again. The custom of the cast is to bury the dead; and, although the women are very harshly used by their husbands while drunk, and although widows are not prevented from marrying again, yet it is said, that perhaps one widow in a hundred throws herself into a pit filled with fire, and burns herself near the grave of her husband. The Bramins do not officiate at funerals; but on those occasions money is distributed among them and other mendicants. The Whallias are also a remarkable class of people. Like the Bramins, the Whallias of all nations can eat together; but two persons of different countries never intermarry. Although this cast be looked upon as the very lowest of all others, they are desirous of keeping up the purity of the breed; and never marry but with the daughters of families, with whose descent, from long vicinity, they are well acquainted. Like the Sudra, they are divided into several ranks that do not intermarry. The Whalliaru, or Whallias, are not permitted to build their huts within the walls of towns or villages; but, if there be any hedge, they generally inhabit between it and the ditch. In very large places their huts form streets, and into these a Bramin will not deign to put his foot; nor in a place so impure will a Sudra build his house; in like manner as a Bramin is very unwilling to occupy a house in a street which the Sudra inhabit. A Bramin, if he is touched by a Whallia, must wash his head, and get a new thread; and a Sudra who has been similarly defiled, is obliged to wash his head. A Bramin of this country will not give any thing out of his hand to persons of lower birth, of whom he is not afraid; but throws it down on the ground for them to take up. He will receive any thing from the hand of a person of a pure descent; but when a Whallia delivers any thing to a Bramin, he must lay it on the ground, and retire to a proper distance, before the Bramin will deign to approach. Europeans, from their eating beef, are looked upon by the natives here as a kind of Whalliaru; and nothing but the fear of correction prevents them from being treated with the same insolence. Another tribe in the south of India called Morasu, have their temple at Sitibutta, near Calanore. The place being very dark, and the votaries being admitted no farther than the door, they are not sure of the form of the image; but believe, that it represents a man on horseback. The god is supposed to be one of the destroying powers, and his wrath is appeased by bloody sacrifices. The throats of goats and sheep are cut before the door of the temple as sacrifices, and the flesh is boiled for a feast to the votaries. In this the priest, or pujari, never partakes. He is a Satanana, and worships the god by offerings of flowers and fruit. He, as usual, consecrates water by pouring it upon the head of the image, and afterwards sells it to the votaries. At this temple a very singular offering is made. When a woman is from 15 to 20 years of age, and has borne some children, terrified lest the angry deity should deprive her of her infants, she goes to the temple, and, as an offering to appease his wrath, cuts off one of her fingers of the right hand. The Tricoveluru Satanana, in order to procure worldly enjoyment, act as schoolmasters to instruct the youth in the reading and writing, both of Sanscrit and of the vulgar languages; and also in music, both vocal and instrumental. Some also, who are rich, become farmers. The proper manner, however, in which they ought to subsist, is by begging; and by this rejection of worldly enjoyment, like the Bramins, they expect in a future state to obtain a high reward. They intermarry, and eat among one another, without any distinction of family, learning, or profession. Those who serve in temples, and who are thence called Coil, on account of their assumed superiority, take the name of Pratama Satanana. They say, that their proper office is that of pujari in the temples of Vishnu, and of the gods of his family. The puja consists in chaunting some prayers, and pouring some water over the head of the image, and thus making what they call holy water; which is distributed among the people to drink, and to pour on their heads when they pray. As the image is always well rubbed with oil, the water impregnated with this forms no pleasant beverage; but that renders the drinking of it more meritorious. They and the Bramins who are in the service of the temple are the only persons that may touch the image; they therefore perform all the menial offices about the shrine, and place the images on their chariots, or beasts of carriage, when they are going in procession. The Sudra are only permitted to drag the ropes by which the carriage is drawn. Chinna Balabaram was formerly a mart of great importance. The place was frequently laid under contributions by Hyder, which induced several of the merchants to withdraw. They were soon after entirely dispersed by Tippoo; but he added much to the ornament and strength of the fort. On the arrival of lord Cornwallis the rajah was reinstated; and, after the retreat of the British army, like the other Polygars who had been restored to their countries, he refused submission to Tippoo. Ishmael Khan, the father of one of the sultan's wives, was sent with an army to reduce them. In besieging one of the forts he met with considerable loss; and it was only from its ammunition having been exhausted, that the place surrendered. It is said, that the garrison, consisting of 700 men, obtained terms of capitulation, which were not observed; the chief officers were hanged, and every soldier had either a hand or a leg cut off with the large knife used by the Madigaru, who in this country are the dressers of leather: the only favour shown to the garrison was the choice of the limb that was to be amputated. A similar punishment was at the same time inflicted on 700 of the neighbouring farmers, who had occasionally stolen into the place, and assisted in its defence. As they had no means of stopping the hemorrhage, except by applying rags dipped in boiled oil; and as many were too poor, and the greater part, on such an occasion, too friendless to procure assistance, a small proportion of these poor wretches survived. 