Concerning a form of marriage between the living and the dead, performed by members of this caste if a man and woman have been living together, and the man dies, Mr. Hutchinson writes as follows.[146] “The sad intelligence of her man’s death is communicated to her neighbours, a guru or priest is summoned, and the ceremony takes place. According to a writer who once witnessed such a proceeding, the dead body of the man was placed against the outer wall of the verandah of the house in a sitting posture, attired like a bridegroom, and the face and hands besmeared with turmeric. The woman was clothed like a bride, and adorned with the usual tinsel ornament over the face, which, as well as the arms, was daubed over with yellow. She sat opposite the dead body, and spoke to it in light unmeaning words, and then chewed bits of dry cocoanuts, and squirted them on the face of the dead man. This continued for hours, and not till near sunset was the ceremony brought to a close. Then the head of the corpse was bathed, and covered with a cloth of silk, the face rubbed over with some red powder, and betel leaves placed in the mouth. Now she might consider herself married, and the funeral procession started.” This refers to the Vīra Saiva or Lingāyat Kōmatis of the Northern Circars.
In the Northern Circars, and part of the Ceded Districts, the Vēdōktha form of marriage now prevails, and its usage is spreading into the southern districts of Mysore. Further, the Kōmatis perform most of their ceremonies in the same form. This, it is contended, is a latter day development by some of the more conservative members of the caste, but it is stated by those who follow it that it is allowed to them by the Hindu sāstras (law books), as they are Vaisyas. During recent years, the latter view has obtained a great impetus through the writings and influence of several of the more prominent members of the caste, between whom and their opponents a war of pamphlets has taken place. It is not possible here to go into details of the dispute, but the main point seems to be as follows. On the one hand, it is denied that there are any true Vaisyas in the Kaliyuga (iron age). And so, though the Kōmatis are accorded the status of Vaisyas in recognition of their being traders, yet they cannot follow the Vēdic form of ceremonial, which is the exclusive right of Brāhmans; and, even if they ever followed it, they forfeited it after the break-up of the caste on the death of Kanyakamma. On the other hand, it is stated that the Kōmatis are Dwijas (twice born), and that they are consequently entitled to follow the Vēdic ritual, and that those who forfeited the Vēdic rights are those who did not follow Kanyakamma to the fire-pits, and do not therefore belong to the 102 gōtras. The dispute is an old standing one, and nearly a century ago was taken for adjudication as far as the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The question whether the Kōmatis are entitled to perform their subah and asubah (auspicious, like marriage, and inauspicious, like death) ceremonies according to the Vēdic form, was raised by the Brāhmans of Masulipatam in 1817, and adjudicated upon.[147] Disputes had occurred between the Brāhmans and Kōmatis for a long time, and disturbances constantly took place. The Magistrate of Masulipatam prohibited the Kōmatis from performing one of the ceremonies, until they had established their right to do so in a Civil Court. The appellants thereon sued the defendants in damages for impediments made against their attending to the rites prescribed by the Vēdas, and prayed for permission to perform them in conformity with the Vēdas. The defendants denied the right of the Kōmatis to perform, and the fact of their ever having performed the ceremonies appointed by the Vēdas. They admitted the intervention of the Magistrate, and stated that “upwards of two thousand years ago, the Kōmatis adopted the customs of the Soodra caste, and some of them became Byri Kōmatis, and Bookha caste people, etc. The rest of them, amounting to a hundred and two gōtras, fabricated false gōtrams for themselves, and called themselves Nagaram Kōmatis. They fabricated a book called Canniaca Purānam, named the Bashcara Puntulu Varu their priest, conformed to that book, performed the sign of the upanayana ceremony in a loose manner, and in the language of the Purānas; at the time of marriage, made marriage ceremony in seven days contrary to the custom of all castes whatever, erected prōlu posts, made lumps of dough with flour, and got the same divided among them according to their spurious gōtrams, at midnight fetched the pot of water called arivany, and observed the ceremonies for ten days on the occurrence of a birth, and fifteen days on the occurrence of a death. In this manner, the forefathers of the plaintiffs, the other merchants, and the plaintiffs themselves, had got all