“During the seventh month of pregnancy, the ceremony of puli kuti, or tamarind juice drinking, is performed as among other castes. This is also an occasion for casting out devils, if any, from the body. The pregnant woman is brought back to the hut of her own family. The devil-driver erects a tent-like structure, and covers it with plantain bark and leaves of the cocoanut palm. The flower of an areca palm is fixed at the apex. A cocoanut palm flower is cut out and covered with a piece of cloth, the cut portion being exposed. The woman is seated in front of the tent-like structure with the flower, which symbolises the yet unborn child in the womb, in her lap. The water of a tender cocoanut in spoons made of the leaf of the jack tree (Artocarpus integrifolia) is poured over the cut end by the Vallon, guardian, and brothers and sisters present. The devil-driver then breaks open the flower, and, by looking at the fruits, predicts the sex of the child. If there are fruits at the end nearest the stem, the child will live and, if the number of fruits is even, there will be twins. There will be deaths if any fruit is not well formed. The devil-driver repeats an incantation, whereby he invokes the aid of Kali, who is believed to be present in the tent. He fans the woman with the flower, and she throws rice and a flower on it. He repeats another incantation, which is a prayer to Kali to cast out the devil from her body. This magical ceremony is called Garbha Bali (pregnancy offering). The structure, with the offering, is taken up, and placed in a corner of the compound reserved for gods. The devotee then goes through the remaining forms of the ceremony. She pours into twenty-one leaf spoons placed in front of the tent a mixture of cow’s milk, water of the tender cocoanut, flower, and turmeric powder. Then she walks round the tent seven times, and sprinkles the mixture on it with a palm flower. Next she throws a handful of rice and paddy, after revolving each handful round her head, and then covers the offering with a piece of cloth. She now returns, and her husband puts into her mouth seven globules of prepared tamarind. The devil-driver rubs her body with Phlomis (?) petals and paddy, and thereby finds out whether she is possessed or not. If she is, the devil is driven out with the usual offerings. The devil-driver gets for his services twelve measures and a half of paddy, and two pieces of cloth. The husband should not, during this period, get shaved.
“When a young woman is about to give birth to a child, she is lodged in a small hut near her dwelling, and is attended by her mother and a few elderly women of the family. After the child is born, the mother and the baby are bathed. The woman is purified by a bath on the seventh day. The woman who has acted as midwife draws seven lines on the ground at intervals of two feet from one another, and spreads over them aloe leaves torn to shreds. Then, with burning sticks in the hand, the mother with the baby goes seven times over the leaves backwards and forwards, and is purified. For these seven days, the father should not eat anything made of rice. He lives on toddy, fruits, and other things. The mother remains with her baby in the hut for sixteen days, when she is purified by a bath so as to be free from pollution, after which she goes to the main hut. Her enangathi (relation by marriage) sweeps the hut and compound, and sprinkles water mixed with cow-dung on her body as she returns after the bath. In some places, the bark of athi (Ficus glomerata) and ithi (Ficus Tsiela?) is well beaten and bruised, and mixed with water. Some milk is added to this mixture, which is sprinkled both inside and outside the hut. Only after this do they think that the hut and compound are purified. Among the Cherumas of Palghat, the pollution lasts for ten days.
“The ear-boring ceremony is performed during the sixth or seventh year. The Vallon, who is invited, bores the ears with a sharp needle. The wound is healed by applying cocoanut oil, and the hole is gradually widened by inserting cork, a wooden plug, or a roll of palm leaves. The castemen of the village are invited, and fed. The landlord gives the parents of the girl three paras of paddy, and this, together with what the guests bring, goes to defray the expenses of the ceremony. After the meal they go, with drum-beating, to the house of the landlord, and present him with a para of beaten rice, which is distributed among his servants. The ear-borer receives eight edangazhis of paddy, a cocoanut, a vessel of rice, and four annas.
