Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 6 of 7

by Edgar Thurston

“There is invariably one fetish, and generally there are several fetishes in every Saora house. In some villages, where the sun is the chief deity (and causes most mischief), there are fetishes of the sun god; in another village, fetishes of Jalia, Kitung, etc. I once saw six Jalia fetishes, and three other fetishes in one house. There are also, especially about Kolakotta, Kulba fetishes in houses. The fetish is generally an empty earthen pot, about nine inches in diameter, slung from the roof. The Kudang slings it up. On certain occasions, offerings are made to the deity or Kulba represented by the fetish on the floor underneath it. Rude pictures, too, are sometimes fetishes. The fetish to the sun is generally ornamented with a rude pattern daubed in white on the outside. In the village of Bori in the Vizagapatam Agency, offerings are made to the sun fetish when a member of the household gets pains in the legs or arms, and the fetish is said on such occasion to descend of itself to the floor. Sacrifices are sometimes made inside houses, under the fetishes, sometimes at the door, and blood put on the ground underneath the fetish.”

It is noted by Mr. Ramamurti Pantulu that “the Kittungs are ten in number, and are said to be all brothers. Their names are Bhīma, Rāma, Jodepulu, Pēda, Rung-rung, Tumanna, Garsada, Jaganta, Mutta, and Tete. On some occasions, ten figures of men, representing the Kittungs, are drawn on the walls of a house. Figures of horses and elephants, the sun, moon and stars, are also drawn below them. The Bōya is also represented. When a woman is childless, or when her children die frequently, she takes a vow that the Kittungpurpur ceremony shall be celebrated, if a child is born to her, and grows in a healthy state. If this comes to pass, a young pig is purchased, and marked for sacrifice. It is fattened, and allowed to grow till the child reaches the age of twelve, when the ceremony is performed.

The Madras Museum possesses a series of wooden votive offerings which were found stacked in a structure, which has been described to me as resembling a pigeon-cot. The offerings consisted of a lizard (Varanus), paroquet, monkey, peacock, human figures, dagger, gun, sword, pick-axe, and musical horn. The Savaras would not sell them to the district officer, but parted with them on the understanding that they would be worshipped by the Government.

I gather that, at the sale or transfer of land, the spirits are invoked by the Bōya, and, after the distribution of liquor, the seller or mortgager holds a pīpal (Ficus religiosa) leaf with a lighted wick in it in his hand, while the purchaser or mortgagee holds another leaf without a wick. The latter covers the palm of the former with his leaf, and the terms of the transaction are then announced.

