“When a Kondh starts out on a shooting expedition, if he first meets an adult female, married or unmarried, he will return home, and ask a child to tell the females to keep out of his way. He will then make a fresh start, and, if he meets a female, will wave his hand to her as a sign that she must keep clear of him. Before a party start out for shooting, they warn the females not to come in their way. The Kondh believes that, if he sees a female, he will not come across animals in the jungle to shoot. If a woman is in her menses, her husband, brothers, and sons living under the same roof, will not go out shooting for the same reason.A Kondh will not leave his village when a jāthra (festival) is being celebrated, lest the god Pennu should visit his wrath on him.They will not cut trees, which yield products suitable for human consumption, such as the mango, jāk, jambul (Eugenia Jambolana), or iluppai (Bassia) from which they distil a spirituous liquor. Even though these trees prevent the growth of a crop in the fields, they will not cut them down.If an owl hoots over the roof of a house, or on a tree close thereto, it is considered unlucky, as foreboding a death in the family at an early date. If an owl hoots close to a village, but outside it, the death of one of the villagers will follow. For this reason, the bird is pelted with stones, and driven off.They will not kill a crow, as this would be a sin amounting to the killing of a friend. According to their legend, soon after the creation of the world there was a family consisting of an aged man and woman, and four children, who died one after the other in quick succession. Their parents were too aged to take the necessary steps for their cremation, so they threw the bodies away on the ground, at some distance from their home. God appeared to them in their dreams one night, and promised that he would create the crow, so that it might devour the dead bodies.They do not consider it a sin to kill a Brahminy kite (Haliastur indus: Garuda pakshi), which is held in veneration throughout Southern India. A Kondh will kill it for so slight an offence as carrying off his chickens.They will not cut the crops with a sickle with a serrated edge, such as is used by the Oriyas, but use a straight-edged knife. The crops, after they have been cut, are removed to the village, and threshed by hand,and not with the help of cattle. While this is being done, strangers (Kondh or others) may not look on the crop, or speak to them, lest their evil eye should be cast on them. If a stranger is seen approaching near the threshing-floor, the Kondhs keep him off by signalling to him with their hands, without speaking. The serrated sickle is not used, because it produces a sound like that of cattle grazing, which would be unpropitious. If cattle were used in threshing the crop, it is believed that the earth god would feel insulted by the dung and urine of the animals.They believe that they can transform themselves into tigers or snakes, half the soul leaving the body and becoming changed into one of these animals, either to kill an enemy, or satisfy hunger by having a good feed on cattle in the jungle. During this period, they are believed to feel dull and listless, and disinclined for work, and, if a tiger is killed in the forest, they will die synchronously. Mr. Fawcett informs me that the Kondhs believe that the soul wanders during sleep. On one occasion, a dispute arose owing to a man discovering that another Kondh, whose spirit used to wander about in the guise of a tiger, ate up his spirit, and he became ill.When cholera breaks out in a village, all males and females smear their bodies from head to foot with pig’s fat liquefied by heat, and continue to do so until a few days after the disappearance of the dread disease. During this time, they do not bathe, lest the smell of the fat should be washed away.”The Kondhs are said177to prevent the approach of the goddess of small-pox by barricading the paths withthorns and ditches, and boiling caldrons of stinking oil. The leopard is looked upon in some way as a sacred beast by the Kondhs of the northern Māliahs. They object to a dead leopard being carried through their villages, and oaths are taken on a leopard’s skin.Referring to elf stones, or stones of the dead in European countries, to which needles, buttons, milk, eggs, etc., are offered, Mr. F. Fawcett describes178a Kondh ceremony, in which the ground under a tree was cleared in the form of a square, within which were circles of saffron (turmeric), charcoal, rice, and some yellow powder, as well as an egg or a small chicken. A certain Kondh had fever caused by an evil spirit, and the ceremony was an invitation to it to come out, and go to another village.The following account of a cow-shed sacrifice is given by Mr. Fawcett.179“A special liquor is brewed from grain for the ceremony, on the first day of which there is a general fast, a pig is bought by general subscription, and dragged to the place where it is to be sacrificed by a rope ‘through its belly.’ The pig is stoned to death, but, ere it dies, each Khond cuts off some of the hair and a little piece of the ear, which are treasured. The meat is divided among them, and cooked with rice. The priest goes from house to house, and performs the ceremony of the cow-shed. The ropes of the cattle (chiefly buffaloes) which are out grazing are tied to the central point in the cow-shed, and the other ends are laid on the ground across the shed. These ropes are the visible objects, to which sacrifice is made. The head of a chicken is buried near the ends tied to the post, and near it are ranged leaves, on which are placedrice, flesh of the pig, and a bit of its ear. A little in front of these is buried a rotten egg. The chicken, whose head is buried, is boiled, and eaten by children who have not yet donned a cloth. The Khond puts the rice, piece of the ear, and the hair of the pig, under the roof. In the evening the cattle come home, and are tied by the ropes used in the ceremony. Then the women break their fast—theymusteat then. Drinking and dancing occupy the two following days, during which no manure is removed from the cow-shed. On the third day, the Khonds come out with a lump of it in the hand, and throw it in one place, forming a heap, on which the priest pours liquor and rice.”The following example of a Kondh oath is given by Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson. “The subject of the circumstance is first repeated by the swearing party, and a basket containing the following things is held before him:—A blood-sucker (lizard).A bit of tiger’s skin.A peacock’s feather.Earth from a ‘white-ant’ hill.Rice mixed with fowl’s blood.A lighted lamp.He proceeds with his oath, touching each object in the basket at that part of the oath which refers to that object. ‘Oh! father (god), I swear, and, if I swear falsely, then, Oh! father, may I become shrivelled and dry like a blood-sucker, and thus die. May I be killed by a tiger. May I crumble to dust like this white-ant’s hill. May I be blown about like this feather. May I be extinguished like this lamp.’ In saying the last words, he puts a few grains of rice in his mouth, and blows out the lamp, and the basket with its contents is made to touch the top of his head.”In 1904, a case illustrating the prevailing belief in witchcraft occurred in the Vizagapatam hill tracts. The youngest of three brothers died of fever, and, when the body was cremated, the fire failed to consume the upper portion. The brothers concluded that death must have been caused by the witchcraft of a certain Kondh. They accordingly attacked him, and killed him. After death, the brothers cut the body in half, and dragged the upper half to their own village, where they attempted to nail it up on the spot where their deceased brother’s body failed to burn. The accused were arrested on the spot, with the fragment of the Kondh’s corpse. They were sentenced to death, and the sentence was confirmed by the High Court.180In 1906, a Kondh, suspecting a Pāno girl of having stolen some cloths and a silver ornament from him, went to the dhengada house in Sollagodo, where the girl slept with other unmarried girls, and took her to his village, where he confined her in his house. On the following day, he took her to an Oriya trader, who thrashed her, in order to make her confess to the theft. Subsequently, some of the villagers collected to see her undergo the ordeal of boiling water. A pot nearly full of water was boiled, some cow-dung and sacred rice added, and a rupee placed in the pot. The girl was ordered to take out the rupee. This she did three times, but, on the fourth occasion, the water scalded her hand and forearm. She was then ordered to pay as a fine her ear-ring, which was worth one rupee. This she did, as it was the custom for an unsuccessful person to hand over some property. Her right hand was practically destroyed as the result of the scalding. An elderly Pātro (headman)deposed that the ordinary practice in trials of this sort is to place two pots of water, one boiling and the other cold. In the boiling water a rupee and some rice are placed, and the suspected person has to take out the rupee once, and should then dip his hand in the cold water. If the hand is then scalded, the person is considered guilty, and has to pay a fine to the caste.In trial by immersion in water, the disputants dive into a pool, and he who can keep under water the longest is considered to be in the right. On one occasion, some years ago, when two villages were disputing the right of possession of a certain piece of land, the Magistrate resorted to a novel method to settle the dispute. He instituted a tug-of-water between an equal number of representatives of the contending parties. The side which won took possession of the disputed property, to the satisfaction of all.181In connection with sacred rice, which has been referred to above, reference may be made to the custom of Mahaprasād Songatho. “It is prevalent among the Khonds and other hill tribes of Ganjam and Orissa, and is found among the Oriyas. Sangatho means union or friendship. Mahaprasād Songatho is friendship sworn by mahaprasād,i.e., cooked rice consecrated to god Jagannath of Puri. The remains of the offering are dried and preserved. All pilgrims visiting Puri invariably get a quantity of this mahaprasād, and freely distribute it to those who ask for it. It is regarded as a sacred thing, endowed with supreme powers of forgiving the sins and wrongs of men by mere touch. It is not only holy itself, but also sanctifies everything done in its presence. It is believed that one dare notcommit a foul deed, utter a falsehood, or even entertain an evil thought, when it is held in the hands. On account of such beliefs, witnesses in law suits (especially Oriyas) are asked to swear by it when giving evidence. Mahaprasād Songatho is sworn friendship between two individuals of the same sex. Instances are on record of friendship contracted between a wealthy and cultured townsman and a poor village rustic, or between a Brāhmin woman of high family and a Sūdra servant. Songatho is solemnised with some ceremonies. On an auspicious day fixed for the purpose, the parties to the Songatho, with their relatives, friends and well-wishers, go to a temple in procession to the festive music of flutes and drum. There, in that consecrated place, the would-be friends take a solemn oath, with the god before them, mahaprasād in their hands, and the assemblage to witness that they will be lifelong friends, in spite of any changes that might come over them or their families. The ceremony closing, there will be dinners, gifts and presents on both sides, and the day is all mirth and merriment. Thus bound by inseparable ties of friendship, they live to the end of their lives on terms of extreme intimacy and affection. They seize every opportunity of meeting, and living in each other’s company. They allow no festival to pass without an exchange of new cloths, and other valuable presents. No important ceremony is gone through in any one’s house without the other being invited. Throughout the year, they will send each other the various fruits and vegetables in their respective seasons. If one dies, his or her family does not consider the bond as having been snapped, but continues to look upon the other more or less in the same manner as did the deceased. The survivor, if in need of help, is sure to receiveassistance and sympathy from the family of the deceased friend. This is how the institution is maintained by the less civilised Oriyas of the rural parts. The romance of the Songatho increases with the barbarity of the tribe. The Khonds, and other hill tribes, furnish us with an example of Songatho, which retains all its primitive simplicity. Among them, Songatho is ideal friendship, and examples of Damon and Pythias are not rare. A Khond has been known to ruin himself for the sake of his friend. He willingly sacrifices all that he has, and even his life, to protect the interests of his friend. The friends have nothing but affection for each other.”182It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that “the Khonds steal cattle, especially those belonging to Brinjāri gangs, in an open manner, for the sake of their flesh. In 1898, at Veppiguda near Gudāri a party of them attacked four constables who were patrolling the country to check these thefts, thrashed them, and carried off all their property and uniforms. Efforts to arrest these men resulted in the inhabitants of their village fleeing to the hills, and, for a time, it looked as if there was danger of others joining them, and of the Khonds going out. In 1882, the Khonds of Kālahandi State rose against the Uriyas, and murdered some hundreds of them. Luckily the invitation to join them, conveyed by the circulation of the head, fingers, hair, etc., of an early victim, was not accepted by the Khonds of this district.” The news of the rising was conveyed to Mr. H. G. Prendergast, Assistant Superintendent of Police, by a Domb disguised as a fakir, who carried the report concealed in his languti (cloth). Hewas rewarded with a silver bangle. At a meeting held at the village of Balwarpur, it was decided that the Kultas should all be killed and swept out of the country. As a sign of this, the Kondhs carried brooms about. At Asurgarh the police found four headless corpses, and learnt from the widows all that they had to say about the atrocities. The murders had been committed in the most brutal way. All the victims were scalped while still alive, and one had an arm and a leg cut off before being scalped. As each victim died, his death was announced by three taps on a drum given slowly, followed by shouting and dancing. The unfortunate men were dragged out of their houses, and killed before their women and children. Neither here nor anywhere else were the women outraged, though they were threatened with death to make them give up buried treasure. One woman was in this way made to dig up a thousand rupees. On a tamarind tree near the village of Billat, affixed to it as a trophy, there was the scalped head of a Kulta, hacked about in the most horrible way.183The fact is noted by Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar that the Kondh system of notation is duodecimal. Thirteen is twelve and one, forty three twelves and four, and so forth.Kondh Bibliography.Aborigines of the Eastern Ghâts. Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, XXV, 39–52, 1856.Caldwell, R. Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages, 2nd edn., appendix, 516–17, 1875.Campbell, G. Specimens of Languages of India, including those of the Aboriginal Tribes of Bengal, the Central Provinces and the Eastern Frontier, 95–107, 1904, Calcutta.Campbell, Major-General. Personal Narrative of Service amongst the Wild Tribes of Khondistan, 1864.Dalton, E. T. Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, 285–301, 1872.Duff, Rev. A. The First Series of Government Measures for the Abolition of Human Sacrifices among the Khonds. Selections from the Calcutta Review, 194–257, 1845–6.Fawcett, F. Miscellaneous Notes. Journ., Anthrop. Soc., Bombay, II, 247–51.Francis, W. Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam District, Vol. I, 1907.Friend-Pereira, J. E. Marriage Customs of the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc. Bengal, LXXI, part III, 18–28, 1903.Friend-Pereira, J. E. Totemism among the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc., Bengal, LXXIII, Part III, 39–56, 1905.Frye, Captain. Dialogues and Sentences in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. The History of Joseph in the Kui or Kondh Language, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Primer and Progressive Reading Lessons in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Lieut. J. P. On the Uriya and Kondh Population of Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XVII, 1–38, 1860.Grierson, G. A. Linguistic Survey of India, IV, 457–71, 1906.History of the Rise and Progress of the Operations for the Suppression of Human Sacrifice and Female Infanticide in the Hill tracts of Orissa. Selections from the Records of the Government of India (Home Department) No. V, 1854, Calcutta.Hunter, W. W. Orissa II, 67–100, 1872.Huttmann, G. H. Lieut. Macpherson’s Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack. Calcutta Review, VIII, 1–51, 1847.Huttmann, G. H. Captain Macpherson’s Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack. Calcutta Review, X, 273–341, 1848.Lingum Letchmajee. Introduction to the Grammar of the Kui or Kondh Language, 2nd edn., 1902, Calcutta.Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religious Opinions and Observances of the Khonds of Goomsūr and Boad. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, VII, 172–99, 1843.Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religion of the Khonds in Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XIII, 216–74, 1852.Macpherson, Lieut. Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack, 1863, Madras.Maltby, T. J. Ganjam District Manual, 65–87, 1882.Rice, S. P. Occasional Essays on Native South Indian Life, 97–102, 1901.Risley, H. H. The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, I, 397–413. 1891.Smith, Major J. McD. Practical Handbook of the Khond Language, 1876, Cuttack.Taylor, Rev. W. On the Language, Manners, and Rites of the Khonds or Khoi Jati of the Goomsūr Mountains from documents furnished by J. A. R. Stevenson. Madras Journ. Lit. and Science, VI, 17–46, 1837.Taylor, Rev. W. Some Additional Notes on the Hill Inhabitants of the Goomsūr Mountains. Madras Journ., Lit. and Science, VII, 89–104, 1838.Kondra.—The Kondras or Kondoras are a fishing caste in Ganjam, who fish in ponds, lakes, rivers, and backwaters, but are never engaged in sea-fishing. It has been suggested that the name is derived from konkoda, a crab, as they catch crabs in the Chilka lake, and sell them. The Kondras rank very low in the social scale, and even the Haddis refuse to beat drums for them, and will not accept partially boiled rice, which they have touched. In some places, the members of the caste call themselves Dāsa Dīvaro, and claim descent from the boatmen who rowed the boat when King Bharatha went to Chithrakutam, to inform Rāma of the death of Dasaratha. Apparently the caste is divided into two endogamous sections, viz., Macha Kondras, who follow the traditional occupation of fishing, and Dandāsi Khondras, who have taken to the duties of village watchmen. As examples of septs or bamsams, the following may be cited:—kāko (crow), bilva (jackal), gaya (cow), kukkiriya (dogs), ghāsia (grass), bholia (wild dog), sanguna (vulture). A few said that reverence is paid to the animals after which the bamsam is named before the marriage ceremonies, but this was denied by others. The headman of the caste is styled Bēhara, and he is assisted by the Dolobēhara and Bhollobaya. There is also a castemessenger called Chattia. The Bēhara receives a fee of a rupee on occasions of marriage, and one anna for death ceremonies.Girls are married either before or after puberty. Sometimes a girl is married in performance of a vow to the sahada (Streblus asper) tree. The ground round the tree is cleaned, a new cloth is then tied round the trunk, and a bow and arrow are rested against it. The Bēhara officiates as priest, and on behalf of the girl, places near the tree twelve handfuls or measures of rice and twelve of dāl (peas:Cajanus indicus), and twelve pieces of string on a leaf, as provisions for the bridegroom. If the girl has not reached maturity, she must remain seven days near the tree; otherwise she remains four days. On the last day, the Bēhara, sitting close to the tree, says: “We have given you provisions for twelve years. Give us a tsado-patra (deed of separation).” This is written on a palmyra leaf, and thrown down near the tree.The dead are cremated, and the corpses of both men and women are said to be placed face downwards on the pyre. Among many other castes, only those of women are placed in this position. The death ceremonies are similar to those observed by many Oriya castes. A bit of bone is removed from the burning-ground, and food offered to it daily until the tenth day, when all the agnates, as well as the brothers-in-law and sons-in-law of the deceased, are shaved. The sons of the sister of the dead person are also expected to be shaved if they are fatherless; but, if their father is alive, they are shaved on the following day.The Kondras regard Ganga-dēvi as their caste deity, but worship also other deities,e.g., Chāmunda, Buddhi, and Kālika.Konga.—Konga or Kongu is a territorial term, meaning inhabitant of the Kongu country. It has, at recent times of census, been returned as a division of a large number of classes, mostly Tamil, which include Ambattan, Kaikōlan, Kammālan, Kūravan, Kusavan, Malayan, Oddē, Pallan, Paraiyan, Shānān, Uppara, and Vellāla. It is used as a term of abuse among the Badagas of the Nīlgiri hills. Those, for example, who made mistakes in matching Holmgren’s wools, were scornfully called Konga by the onlookers. Similarly, in parts of the Tamil country, a tall, lean and stupid individual is called a Kongan.Konga Vellāla.—For the following note on the Konga Vellālas of the Trichinopoly district, I am indebted to Mr. F. R. Hemingway. They seem to have little in common with the other Vellālas, except their name, and appear to hold a lower position in society, for Reddis will not eat with them, and they will dine with Tottiyans and others of the lower non-Brāhman castes. They live in compact communities, generally in hamlets. Their dwellings are generally thatched huts, containing only one room. They are cultivators, but not well off. Their men can generally be recognized by the number of large gold rings which they wear in the lobes of the ears, and the pendant (murugu), which hangs from the upper part of the ears. Their women have a characteristic tāli (marriage badge) of large size, strung on to a number of cotton threads, which are not, as among other castes, twisted together. They also seem always to wear an ornament called tāyittu, rather like the common cylindrical talisman, on the left arm.The Konga Vellālas are split into two endogamous divisions, viz., the Konga Vellālas proper, and the Tondan or Ilakanban-kūttam (servant or inferior sub-division).The latter are admittedly the offspring of illegitimate intercourse with outsiders by girls and widows of the caste, who have been expelled in consequence of their breach of caste rules.The Kongas proper have an elaborate caste organisation. Their country is divided into twenty-four nādus, each comprising a certain number of villages, and possessing recognised head-quarters, which are arranged into four groups under the villages of Palayakōttai, Kāngayam, Pudūr and Kadayūr, all in the Coimbatore district. Each village is under a Kottukkāran, each nādu under a Nāttu-kavundan or Periyatanakkāran, and each group under a Pattakkāran. The last is treated with considerable respect. He wears gold toe-rings, is not allowed to see a corpse, and is always saluted with clasped hands. He is only occasionally called in to settle caste disputes, small matters being settled by the Kottukkārans, and matrimonial questions by the Nāttukavundan. Both the Kongas proper, and the Tondans have a large number of exogamous septs, the names of which generally denote some article, the use of which is taboo,e.g., kādai (quail), pannai (Celosia argentea, a pot-herb). The most desirable match for a boy is his maternal uncle’s daughter. To such an extent is the preference for such unions carried out, that a young boy is often married to a grown-up woman, and it is admitted that, in such cases, the boy’s father takes upon himself the duties of a husband until his son has reached maturity, and that the wife is allowed to consort with any one belonging to the caste whom she may fancy, provided that she continues to live in her husband’s house. With widows, who are not allowed to remarry, the rules are more strict. A man convicted of undue intimacy with a widow is expelled from the caste, unlessshe consents to his leaving her and going back to the caste, and he provides her with adequate means to live separately. The form of consent is for the woman to say that she is only a mud vessel, and has been broken because polluted, whereas the man is of bell-metal, and cannot be utterly polluted. The erring man is readmitted to the caste by being taken to the village common, where he is beaten with an erukkan (arka:Calotropis gigantea) stick, and by providing a black sheep for a feast to his relatives.At weddings and funerals, the Konga Vellālas employ priests of their own caste, called Arumaikkārans and Arumaikkāris. These must be married people, who have had children. The first stage, so far as a wife is concerned, is to become an elutingalkāri (woman of seven Mondays), without which she cannot wear a red mark on her forehead, or get any of her children married. This is effected, after the birth of at least one child, by observing a ceremonial at her father’s house. A pandal (booth) of green leaves is erected in the house, and a fillet of pungam (Pongamia glabra) and tamarind twigs is placed round her head. She is then presented with a new cloth, prepares some food and eats it, and steps over a mortar. A married couple wait until one of their children is married, and then undergo the ceremony called arumaimanam at the hands of ten Arumaikkārans and some Pulavans (bards among the Kaikōlans), who touch the pair with some green grass dipped in sandal and water, oil, etc. The man then becomes an Arumaikkāran, and his wife an Arumaikkāri. All people of arumai rank are treated with great respect, and, when one of them dies, a drum is beaten by a man standing on another man’s shoulders, who receives as a present seven measures of grain measured, and an equal quantity unmeasured.The betrothal ceremony takes place at the house of the future bride, in the presence of both the maternal uncles, and consists in tying fruit and betel leaf in the girl’s cloth. On the wedding day, the bridegroom is shaved, and an Arumaikkāri pours water over him. If he has a sister, the ceremony of betrothing his prospective daughter to her son, is performed. He then goes on horseback, carrying some fruit and a pestle, to a stone planted for the occasion, and called the nāttukal, which he worships. The stone is supposed to represent the Kongu king, and the pestle the villagers, and the whole ceremony is said to be a relic of a custom of the ancient Kongu people, to which the caste formerly belonged, which required them to obtain the sanction of the king for every marriage. On his return from the nāttukal, balls of white and coloured rice are taken round the bridegroom, to ward off the evil eye. His mother then gives him three mouthfuls of food, and eats the remainder herself, to indicate that henceforth she will not provide him with meals. A barber then blesses him, and he repairs on horseback to the bride’s house, where he is received by one of her party similarly mounted. His ear-rings are put in the bride’s ears, and the pair are carried on the shoulders of their maternal uncles to the nāttukal. On their return thence, they are touched by an Arumaikkāran with a betel leaf dipped in oil, milk and water. The tāli (marriage badge) is worshipped and blessed, and the Arumaikkāran ties it on her neck. The barber then pronounces an elaborate blessing, which runs as follows: “Live as long as the sun and moon may endure, or Pasupatisvarar (Siva) at Karūr. May your branches spread like the banyan tree, and your roots like grass, and may you flourish like the bamboo. May ye twain be like the flower and the thread, whichtogether form the garland and cleave together, like water and the reed growing in it.” If a Pulavan is present, he adds a further blessing, and the little fingers of the contracting couple are linked together, anointed with milk, and then separated.The death ceremonies are not peculiar, except that the torch for the pyre is carried by a Paraiyan, and not, as among most castes, by the chief mourner, and that no ceremonies are performed after the third day. The custom is to collect the bones on that day and throw them into water. The barber then pours a mixture of milk and ghi (clarified butter) over a green tree, crying poli, poli.The caste has its own beggars, called Mudavāndi (q.v.).Kongara(crane).