'Some of them,' says our traveller, are here now, and subsist by begging; and the messenger of Purnea, who attends me, was present at the execution, as one of Tippoo's soldiers.' This barbarous punishment had, however, the desired effect; and every Polygar instantly quitted the country. The town is now beginning to revive; and our author was informed, that both it and the country round are more populous, and better cultivated, than they were under Tippoo's government; the vicinity of the nizam's dominions affording excellent means of obtaining a supply of inhabitants. The Pacanat Jogies is a tribe that is scattered over all India. The proper business of this cast is the collecting, preparing, selling, and exhibiting of the plants used in medicine. They are very poor, and go about the street, each crying out the names of certain diseases, for which he pretends to have a powerful specific. These virtuous men, after death, are supposed to become a kind of gods, andfrequently to inspire the living; which makes them speak incoherently, and enables them to foretel the event of diseases. Medicine, in this country, has indeed fallen into the hands of charlatans equally impudent and ignorant. Such of the Jangalu (the name of this cast in their own language) as are too lazy and unskilled to practise physic, live entirely by begging. In whatever country they have settled, they can all, without distinction, intermarry; which by their neighbours is looked upon as a great indecency, and as subversive of the purity of cast. They keep as many wives as they can; and never divorce them, adultery being either unknown, or not noticed. They do not marry their girls till after the age of puberty. A widow cannot take a second husband; but she is not expected to bury herself with the body of her husband. They can lawfully eat sheep, goats, hogs, fowls, and fish; and intoxicate themselves with spirituous liquors, opium, and hemp. They have moveable huts, which they pitch on the outside of towns, and wander about the country, selling and collecting their drugs. Asses are their beasts of burthen. They have no hereditary chiefs, but follow the advice of old men, who have, however, no power of excommunication, 'The sugar-candy made here,' observes our author; 'is equal to the Chinese, and the clayed sugar is very white and fine. The art was introduced by the sultan at Seringapatam, but was kept secret. Two Bramins, however, of this place, obtained a knowledge of the art; but they also are determined to keep it a secret. The price at which they sell it totally precludes it from extensive sale; as the Chinese sugar-candy is now sold at Seringapatam, cheaper than the fine sugar-candy of this place is sold on the spot. In Tippoo's reign the prohibition of commerce with the lower Carnatic made the manufacture of importance.' The country in this neighbourhood has suffered much from frequent wars and bad government. The hill forts are the only places where merchants can associate with any degree of safety. Every village is fortified so as to repel the attacks of robbers, which is generally effected by throwing stones. These are hurled by both sexes with equal boldness and dexterity, and is the means of inspiring confidence in the wretched farmers and mechanics of this unfortunate country. 'Although almost every year,' says Buchanan, the scarcity of rain, and the partial nature of that which comes, occasions in some part of the country above the Ghats a greater or less scarcity of grain; yet in the time of peace, famine seldom comes to such a height, that many die of absolute want. From those parts of the country that have been most favoured with rain, the superfluous corn is transported to the parts where the crop has failed; and although it is high priced, the poor are able to get as much as prevents them from immediately dying; although the scantiness of their aliment, no doubt, frequently induces disorders that terminate in death. It is said, that one fourth of the grain which, in times of plenty, the people usually consume, is sufficient to keep them alive, and enable them to work for their subsistence. -It is when war is joined to scarcity, and interrupts the transportation of grain, that famine produces all its horrors. These were never so severely felt here, as during the invasion of lord Cornwallis; when, the country being attacked on all sides, and penetrated in every direction by hostile armies, or by defending ones little less destructive, one half at least of the inhabitants perished of absolute want, and repaid dearly for the miseries which they had formerly inflicted on the wretched people of the lower Carnatic. I do not mean, by this, to reflect on the noble leader of the British army: the people, every where that it came, seem sensible that he avoided, as much as was practicable, doing them any injury.' --- |