ceremonies conducted for upwards of two thousand years past.” They cited instances, in which the plaintiffs, or some of them, had failed in previous attempts to sustain the right now claimed, and objected to the form of the plaint as not sufficiently setting forth the particulars and nature of the obstruction for which the plaintiffs claimed compensation. The plaintiffs, in their reply, did not negative or rebut the specific statements of the defendants, but insisted generally on their right to the performance of the ceremonies in question. The point at issue being not clear from the pleadings, the parties were questioned in open Court as to the precise object of the action, and the ground on which it was maintained. The plaintiffs stated that their object was the establishment of their right to have the whole of the subha and asubha ceremonies performed in their houses by Brāhmans in the language of the Vēdas, and that they claimed this right on the ground of the Sāstras. On this, the Zilla Judge framed a hypothetical statement of facts and law based on the defendant’s answer for the opinion of the Pandit of the Court, and, upon his opinion, declared the plaintiffs entitled to have the ceremonies performed for them by Brāhmans. Upon appeal, the Provincial Court for the northern division remitted the suit to the Zilla Court to take evidence, and, upon such opinions of the Pandits which the Provincial Court took upon the same statement as the Zilla, they affirmed the decree, but without costs. The Pandits consulted by them were those of the Provincial Courts of the northern, centre, southern and western divisions. They all agreed that “the Brāhmans ought not to perform the ceremonies in the language of the Vādas for the Vaisyas.” Three of them further added that, in their opinion, the Judges ought to pass a decision, awarding that the Kōmatis are to continue to perform religious rites according to the rules laid down in the book called Purānam (i.e., in the Purānōktha form), as are at present observed by the corrupt or degenerate Vaisyas or Kōmatis and others. On appeal, the Sudder Dewāni Adawlut reversed the decisions of the lower Courts, “having maturely weighed the evidence produced, and considered the unbiassed and concurring opinions of the four law officers of the Provincial Courts.” On further appeal to the Privy Council, Lord Brougham, in delivering judgment, observed that “the plaintiffs, not having, in their opinion, alleged any case of injury done to them by the defendants upon which they were entitled to go into evidence, and not having therefore established any case for damages in their suit against the defendants, no question remained but of a mere declaration of a right to perform certain religious ceremonies; that, if the Courts had jurisdiction to proceed to the determination of that question in this suit (upon which their Lordships guard themselves in their judgment), the plaintiffs have not produced sufficient evidence to establish such a right; that, under these circumstances, all the decrees therefore ought to be reversed, and the plaint dismissed (the reversal of the Sudder Court amounts in fact to a dismissal of the plaint); but it is not, as it ought to be, a dismissal without costs; and that this decision should be without prejudice to the existence or non-existence of the right claimed by the appellants, in any other suit, in which such a question may be properly raised.”
The Kōmatis wear the sacred thread, and utter the Gāyatri and other sacred mantras. A number of them, at Adōni in the Bellary district, refused to be measured by me in the afternoon, as they would not have time to bathe, and remove the pollution by evening. In Telugu dictionaries, the Kōmatis are given the alternative names of Mūdava Kolamuvāru (those of the third caste), Vaisyalu, and Nallanayya Todabiddalu (those who were begotten from the thighs of Vishnu). As already stated, there are among the Kōmatis ordinary Saivites, who daub themselves with ashes; Lingāyats or Vīra Saivas, who wear the linga in a silver casket; Rāmānuja Vaishnavites; Chaitanya Vaishnavas, who are confined to the Kalinga section; and Mādhvas, who put on the sect marks of Mādhva Brāhmans. The Traivarnikas are a special class among the Vaishnavas. They imitate the Vaishnava Brāhmans more closely than the rest. They, and their females, tie their cloths like Brāhmans, and the men shave moustaches. Unlike the Saivites and Lingāyats, they eat flesh and fish, and drink spirituous liquors. They will eat in the houses of Sātānis, whereas other Kōmatis do not eat in any but Brāhman houses. But it may be observed that Velamas, Balijas, Kammālans, Ambattans, Vannāns, and many other castes, will take neither water nor food from Kōmatis. This, however, does not prevent them from purchasing the cakes prepared in ghī or oil, which the Kōmatis sell in petty shops.
