. Men can use cotton and other cloths, whereas women cannot do so, for they are under the curse of Sīta. But the passion for fineries in woman is naturally so strong that the modern Gadaba woman is now taking the liberty of putting cotton thread for the woof and ankudu fibre for the warp, and thus is able to turn out a more comfortable and finer cloth. But some old crones informed me that this mixed cloth is not so auspicious as that prepared wholly from the fibre.”Some Gadaba women wear immense earrings made of long pieces of brass wire wound into a circle, which hang down from a hole in the ear, and sometimes reach to the shoulders. The wire is sold in the shandy (market) at so much a cubit. The head-dress of some of the women consists of a chaplet ofOlivashells, and strings of beads of various sizes and colours, or the red and black berries ofAbrus precatorius, with pendants which hang over the forehead. The women also wear bead necklaces, to which a coin may sometimes be seen attached as a pendant. Bracelets and rings are as a rule made of brass or copper, but sometimes silver rings are worn. Toe-rings and brass or silver anklets are considered fashionable ornaments. Among the Olāro Gadabas, the wearing of brass anklets by a woman indicates that she is married. For teaching backward children to walk, the Gadabas employ a bamboo stick split so as to make a fork, the prongs of which are connected by a cross-bar. The apparatus is held by the mother, and the child, clutching the cross-bar, toddles along.Among the Bodo and Olāro sections, the following septs occur:—Kōra (sun), Nāg (cobra), Bhāg (tiger), Kīra (parrot), and Gollāri (monkey). The Gadabas who have settled in the plains seem to have forgotten the sept names, but will not injure or kill certain animals,e.g., the cobra.Girls are as a rule married after puberty. When a young man’s parents think it time for him to get married, they repair to the home of an eligible girl with rice and liquor, and say that they have come to ask a boon, but do not mention what it is. They are treated to a meal, and return home. Some time afterwards, on a day fixed by the Disāri, three or four aged relatives of the youngman go to the girl’s house, and the match is fixed up. After a meal, they return to their homes. On the day appointed for the wedding ceremonies, the bridegroom’s relations go to the home of the bride, taking with them a rupee towards the marriage expenses, a new cloth for the girl’s mother, and half a rupee for the females of the bride’s village, which is regarded as compensation for the loss of the girl. To the bride are given a glass bead necklace, and brass bangles to be worn on the right wrist. A feast follows. On the following day, the bride is conducted to the village of the bridegroom, in front of whose home a pandal (booth), made of four bamboo poles, covered with green leaves, has been erected. Within the pandal, stems of the sāl (Shorea robusta), addagirli, and bamboo joined together, are set up as the auspicious post. Beside this a grindstone is placed, on which the bride sits, with the bridegroom seated on her thighs. The females present throw turmeric powder over them, and they are bathed with turmeric-water kept ready in a new pot. They are then presented with new cloths, and their hands are joined together by the officiating Disāri. A feast, with much drinking, follows, and the day’s proceedings conclude with a dance. On the following day, mud is heaped up near the pandal, into which the Disāri throws a handful of it. The remainder of the mud is carried into the pandal by the contracting couple, who pour water over it, and throw it over those who are assembled. All then proceed to a stream, and bathe. A further feast and dance follows, of which the newly married couple are spectators, without taking part in it.In a note on marriage among the Pārenga Gadabas, Mr. G. F. Paddison writes that they have two forms of marriage rite, one of which (bibā) is accompanied bymuch feasting, gifts of bullocks, toddy, rice, etc. The most interesting feature is the fight for the bride with fists. All the men on each side fight, and the bridegroom has to carry off the bride by force. Then they all sit down, and feast together. In the other form (lethulia), the couple go off together to the jungle, and, when they return, pay twenty rupees, or whatever they can afford, to the girl’s father as a fine. A dinner and regular marriage follow elopement and payment of the fine.The ghorojavai system, according to which a man works for a stated period for his future father-in-law, is practiced by the Gadabas. But a cash payment is said to be now substituted for service. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a younger brother may marry the widow of his elder brother. If she does not marry him, the second husband has to pay a sum of money, called in Oriya the rānd tonka, to him. When a man divorces his wife, her relations are summoned, and he pays her two rupees before sending her away. Of this sum, one rupee is paid as buchni for suspicion regarding her chastity, and the other as chatni for driving her away. A divorced woman may remarry.In the hills, the village headman is called Janni or Nāyako, and in the plains Naidādo. He is assisted by a Kīrasāni, who is also the caste priest.Concerning the religion of the Gadabas, Mr. H. D. Taylor writes5that it is “simple, and consists of feasts at stated intervals. The chief festival is Ittakaparva, or hunting feast, in March and April. On this occasion, the whole male population turns out to hunt, and, if they return unsuccessful, the women pelt them with cow-dung on their return to the village; if, however,successful, they have their revenge upon the women in another way. The chief deities (though spoken of generally under the term Dēvata or Mahāprabhu) are Ganga Dēvi or Tākurāni, Iswara or Mouli, Bhairava, and Jhankara. It is Iswara or Mouli who is worshipped at Chaitra. Jhankara is the god of land, rainfall and crops, and a cow is sacrificed to him. There are not, as a rule, temples, but the pūja (worship) place consists of a sacred grove surrounded with a circle of stones, which takes the name of Jhankara from the god to whom pūja is performed. Ganga Dēvi, Iswara and Mouli have temples at certain places, but as a rule there is no building, and the site of pūja is marked by trees and stones. To Iswara a she-buffalo is sacrificed at Chaitra. To the other Dēvatas cocks and goats are sacrificed. Ganga Dēvi or Tākurāni is the goddess of life and health, both of men and cattle; to her pigs, goats, and pigeons are sacrificed. There are one or two curious superstitions. If a member of the caste is supposed to be possessed of a devil, he or she is abused and beaten by other members of the caste until the devil is cast out. In some parts the superstition is that a piece of wild buffalo horn buried in the ground of the village will avert or cure cattle disease.” Sometimes a sāl or kōsangi tree is planted, and surrounded by a bamboo hedge. It is worshipped with animal sacrifices at harvest time, and the Kīrasāni acts as priest.“There is,” Mr. G. F. Paddison writes, “rather a curious custom in connection with a village goddess. Close to her shrine a swing is kept. On this swing, once a year at the great village festival, thorns are placed, and the village priest or priestess sits on them without harm. If the pūjāri is a male, he has been made neuter. But, if the village is not fortunate enoughto possess a eunuch, a woman performs the ceremony. [At the fire-walking ceremony at Nuvagōde in Ganjam, the priest sits on a thorny swing, and is endowed with prophetic powers.] When there is small-pox or other epidemic disease in a village, a little go-cart is built, composed of a box on legs fixed to a small board on wheels. In this box is placed a little clay image, or anything else holy, and carried away to a distant place, and left there. A white flag is hoisted, which looks like quarantine, but is really intended, I think, to draw the goddess back to her shrine. Vaccination is regarded as a religious ceremony, and the Gadabas, I believe, invariably present the vaccinator as the officiating priest with rice.”The Gadabas, like other hill tribes, name their children after the day of the week on which they are born. On the plains, however, some give their children low-country names,e.g., Rāmudu, Lachigadu, Arjanna, etc.Males are, as a rule, burnt; but, if a person dies in the night or on a rainy day, the corpse is sometimes buried. Women and children are usually buried, presumably because they are not thought worth the fuel necessary for cremation. Only relations are permitted to touch a corpse. Death pollution is observed for three days, during which the caste occupation must not be engaged in. Stone slabs are erected to the memory of the dead, and sacrifices are offered to them now and again.The Gadabas have a devil dance, which they are willing to perform before strangers in return for a small present. It has been thus described by Captain Glasfurd.6“At the time of the Dusserah, Hōli, and other holidays,both men and women dance to the music of a fife and drum. Sometimes they form a ring by joining hands all round, and with a long hop spring towards the centre, and then hop back to the full extent of their arms, while they at the same time keep circling round and round. At other times, the women dance singly or in pairs, their hands resting on each other’s wrists. When fatigued, they cease dancing, and sing. A man steps out of the crowd, and sings a verse or twoimpromptu. One of the women rejoins, and they sing at each other for a short time. The point of these songs appears to consist in giving the sharpest rejoinder to each other. The woman reflects upon the man’s ungainly appearance and want of skill as a cultivator or huntsman, and the man retorts by reproaching her with her ugliness and slatternly habits.” In connection with dancing, Mr. Henderson writes that “all the Gadaba dancing I have seen was the same as that of the Porjas, and consisted of a sort of women’s march, at times accompanied by a few men who wander round, and occasionally form a ring through which the line of women passes. Sometimes the men get on each other’s shoulders, and so form a sort of two-storied pyramid. The women’s song is comparatively quite melodious.”In recent years, some Gadabas have emigrated to Assam, to work in the tea-gardens. But emigration has now stopped by edict.For the information contained in this article, I am mainly indebted to notes by Mr. C. A. Henderson, Mr. W. Francis, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao, and the Kumara Rajā of Bobbili.Gādi(cart).