Chapter XIV: Part 14

I pass on to the subject of infanticide among the Kondhs. It is stated, in the Manual of the Vizagapatam district, that female infanticide used to be very common all over the Jeypore country, and the Rajah is said to have made money out of it in one large taluk (division). The custom was to consult the Dasari (priest) when a child was born as to its fate. If it was to be killed, the parents had to pay the Amin of the taluk a fee for the privilege of killing it; and the Amin used to pay the Rajah three hundred rupees a year for renting the privilege of giving the license and pocketing the fees. The practice of female infanticide was formerly very prevalent among the Kondhs of Ganjam, and, in 1841, Lieutenant Macpherson was deputed to carry into effect the measures which had been proposed by Lord Elphinstone for the suppression of the Meriah sacrifices and infanticide. The custom was ascribed to various beliefs, viz., (1) that it was an injunction by god, as one woman made the whole world suffer; (2) that it conduces to male offspring; (3) that woman, being a mischief-maker, is better out of the world than in it; (4) that the difficulty, owing to poverty, in providing marriage portions was an objection to rearing females. From Macpherson's well known report [170] the following extracts are taken. "The portion of the Khond country, in which the practice of female infanticide is known to prevail, is roughly estimated at 2,400 square miles, its population at 60,000, and the number of infants destroyed annually at 1,200 to 1,500. The tribes (who practice infanticide) belong to the division of the Khond people which does not offer human sacrifices. The usage of infanticide has existed amongst them from time immemorial. It owes its origin and its maintenance partly to religious opinions, partly to ideas from which certain very important features of Khond manners arise. The Khonds believe that the supreme deity, the sun god, created all things good; that the earth goddess introduced evil into the world; and that these two powers have since conflicted. The non-sacrificing tribes make the supreme deity the great object of their adoration, neglecting the earth goddess. The sacrificing tribes, on the other hand, believe the propitiation of the latter power to be the most necessary worship. Now the tribes which practice female infanticide hold that the sun god, in contemplating the deplorable effects produced by the creation of feminine nature, charged men to bring up only as many females as they could restrain from producing evil to society. This is the first idea upon which the usage is founded. Again, the Khonds believe that souls almost invariably return to animate human forms in the families in which they have been first born and received. But the reception of the soul of an infant into a family is completed only on the performance of the ceremony of naming upon the seventh day after its birth. The death of a female infant, therefore, before that ceremonial of reception, is believed to exclude its soul from the circle of family spirits, diminishing by one the chance of future female births in the family. And, as the first aspiration of every Khond is to have male children, this belief is a powerful incentive to infanticide." Macpherson, during his campaign, came across many villages of about a hundred houses, in which there was not a single female child. In like manner, in 1855, Captain Frye found many Baro Bori Khond villages without a single female child in them.

