Oddē hut.
The dead are generally buried. By some Oddēs the corpse is carried to the burial-ground wrapped up in a new cloth, and carried in a dhubati (thick coarse cloth) by four men. On the way to the grave, the corpse is laid on the ground, and rice thrown over its eyes. It is then washed, and the nāmam (Vaishnavite sect mark) painted, or vibūthi (sacred ashes) smeared on the forehead of a man, and kunkumam (coloured powder) on that of a female. Earth is thrown by those assembled into the grave before it is filled in. On the karmāndhiram day, or last day of the death ceremonies, the relations repair to a tank or well outside the village. An effigy is made with mud, to which cooked rice, etc., is offered. Some rice is cooked, and placed on an arka (Calotropis) leaf as an offering to the crows. If a married woman has died, the widower cuts through his waist thread, whereas a widow is taken to the water’s edge, and sits on a winnow. Her bangles are broken, and the bottu is snapped by her brother. Water is then poured over her head three times through the winnow. After bathing, she goes home, and sits in a room with a lamp, and may see no one till the following morning. She is then taken to one or more temples, and made to pull the tail of a cow three times. The Oddēs of Coimbatore, in the Tamil country, have elaborated both the marriage and funeral ceremonies, and copy those of the Balijas and Vellālas. But they do not call in the assistance of a Brāhman purōhit.
A woman, found guilty of immorality, is said to have to carry a basketful of earth from house to house, before she is re-admitted to the caste.
The following note on a reputed cure for snake poisoning used by Oddēs was communicated to me by Mr. Gustav Haller. “A young boy, who belonged to a gang of Oddēs, was catching rats, and put his hand into a bamboo bush, when a cobra bit him, and clung to his finger when he was drawing his hand out of the bush. I saw the dead snake, which was undoubtedly a cobra. I was told that the boy was in a dying condition, when a man of the same gang said that he would cure him. He applied a brown pill to the wound, to which it stuck without being tied. The man dipped a root into water, and rubbed it on the lad’s arm from the shoulder downwards. The arm, which was benumbed, gradually became sensitive, and at last the fingers could move, and the pill dropped off. The moist root was rubbed on to the boy’s tongue and into the corner of the eye before commencing operations. The man said that a used pill is quite efficacious, but should be well washed to get rid of the poison. In the manufacture of the pill, five leaves of a creeper are dried, and ground to powder. The pill must be inserted for nine days between the bark and cambium of a margosa tree (Melia Azadirachta) during the new moon, when the sap ascends.” The creeper is Tinospora cordifolia (gul bēl) and the roots are apparently those of the same climbing shrub. There is a widespread belief that gul bēl growing on a margosa tree is more efficacious as a medicine than that which is found on other kinds of trees.
The insigne of the caste at Conjeeveram is a spade.[10]
“In the Ceded Districts,” Mr. F. S. Mullaly writes,[11] “some of the Wudders are known as Donga Wuddiwars, or thieving Wudders, from the fact of their having taken to crime as a profession. Those of the tribe who have adopted criminal habits are skilful burglars and inveterate robbers. They are chiefly to be found among the stone Wudder class, who, besides their occupation of building walls, are also skilful stone-cutters. By going about under the pretence of mending grindstones, they obtain much useful information as to the houses to be looted, or parties of travellers to be attacked. In committing a highway robbery or dacoity, they are always armed with stout sticks. Burglary by Wudders may usually be traced to them, if careful observations are made of the breach in the wall. The implement is ordinarily the crowbar used by them in their profession as stone-workers, and the blunt marks of the crowbar are, as a rule, noticeable. They will never confess, or implicate another of their fraternity, and, should one of them be accused of a crime, the women are most clamorous, and inflict personal injuries on themselves and their children, to deter the police from doing their duty, and then accuse them of torture. Women and children belonging to criminal gangs are experts in committing grain thefts from kalams or threshing-floors, where they are engaged in harvest time, and also in purloining their neighbours’ poultry. Stolen property is seldom found with Wudders. Their receivers are legion, but they especially favour liquor shopkeepers in the vicinity of their encampment. Instances have been known of valuable jewellery being exchanged for a few drams of arrack. In each Wudder community, there is a headman called the Ganga Rāja, and, in the case of criminal gangs of these people, he receives two shares of spoil. Identifiable property is altered at once, many of the Wudders being themselves able to melt gold and silver jewellery, which they dispose of for about one-tenth of the value.”
It has been said of the navvies in England that “many persons are quite unaware that the migratory tribe of navvies numbers about 100,000, and moves about from point to point, wherever construction works are going forward, such as railways, harbour, canals, reservoirs and drainage works. Generally the existence of these works is unknown to the public until their completion. They then come into use, but the men who risked their lives to make them are gone nobody knows where. They are public servants, upon whose labours the facilities of modern civilised life largely depend, and surely, therefore, their claim on our sympathies is universal.” And these remarks apply with equal force to the Oddēs, who numbered 498,388 in the Madras Presidency at the census, 1901.
In the Census Report, 1901, Odderāzulu is given as a synonym of Oddē. One of the sections of the Yerukalas is also called Oddē. Vadde (Oddē) Cakali (Tsākala) is recorded, in the Vizagapatam Manual, as the name for those who wash clothes, and carry torches and palanquins.
Oddilu.—The Oddilu are described[12] by the Rev. J. Cain as principally raftsmen on the Godāvari river, who have raised themselves in life, and call themselves Sishti Karanamalu. He states further that they are Kois (or Koyis) who are regarded as more honourable than any of the others, and have charge of the principal vēlpu (tribal gods).