—An exogamous sept of Māla.Gādidhē Kandla(donkey’s eyes).—An exogamous sept of Bōya.Gādu.—A common suffix to the name of individuals among various Telugu classes,e.g., Rāmigādu, Subbigādu.Gaduge(throne).—A gōtra of Kurni.Gaita.—A sub-division of Konda Rāzu.Gajjal(a small bell).—A sub-division of Toreya.Gāli.—Gāli or Gālollu, meaning wind, devil, or spirit, is recorded as an exogamous sept of Kamma, Kuruba, and Māla.Gamalla.—The Gamallas are a class of toddy-drawers, and distillers and vendors of arrack in the Telugu country and are supposed to be Īdigas who have bettered themselves, and separated from that caste. Both Gamallas and Īdigas worship the deity Kāttamayya. At the census, 1891, some returned Īdiga as their sub-division. In the Cuddapah district some toddy-drawers style themselves Asilivāndlu. Possibly the Īdiga, Gamalla, and Asili toddy-drawing classes only represent three endogamous sections of a single caste. In the Nellore district, the toddy-drawers style themselves Gamandla or Gavandlavāndlu, and say that they have one gōtra Kaumandlapu or Gaumandlapu. It is probable that the name Gamandla or Gavandla has been coined by Brāhman purōhits, to connect the caste with Kaumandala Mahārishi of the Purānas. The Gamallas say that they were created to draw toddy by the sage Kavundinya, and that they belong to the Gaundla varnam (caste). I am informed that a Purānam, called Gamandla or Gamudi Purānam, has been created. In the social scale, the toddy-drawers appear to occupy a higher position in the Telugu than in the Tamil country, and they are sometimes said to be Telagas or Balijas, who have adopted toddy-drawing as a profession. The more prosperous members of the community are toddyand arrack (liquor) shop-keepers, and the poorer members extract toddy from the palm-trees.The Kāpus of the Nellore district employ Gamallas as their cooks and domestic servants, and all menial service and cooking are done by Gamallas in the houses of Kāpus on the occasion of festivals and marriages.Concerning the origin of the Gamallas, the following legend is current. A Rishi was doing penance by standing on his head, and, like the chamæleon, living on light and air, instead of food. According to some, the Rishi was Kaumandla, while others do not know his name. An Īdiga girl passed by the Rishi, carrying a pot filled with toddy, which polluted the air, so that the Rishi could not continue the penance. Being struck with the girl’s beauty, he followed her to her home, and pointed out to her that she was the cause of his mishap. He asked her to become his wife, but she announced that she was already married. Eventually, however, they became secretly united, and, in consequence, the whole town caught fire. The girl’s husband, returning home with some toddy, was amazed at the sight, and she, to protect him, hid the Rishi in a vat. Into this vat the husband poured the toddy, which made the Rishi breathe hard, so that the toddy, for the first time on record, began to foam. Noticing this, the husband found a lingam, into which the Rishi had been transformed. This lingam was worshipped by the Gamandlas, and they are at the present day Saivites.Like other Telugu castes, the Gamallas have exogamous septs, such as parvathāla (hills), kudumalu (a cake), annam (cooked rice), and pandhi (pig). Among gōtras, the following may be noted:—kavundinya, kārunya, vāchalya, and surāpāndēsvara (surā pānda, toddy pot).Marriage is, as a rule, adult, and remarriage of widows is permitted, though the tendency at the present day is to abandon the practice. At the wedding of a widow, the bottu (marriage badge) is tied round her neck at night. Prior to the marriage ceremony, the worship of female ancestors must be performed. A new female cloth, betel, and flowers, are placed on a tray, and worshipped by the mothers of the contracting couple. The cloth is given as a present to a sister or other near relation of the bride or bridegroom.Gamallas.Gamallas.The dead are cremated, and the widow breaks one or two of her bangles. Fire must be carried to the burning-ground by the father of the deceased, if he is alive. On the day following cremation, the hot embers are extinguished, and the ashes collected, and shaped into an effigy, near the head of which three conical masses of mud and ashes are set up. To these representatives of Rudra, Yama, and the spirit of the departed, cooked rice and vegetables are offered up on three leaves. One of the leaves is given to the Jangam, who officiates at the rite, another to a washerman, and the third is left, so that the food on it may be eaten by crows. All, who are assembled, wait till these birds collect, and the ashes are finally poured on a tree. On the ninth, tenth, or eleventh day after death, a ceremony called the peddadinam (big day) is performed. Cooked rice, curry, meat, and other things, are placed on a leaf inside the house. Sitting near this leaf, the widow weeps and breaks one or two of the glass bangles, which she wears on the wrist. The food is then taken to a stream or tank (pond), where the agnates, after shaving, bathing, and purification, make an effigy of the dead person on the ground. Close to this cooked rice and vegetables are placed on three leaves, and offered to theeffigy. The widow’s remaining bangles are broken, and she is presented with a new cloth, called munda koka (widow’s cloth) as a sign of her condition. All Gamallas, rich or poor, engage on this occasion the services of Māla Pambalas and Bainēdus (musicians and story-tellers) to recite the story of the goddess Ankamma. The performance is called Ankamma kolupu. Some of the Mālas make on the ground a design, called muggu, while the others play on the drum, and carry out the recitation. The design must be made in five colours, green (leaves ofCassia auriculata), white (rice flour), red (turmeric and lime), yellow (turmeric), and black (burnt rice-husk). It represents a male and female figure (Vīrulu, heroes), who are supposed to be the person whose peddadinam is being celebrated, and an ancestor of the opposite sex. If the family can afford it, other designs, for example of Ankamma, are also drawn. On the completion of the muggu, cocoanuts, rice, and betel are offered, and a fowl is sacrificed.Like many other Telugu castes, the Gamallas have a class of beggars, called Eneti, attached to them, for whom a subscription is raised when they turn up.The Gamallas are mostly Saivites, and their priests are Ārādhya Brāhmans,i.e., Telugu Brāhmans, who have adopted some of the customs of the Lingāyats. They worship a variety of gods and goddesses, who include Pōtharāju, Kātamayya, Gangamma, Mathamma, and Thallamma, or Thadlamma. Once or twice during the year, a pot of toddy is brought from every house to the shrine of Thallamma, and the liquor contained in some of the pots is poured on the floor, and the remainder given to those assembled, irrespective of caste.At the festival of Dīpāvali, the celebrants bathe in the early morning, and go, in wet clothes, to an ant-hill,before which they prostrate themselves, and pour a little water into one of the holes. Round the hill they wind five turns of cotton thread, and return home. Subsequently they come once more to the ant-hill with a lamp made of flour paste. Carrying the light, they go thrice or five times round the hill, and throw into a hole therein split pulse (Phaseolus Mungo). During the whole of this day they fast. On the following morning they again go to the hill, pour milk into it, and snap the threads wound round it.Gamalla muggu.Gamalla muggu.At the festival of Sankarānthi, the principal member of every family observes the worship of ancestors. Various articles are placed in a room on leaf plates representing the ancestors, who are worshipped by the celebrant after he has been purified by bathing. Taking a little of the food from each leaf, he places it on a single leaf, which is worshipped, and placed in the court-yard, so that the crows may partake thereof. The remainder of the food is distributed among the members of the family.At the census, 1901, some Gamallas returned themselves as Settigādu (Chetti).Gampa(basket).—A sub-division of Kamma and Telaga, and an exogamous sept of Oddē. The name, among the Kammas, refers to a deadly struggle at Gandikōta, in which some escaped by hiding in baskets. Gampa dhōmpti is the name of a sub-division of the Mādigas, whose marriage offerings to the god are placed in a basket.Ganāyata.—Recorded, at times of census, as a sub-division of Lingāyat Jangams in the Nellore, Cuddapah, and Kurnool districts. The Sanskrit word Ganam means Siva’s attendants.Gandham(sandal paste).