—An exogamous sept of Padma Sālē, and Kamma.Konhoro.—A title of Bolāsi.Konkani.—Defined, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a territorial or linguistic term, meaning a dweller in the Konkan country (Canara), or a person speaking the Konkani dialect of Marāthi. Kadu Konkani (bastard Konkani) is a name opposed to the Gōd or pure Konkanis. In South Canara, “the Konkani Brāhmans are the trading and shop-keeping class, and, in the most out-of-the-way spots, the Konkani village shop is to be found.”184The following note on Konkanis is extracted from the Travancore Census Report, 1901. “The Konkanis include the Brāhman, Kshatriya, and Vaisya castes of the Sārasvata section of the Gauda Brāhmans. The Brāhmans of this community differ, however, from the Konkanastha Mahārāshtra Brāhmans belonging to theDrāvida group. The Konkani Sūdras who have settled on this coast are known by a different name, Kudumikkar. The Konkanis’ original habitation is the bank of the Sārasvati, a river well known in early Sanskrit works, but said to have lost itself in the sands of the deserts north of Rajputana. According to the Sahyādrikanda, a branch of these Sārasvatas lived in Tirhut in Bengal, whence ten families were brought over by Parasurāma to Gōmantaka, the modern Goa, Panchakrōsi, and Kusasthali. Attracted by the richness and beauty of the new country, others followed, and the whole population settled themselves in sixty villages and ninety-six hamlets in and around Goa, the settlers in the former being called Shashtis (Sanskrit for sixty), and those in the latter being called Shannavis or Shenavis (Sanskrit for ninety-six). The history of those Sārasvatas was one of uninterrupted general and commercial prosperity until about twenty years after the advent of the Portuguese. When King Emanuel died and King John succeeded him, the policy of the Goanese Government is believed to have changed in favour of religious persecution. A large efflux to the Canarese and Tulu countries was the result. Thence the Konkanis appear to have migrated to Travancore and Cochin, and found a safe haven under the rule of their Hindu sovereigns. In their last homes, the Konkanis extended and developed their commerce, built temples, and endowed them so magnificently that the religious institutions of that community, especially at Cochin and Alleppey, continue to this day almost the richest in all Malabar.“Canter Visscher writes185that ‘the Canarese who are permanently settled in Malabar are the race bestknown to the Europeans, not only because the East India Company trade with them and appoint one of their members to be their merchant, giving him the attendance of two Dutch soldiers: but also because from the shops of these people in town we obtain all our necessaries, except animal food. Some sell rice, others fruits, others various kinds of linen, and some again are money-changers, so that there is hardly one who is not engaged in trade.’ The occupation of the Konkanis has been commerce ever since the advent of the Portuguese in India. Some of them make pāpatams186(popadams) which is a condiment of almost universal consumption in Malabar. Till recently, the Konkanis in Travancore knew nothing else than trade. But now, following the example of their kinsmen in Bombay and South Canara, they are gradually taking to other professions.“Having settled themselves in the Canarese districts, most of the Konkanis came under the influence of Madhavāchārya, unlike the Shenavis, who still continue to be Smartas. The worship of Venkatarāmana, the presiding deity of the Tirupati shrine, is held in great importance. Every Konkani temple is called Tirumala Dēvasmam, as the divinity that resides on the sacred hill (Tirumala) is represented in each.”Konsāri.—The Konsāris derive their name from konsa, a bell-metal dish. They are Oriya workers in bell-metal, and manufacture dishes, cups and plates. Brāhmans are employed by them as purōhits (priests) and gurus (preceptors). They eat fish and mutton, butnot fowls or beef, and drink liquor. Marriage is infant. Remarriage of widows and divorcées is permitted.Koonapilli vāndlu.—Beggars attached to Padma Sālēs.Koppala.—A section of Velamas, who tie the hair in a knot (koppu) on the top of the head, and an exogamous sept of Mutrāchas, whose females do up their hair in a knot when they reach puberty.Kōra(sun).—A sept of Gadaba, Mūka Dora, and Rōna.Koracha.—SeeKorava.Koraga.—The Koragas are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as being a wild tribe of basket-makers and labourers, chiefly found in Mudbidri, and in Puttūr in the Uppinangadi tāluk of South Canara. They are, Mr. M. T. Walhouse writes,187“a very quiet and inoffensive race; small and slight, the men seldom exceeding five feet six inches; black-skinned, like most Indian aborigines, thick-lipped, noses broad and flat, and hair rough and bushy. Their principal occupation is basket-making, and they must labour for their masters. They live on the outskirts of villages, and may not dwell in houses of clay or mud, but in huts of leaves, called koppus. Like many of the wild tribes of India, they are distinguished by unswerving truthfulness. The word of a Koragar is proverbial.”The Koragas rank below the Holeyas. In some towns, they are employed by the sanitary department as scavengers. They remove the hide, horns, and bones of cattle and buffaloes, which die in the villages, and sell them mainly to Māppilla merchants. They accept food, which is left over after feasts held by various castes.Some are skilful in the manufacture of cradles, baskets, cylinders to hold paddy, winnowing and sowing baskets, scale-pans, boxes, rice-water strainers, ring-stands for supporting pots, coir (cocoanut fibre) rope, brushes for washing cattle, etc. They also manufacture various domestic utensils from soapstone, which they sell at a very cheap rate to shopkeepers in the bazar.“Numerous slave-castes,” Mr. Walhouse continues, “exist throughout India, not of course recognised by law—indeed formally emancipated by an Act of Government in 1843—but still, though improved in condition, virtually slaves. Their origin and status are thus described. After the four principal classes, who sprang from Brahma, came six Anuloma castes, which arose from the intercourse of Brahmans and Kshatriyas with women of the classes below them respectively. The term Anuloma denotes straight and regular hair, which in India characterises the Aryan stock. After these came six Pratiloma castes, originating in reverse order from Brahman and Kshatriya women by fathers of the inferior classes. The third among these was the Chandāla, the offspring of Shudra fathers by Brahman women. The Chandālas, or slaves, were sub-divided into fifteen classes, none of which might intermarry, a rule still strictly observed. The two last, and lowest of the fifteen classes, are the Kapata or rag-wearing, and the Soppu or leaf-wearing Koragas. Such is the account given by Brahman chroniclers; but the probability is that these lowest slave-castes are the descendants of that primitive population which the Aryan invaders from the north found occupying the soil, and, after a struggle of ages, gradually dispossessed, driving some to the hills and jungles, and reducing others to the condition of slaves. All these races are regarded by their Hindumasters with boundless contempt, and held unspeakably unclean. This feeling seems the result and witness of times when the despised races were powerful, and to be approached as lords by their now haughty masters, and was probably intensified by struggles and uprisings, and the memory of humiliations inflicted on the ultimately successful conquerors. Evidences for this may be inferred from many curious rights and privileges, which the despised castes possess and tenaciously retain. Moreover, the contempt and loathing in which they are ordinarily held are curiously tinctured with superstitious fear, for they are believed to possess secret powers of magic and witchcraft, and influence with the old malignant deities of the soil, who can direct good or evil fortune. As an instance, if a Brahman mother’s children die off when young, she calls a Koragar woman, gives her some oil, rice, and copper money, and places the surviving child in her arms. The out-caste woman, who may not at other times be touched, gives the child suck, puts on it her iron bracelets, and, if a boy, names it Koragar, if a girl, Korāpulu. She then returns it to the mother. This is believed to give a new lease of life. Again, when a man is dangerously ill, or perhaps unfortunate, he pours oil into an earthen vessel, worships it in the same way as the family god, looks at his face reflected in the oil, and puts into it a hair from his head and a nail paring from his toe. The oil is then presented to the Koragars, and the hostile gods or stars are believed to be propitiated.” According to Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao,188old superstitious Hindus never venture to utter the word Koraga during the night.It is noted in the Manual of the South Canara district, that “all traditions unite in attributing the introduction of the Tulu Brahmins of the present day to Mayūr Varma (of the Kadamba dynasty), but they vary in details connected with the manner in which they obtained a firm footing in the land. One account says that Habāshika, chief of the Koragas, drove out Mayūr Varma, but was in turn expelled by Mayūr Varma’s son, or son-in-law, Lōkāditya of Gōkarnam, who brought Brahmins from Ahi-kshētra, and settled them in thirty-two villages.” Concerning the power, and eventual degradation of the Koragas, the following version of the tradition is cited by Mr. Walhouse. “When Lokadirāya, whose date is fixed by Wilks about 1450 B.C., was king of Bhanvarshe in North Canara (a place noted by Ptolemy), an invader, by name Habāshika, brought an army from above the ghauts, consisting of all the present Chandāla or slave-castes, overwhelmed that part of the country, and marched southward to Mangalore, the present capital of South Canara. The invading host was scourged with small-pox, and greatly annoyed by ants, so Habāshika moved on to Manjeshwar, a place of ancient repute, twelve miles to the south, subdued the local ruler Angarawarma, son of Virawarma, and reigned there in conjunction with his nephew; but after twelve years both died—one legend says through enchantments devised by Angarawarma; another that a neighbouring ruler treacherously proposed a marriage between his sister and Habāshika, and, on the bridegroom and his caste-men attending for the nuptials, a wholesale massacre of them all was effected. Angarawarma, then returning, drove the invading army into the jungles, where they were reduced to such extremity that they consented to become slaves, and were apportioned amongst the Brahmans and originallandholders. Some were, set to watch the crops and cattle, some to cultivate, others to various drudgeries, which are still allotted to the existing slave-castes, but the Koragars, who had been raised by Habāshika to the highest posts under his government, were stripped and driven towards the sea-shore, there to be hanged, but, being ashamed of their naked condition, they gathered the leaves of the nicki bush (Vitex Negundo), which grows abundantly in waste places, and made small coverings for themselves in front. On this the executioners took pity on them and let them go, but condemned them to be the lowest of the low, and wear no other covering but leaves. The Koragas are now the lowest of the slave divisions, and regarded with such intense loathing and hatred that up to quite recent times one section of them, called Andē or pot Koragars, continually wore a pot suspended from their necks, into which they were compelled to spit, being so utterly unclean as to be prohibited from even spitting on the highway; and to this day their women continue to show in their leafy aprons a memorial of the abject degradation to which their whole race was doomed.” It is said that in pre-British days an Andē Koraga had to take out a licence to come into the towns and villages by day. At night mere approach thereto was forbidden, as his presence would cause terrible calamity. The Koragas of those days could cook their food only in broken vessels. The name Vastra, by which one class of Koragas is called, has reference to their wearing vastra, or clothes, such as were used to shroud a dead body, and given to them in the shape of charity, the use of a new cloth being prohibited. According to another account the three divisions of the Koragas are (1) Kappada, those who wear clothes, (2) Tippi, who wear ornaments madeof the cocoanut shell, and (3) Vanti, who wear a peculiar kind of large ear-ring. These three clans may eat together, but not intermarry. Each clan is divided into exogamous septs called balis, and it may be noted that some of the Koraga balis, such as Haledennaya and Kumērdennaya, are also found among the Māri and Mundala Holeyas.
“When a Kondh starts out on a shooting expedition, if he first meets an adult female, married or unmarried, he will return home, and ask a child to tell the females to keep out of his way. He will then make a fresh start, and, if he meets a female, will wave his hand to her as a sign that she must keep clear of him. Before a party start out for shooting, they warn the females not to come in their way. The Kondh believes that, if he sees a female, he will not come across animals in the jungle to shoot. If a woman is in her menses, her husband, brothers, and sons living under the same roof, will not go out shooting for the same reason.A Kondh will not leave his village when a jāthra (festival) is being celebrated, lest the god Pennu should visit his wrath on him.They will not cut trees, which yield products suitable for human consumption, such as the mango, jāk, jambul (Eugenia Jambolana), or iluppai (Bassia) from which they distil a spirituous liquor. Even though these trees prevent the growth of a crop in the fields, they will not cut them down.If an owl hoots over the roof of a house, or on a tree close thereto, it is considered unlucky, as foreboding a death in the family at an early date. If an owl hoots close to a village, but outside it, the death of one of the villagers will follow. For this reason, the bird is pelted with stones, and driven off.They will not kill a crow, as this would be a sin amounting to the killing of a friend. According to their legend, soon after the creation of the world there was a family consisting of an aged man and woman, and four children, who died one after the other in quick succession. Their parents were too aged to take the necessary steps for their cremation, so they threw the bodies away on the ground, at some distance from their home. God appeared to them in their dreams one night, and promised that he would create the crow, so that it might devour the dead bodies.They do not consider it a sin to kill a Brahminy kite (Haliastur indus: Garuda pakshi), which is held in veneration throughout Southern India. A Kondh will kill it for so slight an offence as carrying off his chickens.They will not cut the crops with a sickle with a serrated edge, such as is used by the Oriyas, but use a straight-edged knife. The crops, after they have been cut, are removed to the village, and threshed by hand,and not with the help of cattle. While this is being done, strangers (Kondh or others) may not look on the crop, or speak to them, lest their evil eye should be cast on them. If a stranger is seen approaching near the threshing-floor, the Kondhs keep him off by signalling to him with their hands, without speaking. The serrated sickle is not used, because it produces a sound like that of cattle grazing, which would be unpropitious. If cattle were used in threshing the crop, it is believed that the earth god would feel insulted by the dung and urine of the animals.They believe that they can transform themselves into tigers or snakes, half the soul leaving the body and becoming changed into one of these animals, either to kill an enemy, or satisfy hunger by having a good feed on cattle in the jungle. During this period, they are believed to feel dull and listless, and disinclined for work, and, if a tiger is killed in the forest, they will die synchronously. Mr. Fawcett informs me that the Kondhs believe that the soul wanders during sleep. On one occasion, a dispute arose owing to a man discovering that another Kondh, whose spirit used to wander about in the guise of a tiger, ate up his spirit, and he became ill.When cholera breaks out in a village, all males and females smear their bodies from head to foot with pig’s fat liquefied by heat, and continue to do so until a few days after the disappearance of the dread disease. During this time, they do not bathe, lest the smell of the fat should be washed away.”The Kondhs are said177to prevent the approach of the goddess of small-pox by barricading the paths withthorns and ditches, and boiling caldrons of stinking oil. The leopard is looked upon in some way as a sacred beast by the Kondhs of the northern Māliahs. They object to a dead leopard being carried through their villages, and oaths are taken on a leopard’s skin.Referring to elf stones, or stones of the dead in European countries, to which needles, buttons, milk, eggs, etc., are offered, Mr. F. Fawcett describes178a Kondh ceremony, in which the ground under a tree was cleared in the form of a square, within which were circles of saffron (turmeric), charcoal, rice, and some yellow powder, as well as an egg or a small chicken. A certain Kondh had fever caused by an evil spirit, and the ceremony was an invitation to it to come out, and go to another village.The following account of a cow-shed sacrifice is given by Mr. Fawcett.179“A special liquor is brewed from grain for the ceremony, on the first day of which there is a general fast, a pig is bought by general subscription, and dragged to the place where it is to be sacrificed by a rope ‘through its belly.’ The pig is stoned to death, but, ere it dies, each Khond cuts off some of the hair and a little piece of the ear, which are treasured. The meat is divided among them, and cooked with rice. The priest goes from house to house, and performs the ceremony of the cow-shed. The ropes of the cattle (chiefly buffaloes) which are out grazing are tied to the central point in the cow-shed, and the other ends are laid on the ground across the shed. These ropes are the visible objects, to which sacrifice is made. The head of a chicken is buried near the ends tied to the post, and near it are ranged leaves, on which are placedrice, flesh of the pig, and a bit of its ear. A little in front of these is buried a rotten egg. The chicken, whose head is buried, is boiled, and eaten by children who have not yet donned a cloth. The Khond puts the rice, piece of the ear, and the hair of the pig, under the roof. In the evening the cattle come home, and are tied by the ropes used in the ceremony. Then the women break their fast—theymusteat then. Drinking and dancing occupy the two following days, during which no manure is removed from the cow-shed. On the third day, the Khonds come out with a lump of it in the hand, and throw it in one place, forming a heap, on which the priest pours liquor and rice.”The following example of a Kondh oath is given by Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson. “The subject of the circumstance is first repeated by the swearing party, and a basket containing the following things is held before him:—A blood-sucker (lizard).A bit of tiger’s skin.A peacock’s feather.Earth from a ‘white-ant’ hill.Rice mixed with fowl’s blood.A lighted lamp.He proceeds with his oath, touching each object in the basket at that part of the oath which refers to that object. ‘Oh! father (god), I swear, and, if I swear falsely, then, Oh! father, may I become shrivelled and dry like a blood-sucker, and thus die. May I be killed by a tiger. May I crumble to dust like this white-ant’s hill. May I be blown about like this feather. May I be extinguished like this lamp.’ In saying the last words, he puts a few grains of rice in his mouth, and blows out the lamp, and the basket with its contents is made to touch the top of his head.”In 1904, a case illustrating the prevailing belief in witchcraft occurred in the Vizagapatam hill tracts. The youngest of three brothers died of fever, and, when the body was cremated, the fire failed to consume the upper portion. The brothers concluded that death must have been caused by the witchcraft of a certain Kondh. They accordingly attacked him, and killed him. After death, the brothers cut the body in half, and dragged the upper half to their own village, where they attempted to nail it up on the spot where their deceased brother’s body failed to burn. The accused were arrested on the spot, with the fragment of the Kondh’s corpse. They were sentenced to death, and the sentence was confirmed by the High Court.180In 1906, a Kondh, suspecting a Pāno girl of having stolen some cloths and a silver ornament from him, went to the dhengada house in Sollagodo, where the girl slept with other unmarried girls, and took her to his village, where he confined her in his house. On the following day, he took her to an Oriya trader, who thrashed her, in order to make her confess to the theft. Subsequently, some of the villagers collected to see her undergo the ordeal of boiling water. A pot nearly full of water was boiled, some cow-dung and sacred rice added, and a rupee placed in the pot. The girl was ordered to take out the rupee. This she did three times, but, on the fourth occasion, the water scalded her hand and forearm. She was then ordered to pay as a fine her ear-ring, which was worth one rupee. This she did, as it was the custom for an unsuccessful person to hand over some property. Her right hand was practically destroyed as the result of the scalding. An elderly Pātro (headman)deposed that the ordinary practice in trials of this sort is to place two pots of water, one boiling and the other cold. In the boiling water a rupee and some rice are placed, and the suspected person has to take out the rupee once, and should then dip his hand in the cold water. If the hand is then scalded, the person is considered guilty, and has to pay a fine to the caste.In trial by immersion in water, the disputants dive into a pool, and he who can keep under water the longest is considered to be in the right. On one occasion, some years ago, when two villages were disputing the right of possession of a certain piece of land, the Magistrate resorted to a novel method to settle the dispute. He instituted a tug-of-water between an equal number of representatives of the contending parties. The side which won took possession of the disputed property, to the satisfaction of all.181In connection with sacred rice, which has been referred to above, reference may be made to the custom of Mahaprasād Songatho. “It is prevalent among the Khonds and other hill tribes of Ganjam and Orissa, and is found among the Oriyas. Sangatho means union or friendship. Mahaprasād Songatho is friendship sworn by mahaprasād,i.e., cooked rice consecrated to god Jagannath of Puri. The remains of the offering are dried and preserved. All pilgrims visiting Puri invariably get a quantity of this mahaprasād, and freely distribute it to those who ask for it. It is regarded as a sacred thing, endowed with supreme powers of forgiving the sins and wrongs of men by mere touch. It is not only holy itself, but also sanctifies everything done in its presence. It is believed that one dare notcommit a foul deed, utter a falsehood, or even entertain an evil thought, when it is held in the hands. On account of such beliefs, witnesses in law suits (especially Oriyas) are asked to swear by it when giving evidence. Mahaprasād Songatho is sworn friendship between two individuals of the same sex. Instances are on record of friendship contracted between a wealthy and cultured townsman and a poor village rustic, or between a Brāhmin woman of high family and a Sūdra servant. Songatho is solemnised with some ceremonies. On an auspicious day fixed for the purpose, the parties to the Songatho, with their relatives, friends and well-wishers, go to a temple in procession to the festive music of flutes and drum. There, in that consecrated place, the would-be friends take a solemn oath, with the god before them, mahaprasād in their hands, and the assemblage to witness that they will be lifelong friends, in spite of any changes that might come over them or their families. The ceremony closing, there will be dinners, gifts and presents on both sides, and the day is all mirth and merriment. Thus bound by inseparable ties of friendship, they live to the end of their lives on terms of extreme intimacy and affection. They seize every opportunity of meeting, and living in each other’s company. They allow no festival to pass without an exchange of new cloths, and other valuable presents. No important ceremony is gone through in any one’s house without the other being invited. Throughout the year, they will send each other the various fruits and vegetables in their respective seasons. If one dies, his or her family does not consider the bond as having been snapped, but continues to look upon the other more or less in the same manner as did the deceased. The survivor, if in need of help, is sure to receiveassistance and sympathy from the family of the deceased friend. This is how the institution is maintained by the less civilised Oriyas of the rural parts. The romance of the Songatho increases with the barbarity of the tribe. The Khonds, and other hill tribes, furnish us with an example of Songatho, which retains all its primitive simplicity. Among them, Songatho is ideal friendship, and examples of Damon and Pythias are not rare. A Khond has been known to ruin himself for the sake of his friend. He willingly sacrifices all that he has, and even his life, to protect the interests of his friend. The friends have nothing but affection for each other.”182It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that “the Khonds steal cattle, especially those belonging to Brinjāri gangs, in an open manner, for the sake of their flesh. In 1898, at Veppiguda near Gudāri a party of them attacked four constables who were patrolling the country to check these thefts, thrashed them, and carried off all their property and uniforms. Efforts to arrest these men resulted in the inhabitants of their village fleeing to the hills, and, for a time, it looked as if there was danger of others joining them, and of the Khonds going out. In 1882, the Khonds of Kālahandi State rose against the Uriyas, and murdered some hundreds of them. Luckily the invitation to join them, conveyed by the circulation of the head, fingers, hair, etc., of an early victim, was not accepted by the Khonds of this district.” The news of the rising was conveyed to Mr. H. G. Prendergast, Assistant Superintendent of Police, by a Domb disguised as a fakir, who carried the report concealed in his languti (cloth). Hewas rewarded with a silver bangle. At a meeting held at the village of Balwarpur, it was decided that the Kultas should all be killed and swept out of the country. As a sign of this, the Kondhs carried brooms about. At Asurgarh the police found four headless corpses, and learnt from the widows all that they had to say about the atrocities. The murders had been committed in the most brutal way. All the victims were scalped while still alive, and one had an arm and a leg cut off before being scalped. As each victim died, his death was announced by three taps on a drum given slowly, followed by shouting and dancing. The unfortunate men were dragged out of their houses, and killed before their women and children. Neither here nor anywhere else were the women outraged, though they were threatened with death to make them give up buried treasure. One woman was in this way made to dig up a thousand rupees. On a tamarind tree near the village of Billat, affixed to it as a trophy, there was the scalped head of a Kulta, hacked about in the most horrible way.183The fact is noted by Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar that the Kondh system of notation is duodecimal. Thirteen is twelve and one, forty three twelves and four, and so forth.Kondh Bibliography.Aborigines of the Eastern Ghâts. Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, XXV, 39–52, 1856.Caldwell, R. Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages, 2nd edn., appendix, 516–17, 1875.Campbell, G. Specimens of Languages of India, including those of the Aboriginal Tribes of Bengal, the Central Provinces and the Eastern Frontier, 95–107, 1904, Calcutta.Campbell, Major-General. Personal Narrative of Service amongst the Wild Tribes of Khondistan, 1864.Dalton, E. T. Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, 285–301, 1872.Duff, Rev. A. The First Series of Government Measures for the Abolition of Human Sacrifices among the Khonds. Selections from the Calcutta Review, 194–257, 1845–6.Fawcett, F. Miscellaneous Notes. Journ., Anthrop. Soc., Bombay, II, 247–51.Francis, W. Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam District, Vol. I, 1907.Friend-Pereira, J. E. Marriage Customs of the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc. Bengal, LXXI, part III, 18–28, 1903.Friend-Pereira, J. E. Totemism among the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc., Bengal, LXXIII, Part III, 39–56, 1905.Frye, Captain. Dialogues and Sentences in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. The History of Joseph in the Kui or Kondh Language, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Primer and Progressive Reading Lessons in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Lieut. J. P. On the Uriya and Kondh Population of Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XVII, 1–38, 1860.Grierson, G. A. Linguistic Survey of India, IV, 457–71, 1906.History of the Rise and Progress of the Operations for the Suppression of Human Sacrifice and Female Infanticide in the Hill tracts of Orissa. Selections from the Records of the Government of India (Home Department) No. V, 1854, Calcutta.Hunter, W. W. Orissa II, 67–100, 1872.Huttmann, G. H. Lieut. Macpherson’s Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack. Calcutta Review, VIII, 1–51, 1847.Huttmann, G. H. Captain Macpherson’s Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack. Calcutta Review, X, 273–341, 1848.Lingum Letchmajee. Introduction to the Grammar of the Kui or Kondh Language, 2nd edn., 1902, Calcutta.Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religious Opinions and Observances of the Khonds of Goomsūr and Boad. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, VII, 172–99, 1843.Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religion of the Khonds in Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XIII, 216–74, 1852.Macpherson, Lieut. Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack, 1863, Madras.Maltby, T. J. Ganjam District Manual, 65–87, 1882.Rice, S. P. Occasional Essays on Native South Indian Life, 97–102, 1901.Risley, H. H. The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, I, 397–413. 1891.Smith, Major J. McD. Practical Handbook of the Khond Language, 1876, Cuttack.Taylor, Rev. W. On the Language, Manners, and Rites of the Khonds or Khoi Jati of the Goomsūr Mountains from documents furnished by J. A. R. Stevenson. Madras Journ. Lit. and Science, VI, 17–46, 1837.Taylor, Rev. W. Some Additional Notes on the Hill Inhabitants of the Goomsūr Mountains. Madras Journ., Lit. and Science, VII, 89–104, 1838.Kondra.—The Kondras or Kondoras are a fishing caste in Ganjam, who fish in ponds, lakes, rivers, and backwaters, but are never engaged in sea-fishing. It has been suggested that the name is derived from konkoda, a crab, as they catch crabs in the Chilka lake, and sell them. The Kondras rank very low in the social scale, and even the Haddis refuse to beat drums for them, and will not accept partially boiled rice, which they have touched. In some places, the members of the caste call themselves Dāsa Dīvaro, and claim descent from the boatmen who rowed the boat when King Bharatha went to Chithrakutam, to inform Rāma of the death of Dasaratha. Apparently the caste is divided into two endogamous sections, viz., Macha Kondras, who follow the traditional occupation of fishing, and Dandāsi Khondras, who have taken to the duties of village watchmen. As examples of septs or bamsams, the following may be cited:—kāko (crow), bilva (jackal), gaya (cow), kukkiriya (dogs), ghāsia (grass), bholia (wild dog), sanguna (vulture). A few said that reverence is paid to the animals after which the bamsam is named before the marriage ceremonies, but this was denied by others. The headman of the caste is styled Bēhara, and he is assisted by the Dolobēhara and Bhollobaya. There is also a castemessenger called Chattia. The Bēhara receives a fee of a rupee on occasions of marriage, and one anna for death ceremonies.Girls are married either before or after puberty. Sometimes a girl is married in performance of a vow to the sahada (Streblus asper) tree. The ground round the tree is cleaned, a new cloth is then tied round the trunk, and a bow and arrow are rested against it. The Bēhara officiates as priest, and on behalf of the girl, places near the tree twelve handfuls or measures of rice and twelve of dāl (peas:Cajanus indicus), and twelve pieces of string on a leaf, as provisions for the bridegroom. If the girl has not reached maturity, she must remain seven days near the tree; otherwise she remains four days. On the last day, the Bēhara, sitting close to the tree, says: “We have given you provisions for twelve years. Give us a tsado-patra (deed of separation).” This is written on a palmyra leaf, and thrown down near the tree.The dead are cremated, and the corpses of both men and women are said to be placed face downwards on the pyre. Among many other castes, only those of women are placed in this position. The death ceremonies are similar to those observed by many Oriya castes. A bit of bone is removed from the burning-ground, and food offered to it daily until the tenth day, when all the agnates, as well as the brothers-in-law and sons-in-law of the deceased, are shaved. The sons of the sister of the dead person are also expected to be shaved if they are fatherless; but, if their father is alive, they are shaved on the following day.The Kondras regard Ganga-dēvi as their caste deity, but worship also other deities,e.g., Chāmunda, Buddhi, and Kālika.Konga.—Konga or Kongu is a territorial term, meaning inhabitant of the Kongu country. It has, at recent times of census, been returned as a division of a large number of classes, mostly Tamil, which include Ambattan, Kaikōlan, Kammālan, Kūravan, Kusavan, Malayan, Oddē, Pallan, Paraiyan, Shānān, Uppara, and Vellāla. It is used as a term of abuse among the Badagas of the Nīlgiri hills. Those, for example, who made mistakes in matching Holmgren’s wools, were scornfully called Konga by the onlookers. Similarly, in parts of the Tamil country, a tall, lean and stupid individual is called a Kongan.Konga Vellāla.—For the following note on the Konga Vellālas of the Trichinopoly district, I am indebted to Mr. F. R. Hemingway. They seem to have little in common with the other Vellālas, except their name, and appear to hold a lower position in society, for Reddis will not eat with them, and they will dine with Tottiyans and others of the lower non-Brāhman castes. They live in compact communities, generally in hamlets. Their dwellings are generally thatched huts, containing only one room. They are cultivators, but not well off. Their men can generally be recognized by the number of large gold rings which they wear in the lobes of the ears, and the pendant (murugu), which hangs from the upper part of the ears. Their women have a characteristic tāli (marriage badge) of large size, strung on to a number of cotton threads, which are not, as among other castes, twisted together. They also seem always to wear an ornament called tāyittu, rather like the common cylindrical talisman, on the left arm.The Konga Vellālas are split into two endogamous divisions, viz., the Konga Vellālas proper, and the Tondan or Ilakanban-kūttam (servant or inferior sub-division).The latter are admittedly the offspring of illegitimate intercourse with outsiders by girls and widows of the caste, who have been expelled in consequence of their breach of caste rules.The Kongas proper have an elaborate caste organisation. Their country is divided into twenty-four nādus, each comprising a certain number of villages, and possessing recognised head-quarters, which are arranged into four groups under the villages of Palayakōttai, Kāngayam, Pudūr and Kadayūr, all in the Coimbatore district. Each village is under a Kottukkāran, each nādu under a Nāttu-kavundan or Periyatanakkāran, and each group under a Pattakkāran. The last is treated with considerable respect. He wears gold toe-rings, is not allowed to see a corpse, and is always saluted with clasped hands. He is only occasionally called in to settle caste disputes, small matters being settled by the Kottukkārans, and matrimonial questions by the Nāttukavundan. Both the Kongas proper, and the Tondans have a large number of exogamous septs, the names of which generally denote some article, the use of which is taboo,e.g., kādai (quail), pannai (Celosia argentea, a pot-herb). The most desirable match for a boy is his maternal uncle’s daughter. To such an extent is the preference for such unions carried out, that a young boy is often married to a grown-up woman, and it is admitted that, in such cases, the boy’s father takes upon himself the duties of a husband until his son has reached maturity, and that the wife is allowed to consort with any one belonging to the caste whom she may fancy, provided that she continues to live in her husband’s house. With widows, who are not allowed to remarry, the rules are more strict. A man convicted of undue intimacy with a widow is expelled from the caste, unlessshe consents to his leaving her and going back to the caste, and he provides her with adequate means to live separately. The form of consent is for the woman to say that she is only a mud vessel, and has been broken because polluted, whereas the man is of bell-metal, and cannot be utterly polluted. The erring man is readmitted to the caste by being taken to the village common, where he is beaten with an erukkan (arka:Calotropis gigantea) stick, and by providing a black sheep for a feast to his relatives.At weddings and funerals, the Konga Vellālas employ priests of their own caste, called Arumaikkārans and Arumaikkāris. These must be married people, who have had children. The first stage, so far as a wife is concerned, is to become an elutingalkāri (woman of seven Mondays), without which she cannot wear a red mark on her forehead, or get any of her children married. This is effected, after the birth of at least one child, by observing a ceremonial at her father’s house. A pandal (booth) of green leaves is erected in the house, and a fillet of pungam (Pongamia glabra) and tamarind twigs is placed round her head. She is then presented with a new cloth, prepares some food and eats it, and steps over a mortar. A married couple wait until one of their children is married, and then undergo the ceremony called arumaimanam at the hands of ten Arumaikkārans and some Pulavans (bards among the Kaikōlans), who touch the pair with some green grass dipped in sandal and water, oil, etc. The man then becomes an Arumaikkāran, and his wife an Arumaikkāri. All people of arumai rank are treated with great respect, and, when one of them dies, a drum is beaten by a man standing on another man’s shoulders, who receives as a present seven measures of grain measured, and an equal quantity unmeasured.The betrothal ceremony takes place at the house of the future bride, in the presence of both the maternal uncles, and consists in tying fruit and betel leaf in the girl’s cloth. On the wedding day, the bridegroom is shaved, and an Arumaikkāri pours water over him. If he has a sister, the ceremony of betrothing his prospective daughter to her son, is performed. He then goes on horseback, carrying some fruit and a pestle, to a stone planted for the occasion, and called the nāttukal, which he worships. The stone is supposed to represent the Kongu king, and the pestle the villagers, and the whole ceremony is said to be a relic of a custom of the ancient Kongu people, to which the caste formerly belonged, which required them to obtain the sanction of the king for every marriage. On his return from the nāttukal, balls of white and coloured rice are taken round the bridegroom, to ward off the evil eye. His mother then gives him three mouthfuls of food, and eats the remainder herself, to indicate that henceforth she will not provide him with meals. A barber then blesses him, and he repairs on horseback to the bride’s house, where he is received by one of her party similarly mounted. His ear-rings are put in the bride’s ears, and the pair are carried on the shoulders of their maternal uncles to the nāttukal. On their return thence, they are touched by an Arumaikkāran with a betel leaf dipped in oil, milk and water. The tāli (marriage badge) is worshipped and blessed, and the Arumaikkāran ties it on her neck. The barber then pronounces an elaborate blessing, which runs as follows: “Live as long as the sun and moon may endure, or Pasupatisvarar (Siva) at Karūr. May your branches spread like the banyan tree, and your roots like grass, and may you flourish like the bamboo. May ye twain be like the flower and the thread, whichtogether form the garland and cleave together, like water and the reed growing in it.” If a Pulavan is present, he adds a further blessing, and the little fingers of the contracting couple are linked together, anointed with milk, and then separated.The death ceremonies are not peculiar, except that the torch for the pyre is carried by a Paraiyan, and not, as among most castes, by the chief mourner, and that no ceremonies are performed after the third day. The custom is to collect the bones on that day and throw them into water. The barber then pours a mixture of milk and ghi (clarified butter) over a green tree, crying poli, poli.The caste has its own beggars, called Mudavāndi (q.v.).Kongara(crane).—An exogamous sept of Padma Sālē, and Kamma.Konhoro.—A title of Bolāsi.Konkani.—Defined, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a territorial or linguistic term, meaning a dweller in the Konkan country (Canara), or a person speaking the Konkani dialect of Marāthi. Kadu Konkani (bastard Konkani) is a name opposed to the Gōd or pure Konkanis. In South Canara, “the Konkani Brāhmans are the trading and shop-keeping class, and, in the most out-of-the-way spots, the Konkani village shop is to be found.”184The following note on Konkanis is extracted from the Travancore Census Report, 1901. “The Konkanis include the Brāhman, Kshatriya, and Vaisya castes of the Sārasvata section of the Gauda Brāhmans. The Brāhmans of this community differ, however, from the Konkanastha Mahārāshtra Brāhmans belonging to theDrāvida group. The Konkani Sūdras who have settled on this coast are known by a different name, Kudumikkar. The Konkanis’ original habitation is the bank of the Sārasvati, a river well known in early Sanskrit works, but said to have lost itself in the sands of the deserts north of Rajputana. According to the Sahyādrikanda, a branch of these Sārasvatas lived in Tirhut in Bengal, whence ten families were brought over by Parasurāma to Gōmantaka, the modern Goa, Panchakrōsi, and Kusasthali. Attracted by the richness and beauty of the new country, others followed, and the whole population settled themselves in sixty villages and ninety-six hamlets in and around Goa, the settlers in the former being called Shashtis (Sanskrit for sixty), and those in the latter being called Shannavis or Shenavis (Sanskrit for ninety-six). The history of those Sārasvatas was one of uninterrupted general and commercial prosperity until about twenty years after the advent of the Portuguese. When King Emanuel died and King John succeeded him, the policy of the Goanese Government is believed to have changed in favour of religious persecution. A large efflux to the Canarese and Tulu countries was the result. Thence the Konkanis appear to have migrated to Travancore and Cochin, and found a safe haven under the rule of their Hindu sovereigns. In their last homes, the Konkanis extended and developed their commerce, built temples, and endowed them so magnificently that the religious institutions of that community, especially at Cochin and Alleppey, continue to this day almost the richest in all Malabar.“Canter Visscher writes185that ‘the Canarese who are permanently settled in Malabar are the race bestknown to the Europeans, not only because the East India Company trade with them and appoint one of their members to be their merchant, giving him the attendance of two Dutch soldiers: but also because from the shops of these people in town we obtain all our necessaries, except animal food. Some sell rice, others fruits, others various kinds of linen, and some again are money-changers, so that there is hardly one who is not engaged in trade.’ The occupation of the Konkanis has been commerce ever since the advent of the Portuguese in India. Some of them make pāpatams186(popadams) which is a condiment of almost universal consumption in Malabar. Till recently, the Konkanis in Travancore knew nothing else than trade. But now, following the example of their kinsmen in Bombay and South Canara, they are gradually taking to other professions.“Having settled themselves in the Canarese districts, most of the Konkanis came under the influence of Madhavāchārya, unlike the Shenavis, who still continue to be Smartas. The worship of Venkatarāmana, the presiding deity of the Tirupati shrine, is held in great importance. Every Konkani temple is called Tirumala Dēvasmam, as the divinity that resides on the sacred hill (Tirumala) is represented in each.”Konsāri.—The Konsāris derive their name from konsa, a bell-metal dish. They are Oriya workers in bell-metal, and manufacture dishes, cups and plates. Brāhmans are employed by them as purōhits (priests) and gurus (preceptors). They eat fish and mutton, butnot fowls or beef, and drink liquor. Marriage is infant. Remarriage of widows and divorcées is permitted.Koonapilli vāndlu.—Beggars attached to Padma Sālēs.Koppala.—A section of Velamas, who tie the hair in a knot (koppu) on the top of the head, and an exogamous sept of Mutrāchas, whose females do up their hair in a knot when they reach puberty.Kōra(sun).—A sept of Gadaba, Mūka Dora, and Rōna.Koracha.—SeeKorava.Koraga.—The Koragas are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as being a wild tribe of basket-makers and labourers, chiefly found in Mudbidri, and in Puttūr in the Uppinangadi tāluk of South Canara. They are, Mr. M. T. Walhouse writes,187“a very quiet and inoffensive race; small and slight, the men seldom exceeding five feet six inches; black-skinned, like most Indian aborigines, thick-lipped, noses broad and flat, and hair rough and bushy. Their principal occupation is basket-making, and they must labour for their masters. They live on the outskirts of villages, and may not dwell in houses of clay or mud, but in huts of leaves, called koppus. Like many of the wild tribes of India, they are distinguished by unswerving truthfulness. The word of a Koragar is proverbial.”The Koragas rank below the Holeyas. In some towns, they are employed by the sanitary department as scavengers. They remove the hide, horns, and bones of cattle and buffaloes, which die in the villages, and sell them mainly to Māppilla merchants. They accept food, which is left over after feasts held by various castes.Some are skilful in the manufacture of cradles, baskets, cylinders to hold paddy, winnowing and sowing baskets, scale-pans, boxes, rice-water strainers, ring-stands for supporting pots, coir (cocoanut fibre) rope, brushes for washing cattle, etc. They also manufacture various domestic utensils from soapstone, which they sell at a very cheap rate to shopkeepers in the bazar.“Numerous slave-castes,” Mr. Walhouse continues, “exist throughout India, not of course recognised by law—indeed formally emancipated by an Act of Government in 1843—but still, though improved in condition, virtually slaves. Their origin and status are thus described. After the four principal classes, who sprang from Brahma, came six Anuloma castes, which arose from the intercourse of Brahmans and Kshatriyas with women of the classes below them respectively. The term Anuloma denotes straight and regular hair, which in India characterises the Aryan stock. After these came six Pratiloma castes, originating in reverse order from Brahman and Kshatriya women by fathers of the inferior classes. The third among these was the Chandāla, the offspring of Shudra fathers by Brahman women. The Chandālas, or slaves, were sub-divided into fifteen classes, none of which might intermarry, a rule still strictly observed. The two last, and lowest of the fifteen classes, are the Kapata or rag-wearing, and the Soppu or leaf-wearing Koragas. Such is the account given by Brahman chroniclers; but the probability is that these lowest slave-castes are the descendants of that primitive population which the Aryan invaders from the north found occupying the soil, and, after a struggle of ages, gradually dispossessed, driving some to the hills and jungles, and reducing others to the condition of slaves. All these races are regarded by their Hindumasters with boundless contempt, and held unspeakably unclean. This feeling seems the result and witness of times when the despised races were powerful, and to be approached as lords by their now haughty masters, and was probably intensified by struggles and uprisings, and the memory of humiliations inflicted on the ultimately successful conquerors. Evidences for this may be inferred from many curious rights and privileges, which the despised castes possess and tenaciously retain. Moreover, the contempt and loathing in which they are ordinarily held are curiously tinctured with superstitious fear, for they are believed to possess secret powers of magic and witchcraft, and influence with the old malignant deities of the soil, who can direct good or evil fortune. As an instance, if a Brahman mother’s children die off when young, she calls a Koragar woman, gives her some oil, rice, and copper money, and places the surviving child in her arms. The out-caste woman, who may not at other times be touched, gives the child suck, puts on it her iron bracelets, and, if a boy, names it Koragar, if a girl, Korāpulu. She then returns it to the mother. This is believed to give a new lease of life. Again, when a man is dangerously ill, or perhaps unfortunate, he pours oil into an earthen vessel, worships it in the same way as the family god, looks at his face reflected in the oil, and puts into it a hair from his head and a nail paring from his toe. The oil is then presented to the Koragars, and the hostile gods or stars are believed to be propitiated.” According to Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao,188old superstitious Hindus never venture to utter the word Koraga during the night.It is noted in the Manual of the South Canara district, that “all traditions unite in attributing the introduction of the Tulu Brahmins of the present day to Mayūr Varma (of the Kadamba dynasty), but they vary in details connected with the manner in which they obtained a firm footing in the land. One account says that Habāshika, chief of the Koragas, drove out Mayūr Varma, but was in turn expelled by Mayūr Varma’s son, or son-in-law, Lōkāditya of Gōkarnam, who brought Brahmins from Ahi-kshētra, and settled them in thirty-two villages.” Concerning the power, and eventual degradation of the Koragas, the following version of the tradition is cited by Mr. Walhouse. “When Lokadirāya, whose date is fixed by Wilks about 1450 B.C., was king of Bhanvarshe in North Canara (a place noted by Ptolemy), an invader, by name Habāshika, brought an army from above the ghauts, consisting of all the present Chandāla or slave-castes, overwhelmed that part of the country, and marched southward to Mangalore, the present capital of South Canara. The invading host was scourged with small-pox, and greatly annoyed by ants, so Habāshika moved on to Manjeshwar, a place of ancient repute, twelve miles to the south, subdued the local ruler Angarawarma, son of Virawarma, and reigned there in conjunction with his nephew; but after twelve years both died—one legend says through enchantments devised by Angarawarma; another that a neighbouring ruler treacherously proposed a marriage between his sister and Habāshika, and, on the bridegroom and his caste-men attending for the nuptials, a wholesale massacre of them all was effected. Angarawarma, then returning, drove the invading army into the jungles, where they were reduced to such extremity that they consented to become slaves, and were apportioned amongst the Brahmans and originallandholders. Some were, set to watch the crops and cattle, some to cultivate, others to various drudgeries, which are still allotted to the existing slave-castes, but the Koragars, who had been raised by Habāshika to the highest posts under his government, were stripped and driven towards the sea-shore, there to be hanged, but, being ashamed of their naked condition, they gathered the leaves of the nicki bush (Vitex Negundo), which grows abundantly in waste places, and made small coverings for themselves in front. On this the executioners took pity on them and let them go, but condemned them to be the lowest of the low, and wear no other covering but leaves. The Koragas are now the lowest of the slave divisions, and regarded with such intense loathing and hatred that up to quite recent times one section of them, called Andē or pot Koragars, continually wore a pot suspended from their necks, into which they were compelled to spit, being so utterly unclean as to be prohibited from even spitting on the highway; and to this day their women continue to show in their leafy aprons a memorial of the abject degradation to which their whole race was doomed.” It is said that in pre-British days an Andē Koraga had to take out a licence to come into the towns and villages by day. At night mere approach thereto was forbidden, as his presence would cause terrible calamity. The Koragas of those days could cook their food only in broken vessels. The name Vastra, by which one class of Koragas is called, has reference to their wearing vastra, or clothes, such as were used to shroud a dead body, and given to them in the shape of charity, the use of a new cloth being prohibited. According to another account the three divisions of the Koragas are (1) Kappada, those who wear clothes, (2) Tippi, who wear ornaments madeof the cocoanut shell, and (3) Vanti, who wear a peculiar kind of large ear-ring. These three clans may eat together, but not intermarry. Each clan is divided into exogamous septs called balis, and it may be noted that some of the Koraga balis, such as Haledennaya and Kumērdennaya, are also found among the Māri and Mundala Holeyas.