Writing early in the nineteenth century, Buchanan refers [148] to a dispute at Gubbi in the Mysore State between the Kōmatis and Banajigas, which arose from the former building a temple to their goddess Kanyakamma. Purnia, the Prime-minister, divided the town by a wall, thus separating the two parties. The Kōmatis claimed that it had been the custom for all parties to live together, and that it would be an infringement of the rules of caste for them to be forced into a separate quarter. The chief of the Kōmatis entered the town in procession, on horseback with an umbrella held over his head. This assumption of rank was regarded by the Banajigas with the utmost indignation. To such a pitch did the quarrel reach that, at the time of Buchanan’s visit, there was a rumour current as to the necessity of killing a jack-ass in the street, which would cause the immediate desolation of the place. “There is,” he writes, “not a Hindu in Karnata, that would remain another night in it, unless by compulsion. Even the adversaries of the party would think themselves bound in honour to fly. This singular custom seems to be one of the resources upon which the natives have fallen to resist arbitrary oppression, and may be had recourse to whenever the Government infringes, or is considered to have infringed upon the custom of any caste. It is of no avail against any other kind of oppression.”
A brief reference may be made to the part which the Kōmatis took, in bygone days, in the faction fights known as right and left-hand caste disputes. Some of the South Indian castes, including the Kōmatis, belong to the former, and others to the latter. Those belonging to the left-hand would not let those belonging to the right-hand pass through their streets with their marriage and other processions. The right-hand section was equally jealous of the left. The Kōmatis, who were among the early settlers in the town of Madras in the seventeenth century, were involved in faction disputes on two recorded occasions, once, in 1652 A.D., during the Governorship of Aaron Baker, and later on during that of William Pitt,[149] in 1707. When a wedding procession of members of one section passed through the streets of the other section, Pitt summoned twelve of the heads of each section, and locked them up in a room together, until the dispute should be adjusted. An agreement was speedily arrived at, according to which the right-hand settled on the west side of the town, now known as Pedda Naikan Pettah, and the left-hand on the east side, in what is at present called Mutialu Pettah. The Kōmatis accordingly are now mainly found in the western part of the city of Madras.
All over the country, the Kōmatis venerate the deified virgin Kannika Paramēswari, to whom, in most places, they have erected temples. One of these, at Tadpatri in the Anantapūr district, which was in course of construction in 1904, is of more than ordinary interest. It was being built at the expense of the local Kōmatis, who had raised a subscription among themselves for the purpose. The design was original, and even arches entered into its construction. The sculpture, with which it is decorated, is quite excellent in design and finish. Much of it is copied from the two beautiful temples, which have existed at the place since the days of the Vijianagar dynasty. Other notable temples are those at Penukonda, Vizianagram in Vizagapatam, and Berhampur in Ganjam. Fines collected from erring castemen in the Godāvari, Guntūr and Kistna districts, are still sent to the temple at Penukonda. The Kōmatis worship various goddesses, in addition to Kanyaka Paramēswari. Those who live in Vizagapatam “relax their faith in favour of the celebrated Muhammadan saint, who lies buried by the Durga on the top of the hill which overlooks the harbour. Every vessel, passing the harbour inwards and outwards, salutes him by hoisting and lowering its flag three times. He is considered all potent over the elements in the Bay of Bengal, and many a silver dhoney (boat) is presented at his shrine by Hindu ship-owners after a successful voyage. We remember a suit between a Kōmati, the owner of a dhoney, and his Muhammadan captain, who was also the super-cargo, for settlement of accounts. In a storm off the coast of Arakan, the skipper stated that he had vowed a mudupu or purse of rupees to the Durga, and had duly presented it on his return. This sum, among other sets-off, he charged to the owner of the vessel, the plaintiff, whose sole contention was that the vow had never been discharged; the propriety of conciliating the old Fakir in a hurricane he submissively allowed.” Even now, the Kōmatis, though no longer boat-owners, revere the saint, and make vows to him for the success of civil suits, and recovery from all sorts of maladies.
