Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Holeya
Holeya. — The bulk of the Holeyas are, in the Madras Presidency, found in South Canara, but there are a considerable number in Coimbatore and on the Nīlgiris (working on cinchona, tea, and coffee estates). In the Manual of the South Canara district it is noted that "Holeyas are the field labourers, and former agrestic serfs of South Canara, Pulayan being the Malayālam and Paraiyan the Tamil form of the same word. The name is derived by Brāhmins from holē, pollution, and by others from hola, land or soil, in recognition of the fact that, as in the case of the Paraiyan, there are customs remaining which seem to indicate that the Holeyas were once masters of the land; but, whatever the derivation may be, it is no doubt the same as that of Paraiyan and Pulayan. The Holeyas are divided into many sub-divisions, but the most important are Māri, Mēra, and Mundala or Bākuda. The Mēra Holeyas are the most numerous, and they follow the ordinary law of inheritance through males, as far as that can be said to be possible with a class of people who have absolutely nothing to inherit. Of course, demon propitiation (bhūta worship) is practically the exclusive idea of the Holeyas, and every one of the above sub-divisions has four or five demons to which fowls, beaten rice, cocoanuts and toddy, are offered monthly and annually. The Holeyas have, like other classes of South Canara, a number of balls (exogamous septs), and persons of the same ball cannot intermarry. Though the marriage tie is as loose as is usual among the depressed and low castes of Southern India, their marriage ceremony is somewhat elaborate. The bridegroom's party goes to the bride's house on a fixed day with rice, betel leaf and a few areca nuts, and waits the whole night outside the bride's hut, the bridegroom being seated on a mat specially made by the bride. On the next morning the bride is made to sit opposite the bridegroom, with a winnowing fan between them filled with betel leaf, etc. Meanwhile the men and women present throw rice over the heads of the couple. The bride then accompanies the bridegroom to his hut, carrying the mat with her. On the last day the couple take the mat to a river or tank where fish may be found, dip the mat into the water, and catch some fish, which they let go after kissing them. A grand feast completes the marriage. Divorce is easy, and widow marriage is freely practiced. Holeyas will eat flesh including beef, and have no caste scruples regarding the consumption of spirituous liquor. Both men and women wear a small cap made of the leaf of the areca palm." The Holeyas who were interviewed by us all said that they do not go through the ceremony of catching fish, which is performed by Shivalli Brāhmans and Akkasāles.
"All Tulu Brāhmin chronicles," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes *[1] " agree in ascribing the creation of Malabar and Canara, or Kērala, Tuluva, and Haiga to Parasu Rāma, who reclaimed from the sea as much land as he could cover by hurling his battle-axe from the top of the Western Ghauts. A modified form of the tradition states that Parasu Rāma gave the newly reclaimed land to Nāga and Machi Brāhmins, who were not true Brāhmins, and were turned out or destroyed by fishermen and Holeyas, who held the country till the Tulu Brāhmins were introduced by Mayūr Varma (of the Kadamba dynasty). All traditions unite in attributing the introduction of the Tulu Brāhmins of the present day to Mayūr Varma, but they vary in details connected with the manner in which they obtained a firm footing in the land. One account says that Habāshika, chief of the Koragas, drove out Mayūr Varma, but was in turn expelled by Mayūr Varma's son, or son-in-law, Lōkāditya of Gōkarnam, who brought Brāhmins from Ahi-Kshētra, and settled them in thirty-two villages. Another makes Mayūr Varma himself the invader of the country, which till then had remained in the possession of the Holeyas and fishermen who had turned out Parasu Rāma's Brāhmins. Mayūr Varma and the Brāhmins whom he had brought from Ahi-Kshētra were again driven out by Nanda, a Holeya chief, whose son Chandra Sayana had, however, learned respect for Brāhmins from his mother, who had been a dancing-girl in a temple. H is admiration for them became so great that he not only brought back the Brāhmins, but actually made over all his authority to them, and reduced his people to the position of slaves. A third account makes Chandra Sayana, not a son of a Holeya king, but a descendant of Mayūr Varma and a conqueror of the Holeya king."