In savage societies, it has been said, sexual unions were generally effected by the violent capture of the woman. By degrees these captures have become friendly ones, and have ended in a peaceful exogamy, retaining the ancient custom only in the ceremonial form. Whereof an excellent example is afforded by the Kondhs, concerning whom the author of the Ganjam Manual writes as follows. "The parents arrange the marriages of their children. The bride is looked upon as a commercial speculation, and is paid for in gontis. A gonti is one of anything, such as a buffalo, a pig, or a brass pot; for instance, a hundred gontis might consist of ten bullocks, ten buffaloes, ten sacks of corn, ten sets of brass, twenty sheep, ten pigs, and thirty fowls. The usual price, however, paid by the bridegroom's father for the bride, is twenty or thirty gontis. A Khond finds his wife from among the women of any mutah (village) than his own. On the day fixed for the bride being taken home to her husband's house, the pieces of broom in her ears are removed, and are replaced by brass rings. The bride is covered over with a red blanket, and carried astride on her uncle's back towards the husband's village, accompanied by the young women of her own village. Music is played, and in the rear are carried brass playthings, such as horses, etc., for the bridegroom, and cloths and brass pins as presents for the bridegroom from the bride's father. On the road, at the village boundary, the procession is met by the bridegroom and the young men of his village, with their heads and bodies wrapped up in blankets and cloths. Each is armed with a bundle of long thin bamboo sticks. The young women of the bride's village at once attack the bridegroom's party with sticks, stones, and clods of earth, which the young men ward off with the bamboo sticks. A running fight is in this manner kept up until the village is reached, when the stone-throwing invariably ceases, and the bridegroom's uncle, snatching up the bride, carries her off to her husband's house. This fighting is by no means child's play, and the men are sometimes seriously injured. The whole party is then entertained by the bridegroom as lavishly as his means will permit. On the day after the bride's arrival, a buffalo and a pig are slaughtered and eaten, and, upon the bride's attendants returning home on the evening of the second day, a male and female buffalo, or some less valuable present, is given to them. On the third day, all the Khonds of the village have a grand dance or tamasha (festivity), and on the fourth day there is another grand assembly at the house of the bridegroom. The bride and bridegroom are then made to sit down on a cot, and the bridegroom's brother, pointing upwards to the roof of the house, says: "As long as this girl stays with us, may her children be as men and tigers; but, if she goes astray, may her children be as snakes and monkeys, and die and be destroyed!" In his report upon the Kondhs (1842), Macpherson tells us that "they hold a feast at the bride's house. Far into the night the principals in the scene are raised by an uncle of each upon his shoulders, and borne through the dance. The burdens are suddenly exchanged, and the uncle of the youth disappears with the bride. The assembly divides itself into two parties. The friends of the bride endeavour to arrest, those of the bridegroom to cover her flight, and men, women, and children mingle in mock conflict. I saw a man bearing away upon his back something enveloped in an ample covering of scarlet cloth. He was surrounded by twenty or thirty young fellows, and by them protected from the desperate attacks made upon him by a party of young women. The man was just married, and the burden was his blooming bride, whom he was conveying to his own village. Her youthful friends were, according to custom, seeking to regain possession of her, and hurled stones and bamboos at the head of the devoted bridegroom, until he reached the confines of his own village. Then the tables were turned, and the bride was fairly won; and off her young friends scampered, screaming and laughing, but not relaxing their speed till they reached their own village." Among the Kondhs of Gumsur, the friends and relations of the bride and bridegroom collect at an appointed spot. The people of the female convoy call out to the others to come and take the bride, and then a mock fight with stones and thorny brambles is begun by the female convoy against the parties composing the other one. In the midst of the tumult the assaulted party takes possession of the bride, and all the furniture brought with her, and carry all off together. [171] According to another account, the bride, as soon as she enters the bridegroom's house, has two enormous bracelets, or rather handcuffs of brass, each weighing from twenty to thirty pounds, attached to each wrist. The unfortunate girl has to sit with her two wrists resting on her shoulders, so as to support these enormous weights. This is to prevent her from running away to her old home. On the third day the bangles are removed, as it is supposed that by then the girl has become reconciled to her fate. These marriage bangles are made on the hills, and are curiously carved in fluted and zigzag lines, and kept as heirlooms in the family, to be used at the next marriage in the house. According to a still more recent account of marriage among the Kondhs [172] an old woman suddenly rushes forward, seizes the bride, flings her on her back, and carries her off. A man comes to the front, catches the groom, and places him astride on his shoulder. The human horses neigh and prance about like the live quadruped, and finally rush away to the outskirts of the village. This is a signal for the bride's girl friends to chase the couple, and pelt them with clods of earth, stones, mud, cowdung, and rice. When the mock assault is at an end, the older people come up, and all accompany the bridal pair to the groom's village. A correspondent informs me that he once saw a Kondh bride going to her new home, riding on her uncle's shoulders, and wrapped in a red blanket. She was followed by a bevy of girls and relations, and preceded by drums and horns. He was told that the uncle had to carry her the whole way, and that, if he had to put her down, a fine of a buffalo was inflicted, the animal being killed and eaten. It is recorded that a European magistrate once mistook a Kondh marriage for a riot, but, on enquiry, discovered his mistake.

Reference has been made above to certain brass playthings, which are carried in the bridal procession. The figures include peacocks, chamæleons, cobras, crabs, horses, deer, tigers, cocks, elephants, human beings, musicians, etc. They are cast by the cire perdue process. The core of the figure is roughly shaped in clay, according to the usual practice, but, instead of laying on the wax in an even thickness, thin wax threads are first made, and arranged over the core so as to form a network, or placed in parallel lines or diagonally, according as the form of the figure or fancy of the workman dictates. The head, arms, and feet are modelled in the ordinary way. The wax threads are made by means of a bamboo tube, into the end of which a moveable brass plate is fitted. The wax, being made sufficiently soft by heat, is pressed through the perforation at the end of the tube, and comes out in the form of long threads, which must be used by the workmen before they become hard and brittle. The chief place where these figures are made is Belugunta, near Russellkonda in Ganjam. It is noted by Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson [173] that the Kondhs of Gumsur, to represent their deities Jara Pennu, the Linga Devata, or Petri Devata, keep in their houses brass figures of elephants, peacocks, dolls, fishes, etc. If affliction happens to any one belonging to the household, or if the country skin eruption breaks out on any of them, they put rice into milk, and, mixing turmeric with it, sprinkle the mixture on the figures, and, killing fowls and sheep, cause worship to be made by the Jani, and, making baji, eat.

