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

by Edgar Thurston

The Urālis are familiar with the Badagas, who have a settlement not many miles distant; the Todas, who occasionally migrate across the adjacent Nīlgiri frontier in search of grazing land for their buffaloes; and the Kurumbas and Irulas, who inhabit the lower slopes of the Nīlgiris, which run down to Coimbatore. With the civilised world they are acquainted, as they carry loads to the plains, and run down to market at the town of Sathyamangalam, which is only seventeen miles distant from Dimbhum. Like the Nīlgiri Badagas, they are clad in turban, and long flowing body-cloth, white (when new), or striped with red and blue. The hair is worn long and unkempt, or shaved á la Hindu with kudimi in mimicry of the more civilised classes. A man was introduced to us as an expert mimic of the note of the paroquet, peacock, jungle-fowl and other forest birds; and a small party improvised, in front of the bungalow, a bird trap cleverly constructed out of stones, an iron plate from the camp kitchen, bamboo, and rope made on the spot from the bark of Ficus Tsiela. The making of fire with flint and steel is fast disappearing in favour of safety matches.

The Urālis say that they are men of seven kulams (i.e., having seven posts to the marriage booth), and are children of Billayya, while they describe the Shōlagas as men of five kulams and children of Karayya. They call themselves Urālis or Irulas, and, when questioned, say that, as Billayya and Karayya are brothers, they may also be called Shōlagas. But there is no intermarriage between Urālis and Shōlagas, though members of the two tribes sometimes interdine. According to another legend, the Urālis and Shōlagas are both descended from Karayan, and the Sivachāris (Lingāyats) from Billaya or Mādhēswaram (see Shōlaga). They speak a patois of mixed Tamil and Canarese, and have a number of exogamous septs, the meaning of the names of which is not clear. They indulge in a large repertoire of nicknames, for the most part of a personal nature, such as donkey-legged, big-navelled, pot-bellied, hare-lipped, hairy like a bear or the tail of a mungoose, toothless, lying, brought up on butter-milk. One man was named Kothē Kallan (kotha, a stone), because he was born on a rock near Kotagiri.

Urāli.

The majority of the tribe earn a modest livelihood by collecting minor forest produce, such as myrabolams, wax and honey, and poles for use as primitive breaks for country carts during the ascent of the ghāt road. These poles are tied to the carts by ropes, and trail behind on the ground, so that, when the cart stops, the backward course of the wheels is arrested. Some till the soil, and cultivate various kinds of food-grains. Others are sheep and cattle owners. A few families possess land, which is given free of rent by the Forest Department, on condition that they work for the department whenever their services are required. As a class they are not inclined to do hard work, and they appear to get into the clutches of money-lending Chettis. Their staple food is rāgi (Eleusine Coracana). But they eat also sheep, fowls, goat, deer, pigeons and doves, black monkeys, wild boar, hare, hedgehogs, paroquets, quails and partridges, jungle-fowl, woodcock, woodpeckers, and other denizens of the jungle. A man who was asked whether they eat beef, cats, toads, bears, or white monkeys, expectorated violently at the mention of each, and the suggestion of the first three produced the most explosive oral demonstration.

Tribal disputes are referred to a headman, called Yejamana, who must belong to the exogamous sept called Sambē, and whose appointment is an hereditary one. To assist him, three others, belonging to the Kalkatti, Kolkara and Kurinanga septs, whose hereditary titles are Pattagara, Gouda and Kolkara, are appointed. The Kolkara has to invite people to the panchāyat (tribal council), collect the fines inflicted, and be present on the occasion of marriages. A woman who, after marriage, refuses to live with her husband, is punished thus. She is tied to a tree, and the Kolkaran empties the contents of a hornet or wasp’s nest at her feet. After a few minutes the woman is questioned, and, if she agrees to live with her husband, she must, in token of assent, lick a mark made on his back by the Kolkara with fowl’s excrement, saying “You are my husband. In future I shall not quarrel with you, and will obey you.” Even after this ordeal has been gone through, a woman may, on payment of a fine, leave her husband in favour of another man of the tribe.

When a girl reaches puberty, she is anointed, decorated with jewelry, and made to occupy a separate hut for seven days, during which time two young girls keep her company. On the eighth day, all three bathe in a pond or stream, and return in their wet clothes to the girl’s home, where they sit on a pestle placed in front of the door. A plantain leaf is then placed in front of them, on which cooked rice and curry are spread. A child, aged about eight or nine months, is set in the girl’s lap, and she feeds the infant with a small quantity of rice, of which she herself swallows a few mouthfuls. Those assembled then sit down to a meal, at the conclusion of which they wash their hands in a dish, and the girl throws the water away. The feast concluded, the spot is sprinkled with cowdung water, and cleaned up by the girl.