Concerning the performance of sacrifices, Mr. Fawcett writes that “the Saoras say they never practiced human sacrifice. Most Saora sacrifices, which are also feasts, are made to appease deities or Kulbas that have done mischief. I will first notice the few which do not come in this category. (a) The feast to Jalia when mangoes ripen, already mentioned, is one. In a village where the sun, and not Jalia, is the chief deity, this feast is made to the sun. Jalia does not trouble the village, as the Kudung meets him outside it now and then, and sends him away by means of a sacrifice. [Sacrifices and offerings of pigs or fowls, rice, and liquor, are also made at the mahua, hill grain, and red gram festivals.] (b) A small sacrifice, or an offering of food, is made in some places before a child is born. About Kolakotta, when a child is born, a fowl or a pound or so of rice, and a quart of liquor provided by the people of the house, will be taken by the Kudang to the jungle, and the fowl sacrificed to Kanni. Blood, liquor, and rice are left in leaf cups for Kanni, and the rest is eaten. In every paddy field in Kolakotta, when the paddy is sprouting, a sacrifice is made to Sattīra for good crops. A stick of the tree called in Uriya kendhu, about five or six feet long, is stuck in the ground. The upper end is sharpened to a point, on which is impaled a live young pig or a live fowl, and over it an inverted earthen pot daubed over with white rings. If this sacrifice is not made, good crops cannot be expected. [It may be noted that the impaling of live pigs is practiced in the Telugu country.][28] When crops ripen, and before the grain is eaten, sacrifice is made to Lobo (the earth). Lobo Sonnum is the earth deity. If they eat the grain without performing this sacrifice, it will disagree with them, and will not germinate properly when sown again. If crops are good, a goat is killed, if not good, a pig or a fowl. A Kolakotta Saora told me of another sacrifice, which is partly of a propitiatory nature. If a tiger or panther kills a person, the Kudang is called, and he, on the following Sunday, goes through a performance, to prevent a similar fate overtaking others. Two pigs are killed outside the village, and every man, woman, and child is made to walk over the ground whereon the pig’s blood is spilled, and the Kudang gives to each individual some kind of tiger medicine as a charm. The Kudang communicates with the Kulba of the deceased, and learns the whole story of how he met his death. In another part of the Saora country, the above sacrifice is unknown; and, when a person is killed by a tiger or panther, a buffalo is sacrificed to the Kulba of the deceased three months afterwards. The feast is begun before dark, and the buffalo is killed the next morning. No medicine is used. Of sacrifices after injury is felt, and in order to get rid of it, that for rain may be noticed first. The Gōmango, another important man in the village, and the Kudang officiate. A pig and a goat are killed outside the village to Kitung. The blood must flow on the stone. Then liquor and grain are set forth, and a feast is made. About Kolakotta the belief in the active malevolence of Kulbas is more noticeable than in other parts, where deities cause nearly all mischief. Sickness and death are caused by deities or Kulbas, and it is the Kudang who ascertains which particular spirit is in possession of, or has hold of any sick person, and informs him what is to be done in order to drive it away. He divines in this way usually. He places a small earthen saucer, with a little oil and lighted wick in it, in the patient’s hand. With his left hand he holds the patient’s wrist, and with his right drops from a leaf cup grains of rice on to the flame. As each grain drops, he calls out the name of different deities, and Kulbas, and, whichever spirit is being named as a grain catches fire, is that causing the sickness. The Kudang is at once in communication with the deity or Kulba, who informs him what must be done for him, what sacrifice made before he will go away. There is, in some parts of the Saora country, another method by which a Kudang divines the cause of sickness. He holds the patient’s hand for a quarter of an hour or so, and goes off in a trance, in which the deity or Kulba causing the sickness communicates with the Kudang, and says what must be done to appease him. The Kudang is generally, if not always, fasting when engaged in divination. If a deity or Kulba refuses to go away from a sick person, another more powerful deity or Kulba can be induced to turn him out.