—An exogamous sept of Balijas, one sub-division of whom is called Gandhavālluor Gandhapodi (sandal perfume sellers). The paste made by rubbing sandal (Santalum album) wood on a stone with water is widely used in connection with Hindu ceremonial observance. A Brāhman, for example, after worshipping, smears his body with the paste. At festivals, and other ceremonial occasions, sandal paste is distributed to guests along with betel leaves and areca nuts (pān-supāri). Gandhapodi also occurs as an exogamous sept of Bōya.Gandikōta.—A sub-division of Kamma. Gandi Kōttei is recorded7as a sub-division of Kāpu or Reddi, “found only in Madura and Tinnevelly, and also known simply as Kōttei Reddis. Kōttei is the Tamil for a fort, the corresponding Telugu word being kōta. Their females do not appear in public.”Gāndla.—SeeGāniga.Gangadikāra.—Gangadikāra, said doubtfully to mean those who lived on the banks of the Ganges, has been recorded as a sub-division of the Holeyas, Okkiliyans, and Vakkaligas. The name probably refers to Gangavādi, the country of the Gangas, a royal line which ruled over the greater part of the modern Mysore in former times.Gangeddu.—The Gangeddulu are a class of mendicants, who travel about the country exhibiting performing bulls. “The exhibition of sacred bulls, known as Gangeddulu (Ganga’s bulls) is very common in the towns and villages of Southern India. The presence of the swāmi (god) bull, as he is popularly called, is made known by his keeper playing on a small drum, which emits a dismal, booming sound, in the intervals of addressing his dumb companion in a piercing voice. The bull is ledabout from house to house, and made to go through several tricks, which he does with evident zest. The keeper in the meanwhile talks to him, and puts questions to him, to which he replies by shakes of his head. He will kneel down in an attitude of worship, with his head inclined to the ground, or he will approach you, and gently rub his nozzle against your hand. Usually a diminutive cow accompanies the bull, and, like him, is grandly attired, and resounds with tinkling bells. She is introduced to the spectators as the bull’s ammagaru, that is consort or spouse. Then a scene between the pair is enacted, the gist of which is that the husband is displeased with the wife, and declines to hold converse with her. As a result of the difference, he resolves to go away, and stalks off in high dudgeon. The keeper attempts to make peace between them, and is rewarded by being charged by the irate husband and knocked down, though no harm is done to him as the animal’s horns are padded. The keeper rises, shakes himself, and complains woefully of the treatment he has received. Indeed, it is only after a great deal of coaxing and wheedling, and promises of buying him endless quantities of rice cakes and other bazaar delicacies, that the bull condescends to return, and a reconciliation is effected.”For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The Gangeddulu, Erudāndis, or Perumāl Mādukkārans, often acquire and train deformed male calves. It is a popular superstition that for a family to keep such animals in its possession is to court destruction. Consequently, when one is born, information is sent to a Gangeddu, who, on his arrival, is sumptuously fed. The calf is then washed, and a new cloth tied to its horns. A small present of money is made to the Gangeddu, and he takes the animal away. Templessometimes dispose of their deformed calves in a similar manner. When the trained animals are exhibited in public, the deformity, which is the hall-mark of a genuine Gangeddu, is shown, usually at the commencement of the performance, or at any time at the bidding of any of the spectators. It is only after the exhibition of the deformity, which is usually concealed within the trappings of the animal, that remuneration, generally in kind, or in old rags and copper coins, is doled out to them. Villagers worship the bulls, when they happen to pass their houses, and, as soon as they enter a village, the females wash the feet of the animals with milk and water. They then adorn their foreheads with kunkumam (aniline powder) and turmeric paste, and burn incense and camphor before them. Cocoanuts, plantains, betel leaves and areca nuts, and money are also offered in a plate, and are the perquisite of the Gangeddu. The bulls are thus venerated, as they represent Basavanna, the sacred bull which is the vehicle of Siva.The language of the Gangeddulu is Telugu, but those who have migrated to the Tamil country also speak the language of the south. They profess the Vaishnavite religion, and are of the Tengalai persuasion. They have Brāhman gurus (religious preceptors), who reside at Srirangam, Tirupati, and other places. By them the Gangeddulu are branded on the shoulder with the emblems of the chank and chakram, and initiated into the mysteries of the Dāsari priesthood. But, though they call themselves Dāsaris, the Gangeddulu have no marital or other connection with the Dāsaris. In addition to training and exhibiting the performing bulls and cultivating land, the Gangeddulu officiate as Dāsaris in the month of Peratāsi (September-October). Their principal insignia of office are the chank shell, which isblown to announce their arrival, and the iron lamp (called Garudasthambha), which is kept burning, and is said to represent Venkatēsa, the presiding deity at Tirupati. As Dāsaris, little is expected of them, except offering fruits to the god, and assisting at funerals. Several proverbs, of which the following are examples, are current concerning this aspect of their life:—The mistake of a Dāsari is excused with an apology.The songs of a Dāsari are known only to the god,i.e., they are unintelligible and unreal.For the song of a Dāsari alms are the payment,i.e., that is all the song is worth.Sing again what you have sung, oh! Dāsari with dirty teeth.When a beggar was asked whether he was a Dāsari or a Jangam, he replied that it depends on the next village. This in reference to his being a time-server.A Gangeddu mendicant is, like his bulls, picturesquely attired. He is very punctilious about having his sect-mark on the forehead, invariably wears a turban, and his body is clothed in a long white cloth robe. When going about with the performing bulls, the Gangeddulu generally travel in pairs, one carrying a drum, and the other a bell-metal gong. One of them holds in one hand the nose-rope of the bull, and in the other the whip. The bulls are dressed up in a patch work quilt with two eye-holes in it. Of names which are given to the animals, Rāma and Lakshmana are very popular. The tameness of the bulls is referred to in the proverb “As mild as a Gangeddu.”The Perumāl Mādukkārans, or Perumāl Erudukkārans, both of which names indicate those who lead bulls about, are found chiefly in the Chingleput, North andSouth Arcot districts. “Every now and then,” Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri writes,8“throughout Madras, a man dressed up as a buffoon is to be seen leading about a bull, as fantastically got up as himself with cowries (Cypræa arabicashells) and rags of many colours, from door to door. The bull is called in Tamil Perumāl erudu, and in Telugu Ganga eddu, the former meaning Vishnu’s bull and the latter Ganga’s bull. The origin of the first is given in a legend, but that of the last is not clear. The conductors of these bulls are neatherds of high caste, called Pū Idaiyan,i.e., flower neatherds (seeIdaiyan), and come from villages in the North and South Arcot districts. They are a simple and ignorant set, who firmly believe that their occupation arises out of a command from the great god Venkatāchalapati, the lord of the Venkatāchala near Tirupaddi (Tirupati) in the North Arcot district. Their legend is as follows. Among the habitual gifts to the Venkatāchala temple atTirupaddiwere all the freaks of nature of the neighbourhood as exhibited in cattle, such as two-tailed cows, five-legged bulls, four-horned calves, and so on. The Pū Idaiyans, whose original duty was to string flowers for the temple, were set to graze these abortions. Now to graze cows is an honour, but to tend such creatures as these the Pū Idaiyans regarded as a sin. So they prayed to Venkatāchalapati to show them how they could purge it away. On this, the god gave them a bull called after himself the Perumāl bull and said: ‘My sons, if you take as much care of this bull as you would of your own children, and lead it from house to house, begging its food, your sin will be washed away.’ Ever since then they have been purging themselves of theiroriginal sin. The process is this. The bull leader takes it from house to house, and puts it questions, and the animal shakes its head in reply. This is proof positive that it can reason. The fact is the animal is bought when young for a small sum, and brought up to its profession. Long practice has made its purchasers experts in selecting the animals that will suit them. After purchase the training commences, which consists in pinching the animal’s ears whenever it is given bran, and it soon learns to shake its head at the sight of bran. I need hardly say that a handful of bran is ready in its conductor’s hands when the questions are put to it. It is also taught to butt at any person that speaks angrily to it. As regards the offerings made to these people, one-sixth goes to feeding the bulls, and the remaining five-sixths to the conductors. They look upon it as ‘good work’, but the village boys and girls think it the greatest fun in the world to watch its performances, and the advent of a Vishnu’s bull is hailed by the youngsters with the greatest delight.”Gangimakkalu.