Women who have had seven husbands are said to be much respected, and their blessing on a bridal pair is greatly praised. There is a common saying that a widow may mount the marriage dais seven times.
In the Census Report, 1871, the Oddēs are described as being “the tank-diggers, well-sinkers, and road-makers of the country who live in detached settlements, building their huts in conical or bee-hive form, with only a low door of entrance. They work in gangs on contract, and every one, except very old and very young, takes a share in the work. The women carry the earth in baskets, while the men use the pick and spade. The babies are usually tied up in cloths, which are suspended, hammock fashion, from the boughs of trees. They are employed largely in the Public Works Department, and in the construction and maintenance of railways. They are rather a fine-looking race, and all that I have come across are Vaishnavites in theory, wearing the trident prominently on their foreheads, arms, and breasts. The women are tall and straight. They eat every description of animal food, and especially pork and field-rats, and all drink spirituous liquors.”
Of the Oddēs, the following brief accounts are given in the Nellore, Coimbatore, and Madura Manuals:—
Nellore.—“These people are the tank-diggers. They sometimes engage in the carrying trade, but beyond this, they only move about from place to place as they have work. The word Voddē or Oddē is said to be a corruption of the Sanskrit Odhra, the name for the country now called Orissa, and the people are ordinarily supposed to have emigrated from the Uriya country. Besides Telugu, they are said to speak a peculiar dialect among themselves; and, if this should turn out to be Uriya, the question might be regarded as settled. The laborious occupation of the men tends to develop their muscles. I have seen some very fine men among the tribe.”
Coimbatore.—“Numerous, owing to the hard nature of the subsoil and the immense and increasing number of irrigation wells, which demand the labour of strong men accustomed to the use of the crowbar, pick-axe, and powder. They are black, strong, and of good physique, highly paid, and live on strong meat and drink.”
Madura.—“An itinerant caste of tank-diggers and earth-workers. They are Telugus, and are supposed to have come southward in the time of the Nāyyakkans. Possibly Tirumala sent for them to dig out his great teppakulam, and assist in raising gopuras. They are a strong, hard-working class, but also drunken, gluttonous, and vicious. And but little faith can be placed in their most solemn promises. They will take advances from half a dozen employers within a week, and work for none of them, if they can possibly help it.”
In Mysore numbers of Oddēs are now permanently settled in the outskirts of large towns, where both sexes find employment as sweepers, etc., in connection with sanitation and conservancy. Some Oddēs are, at the present time (1908), employed at the Mysore manganese mines. The tribe is often found concerting with the Korachas, Koramas, and other predatory classes in committing dacoities and robberies, and it has passed into a proverb that they would rather bear any amount of bodily torture than confess or disclose the truth regarding the crimes attributed to them. Some Oddēs have settled down as agriculturists and contractors, and some are very prosperous. For example, there are a few Oddēs near Kuppam in the North Arcot district, whose credit is so good that any rich merchant would advance them large sums of money. A wealthy Oddē, worth nearly a lakh of rupees, worried my assistant for half an anna, wherewith to purchase some betel leaf. It is recorded by Bishop Whitehead,[5] in the diary of a tour in the Nizam’s Dominions, that, at Khammamett, “the Waddas who have become Christians have for some time past possessed land and cattle of their own, and are well-to-do people. One of the headmen, who was presented to me after service, said that he had 80 acres of land of his own.”
Oddēs.
Some of the timber work in the Nallamalai hills, in the Kurnool district, is done by Oddēs, who fell trees, and keep bulls for dragging the timber out of the forests. Under the heading “Uppara and Vadde Vandlu,” the Rev. J. Cain gives[6] the following account of the distribution of wages. “The tank-diggers had been paid for their work, and, in apportioning the share of each labourer, a bitter dispute arose because one of the women had not received what she deemed her fair amount. On enquiry it turned out that she was in an interesting condition, and therefore could claim not only her own, but also a share for the expected child.”