A long account of a big sacrifice is given by Mr. Fawcett, of which the following is a summary. The Kudang was a lean individual of about 40 or 45, with a grizzled beard a couple of inches in length. He had a large bunch of feathers in his hair, and the ordinary Saora waist-cloth with a tail before and behind. There were tom-toms with the party. A buffalo was tied up in front of the house, and was to be sacrificed to a deity who had seized on a young boy, and was giving him fever. The boy’s mother came out with some grain, and other necessaries for a feed, in a basket on her head. All started, the father of the boy carrying him, a man dragging the buffalo along, and the Kudang driving it from behind. As they started, the Kudang shouted out some gibberish, apparently addressed to the deity, to whom the sacrifice was to be made. The party halted in the shade of some big trees. They said that the sacrifice was to the road god, who would go away by the path after the sacrifice. Having arrived at the place, the woman set down her basket, the men laid down their axes and the tom-toms, and a fire was lighted. The buffalo was tied up 20 yards off on the path, and began to graze. After a quarter of an hour, the father took the boy in his lap as he sat on the path, and the Kudang’s assistant sat on his left with a tom-tom before him. The Kudang stood before the father on the path, holding a small new earthen pot in his hand. The assistant beat the tom-tom at the rate of 150 beats to the minute. The Kudang held the earthen pot to his mouth, and, looking up to the sun (it was 9 A.M.), shouted some gibberish into it, and then danced round and round without leaving his place, throwing up the pot an inch or so, and catching it with both hands, in perfect time with the tom-tom, while he chanted gibberish for a quarter of an hour. Occasionally, he held the pot up to the sun, as if saluting it, shouted into it, and passed it round the father’s head and then round the boy’s head, every motion in time with the tom-tom. The chant over, he put down the pot, and took up a toy-like bow and arrow. The bow was about two feet long, through which was fixed an arrow with a large head, so that it could be pulled only to a certain extent. The arrow was fastened to the string, so that it could not be detached from the bow. He then stuck a small wax ball on to the point of the arrow head, and, dancing as before, went on with his chant accompanied by the tom-tom. Looking up at the sun, he took aim with the bow, and fired the wax ball at it. He then fired balls of wax, and afterwards other small balls, which the Uriyas present said were medicine of some kind, at the boy’s head, stomach, and legs. As each ball struck him, he cried. The Kudang, still chanting, then went to the buffalo, and fired a wax ball at its head. He came back to where the father was sitting, and, putting down the bow, took up two thin pieces of wood a foot long, an inch wide, and blackened at the ends. The chant ceased for a few moments while he was changing the bow for the pieces of wood, but, when he had them in his hands, he went on again with it, dancing round as before, and striking the two pieces of wood together in time. This lasted about five minutes, and, in the middle of the dance, he put an umbrella-like shade on his head. The dance over, he went to the buffalo, and stroked it all over with the two pieces of wood, first on the head, then on the body and rump, and the chant ceased. He then sat in front of the boy, put a handful of common herbs into the earthen pot, and poured some water into it. Chanting, he bathed the boy’s head with the herbs and water, the father’s head, the boy’s head again, and then the buffalo’s head, smearing them with the herbs. He blew into one ear of the boy, and then into the other. The chant ceased, and he sat on the path. The boy’s father got up, and, carrying the boy, seated him on the ground. Then, with an axe, which was touched by the sick boy, he went up to the buffalo, and with a blow almost buried the head of the axe in the buffalo’s neck. He screwed the axe about until he disengaged it, and dealt a second and a third blow in the same place, and the buffalo fell on its side. When it fell, the boy’s father walked away. As the first blow was given, the Kudang started up very excited as if suddenly much overcome, holding his arms slightly raised before him, and staggered about. His assistant rushed at him, and held him round the body, while he struggled violently as if striving to get to the bleeding buffalo. He continued struggling while the boy’s father made his three blows on the buffalo’s neck. The father brought him some of the blood in a leaf cup, which he greedily drank, and was at once quiet. Some water was then given him, and he seemed to be all right. After a minute or so, he sat on the path with the tom-tom before him, and, beating it, chanted as before. The boy’s father returned to the buffalo, and, with a few more whacks at it, stopped its struggles. Some two or three men joined him, and, with their axes and swords, soon had the buffalo in pieces. All present, except the Kudang, had a good feed, during which the tom-tom ceased. After the feed, Kudang went at it again, and kept it up at intervals for a couple of hours. He once went for 25 minutes at 156 beats to the minute without ceasing.

A variant of the ceremonial here described has been given to me by Mr. G. F. Paddison from the Gunapur hills. A buffalo is tied up to the door of the house, where the sick person resides. Herbs and rice in small platters, and a little brass vessel containing toddy, balls of rice, flowers, and medicine, are brought with a bow and arrow. The arrow is thicker at the basal end than towards the tip. The narrow part goes, when shot, through a hole in the bow, too small to allow of passage of the rest of the arrow. The Bēju (wise woman) pours toddy over the herbs and rice, and daubs the sick person over the forehead, breasts, stomach, and back. She croons out a long incantation to the goddess, stopping at intervals to call out “Daru,” to attract her attention. She then takes the bow and arrow, and shoots into the air. She then stands behind the kneeling patient, and shoots balls of medicine stuck on the tip of the arrow at her. The construction of the arrow is such that the balls are dislodged from the tip of the arrow. The patient is thus shot at all over the body, which is bruised by the impact of the balls. Afterwards the Bēju shoots one or two balls at the buffalo, which is taken to a path forming the village boundary, and killed with a tangi (axe). The patient is then daubed with blood of the buffalo, rice and toddy. A feast concludes the ceremonial.