“When a Kondh starts out on a shooting expedition, if he first meets an adult female, married or unmarried, he will return home, and ask a child to tell the females to keep out of his way. He will then make a fresh start, and, if he meets a female, will wave his hand to her as a sign that she must keep clear of him. Before a party start out for shooting, they warn the females not to come in their way. The Kondh believes that, if he sees a female, he will not come across animals in the jungle to shoot. If a woman is in her menses, her husband, brothers, and sons living under the same roof, will not go out shooting for the same reason.A Kondh will not leave his village when a jāthra (festival) is being celebrated, lest the god Pennu should visit his wrath on him.They will not cut trees, which yield products suitable for human consumption, such as the mango, jāk, jambul (Eugenia Jambolana), or iluppai (Bassia) from which they distil a spirituous liquor. Even though these trees prevent the growth of a crop in the fields, they will not cut them down.If an owl hoots over the roof of a house, or on a tree close thereto, it is considered unlucky, as foreboding a death in the family at an early date. If an owl hoots close to a village, but outside it, the death of one of the villagers will follow. For this reason, the bird is pelted with stones, and driven off.They will not kill a crow, as this would be a sin amounting to the killing of a friend. According to their legend, soon after the creation of the world there was a family consisting of an aged man and woman, and four children, who died one after the other in quick succession. Their parents were too aged to take the necessary steps for their cremation, so they threw the bodies away on the ground, at some distance from their home. God appeared to them in their dreams one night, and promised that he would create the crow, so that it might devour the dead bodies.They do not consider it a sin to kill a Brahminy kite (Haliastur indus: Garuda pakshi), which is held in veneration throughout Southern India. A Kondh will kill it for so slight an offence as carrying off his chickens.They will not cut the crops with a sickle with a serrated edge, such as is used by the Oriyas, but use a straight-edged knife. The crops, after they have been cut, are removed to the village, and threshed by hand,and not with the help of cattle. While this is being done, strangers (Kondh or others) may not look on the crop, or speak to them, lest their evil eye should be cast on them. If a stranger is seen approaching near the threshing-floor, the Kondhs keep him off by signalling to him with their hands, without speaking. The serrated sickle is not used, because it produces a sound like that of cattle grazing, which would be unpropitious. If cattle were used in threshing the crop, it is believed that the earth god would feel insulted by the dung and urine of the animals.They believe that they can transform themselves into tigers or snakes, half the soul leaving the body and becoming changed into one of these animals, either to kill an enemy, or satisfy hunger by having a good feed on cattle in the jungle. During this period, they are believed to feel dull and listless, and disinclined for work, and, if a tiger is killed in the forest, they will die synchronously. Mr. Fawcett informs me that the Kondhs believe that the soul wanders during sleep. On one occasion, a dispute arose owing to a man discovering that another Kondh, whose spirit used to wander about in the guise of a tiger, ate up his spirit, and he became ill.When cholera breaks out in a village, all males and females smear their bodies from head to foot with pig’s fat liquefied by heat, and continue to do so until a few days after the disappearance of the dread disease. During this time, they do not bathe, lest the smell of the fat should be washed away.”The Kondhs are said177to prevent the approach of the goddess of small-pox by barricading the paths withthorns and ditches, and boiling caldrons of stinking oil. The leopard is looked upon in some way as a sacred beast by the Kondhs of the northern Māliahs. They object to a dead leopard being carried through their villages, and oaths are taken on a leopard’s skin.Referring to elf stones, or stones of the dead in European countries, to which needles, buttons, milk, eggs, etc., are offered, Mr. F. Fawcett describes178a Kondh ceremony, in which the ground under a tree was cleared in the form of a square, within which were circles of saffron (turmeric), charcoal, rice, and some yellow powder, as well as an egg or a small chicken. A certain Kondh had fever caused by an evil spirit, and the ceremony was an invitation to it to come out, and go to another village.The following account of a cow-shed sacrifice is given by Mr. Fawcett.179“A special liquor is brewed from grain for the ceremony, on the first day of which there is a general fast, a pig is bought by general subscription, and dragged to the place where it is to be sacrificed by a rope ‘through its belly.’ The pig is stoned to death, but, ere it dies, each Khond cuts off some of the hair and a little piece of the ear, which are treasured. The meat is divided among them, and cooked with rice. The priest goes from house to house, and performs the ceremony of the cow-shed. The ropes of the cattle (chiefly buffaloes) which are out grazing are tied to the central point in the cow-shed, and the other ends are laid on the ground across the shed. These ropes are the visible objects, to which sacrifice is made. The head of a chicken is buried near the ends tied to the post, and near it are ranged leaves, on which are placedrice, flesh of the pig, and a bit of its ear. A little in front of these is buried a rotten egg. The chicken, whose head is buried, is boiled, and eaten by children who have not yet donned a cloth. The Khond puts the rice, piece of the ear, and the hair of the pig, under the roof. In the evening the cattle come home, and are tied by the ropes used in the ceremony. Then the women break their fast—theymusteat then. Drinking and dancing occupy the two following days, during which no manure is removed from the cow-shed. On the third day, the Khonds come out with a lump of it in the hand, and throw it in one place, forming a heap, on which the priest pours liquor and rice.”The following example of a Kondh oath is given by Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson. “The subject of the circumstance is first repeated by the swearing party, and a basket containing the following things is held before him:—A blood-sucker (lizard).A bit of tiger’s skin.A peacock’s feather.Earth from a ‘white-ant’ hill.Rice mixed with fowl’s blood.A lighted lamp.He proceeds with his oath, touching each object in the basket at that part of the oath which refers to that object. ‘Oh! father (god), I swear, and, if I swear falsely, then, Oh! father, may I become shrivelled and dry like a blood-sucker, and thus die. May I be killed by a tiger. May I crumble to dust like this white-ant’s hill. May I be blown about like this feather. May I be extinguished like this lamp.’ In saying the last words, he puts a few grains of rice in his mouth, and blows out the lamp, and the basket with its contents is made to touch the top of his head.”In 1904, a case illustrating the prevailing belief in witchcraft occurred in the Vizagapatam hill tracts. The youngest of three brothers died of fever, and, when the body was cremated, the fire failed to consume the upper portion. The brothers concluded that death must have been caused by the witchcraft of a certain Kondh. They accordingly attacked him, and killed him. After death, the brothers cut the body in half, and dragged the upper half to their own village, where they attempted to nail it up on the spot where their deceased brother’s body failed to burn. The accused were arrested on the spot, with the fragment of the Kondh’s corpse. They were sentenced to death, and the sentence was confirmed by the High Court.180In 1906, a Kondh, suspecting a Pāno girl of having stolen some cloths and a silver ornament from him, went to the dhengada house in Sollagodo, where the girl slept with other unmarried girls, and took her to his village, where he confined her in his house. On the following day, he took her to an Oriya trader, who thrashed her, in order to make her confess to the theft. Subsequently, some of the villagers collected to see her undergo the ordeal of boiling water. A pot nearly full of water was boiled, some cow-dung and sacred rice added, and a rupee placed in the pot. The girl was ordered to take out the rupee. This she did three times, but, on the fourth occasion, the water scalded her hand and forearm. She was then ordered to pay as a fine her ear-ring, which was worth one rupee. This she did, as it was the custom for an unsuccessful person to hand over some property. Her right hand was practically destroyed as the result of the scalding. An elderly Pātro (headman)deposed that the ordinary practice in trials of this sort is to place two pots of water, one boiling and the other cold. In the boiling water a rupee and some rice are placed, and the suspected person has to take out the rupee once, and should then dip his hand in the cold water. If the hand is then scalded, the person is considered guilty, and has to pay a fine to the caste.In trial by immersion in water, the disputants dive into a pool, and he who can keep under water the longest is considered to be in the right. On one occasion, some years ago, when two villages were disputing the right of possession of a certain piece of land, the Magistrate resorted to a novel method to settle the dispute. He instituted a tug-of-water between an equal number of representatives of the contending parties. The side which won took possession of the disputed property, to the satisfaction of all.181In connection with sacred rice, which has been referred to above, reference may be made to the custom of Mahaprasād Songatho. “It is prevalent among the Khonds and other hill tribes of Ganjam and Orissa, and is found among the Oriyas. Sangatho means union or friendship. Mahaprasād Songatho is friendship sworn by mahaprasād,i.e., cooked rice consecrated to god Jagannath of Puri. The remains of the offering are dried and preserved. All pilgrims visiting Puri invariably get a quantity of this mahaprasād, and freely distribute it to those who ask for it. It is regarded as a sacred thing, endowed with supreme powers of forgiving the sins and wrongs of men by mere touch. It is not only holy itself, but also sanctifies everything done in its presence. It is believed that one dare notcommit a foul deed, utter a falsehood, or even entertain an evil thought, when it is held in the hands. On account of such beliefs, witnesses in law suits (especially Oriyas) are asked to swear by it when giving evidence. Mahaprasād Songatho is sworn friendship between two individuals of the same sex. Instances are on record of friendship contracted between a wealthy and cultured townsman and a poor village rustic, or between a Brāhmin woman of high family and a Sūdra servant. Songatho is solemnised with some ceremonies. On an auspicious day fixed for the purpose, the parties to the Songatho, with their relatives, friends and well-wishers, go to a temple in procession to the festive music of flutes and drum. There, in that consecrated place, the would-be friends take a solemn oath, with the god before them, mahaprasād in their hands, and the assemblage to witness that they will be lifelong friends, in spite of any changes that might come over them or their families. The ceremony closing, there will be dinners, gifts and presents on both sides, and the day is all mirth and merriment. Thus bound by inseparable ties of friendship, they live to the end of their lives on terms of extreme intimacy and affection. They seize every opportunity of meeting, and living in each other’s company. They allow no festival to pass without an exchange of new cloths, and other valuable presents. No important ceremony is gone through in any one’s house without the other being invited. Throughout the year, they will send each other the various fruits and vegetables in their respective seasons. If one dies, his or her family does not consider the bond as having been snapped, but continues to look upon the other more or less in the same manner as did the deceased. The survivor, if in need of help, is sure to receiveassistance and sympathy from the family of the deceased friend. This is how the institution is maintained by the less civilised Oriyas of the rural parts. The romance of the Songatho increases with the barbarity of the tribe. The Khonds, and other hill tribes, furnish us with an example of Songatho, which retains all its primitive simplicity. Among them, Songatho is ideal friendship, and examples of Damon and Pythias are not rare. A Khond has been known to ruin himself for the sake of his friend. He willingly sacrifices all that he has, and even his life, to protect the interests of his friend. The friends have nothing but affection for each other.”182It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that “the Khonds steal cattle, especially those belonging to Brinjāri gangs, in an open manner, for the sake of their flesh. In 1898, at Veppiguda near Gudāri a party of them attacked four constables who were patrolling the country to check these thefts, thrashed them, and carried off all their property and uniforms. Efforts to arrest these men resulted in the inhabitants of their village fleeing to the hills, and, for a time, it looked as if there was danger of others joining them, and of the Khonds going out. In 1882, the Khonds of Kālahandi State rose against the Uriyas, and murdered some hundreds of them. Luckily the invitation to join them, conveyed by the circulation of the head, fingers, hair, etc., of an early victim, was not accepted by the Khonds of this district.” The news of the rising was conveyed to Mr. H. G. Prendergast, Assistant Superintendent of Police, by a Domb disguised as a fakir, who carried the report concealed in his languti (cloth). Hewas rewarded with a silver bangle. At a meeting held at the village of Balwarpur, it was decided that the Kultas should all be killed and swept out of the country. As a sign of this, the Kondhs carried brooms about. At Asurgarh the police found four headless corpses, and learnt from the widows all that they had to say about the atrocities. The murders had been committed in the most brutal way. All the victims were scalped while still alive, and one had an arm and a leg cut off before being scalped. As each victim died, his death was announced by three taps on a drum given slowly, followed by shouting and dancing. The unfortunate men were dragged out of their houses, and killed before their women and children. Neither here nor anywhere else were the women outraged, though they were threatened with death to make them give up buried treasure. One woman was in this way made to dig up a thousand rupees. On a tamarind tree near the village of Billat, affixed to it as a trophy, there was the scalped head of a Kulta, hacked about in the most horrible way.183The fact is noted by Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar that the Kondh system of notation is duodecimal. Thirteen is twelve and one, forty three twelves and four, and so forth.Kondh Bibliography.Aborigines of the Eastern Ghâts. Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, XXV, 39–52, 1856.Caldwell, R. Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages, 2nd edn., appendix, 516–17, 1875.Campbell, G. Specimens of Languages of India, including those of the Aboriginal Tribes of Bengal, the Central Provinces and the Eastern Frontier, 95–107, 1904, Calcutta.Campbell, Major-General. Personal Narrative of Service amongst the Wild Tribes of Khondistan, 1864.Dalton, E. T. Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, 285–301, 1872.Duff, Rev. A. The First Series of Government Measures for the Abolition of Human Sacrifices among the Khonds. Selections from the Calcutta Review, 194–257, 1845–6.Fawcett, F. Miscellaneous Notes. Journ., Anthrop. Soc., Bombay, II, 247–51.Francis, W. Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam District, Vol. I, 1907.Friend-Pereira, J. E. Marriage Customs of the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc. Bengal, LXXI, part III, 18–28, 1903.Friend-Pereira, J. E. Totemism among the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc., Bengal, LXXIII, Part III, 39–56, 1905.Frye, Captain. Dialogues and Sentences in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. The History of Joseph in the Kui or Kondh Language, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Primer and Progressive Reading Lessons in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Lieut. J. P. On the Uriya and Kondh Population of Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XVII, 1–38, 1860.Grierson, G. A. Linguistic Survey of India, IV, 457–71, 1906.History of the Rise and Progress of the Operations for the Suppression of Human Sacrifice and Female Infanticide in the Hill tracts of Orissa. Selections from the Records of the Government of India (Home Department) No. V, 1854, Calcutta.Hunter, W. W. Orissa II, 67–100, 1872.Huttmann, G. H. Lieut. Macpherson’s Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack. Calcutta Review, VIII, 1–51, 1847.Huttmann, G. H. Captain Macpherson’s Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack. Calcutta Review, X, 273–341, 1848.Lingum Letchmajee. Introduction to the Grammar of the Kui or Kondh Language, 2nd edn., 1902, Calcutta.Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religious Opinions and Observances of the Khonds of Goomsūr and Boad. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, VII, 172–99, 1843.Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religion of the Khonds in Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XIII, 216–74, 1852.Macpherson, Lieut. Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack, 1863, Madras.Maltby, T. J. Ganjam District Manual, 65–87, 1882.Rice, S. P. Occasional Essays on Native South Indian Life, 97–102, 1901.Risley, H. H. The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, I, 397–413. 1891.Smith, Major J. McD. Practical Handbook of the Khond Language, 1876, Cuttack.Taylor, Rev. W. On the Language, Manners, and Rites of the Khonds or Khoi Jati of the Goomsūr Mountains from documents furnished by J. A. R. Stevenson. Madras Journ. Lit. and Science, VI, 17–46, 1837.Taylor, Rev. W. Some Additional Notes on the Hill Inhabitants of the Goomsūr Mountains. Madras Journ., Lit. and Science, VII, 89–104, 1838.Kondra.—The Kondras or Kondoras are a fishing caste in Ganjam, who fish in ponds, lakes, rivers, and backwaters, but are never engaged in sea-fishing. It has been suggested that the name is derived from konkoda, a crab, as they catch crabs in the Chilka lake, and sell them. The Kondras rank very low in the social scale, and even the Haddis refuse to beat drums for them, and will not accept partially boiled rice, which they have touched. In some places, the members of the caste call themselves Dāsa Dīvaro, and claim descent from the boatmen who rowed the boat when King Bharatha went to Chithrakutam, to inform Rāma of the death of Dasaratha. Apparently the caste is divided into two endogamous sections, viz., Macha Kondras, who follow the traditional occupation of fishing, and Dandāsi Khondras, who have taken to the duties of village watchmen. As examples of septs or bamsams, the following may be cited:—kāko (crow), bilva (jackal), gaya (cow), kukkiriya (dogs), ghāsia (grass), bholia (wild dog), sanguna (vulture). A few said that reverence is paid to the animals after which the bamsam is named before the marriage ceremonies, but this was denied by others. The headman of the caste is styled Bēhara, and he is assisted by the Dolobēhara and Bhollobaya. There is also a castemessenger called Chattia. The Bēhara receives a fee of a rupee on occasions of marriage, and one anna for death ceremonies.Girls are married either before or after puberty. Sometimes a girl is married in performance of a vow to the sahada (Streblus asper) tree. The ground round the tree is cleaned, a new cloth is then tied round the trunk, and a bow and arrow are rested against it. The Bēhara officiates as priest, and on behalf of the girl, places near the tree twelve handfuls or measures of rice and twelve of dāl (peas:Cajanus indicus), and twelve pieces of string on a leaf, as provisions for the bridegroom. If the girl has not reached maturity, she must remain seven days near the tree; otherwise she remains four days. On the last day, the Bēhara, sitting close to the tree, says: “We have given you provisions for twelve years. Give us a tsado-patra (deed of separation).” This is written on a palmyra leaf, and thrown down near the tree.The dead are cremated, and the corpses of both men and women are said to be placed face downwards on the pyre. Among many other castes, only those of women are placed in this position. The death ceremonies are similar to those observed by many Oriya castes. A bit of bone is removed from the burning-ground, and food offered to it daily until the tenth day, when all the agnates, as well as the brothers-in-law and sons-in-law of the deceased, are shaved. The sons of the sister of the dead person are also expected to be shaved if they are fatherless; but, if their father is alive, they are shaved on the following day.The Kondras regard Ganga-dēvi as their caste deity, but worship also other deities,e.g., Chāmunda, Buddhi, and Kālika.Konga.—Konga or Kongu is a territorial term, meaning inhabitant of the Kongu country. It has, at recent times of census, been returned as a division of a large number of classes, mostly Tamil, which include Ambattan, Kaikōlan, Kammālan, Kūravan, Kusavan, Malayan, Oddē, Pallan, Paraiyan, Shānān, Uppara, and Vellāla. It is used as a term of abuse among the Badagas of the Nīlgiri hills. Those, for example, who made mistakes in matching Holmgren’s wools, were scornfully called Konga by the onlookers. Similarly, in parts of the Tamil country, a tall, lean and stupid individual is called a Kongan.Konga Vellāla.—For the following note on the Konga Vellālas of the Trichinopoly district, I am indebted to Mr. F. R. Hemingway. They seem to have little in common with the other Vellālas, except their name, and appear to hold a lower position in society, for Reddis will not eat with them, and they will dine with Tottiyans and others of the lower non-Brāhman castes. They live in compact communities, generally in hamlets. Their dwellings are generally thatched huts, containing only one room. They are cultivators, but not well off. Their men can generally be recognized by the number of large gold rings which they wear in the lobes of the ears, and the pendant (murugu), which hangs from the upper part of the ears. Their women have a characteristic tāli (marriage badge) of large size, strung on to a number of cotton threads, which are not, as among other castes, twisted together. They also seem always to wear an ornament called tāyittu, rather like the common cylindrical talisman, on the left arm.The Konga Vellālas are split into two endogamous divisions, viz., the Konga Vellālas proper, and the Tondan or Ilakanban-kūttam (servant or inferior sub-division).The latter are admittedly the offspring of illegitimate intercourse with outsiders by girls and widows of the caste, who have been expelled in consequence of their breach of caste rules.The Kongas proper have an elaborate caste organisation. Their country is divided into twenty-four nādus, each comprising a certain number of villages, and possessing recognised head-quarters, which are arranged into four groups under the villages of Palayakōttai, Kāngayam, Pudūr and Kadayūr, all in the Coimbatore district. Each village is under a Kottukkāran, each nādu under a Nāttu-kavundan or Periyatanakkāran, and each group under a Pattakkāran. The last is treated with considerable respect. He wears gold toe-rings, is not allowed to see a corpse, and is always saluted with clasped hands. He is only occasionally called in to settle caste disputes, small matters being settled by the Kottukkārans, and matrimonial questions by the Nāttukavundan. Both the Kongas proper, and the Tondans have a large number of exogamous septs, the names of which generally denote some article, the use of which is taboo,e.g., kādai (quail), pannai (Celosia argentea, a pot-herb). The most desirable match for a boy is his maternal uncle’s daughter. To such an extent is the preference for such unions carried out, that a young boy is often married to a grown-up woman, and it is admitted that, in such cases, the boy’s father takes upon himself the duties of a husband until his son has reached maturity, and that the wife is allowed to consort with any one belonging to the caste whom she may fancy, provided that she continues to live in her husband’s house. With widows, who are not allowed to remarry, the rules are more strict. A man convicted of undue intimacy with a widow is expelled from the caste, unlessshe consents to his leaving her and going back to the caste, and he provides her with adequate means to live separately. The form of consent is for the woman to say that she is only a mud vessel, and has been broken because polluted, whereas the man is of bell-metal, and cannot be utterly polluted. The erring man is readmitted to the caste by being taken to the village common, where he is beaten with an erukkan (arka:Calotropis gigantea) stick, and by providing a black sheep for a feast to his relatives.At weddings and funerals, the Konga Vellālas employ priests of their own caste, called Arumaikkārans and Arumaikkāris. These must be married people, who have had children. The first stage, so far as a wife is concerned, is to become an elutingalkāri (woman of seven Mondays), without which she cannot wear a red mark on her forehead, or get any of her children married. This is effected, after the birth of at least one child, by observing a ceremonial at her father’s house. A pandal (booth) of green leaves is erected in the house, and a fillet of pungam (Pongamia glabra) and tamarind twigs is placed round her head. She is then presented with a new cloth, prepares some food and eats it, and steps over a mortar. A married couple wait until one of their children is married, and then undergo the ceremony called arumaimanam at the hands of ten Arumaikkārans and some Pulavans (bards among the Kaikōlans), who touch the pair with some green grass dipped in sandal and water, oil, etc. The man then becomes an Arumaikkāran, and his wife an Arumaikkāri. All people of arumai rank are treated with great respect, and, when one of them dies, a drum is beaten by a man standing on another man’s shoulders, who receives as a present seven measures of grain measured, and an equal quantity unmeasured.The betrothal ceremony takes place at the house of the future bride, in the presence of both the maternal uncles, and consists in tying fruit and betel leaf in the girl’s cloth. On the wedding day, the bridegroom is shaved, and an Arumaikkāri pours water over him. If he has a sister, the ceremony of betrothing his prospective daughter to her son, is performed. He then goes on horseback, carrying some fruit and a pestle, to a stone planted for the occasion, and called the nāttukal, which he worships. The stone is supposed to represent the Kongu king, and the pestle the villagers, and the whole ceremony is said to be a relic of a custom of the ancient Kongu people, to which the caste formerly belonged, which required them to obtain the sanction of the king for every marriage. On his return from the nāttukal, balls of white and coloured rice are taken round the bridegroom, to ward off the evil eye. His mother then gives him three mouthfuls of food, and eats the remainder herself, to indicate that henceforth she will not provide him with meals. A barber then blesses him, and he repairs on horseback to the bride’s house, where he is received by one of her party similarly mounted. His ear-rings are put in the bride’s ears, and the pair are carried on the shoulders of their maternal uncles to the nāttukal. On their return thence, they are touched by an Arumaikkāran with a betel leaf dipped in oil, milk and water. The tāli (marriage badge) is worshipped and blessed, and the Arumaikkāran ties it on her neck. The barber then pronounces an elaborate blessing, which runs as follows: “Live as long as the sun and moon may endure, or Pasupatisvarar (Siva) at Karūr. May your branches spread like the banyan tree, and your roots like grass, and may you flourish like the bamboo. May ye twain be like the flower and the thread, whichtogether form the garland and cleave together, like water and the reed growing in it.” If a Pulavan is present, he adds a further blessing, and the little fingers of the contracting couple are linked together, anointed with milk, and then separated.The death ceremonies are not peculiar, except that the torch for the pyre is carried by a Paraiyan, and not, as among most castes, by the chief mourner, and that no ceremonies are performed after the third day. The custom is to collect the bones on that day and throw them into water. The barber then pours a mixture of milk and ghi (clarified butter) over a green tree, crying poli, poli.The caste has its own beggars, called Mudavāndi (q.v.).Kongara(crane).—An exogamous sept of Padma Sālē, and Kamma.Konhoro.—A title of Bolāsi.Konkani.—Defined, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a territorial or linguistic term, meaning a dweller in the Konkan country (Canara), or a person speaking the Konkani dialect of Marāthi. Kadu Konkani (bastard Konkani) is a name opposed to the Gōd or pure Konkanis. In South Canara, “the Konkani Brāhmans are the trading and shop-keeping class, and, in the most out-of-the-way spots, the Konkani village shop is to be found.”184The following note on Konkanis is extracted from the Travancore Census Report, 1901. “The Konkanis include the Brāhman, Kshatriya, and Vaisya castes of the Sārasvata section of the Gauda Brāhmans. The Brāhmans of this community differ, however, from the Konkanastha Mahārāshtra Brāhmans belonging to theDrāvida group. The Konkani Sūdras who have settled on this coast are known by a different name, Kudumikkar. The Konkanis’ original habitation is the bank of the Sārasvati, a river well known in early Sanskrit works, but said to have lost itself in the sands of the deserts north of Rajputana. According to the Sahyādrikanda, a branch of these Sārasvatas lived in Tirhut in Bengal, whence ten families were brought over by Parasurāma to Gōmantaka, the modern Goa, Panchakrōsi, and Kusasthali. Attracted by the richness and beauty of the new country, others followed, and the whole population settled themselves in sixty villages and ninety-six hamlets in and around Goa, the settlers in the former being called Shashtis (Sanskrit for sixty), and those in the latter being called Shannavis or Shenavis (Sanskrit for ninety-six). The history of those Sārasvatas was one of uninterrupted general and commercial prosperity until about twenty years after the advent of the Portuguese. When King Emanuel died and King John succeeded him, the policy of the Goanese Government is believed to have changed in favour of religious persecution. A large efflux to the Canarese and Tulu countries was the result. Thence the Konkanis appear to have migrated to Travancore and Cochin, and found a safe haven under the rule of their Hindu sovereigns. In their last homes, the Konkanis extended and developed their commerce, built temples, and endowed them so magnificently that the religious institutions of that community, especially at Cochin and Alleppey, continue to this day almost the richest in all Malabar.“Canter Visscher writes185that ‘the Canarese who are permanently settled in Malabar are the race bestknown to the Europeans, not only because the East India Company trade with them and appoint one of their members to be their merchant, giving him the attendance of two Dutch soldiers: but also because from the shops of these people in town we obtain all our necessaries, except animal food. Some sell rice, others fruits, others various kinds of linen, and some again are money-changers, so that there is hardly one who is not engaged in trade.’ The occupation of the Konkanis has been commerce ever since the advent of the Portuguese in India. Some of them make pāpatams186(popadams) which is a condiment of almost universal consumption in Malabar. Till recently, the Konkanis in Travancore knew nothing else than trade. But now, following the example of their kinsmen in Bombay and South Canara, they are gradually taking to other professions.“Having settled themselves in the Canarese districts, most of the Konkanis came under the influence of Madhavāchārya, unlike the Shenavis, who still continue to be Smartas. The worship of Venkatarāmana, the presiding deity of the Tirupati shrine, is held in great importance. Every Konkani temple is called Tirumala Dēvasmam, as the divinity that resides on the sacred hill (Tirumala) is represented in each.”Konsāri.—The Konsāris derive their name from konsa, a bell-metal dish. They are Oriya workers in bell-metal, and manufacture dishes, cups and plates. Brāhmans are employed by them as purōhits (priests) and gurus (preceptors). They eat fish and mutton, butnot fowls or beef, and drink liquor. Marriage is infant. Remarriage of widows and divorcées is permitted.Koonapilli vāndlu.—Beggars attached to Padma Sālēs.Koppala.—A section of Velamas, who tie the hair in a knot (koppu) on the top of the head, and an exogamous sept of Mutrāchas, whose females do up their hair in a knot when they reach puberty.Kōra(sun).—A sept of Gadaba, Mūka Dora, and Rōna.Koracha.—SeeKorava.Koraga.—The Koragas are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as being a wild tribe of basket-makers and labourers, chiefly found in Mudbidri, and in Puttūr in the Uppinangadi tāluk of South Canara. They are, Mr. M. T. Walhouse writes,187“a very quiet and inoffensive race; small and slight, the men seldom exceeding five feet six inches; black-skinned, like most Indian aborigines, thick-lipped, noses broad and flat, and hair rough and bushy. Their principal occupation is basket-making, and they must labour for their masters. They live on the outskirts of villages, and may not dwell in houses of clay or mud, but in huts of leaves, called koppus. Like many of the wild tribes of India, they are distinguished by unswerving truthfulness. The word of a Koragar is proverbial.”The Koragas rank below the Holeyas. In some towns, they are employed by the sanitary department as scavengers. They remove the hide, horns, and bones of cattle and buffaloes, which die in the villages, and sell them mainly to Māppilla merchants. They accept food, which is left over after feasts held by various castes.Some are skilful in the manufacture of cradles, baskets, cylinders to hold paddy, winnowing and sowing baskets, scale-pans, boxes, rice-water strainers, ring-stands for supporting pots, coir (cocoanut fibre) rope, brushes for washing cattle, etc. They also manufacture various domestic utensils from soapstone, which they sell at a very cheap rate to shopkeepers in the bazar.“Numerous slave-castes,” Mr. Walhouse continues, “exist throughout India, not of course recognised by law—indeed formally emancipated by an Act of Government in 1843—but still, though improved in condition, virtually slaves. Their origin and status are thus described. After the four principal classes, who sprang from Brahma, came six Anuloma castes, which arose from the intercourse of Brahmans and Kshatriyas with women of the classes below them respectively. The term Anuloma denotes straight and regular hair, which in India characterises the Aryan stock. After these came six Pratiloma castes, originating in reverse order from Brahman and Kshatriya women by fathers of the inferior classes. The third among these was the Chandāla, the offspring of Shudra fathers by Brahman women. The Chandālas, or slaves, were sub-divided into fifteen classes, none of which might intermarry, a rule still strictly observed. The two last, and lowest of the fifteen classes, are the Kapata or rag-wearing, and the Soppu or leaf-wearing Koragas. Such is the account given by Brahman chroniclers; but the probability is that these lowest slave-castes are the descendants of that primitive population which the Aryan invaders from the north found occupying the soil, and, after a struggle of ages, gradually dispossessed, driving some to the hills and jungles, and reducing others to the condition of slaves. All these races are regarded by their Hindumasters with boundless contempt, and held unspeakably unclean. This feeling seems the result and witness of times when the despised races were powerful, and to be approached as lords by their now haughty masters, and was probably intensified by struggles and uprisings, and the memory of humiliations inflicted on the ultimately successful conquerors. Evidences for this may be inferred from many curious rights and privileges, which the despised castes possess and tenaciously retain. Moreover, the contempt and loathing in which they are ordinarily held are curiously tinctured with superstitious fear, for they are believed to possess secret powers of magic and witchcraft, and influence with the old malignant deities of the soil, who can direct good or evil fortune. As an instance, if a Brahman mother’s children die off when young, she calls a Koragar woman, gives her some oil, rice, and copper money, and places the surviving child in her arms. The out-caste woman, who may not at other times be touched, gives the child suck, puts on it her iron bracelets, and, if a boy, names it Koragar, if a girl, Korāpulu. She then returns it to the mother. This is believed to give a new lease of life. Again, when a man is dangerously ill, or perhaps unfortunate, he pours oil into an earthen vessel, worships it in the same way as the family god, looks at his face reflected in the oil, and puts into it a hair from his head and a nail paring from his toe. The oil is then presented to the Koragars, and the hostile gods or stars are believed to be propitiated.” According to Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao,188old superstitious Hindus never venture to utter the word Koraga during the night.It is noted in the Manual of the South Canara district, that “all traditions unite in attributing the introduction of the Tulu Brahmins of the present day to Mayūr Varma (of the Kadamba dynasty), but they vary in details connected with the manner in which they obtained a firm footing in the land. One account says that Habāshika, chief of the Koragas, drove out Mayūr Varma, but was in turn expelled by Mayūr Varma’s son, or son-in-law, Lōkāditya of Gōkarnam, who brought Brahmins from Ahi-kshētra, and settled them in thirty-two villages.” Concerning the power, and eventual degradation of the Koragas, the following version of the tradition is cited by Mr. Walhouse. “When Lokadirāya, whose date is fixed by Wilks about 1450 B.C., was king of Bhanvarshe in North Canara (a place noted by Ptolemy), an invader, by name Habāshika, brought an army from above the ghauts, consisting of all the present Chandāla or slave-castes, overwhelmed that part of the country, and marched southward to Mangalore, the present capital of South Canara. The invading host was scourged with small-pox, and greatly annoyed by ants, so Habāshika moved on to Manjeshwar, a place of ancient repute, twelve miles to the south, subdued the local ruler Angarawarma, son of Virawarma, and reigned there in conjunction with his nephew; but after twelve years both died—one legend says through enchantments devised by Angarawarma; another that a neighbouring ruler treacherously proposed a marriage between his sister and Habāshika, and, on the bridegroom and his caste-men attending for the nuptials, a wholesale massacre of them all was effected. Angarawarma, then returning, drove the invading army into the jungles, where they were reduced to such extremity that they consented to become slaves, and were apportioned amongst the Brahmans and originallandholders. Some were, set to watch the crops and cattle, some to cultivate, others to various drudgeries, which are still allotted to the existing slave-castes, but the Koragars, who had been raised by Habāshika to the highest posts under his government, were stripped and driven towards the sea-shore, there to be hanged, but, being ashamed of their naked condition, they gathered the leaves of the nicki bush (Vitex Negundo), which grows abundantly in waste places, and made small coverings for themselves in front. On this the executioners took pity on them and let them go, but condemned them to be the lowest of the low, and wear no other covering but leaves. The Koragas are now the lowest of the slave divisions, and regarded with such intense loathing and hatred that up to quite recent times one section of them, called Andē or pot Koragars, continually wore a pot suspended from their necks, into which they were compelled to spit, being so utterly unclean as to be prohibited from even spitting on the highway; and to this day their women continue to show in their leafy aprons a memorial of the abject degradation to which their whole race was doomed.” It is said that in pre-British days an Andē Koraga had to take out a licence to come into the towns and villages by day. At night mere approach thereto was forbidden, as his presence would cause terrible calamity. The Koragas of those days could cook their food only in broken vessels. The name Vastra, by which one class of Koragas is called, has reference to their wearing vastra, or clothes, such as were used to shroud a dead body, and given to them in the shape of charity, the use of a new cloth being prohibited. According to another account the three divisions of the Koragas are (1) Kappada, those who wear clothes, (2) Tippi, who wear ornaments madeof the cocoanut shell, and (3) Vanti, who wear a peculiar kind of large ear-ring. These three clans may eat together, but not intermarry. Each clan is divided into exogamous septs called balis, and it may be noted that some of the Koraga balis, such as Haledennaya and Kumērdennaya, are also found among the Māri and Mundala Holeyas.