At a marriage among the Kondhs of Baliguda, after the heads of the bride and bridegroom have been brought together, an arrow is discharged from a bow by the younger brother of the bridegroom into the grass roof of the hut. At the betrothal ceremony of some Kondhs, a buffalo and pig are killed, and some of the viscera eaten. Various parts are distributed according to an abiding rule, viz., the head to the bridegroom's maternal uncle, the flesh of the sides to his sisters, and of the back among other relations and friends. Some Kondh boys of ten or twelve years of age are said to be married to girls of fifteen or sixteen. At Shubernagiri, in the Ganjam Maliahs, are two trysting trees, consisting of a jak (Artocarpus integrifolia) and mango growing close together. The custom was for a Kondh, who was unable to pay the marriage fees to the Patro (headman), to meet his love here by night and plight his troth, and then for the two to retire into the jungle for three days and nights before returning to the village. Afterwards, they were considered to be man and wife.

It is noted by Mr. Friend-Pereira [174] that, at the ceremonial for settling the preliminaries of a Kondh marriage, a knotted string is put into the hands of the seridahpa gataru (searchers for the bride), and a similar string is kept by the girl's people. The reckoning of the date of the betrothal ceremony is kept by undoing a knot in the string every morning.

Some years ago, a young Kondh was betrothed to the daughter of another Kondh, and, after a few years, managed to pay up the necessary number of gifts. He then applied to the girl's father to name the day for the marriage. Before the wedding took place, however, a Pano went to the girl's father, and said that she was his daughter (she had been born before her parents were married), and that he was the man to whom the gifts should have been paid. The case was referred to a council meeting, which decided in favour of the Pano.

Of birth ceremonies, the following account is given by Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar. The woman is attended in her confinement by an elderly Kondh midwife, who shampooes her abdomen with castor-oil. The umbilical cord is cut by the mother of the infant. For this purpose, the right thigh of the baby is flexed towards its abdomen, and a piece of cooled charcoal placed on its right knee. The cord is placed on the charcoal, and divided with the sharp edge of an arrow. The placenta is buried close to the house near a wall. After the cord has been severed, the mother daubs the region of the infant's navel with her saliva, over which she smears castor-oil. She then warms her hands at a fire, and applies them to the infant's body. [It is stated, in the Ganjam Manual, that the infant is held before a hot fire, and half roasted.] The warming is repeated several times daily for four or five days. When the umbilical cord has sloughed off, a spider is burnt to ashes over a fire, placed in a cocoanut shell, mixed with castor-oil, and applied by means of a fowl's feather to the navel. The infant's head is shaved, except over the anterior fontanelle, the hair from which is removed after about a month. Its body is smeared all over daily with castor-oil and turmeric paste until it is a month old. The mother then goes with her baby and husband to her brother's house, where the infant is presented with a fowl, which is taken home, and eaten by her husband. The appropriation of the fowl varies according to the locality. In some places, the infant's father, and other relations, except the mother, may eat it, and, in others, both its parents, and relations living in the house, may do so. In still other places, the father, paternal grandfather and grandmother, and paternal uncle, may partake of it.

The naming ceremony among the Kondhs of Gumsur is thus described by Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson. "Six months after birth, on a fixed day, they make gaduthuva (the ceremony of naming the child). On that day, killing a dog, and procuring liquor, they make baji. They wash the feet of the child. The Jani being come, he ties a cord from the haft to the point of a sickle, and they divine by means of it. Having assembled the petrilu (literally ancestors, but here denoting household images or gods), they put rice on the sickle. As the names (of the ancestors or family?) are repeated in order, each time the rice is put on, that name is chosen on the mention of which the sickle moves, and is given to the child. They then drink liquor, and eat baji. They give rice and flesh to the Jani."