In Coorg, the Rev. G. Richter writes, *[2] " the Holeyas are found in the Coorg houses all over the country, and do all the menial work for the Coorgs, by whom, though theoretically freemen under the British Government, they were held as glebœ adscripti in a state of abject servitude until lately, when, with the advent of European planters, the slave question was freely discussed, and the 'domestic institution' practically abolished. The Holeyas dress indifferently, are of dirty habits, and eat whatever they can get, beef included. Their worship is addressed to Eiyappa Dēvaru and Chāmundi, or Kāli goddess once every month; and once every year they sacrifice a hog or a fowl."
Of the Holeyas of the Mysore province, the following account is given in the Mysore Census Reports, 1891 and 1901. "The Holeyas number 502,493 persons, being 10.53 per cent, of the total population. They constitute, as their name implies, the back-bone of cultivation in the country. Hola is the Kanarese name for a dry-crop field, and Holeya means the man of such field. The caste has numerous sub-divisions, among which are Kannada, Gangadikāra, Maggada (loom), and Morasu. The Holeyas are chiefly employed as labourers in connection with agriculture, and manufacture with hand-looms various kinds of coarse cloth or home-spun, which are worn extensively by the poorer classes, notwithstanding that they are being fast supplanted by foreign cheap fabrics. In some parts of the Mysore district, considerable numbers of the Holeyas are specially engaged in betel-vine gardening. As labourers they are employed in innumerable pursuits, in which manual labour preponderates. The Alēman sub-division furnishes recruits as Barr sepoys. It may not be amiss to quote here some interesting facts denoting the measure of material well-being achieved by, and the religious recognition accorded to the outcastes at certain first-class shrines in Mysore. At Mēlkōte in the Mysore district, the outcastes, i.e., the Holeyas and Mādigs, are said to have been granted by the great Visishtādvaita reformer, Rāmānujāchārya, the privilege of entering the Vishnu temple up to the sanctum sanctorum, along with Brāhmans and others, to perform worship there for three days during the annual car procession. The following anecdote, recorded by Buchanan,*[3] supplies the raison d'étre for the concession, which is said to have also been earned by their forebears having guarded the sacred mūrti or idol. On Rāmānujāchārya going to Melkōta to perform his devotions at that celebrated shrine, he was informed that the place had been attacked by the Turk King of Delhi, who had carried away the idol. The Brāhman immediately set out for that capital, and on arrival found that the King had made a present of the image to his daughter, for it is said to be very handsome, and she asked for it as a plaything. All day the princess played with the image, and at night the god assumed his own beautiful form, and enjoyed her bed, for Krishna is addicted to such forms of adventures. Rāmānujāchārya, by virtue of certain mantras, obtained possession of the image, and wished to carry it off. He asked the Brāhmans to assist him, but they refused; on which the Holeyas volunteered, provided the right of entering the temple was granted to them. Rāmānujāchārya accepted their proposal, and the Holeyas, having posted themselves between Delhi and Mēlkōta, the image of the god was carried down in twenty-four hours. The service also won for the outcastes the envied title of Tiru-kulam or the sacred race. In 1799, however, when the Dewān (prime minister) Pūrnaiya visited the holy place, the right of the outcastes to enter the temple was stopped at the dhvaja stambham, the consecrated monolithic column, from which point alone can they now obtain a view of the god. On the day of the car procession, the Tiru-kulam people, men, women and children, shave their heads and bathe with the higher castes in the kalyāni or large reservoir, and carry on their head small earthen vessels filled with rice and oil, and enter the temple as far as the flagstaff referred to above, where they deliver their offerings, which are appropriated by the Dāsayyas, who resort simultaneously as pilgrims to the shrine. Besides the privilege of entering the temple, the Tiru-kula Holeyas and Mādigs have the right to drag the car, for which service they are requited by getting from the temple two hundred seers of rāgi (grain), a quantity of jaggery (crude sugar), and few bits of the dyed cloth used for decorating the pandal (shed) which is erected for the procession. At the close of the procession, the representatives of the aforesaid classes receive each a flower garland at the hands of the Sthānik or chief worshipper, who manages to drop a garland synchronously into each plate held by the recipients, so as to avoid any suspicion of undue preference. In return for these privileges, the members of the Tiru-kulam used to render gratuitous services such as sweeping the streets round the temple daily, and in the night patrolling the whole place with drums during the continuance of the annual procession, etc. But these services are said to have become much abridged and nearly obsolete under the recent police and municipal régime. The privilege of entering the temple during the annual car procession is enjoyed also by the outcastes in the Vishnu temple at Bēlūr in the Hassan district. It is, however, significant that in both the shrines, as soon as the car festival is over, i.e., on the 10th day, the concession ceases, and the temples are ceremonially purified.