“When a Kondh starts out on a shooting expedition, if he first meets an adult female, married or unmarried, he will return home, and ask a child to tell the females to keep out of his way. He will then make a fresh start, and, if he meets a female, will wave his hand to her as a sign that she must keep clear of him. Before a party start out for shooting, they warn the females not to come in their way. The Kondh believes that, if he sees a female, he will not come across animals in the jungle to shoot. If a woman is in her menses, her husband, brothers, and sons living under the same roof, will not go out shooting for the same reason.A Kondh will not leave his village when a jāthra (festival) is being celebrated, lest the god Pennu should visit his wrath on him.They will not cut trees, which yield products suitable for human consumption, such as the mango, jāk, jambul (Eugenia Jambolana), or iluppai (Bassia) from which they distil a spirituous liquor. Even though these trees prevent the growth of a crop in the fields, they will not cut them down.If an owl hoots over the roof of a house, or on a tree close thereto, it is considered unlucky, as foreboding a death in the family at an early date. If an owl hoots close to a village, but outside it, the death of one of the villagers will follow. For this reason, the bird is pelted with stones, and driven off.They will not kill a crow, as this would be a sin amounting to the killing of a friend. According to their legend, soon after the creation of the world there was a family consisting of an aged man and woman, and four children, who died one after the other in quick succession. Their parents were too aged to take the necessary steps for their cremation, so they threw the bodies away on the ground, at some distance from their home. God appeared to them in their dreams one night, and promised that he would create the crow, so that it might devour the dead bodies.They do not consider it a sin to kill a Brahminy kite (Haliastur indus: Garuda pakshi), which is held in veneration throughout Southern India. A Kondh will kill it for so slight an offence as carrying off his chickens.They will not cut the crops with a sickle with a serrated edge, such as is used by the Oriyas, but use a straight-edged knife. The crops, after they have been cut, are removed to the village, and threshed by hand,and not with the help of cattle. While this is being done, strangers (Kondh or others) may not look on the crop, or speak to them, lest their evil eye should be cast on them. If a stranger is seen approaching near the threshing-floor, the Kondhs keep him off by signalling to him with their hands, without speaking. The serrated sickle is not used, because it produces a sound like that of cattle grazing, which would be unpropitious. If cattle were used in threshing the crop, it is believed that the earth god would feel insulted by the dung and urine of the animals.They believe that they can transform themselves into tigers or snakes, half the soul leaving the body and becoming changed into one of these animals, either to kill an enemy, or satisfy hunger by having a good feed on cattle in the jungle. During this period, they are believed to feel dull and listless, and disinclined for work, and, if a tiger is killed in the forest, they will die synchronously. Mr. Fawcett informs me that the Kondhs believe that the soul wanders during sleep. On one occasion, a dispute arose owing to a man discovering that another Kondh, whose spirit used to wander about in the guise of a tiger, ate up his spirit, and he became ill.When cholera breaks out in a village, all males and females smear their bodies from head to foot with pig’s fat liquefied by heat, and continue to do so until a few days after the disappearance of the dread disease. During this time, they do not bathe, lest the smell of the fat should be washed away.”The Kondhs are said177to prevent the approach of the goddess of small-pox by barricading the paths withthorns and ditches, and boiling caldrons of stinking oil. The leopard is looked upon in some way as a sacred beast by the Kondhs of the northern Māliahs. They object to a dead leopard being carried through their villages, and oaths are taken on a leopard’s skin.Referring to elf stones, or stones of the dead in European countries, to which needles, buttons, milk, eggs, etc., are offered, Mr. F. Fawcett describes178a Kondh ceremony, in which the ground under a tree was cleared in the form of a square, within which were circles of saffron (turmeric), charcoal, rice, and some yellow powder, as well as an egg or a small chicken. A certain Kondh had fever caused by an evil spirit, and the ceremony was an invitation to it to come out, and go to another village.The following account of a cow-shed sacrifice is given by Mr. Fawcett.179“A special liquor is brewed from grain for the ceremony, on the first day of which there is a general fast, a pig is bought by general subscription, and dragged to the place where it is to be sacrificed by a rope ‘through its belly.’ The pig is stoned to death, but, ere it dies, each Khond cuts off some of the hair and a little piece of the ear, which are treasured. The meat is divided among them, and cooked with rice. The priest goes from house to house, and performs the ceremony of the cow-shed. The ropes of the cattle (chiefly buffaloes) which are out grazing are tied to the central point in the cow-shed, and the other ends are laid on the ground across the shed. These ropes are the visible objects, to which sacrifice is made. The head of a chicken is buried near the ends tied to the post, and near it are ranged leaves, on which are placedrice, flesh of the pig, and a bit of its ear. A little in front of these is buried a rotten egg. The chicken, whose head is buried, is boiled, and eaten by children who have not yet donned a cloth. The Khond puts the rice, piece of the ear, and the hair of the pig, under the roof. In the evening the cattle come home, and are tied by the ropes used in the ceremony. Then the women break their fast—theymusteat then. Drinking and dancing occupy the two following days, during which no manure is removed from the cow-shed. On the third day, the Khonds come out with a lump of it in the hand, and throw it in one place, forming a heap, on which the priest pours liquor and rice.”The following example of a Kondh oath is given by Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson. “The subject of the circumstance is first repeated by the swearing party, and a basket containing the following things is held before him:—A blood-sucker (lizard).A bit of tiger’s skin.A peacock’s feather.Earth from a ‘white-ant’ hill.Rice mixed with fowl’s blood.A lighted lamp.He proceeds with his oath, touching each object in the basket at that part of the oath which refers to that object. ‘Oh! father (god), I swear, and, if I swear falsely, then, Oh! father, may I become shrivelled and dry like a blood-sucker, and thus die. May I be killed by a tiger. May I crumble to dust like this white-ant’s hill. May I be blown about like this feather. May I be extinguished like this lamp.’ In saying the last words, he puts a few grains of rice in his mouth, and blows out the lamp, and the basket with its contents is made to touch the top of his head.”In 1904, a case illustrating the prevailing belief in witchcraft occurred in the Vizagapatam hill tracts. The youngest of three brothers died of fever, and, when the body was cremated, the fire failed to consume the upper portion. The brothers concluded that death must have been caused by the witchcraft of a certain Kondh. They accordingly attacked him, and killed him. After death, the brothers cut the body in half, and dragged the upper half to their own village, where they attempted to nail it up on the spot where their deceased brother’s body failed to burn. The accused were arrested on the spot, with the fragment of the Kondh’s corpse. They were sentenced to death, and the sentence was confirmed by the High Court.180In 1906, a Kondh, suspecting a Pāno girl of having stolen some cloths and a silver ornament from him, went to the dhengada house in Sollagodo, where the girl slept with other unmarried girls, and took her to his village, where he confined her in his house. On the following day, he took her to an Oriya trader, who thrashed her, in order to make her confess to the theft. Subsequently, some of the villagers collected to see her undergo the ordeal of boiling water. A pot nearly full of water was boiled, some cow-dung and sacred rice added, and a rupee placed in the pot. The girl was ordered to take out the rupee. This she did three times, but, on the fourth occasion, the water scalded her hand and forearm. She was then ordered to pay as a fine her ear-ring, which was worth one rupee. This she did, as it was the custom for an unsuccessful person to hand over some property. Her right hand was practically destroyed as the result of the scalding. An elderly Pātro (headman)deposed that the ordinary practice in trials of this sort is to place two pots of water, one boiling and the other cold. In the boiling water a rupee and some rice are placed, and the suspected person has to take out the rupee once, and should then dip his hand in the cold water. If the hand is then scalded, the person is considered guilty, and has to pay a fine to the caste.In trial by immersion in water, the disputants dive into a pool, and he who can keep under water the longest is considered to be in the right. On one occasion, some years ago, when two villages were disputing the right of possession of a certain piece of land, the Magistrate resorted to a novel method to settle the dispute. He instituted a tug-of-water between an equal number of representatives of the contending parties. The side which won took possession of the disputed property, to the satisfaction of all.181In connection with sacred rice, which has been referred to above, reference may be made to the custom of Mahaprasād Songatho. “It is prevalent among the Khonds and other hill tribes of Ganjam and Orissa, and is found among the Oriyas. Sangatho means union or friendship. Mahaprasād Songatho is friendship sworn by mahaprasād,i.e., cooked rice consecrated to god Jagannath of Puri. The remains of the offering are dried and preserved. All pilgrims visiting Puri invariably get a quantity of this mahaprasād, and freely distribute it to those who ask for it. It is regarded as a sacred thing, endowed with supreme powers of forgiving the sins and wrongs of men by mere touch. It is not only holy itself, but also sanctifies everything done in its presence. It is believed that one dare notcommit a foul deed, utter a falsehood, or even entertain an evil thought, when it is held in the hands. On account of such beliefs, witnesses in law suits (especially Oriyas) are asked to swear by it when giving evidence. Mahaprasād Songatho is sworn friendship between two individuals of the same sex. Instances are on record of friendship contracted between a wealthy and cultured townsman and a poor village rustic, or between a Brāhmin woman of high family and a Sūdra servant. Songatho is solemnised with some ceremonies. On an auspicious day fixed for the purpose, the parties to the Songatho, with their relatives, friends and well-wishers, go to a temple in procession to the festive music of flutes and drum. There, in that consecrated place, the would-be friends take a solemn oath, with the god before them, mahaprasād in their hands, and the assemblage to witness that they will be lifelong friends, in spite of any changes that might come over them or their families. The ceremony closing, there will be dinners, gifts and presents on both sides, and the day is all mirth and merriment. Thus bound by inseparable ties of friendship, they live to the end of their lives on terms of extreme intimacy and affection. They seize every opportunity of meeting, and living in each other’s company. They allow no festival to pass without an exchange of new cloths, and other valuable presents. No important ceremony is gone through in any one’s house without the other being invited. Throughout the year, they will send each other the various fruits and vegetables in their respective seasons. If one dies, his or her family does not consider the bond as having been snapped, but continues to look upon the other more or less in the same manner as did the deceased. The survivor, if in need of help, is sure to receiveassistance and sympathy from the family of the deceased friend. This is how the institution is maintained by the less civilised Oriyas of the rural parts. The romance of the Songatho increases with the barbarity of the tribe. The Khonds, and other hill tribes, furnish us with an example of Songatho, which retains all its primitive simplicity. Among them, Songatho is ideal friendship, and examples of Damon and Pythias are not rare. A Khond has been known to ruin himself for the sake of his friend. He willingly sacrifices all that he has, and even his life, to protect the interests of his friend. The friends have nothing but affection for each other.”182It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that “the Khonds steal cattle, especially those belonging to Brinjāri gangs, in an open manner, for the sake of their flesh. In 1898, at Veppiguda near Gudāri a party of them attacked four constables who were patrolling the country to check these thefts, thrashed them, and carried off all their property and uniforms. Efforts to arrest these men resulted in the inhabitants of their village fleeing to the hills, and, for a time, it looked as if there was danger of others joining them, and of the Khonds going out. In 1882, the Khonds of Kālahandi State rose against the Uriyas, and murdered some hundreds of them. Luckily the invitation to join them, conveyed by the circulation of the head, fingers, hair, etc., of an early victim, was not accepted by the Khonds of this district.” The news of the rising was conveyed to Mr. H. G. Prendergast, Assistant Superintendent of Police, by a Domb disguised as a fakir, who carried the report concealed in his languti (cloth). Hewas rewarded with a silver bangle. At a meeting held at the village of Balwarpur, it was decided that the Kultas should all be killed and swept out of the country. As a sign of this, the Kondhs carried brooms about. At Asurgarh the police found four headless corpses, and learnt from the widows all that they had to say about the atrocities. The murders had been committed in the most brutal way. All the victims were scalped while still alive, and one had an arm and a leg cut off before being scalped. As each victim died, his death was announced by three taps on a drum given slowly, followed by shouting and dancing. The unfortunate men were dragged out of their houses, and killed before their women and children. Neither here nor anywhere else were the women outraged, though they were threatened with death to make them give up buried treasure. One woman was in this way made to dig up a thousand rupees. On a tamarind tree near the village of Billat, affixed to it as a trophy, there was the scalped head of a Kulta, hacked about in the most horrible way.183The fact is noted by Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar that the Kondh system of notation is duodecimal. Thirteen is twelve and one, forty three twelves and four, and so forth.Kondh Bibliography.Aborigines of the Eastern Ghâts. Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, XXV, 39–52, 1856.Caldwell, R. Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages, 2nd edn., appendix, 516–17, 1875.Campbell, G. Specimens of Languages of India, including those of the Aboriginal Tribes of Bengal, the Central Provinces and the Eastern Frontier, 95–107, 1904, Calcutta.Campbell, Major-General. Personal Narrative of Service amongst the Wild Tribes of Khondistan, 1864.Dalton, E. T. Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, 285–301, 1872.Duff, Rev. A. The First Series of Government Measures for the Abolition of Human Sacrifices among the Khonds. Selections from the Calcutta Review, 194–257, 1845–6.Fawcett, F. Miscellaneous Notes. Journ., Anthrop. Soc., Bombay, II, 247–51.Francis, W. Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam District, Vol. I, 1907.Friend-Pereira, J. E. Marriage Customs of the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc. Bengal, LXXI, part III, 18–28, 1903.Friend-Pereira, J. E. Totemism among the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc., Bengal, LXXIII, Part III, 39–56, 1905.Frye, Captain. Dialogues and Sentences in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. The History of Joseph in the Kui or Kondh Language, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Captain. Primer and Progressive Reading Lessons in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.Frye, Lieut. J. P. On the Uriya and Kondh Population of Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XVII, 1–38, 1860.Grierson, G. A. Linguistic Survey of India, IV, 457–71, 1906.History of the Rise and Progress of the Operations for the Suppression of Human Sacrifice and Female Infanticide in the Hill tracts of Orissa. Selections from the Records of the Government of India (Home Department) No. V, 1854, Calcutta.Hunter, W. W. Orissa II, 67–100, 1872.Huttmann, G. H. Lieut. Macpherson’s Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack. Calcutta Review, VIII, 1–51, 1847.Huttmann, G. H. Captain Macpherson’s Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack. Calcutta Review, X, 273–341, 1848.Lingum Letchmajee. Introduction to the Grammar of the Kui or Kondh Language, 2nd edn., 1902, Calcutta.Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religious Opinions and Observances of the Khonds of Goomsūr and Boad. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, VII, 172–99, 1843.Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religion of the Khonds in Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XIII, 216–74, 1852.Macpherson, Lieut. Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack, 1863, Madras.Maltby, T. J. Ganjam District Manual, 65–87, 1882.Rice, S. P. Occasional Essays on Native South Indian Life, 97–102, 1901.Risley, H. H. The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, I, 397–413. 1891.Smith, Major J. McD. Practical Handbook of the Khond Language, 1876, Cuttack.Taylor, Rev. W. On the Language, Manners, and Rites of the Khonds or Khoi Jati of the Goomsūr Mountains from documents furnished by J. A. R. Stevenson. Madras Journ. Lit. and Science, VI, 17–46, 1837.Taylor, Rev. W. Some Additional Notes on the Hill Inhabitants of the Goomsūr Mountains. Madras Journ., Lit. and Science, VII, 89–104, 1838.Kondra.—The Kondras or Kondoras are a fishing caste in Ganjam, who fish in ponds, lakes, rivers, and backwaters, but are never engaged in sea-fishing. It has been suggested that the name is derived from konkoda, a crab, as they catch crabs in the Chilka lake, and sell them. The Kondras rank very low in the social scale, and even the Haddis refuse to beat drums for them, and will not accept partially boiled rice, which they have touched. In some places, the members of the caste call themselves Dāsa Dīvaro, and claim descent from the boatmen who rowed the boat when King Bharatha went to Chithrakutam, to inform Rāma of the death of Dasaratha. Apparently the caste is divided into two endogamous sections, viz., Macha Kondras, who follow the traditional occupation of fishing, and Dandāsi Khondras, who have taken to the duties of village watchmen. As examples of septs or bamsams, the following may be cited:—kāko (crow), bilva (jackal), gaya (cow), kukkiriya (dogs), ghāsia (grass), bholia (wild dog), sanguna (vulture). A few said that reverence is paid to the animals after which the bamsam is named before the marriage ceremonies, but this was denied by others. The headman of the caste is styled Bēhara, and he is assisted by the Dolobēhara and Bhollobaya. There is also a castemessenger called Chattia. The Bēhara receives a fee of a rupee on occasions of marriage, and one anna for death ceremonies.Girls are married either before or after puberty. Sometimes a girl is married in performance of a vow to the sahada (Streblus asper) tree. The ground round the tree is cleaned, a new cloth is then tied round the trunk, and a bow and arrow are rested against it. The Bēhara officiates as priest, and on behalf of the girl, places near the tree twelve handfuls or measures of rice and twelve of dāl (peas:Cajanus indicus), and twelve pieces of string on a leaf, as provisions for the bridegroom. If the girl has not reached maturity, she must remain seven days near the tree; otherwise she remains four days. On the last day, the Bēhara, sitting close to the tree, says: “We have given you provisions for twelve years. Give us a tsado-patra (deed of separation).” This is written on a palmyra leaf, and thrown down near the tree.The dead are cremated, and the corpses of both men and women are said to be placed face downwards on the pyre. Among many other castes, only those of women are placed in this position. The death ceremonies are similar to those observed by many Oriya castes. A bit of bone is removed from the burning-ground, and food offered to it daily until the tenth day, when all the agnates, as well as the brothers-in-law and sons-in-law of the deceased, are shaved. The sons of the sister of the dead person are also expected to be shaved if they are fatherless; but, if their father is alive, they are shaved on the following day.The Kondras regard Ganga-dēvi as their caste deity, but worship also other deities,e.g., Chāmunda, Buddhi, and Kālika.Konga.