“A woman found to be having intercourse with a Paraya is outcasted. She becomes a convert to Christianity or Mahomedanism. If the irregularity takes place within the caste, she is well thrashed, and prevented from resorting to the bad practice. In certain cases, when the illicit connection becomes public, the castemen meet with their Vallon, and conduct a regular enquiry into the matter, and pronounce a verdict upon the evidence. If a young woman becomes pregnant before marriage, her lover, should he be a Pulaya, is compelled to marry her, as otherwise she would be placed under a ban. If both are married, the lover is well thrashed, and fined. The woman is taken before a Thandan (Izhuva headman), who, after enquiry, gives her the water of a tender cocoanut, which she is asked to drink, when she is believed to be freed from the sin. Her husband may take her back again as his wife, or she is at liberty to marry another. The Thandan gets a few annas, betel leaves and areca nuts, and tobacco. Both the woman’s father and the lover are fined, and the fine is spent in the purchase of toddy, which is indulged in by those present at the time. In the northern parts of the State, there is a custom that a young woman before marriage mates with one or two paramours with the connivance of her parents. Eventually one of them marries her, but this illicit union ceases at once on marriage.”
Of the death ceremonies among the Cherumas of South Malabar, I gather that “as soon as a Cheruman dies, his jenmi or landlord is apprised of the fact, and is by ancient custom expected to send a field spade, a white cloth, and some oil. The drummers of the community are summoned to beat their drums in announcement of the sad event. This drumming is known as parayadikka. The body is bathed in oil, and the near relatives cover it over with white and red cloths, and take it to the front yard. Then the relatives have a bath, after which the corpse is removed to the burying ground, where a grave is dug. All those who have come to the interment touch the body, which is lowered into the grave after some of the red cloths have been removed. A mound is raised over the grave, a stone placed at the head, another at the feet, and a third in the centre. The funeral cortège, composed only of males, then returns to the house, and each member takes a purificatory bath. The red cloths are torn into narrow strips, and a strip handed over as a sacred object to a relative of the deceased. Meanwhile, each relative having on arrival paid a little money to the house people, toddy is purchased, and served to the assembly. The mourners in the house have to fast on the day of the death. Next morning they have a bath, paddy is pounded, and gruel prepared for the abstainers. An elder of the community, the Avakāsi, prepares a little basket of green palm leaves. He takes this basket, and hangs it on a tree in the southern part of the compound (grounds). The gruel is brought out, and placed on a mortar in the same part of the compound. Spoons are made out of jack (Artocarpus integrifolia) leaves, and the elder serves out the gruel. Then the relatives, who have gathered again, make little gifts of money and rice to the house people. Vegetable curry and rice are prepared, and served to the visitors. A quaint ceremony called ooroonulka is next gone through. A measure of rice and a measure of paddy in husk are mixed, and divided into two shares. Four quarter-anna pieces are placed on one heap, and eight on the other. The former share is made over to the house people, and from the latter the Avakāsi removes four of the coins, and presents one to each of the four leading men present. These four men must belong to the four several points of the compass. The remaining copper is taken by the elder. From his share of rice and paddy he gives a little to be parched and pounded. This is given afterwards to the inmates. The visitors partake of betel and disperse, being informed that the Polla or post-obituary ceremony will come off on the thirteenth day. On the forenoon of this day, the relatives again gather at the mourning place. The inmates of the house bathe, and fish and rice are brought for a meal. A little of the fish is roasted over a fire, and each one present just nibbles at it. This is done to end pollution. After this the fish may be freely eaten. Half a seer or a measure of rice is boiled, reduced to a pulpy mass, and mixed with turmeric powder. Parched rice and the powder that remains after the rice has been pounded, a cocoanut and tender cocoanut, some turmeric powder, plantain leaves, and the rice that was boiled and coloured with turmeric, are then taken to the burial ground by the Avakāsi, a singer known as a Kallādi or Moonpatkāren, and one or two close relatives of the departed. With the pulped rice the elder moulds the form of a human being. At the head of the grave a little mound is raised, cabalistic lines