"In the pre-survey period, the Holeya or Mādig Kulvādi, in the maidān or eastern division, was so closely identified with the soil that his oath, accompanied by certain formalities and awe-inspiring solemnities, was considered to give the coup de gráce to long existing and vexatious boundary disputes. He had a potential voice in the internal economy of the village, and was often the fidus Achates of the patel (village official). In the malnād, however, the Holeya had degenerated into the agrestic slave, and till a few decades ago under the British rule, not only as regards his property, but also with regard to his body, he was not his own master. The vargdār or landholder owned him as a hereditary slave. The genius of British rule has emancipated him, and his enfranchisement has been emphasized by the allurements of the coffee industry with its free labour and higher wages. It is, however, said that the improvement so far of the status of the outcastes in the malnād has not been an unmixed good, inasmuch as it is likewise a measure of the decadence of the supāri (betel) gardens. Be that as it may, the Holeya in the far west of the province still continues in many respects the bondsman of the local landholder of influence; and some of the social customs now prevailing among the Holeyas there, as described hereunder, fully bear out this fact.
"In most of the purely malnād or hilly taluks, each vargdār, or proprietor of landed estate, owns a set of servants called Huttālu or Huttu-Ālu and Mannālu or Mannu-Ālu. The former is the hereditary servitor of the family, born in servitude, and performing agricultural work for the landholder from father to son. The Mannālu is a serf attached to the soil, and changes with it. These are usually of the Holeya class, but in some places men of the Hasalar race have been entertained. To some estates or vargs only Huttu-ālūs are attached, while Mannu-ālūs work on others. Notwithstanding the measure of personal freedom enjoyed by all men at the present time, and the unification of the land tenures in the province under the revenue survey and settlement, the traditions of birth, immemorial custom, ignorance, and never-to-be-paid-off loads of debt, tend to preserve in greater or less integrity the conditions of semi-slavery under which these agrestic slaves live. It is locally considered the acme of unwisdom to loosen the immemorial relations between capital and labour, especially in the remote backwoods, in which free labour does not exist, and the rich supāri cultivation whereof would be ruined otherwise. In order furthermore to rivet the ties which bind these hereditary labourers to the soil, it is alleged that the local capitalists have improvised a kind of Gretna Green marriage among them. A legal marriage of the orthodox type contains the risk of a female servant being lost to the family in case the husband happened not to be a Huttālu or Mannālu. So, in order to obviate the possible loss, a custom prevails according to which a female Huttālu or Mannālu is espoused in what is locally known as the manikattu form, which is neither more nor less than licensed concubinage. She may be given up after a time, subject to a small fine to the caste, and anybody else may then espouse her on like conditions. Not only does she then remain in the family, but her children will also become the landlord's servants. These people are paid with a daily supply of paddy or cooked food, and a yearly present of clothing and blankets (kamblis). On special occasions, and at car feasts, they receive in addition small money allowances.
"In rural circles, in which the Holeyas and Mādigs are kept at arm's length by the Brāmanical bodies, and are not allowed to approach the sacerdotal classes beyond a fixed limit, the outcastes maintain a strict semi-religious rule, whereby no Brāhman can enter the Holeya's quarters without necessitating a purification thereof. They believe that the direst calamities will befall them and theirs if otherwise. The ultraconservative spirit of Hindu priestcraft casts into the far distance the realization of the hope that the lower castes will become socially equal even with the classes usually termed Sūdras. But the time is looming in the near distance, in which they will be on a level in temporal prosperity with the social organisms above them. Unlike the land tenures said to prevail in Chingleput or Madras, the Mysore system fully permits the Holeyas and Mādigs to hold land in their own right, and as sub-tenants they are to be found almost everywhere. The highest amount of land assessment paid by a single Holeya is Rs. 279 in the Bangalore district, and the lowest six pies in the Kolar and Mysore districts. The quota paid by the outcastes towards the land revenue of the country aggregates no less than three lakhs of rupees, more than two-thirds being paid by the Holeyas, and the remainder by the Mādigs. These facts speak for themselves, and afford a reliable index to the comparative well-being of these people. Instances may also be readily quoted, in which individual Holeyas, etc., have risen to be money-lenders, and enjoy comparative affluence. Coffee cultivation and allied industries have thrown much good fortune into their lap. Here and there they have also established bhajanē or prayer houses, in which theistic prayers and psalms are recited by periodical congregation. A beginning has been made towards placing the facilities of education within easy reach of these depressed classes."