—Konga or Kongu is a territorial term, meaning inhabitant of the Kongu country. It has, at recent times of census, been returned as a division of a large number of classes, mostly Tamil, which include Ambattan, Kaikōlan, Kammālan, Kūravan, Kusavan, Malayan, Oddē, Pallan, Paraiyan, Shānān, Uppara, and Vellāla. It is used as a term of abuse among the Badagas of the Nīlgiri hills. Those, for example, who made mistakes in matching Holmgren’s wools, were scornfully called Konga by the onlookers. Similarly, in parts of the Tamil country, a tall, lean and stupid individual is called a Kongan.Konga Vellāla.—For the following note on the Konga Vellālas of the Trichinopoly district, I am indebted to Mr. F. R. Hemingway. They seem to have little in common with the other Vellālas, except their name, and appear to hold a lower position in society, for Reddis will not eat with them, and they will dine with Tottiyans and others of the lower non-Brāhman castes. They live in compact communities, generally in hamlets. Their dwellings are generally thatched huts, containing only one room. They are cultivators, but not well off. Their men can generally be recognized by the number of large gold rings which they wear in the lobes of the ears, and the pendant (murugu), which hangs from the upper part of the ears. Their women have a characteristic tāli (marriage badge) of large size, strung on to a number of cotton threads, which are not, as among other castes, twisted together. They also seem always to wear an ornament called tāyittu, rather like the common cylindrical talisman, on the left arm.The Konga Vellālas are split into two endogamous divisions, viz., the Konga Vellālas proper, and the Tondan or Ilakanban-kūttam (servant or inferior sub-division).The latter are admittedly the offspring of illegitimate intercourse with outsiders by girls and widows of the caste, who have been expelled in consequence of their breach of caste rules.The Kongas proper have an elaborate caste organisation. Their country is divided into twenty-four nādus, each comprising a certain number of villages, and possessing recognised head-quarters, which are arranged into four groups under the villages of Palayakōttai, Kāngayam, Pudūr and Kadayūr, all in the Coimbatore district. Each village is under a Kottukkāran, each nādu under a Nāttu-kavundan or Periyatanakkāran, and each group under a Pattakkāran. The last is treated with considerable respect. He wears gold toe-rings, is not allowed to see a corpse, and is always saluted with clasped hands. He is only occasionally called in to settle caste disputes, small matters being settled by the Kottukkārans, and matrimonial questions by the Nāttukavundan. Both the Kongas proper, and the Tondans have a large number of exogamous septs, the names of which generally denote some article, the use of which is taboo,e.g., kādai (quail), pannai (Celosia argentea, a pot-herb). The most desirable match for a boy is his maternal uncle’s daughter. To such an extent is the preference for such unions carried out, that a young boy is often married to a grown-up woman, and it is admitted that, in such cases, the boy’s father takes upon himself the duties of a husband until his son has reached maturity, and that the wife is allowed to consort with any one belonging to the caste whom she may fancy, provided that she continues to live in her husband’s house. With widows, who are not allowed to remarry, the rules are more strict. A man convicted of undue intimacy with a widow is expelled from the caste, unlessshe consents to his leaving her and going back to the caste, and he provides her with adequate means to live separately. The form of consent is for the woman to say that she is only a mud vessel, and has been broken because polluted, whereas the man is of bell-metal, and cannot be utterly polluted. The erring man is readmitted to the caste by being taken to the village common, where he is beaten with an erukkan (arka:Calotropis gigantea) stick, and by providing a black sheep for a feast to his relatives.At weddings and funerals, the Konga Vellālas employ priests of their own caste, called Arumaikkārans and Arumaikkāris. These must be married people, who have had children. The first stage, so far as a wife is concerned, is to become an elutingalkāri (woman of seven Mondays), without which she cannot wear a red mark on her forehead, or get any of her children married. This is effected, after the birth of at least one child, by observing a ceremonial at her father’s house. A pandal (booth) of green leaves is erected in the house, and a fillet of pungam (Pongamia glabra) and tamarind twigs is placed round her head. She is then presented with a new cloth, prepares some food and eats it, and steps over a mortar. A married couple wait until one of their children is married, and then undergo the ceremony called arumaimanam at the hands of ten Arumaikkārans and some Pulavans (bards among the Kaikōlans), who touch the pair with some green grass dipped in sandal and water, oil, etc. The man then becomes an Arumaikkāran, and his wife an Arumaikkāri. All people of arumai rank are treated with great respect, and, when one of them dies, a drum is beaten by a man standing on another man’s shoulders, who receives as a present seven measures of grain measured, and an equal quantity unmeasured.The betrothal ceremony takes place at the house of the future bride, in the presence of both the maternal uncles, and consists in tying fruit and betel leaf in the girl’s cloth. On the wedding day, the bridegroom is shaved, and an Arumaikkāri pours water over him. If he has a sister, the ceremony of betrothing his prospective daughter to her son, is performed. He then goes on horseback, carrying some fruit and a pestle, to a stone planted for the occasion, and called the nāttukal, which he worships. The stone is supposed to represent the Kongu king, and the pestle the villagers, and the whole ceremony is said to be a relic of a custom of the ancient Kongu people, to which the caste formerly belonged, which required them to obtain the sanction of the king for every marriage. On his return from the nāttukal, balls of white and coloured rice are taken round the bridegroom, to ward off the evil eye. His mother then gives him three mouthfuls of food, and eats the remainder herself, to indicate that henceforth she will not provide him with meals. A barber then blesses him, and he repairs on horseback to the bride’s house, where he is received by one of her party similarly mounted. His ear-rings are put in the bride’s ears, and the pair are carried on the shoulders of their maternal uncles to the nāttukal. On their return thence, they are touched by an Arumaikkāran with a betel leaf dipped in oil, milk and water. The tāli (marriage badge) is worshipped and blessed, and the Arumaikkāran ties it on her neck. The barber then pronounces an elaborate blessing, which runs as follows: “Live as long as the sun and moon may endure, or Pasupatisvarar (Siva) at Karūr. May your branches spread like the banyan tree, and your roots like grass, and may you flourish like the bamboo. May ye twain be like the flower and the thread, whichtogether form the garland and cleave together, like water and the reed growing in it.” If a Pulavan is present, he adds a further blessing, and the little fingers of the contracting couple are linked together, anointed with milk, and then separated.The death ceremonies are not peculiar, except that the torch for the pyre is carried by a Paraiyan, and not, as among most castes, by the chief mourner, and that no ceremonies are performed after the third day. The custom is to collect the bones on that day and throw them into water. The barber then pours a mixture of milk and ghi (clarified butter) over a green tree, crying poli, poli.The caste has its own beggars, called Mudavāndi (q.v.).Kongara(crane).—An exogamous sept of Padma Sālē, and Kamma.Konhoro.—A title of Bolāsi.Konkani.—Defined, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a territorial or linguistic term, meaning a dweller in the Konkan country (Canara), or a person speaking the Konkani dialect of Marāthi. Kadu Konkani (bastard Konkani) is a name opposed to the Gōd or pure Konkanis. In South Canara, “the Konkani Brāhmans are the trading and shop-keeping class, and, in the most out-of-the-way spots, the Konkani village shop is to be found.”184The following note on Konkanis is extracted from the Travancore Census Report, 1901. “The Konkanis include the Brāhman, Kshatriya, and Vaisya castes of the Sārasvata section of the Gauda Brāhmans. The Brāhmans of this community differ, however, from the Konkanastha Mahārāshtra Brāhmans belonging to theDrāvida group. The Konkani Sūdras who have settled on this coast are known by a different name, Kudumikkar. The Konkanis’ original habitation is the bank of the Sārasvati, a river well known in early Sanskrit works, but said to have lost itself in the sands of the deserts north of Rajputana. According to the Sahyādrikanda, a branch of these Sārasvatas lived in Tirhut in Bengal, whence ten families were brought over by Parasurāma to Gōmantaka, the modern Goa, Panchakrōsi, and Kusasthali. Attracted by the richness and beauty of the new country, others followed, and the whole population settled themselves in sixty villages and ninety-six hamlets in and around Goa, the settlers in the former being called Shashtis (Sanskrit for sixty), and those in the latter being called Shannavis or Shenavis (Sanskrit for ninety-six). The history of those Sārasvatas was one of uninterrupted general and commercial prosperity until about twenty years after the advent of the Portuguese. When King Emanuel died and King John succeeded him, the policy of the Goanese Government is believed to have changed in favour of religious persecution. A large efflux to the Canarese and Tulu countries was the result. Thence the Konkanis appear to have migrated to Travancore and Cochin, and found a safe haven under the rule of their Hindu sovereigns. In their last homes, the Konkanis extended and developed their commerce, built temples, and endowed them so magnificently that the religious institutions of that community, especially at Cochin and Alleppey, continue to this day almost the richest in all Malabar.“Canter Visscher writes185that ‘the Canarese who are permanently settled in Malabar are the race bestknown to the Europeans, not only because the East India Company trade with them and appoint one of their members to be their merchant, giving him the attendance of two Dutch soldiers: but also because from the shops of these people in town we obtain all our necessaries, except animal food. Some sell rice, others fruits, others various kinds of linen, and some again are money-changers, so that there is hardly one who is not engaged in trade.’ The occupation of the Konkanis has been commerce ever since the advent of the Portuguese in India. Some of them make pāpatams186(popadams) which is a condiment of almost universal consumption in Malabar. Till recently, the Konkanis in Travancore knew nothing else than trade. But now, following the example of their kinsmen in Bombay and South Canara, they are gradually taking to other professions.“Having settled themselves in the Canarese districts, most of the Konkanis came under the influence of Madhavāchārya, unlike the Shenavis, who still continue to be Smartas. The worship of Venkatarāmana, the presiding deity of the Tirupati shrine, is held in great importance. Every Konkani temple is called Tirumala Dēvasmam, as the divinity that resides on the sacred hill (Tirumala) is represented in each.”Konsāri.—The Konsāris derive their name from konsa, a bell-metal dish. They are Oriya workers in bell-metal, and manufacture dishes, cups and plates. Brāhmans are employed by them as purōhits (priests) and gurus (preceptors). They eat fish and mutton, butnot fowls or beef, and drink liquor. Marriage is infant. Remarriage of widows and divorcées is permitted.Koonapilli vāndlu.—Beggars attached to Padma Sālēs.Koppala.—A section of Velamas, who tie the hair in a knot (koppu) on the top of the head, and an exogamous sept of Mutrāchas, whose females do up their hair in a knot when they reach puberty.Kōra(sun).—A sept of Gadaba, Mūka Dora, and Rōna.Koracha.—SeeKorava.Koraga.—The Koragas are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as being a wild tribe of basket-makers and labourers, chiefly found in Mudbidri, and in Puttūr in the Uppinangadi tāluk of South Canara. They are, Mr. M. T. Walhouse writes,187“a very quiet and inoffensive race; small and slight, the men seldom exceeding five feet six inches; black-skinned, like most Indian aborigines, thick-lipped, noses broad and flat, and hair rough and bushy. Their principal occupation is basket-making, and they must labour for their masters. They live on the outskirts of villages, and may not dwell in houses of clay or mud, but in huts of leaves, called koppus. Like many of the wild tribes of India, they are distinguished by unswerving truthfulness. The word of a Koragar is proverbial.”The Koragas rank below the Holeyas. In some towns, they are employed by the sanitary department as scavengers. They remove the hide, horns, and bones of cattle and buffaloes, which die in the villages, and sell them mainly to Māppilla merchants. They accept food, which is left over after feasts held by various castes.Some are skilful in the manufacture of cradles, baskets, cylinders to hold paddy, winnowing and sowing baskets, scale-pans, boxes, rice-water strainers, ring-stands for supporting pots, coir (cocoanut fibre) rope, brushes for washing cattle, etc. They also manufacture various domestic utensils from soapstone, which they sell at a very cheap rate to shopkeepers in the bazar.“Numerous slave-castes,” Mr. Walhouse continues, “exist throughout India, not of course recognised by law—indeed formally emancipated by an Act of Government in 1843—but still, though improved in condition, virtually slaves. Their origin and status are thus described. After the four principal classes, who sprang from Brahma, came six Anuloma castes, which arose from the intercourse of Brahmans and Kshatriyas with women of the classes below them respectively. The term Anuloma denotes straight and regular hair, which in India characterises the Aryan stock. After these came six Pratiloma castes, originating in reverse order from Brahman and Kshatriya women by fathers of the inferior classes. The third among these was the Chandāla, the offspring of Shudra fathers by Brahman women. The Chandālas, or slaves, were sub-divided into fifteen classes, none of which might intermarry, a rule still strictly observed. The two last, and lowest of the fifteen classes, are the Kapata or rag-wearing, and the Soppu or leaf-wearing Koragas. Such is the account given by Brahman chroniclers; but the probability is that these lowest slave-castes are the descendants of that primitive population which the Aryan invaders from the north found occupying the soil, and, after a struggle of ages, gradually dispossessed, driving some to the hills and jungles, and reducing others to the condition of slaves. All these races are regarded by their Hindumasters with boundless contempt, and held unspeakably unclean. This feeling seems the result and witness of times when the despised races were powerful, and to be approached as lords by their now haughty masters, and was probably intensified by struggles and uprisings, and the memory of humiliations inflicted on the ultimately successful conquerors. Evidences for this may be inferred from many curious rights and privileges, which the despised castes possess and tenaciously retain. Moreover, the contempt and loathing in which they are ordinarily held are curiously tinctured with superstitious fear, for they are believed to possess secret powers of magic and witchcraft, and influence with the old malignant deities of the soil, who can direct good or evil fortune. As an instance, if a Brahman mother’s children die off when young, she calls a Koragar woman, gives her some oil, rice, and copper money, and places the surviving child in her arms. The out-caste woman, who may not at other times be touched, gives the child suck, puts on it her iron bracelets, and, if a boy, names it Koragar, if a girl, Korāpulu. She then returns it to the mother. This is believed to give a new lease of life. Again, when a man is dangerously ill, or perhaps unfortunate, he pours oil into an earthen vessel, worships it in the same way as the family god, looks at his face reflected in the oil, and puts into it a hair from his head and a nail paring from his toe. The oil is then presented to the Koragars, and the hostile gods or stars are believed to be propitiated.” According to Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao,188old superstitious Hindus never venture to utter the word Koraga during the night.It is noted in the Manual of the South Canara district, that “all traditions unite in attributing the introduction of the Tulu Brahmins of the present day to Mayūr Varma (of the Kadamba dynasty), but they vary in details connected with the manner in which they obtained a firm footing in the land. One account says that Habāshika, chief of the Koragas, drove out Mayūr Varma, but was in turn expelled by Mayūr Varma’s son, or son-in-law, Lōkāditya of Gōkarnam, who brought Brahmins from Ahi-kshētra, and settled them in thirty-two villages.” Concerning the power, and eventual degradation of the Koragas, the following version of the tradition is cited by Mr. Walhouse. “When Lokadirāya, whose date is fixed by Wilks about 1450 B.C., was king of Bhanvarshe in North Canara (a place noted by Ptolemy), an invader, by name Habāshika, brought an army from above the ghauts, consisting of all the present Chandāla or slave-castes, overwhelmed that part of the country, and marched southward to Mangalore, the present capital of South Canara. The invading host was scourged with small-pox, and greatly annoyed by ants, so Habāshika moved on to Manjeshwar, a place of ancient repute, twelve miles to the south, subdued the local ruler Angarawarma, son of Virawarma, and reigned there in conjunction with his nephew; but after twelve years both died—one legend says through enchantments devised by Angarawarma; another that a neighbouring ruler treacherously proposed a marriage between his sister and Habāshika, and, on the bridegroom and his caste-men attending for the nuptials, a wholesale massacre of them all was effected. Angarawarma, then returning, drove the invading army into the jungles, where they were reduced to such extremity that they consented to become slaves, and were apportioned amongst the Brahmans and originallandholders. Some were, set to watch the crops and cattle, some to cultivate, others to various drudgeries, which are still allotted to the existing slave-castes, but the Koragars, who had been raised by Habāshika to the highest posts under his government, were stripped and driven towards the sea-shore, there to be hanged, but, being ashamed of their naked condition, they gathered the leaves of the nicki bush (Vitex Negundo), which grows abundantly in waste places, and made small coverings for themselves in front. On this the executioners took pity on them and let them go, but condemned them to be the lowest of the low, and wear no other covering but leaves. The Koragas are now the lowest of the slave divisions, and regarded with such intense loathing and hatred that up to quite recent times one section of them, called Andē or pot Koragars, continually wore a pot suspended from their necks, into which they were compelled to spit, being so utterly unclean as to be prohibited from even spitting on the highway; and to this day their women continue to show in their leafy aprons a memorial of the abject degradation to which their whole race was doomed.” It is said that in pre-British days an Andē Koraga had to take out a licence to come into the towns and villages by day. At night mere approach thereto was forbidden, as his presence would cause terrible calamity. The Koragas of those days could cook their food only in broken vessels. The name Vastra, by which one class of Koragas is called, has reference to their wearing vastra, or clothes, such as were used to shroud a dead body, and given to them in the shape of charity, the use of a new cloth being prohibited. According to another account the three divisions of the Koragas are (1) Kappada, those who wear clothes, (2) Tippi, who wear ornaments madeof the cocoanut shell, and (3) Vanti, who wear a peculiar kind of large ear-ring. These three clans may eat together, but not intermarry. Each clan is divided into exogamous septs called balis, and it may be noted that some of the Koraga balis, such as Haledennaya and Kumērdennaya, are also found among the Māri and Mundala Holeyas.