The following account of a sacrifice to Rathu, who had given fever to the sister of the celebrant Kudang, is given by Mr. Fawcett. “The Kudang was squatting, facing west, his fingers in his ears, and chanting gibberish with continued side-shaking of his head. About two feet in front of him was an apparatus made of split bamboo. A young pig had been killed over it, so that the blood was received in a little leaf cup, and sprinkled over the bamboo work. The Kudang never ceased his chant for an hour and a half. While he was chanting, some eight Saoras were cooking the pig with some grain, and having a good feed. Between the bamboo structure and the Kudang were three little leaf cups, containing portions of the food for Rathu. A share of the food was kept for the Kudang, who when he had finished his chant, got up and ate it. Another performance, for which some dried meat of a buffalo that had been sacrificed a month previously was used, I saw on the same day. Three men, a boy, and a baby, were sitting in the jungle. The men were preparing food, and said that they were about to do some reverence to the sun, who had caused fever to some one. Portions of the food were to be set out in leaf cups for the sun deity.”

It is recorded by Mr. Ramamurti Pantulu that, when children are seriously ill and become emaciated, offerings are made to monkeys and blood-suckers (lizards), not in the belief that illness is caused by them, but because the sick child, in its emaciated state, resembles an attenuated figure of these animals. Accordingly, a blood-sucker is captured, small toy arrows are tied round its body, and a piece of cloth is tied on its head. Some drops of liquor are then poured into its mouth, and it is set at liberty. In negotiating with a monkey, some rice and other articles of food are placed in small baskets, called tanurjal, which are suspended from branches of trees in the jungle. The Savaras frequently attend the markets or fairs held in the plains at the foot of the ghāts to purchase salt and other luxuries. If a Savara is taken ill at the market or on his return thence, he attributes the illness to a spirit of the market called Biradi Sonum. The bulls, which carry the goods of the Hindu merchants to the market, are supposed to convey this spirit. In propitiating it, the Savara makes an image of a bull in straw, and, taking it out of his village, leaves it on the foot-path after a pig has been sacrificed to it.

“Each group of Savaras,” Mr. Ramamurti writes, “is under the government of two chiefs, one of whom is the Gōmong (or great man) and the other, his colleague in council, is the Bōya, who not only discharges, in conjunction with the Gōmong, the duties of magistrate, but also holds the office of high priest. The offices of these two functionaries are hereditary, and the rule of primogeniture regulates succession, subject to the principle that incapable individuals should be excluded. The presence of these two officers is absolutely necessary on occasions of marriages and funerals, as well as at harvest festivals. Sales and mortgages of land and liquor-yielding trees, partition and other dispositions of property, and divorces are effected in the council of village elders, presided over by the Gōmong and Bōya, by means of long and tedious proceedings involving various religious ceremonies. All cases of a civil and criminal nature are heard and disposed of by them. Fines are imposed as a punishment for all sorts of offences. These invariably consist of liquor and cattle, the quantity of liquor and the number of animals varying according to the nature of the offence. The murder of a woman is considered more heinous than the murder of a man, as woman, being capable of multiplying the race, is the more useful. A thief, while in the act of stealing, may be shot dead. It is always the man, and not the woman, that is punished for adultery. Oaths are administered, and ordeals prescribed. Until forty or fifty years ago, it is said that the Savara magistrate had jurisdiction in murder cases. He was the highest tribunal in the village, the only arbitrator in all transactions among the villagers. And, if any differences arose between his men and the inhabitants of a neighbouring village, for settling which it was necessary that a battle should be fought, the Gōmong became the commander, and, leading his men, contested the cause with all his might. These officers, though discharging such onerous and responsible duties, are regarded as in no special degree superior to others in social position. They enjoy no special privileges, and receive no fees from the suitors who come up to their court. Except on occasions of public festivals, over which they preside, they are content to hold equal rank with the other elders of the village. Each cultivates his field, and builds his house. His wife brings home fuel and water, and cooks for his family; his son watches his cattle and crops. The English officials and the Bissoyis have, however, accorded to these Savara officers some distinction. When the Governor’s Agent, during his annual tour, invites the Savara elders to bhēti (visit), they make presents of a fowl, sheep, eggs, or a basket of rice, and receive cloths, necklaces, etc. The Bissoyis exempt them from personal service, which is demanded from all others.” At the Sankaranthi festival, the Savaras bring loads of firewood, yams (Dioscorea tubers), pumpkins, etc., as presents for the Bissoyi, and receive presents from him in return.