In connection with the Holeyas of South Canara, it is recorded *[4] that "the ordinary agricultural labourers of this district are Holeyas or Pariahs of two classes, known as Mūlada Holeyas and Sālada Holeyas, the former being the old hereditary serfs attached to Mūli wargs (estates), and the latter labourers bound to their masters' service by being in debt to them. Nowadays, however, there is a little difference between the two classes. Neither are much given to changing masters, and, though a Mūlada Holeya is no longer a slave, he is usually as much in debt as a Sālada Holeya, and can only change when his new master takes the debt over. To these labourers cash payments are unknown, except occasionally in the case of Sālada Holeyas, where there is a nominal annual payment to be set off against interest on the debt. In other cases interest is foregone, one or other of the perquisites being sometimes docked as an equivalent. The grain wage consists of rice or paddy (unhusked rice), and the local seer is, on the average, as nearly as possible one of 80 tolas. The daily rice payments to men, women, and children vary as follows: — Men. . from 1 seer to 2 seers.Women . . ⅔ seer to 2 ,Children . ⅜ seer to 1 seer.
"In addition to the daily wages, and the midday meal of boiled rice which Is given in almost all parts, there are annual perquisites or privileges. Except on the coast of the Mangalore tāluk and in the Coondapoor tāluk, every Holeya is allowed rent free from ⅛ to ⅓ acre of land, and one or two cocoanut or palmyra trees, with sometimes a jack or mango tree in addition. The money-value of the produce of this little allotment is variously estimated at from 1 to 5 rupees per annum. Throughout the whole district, cloths are given every year to each labourer, the money value being estimated at i rupee per adult, and 6 annas for a child. It is also customary to give a cumbly (blanket) in the neighbourhood of the ghauts, where the damp and cold render a warm covering necessary. On three or four important festivals, presents of rice and other eatables, oil and salt are given to each labourer, or, in some cases, to each family. The average value of these may be taken at 1 rupee per labourer, or Rs. 4 per family. Presents are also made on the occasion of a birth, marriage, or funeral, the value of which varies very much in individual cases. Whole families of Holeyas are attached to the farms, but, when their master does not require their services, he expects them to go and work elsewhere in places where such work is to be got. In the interior, outside work is not to be had at many seasons, and the master has to pay them even if there is not much for them to do, but, one way or another, he usually manages to keep them pretty well employed all the year round."
In a note on the Kulwādis, Kulvādis or Chalavādis of the Hassan district in Mysore, Captain J. S. F.Mackenzie writes *[5] that " every village has its Holigiri — as the quarter inhabited by the Hollars is called — outside the village boundary hedge. This, I thought, was because they are considered an impure race, whose touch carries defilement with it. Such is the reason generally given by the Brāhman, who refuses to receive anything directly from the hands of a Holiar, and yet the Brāhmans consider great luck will wait upon them if they can manage to pass through the Holigiri without being molested. To this the Holiars have a strong objection, and, should a Brāhman attempt to enter their quarters, they turn out in a body and slipper him, in former times it is said to death. Members of the other castes may come as far as the door, but they must not enter the house, for that would bring the Holiar bad luck. If, by chance, a person happens to get in, the owner takes care to tear the intruder's cloth, tie up some salt in one corner of it, and turn him out. This is supposed to neutralize all the good luck which might have accrued to the trespasser, and avert any evil which might have befallen the owner of the house. All the thousand-and- one castes, whose members find a home in the village, unhesitatingly admit that the Kulwādi is de jure the rightful owner of the village. He who was is still, in a limited sense, ' lord of the village manor.' If there is a dispute as to the village boundaries, the Kulwādi is the only one competent to take the oath as to how the boundary ought to run. The old custom for settling such disputes was as follows. The Kulwādi, carrying on his head a ball made of the village earth, in the centre of which is placed some water, passes along the boundary. If he has kept the proper line, everything goes well; but should he, by accident, even go beyond his own proper boundary, then the ball of earth, of its own accord, goes to pieces, the Kulwādi dies within fifteen days, and his house becomes a ruin. Such is the popular belief. Again, the skins of all animals dying within the village boundaries are the property of the Kulwādi, and a good income he makes from this source. To this day a village boundary dispute is often decided by this one fact. If the Kulwādis agree, the other inhabitants of the villages can say no more. When — in our forefathers' days, as the natives say — a village was first established, a stone called ' karu kallu ' is set up. To this stone the Patel once a year makes an offering. The Kulwādi, after the ceremony is over, is entitled to carry off the rice, etc., offered. In cases where there is no Patel, the Kulwādi goes through the yearly ceremony. But what I think proves strongly that the Holia was the first to take possession of the soil is that the Kulwādi receives, and is entitled to receive, from the friends of any person who dies in the village, a certain fee or as my informant forcibly put it, 'They buy from him the ground for the dead.' This fee is still called in Canarese nela hāga, from nela earth, and hāga, a coin worth 1 anna 2 pies. In Munzerabad the Kulwādi does not receive this fee from those ryots who are related to the headman. Here the Kulwādi occupies a higher position. He has, in fact, been adopted into the Patel's family, for, on a death occurring in such family, the Kulwādi goes into mourning by shaving his head. He always receives from the friends the clothes the deceased wore, and a brass basin. The Kulwādi, however, owns a superior in the matter of burial fees. He pays yearly a fowl, one hana (4 annas 8 pies), and a handful of rice to the agent of the Sudgādu Siddha, or lord of the burning ground (q.v.)."
A Kulwādi, whom I came across, was carrying a brass ladle bearing the figure of a couchant bull (Basava) and a lingam under a many-headed cobra canopy. This ladle is carried round, and filled with rice, money, and betel, on the occasion of marriages in those castes, of which the insignia are engraved on the handle. These insignia were as follows: —
- Weavers — Shuttle and brush.
- Bestha — Fish.
- Uppāra — Spade and basket for collecting salt.
- Korama — Baskets and knife for splitting canes and bamboos.
- Īdiga — Knife, and apparatus for climbing palm-trees,
- Hajām — Barber's scissors, razor, and sharpening
- Gāniga — Oil-press.
- Madavāli — Washerman's pot, fire-place, mallet, and stone.
- Kumbāra — Potter's wheel, pots, and mallet.
- Vakkaliga — Plough,
- Chetti — Scales and basket.
- Kuruba — Sheep-shears.
A small whistle, called kola-singanātha, made of gold, silver, or copper, is tied round the neck of some Holeyas, Vakkaligas, Besthas, Agasas and Kurubas, by means of threads of sheep's wool intertwined sixteen times. All these castes are supposed to belong to the family of the God Bhaira, in whose name the whistle is tied by a Bairāgi at Chunchingiri near Nāgamangala. It is usually tied in fulfilment of a vow taken by the parents, and the ceremony costs from a hundred to two hundred rupees. Until the vow is fulfilled, the person concerned cannot marry. At the ceremony, the Bairāgi bores a hole in the right ear-lobe of the celebrant with a needle called diksha churi, and from the wound ten drops of blood fall to the ground (cf. Jōgi Purusha). He is then bathed before the whistle is tied round his neck. As the result of wearing the whistle, the man attains to the rank of a priest in his caste, and is entitled to receive alms and meals on festive and ceremonial occasions. He blows his whistle, which emits a thin squeak, before partaking of food, or performing his daily worship.
It is noted in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that the marriage of the Holeyas is "nothing but a feast, at which the bridegroom ties the bottu (marriage badge) round the bride's neck. The wife cannot be divorced except for adultery. Widows are prohibited from remarrying, but the caste winks at a widow's living with a man." In an account given to me of marriage among the Gangadikāra Holeyas, I was told that, if a girl reaches puberty without being married, she may live with any man whom she likes within the caste. If he pays later on the bride price of twelve rupees, the marriage ceremonies take place, and the issue becomes legitimate. On the first day of these ceremonies, the bride is taken to the house of her husband-elect. The parties of the bride and bridegroom go, accompanied by music, to a river or tank, each with four new earthen pots, rice, betel, and other things. The pots, which are decorated with flowers of the areca palm, are filled with water, and set apart in the houses of the contracting couple. This ceremonial is known as bringing the god. At night the wrist-threads (kankanam), made of black and white wool, with turmeric root and iron ring tied on them, are placed round the wrists of the bride and bride groom. On the following day, cotton thread is passed round the necks of three brass vessels, and also round the head of the bridegroom, who sits before the vessels with hands folded, and betel leaves stuck between his fingers. Married women anoint him with oil and turmeric, and he is bathed. He is then made to stand beneath a tree, and a twig of the jambu (Eugenia Jambolana) tree is tied to the milk-post. A similar ceremony is performed by the bride. The bridegroom is conducted to the marriage booth, and he and the bride exchange garlands and put gingelly (Sesamum) and jirigē (cummin) on each other's heads. The bottu is passed round to be blessed, and tied by the bridegroom on the bride's neck. This is followed by the pouring of milk over the hands of the contracting couple. On the third day, the wrist-threads are removed, and the pots thrown away.