—Gangimakkalu, or Gangaputra, meaning children or sons of Ganga, the goddess of water, is the name of a sub-division of Kabbēra. The allied Gangavamsamu, or people of Ganga, is a name for Jālāris.Gāniga or Gāndla.—The name Gāniga is derived from the Telugu gānuga, meaning an oil-mill. The Gānigas are said9to be “the oil pressers of the Canarese people, corresponding to the Telugu Gāndla and the Tamil Vāniyan. This caste is sub-divided into three sections, none of whom eat together or intermarry. These sections are the Heggānigas, who yoke two oxen to a stone oil-mill; Kirgānigas, who make oil in woodenmills; and Ontiyeddu Gānigas, who yoke only one animal to the mill. They are collectively known as Jōtipans or Jōtinagarams (people of the city of light). In addition to pressing oil, they also make palm-leaf umbrellas, cultivate land, and work as labourers. They employ Brāhmans to perform their ceremonies. Their guru is the head of the Vyāsarāya mutt at Ānegundi. Early marriage is practiced. Widow remarriage is not allowed. They eat fish, mutton, and fowls, but do not drink liquor. Chetti is their title.” In the Madras Census Report, 1891, it is stated that the guru of the Gānigas is the head of the mutt at Sringeri, and that they employ Havig Brāhmans for their ceremonies. Sringeri is the name of a Smarta (Saivite) mutt or religious institution at several places, such as Tanjore and Kumbakōnam; and there is a town of this name in Mysore, from which the mutt derives its name.Concerning the Gānigas of the Mysore Province, Mr. V. N. Narasimmiyengar writes as follows.10“The account locally obtained connects this caste with the Nagartās, as forming the leading communities of the left-hand faction, in opposition to the Lingayats and other castes composing the right-hand faction. Caste supremacy is ever associated in India with preternatural mythology. If the average Brāhman traces his nobility literally to the face of Brahma, according to the Vēdic Purusha Sūkta, every other castelet claims a patent of superiority in a similar miraculous origin. The Gānigas allege that they immigrated from the north at a time beyond living memory. A Mysore noble, named Mallarāje Ars, established and first peopled the pēte (market town) of Bangalore, when the Gānigas first came there,followed by the Nagartās, who are said to have been co-emigrants with the Gānigas. Mallarāj made Sattis and Yajamāns (headmen) of the principal members of the two castes, and exempted them from the house-tax. The Gānigas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites. Their guru is known as Dharmasivāchārsvāmi in the Madras Presidency, and certain gōtras (family names) are said to be common to the Gānigas and Nagartās, but they never eat together or intermarry. The Gānigas claim the peculiar privilege of following the Vishnu image or car processions, throughout the province, with flags exhibiting the figures of Hanumān and Garuda, and torches. These insignia are alleged to have been aboriginally given to an ancestor, named Siriyāla Satti, by Rāma, as a reward for a valuable gem presented by him. The Gānigas call themselves Dharmasivāchār Vaisyās like the Nagartās, and the feud between them used often to culminate in much bitter unpleasantness. The order includes a small division of the linga-wearing oilmongers, known as Sajjanā (good men), whose population is a small fraction of the community. The Sajjanās, however, hold no social intercourse of any kind with the other sub-divisions.”The Gānigas of Sandūr, in the little Marātha State of that name, returned Yenne (oil) and Kallu (stone) as sub-divisions. The average cephalic index of these Gānigas was very high, being 80.5 as against 77.6 for the Gānigas of Mysore city.“The oil-mill of the Gānigas is,” Mr. W. Francis writes,11“a sort of large wooden mortar, usually formed out of the heart of a tamarind tree, and firmly imbedded in the ground. A wooden cylinder, shod with iron, fitsroughly into the cavity. A cross beam is lashed to this in such a way that one end is close to the ground, and to this a pair of bullocks or buffaloes are fastened. By an arrangement of pullies, the pressure of the cylinder can be increased at pleasure. As the bullocks go round the trough, the seeds are crushed by the action of the cylinder, so that the expressed oil falls to the bottom, while the residuum, as oil-cake, adheres to the side of the mortar.”The following note refers to the Onteddu (single bullock) Gānigas, who claim superiority over those who employ two bullocks in working their oil-mills. The former belong to the right-hand, and the latter to the left-hand faction. Among them are various sub-divisions, of which the Dēva and Onteddu may intermarry, while the Kasi, Teli (gingelly:Sesamum), and Chandanapu are endogamous. Like other Telugu castes they have gōtras, some of which are interesting, as there are certain prohibitions connected with them. For example, members of the Badranollu and Balanollu gōtras may not cut the treeErythroxylon monogynum. In like manner, members of the Vīranollu and Viththanollu gōtras are forbidden to cutFeronia elephantum, and those of the Vēdanollu gōtra to cutNyctanthes arbor-tristis. Members of certain other gōtras do not cultivate turmeric, sugarcane, or the millet (Panicum miliare).The Onteddu Gānigas are Saivites, and disciples of Lingāyat Brāhmans (Ārādhyas). Some, however, wear the sacred thread, and others bear on the forehead the red streak of the Vaishnavites. In some places, their special deity is Chaudeswara, who is the god of some of the weaving classes. In the Kistna district they claim Mallikārjunasvāmi as their deity.Their primary occupation is oil-pressing, but some are traders in cotton, oil-seeds, etc., or cultivators. In some localities, the animal which works the oil-mill is not blindfolded, while it is in others, because, it is said, it would otherwise fall down after a few revolutions. Crushing gingelly oil is, according to the Shāstras, a sinful act, but condoned inasmuch as Dēvatas use this oil for lamps, and men in temples. For the removal of the oil-cake, or turning the seeds in the mill, the left hand only is used. Burning the tongue with a piece of gold, as a means of purification after some offence has been committed, is a common practice.
Gābit.—A Bombay fishing caste returned at the census, 1901. To Malpe in the South Canara district, during the fishing season, come fishermen with a flotilla of keeled and outrigged sailing boats from Ratnagiri in the Bombay Presidency. Hither also come fishermen from Goa. The reasons given by the Ratnagiri fishermen for coming southward are that fish are not so abundant off their own coast, competition is keener, and salt more expensive. Moreover, the crystals of Bombay salt are too large for successful curing, and “do not agree with the fish, of which the flesh is turned black.” If, they said contemptuously, they were to sun-dry fish by the local method, their people would laugh at them for bringing back, not fish, but dried cow-dung for fuel. The Ratnagiri boats go well out of sight of land to the fishing ground, where they catch seir, pomfret, cat-fish (Arius), and other big fish near the surface, and sharks in deeper water. If the fishing is not good near Malpe, they may go south as far as Mangalore. To the Ratnagiri fishermen the seir (Cybium) is the most valuable and lucrative fish. Under existing arrangements, by which clashing of interests is avoided, the fishery at Malpe is divided into two zones, viz., the deep sea fished by the large Ratnagiri boats, and the shallow littoral water by the smaller local and Goa boats.
Gadaba.—The Gadabas are a tribe of agriculturists, coolies, and hunters in the Vizagapatam district. Hunting is said to be gradually decreasing, as many of the forests are now preserved, and shooting without alicense is forbidden. Men sometimes occupy themselves in felling trees, catching birds and hares, and tracking and beating game for sportsmen. The Gadabas are also employed as bearers in the hills, and carry palanquins. There is a settlement of them on the main road between Sembliguda and Koraput, in a village where they are said to have been settled by a former Rāja expressly for such service. It is said that the Gadabas will not touch a horse, possibly because they are palanquin-bearers, and have the same objection to the rival animal that a cabman has for a motor-car.
There is a tradition that the tribe owes its name to the fact that its ancestors emigrated from the banks of the Godābari (Godāvari) river, and settled at Nandapur, the former capital of the Rājas of Jeypore. The Gadabas have a language of their own, of which a vocabulary is given in the Vizagapatam Manual. This language is included by Mr. G. A. Grierson1in the Mundā linguistic family.
The tribe is apparently divided into five sections, called Bodo (big) or Gutōb, Pārenga, Olāro, Kaththiri or Kaththara, and Kāpu. Of these, the last two are settled in the plains, and say that they are Bodo and Olāro Gadabas who migrated thither from the hills. As among the Gadabas, so among the Savaras, there is a section which has settled on the plains, and adopted Kāpu as its name. In the Madras Census Report, 1891, nearly a thousand Gadabas are returned as belonging to the Chenchu sub-division. Chenchu is the name of a separate jungle tribe in the Telugu country, and I have been unable to confirm the existence of a Chenchu sub-division among the Gadabas.