“When a Kondh starts out on a shooting expedition, if he first meets an adult female, married or unmarried, he will return home, and ask a child to tell the females to keep out of his way. He will then make a fresh start, and, if he meets a female, will wave his hand to her as a sign that she must keep clear of him. Before a party start out for shooting, they warn the females not to come in their way. The Kondh believes that, if he sees a female, he will not come across animals in the jungle to shoot. If a woman is in her menses, her husband, brothers, and sons living under the same roof, will not go out shooting for the same reason.A Kondh will not leave his village when a jāthra (festival) is being celebrated, lest the god Pennu should visit his wrath on him.They will not cut trees, which yield products suitable for human consumption, such as the mango, jāk, jambul (Eugenia Jambolana), or iluppai (Bassia) from which they distil a spirituous liquor. Even though these trees prevent the growth of a crop in the fields, they will not cut them down.If an owl hoots over the roof of a house, or on a tree close thereto, it is considered unlucky, as foreboding a death in the family at an early date. If an owl hoots close to a village, but outside it, the death of one of the villagers will follow. For this reason, the bird is pelted with stones, and driven off.They will not kill a crow, as this would be a sin amounting to the killing of a friend. According to their legend, soon after the creation of the world there was a family consisting of an aged man and woman, and four children, who died one after the other in quick succession. Their parents were too aged to take the necessary steps for their cremation, so they threw the bodies away on the ground, at some distance from their home. God appeared to them in their dreams one night, and promised that he would create the crow, so that it might devour the dead bodies.They do not consider it a sin to kill a Brahminy kite (Haliastur indus: Garuda pakshi), which is held in veneration throughout Southern India. A Kondh will kill it for so slight an offence as carrying off his chickens.They will not cut the crops with a sickle with a serrated edge, such as is used by the Oriyas, but use a straight-edged knife. The crops, after they have been cut, are removed to the village, and threshed by hand,and not with the help of cattle. While this is being done, strangers (Kondh or others) may not look on the crop, or speak to them, lest their evil eye should be cast on them. If a stranger is seen approaching near the threshing-floor, the Kondhs keep him off by signalling to him with their hands, without speaking. The serrated sickle is not used, because it produces a sound like that of cattle grazing, which would be unpropitious. If cattle were used in threshing the crop, it is believed that the earth god would feel insulted by the dung and urine of the animals.They believe that they can transform themselves into tigers or snakes, half the soul leaving the body and becoming changed into one of these animals, either to kill an enemy, or satisfy hunger by having a good feed on cattle in the jungle. During this period, they are believed to feel dull and listless, and disinclined for work, and, if a tiger is killed in the forest, they will die synchronously. Mr. Fawcett informs me that the Kondhs believe that the soul wanders during sleep. On one occasion, a dispute arose owing to a man discovering that another Kondh, whose spirit used to wander about in the guise of a tiger, ate up his spirit, and he became ill.When cholera breaks out in a village, all males and females smear their bodies from head to foot with pig’s fat liquefied by heat, and continue to do so until a few days after the disappearance of the dread disease. During this time, they do not bathe, lest the smell of the fat should be washed away.”
“When a Kondh starts out on a shooting expedition, if he first meets an adult female, married or unmarried, he will return home, and ask a child to tell the females to keep out of his way. He will then make a fresh start, and, if he meets a female, will wave his hand to her as a sign that she must keep clear of him. Before a party start out for shooting, they warn the females not to come in their way. The Kondh believes that, if he sees a female, he will not come across animals in the jungle to shoot. If a woman is in her menses, her husband, brothers, and sons living under the same roof, will not go out shooting for the same reason.
A Kondh will not leave his village when a jāthra (festival) is being celebrated, lest the god Pennu should visit his wrath on him.
They will not cut trees, which yield products suitable for human consumption, such as the mango, jāk, jambul (Eugenia Jambolana), or iluppai (Bassia) from which they distil a spirituous liquor. Even though these trees prevent the growth of a crop in the fields, they will not cut them down.
If an owl hoots over the roof of a house, or on a tree close thereto, it is considered unlucky, as foreboding a death in the family at an early date. If an owl hoots close to a village, but outside it, the death of one of the villagers will follow. For this reason, the bird is pelted with stones, and driven off.
They will not kill a crow, as this would be a sin amounting to the killing of a friend. According to their legend, soon after the creation of the world there was a family consisting of an aged man and woman, and four children, who died one after the other in quick succession. Their parents were too aged to take the necessary steps for their cremation, so they threw the bodies away on the ground, at some distance from their home. God appeared to them in their dreams one night, and promised that he would create the crow, so that it might devour the dead bodies.
They do not consider it a sin to kill a Brahminy kite (Haliastur indus: Garuda pakshi), which is held in veneration throughout Southern India. A Kondh will kill it for so slight an offence as carrying off his chickens.
They will not cut the crops with a sickle with a serrated edge, such as is used by the Oriyas, but use a straight-edged knife. The crops, after they have been cut, are removed to the village, and threshed by hand,and not with the help of cattle. While this is being done, strangers (Kondh or others) may not look on the crop, or speak to them, lest their evil eye should be cast on them. If a stranger is seen approaching near the threshing-floor, the Kondhs keep him off by signalling to him with their hands, without speaking. The serrated sickle is not used, because it produces a sound like that of cattle grazing, which would be unpropitious. If cattle were used in threshing the crop, it is believed that the earth god would feel insulted by the dung and urine of the animals.
They believe that they can transform themselves into tigers or snakes, half the soul leaving the body and becoming changed into one of these animals, either to kill an enemy, or satisfy hunger by having a good feed on cattle in the jungle. During this period, they are believed to feel dull and listless, and disinclined for work, and, if a tiger is killed in the forest, they will die synchronously. Mr. Fawcett informs me that the Kondhs believe that the soul wanders during sleep. On one occasion, a dispute arose owing to a man discovering that another Kondh, whose spirit used to wander about in the guise of a tiger, ate up his spirit, and he became ill.
When cholera breaks out in a village, all males and females smear their bodies from head to foot with pig’s fat liquefied by heat, and continue to do so until a few days after the disappearance of the dread disease. During this time, they do not bathe, lest the smell of the fat should be washed away.”
The Kondhs are said177to prevent the approach of the goddess of small-pox by barricading the paths withthorns and ditches, and boiling caldrons of stinking oil. The leopard is looked upon in some way as a sacred beast by the Kondhs of the northern Māliahs. They object to a dead leopard being carried through their villages, and oaths are taken on a leopard’s skin.
Referring to elf stones, or stones of the dead in European countries, to which needles, buttons, milk, eggs, etc., are offered, Mr. F. Fawcett describes178a Kondh ceremony, in which the ground under a tree was cleared in the form of a square, within which were circles of saffron (turmeric), charcoal, rice, and some yellow powder, as well as an egg or a small chicken. A certain Kondh had fever caused by an evil spirit, and the ceremony was an invitation to it to come out, and go to another village.
The following account of a cow-shed sacrifice is given by Mr. Fawcett.179“A special liquor is brewed from grain for the ceremony, on the first day of which there is a general fast, a pig is bought by general subscription, and dragged to the place where it is to be sacrificed by a rope ‘through its belly.’ The pig is stoned to death, but, ere it dies, each Khond cuts off some of the hair and a little piece of the ear, which are treasured. The meat is divided among them, and cooked with rice. The priest goes from house to house, and performs the ceremony of the cow-shed. The ropes of the cattle (chiefly buffaloes) which are out grazing are tied to the central point in the cow-shed, and the other ends are laid on the ground across the shed. These ropes are the visible objects, to which sacrifice is made. The head of a chicken is buried near the ends tied to the post, and near it are ranged leaves, on which are placedrice, flesh of the pig, and a bit of its ear. A little in front of these is buried a rotten egg. The chicken, whose head is buried, is boiled, and eaten by children who have not yet donned a cloth. The Khond puts the rice, piece of the ear, and the hair of the pig, under the roof. In the evening the cattle come home, and are tied by the ropes used in the ceremony. Then the women break their fast—theymusteat then. Drinking and dancing occupy the two following days, during which no manure is removed from the cow-shed. On the third day, the Khonds come out with a lump of it in the hand, and throw it in one place, forming a heap, on which the priest pours liquor and rice.”
The following example of a Kondh oath is given by Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson. “The subject of the circumstance is first repeated by the swearing party, and a basket containing the following things is held before him:—
He proceeds with his oath, touching each object in the basket at that part of the oath which refers to that object. ‘Oh! father (god), I swear, and, if I swear falsely, then, Oh! father, may I become shrivelled and dry like a blood-sucker, and thus die. May I be killed by a tiger. May I crumble to dust like this white-ant’s hill. May I be blown about like this feather. May I be extinguished like this lamp.’ In saying the last words, he puts a few grains of rice in his mouth, and blows out the lamp, and the basket with its contents is made to touch the top of his head.”
In 1904, a case illustrating the prevailing belief in witchcraft occurred in the Vizagapatam hill tracts. The youngest of three brothers died of fever, and, when the body was cremated, the fire failed to consume the upper portion. The brothers concluded that death must have been caused by the witchcraft of a certain Kondh. They accordingly attacked him, and killed him. After death, the brothers cut the body in half, and dragged the upper half to their own village, where they attempted to nail it up on the spot where their deceased brother’s body failed to burn. The accused were arrested on the spot, with the fragment of the Kondh’s corpse. They were sentenced to death, and the sentence was confirmed by the High Court.180
In 1906, a Kondh, suspecting a Pāno girl of having stolen some cloths and a silver ornament from him, went to the dhengada house in Sollagodo, where the girl slept with other unmarried girls, and took her to his village, where he confined her in his house. On the following day, he took her to an Oriya trader, who thrashed her, in order to make her confess to the theft. Subsequently, some of the villagers collected to see her undergo the ordeal of boiling water. A pot nearly full of water was boiled, some cow-dung and sacred rice added, and a rupee placed in the pot. The girl was ordered to take out the rupee. This she did three times, but, on the fourth occasion, the water scalded her hand and forearm. She was then ordered to pay as a fine her ear-ring, which was worth one rupee. This she did, as it was the custom for an unsuccessful person to hand over some property. Her right hand was practically destroyed as the result of the scalding. An elderly Pātro (headman)deposed that the ordinary practice in trials of this sort is to place two pots of water, one boiling and the other cold. In the boiling water a rupee and some rice are placed, and the suspected person has to take out the rupee once, and should then dip his hand in the cold water. If the hand is then scalded, the person is considered guilty, and has to pay a fine to the caste.
In trial by immersion in water, the disputants dive into a pool, and he who can keep under water the longest is considered to be in the right. On one occasion, some years ago, when two villages were disputing the right of possession of a certain piece of land, the Magistrate resorted to a novel method to settle the dispute. He instituted a tug-of-water between an equal number of representatives of the contending parties. The side which won took possession of the disputed property, to the satisfaction of all.181
In connection with sacred rice, which has been referred to above, reference may be made to the custom of Mahaprasād Songatho. “It is prevalent among the Khonds and other hill tribes of Ganjam and Orissa, and is found among the Oriyas. Sangatho means union or friendship. Mahaprasād Songatho is friendship sworn by mahaprasād,i.e., cooked rice consecrated to god Jagannath of Puri. The remains of the offering are dried and preserved. All pilgrims visiting Puri invariably get a quantity of this mahaprasād, and freely distribute it to those who ask for it. It is regarded as a sacred thing, endowed with supreme powers of forgiving the sins and wrongs of men by mere touch. It is not only holy itself, but also sanctifies everything done in its presence. It is believed that one dare notcommit a foul deed, utter a falsehood, or even entertain an evil thought, when it is held in the hands. On account of such beliefs, witnesses in law suits (especially Oriyas) are asked to swear by it when giving evidence. Mahaprasād Songatho is sworn friendship between two individuals of the same sex. Instances are on record of friendship contracted between a wealthy and cultured townsman and a poor village rustic, or between a Brāhmin woman of high family and a Sūdra servant. Songatho is solemnised with some ceremonies. On an auspicious day fixed for the purpose, the parties to the Songatho, with their relatives, friends and well-wishers, go to a temple in procession to the festive music of flutes and drum. There, in that consecrated place, the would-be friends take a solemn oath, with the god before them, mahaprasād in their hands, and the assemblage to witness that they will be lifelong friends, in spite of any changes that might come over them or their families. The ceremony closing, there will be dinners, gifts and presents on both sides, and the day is all mirth and merriment. Thus bound by inseparable ties of friendship, they live to the end of their lives on terms of extreme intimacy and affection. They seize every opportunity of meeting, and living in each other’s company. They allow no festival to pass without an exchange of new cloths, and other valuable presents. No important ceremony is gone through in any one’s house without the other being invited. Throughout the year, they will send each other the various fruits and vegetables in their respective seasons. If one dies, his or her family does not consider the bond as having been snapped, but continues to look upon the other more or less in the same manner as did the deceased. The survivor, if in need of help, is sure to receiveassistance and sympathy from the family of the deceased friend. This is how the institution is maintained by the less civilised Oriyas of the rural parts. The romance of the Songatho increases with the barbarity of the tribe. The Khonds, and other hill tribes, furnish us with an example of Songatho, which retains all its primitive simplicity. Among them, Songatho is ideal friendship, and examples of Damon and Pythias are not rare. A Khond has been known to ruin himself for the sake of his friend. He willingly sacrifices all that he has, and even his life, to protect the interests of his friend. The friends have nothing but affection for each other.”182
It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that “the Khonds steal cattle, especially those belonging to Brinjāri gangs, in an open manner, for the sake of their flesh. In 1898, at Veppiguda near Gudāri a party of them attacked four constables who were patrolling the country to check these thefts, thrashed them, and carried off all their property and uniforms. Efforts to arrest these men resulted in the inhabitants of their village fleeing to the hills, and, for a time, it looked as if there was danger of others joining them, and of the Khonds going out. In 1882, the Khonds of Kālahandi State rose against the Uriyas, and murdered some hundreds of them. Luckily the invitation to join them, conveyed by the circulation of the head, fingers, hair, etc., of an early victim, was not accepted by the Khonds of this district.” The news of the rising was conveyed to Mr. H. G. Prendergast, Assistant Superintendent of Police, by a Domb disguised as a fakir, who carried the report concealed in his languti (cloth). Hewas rewarded with a silver bangle. At a meeting held at the village of Balwarpur, it was decided that the Kultas should all be killed and swept out of the country. As a sign of this, the Kondhs carried brooms about. At Asurgarh the police found four headless corpses, and learnt from the widows all that they had to say about the atrocities. The murders had been committed in the most brutal way. All the victims were scalped while still alive, and one had an arm and a leg cut off before being scalped. As each victim died, his death was announced by three taps on a drum given slowly, followed by shouting and dancing. The unfortunate men were dragged out of their houses, and killed before their women and children. Neither here nor anywhere else were the women outraged, though they were threatened with death to make them give up buried treasure. One woman was in this way made to dig up a thousand rupees. On a tamarind tree near the village of Billat, affixed to it as a trophy, there was the scalped head of a Kulta, hacked about in the most horrible way.183
The fact is noted by Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar that the Kondh system of notation is duodecimal. Thirteen is twelve and one, forty three twelves and four, and so forth.
Kondh Bibliography.
Aborigines of the Eastern Ghâts. Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, XXV, 39–52, 1856.
Caldwell, R. Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages, 2nd edn., appendix, 516–17, 1875.
Campbell, G. Specimens of Languages of India, including those of the Aboriginal Tribes of Bengal, the Central Provinces and the Eastern Frontier, 95–107, 1904, Calcutta.
Campbell, Major-General. Personal Narrative of Service amongst the Wild Tribes of Khondistan, 1864.
Dalton, E. T. Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, 285–301, 1872.
Duff, Rev. A. The First Series of Government Measures for the Abolition of Human Sacrifices among the Khonds. Selections from the Calcutta Review, 194–257, 1845–6.
Fawcett, F. Miscellaneous Notes. Journ., Anthrop. Soc., Bombay, II, 247–51.
Francis, W. Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam District, Vol. I, 1907.