The Holeyas have a large number of exogamous septs, of which the following are examples: —
| Ānē, elephant | Hasubu, pack-sack |
| Mālē, garland | Maligē, jasmine |
| Nērali, Eugenia Jambolana | Tenē, Setaria Italica |
| Hutta, ant-hill | Chatri, umbrella |
| Hālu, milk | Mola, hare, |
| Kavanē, sling | Jēnu, honey. |
It is recorded in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that "351 out of the entire population of 577,166 have returned gōtras, the names thereof being Harichandra, Kāli, Yekke, and Karadi. In thus doing, it is evident that they are learning to venerate themselves, like others in admittedly higher grades of society."
Some Holeya families are called Halē Makkalu, or old children of the Gangadikāra Vakkaligas, and have to do certain services for the latter, such as carrying the sandals of the bridegroom, acting as messenger in conveying news from place to place, carrying fire before corpses to the burning-ground, and watching over the burning body. It is said that, in the performance of these duties, the exogamous septs of the Holeya and Vakkaliga must coincide.
In the Census Report, 1901, Balagai, Bākuda, Begāra or Byāgāra, Kūsa (or Uppāra) Māila, and Rānivaya (belonging to a queen) are recorded as sub-sects of the Holeyas. Of these, Balagai is a synonym, indicating that the Holeyas belong to the right-hand section. The Bākudas are said to resent the application of that name to them, and call themselves Aipattukuladavaru, or the people of fifty families, presumably from the fact that they are divided into fifty balls or families. These balls are said to be named after deceased female ancestors. Bēgāra or Byāgāra is a synonym, applied to the Holeyas by Kanarese Lingāyats. Māila means dirt, and probably refers to the washerman section, just as Mailāri (washer-man) occurs among the Mālas. The Tulu-speaking Holeyas must not be confounded with the Canarese-speaking Holeyas. In South Canara, Holeya is a general name applied to the polluting classes, Nalkes, Koragas, and the three divisions of Holeyas proper, which differ widely from each other in some respects. These divisions are —
- (1) Bākuda or Mundala — A stranger, asking a woman if her husband is at home, is expected to refer to him as her Bākuda, and not as her Mundala.
- (2) Mēra or Mugayaru, which is also called Kaipuda.
- (3) Māri or Mārimanisaru.
Of these, the first two sections abstain from beef, and consequently consider themselves superior to the Māri section.
The Bākudas follow the aliya santāna law of succession (in the female line), and, if a man leaves any property, it goes to his nephew. They will not touch dead cows or calves, or remove the placenta when a cow calves. Nor will they touch leather, especially in the form of shoes.They will not carry cots on which rice sheaves are thrashed, chairs, etc., which have four legs, but, when ordered to do so, either break off one leg, or add an extra leg by tying a stick to the cot or chair. The women always wear their cloth in one piece, and are not allowed, like other Holeyas, to have it made of two pieces. The Bākudas will not eat food prepared or touched by Bilimaggas, Jādas, Paravas or Nalkes. The headman is called Mukhari. The office is hereditary, and, in some places, is, as with the Guttinaya of the Bants, connected with his house-site. This being fixed, he should remain at that house, or his appointment will lapse, except with the general consent of the community to his retaining it. In some places, the Mukhari has two assistants, called Jammana and Bondari, of whom the latter has to distribute toddy at assemblies of the caste. On all ceremonial occasions, the Mukhari has to be treated with great respect, and even an individual who gets possessed by the bhūtha (devil) has to touch him with his kadasale (sword). In cases of adultery, a purificatory ceremony, called gudi suddha, is performed. The erring woman's relations construct seven small huts, through which she has to pass, and they are burned down. The fact of this purificatory ceremony taking place is usually proclaimed by the Bōndari, and the saying is that 280 people should assemble. They sprinkle water brought from a temple or sthana (devil shrine) and cow's urine over the woman just before she passes through the huts. A small quantity of hair from her head, a few hairs from the eyelids, and nails from her fingers are thrown into the huts. In some places, the delinquent has to drink a considerable quantity of salt-water and cow-dung water.