Marriage is either infant or adult, but, as a rule, the latter. The match-making is carried out by the boy’s parents, who, with his other relations, pay two visits, one with and one without the boy, to the parents of the girl. At the first visit a present of rāgi, and at the second of plantains, rice, and millet pudding is made. The party must be received with due respect, which is shown by taking hold of the walking-sticks of the guests on arrival, and receiving them on a mat spread inside the house. The customary form of salute is touching the feet with both hands, and raising them, with palms opposed, to the forehead. Before taking their seats, the guests salute a vessel of water, which is placed on the mat, surrounded by betel leaves and nuts. A flower is placed on the top of the stone or figure which represents the tribal goddess, and, after pūja (worship) has been done to it, it is addressed in the words “Oh, Swāmi! drop the flower to the right if the marriage is going to be propitious, and to the left if otherwise.” Should the flower remain on the image, without falling either way, it is greeted as a very happy omen. On the occasion of the betrothal ceremony, if the bridegroom’s party, on their way to the bride’s village, have to cross a stream, running or dry, the bridegroom is not allowed to walk across it, but must be carried over on the back of his maternal uncle. As they approach the bride’s home, they are met by the Kolkara and two other men, to whom the Kolkara, after receiving the walking-sticks of the guests, hands them over. Failure to do so would be an act of discourtesy, and regarded as an insult to be wiped out by a heavy fine. When the procession arrives at the house, entrance into the marriage booth is prevented by a stick held across it by people of the bride’s village. A mock struggle takes place, during which turmeric water is thrown by both sides, and an entrance into the house is finally effected. After a meal has been partaken of, the bridal party proceed to the village of the bridegroom, where the bride and bridegroom are lodged in separate houses. In front of the bridegroom’s house a booth, supported by twelve posts arranged in four rows, has been erected. The two pillars nearest the entrance to the house are called murthi kamba. Into the holes made for the reception of these, after a cocoanut has been broken, ghī (clarified butter), milk, and a few copper coins are placed. The bridal pair, after an oil bath, are led to the booth, decorated with jewels and wearing new cloths, and made to sit on a plank. A cocoanut is broken, and they salute a vessel placed on a plate. The bridal party then adjourn to a pond or stream, and do pūja to their god. On the return thence the bridal couple must be accompanied by their maternal uncles, who should keep on dancing, while cocoanuts are broken in front of them till the house is reached. The contracting parties then again sit on the plank with their little fingers linked, while the bride money (theravu) is paid to the father-in-law, and the milk money (pāl kuli) to the mother-in-law. The tāli (a golden disc) is then tied on to the bride’s neck by some female relation of the bridegroom, and the bride and bridegroom, after saluting those assembled, enter the house, where the young wife is at once told to cook some rice, of which she and her husband partake from the same leaf plate.

There exists, among the Urālis, a kind of informal union called kuduvali. A man and woman will, by mutual agreement, elope into the jungle, and live there together, till they are discovered and brought back by their relations. A panchāyat (council) is held, and they are recognised as man and wife if the bride money and fine inflicted are paid. Failure to pay up would render them liable to excommunication. To celebrate the event, a feast must be given by the man; and, if he should die without having fed the community, any children born to him are considered as illegitimate. In such a case, the widow or her near relatives are asked to give food to at least a few before the corpse is removed, so as to legitimatise the children.

The Urālis bury their dead, and the death ceremonies are, to a certain extent, copied from those of the Badagas. As soon as a member of the tribe dies, the corpse is anointed, washed, and dressed in new clothes and turban. On the face three silver coins are stuck, viz.:—a rupee on the forehead, and a quarter rupee outside each eye. When all have assembled for the funeral, the corpse is brought out and placed under a car (tēru) of six storeys, made of bamboo and sticks, covered with coloured cloths and flags, and having at the top a kalasa (brass vessel) and umbrella. To the accompaniment of a band a dance takes place around the car, and the procession then moves on to the burial-ground, where a cow buffalo is brought near the car, and a little milk drawn and poured three times into the mouth of the corpse. A cow and one or two calves are taken round the car, and the calves presented to the sister of the deceased. The car is then broken up, after the decorations have been stripped off. The corpse is buried either on the spot, or taken away to distant Nīrgundi, and buried there. On the eighth day after the funeral or return from Nīrgundi, the eldest son of the deceased has his head shaved, and, together with his brother’s wife, fasts. If the funeral has been at Nīrgundi, the son, accompanied by his relations, proceeds thither after tying some cooked rice in a cloth. On arrival, he offers this to all the memorial stones in the burial-ground (goppamane), and erects a stone, which he has brought with him, in memory of the deceased. He then anoints all the stones with ghī, which is contained in a green bamboo measure. He collects the rice, which has been offered, and one of the party, becoming inspired, gives vent to oracular declarations as to the season’s prospects, the future of the bereaved family, etc. The collected rice is regarded as sacred, and is partaken of by all. Each sept has its own goppamane, which is a rectangular space with mud walls on three sides. In cases in which the corpse has been buried close to the village, the grave is marked by a file of stones. Two or three years afterwards, the body is exhumed, and the bones are collected, and placed in front of the house of the deceased. All the relations weep, and the son conveys the bones to Nīrgundi, where he buries them. On the eighth day he revisits the spot, and erects a stone with the ceremonial already described.