In the Madras Census Report, 1871, Mr. H. G. Turner states that “very much akin to the Gadabas are a class called Kerang Kāpus. They will not admit any connexion with them; but, as their language is almost identical, such gainsaying cannot be permitted them. They are called Kerang Kāpu from the circumstance of their women weaving cloths, which they weave from the fibre of a jungle shrub called Kerang (Calotropis gigantea).” Mr. H. A. Stuart remarks2that “the Kāpu Gadabas are possibly the Kerang Kāpus mentioned by Mr. Turner as akin to the Gadabas, for I find no mention of the caste under the full name of Kerang Kāpu, nor is Kerang found as a sub-division of either Kāpu or Gadaba.” Writing concerning the numeral system of the Kerang Kāpus, Mr. Turner observes that it runs thus: Moi, Umbar, Jugi, O, Malloi, Turu, Gū, Tammar, Santing, Goa, and for eleven (1 and following numbers), they prefix the word Go,e.g., Gommoi, Gombāro, etc. The Kerang Kāpus can count up to nineteen, but have no conception of twenty. According to Mr. W. Francis, the only tribe on the hills which has this system of notation is the Bonda Poraja. The Gadabas have very similar names for the first five numerals; but, after that, lapse into Oriya,e.g., sāt, āt, nō, das, etc. The Bonda Poraja numerals recorded by Mr. Francis are mūyi, baar, gii, oo, moloi, thiri, goo, thamām, and so on up to nineteen, after which they cannot count. This system, as he points out, agrees with the one described by Mr. Turner as belonging to the Kerang Kāpus. The Gutōb Gadaba numerals recorded by Mr. C. A. Henderson include muititti (1 + a hand), and martitti (2 + a hand).
Some Gadaba women wear a bustle or dress improver, called irrē or kittē. This article of attire is accounted for by the following tradition. “A goddess visited a Gadaba villageincognito, and asked leave of one of the women to rest on a cot. She was brusquely told that the proper seat for beggars was the floor, and she consequently decreed that thenceforth all Gadaba women should wear a bustle to remind them to avoid churlishness.”3The Gadaba female cloths are manufactured by themselves from cotton thread and the fibre of silloluvāda or ankudi chettu (Holarrhena antidysenterica) and bōda luvāda or bodda chettu (Ficus glomerata). The fibre is carefully dried, and dyed blue or reddish-brown. The edges of the cloth are white, a blue strip comes next, while the middle portion is reddish-brown with narrow stripes of white or blue at regular intervals. The Gadabas account for the dress of their women by the following legend. When Rāma, during his banishment, was wandering in the forests of Dandaka, his wife Sīta accompanied him in spite of his entreaties to the contrary. It was one of the cruel terms of his stepmother Kaika that Rāma should wear only clothing made from jungle fibre, before leaving the capital. According to the Hindu religion, a virtuous wife must share both the sorrows and joys of her lord. Consequently Sīta followed the example of Rāma, and wore the same kind of clothing. They then left the capital amidst the loud lamentation of the citizens. During their wanderings, they met some Gadaba women, who mocked and laughed at Sīta. Whereupon she cursed them, and condemned them to wear no other dress but the cloth made of fibre. In a note on theGadabas,4Mr. L. Lakshminarayan writes that “although mill-prepared cloths are fast replacing house-spun cloths in all communities, yet, in the case of the Gadabas, there is a strong superstition which prevents the use of cloths prepared outside, particularly in regard to the cloths worn by their women. The legend (about Sīta) is fully believed by the Gadabas, and hence their religious adherence to their particular cloth. At the time of marriage, it is absolute that the Gadaba maiden should wear this fibre-made cloth, else misfortune will ruin the family. A bundle of twigs is brought, and the stems freed of leaves are bruised and twisted to loosen the bark, and are then dried for two or three days, after which the bark is ripped out and beaten down smooth with heavy sticks, to separate the bark from the fibre. The fibre is then collected, and combed down smooth, and spun into a tolerably fine twist. It is this twist that the Gadaba maiden weaves in her crude loom, and prepares from it her marriage sāri. According to a good custom among these people, a Gadaba maiden must learn to weave her cloths before she becomes eligible for marriage. And no Gadaba ever thinks of marrying a wife who cannot prepare her own cloths. Men can use cotton and other cloths, whereas women cannot do so, for they are under the curse of Sīta. But the passion for fineries in woman is naturally so strong that the modern Gadaba woman is now taking the liberty of putting cotton thread for the woof and ankudu fibre for the warp, and thus is able to turn out a more comfortable and finer cloth. But some old crones informed me that this mixed cloth is not so auspicious as that prepared wholly from the fibre.”
Some Gadaba women wear immense earrings made of long pieces of brass wire wound into a circle, which hang down from a hole in the ear, and sometimes reach to the shoulders. The wire is sold in the shandy (market) at so much a cubit. The head-dress of some of the women consists of a chaplet ofOlivashells, and strings of beads of various sizes and colours, or the red and black berries ofAbrus precatorius, with pendants which hang over the forehead. The women also wear bead necklaces, to which a coin may sometimes be seen attached as a pendant. Bracelets and rings are as a rule made of brass or copper, but sometimes silver rings are worn. Toe-rings and brass or silver anklets are considered fashionable ornaments. Among the Olāro Gadabas, the wearing of brass anklets by a woman indicates that she is married. For teaching backward children to walk, the Gadabas employ a bamboo stick split so as to make a fork, the prongs of which are connected by a cross-bar. The apparatus is held by the mother, and the child, clutching the cross-bar, toddles along.
Among the Bodo and Olāro sections, the following septs occur:—Kōra (sun), Nāg (cobra), Bhāg (tiger), Kīra (parrot), and Gollāri (monkey). The Gadabas who have settled in the plains seem to have forgotten the sept names, but will not injure or kill certain animals,e.g., the cobra.
Girls are as a rule married after puberty. When a young man’s parents think it time for him to get married, they repair to the home of an eligible girl with rice and liquor, and say that they have come to ask a boon, but do not mention what it is. They are treated to a meal, and return home. Some time afterwards, on a day fixed by the Disāri, three or four aged relatives of the youngman go to the girl’s house, and the match is fixed up. After a meal, they return to their homes. On the day appointed for the wedding ceremonies, the bridegroom’s relations go to the home of the bride, taking with them a rupee towards the marriage expenses, a new cloth for the girl’s mother, and half a rupee for the females of the bride’s village, which is regarded as compensation for the loss of the girl. To the bride are given a glass bead necklace, and brass bangles to be worn on the right wrist. A feast follows. On the following day, the bride is conducted to the village of the bridegroom, in front of whose home a pandal (booth), made of four bamboo poles, covered with green leaves, has been erected. Within the pandal, stems of the sāl (Shorea robusta), addagirli, and bamboo joined together, are set up as the auspicious post. Beside this a grindstone is placed, on which the bride sits, with the bridegroom seated on her thighs. The females present throw turmeric powder over them, and they are bathed with turmeric-water kept ready in a new pot. They are then presented with new cloths, and their hands are joined together by the officiating Disāri. A feast, with much drinking, follows, and the day’s proceedings conclude with a dance. On the following day, mud is heaped up near the pandal, into which the Disāri throws a handful of it. The remainder of the mud is carried into the pandal by the contracting couple, who pour water over it, and throw it over those who are assembled. All then proceed to a stream, and bathe. A further feast and dance follows, of which the newly married couple are spectators, without taking part in it.
In a note on marriage among the Pārenga Gadabas, Mr. G. F. Paddison writes that they have two forms of marriage rite, one of which (bibā) is accompanied bymuch feasting, gifts of bullocks, toddy, rice, etc. The most interesting feature is the fight for the bride with fists. All the men on each side fight, and the bridegroom has to carry off the bride by force. Then they all sit down, and feast together. In the other form (lethulia), the couple go off together to the jungle, and, when they return, pay twenty rupees, or whatever they can afford, to the girl’s father as a fine. A dinner and regular marriage follow elopement and payment of the fine.
The ghorojavai system, according to which a man works for a stated period for his future father-in-law, is practiced by the Gadabas. But a cash payment is said to be now substituted for service. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a younger brother may marry the widow of his elder brother. If she does not marry him, the second husband has to pay a sum of money, called in Oriya the rānd tonka, to him. When a man divorces his wife, her relations are summoned, and he pays her two rupees before sending her away. Of this sum, one rupee is paid as buchni for suspicion regarding her chastity, and the other as chatni for driving her away. A divorced woman may remarry.
In the hills, the village headman is called Janni or Nāyako, and in the plains Naidādo. He is assisted by a Kīrasāni, who is also the caste priest.
