In connection with the couvade, Mr. Fawcett writes that “it has been observed in the bird-catching Koravars, and the custom has been admitted by others. Directly a woman is brought to bed, she is given asafœtida rolled in betel leaf. She is then given a stimulant composed of asafœtida and other drugs. The husband partakes of a portion of this before it is given to the woman. This custom is one of those which the Koravar is generally at pains to conceal, denying its existence absolutely. The proverb ‘When the Koravar woman is confined, the Koravar man takes asafœtida’ is, however, well known. Very soon after a woman is confined, attention is paid exclusively to her husband, who wraps himself in his wife’s cloth, and lies down in his wife’s place beside the new-born infant. He stays there for at least some minutes, and then makes room for his wife. The writer of this note was informed by Koravars that any one who refused to go through this ceremony would undergo the severest penalties, indeed, he would be turned out of the community. Nothing annoys a Koravar so much as to mention the word asafœtida in his presence, for he takes it to be an insulting reference to the couvade. The worst insult to a Koravar woman lies in the words ‘Will you give asafœtida?’ which are understood by her to mean an improper overture.”
Some Koravas are said to believe that the pangs of labour are largely allayed by drinking small doses of a mixture of the dung of a male donkey and water. A few years ago, when a camp of Koravas was visited in the Salem district by the Superintendent of Police, two men of the gang, who had petitioned for the removal of the constables who were escorting the gang, dragged a woman in the throes of childbirth by the armpits from the hut. This was done to show that they could not move their camp, with a woman in such a condition. Nevertheless, long before daylight on the following day, the camp had been moved, and they were found at a spot fifteen miles distant. When they were asked about the woman, a hut slightly apart from the rest was pointed out, in front of which she was suckling the newly-born infant. She had done the journey immediately after delivery partly on foot, and partly on a donkey.
The Korava child’s technical education commences early. From infancy, the Koravas teach their children to answer “I do not know” to questions put to them. They are taught the different methods of stealing, and the easiest way of getting into various kinds of houses. One must be entered through the roof, another by a hole in the wall, a third by making a hole near the bolt of the door. Before letting himself down from a roof, the Korava must make sure that he does not alight on brass vessels or crockery. He generally sprinkles fine sand in small quantities, so that the noise made thereby may give him an idea of the situation. The methods to be adopted during the day, when hawking wares, must be learnt. When a child is caught red-handed, he will never reveal his identity by giving the name of his parents, or of the gang to which he belongs. A girl about twelve or thirteen years old was captured a few years ago in the Mysore State at the Oregam weekly market, and, on being searched, was found to have a small knife in her cheek. She declared that she was an orphan with neither friends nor relations, but was identified by the police. The Koravas are adepts at assuming aliases. But the system of finger-print records, which has been introduced in recent years, renders the concealment of their identity more difficult than it used to be. “Both men and women,” Mr. Paupa Rao writes, “have tattoo marks on their foreheads and forearms. When they are once convicted, they enlarge or alter in some way the tattoo marks on their forearms, so that they might differ from the previous descriptive marks of identification entered by the police in their search books and other records. During festivals, they put red stuff (kunkuma) over the tattoo marks on their foreheads.”
Their conduct is regulated by certain well-defined rules. They should not enter a house by the front door, unless this is unavoidable, and, if they must so enter it, they must not leave by the same way. If they enter by the back door, they depart by the front door, which they leave wide open. They should not commit robbery in a house, in which they have partaken of rice and curds. Curds always require salt, and eating salt is equivalent to taking the oath of fealty according to their code of honour. They ease themselves in the house in which they have committed a theft, in order, it is said, to render the pursuit of them unsuccessful.
In a note on the initiation of Yerukala girls into the profession of fortune-telling in Vizagapatam, Mr. Hayavadana Rao writes that it is carried out on a Sunday succeeding the first puberty ceremony. A caste feast, with plenty of strong drink, is held, but the girl herself fasts. The feast over, she is taken to a spot at a little distance from the settlement called Yerukonda. This is said to be the name of a place on the trunk road between Vizianagram and Chicacole, to which girls were taken in former times to be initiated. The girl is blindfolded with a cloth. Boiled rice and green gram are mixed with the blood of a black fowl, black pig, and black goat, which are killed. Of this mixture she must take at least three morsels, and, if she does not vomit, it is taken as a sign that she will become a good Yeruka or fortune-teller. Vomiting would indicate that she would be a false prophetess.
