The month Bhadrapada.—The fourth day of the bright fortnight. The image of Ganēsha, made of earth and painted, is worshipped with an offering consisting of 21 harnakadubu, 21 chigali, 21 tanittoo, a cocoanut, flowers and incense. It is taken out in procession on the 3rd, 5th or 9th day, and deposited in a well or stream after the necessary worship. The new-moon day called Malada-amavasya (from Mahalaya, a period comprising 15 days from full- to new-moon), during which offerings are made to the manes of departed ancestors.
The month Aswija.—The first day of the bright fortnight. Male children bathe, put on holiday clothes, and go to the village school. They do so till the 10th or Dasami day. With them their master makes house-to-house visits for annual presents. They sing and play with the kolatam, a pair of painted round sticks about one foot in length with a diameter of 1¼ inches. On the Dasami day, books, accounts, scales and weights, measures and weapons are worshipped with jambi (Prosopis spicigera), rich food, flowers and incense. All, including Jangams, enjoy a good meal. In the evening they visit temples, and offer cocoanuts to the idols. They pay reverence to elders by giving them jambi, and falling at their feet. On the same day, girls collect earth from ant-hills, and place it in a heap in the village temple. Every evening they go to the said temple with āratis (wave offerings), singing on the way, and worship the heap. They continue this till the full-moon day called Seegahunname. On the following day, i.e., on the first day of the dark fortnight, they worship in the same temple an image of Siva and his consort Parvati seated on the sacred bull made of earth and painted. They worship with offerings of cakes and other dainties, and cocoanuts, flowers and incense, and give ārati. The Matapati who has installed the idol takes these offerings, and gives each girl two idols of Kontamma, made out of the heaped earth previously worshipped by them. They take them home in their ārati platters. Within the next three days, they go from house to house playing on kolu or kolatam and singing, and receive money presents. These earnings they spend on the worship of Kontamma by making sajja and gingelly cakes called konte roti, and offering them. This worship is performed on the top of the roof of a house. The girls eat up the cakes, and take Kontamma in procession to a stream or well, and gently let her into the water, singing songs all the while.
On the new-moon day, a religious observance called nope or nomulu in honour of Gauri (another name of Parvati) is kept up. The observance consists in offering to the goddess 21 karjikayi, 21 whole areca nuts, 21 betel nuts, 21 bits of turmeric, 21 chendu flowers, 21 tumbe huvvu, a silk string with 21 threads and 21 knots, a cocoanut kernel, a date fruit, kunkuma, a cocoanut, bukkittu and incense, in a winnowing fan specially made with 21 fastenings. The fan is passed round the goddess 21 times. A face worked in silver, a new earthen pitcher or a metal pot with a twig of the banian tree in it, well decorated, represents the goddess. The silk string is allowed to remain before her that night. Next morning, offerings of food, etc., are made to her, and the pūjāri (priest) ties a silk string on the left arm if a female, or the right arm if a male. That day being the Balipadyam day, men, women and children take an oil bath very early in the morning, eat something, and put on new clothing. Just before daybreak, women make two sets of cow-dung Panchapāndavas, and keep one set on either side of the outer threshold, and, sprinkling on them milk, butter and ghī, worship them. At the usual breakfast time, all the members of the family enjoy a hearty meal with the newly married son-in-law, to whom they make presents of cloths and gold according to circumstances. All that day children let off crackers.
The month Kartika.—On the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight, girls bring ant-hill earth, and, depositing it in a temple, follow the procedure observed from the tenth day of the bright fortnight of Aswija up to the day on which the Kontamma was left in a stream or well. They go through the various details in three days.
The month Pushya.—The Sankranti (the day on which the sun’s progress to the north of the equator begins) festival is observed. On the Bhogi day, i.e., the day previous to Sankranti, cakes made of sajja and gingelly, dishes made of pumpkin, brinjals, sweet potatoes, red radish, raw chillies and chitrāna (coloured rice) are eaten. On the Sankranti day, more rich food, including holigas (cakes made of jaggery, dhāl and wheat), is eaten in company with Jangams, who are dismissed with money presents and betel and nut.
The month Magha.—The full-moon day called Baratahunname. This is a feasting day on which no ceremony is performed, but the people enjoy themselves by eating good things. The fourteenth day of the dark fortnight is the Sivarathri day, i.e., the day sacred to Siva. This should be a fasting and sleepless day, the fast being broken early next morning, but very few observe these rules strictly.
The month Phalguna.—The full-moon day is the day on which the Holi festival takes place. It is not marked by any religious observance beyond eating good things. The same is the case with the new-moon day.
Brāhmans are not employed as a general rule. The Jangam is the priest of the Lingāyat, and is called in for all ceremonies. Brāhmans are sometimes consulted in fixing auspicious days, and in some cases are even allowed to officiate at marriages. This is the rule in Sandūr, and shows the tendency of modern times. The Ujjini mutt is, however, still bigoted in its rejection of all Brāhman interference, though, with strange inconsistency, the elders of the community themselves claim to be Brāhmans. Jangams are now studying Vēdic Shāstras, and may often be heard repeating Vēdic hymns.
The dead are buried in a sitting posture facing towards the north, but an exception is made in the case of unmarried people, who are buried in a reclining position. Before the patient dies, the ceremony called Vibhūtidhārane or Vibhūti achchōdu is performed. He is given a bath, and is made to drink holy water in which the Jangam’s feet have been washed. He is made to give the Jangam a handkerchief with vibhūti (ashes), rudrāksha, dakshina (coin) and tāmbūla (betel leaf). This is followed by a meal, of which all the Jangams present, and the relatives and friends of the patient partake. It appears to be immaterial whether the patient is still alive or not. It is stated that, if the invalid survives this ceremony, he must take to the jungles and disappear, but in practice this is not observed. The death party resembles in some respects an Irish ‘wake,’ though the latter does not commence until the deceased is well on his way to the next world. After death, the corpse is placed in a sitting posture, and the Jangam, who has received the offering before death, places his left foot on the right thigh of the body. The people present worship the corpse, and the usual distribution of coins and betel to Jangams follows. The body is then carried in a vimānam or bamboo chair to the burial-ground. The grave should be a cube of nine feet dimensions, with a niche on one side, in which the corpse is to sit. The lingam is untied, and placed in the left hand; bilva leaves (Ægle Marmelos) and vibhūti are placed at the side; the body is wrapped in an orange coloured cloth; and the grave is filled in. A Jangam stands on the grave, and, after receiving the usual douceur, shouts out the name of the deceased and says that he has gone to Kailāsa or heaven.
Memorial ceremonies are contrary to Lingāyat tenets, but in this, as in other matters, the influence of the Brāhmans appears, and amongst some sections an annual ceremony is performed. The performance of Srādh, or the memorial ceremonial common to other Hindus, is unknown. The Abbé Dubois tells us that a Lingāyat is no sooner buried than he is forgotten. He says, “The point in the creed of the Saivaites which appears to me to be most remarkable is their entire rejection of that fundamental principle of the Hindu religion ‘marujanma’ or metempsychosis. From this it would follow that they do not believe in ghosts. But there is a generally accepted idea that evil spirits sometimes take possession of females. This may be a rude way of expressing the fact that the gentle sex is uncertain, coy and hard to please.”