Concerning the religion of the Gadabas, Mr. H. D. Taylor writes5that it is “simple, and consists of feasts at stated intervals. The chief festival is Ittakaparva, or hunting feast, in March and April. On this occasion, the whole male population turns out to hunt, and, if they return unsuccessful, the women pelt them with cow-dung on their return to the village; if, however,successful, they have their revenge upon the women in another way. The chief deities (though spoken of generally under the term Dēvata or Mahāprabhu) are Ganga Dēvi or Tākurāni, Iswara or Mouli, Bhairava, and Jhankara. It is Iswara or Mouli who is worshipped at Chaitra. Jhankara is the god of land, rainfall and crops, and a cow is sacrificed to him. There are not, as a rule, temples, but the pūja (worship) place consists of a sacred grove surrounded with a circle of stones, which takes the name of Jhankara from the god to whom pūja is performed. Ganga Dēvi, Iswara and Mouli have temples at certain places, but as a rule there is no building, and the site of pūja is marked by trees and stones. To Iswara a she-buffalo is sacrificed at Chaitra. To the other Dēvatas cocks and goats are sacrificed. Ganga Dēvi or Tākurāni is the goddess of life and health, both of men and cattle; to her pigs, goats, and pigeons are sacrificed. There are one or two curious superstitions. If a member of the caste is supposed to be possessed of a devil, he or she is abused and beaten by other members of the caste until the devil is cast out. In some parts the superstition is that a piece of wild buffalo horn buried in the ground of the village will avert or cure cattle disease.” Sometimes a sāl or kōsangi tree is planted, and surrounded by a bamboo hedge. It is worshipped with animal sacrifices at harvest time, and the Kīrasāni acts as priest.
“There is,” Mr. G. F. Paddison writes, “rather a curious custom in connection with a village goddess. Close to her shrine a swing is kept. On this swing, once a year at the great village festival, thorns are placed, and the village priest or priestess sits on them without harm. If the pūjāri is a male, he has been made neuter. But, if the village is not fortunate enoughto possess a eunuch, a woman performs the ceremony. [At the fire-walking ceremony at Nuvagōde in Ganjam, the priest sits on a thorny swing, and is endowed with prophetic powers.] When there is small-pox or other epidemic disease in a village, a little go-cart is built, composed of a box on legs fixed to a small board on wheels. In this box is placed a little clay image, or anything else holy, and carried away to a distant place, and left there. A white flag is hoisted, which looks like quarantine, but is really intended, I think, to draw the goddess back to her shrine. Vaccination is regarded as a religious ceremony, and the Gadabas, I believe, invariably present the vaccinator as the officiating priest with rice.”
The Gadabas, like other hill tribes, name their children after the day of the week on which they are born. On the plains, however, some give their children low-country names,e.g., Rāmudu, Lachigadu, Arjanna, etc.
Males are, as a rule, burnt; but, if a person dies in the night or on a rainy day, the corpse is sometimes buried. Women and children are usually buried, presumably because they are not thought worth the fuel necessary for cremation. Only relations are permitted to touch a corpse. Death pollution is observed for three days, during which the caste occupation must not be engaged in. Stone slabs are erected to the memory of the dead, and sacrifices are offered to them now and again.
The Gadabas have a devil dance, which they are willing to perform before strangers in return for a small present. It has been thus described by Captain Glasfurd.6“At the time of the Dusserah, Hōli, and other holidays,both men and women dance to the music of a fife and drum. Sometimes they form a ring by joining hands all round, and with a long hop spring towards the centre, and then hop back to the full extent of their arms, while they at the same time keep circling round and round. At other times, the women dance singly or in pairs, their hands resting on each other’s wrists. When fatigued, they cease dancing, and sing. A man steps out of the crowd, and sings a verse or twoimpromptu. One of the women rejoins, and they sing at each other for a short time. The point of these songs appears to consist in giving the sharpest rejoinder to each other. The woman reflects upon the man’s ungainly appearance and want of skill as a cultivator or huntsman, and the man retorts by reproaching her with her ugliness and slatternly habits.” In connection with dancing, Mr. Henderson writes that “all the Gadaba dancing I have seen was the same as that of the Porjas, and consisted of a sort of women’s march, at times accompanied by a few men who wander round, and occasionally form a ring through which the line of women passes. Sometimes the men get on each other’s shoulders, and so form a sort of two-storied pyramid. The women’s song is comparatively quite melodious.”
In recent years, some Gadabas have emigrated to Assam, to work in the tea-gardens. But emigration has now stopped by edict.
For the information contained in this article, I am mainly indebted to notes by Mr. C. A. Henderson, Mr. W. Francis, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao, and the Kumara Rajā of Bobbili.
Gādi(cart).—An exogamous sept of Māla.
Gādidhē Kandla(donkey’s eyes).—An exogamous sept of Bōya.
Gādu.—A common suffix to the name of individuals among various Telugu classes,e.g., Rāmigādu, Subbigādu.
Gaduge(throne).—A gōtra of Kurni.
Gaita.—A sub-division of Konda Rāzu.
Gajjal(a small bell).—A sub-division of Toreya.
Gāli.—Gāli or Gālollu, meaning wind, devil, or spirit, is recorded as an exogamous sept of Kamma, Kuruba, and Māla.
Gamalla.—The Gamallas are a class of toddy-drawers, and distillers and vendors of arrack in the Telugu country and are supposed to be Īdigas who have bettered themselves, and separated from that caste. Both Gamallas and Īdigas worship the deity Kāttamayya. At the census, 1891, some returned Īdiga as their sub-division. In the Cuddapah district some toddy-drawers style themselves Asilivāndlu. Possibly the Īdiga, Gamalla, and Asili toddy-drawing classes only represent three endogamous sections of a single caste. In the Nellore district, the toddy-drawers style themselves Gamandla or Gavandlavāndlu, and say that they have one gōtra Kaumandlapu or Gaumandlapu. It is probable that the name Gamandla or Gavandla has been coined by Brāhman purōhits, to connect the caste with Kaumandala Mahārishi of the Purānas. The Gamallas say that they were created to draw toddy by the sage Kavundinya, and that they belong to the Gaundla varnam (caste). I am informed that a Purānam, called Gamandla or Gamudi Purānam, has been created. In the social scale, the toddy-drawers appear to occupy a higher position in the Telugu than in the Tamil country, and they are sometimes said to be Telagas or Balijas, who have adopted toddy-drawing as a profession. The more prosperous members of the community are toddyand arrack (liquor) shop-keepers, and the poorer members extract toddy from the palm-trees.
The Kāpus of the Nellore district employ Gamallas as their cooks and domestic servants, and all menial service and cooking are done by Gamallas in the houses of Kāpus on the occasion of festivals and marriages.
Concerning the origin of the Gamallas, the following legend is current. A Rishi was doing penance by standing on his head, and, like the chamæleon, living on light and air, instead of food. According to some, the Rishi was Kaumandla, while others do not know his name. An Īdiga girl passed by the Rishi, carrying a pot filled with toddy, which polluted the air, so that the Rishi could not continue the penance. Being struck with the girl’s beauty, he followed her to her home, and pointed out to her that she was the cause of his mishap. He asked her to become his wife, but she announced that she was already married. Eventually, however, they became secretly united, and, in consequence, the whole town caught fire. The girl’s husband, returning home with some toddy, was amazed at the sight, and she, to protect him, hid the Rishi in a vat. Into this vat the husband poured the toddy, which made the Rishi breathe hard, so that the toddy, for the first time on record, began to foam. Noticing this, the husband found a lingam, into which the Rishi had been transformed. This lingam was worshipped by the Gamandlas, and they are at the present day Saivites.
Like other Telugu castes, the Gamallas have exogamous septs, such as parvathāla (hills), kudumalu (a cake), annam (cooked rice), and pandhi (pig). Among gōtras, the following may be noted:—kavundinya, kārunya, vāchalya, and surāpāndēsvara (surā pānda, toddy pot).
Marriage is, as a rule, adult, and remarriage of widows is permitted, though the tendency at the present day is to abandon the practice. At the wedding of a widow, the bottu (marriage badge) is tied round her neck at night. Prior to the marriage ceremony, the worship of female ancestors must be performed. A new female cloth, betel, and flowers, are placed on a tray, and worshipped by the mothers of the contracting couple. The cloth is given as a present to a sister or other near relation of the bride or bridegroom.
Gamallas.Gamallas.
Gamallas.
The dead are cremated, and the widow breaks one or two of her bangles. Fire must be carried to the burning-ground by the father of the deceased, if he is alive. On the day following cremation, the hot embers are extinguished, and the ashes collected, and shaped into an effigy, near the head of which three conical masses of mud and ashes are set up. To these representatives of Rudra, Yama, and the spirit of the departed, cooked rice and vegetables are offered up on three leaves. One of the leaves is given to the Jangam, who officiates at the rite, another to a washerman, and the third is left, so that the food on it may be eaten by crows. All, who are assembled, wait till these birds collect, and the ashes are finally poured on a tree. On the ninth, tenth, or eleventh day after death, a ceremony called the peddadinam (big day) is performed. Cooked rice, curry, meat, and other things, are placed on a leaf inside the house. Sitting near this leaf, the widow weeps and breaks one or two of the glass bangles, which she wears on the wrist. The food is then taken to a stream or tank (pond), where the agnates, after shaving, bathing, and purification, make an effigy of the dead person on the ground. Close to this cooked rice and vegetables are placed on three leaves, and offered to theeffigy. The widow’s remaining bangles are broken, and she is presented with a new cloth, called munda koka (widow’s cloth) as a sign of her condition. All Gamallas, rich or poor, engage on this occasion the services of Māla Pambalas and Bainēdus (musicians and story-tellers) to recite the story of the goddess Ankamma. The performance is called Ankamma kolupu. Some of the Mālas make on the ground a design, called muggu, while the others play on the drum, and carry out the recitation. The design must be made in five colours, green (leaves ofCassia auriculata), white (rice flour), red (turmeric and lime), yellow (turmeric), and black (burnt rice-husk). It represents a male and female figure (Vīrulu, heroes), who are supposed to be the person whose peddadinam is being celebrated, and an ancestor of the opposite sex. If the family can afford it, other designs, for example of Ankamma, are also drawn. On the completion of the muggu, cocoanuts, rice, and betel are offered, and a fowl is sacrificed.