are drawn across it with turmeric, and boiled rice powder and a plantain leaf placed over the lines. The cocoanut is broken, and its kernel cut out in rings, each of which is put over the effigy, which is then placed recumbent on the plantain leaf. Round the mound, strings of jungle leaves are placed. Next the elder drives a pole into the spot where the chest of the dead person would be, and it is said that the pole must touch the chest. On one side of the pole the tender cocoanut is cut and placed, and on the other a shell containing some toddy. Then a little copper ring is tied on to the top of the pole, oil from a shell is poured over the ring, and the water from the tender cocoanut and toddy are in turn similarly poured. After this mystic rite, the Kallādi starts a mournful dirge in monotone, and the other actors in the solemn ceremony join in the chorus. The chant tells of the darkness and the nothingness that were before the creation of the world, and unfolds a fanciful tale of how the world came to be created. The chant has the weird refrain Oh! ho! Oh! ho. On its conclusion, the effigy is left at the head of the grave, but the Kallādi takes away the pole with him. The performers bathe and return to the house of mourning, where the Kallādi gets into a state of afflation. The spirit of the departed enters into him, and speaks through him, telling the mourners that he is happy, and does not want them to grieve over much for him. The Kallādi then enters the house, and, putting a heap of earth in the corner of the centre room, digs the pole into it. A light is brought and placed there, as also some toddy, a tender cocoanut, and parched rice. The spirit of the deceased, speaking again through the Kallādi, thanks his people for their gifts, and beseeches them to think occasionally of him, and make him periodical offerings. The assembly then indulge in a feed. Rice and paddy are mixed together and divided into two portions, to one of which eight quarter-annas, and to the other twelve quarter-annas are added. The latter share falls to the Avakāsi, while from the former the mixture and one quarter-anna go to the Kallādi, and a quarter-anna to each of the nearest relatives. The basket which had been hung up earlier in the day is taken down and thrown away, and the jenmi’s spade is returned to him.”[37]
It is noted by Mr. Logan that “the Cherumans, like other classes, observe death pollution. But, as they cannot at certain seasons afford to be idle for fourteen days consecutively, they resort to an artifice to obtain this end. They mix cow-dung and paddy, and make it into a ball, and place the ball in an earthen pot, the mouth of which they carefully close with clay. The pot is laid in a corner of the hut, and, as long as it remains unopened, they remain free from pollution, and can mix among their fellows. On a convenient day they open the pot, and are instantly seized with pollution, which continues for forty days. Otherwise fourteen days consecutive pollution is all that is required. On the forty-first or fifteenth day, as the case may be, rice is thrown to the ancestors, and a feast follows.”
The following account of the death ceremonies is given by Mr. Anantha Krishna Iyer. “When a Pulayan is dead, the castemen in the neighbourhood are informed. An offering is made to the Kodungallūr Bhagavati, who is believed by the Pulayas to watch over their welfare, and is regarded as their ancestral deity. Dead bodies are generally buried. The relatives, one by one, bring a new piece of cloth, with rice and paddy tied at its four corners, for throwing over the corpse. The cloth is placed thereon, and they cry aloud three times, beating their breasts, after which they retire. A few Parayas are invited to beat drums, and play on their musical instruments—a performance which is continued for an hour or two. After this, a few bits of plantain leaves, with rice flour and paddy, are placed near the corpse, to serve as food for the spirit of the dead. The bier is carried to the graveyard by six bearers, three on each side. The pit is dug, and the body covered with a piece of cloth. After it has been lowered into it, the pit is filled in with earth. Twenty-one small bits of leaves are placed over the grave, above the spot where the mouth of the dead man is, with a double-branched twig fixed to the centre, a cocoanut is cut open, and its water is allowed to flow in the direction of the twig which represents the dead man’s mouth. Such of the members of the family as could not give him kanji (rice gruel) or boiled rice before death, now give it to him. The six coffin-bearers prostrate themselves before the corpse, three on each side of the grave. The priest then puts on it a ripe and tender cocoanut for the spirit of the dead man to eat and drink. Then all go home, and indulge in toddy and aval (beaten rice). The priest gets twelve measures of rice, the grave-diggers twelve