The bashingham *[1] was made of the leaf of a wild tree,
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
Wild turmeric was used for the kankanam †[2],
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
Wearing a garment made of the leaves of the paru tree,
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
Wearing a bodice made of the leaves of the pannu tree,
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
Roaming over inaccessible hills,
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
Wandering through dense forests,
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
Committing acts that ought not to be done,
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
Obalesa's marriage was celebrated,
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
A four-cornered dais was made.
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
On the dais arrows were stuck,
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
Bamboo rice was used to throw on the heads of the pair,
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
Cocoanut cups were stuck on the points of the arrow,
- Oh! the lord of the Chenchus.
The marriage was thus celebrated.
At a dance in my honour, men and women executed a series of step dances in time with a drum (thappata) resembling a big tambourine, which, at the conclusion of each dance, was passed to and fro through a blazing fire of cholum straw to bring it up to the proper pitch. An elderly hag went through a variety of gesticulations like those of a Dēva-dāsi (dancing-girl). A man dressed up in straw and fragments of mats picked up near my camp, and another disguised as a woman, with bells round his ankles, supplied the comic business.