Like many other Telugu castes, the Gamallas have a class of beggars, called Eneti, attached to them, for whom a subscription is raised when they turn up.
The Gamallas are mostly Saivites, and their priests are Ārādhya Brāhmans,i.e., Telugu Brāhmans, who have adopted some of the customs of the Lingāyats. They worship a variety of gods and goddesses, who include Pōtharāju, Kātamayya, Gangamma, Mathamma, and Thallamma, or Thadlamma. Once or twice during the year, a pot of toddy is brought from every house to the shrine of Thallamma, and the liquor contained in some of the pots is poured on the floor, and the remainder given to those assembled, irrespective of caste.
At the festival of Dīpāvali, the celebrants bathe in the early morning, and go, in wet clothes, to an ant-hill,before which they prostrate themselves, and pour a little water into one of the holes. Round the hill they wind five turns of cotton thread, and return home. Subsequently they come once more to the ant-hill with a lamp made of flour paste. Carrying the light, they go thrice or five times round the hill, and throw into a hole therein split pulse (Phaseolus Mungo). During the whole of this day they fast. On the following morning they again go to the hill, pour milk into it, and snap the threads wound round it.
Gamalla muggu.Gamalla muggu.
Gamalla muggu.
At the festival of Sankarānthi, the principal member of every family observes the worship of ancestors. Various articles are placed in a room on leaf plates representing the ancestors, who are worshipped by the celebrant after he has been purified by bathing. Taking a little of the food from each leaf, he places it on a single leaf, which is worshipped, and placed in the court-yard, so that the crows may partake thereof. The remainder of the food is distributed among the members of the family.
At the census, 1901, some Gamallas returned themselves as Settigādu (Chetti).
Gampa(basket).—A sub-division of Kamma and Telaga, and an exogamous sept of Oddē. The name, among the Kammas, refers to a deadly struggle at Gandikōta, in which some escaped by hiding in baskets. Gampa dhōmpti is the name of a sub-division of the Mādigas, whose marriage offerings to the god are placed in a basket.
Ganāyata.—Recorded, at times of census, as a sub-division of Lingāyat Jangams in the Nellore, Cuddapah, and Kurnool districts. The Sanskrit word Ganam means Siva’s attendants.
Gandham(sandal paste).—An exogamous sept of Balijas, one sub-division of whom is called Gandhavālluor Gandhapodi (sandal perfume sellers). The paste made by rubbing sandal (Santalum album) wood on a stone with water is widely used in connection with Hindu ceremonial observance. A Brāhman, for example, after worshipping, smears his body with the paste. At festivals, and other ceremonial occasions, sandal paste is distributed to guests along with betel leaves and areca nuts (pān-supāri). Gandhapodi also occurs as an exogamous sept of Bōya.
Gandikōta.—A sub-division of Kamma. Gandi Kōttei is recorded7as a sub-division of Kāpu or Reddi, “found only in Madura and Tinnevelly, and also known simply as Kōttei Reddis. Kōttei is the Tamil for a fort, the corresponding Telugu word being kōta. Their females do not appear in public.”
Gāndla.—SeeGāniga.
Gangadikāra.—Gangadikāra, said doubtfully to mean those who lived on the banks of the Ganges, has been recorded as a sub-division of the Holeyas, Okkiliyans, and Vakkaligas. The name probably refers to Gangavādi, the country of the Gangas, a royal line which ruled over the greater part of the modern Mysore in former times.
Gangeddu.—The Gangeddulu are a class of mendicants, who travel about the country exhibiting performing bulls. “The exhibition of sacred bulls, known as Gangeddulu (Ganga’s bulls) is very common in the towns and villages of Southern India. The presence of the swāmi (god) bull, as he is popularly called, is made known by his keeper playing on a small drum, which emits a dismal, booming sound, in the intervals of addressing his dumb companion in a piercing voice. The bull is ledabout from house to house, and made to go through several tricks, which he does with evident zest. The keeper in the meanwhile talks to him, and puts questions to him, to which he replies by shakes of his head. He will kneel down in an attitude of worship, with his head inclined to the ground, or he will approach you, and gently rub his nozzle against your hand. Usually a diminutive cow accompanies the bull, and, like him, is grandly attired, and resounds with tinkling bells. She is introduced to the spectators as the bull’s ammagaru, that is consort or spouse. Then a scene between the pair is enacted, the gist of which is that the husband is displeased with the wife, and declines to hold converse with her. As a result of the difference, he resolves to go away, and stalks off in high dudgeon. The keeper attempts to make peace between them, and is rewarded by being charged by the irate husband and knocked down, though no harm is done to him as the animal’s horns are padded. The keeper rises, shakes himself, and complains woefully of the treatment he has received. Indeed, it is only after a great deal of coaxing and wheedling, and promises of buying him endless quantities of rice cakes and other bazaar delicacies, that the bull condescends to return, and a reconciliation is effected.”
For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The Gangeddulu, Erudāndis, or Perumāl Mādukkārans, often acquire and train deformed male calves. It is a popular superstition that for a family to keep such animals in its possession is to court destruction. Consequently, when one is born, information is sent to a Gangeddu, who, on his arrival, is sumptuously fed. The calf is then washed, and a new cloth tied to its horns. A small present of money is made to the Gangeddu, and he takes the animal away. Templessometimes dispose of their deformed calves in a similar manner. When the trained animals are exhibited in public, the deformity, which is the hall-mark of a genuine Gangeddu, is shown, usually at the commencement of the performance, or at any time at the bidding of any of the spectators. It is only after the exhibition of the deformity, which is usually concealed within the trappings of the animal, that remuneration, generally in kind, or in old rags and copper coins, is doled out to them. Villagers worship the bulls, when they happen to pass their houses, and, as soon as they enter a village, the females wash the feet of the animals with milk and water. They then adorn their foreheads with kunkumam (aniline powder) and turmeric paste, and burn incense and camphor before them. Cocoanuts, plantains, betel leaves and areca nuts, and money are also offered in a plate, and are the perquisite of the Gangeddu. The bulls are thus venerated, as they represent Basavanna, the sacred bull which is the vehicle of Siva.
The language of the Gangeddulu is Telugu, but those who have migrated to the Tamil country also speak the language of the south. They profess the Vaishnavite religion, and are of the Tengalai persuasion. They have Brāhman gurus (religious preceptors), who reside at Srirangam, Tirupati, and other places. By them the Gangeddulu are branded on the shoulder with the emblems of the chank and chakram, and initiated into the mysteries of the Dāsari priesthood. But, though they call themselves Dāsaris, the Gangeddulu have no marital or other connection with the Dāsaris. In addition to training and exhibiting the performing bulls and cultivating land, the Gangeddulu officiate as Dāsaris in the month of Peratāsi (September-October). Their principal insignia of office are the chank shell, which isblown to announce their arrival, and the iron lamp (called Garudasthambha), which is kept burning, and is said to represent Venkatēsa, the presiding deity at Tirupati. As Dāsaris, little is expected of them, except offering fruits to the god, and assisting at funerals. Several proverbs, of which the following are examples, are current concerning this aspect of their life:—
The mistake of a Dāsari is excused with an apology.
The songs of a Dāsari are known only to the god,i.e., they are unintelligible and unreal.
For the song of a Dāsari alms are the payment,i.e., that is all the song is worth.
Sing again what you have sung, oh! Dāsari with dirty teeth.
When a beggar was asked whether he was a Dāsari or a Jangam, he replied that it depends on the next village. This in reference to his being a time-server.