The Kōmatis employ Brāhmans for the performance of their ceremonial rites, and recognise a Brāhman as their guru. He is commonly called Bhāskarāchārya, after the individual of that name who lived at Penukonda prior to the sixteenth century A.D., and translated the Sanskrit Kanyaka Purāna into a Telugu poem. He made certain regulations for the daily conduct of the Kōmatis, and made the 102 gōtras submit to them. A copy of an inscription on a copper plate, in the possession of one Kotta Appaya, the Archaka or priest of the Nagarēswaraswāmi temple at Penukonda, is given in the Mackenzie manuscripts. It records a grant (of unknown date) to Bhāskarāchārya, the guru of the Vaisyas, by the 102 gōtrams, according to which each family agreed for ever afterwards to give half a rupee for every marriage, and a quarter of a rupee for each year. Such doles are common even at the present day to his successors. These, like the original Bhāskarāchārya, who is considered to be an incarnation of Brahma, are house-holders, and not Sanyāsis (religious ascetics). There are several of them, in different parts of the country, one for example being at Penukonda, and another near Hospet, who makes periodical tours in state, with drums, silver maces, and belted peons, and is received with every mark of respect. He settles disputes, levies fines, and collects subscriptions towards the upkeep of his mutt (religious institution), which is also supported by inām (rent-free) lands.
The Kōmati dead, except children and Lingāyats, are cremated, Lingāyat Kōmatis, like other Lingāyats, bury their dead in a sitting posture. The death ceremonies among the Gavaras closely resemble those of Brāhmans. The period of death pollution is sixteen days, during which sweets are taboo.
The Kōmatis are best known as merchants, grocers, and money-lenders. In the city of Madras, they are the principal vendors of all sorts of imported articles. The row of shops in the China bazar, between Pachaiyappa’s College and Popham’s Broadway, is almost entirely maintained by them. Many Kōmatis are cloth merchants, and Traivarnikas are almost entirely engaged in the glassware trade. In the Northern Circars, some earn a living as petty dealers in opium and ganja (Indian hemp). In the Ganjam, Vizagapatam and Godāvari districts they are found in the hills, acting as middle-men between the hill tribes and the people of the plains. Most of the Kōmatis are literate, and this helps them in their dealings with their constituents. They are proverbially shrewd, industrious, and thrifty, and are often rich. If a Kōmati fails in business, his compatriots will come to his rescue, and give him a fresh start. Organised charity is well known among them. Each temple of Kanyaka Paramēswari is a centre for charity. In the city of Madras the Kanyaka Paramēswari charities, among other good objects, promote the development of female education. In 1905, the Kōmatis established a Southern India Vysia Association, with the object of encouraging “the intellectual, moral, religious, social, industrial and commercial advancement of the Vysia community.” Among the means employed for so doing, are the helping of deserving students with scholarships for the prosecution of the study of the English and vernacular languages, and organised relief of poor and distressed members of the community by founding orphanages, and so forth. The affairs of the association are managed by an executive committee made up of prominent members of the caste, including merchants, lawyers, and contractors.
Many stories and proverbs have reference to the wealth, ready wit, thrift, and other qualities of the Kōmatis.[150] Of these, the following are selected from a large repertoire:—