Friend-Pereira, J. E. Marriage Customs of the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc. Bengal, LXXI, part III, 18–28, 1903.
Friend-Pereira, J. E. Totemism among the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc., Bengal, LXXIII, Part III, 39–56, 1905.
Frye, Captain. Dialogues and Sentences in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.
Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.
Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.
Frye, Captain. The History of Joseph in the Kui or Kondh Language, 1851, Cuttack.
Frye, Captain. Primer and Progressive Reading Lessons in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.
Frye, Lieut. J. P. On the Uriya and Kondh Population of Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XVII, 1–38, 1860.
Grierson, G. A. Linguistic Survey of India, IV, 457–71, 1906.
History of the Rise and Progress of the Operations for the Suppression of Human Sacrifice and Female Infanticide in the Hill tracts of Orissa. Selections from the Records of the Government of India (Home Department) No. V, 1854, Calcutta.
Hunter, W. W. Orissa II, 67–100, 1872.
Huttmann, G. H. Lieut. Macpherson’s Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack. Calcutta Review, VIII, 1–51, 1847.
Huttmann, G. H. Captain Macpherson’s Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack. Calcutta Review, X, 273–341, 1848.
Lingum Letchmajee. Introduction to the Grammar of the Kui or Kondh Language, 2nd edn., 1902, Calcutta.
Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religious Opinions and Observances of the Khonds of Goomsūr and Boad. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, VII, 172–99, 1843.
Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religion of the Khonds in Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XIII, 216–74, 1852.
Macpherson, Lieut. Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack, 1863, Madras.
Maltby, T. J. Ganjam District Manual, 65–87, 1882.
Rice, S. P. Occasional Essays on Native South Indian Life, 97–102, 1901.
Risley, H. H. The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, I, 397–413. 1891.
Smith, Major J. McD. Practical Handbook of the Khond Language, 1876, Cuttack.
Taylor, Rev. W. On the Language, Manners, and Rites of the Khonds or Khoi Jati of the Goomsūr Mountains from documents furnished by J. A. R. Stevenson. Madras Journ. Lit. and Science, VI, 17–46, 1837.
Taylor, Rev. W. Some Additional Notes on the Hill Inhabitants of the Goomsūr Mountains. Madras Journ., Lit. and Science, VII, 89–104, 1838.
Kondra.—The Kondras or Kondoras are a fishing caste in Ganjam, who fish in ponds, lakes, rivers, and backwaters, but are never engaged in sea-fishing. It has been suggested that the name is derived from konkoda, a crab, as they catch crabs in the Chilka lake, and sell them. The Kondras rank very low in the social scale, and even the Haddis refuse to beat drums for them, and will not accept partially boiled rice, which they have touched. In some places, the members of the caste call themselves Dāsa Dīvaro, and claim descent from the boatmen who rowed the boat when King Bharatha went to Chithrakutam, to inform Rāma of the death of Dasaratha. Apparently the caste is divided into two endogamous sections, viz., Macha Kondras, who follow the traditional occupation of fishing, and Dandāsi Khondras, who have taken to the duties of village watchmen. As examples of septs or bamsams, the following may be cited:—kāko (crow), bilva (jackal), gaya (cow), kukkiriya (dogs), ghāsia (grass), bholia (wild dog), sanguna (vulture). A few said that reverence is paid to the animals after which the bamsam is named before the marriage ceremonies, but this was denied by others. The headman of the caste is styled Bēhara, and he is assisted by the Dolobēhara and Bhollobaya. There is also a castemessenger called Chattia. The Bēhara receives a fee of a rupee on occasions of marriage, and one anna for death ceremonies.
Girls are married either before or after puberty. Sometimes a girl is married in performance of a vow to the sahada (Streblus asper) tree. The ground round the tree is cleaned, a new cloth is then tied round the trunk, and a bow and arrow are rested against it. The Bēhara officiates as priest, and on behalf of the girl, places near the tree twelve handfuls or measures of rice and twelve of dāl (peas:Cajanus indicus), and twelve pieces of string on a leaf, as provisions for the bridegroom. If the girl has not reached maturity, she must remain seven days near the tree; otherwise she remains four days. On the last day, the Bēhara, sitting close to the tree, says: “We have given you provisions for twelve years. Give us a tsado-patra (deed of separation).” This is written on a palmyra leaf, and thrown down near the tree.
The dead are cremated, and the corpses of both men and women are said to be placed face downwards on the pyre. Among many other castes, only those of women are placed in this position. The death ceremonies are similar to those observed by many Oriya castes. A bit of bone is removed from the burning-ground, and food offered to it daily until the tenth day, when all the agnates, as well as the brothers-in-law and sons-in-law of the deceased, are shaved. The sons of the sister of the dead person are also expected to be shaved if they are fatherless; but, if their father is alive, they are shaved on the following day.
The Kondras regard Ganga-dēvi as their caste deity, but worship also other deities,e.g., Chāmunda, Buddhi, and Kālika.
Konga.—Konga or Kongu is a territorial term, meaning inhabitant of the Kongu country. It has, at recent times of census, been returned as a division of a large number of classes, mostly Tamil, which include Ambattan, Kaikōlan, Kammālan, Kūravan, Kusavan, Malayan, Oddē, Pallan, Paraiyan, Shānān, Uppara, and Vellāla. It is used as a term of abuse among the Badagas of the Nīlgiri hills. Those, for example, who made mistakes in matching Holmgren’s wools, were scornfully called Konga by the onlookers. Similarly, in parts of the Tamil country, a tall, lean and stupid individual is called a Kongan.
Konga Vellāla.—For the following note on the Konga Vellālas of the Trichinopoly district, I am indebted to Mr. F. R. Hemingway. They seem to have little in common with the other Vellālas, except their name, and appear to hold a lower position in society, for Reddis will not eat with them, and they will dine with Tottiyans and others of the lower non-Brāhman castes. They live in compact communities, generally in hamlets. Their dwellings are generally thatched huts, containing only one room. They are cultivators, but not well off. Their men can generally be recognized by the number of large gold rings which they wear in the lobes of the ears, and the pendant (murugu), which hangs from the upper part of the ears. Their women have a characteristic tāli (marriage badge) of large size, strung on to a number of cotton threads, which are not, as among other castes, twisted together. They also seem always to wear an ornament called tāyittu, rather like the common cylindrical talisman, on the left arm.
The Konga Vellālas are split into two endogamous divisions, viz., the Konga Vellālas proper, and the Tondan or Ilakanban-kūttam (servant or inferior sub-division).The latter are admittedly the offspring of illegitimate intercourse with outsiders by girls and widows of the caste, who have been expelled in consequence of their breach of caste rules.
The Kongas proper have an elaborate caste organisation. Their country is divided into twenty-four nādus, each comprising a certain number of villages, and possessing recognised head-quarters, which are arranged into four groups under the villages of Palayakōttai, Kāngayam, Pudūr and Kadayūr, all in the Coimbatore district. Each village is under a Kottukkāran, each nādu under a Nāttu-kavundan or Periyatanakkāran, and each group under a Pattakkāran. The last is treated with considerable respect. He wears gold toe-rings, is not allowed to see a corpse, and is always saluted with clasped hands. He is only occasionally called in to settle caste disputes, small matters being settled by the Kottukkārans, and matrimonial questions by the Nāttukavundan. Both the Kongas proper, and the Tondans have a large number of exogamous septs, the names of which generally denote some article, the use of which is taboo,e.g., kādai (quail), pannai (Celosia argentea, a pot-herb). The most desirable match for a boy is his maternal uncle’s daughter. To such an extent is the preference for such unions carried out, that a young boy is often married to a grown-up woman, and it is admitted that, in such cases, the boy’s father takes upon himself the duties of a husband until his son has reached maturity, and that the wife is allowed to consort with any one belonging to the caste whom she may fancy, provided that she continues to live in her husband’s house. With widows, who are not allowed to remarry, the rules are more strict. A man convicted of undue intimacy with a widow is expelled from the caste, unlessshe consents to his leaving her and going back to the caste, and he provides her with adequate means to live separately. The form of consent is for the woman to say that she is only a mud vessel, and has been broken because polluted, whereas the man is of bell-metal, and cannot be utterly polluted. The erring man is readmitted to the caste by being taken to the village common, where he is beaten with an erukkan (arka:Calotropis gigantea) stick, and by providing a black sheep for a feast to his relatives.
At weddings and funerals, the Konga Vellālas employ priests of their own caste, called Arumaikkārans and Arumaikkāris. These must be married people, who have had children. The first stage, so far as a wife is concerned, is to become an elutingalkāri (woman of seven Mondays), without which she cannot wear a red mark on her forehead, or get any of her children married. This is effected, after the birth of at least one child, by observing a ceremonial at her father’s house. A pandal (booth) of green leaves is erected in the house, and a fillet of pungam (Pongamia glabra) and tamarind twigs is placed round her head. She is then presented with a new cloth, prepares some food and eats it, and steps over a mortar. A married couple wait until one of their children is married, and then undergo the ceremony called arumaimanam at the hands of ten Arumaikkārans and some Pulavans (bards among the Kaikōlans), who touch the pair with some green grass dipped in sandal and water, oil, etc. The man then becomes an Arumaikkāran, and his wife an Arumaikkāri. All people of arumai rank are treated with great respect, and, when one of them dies, a drum is beaten by a man standing on another man’s shoulders, who receives as a present seven measures of grain measured, and an equal quantity unmeasured.
The betrothal ceremony takes place at the house of the future bride, in the presence of both the maternal uncles, and consists in tying fruit and betel leaf in the girl’s cloth. On the wedding day, the bridegroom is shaved, and an Arumaikkāri pours water over him. If he has a sister, the ceremony of betrothing his prospective daughter to her son, is performed. He then goes on horseback, carrying some fruit and a pestle, to a stone planted for the occasion, and called the nāttukal, which he worships. The stone is supposed to represent the Kongu king, and the pestle the villagers, and the whole ceremony is said to be a relic of a custom of the ancient Kongu people, to which the caste formerly belonged, which required them to obtain the sanction of the king for every marriage. On his return from the nāttukal, balls of white and coloured rice are taken round the bridegroom, to ward off the evil eye. His mother then gives him three mouthfuls of food, and eats the remainder herself, to indicate that henceforth she will not provide him with meals. A barber then blesses him, and he repairs on horseback to the bride’s house, where he is received by one of her party similarly mounted. His ear-rings are put in the bride’s ears, and the pair are carried on the shoulders of their maternal uncles to the nāttukal. On their return thence, they are touched by an Arumaikkāran with a betel leaf dipped in oil, milk and water. The tāli (marriage badge) is worshipped and blessed, and the Arumaikkāran ties it on her neck. The barber then pronounces an elaborate blessing, which runs as follows: “Live as long as the sun and moon may endure, or Pasupatisvarar (Siva) at Karūr. May your branches spread like the banyan tree, and your roots like grass, and may you flourish like the bamboo. May ye twain be like the flower and the thread, whichtogether form the garland and cleave together, like water and the reed growing in it.” If a Pulavan is present, he adds a further blessing, and the little fingers of the contracting couple are linked together, anointed with milk, and then separated.
The death ceremonies are not peculiar, except that the torch for the pyre is carried by a Paraiyan, and not, as among most castes, by the chief mourner, and that no ceremonies are performed after the third day. The custom is to collect the bones on that day and throw them into water. The barber then pours a mixture of milk and ghi (clarified butter) over a green tree, crying poli, poli.
The caste has its own beggars, called Mudavāndi (q.v.).
Kongara(crane).—An exogamous sept of Padma Sālē, and Kamma.
Konhoro.—A title of Bolāsi.
Konkani.—Defined, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a territorial or linguistic term, meaning a dweller in the Konkan country (Canara), or a person speaking the Konkani dialect of Marāthi. Kadu Konkani (bastard Konkani) is a name opposed to the Gōd or pure Konkanis. In South Canara, “the Konkani Brāhmans are the trading and shop-keeping class, and, in the most out-of-the-way spots, the Konkani village shop is to be found.”184
The following note on Konkanis is extracted from the Travancore Census Report, 1901. “The Konkanis include the Brāhman, Kshatriya, and Vaisya castes of the Sārasvata section of the Gauda Brāhmans. The Brāhmans of this community differ, however, from the Konkanastha Mahārāshtra Brāhmans belonging to theDrāvida group. The Konkani Sūdras who have settled on this coast are known by a different name, Kudumikkar. The Konkanis’ original habitation is the bank of the Sārasvati, a river well known in early Sanskrit works, but said to have lost itself in the sands of the deserts north of Rajputana. According to the Sahyādrikanda, a branch of these Sārasvatas lived in Tirhut in Bengal, whence ten families were brought over by Parasurāma to Gōmantaka, the modern Goa, Panchakrōsi, and Kusasthali. Attracted by the richness and beauty of the new country, others followed, and the whole population settled themselves in sixty villages and ninety-six hamlets in and around Goa, the settlers in the former being called Shashtis (Sanskrit for sixty), and those in the latter being called Shannavis or Shenavis (Sanskrit for ninety-six). The history of those Sārasvatas was one of uninterrupted general and commercial prosperity until about twenty years after the advent of the Portuguese. When King Emanuel died and King John succeeded him, the policy of the Goanese Government is believed to have changed in favour of religious persecution. A large efflux to the Canarese and Tulu countries was the result. Thence the Konkanis appear to have migrated to Travancore and Cochin, and found a safe haven under the rule of their Hindu sovereigns. In their last homes, the Konkanis extended and developed their commerce, built temples, and endowed them so magnificently that the religious institutions of that community, especially at Cochin and Alleppey, continue to this day almost the richest in all Malabar.
“Canter Visscher writes185that ‘the Canarese who are permanently settled in Malabar are the race bestknown to the Europeans, not only because the East India Company trade with them and appoint one of their members to be their merchant, giving him the attendance of two Dutch soldiers: but also because from the shops of these people in town we obtain all our necessaries, except animal food. Some sell rice, others fruits, others various kinds of linen, and some again are money-changers, so that there is hardly one who is not engaged in trade.’ The occupation of the Konkanis has been commerce ever since the advent of the Portuguese in India. Some of them make pāpatams186(popadams) which is a condiment of almost universal consumption in Malabar. Till recently, the Konkanis in Travancore knew nothing else than trade. But now, following the example of their kinsmen in Bombay and South Canara, they are gradually taking to other professions.
“Having settled themselves in the Canarese districts, most of the Konkanis came under the influence of Madhavāchārya, unlike the Shenavis, who still continue to be Smartas. The worship of Venkatarāmana, the presiding deity of the Tirupati shrine, is held in great importance. Every Konkani temple is called Tirumala Dēvasmam, as the divinity that resides on the sacred hill (Tirumala) is represented in each.”
Konsāri.—The Konsāris derive their name from konsa, a bell-metal dish. They are Oriya workers in bell-metal, and manufacture dishes, cups and plates. Brāhmans are employed by them as purōhits (priests) and gurus (preceptors). They eat fish and mutton, butnot fowls or beef, and drink liquor. Marriage is infant. Remarriage of widows and divorcées is permitted.
Koonapilli vāndlu.—Beggars attached to Padma Sālēs.
Koppala.—A section of Velamas, who tie the hair in a knot (koppu) on the top of the head, and an exogamous sept of Mutrāchas, whose females do up their hair in a knot when they reach puberty.
Kōra(sun).—A sept of Gadaba, Mūka Dora, and Rōna.
Koracha.—SeeKorava.
Koraga.—The Koragas are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as being a wild tribe of basket-makers and labourers, chiefly found in Mudbidri, and in Puttūr in the Uppinangadi tāluk of South Canara. They are, Mr. M. T. Walhouse writes,187“a very quiet and inoffensive race; small and slight, the men seldom exceeding five feet six inches; black-skinned, like most Indian aborigines, thick-lipped, noses broad and flat, and hair rough and bushy. Their principal occupation is basket-making, and they must labour for their masters. They live on the outskirts of villages, and may not dwell in houses of clay or mud, but in huts of leaves, called koppus. Like many of the wild tribes of India, they are distinguished by unswerving truthfulness. The word of a Koragar is proverbial.”
The Koragas rank below the Holeyas. In some towns, they are employed by the sanitary department as scavengers. They remove the hide, horns, and bones of cattle and buffaloes, which die in the villages, and sell them mainly to Māppilla merchants. They accept food, which is left over after feasts held by various castes.Some are skilful in the manufacture of cradles, baskets, cylinders to hold paddy, winnowing and sowing baskets, scale-pans, boxes, rice-water strainers, ring-stands for supporting pots, coir (cocoanut fibre) rope, brushes for washing cattle, etc. They also manufacture various domestic utensils from soapstone, which they sell at a very cheap rate to shopkeepers in the bazar.
“Numerous slave-castes,” Mr. Walhouse continues, “exist throughout India, not of course recognised by law—indeed formally emancipated by an Act of Government in 1843—but still, though improved in condition, virtually slaves. Their origin and status are thus described. After the four principal classes, who sprang from Brahma, came six Anuloma castes, which arose from the intercourse of Brahmans and Kshatriyas with women of the classes below them respectively. The term Anuloma denotes straight and regular hair, which in India characterises the Aryan stock. After these came six Pratiloma castes, originating in reverse order from Brahman and Kshatriya women by fathers of the inferior classes. The third among these was the Chandāla, the offspring of Shudra fathers by Brahman women. The Chandālas, or slaves, were sub-divided into fifteen classes, none of which might intermarry, a rule still strictly observed. The two last, and lowest of the fifteen classes, are the Kapata or rag-wearing, and the Soppu or leaf-wearing Koragas. Such is the account given by Brahman chroniclers; but the probability is that these lowest slave-castes are the descendants of that primitive population which the Aryan invaders from the north found occupying the soil, and, after a struggle of ages, gradually dispossessed, driving some to the hills and jungles, and reducing others to the condition of slaves. All these races are regarded by their Hindumasters with boundless contempt, and held unspeakably unclean. This feeling seems the result and witness of times when the despised races were powerful, and to be approached as lords by their now haughty masters, and was probably intensified by struggles and uprisings, and the memory of humiliations inflicted on the ultimately successful conquerors. Evidences for this may be inferred from many curious rights and privileges, which the despised castes possess and tenaciously retain. Moreover, the contempt and loathing in which they are ordinarily held are curiously tinctured with superstitious fear, for they are believed to possess secret powers of magic and witchcraft, and influence with the old malignant deities of the soil, who can direct good or evil fortune. As an instance, if a Brahman mother’s children die off when young, she calls a Koragar woman, gives her some oil, rice, and copper money, and places the surviving child in her arms. The out-caste woman, who may not at other times be touched, gives the child suck, puts on it her iron bracelets, and, if a boy, names it Koragar, if a girl, Korāpulu. She then returns it to the mother. This is believed to give a new lease of life. Again, when a man is dangerously ill, or perhaps unfortunate, he pours oil into an earthen vessel, worships it in the same way as the family god, looks at his face reflected in the oil, and puts into it a hair from his head and a nail paring from his toe. The oil is then presented to the Koragars, and the hostile gods or stars are believed to be propitiated.” According to Mr. Ullal Raghvendra Rao,188old superstitious Hindus never venture to utter the word Koraga during the night.
It is noted in the Manual of the South Canara district, that “all traditions unite in attributing the introduction of the Tulu Brahmins of the present day to Mayūr Varma (of the Kadamba dynasty), but they vary in details connected with the manner in which they obtained a firm footing in the land. One account says that Habāshika, chief of the Koragas, drove out Mayūr Varma, but was in turn expelled by Mayūr Varma’s son, or son-in-law, Lōkāditya of Gōkarnam, who brought Brahmins from Ahi-kshētra, and settled them in thirty-two villages.” Concerning the power, and eventual degradation of the Koragas, the following version of the tradition is cited by Mr. Walhouse. “When Lokadirāya, whose date is fixed by Wilks about 1450 B.C., was king of Bhanvarshe in North Canara (a place noted by Ptolemy), an invader, by name Habāshika, brought an army from above the ghauts, consisting of all the present Chandāla or slave-castes, overwhelmed that part of the country, and marched southward to Mangalore, the present capital of South Canara. The invading host was scourged with small-pox, and greatly annoyed by ants, so Habāshika moved on to Manjeshwar, a place of ancient repute, twelve miles to the south, subdued the local ruler Angarawarma, son of Virawarma, and reigned there in conjunction with his nephew; but after twelve years both died—one legend says through enchantments devised by Angarawarma; another that a neighbouring ruler treacherously proposed a marriage between his sister and Habāshika, and, on the bridegroom and his caste-men attending for the nuptials, a wholesale massacre of them all was effected. Angarawarma, then returning, drove the invading army into the jungles, where they were reduced to such extremity that they consented to become slaves, and were apportioned amongst the Brahmans and originallandholders. Some were, set to watch the crops and cattle, some to cultivate, others to various drudgeries, which are still allotted to the existing slave-castes, but the Koragars, who had been raised by Habāshika to the highest posts under his government, were stripped and driven towards the sea-shore, there to be hanged, but, being ashamed of their naked condition, they gathered the leaves of the nicki bush (Vitex Negundo), which grows abundantly in waste places, and made small coverings for themselves in front. On this the executioners took pity on them and let them go, but condemned them to be the lowest of the low, and wear no other covering but leaves. The Koragas are now the lowest of the slave divisions, and regarded with such intense loathing and hatred that up to quite recent times one section of them, called Andē or pot Koragars, continually wore a pot suspended from their necks, into which they were compelled to spit, being so utterly unclean as to be prohibited from even spitting on the highway; and to this day their women continue to show in their leafy aprons a memorial of the abject degradation to which their whole race was doomed.” It is said that in pre-British days an Andē Koraga had to take out a licence to come into the towns and villages by day. At night mere approach thereto was forbidden, as his presence would cause terrible calamity. The Koragas of those days could cook their food only in broken vessels. The name Vastra, by which one class of Koragas is called, has reference to their wearing vastra, or clothes, such as were used to shroud a dead body, and given to them in the shape of charity, the use of a new cloth being prohibited. According to another account the three divisions of the Koragas are (1) Kappada, those who wear clothes, (2) Tippi, who wear ornaments madeof the cocoanut shell, and (3) Vanti, who wear a peculiar kind of large ear-ring. These three clans may eat together, but not intermarry. Each clan is divided into exogamous septs called balis, and it may be noted that some of the Koraga balis, such as Haledennaya and Kumērdennaya, are also found among the Māri and Mundala Holeyas.