Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 5 of 7

by Edgar Thurston

Mother, mother, Oh! grandmother,

Grandmother, who gave birth.

Dole out my measure.

Their original ancestor is said to have been a shepherd, who had both his legs cut off by robbers in a jungle. The king of the country in compassion directed that every one should pay him and his descendants, called mondi or lame, a small amount of money or grain.

The caste is divided into a series of bands, each of which has the right to collect alms within a particular area. The merchants and ryots are expected to pay them once a year, the former in money, and the latter in grain at harvest time. Each band recognises a headman, who, with the aid of the caste elders, settles marital and other disputes.

Marriage is usually celebrated after puberty. In the North Arcot district, it is customary for a man to marry his maternal uncle’s daughter, and in the Madura district a man can claim his paternal aunt’s daughter in marriage. The caste is considered so low in the social scale that Brāhmans will not officiate at marriages. Divorce is easy, and adultery with a man of higher caste is condoned more readily than a similar offence within the caste.

Mondolo.—Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as an Oriya title given by Zamindars to the headmen of villages. It is also a title of various Oriya castes.

Mora Būvva.—A sub-division of Mādigas, who offer food (būvva) to the god in a winnowing basket (mora) at marriage.

Morasu.—The following legendary account of the origin of the “Morsu Vellallu” is given in the Baramahal Records.[47] “In the kingdom of Conjiveram, there was a village named Paluru, the residence of a chieftain, who ruled over a small district inhabited by the Morsu Vellallu. It so happened that one of them had a handsome daughter with whom the chieftain fell in love, and demanded her in marriage of her parents. But they would not comply with his demand, urging as an excuse the difference of caste, on which the inflamed lover determined on using force to obtain the object of his desires. This resolution coming to the knowledge of the parents of the girl, they held a consultation with the rest of the sect, and it was determined that for the present they should feign a compliance with his order, until they could meet with a favourable opportunity of quitting the country. They accordingly signified their consent to the matter, and fixed upon the nuptial day, and erected a pandal or temporary building in front of their house for the performance of the wedding ceremonies. At the proper time, the enamoured and enraptured chief sent in great state to the bride’s house the wedding ornaments and clothes of considerable value, with grain and every other delicacy for the entertainment of the guests, The parents, having in concert with the other people of the sect prepared everything for flight, they put the ornaments and clothes on the body of a dog, which they tied to the centre pillar of the pandal, threw all the delicacies on the ground before him, and, taking their daughter, fled. Their flight soon came to the ears of the chief, who, being vexed and mortified at the trick they had played him, set out with his attendants like a raging lion in quest of his prey. The fugitives at length came to the banks of the Tungabhadra river, which they found full and impassable, and their cruel pursuer nigh at hand. In the dreadful dilemma, they addressed to the God Vishnu the following prayer. ‘O! Venkatrāma (a title of Vishnu), if thou wilt graciously deign to enable us to ford this river, and wilt condescend to assist us in crossing the water, as thou didst Hanumant in passing over the vast ocean, we from henceforth will adopt thee and thy ally Hanumant our tutelary deities.’ Vishnu was pleased to grant their prayer, and by his command the water in an instant divided, and left a dry space, over which they passed. The moment they reached the opposite bank, the waters closed and prevented their adversary from pursuing them, who returned to his own country. The sect settled in the provinces near the Tungabhadra river, and in course of time spread over the districts which now form the eastern part of the kingdom of Mysore then called Morsu, and from thence arose their surname.”

As in Africa, and among the American Indians, Australians, and Polynesians, so in Southern India artificial deformity of the hand is produced by chopping off some of the fingers. Writing in 1815, Buchanan (Hamilton)[48] says that “near Deonella or Deonhully, a town in Mysore, is a sect or sub-division of the Murressoo Wocal caste, every woman of which, previous to piercing the ears of her eldest daughter, preparatory to her being betrothed in marriage, must undergo the amputation of the first joints of third and fourth fingers of her right hand. The amputation is performed by the blacksmith of the village, who, having placed the finger in a block, performs the operation with a chisel. If the girl to be betrothed is motherless, and the mother of the boy has not before been subjected to the amputation, it is incumbent on her to suffer the operation.” Of the same ceremony among the “Morsa-Okkala-Makkalu” of Mysore the Abbé Dubois[49] says that, if the bride’s mother be dead, the bridegroom’s mother, or in default of her the mother of the nearest relative, must submit to the cruel ordeal. In an editorial foot-note it is stated that this custom is no longer observed. Instead of the two fingers being amputated, they are now merely bound together, and thus rendered unfit for use. In the Census Report, 1891, it is recorded that this type of deformity is found among the Morasus, chiefly in Cuddapah, North Arcot, and Salem. “There is a sub-section of them called Veralu Icche Kāpulu, or Kāpulu who give the fingers, from a curious custom which requires that, when a grandchild is born in a family, the wife of the eldest son of the grandfather must have the last two joints of the third and fourth fingers of her right hand amputated at a temple of Bhairava.” Further, it is stated in the Manual of the Salem district (1883) that “the practice now observed in this district is that, when a grandchild is born in a family, the eldest son of the grandfather, with his wife, appears at the temple for the ceremony of boring the child’s ear, and there the woman has the last two joints of the third and fourth fingers chopped off. It does not signify whether the father of the first grandchild born be the eldest son or not, as in any case it is the wife of the eldest son who has to undergo the mutilation. After this, when children are born to other sons, their wives in succession undergo the operation. When a child is adopted, the same course is pursued.”