Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/309

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
263
LINGAYAT

Tinduga or Tindōdi is a nickname given to a daughter's son born and bred up in his maternal grandfather's house. The name signifies that the boy will some day quit the house and join his father's family, tindu meaning eating, and wodi, running away. If the child happens to be a female she is called Tindavva or Tindōdi. Kuldappa, or Kuldavva, is a nickname for one who fails to see a thing at once when he looks for it. Kulda is a corruption of kuruda, which means a blind man. Superstition has something to do with the naming of children. Children whose predecessors died successively in their infancy are named as Sudugappa or Sudugādavva after sudugādu, burial-ground, Gundappa or Gundavva after gundu, a rock, Tippiah or Tippavva after tippa, a rubbish heap, Tirakappa after tirakambonu, begging. These names signify humility, and are given in the belief that God will pity the parents and give the children a long lease of life. Two names are not given to a child, but pet names are used instead.

The recognised head-quarters of the Lingāyats in the Bellary district is Ujjini, a village in the south of the Kudligi tāluk on the borders of Mysore. There are five head-quarters of the community in different parts of India. In each there is what is called a Simhasanadhīpati. In the first period of creation, Īswara or Siva is supposed to have appeared in five different forms, emanating from his five faces, and the five Lingāyat centres are representative of these five forms. The places are Ujjini, Srīsaila, Kollēpāka, Balehalli, and Benares.

It is said that the Mutt at Kollēpāka no longer exists, and has been replaced by one at Bukkasagar in the Hospet tāluk of Bellary district. The shape and materials of their dwellings are not in any way different from those