When a wandering Korava dies, he is buried as quickly as possible, with head to the north, and feet to the south. If possible, a new cloth is obtained to wrap the corpse in. The grave is covered with the last hut which the deceased occupied. The Koravas immediately leave a camp, in which a death has occurred. The nomad Koravas are said by Dr. Pope to bury their dead at night, no one knows where. Thence originates the common saying in regard to anything which has vanished, leaving no trace behind, that it has gone to the dancing-room of the wandering actors. Another proverb runs to the effect that no one has seen a dead monkey, or the burning-ground of a Korava.
In Vizagapatam, the Yerukala dead are stated by Mr. Hayavadana Rao to be burnt in a state of nudity. A tulsi plant (Ocimum sanctum) is usually planted on the spot where the corpse was burnt. The relations cannot follow their regular occupation until a caste feast has been held, and some cooked food thrown on the spot where cremation took place.
In a note on the death rites of the Koravas of the southern districts, Mr. F. A. Hamilton writes that, when one of the community dies, the news of the death is conveyed by a Paraiyan or Chakkiliyan. At the burning-ground, whither the corpse is accompanied with music, it is laid on dried cow-dung, which has been spread on the ground. The son of the deceased goes thrice round the corpse, and breaks a new water-pot which he has brought with him near the head. He also hands over a piece of burning sandalwood for lighting the pyre, and goes straight home without seeing the corpse again. On the third day, the son and other relations go to the burning-ground, heap up the ashes, plant either tulsi (Ocimum sanctum), pērandai (Vitis quadrangularis), or kathalai (Agave Americana), and pour milk. On the sixteenth day, or at some later time, a ceremony called karumathi is performed. The relatives assemble at the burning-ground, and a stone is set up, and washed with water, honey, milk, etc. On the following day, all the relatives take an oil-bath, and new cloths are presented to the host. Sheep are killed, and a feast, with a liberal supply of liquor, is held. Till this ceremony is performed, the son remains in mourning.
Concerning death ceremonies, Mr. Fawcett writes as follows. “A Tamil proverb likens the death of a Koravar to that of a monkey, for no one ever sees the dead body of either. Just as the monkey is thought to be immortal, the other monkeys removing the carcass instantly, so the corpse of the Koravar is made away with and disposed of with all possible speed. There is very little wailing, and preparations are made at once. If the deceased was married, the bier on which he is carried is practically a ladder; if unmarried, it is a single bamboo with pieces of stick placed transversely. The winding-sheet is always a piece of new cloth, in one corner of which is tied a half anna-piece (which is afterwards taken by one of the corpse-bearers). Only two of these are under pollution, which lasts the whole of the day, during which they must remain in their huts. Next day, after bathing, they give the crows food and milk. A line is drawn on the body from head to foot with milk, the thick end of a piece of grass being used as a brush; then they bathe. Pollution of the chief mourner lasts for five days. Half-yearly and annual ceremonies to the deceased are compulsory. A figure of the deceased is drawn with charcoal on a piece of new cloth spread on the floor of the hut. On either side of the figure is placed cooked rice and vegetables served on castor leaves. After some time, the food is placed on a new winnow, which is hung suspended from the roof of the hut the whole night. Next morning, the relations assemble, and partake of the food.”
From a note on the Yerukalas of the Nellore district, I gather that, as a rule, the dead are buried, though respected elders of the community are cremated. Married individuals are carried to the grave on a bier, those who die unmarried wrapped in a mat. On the second day, some cooked food, and a fowl, are placed near the grave, to be eaten by crows. A pot of water is carried thrice round the grave, and then thrown down. On the ninth day, food is once more offered for the crows. The final death ceremonies are generally performed after two or three months. Cooked food, onions, brinjals (fruits of Solanum Melongena), Phaseolus pulse, squash gourd (Cucurbita maxima), pork, and mutton are placed on a number of castor (Ricinus) leaves spread on the floor, and offered to the soul of the deceased, which is represented by a human figure drawn on a new cloth. At the conclusion of the worship, the food is placed on new winnowing trays provided for the purpose, and given to the relations, who place the winnows on the roof of the house till the following day, when the food is eaten.