Her relatives have to pay a small money fine to the village deity. The ordeal of passing through huts is also practiced by the Koragas of South Canara. "The suggestion," Mr. R. E. Enthoven writes, "seems to be a rapid representation of seven existences, the outcaste regaining his (or her) status after seven generations have passed without further transgression. The parallel suggested is the law of Manu that seven generations are necessary to efface a lapse from the law of endogamous marriage."
The special bhūthas of the Bākudas are Kodababbu and Kamberlu (or Kangilu), but Jumādi, Panjurli, and Tanimaniya are also occasionally worshipped. For the propitiation of Kodababbu, Nalkes are engaged to put on the disguise of this bhūtha, whereas Bākudas themselves dress up for the propitiation of Kamberlu in cocoanut leaves tied round the head and waist. Thus disguised, they go about the streets periodically, collecting alms from door to door. Kamberlu is supposed to cause small-pox, cholera, and other epidemic diseases.
On the day fixed for the betrothal ceremony, among the Bākudas, a few people assemble at the home of the bride-elect, and the Mukharis of both parties exchange betel or beat the palms of their hands, and proclaim that all quarrels must cease, and the marriage is to be celebrated. Toddy is distributed among those assembled. The bride's party visit the parents of the bridegroom, and receive then or subsequently a white cloth, four rupees, and three bundles of rice. On the wedding day, those who are present seat themselves in front of the house where the ceremony is to take place, and are given betel to chew. A new mat is spread, and the bride and bridegroom stand thereon. If there is a Kodababbu sthana in the vicinity, the jewels belonging thereto are worn by the bridegroom, who also wears a red cap, which is usually kept in the sthana, and carries in his hand the sword (kadasale) belonging thereto. The Mukhari or Jammana asks if the five groups of people, from Barkūr, Mangalore, Shivalli, Chithpādi, Mudanidambūr, and Udayavara, are present. Five men come forward, and announce that this is so, and say "all relationship involving prohibited degrees may snap, and cease to exist." A tray of rice and a lamp are placed before the contracting couple, and those present throw rice over their heads. All then go to the toddy shop, and have a drink. They then return to the house and partake of a meal, at which the bridegroom and his bestman (maternal uncle's son) are seated apart. Cooked rice is heaped up on a leaf before the bridegroom, and five piles of fish curry are placed thereon. First the bridegroom eats a portion thereof, and the remainder is finished off by the bestman. The bridal couple then stand once more on the mat, and the Mukhari joins their hands, saying "No unlawful marriage should take place. Prohibited relationship must be avoided." He sprinkles water from culms of Cynodon Dactylon over the united hands.
The body of a dead Bākuda is washed with hot water,in which mango (Mangifera indica) bark is steeped. The dead are buried. The day for the final death ceremonies (bojja) is usually fixed by the Mukhari or Jammana. On that day, cooked food is offered to the deceased, and all cry " muriyo, muriyo." The son, after being shaved, and with his face veiled by a cloth, carries cooked rice on his head to a small hut erected for the occasion. The food is set down, and all present throw some of it into the hut.
The Mēra or Mugayar Holeyas, like the Bākudas, abstain from eating beef, and refuse to touch leather in any form. They have no objection to carrying fourlegged articles. Though their mother tongue is Tulu, they seem to follow the makkala santāna law of inheritance (in the male line). Their headman is entitled Kuruneru, and he has, as the badge of office, a cane with a silver band. The office of headman passes to the son instead of to the nephew. Marriage is called Badathana, and the details of the ceremony are like those of the Māri Holeyas. The dead are buried, and the final death ceremonies (bojja or sāvu) are performed on the twelfth or sixteenth day. A feast is given to some members of the community, and cooked food offered to the deceased at the house and near the grave.
