VIZAGAPATAM.
The Kóyas, who number 11,000 in this district, live in the corner of Malkanagiri taluk south-west of Malkanagiri town and are immigrants from Gódávari, to which district, rather than to Vizagapatam, they belong. Their customs in that country have been closely studied by the Rev. Mr. Cain, who spent years among them as a missionary and has published accounts of them in the Indian Antiquary for 1876 and 1879 and the Christian College Magazine for 1887 and 1888. In this district they have several exogamous, but not totemistic, septs, marry after puberty, follow éduru ménarikam and pay a bride-price or vóli. The wedding ceremony is conducted in a pandal, and one of the essential rites consists in the bridegroom bending his head over the bride's while the relations pour water over both. Drinking and riotous dancing all night conclude the marriage.
Apparently there is no pollution at deaths. The ashes of the dead are made into little balls and buried with some of his belongings and marked with a perpendicular stone slab. To this a buffalo is sacrificed. The tail is tied to the slab and left there, and the rest of the animal is eaten by the relations. They explain1[1] that as long as the tail is there the deceased thinks he has got the whole of the buffalo and is contented. A mile east of Malkanagiri, on the Kondakambéru road, is a great collection of these slabs. The Kóyas reverence the Pándava brothers and are often named after them. They are keen shikáris and often place their trophies on poles outside their habitations.
The Gónds (19,000) are another race who belong less to Vizagapatam than to adjoining areas. They are numerous in Naurangpur taluk, but their real home is in the Central Provinces, where their customs have been frequently studied.2[2] In Naurangpur they are split into the three divisions of Ráj, Dúr and Muria, each of which is subdivided into totemistic septs. Éduru ménarikam is followed and weddings take place in the bride's village.
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