A Gangeddu mendicant is, like his bulls, picturesquely attired. He is very punctilious about having his sect-mark on the forehead, invariably wears a turban, and his body is clothed in a long white cloth robe. When going about with the performing bulls, the Gangeddulu generally travel in pairs, one carrying a drum, and the other a bell-metal gong. One of them holds in one hand the nose-rope of the bull, and in the other the whip. The bulls are dressed up in a patch work quilt with two eye-holes in it. Of names which are given to the animals, Rāma and Lakshmana are very popular. The tameness of the bulls is referred to in the proverb “As mild as a Gangeddu.”
The Perumāl Mādukkārans, or Perumāl Erudukkārans, both of which names indicate those who lead bulls about, are found chiefly in the Chingleput, North andSouth Arcot districts. “Every now and then,” Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri writes,8“throughout Madras, a man dressed up as a buffoon is to be seen leading about a bull, as fantastically got up as himself with cowries (Cypræa arabicashells) and rags of many colours, from door to door. The bull is called in Tamil Perumāl erudu, and in Telugu Ganga eddu, the former meaning Vishnu’s bull and the latter Ganga’s bull. The origin of the first is given in a legend, but that of the last is not clear. The conductors of these bulls are neatherds of high caste, called Pū Idaiyan,i.e., flower neatherds (seeIdaiyan), and come from villages in the North and South Arcot districts. They are a simple and ignorant set, who firmly believe that their occupation arises out of a command from the great god Venkatāchalapati, the lord of the Venkatāchala near Tirupaddi (Tirupati) in the North Arcot district. Their legend is as follows. Among the habitual gifts to the Venkatāchala temple atTirupaddiwere all the freaks of nature of the neighbourhood as exhibited in cattle, such as two-tailed cows, five-legged bulls, four-horned calves, and so on. The Pū Idaiyans, whose original duty was to string flowers for the temple, were set to graze these abortions. Now to graze cows is an honour, but to tend such creatures as these the Pū Idaiyans regarded as a sin. So they prayed to Venkatāchalapati to show them how they could purge it away. On this, the god gave them a bull called after himself the Perumāl bull and said: ‘My sons, if you take as much care of this bull as you would of your own children, and lead it from house to house, begging its food, your sin will be washed away.’ Ever since then they have been purging themselves of theiroriginal sin. The process is this. The bull leader takes it from house to house, and puts it questions, and the animal shakes its head in reply. This is proof positive that it can reason. The fact is the animal is bought when young for a small sum, and brought up to its profession. Long practice has made its purchasers experts in selecting the animals that will suit them. After purchase the training commences, which consists in pinching the animal’s ears whenever it is given bran, and it soon learns to shake its head at the sight of bran. I need hardly say that a handful of bran is ready in its conductor’s hands when the questions are put to it. It is also taught to butt at any person that speaks angrily to it. As regards the offerings made to these people, one-sixth goes to feeding the bulls, and the remaining five-sixths to the conductors. They look upon it as ‘good work’, but the village boys and girls think it the greatest fun in the world to watch its performances, and the advent of a Vishnu’s bull is hailed by the youngsters with the greatest delight.”
Gangimakkalu.—Gangimakkalu, or Gangaputra, meaning children or sons of Ganga, the goddess of water, is the name of a sub-division of Kabbēra. The allied Gangavamsamu, or people of Ganga, is a name for Jālāris.
Gāniga or Gāndla.—The name Gāniga is derived from the Telugu gānuga, meaning an oil-mill. The Gānigas are said9to be “the oil pressers of the Canarese people, corresponding to the Telugu Gāndla and the Tamil Vāniyan. This caste is sub-divided into three sections, none of whom eat together or intermarry. These sections are the Heggānigas, who yoke two oxen to a stone oil-mill; Kirgānigas, who make oil in woodenmills; and Ontiyeddu Gānigas, who yoke only one animal to the mill. They are collectively known as Jōtipans or Jōtinagarams (people of the city of light). In addition to pressing oil, they also make palm-leaf umbrellas, cultivate land, and work as labourers. They employ Brāhmans to perform their ceremonies. Their guru is the head of the Vyāsarāya mutt at Ānegundi. Early marriage is practiced. Widow remarriage is not allowed. They eat fish, mutton, and fowls, but do not drink liquor. Chetti is their title.” In the Madras Census Report, 1891, it is stated that the guru of the Gānigas is the head of the mutt at Sringeri, and that they employ Havig Brāhmans for their ceremonies. Sringeri is the name of a Smarta (Saivite) mutt or religious institution at several places, such as Tanjore and Kumbakōnam; and there is a town of this name in Mysore, from which the mutt derives its name.
Concerning the Gānigas of the Mysore Province, Mr. V. N. Narasimmiyengar writes as follows.10“The account locally obtained connects this caste with the Nagartās, as forming the leading communities of the left-hand faction, in opposition to the Lingayats and other castes composing the right-hand faction. Caste supremacy is ever associated in India with preternatural mythology. If the average Brāhman traces his nobility literally to the face of Brahma, according to the Vēdic Purusha Sūkta, every other castelet claims a patent of superiority in a similar miraculous origin. The Gānigas allege that they immigrated from the north at a time beyond living memory. A Mysore noble, named Mallarāje Ars, established and first peopled the pēte (market town) of Bangalore, when the Gānigas first came there,followed by the Nagartās, who are said to have been co-emigrants with the Gānigas. Mallarāj made Sattis and Yajamāns (headmen) of the principal members of the two castes, and exempted them from the house-tax. The Gānigas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites. Their guru is known as Dharmasivāchārsvāmi in the Madras Presidency, and certain gōtras (family names) are said to be common to the Gānigas and Nagartās, but they never eat together or intermarry. The Gānigas claim the peculiar privilege of following the Vishnu image or car processions, throughout the province, with flags exhibiting the figures of Hanumān and Garuda, and torches. These insignia are alleged to have been aboriginally given to an ancestor, named Siriyāla Satti, by Rāma, as a reward for a valuable gem presented by him. The Gānigas call themselves Dharmasivāchār Vaisyās like the Nagartās, and the feud between them used often to culminate in much bitter unpleasantness. The order includes a small division of the linga-wearing oilmongers, known as Sajjanā (good men), whose population is a small fraction of the community. The Sajjanās, however, hold no social intercourse of any kind with the other sub-divisions.”
The Gānigas of Sandūr, in the little Marātha State of that name, returned Yenne (oil) and Kallu (stone) as sub-divisions. The average cephalic index of these Gānigas was very high, being 80.5 as against 77.6 for the Gānigas of Mysore city.
“The oil-mill of the Gānigas is,” Mr. W. Francis writes,11“a sort of large wooden mortar, usually formed out of the heart of a tamarind tree, and firmly imbedded in the ground. A wooden cylinder, shod with iron, fitsroughly into the cavity. A cross beam is lashed to this in such a way that one end is close to the ground, and to this a pair of bullocks or buffaloes are fastened. By an arrangement of pullies, the pressure of the cylinder can be increased at pleasure. As the bullocks go round the trough, the seeds are crushed by the action of the cylinder, so that the expressed oil falls to the bottom, while the residuum, as oil-cake, adheres to the side of the mortar.”
The following note refers to the Onteddu (single bullock) Gānigas, who claim superiority over those who employ two bullocks in working their oil-mills. The former belong to the right-hand, and the latter to the left-hand faction. Among them are various sub-divisions, of which the Dēva and Onteddu may intermarry, while the Kasi, Teli (gingelly:Sesamum), and Chandanapu are endogamous. Like other Telugu castes they have gōtras, some of which are interesting, as there are certain prohibitions connected with them. For example, members of the Badranollu and Balanollu gōtras may not cut the treeErythroxylon monogynum. In like manner, members of the Vīranollu and Viththanollu gōtras are forbidden to cutFeronia elephantum, and those of the Vēdanollu gōtra to cutNyctanthes arbor-tristis. Members of certain other gōtras do not cultivate turmeric, sugarcane, or the millet (Panicum miliare).
The Onteddu Gānigas are Saivites, and disciples of Lingāyat Brāhmans (Ārādhyas). Some, however, wear the sacred thread, and others bear on the forehead the red streak of the Vaishnavites. In some places, their special deity is Chaudeswara, who is the god of some of the weaving classes. In the Kistna district they claim Mallikārjunasvāmi as their deity.
Their primary occupation is oil-pressing, but some are traders in cotton, oil-seeds, etc., or cultivators. In some localities, the animal which works the oil-mill is not blindfolded, while it is in others, because, it is said, it would otherwise fall down after a few revolutions. Crushing gingelly oil is, according to the Shāstras, a sinful act, but condoned inasmuch as Dēvatas use this oil for lamps, and men in temples. For the removal of the oil-cake, or turning the seeds in the mill, the left hand only is used. Burning the tongue with a piece of gold, as a means of purification after some offence has been committed, is a common practice.