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

by Edgar Thurston

Nāli (bamboo tube).—An exogamous sept of Kuruba.

Nālillakkar (people of the four illams).—A section of Mukkuvans, which is divided into four illams.

Nalke.—The Nalkes or Nalakēyavas are described by Mr. H. A. Stuart[11] as “a caste of mat, basket, and umbrella makers, who furnish the devil-dancers, who play such an important part in the worship of the Tulu people. They have the usual Tulu exogamous sub-divisions or balis. They are generally held to be Holeyas or Pariahs. In Canarese they are called Pānāras,”

Nalke devil-dancer.

“Every village in Canara,” Mr. Stuart writes further,[12] “has its Bhūtasthānam or demon temple, in which the officiating priest or pūjāri is usually a man of the Billava caste, and shrines innumerable are scattered throughout the length and breadth of the land for the propitiation of the malevolent spirits of deceased celebrities, who, in their lifetime, had acquired a more than usual local reputation whether for good or evil, or had met with a sudden or violent death. In addition to these there are demons of the jungle and demons of the waste, demons who guard the village boundaries, and demons whose only apparent vocation is that of playing tricks, such as throwing stones on houses, and causing mischief generally. The demons who guard the village boundaries seem to be the only ones who are credited with even indirectly exercising a useful function. The others merely inspire terror by causing sickness and misfortune, and have to be propitiated by offerings, which often involve the shedding of blood, that of a fowl being most common. There are also family Bhūtas, and in every non-Brāhman house a room, or sometimes only a corner, is set apart for the Bhūta, and called the Bhūtakotya. The Bhūtasthānam is generally a small, plain structure, 4 or 5 yards deep by 2 or 3 yards wide, with a door at one end covered by a portico supported on two pillars. The roof is of thatch, and the building is without windows. In front of it there are usually three or four T-shaped pillars. Flowers are placed, and cocoanuts broken on them at ceremonies. The temples of the more popular Bhūtas are often substantial buildings of considerable size. Inside the Bhūtasthānam there are usually a number of images, roughly made in brass, in human shape, or resembling animals, such as pigs, tigers, fowls, etc. These are brought out and worshipped as symbols of the Bhūtas on various ceremonial occasions.[13] A peculiar small goglet or vase, made of bell-metal, into which from time to time water is poured, is kept before the Bhūtas, and, on special occasions, kepula (Ixora coccinea) flowers, and lights are placed before them. In the larger sthānas a sword is always kept near the Bhūta, to be held by the officiating priest when he stands possessed and trembling with excitement before the people assembled for worship.[14] A bell or gong is also found in all Bhūtasthānams. In the case of Bhūtas connected with temples, there is a place set apart for them, called a gudi. The Bhūtasthānam of the Baiderlu is called a garudi.

“The names of the Bhūtas are legion. One of the most dreaded is named Kalkuti. Two others commonly worshipped by the Bants and the Billavas are Kōti Baidya and Chennaya Baidya, who always have Billava pūjāris. These two Bhūtas are the departed spirits of two Billava heroes. The spirit of Kujumba Kānje, a Bant of renown, belongs to this class of Bhūtas. Amongst the most well known of the others, may be mentioned Kodamanitāya and Mundaltāya, and the jungle demons Hakkerlu and Brahmērlu. The Holeyas worship a Bhūta of their own, who is not recognised by any other class of the people. He goes by the name of Kumberlu, and the place where he is said to reside is called Kumberlu-kotya. Very often a stone of any shape, or a small plank is placed on the ground, or fixed in a wall, and the name of a Bhūta given to it. Other representations of Bhūtas are in the shape of an ox (Mahīsandāya), a horse (Jārāndāya), a pig (Panjurli), or a giant (Baiderlu).

Nalke devil-dancer.

“The Bhūta worship of South Canara is of four kinds, viz., kōla, bandi, nēma, and agelu-tambila. Kōla, or devil dancing, is offered to the Bhūtas in the sthāna of the village in which they are supposed to reside. The Sudras of the village, and of those adjacent to it, assemble near the sthāna, and witness the kōla ceremony in public, sharing the cost of it by subscriptions raised among all the Sudra families in the village in which the ceremony is held. Bandi is the same as kōla, with the addition of dragging about a clumsy kind of car, on which the Pompada priest representing the Bhūta is seated. Nēma is a private ceremony in honour of the Bhūtas, held in the house of anyone who is so inclined. It is performed once in ten, fifteen, or twenty years by well-to-do Billavas or Bants. The expenses of the nēma amount to about Rs. 600 or Rs. 700, and are borne by the master of the house in which the nēma takes place. During the nēma, the Bhūtas, i.e., the things representing them, are brought from the sthāna to the house of the man giving the feast, and remain there till it is over. Agelu-tambila is a kind of worship offered only to the Baiderlu, and that annually by the Billavas only. It will be seen that kōla, bandi, and nēma are applicable to all the Bhūtas, including the Baiderlu, but that the agelu-tambila is applicable only to the Baiderlu.”