annas, the Vallon two annas, and the coffin-bearers each an anna. The son or nephew is the chief mourner, who erects a mound of earth on the south side of the hut, and uses it as a place of worship. For seven days, both morning and evening, he prostrates himself before it, and sprinkles the water of a tender cocoanut on it. On the eighth day, his relatives, friends, the Vallon, and the devil-driver assemble together. The devil-driver turns round and blows his conch, and finds out the position of the ghost, whether it has taken up its abode in the mound, or is kept under restraint by some deity. Should the latter be the case, the ceremony of deliverance has to be performed, after which the spirit is set up as a household deity. The chief mourner bathes early in the morning, and offers a rice-ball (pinda bali) to the departed spirit. This he continues for fifteen days. On the morning of the sixteenth day, the members of the family bathe to free themselves from pollution, and their enangan cleans the hut and the compound by sweeping and sprinkling water mixed with cow-dung. He also sprinkles the members of the family, as they return after the bath. The chief mourner gets shaved, bathes, and returns to the hut. Some boiled rice, paddy, and pieces of cocoanut, are placed on a plantain leaf, and the chief mourner, with the members of his family, calls on the spirit of the dead to take them. Then they all bathe, and return home. The castemen, who have assembled there by invitation, are sumptuously fed. The chief mourner allows his hair to grow as a sign of mourning (diksha), and, after the expiry of the year, a similar feast is given to the castemen.”
The Cherumans are said by Mr. Gopal Panikkar to “worship certain gods, who are represented by rude stone images. What few ceremonies are in force amongst them are performed by priests selected from their own ranks, and these priests are held in great veneration by them. They kill cocks as offerings to these deities, who are propitiated by the pouring on some stones placed near them of the fresh blood that gushes from the necks of the birds.” The Cherumans are further said to worship particular sylvan gods, garden deities, and field goddesses. In a note on cannibalism,[38] the writer states that “some sixteen years ago a Nair was murdered in Malabar by some Cherumans. The body was mutilated, and, on my asking the accused (who freely confessed their crime) why had this been done? they answered ‘Tinnāl pāpam tīrum, i.e., if one eats, the sin will cease’.” It is a common belief among various castes of Hindus that one may kill, provided it is done for food, and this is expressed in the proverb Konnapāvam thīnnāl thirum, or the sin of killing is wiped away by eating. The Cheruman reply probably referred only to the wreaking of vengeance, and consequent satisfaction, which is often expressed by the lower classes in the words pasi thirndadu, or hunger is satisfied.
Concerning the religion of the Pulayas, Mr. Anantha Krishna Iyer writes as follows. “The Pulayas are animists, but are slowly coming on to the higher forms of worship. Their gods are Parakutty, Karinkutty, Chathan, and the spirits of their ancestors. Offerings to these gods are given on Karkadaka and Makara Sankrantis, Onam, Vishu, and other auspicious days, when one of the Pulayas present turns Velichapad (oracle), and speaks to the assembly as if by inspiration. They are also devout worshippers of Kali or Bhagavati, whose aid is invoked in all times of danger and illness. They take part in the village festivals celebrated in honour of her. Kodungallur Bhagavati is their guardian deity. The deity is represented by an image or stone on a raised piece of ground in the open air. Their priest is one of their own castemen, and, at the beginning of the new year, he offers to the goddess fowls, fruits, and toddy. The Pulayas also believe that spirits exercise an influence over the members of their families, and therefore regular offerings are given to them every year on Sankranti days. The chief festivals in which the Pulayas take part are the following:—
1. Pooram Vela.—This, which may be described as the Saturnalia of Malabar, is an important festival held at the village Bhagavati temple. It is a festival, in which the members of all castes below Brāhmans take part. It takes place either in Kumbham (February–March), or Meenam (March–April). The Cherumas of the northern part, as well as the Pulayas of the southern parts of the State, attend the festival after a sumptuous meal and toddy drinking, and join the procession. Toy horses are made, and attached to long bamboo poles, which are carried to the neighbourhood of the temple. As they go, they leap and dance to the accompaniment of pipe and drum. One among them who acts as a Velichapad (devil-dancer) goes in front of them, and, after a good deal of dancing and loud praying in honour of the deity, they return home.