The Mari or Māri Mānisaru Holeyas are sometimes called Kāradhi by the Bākudas. Like certain Malayālam castes, the Holeyas have distinct names for their homes according to the section. Thus, the huts of the Māri Holeyas are called kelu, and those of the Mēra Holeyas patta. The headmen among the Māri Holeyas are called Mūlia, Boltiyādi, and Kallali. The office of headman follows in the female line of succession. In addition to various bhūthas, such as Panjurli and Jumādi, the Māri Holeyas have two special bhūthas, named Kattadhe and Kānadhe, whom they regard as their ancestors. At times of festivals, these ancestors are supposed to descend on earth, and make their presence known by taking possession of some member of the community. Men who are liable to be so possessed are called Dharipuneyi, and have the privilege of taking up the sword and bell belonging to the bhūthasthana when under possession.
Marriage among the Māri Holeyas is called porathāvu. At the betrothal ceremony, the headmen of the contracting parties exchange betel leaves and areca nuts. The bride-price usually consists of two bundles of rice and a bundle of paddy (unhusked rice). On the wedding day the bridegroom and his party go to the home of the bride, taking with them a basket containing five seers of rice, two metal bangles, one or two cocoanuts, a comb,and a white woman's cloth, which are shown to the headman of the bride's party. The two headmen order betel leaf and areca nuts to be distributed among those assembled. After a meal, a mat is spread in front of the hut, and the bride and bridegroom stand thereon. The bridegroom has in his hand a sword, and the bride holds some betel leaves and areca nuts. Rice is thrown over their heads, and presents of money are given to them. The two headmen lift up the hands of the contracting couple, and they are joined together. The bride is lifted up so as to be a little higher than the bridegroom, and is taken indoors. The bridegroom follows her, but is prevented from entering by his brother-in-law, to whom he gives betel leaves and areca nuts. He then makes a forcible entrance into the hut.
When a Māri Holeya girl reaches puberty, she is expected to remain within a hut for twelve days, at the end of which time the castemen are invited to a feast. The girl is seated on a pattern drawn on the floor. At the four corners thereof, vessels filled with water are placed. The girl's mother holds over her head a plantain leaf, and four women belonging to different balls (septs) pour water thereon from the vessels. These women and the girl then sit down to a meal, and eat off the same leaf.
Among the Māri Holeyas, the dead are usually buried, and the final death ceremonies are performed on the twelfth day. A pit is dug near the grave, into which an image of the deceased, made of rice straw, is put. The image is set on fire by his son or nephew. The ashes are heaped up, and a rude hut is erected round them by fixing three sticks in the ground, and covering them with a cloth. Food is offered on a leaf, and the dead person is asked to eat it.
The Kūsa Holeyas speak Canarese. They object to carrying articles with four legs, unless the legs are crossed. They do not eat beef, and will not touch leather. They consider themselves to be superior to the other sections of Holeyas, and use as an argument that their caste name is Uppāra, and not Holeya. Why they are called Uppāra is not clear, but some say that they are the same as the Uppāras (salt workers) of Mysore, who, in South Canara, have descended in the social scale. The hereditary occupation of the Uppāras is making salt from salt earth (ku, earth). The headman of the Kūsa Holeyas is called Buddivant. As they are disciples of a Lingāyat priest at the mutt at Kudli in Mysore, they are Saivites. Every family has to pay the priest a fee of eight annas on the occasion of his periodical visitations. The bhūthas specially worshipped by the Kūsa Holeyas are Masti and Hālemanedeyya, but Venkatarāmana of Tirupati is by some regarded as their family deity. Marriage is both infant and adult, and widows are permitted to remarry, if they have no children.
At Tumkūr, in the Mysore Province, I came across a settlement of people called Tigala Holeya, who do not intermarry with other Holeyas, and have no exogamous septs or house-names. Their cranial measurements approach more nearly to those of the dolichocephalic Tamil Paraiyans than those of the sub-brachycephalic Holeyas; and it is possible that they are Tamil Paraiyans, who migrated, at some distant date, to Mysore.
| -- | Cephalic length | Cephalic breadth | Cephalic index |
|---|---|---|---|
| cm. | cm. | ||
| Tamil paraiyan | 18.6 | 13.7 | 73.6 |
| Tigara Holeya | 18.5 | 13.9 | 75.1 |
| Holeya | 17.9 | 14.1 | 79.1 |