Of death ceremonies, the following account is given in the manual of the Ganjam district. "Immediately after death, a cloth is wrapped round the corpse, but no cloths or valuables are removed. A portion of paddy (unhusked rice), and all the cooking utensils of the deceased are given to the village Sitra. [The Sitras manufacture the brass rings and bangles worn by the Kondhs.] The body is then burnt. On the following day, a little rice is cooked, put on a dish, and laid on the spot where the corpse was burnt. An incantation is then pronounced, requesting the spirit of the deceased person to eat the rice and enjoy itself, and not to change itself into a devil or tiger, and come bothering the survivors in the village. Three days after death, the madda ceremony is performed. An effigy of the deceased is prepared of straw, which is stuck up in front of or on the roof of the house, and the relations and friends assemble, lament, and eat at the expense of the people of the deceased's house. Each person brings a present of some kind or other, and, on his departure on the next day, receives something of slightly higher value. The death of a man in a village requires a purification, which is made by the sacrifice of a buffalo on the seventh day after death. If a man is killed by a tiger, the purification is made by the sacrifice of a pig, the head of which, cut off with a tangi (axe) by a Pano, is passed between the legs of the men in the village, who stand in a line astraddle. It is a bad omen for him if the head touches any man's legs. If the Patro attends a funeral, he gets a fee of a goat for firing his gun, to drive away the dead man's ghost." According to Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar, if a person is killed by a tiger, the head of the decapitated pig is placed in a stream, and, as it floats down, it has to pass between the legs of the villagers. If it touches the legs of any of them, it forebodes that he will be killed by a tiger.

In a note on the death ceremonies in Gumsur, Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson writes as follows. "On life ceasing, they tie a sheep to the foot of the corpse. They carry the clothes, brass eating-dish, brass drinking-vessel, ornaments, grain in store, and the said sheep to the burning-ground. Having burned the body, and gone around about the pile, they leave all those things there, and, beating drums, return home. The garments the Panos take away. They procure liquor, and drink it. They then go to their respective houses, and eat. On the next day, they kill a she-buffalo, and get together a great quantity of liquor. The whole of the tribe (near and distant relations) being assembled, they make baji, and eat. They beat drums. If the deceased were of any consequence, dancers come and dance to the sound of the drums, to whom some animal is given, which they take, and go away. Subsequently, on the twelfth day, they carry a hog to the spot where the body was burned, and, after perambulating the site of the pyre, return to their home, where they kill a hog in the place set apart for their household gods, and, procuring liquor, make baji, the members of the tribe eating together. Should a tiger carry off any one, they throw out of doors all the (preserved) flesh belonging to him, and all the people of the village, not excepting children, quit their homes. The Jani, being come with two rods of the tummeca tree (Acacia arabica), he plants these in the earth, and then, bringing one rod of the condatamara tree (Smilax macrophylla), he places it transversely across the other two. The Jani, performing some incantation, sprinkles water on them. Beginning with the children, as these and the people pass through the passage so formed, the Jani sprinkles water on them all. Afterwards, the whole of them go to their houses, without looking behind them."

In connection with customs observed in the event of death, Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar writes that "if a woman's husband dies, she removes the beads from her neck, the metal finger rings, ankle and wrist ornaments, and the ornament worn in the lobe of one ear, that worn in the lobe of the other ear being retained. These are thrown on the chest of the corpse, before it is cremated. The widow does not remove the ornaments worn in the helices of the ears, and in the alæ and septum of the nose. When a Khond dies, his body is cremated. The people in the house of the deceased are not allowed to cook their food on that or the next day, but are fed by their relations and friends in the village. On the day after death, rice and a fowl are cooked separately, put in big leaf cups, and placed on the spot where the corpse was burnt. The spirit of the deceased is invited to eat the meal, and asked not to do them any harm. On the third day, the relations bathe, and smear their heads with clay. An effigy of the deceased is made, and stuck up on the roof of the house. The practice of making an image of the deceased obtains among the Goomsur Khonds, but, in some other places, is considered inauspicious. On the seventh day, a purificatory ceremony is gone through, and a buffalo killed, with which, and the indispensable liquor, the guests are entertained. At a village two miles from Baliguda, a boy, about sixteen years old, died. His gold ear-rings and silver bracelets were not removed, but burnt. His cloths were thrown on the pyre. Ragi and other grains, paddy, etc., were placed near the funeral pyre, but not in the fire. The food-stuffs, and a buffalo, were divided among the Haddis, who are the servants of the headman (Patro) of the muttah. They also took the remains of the jewels, recovered from the ashes after cremation."

It is recorded by Mr. F. Fawcett [175] that "once after death, a propitiatory sacrifice is made of animals of the deceased to the Pidari Pitta (ancestor) for the sake of the deceased's spirit, which, after this festive introduction to the shades, must take its chance. A curious ceremony, which I do not remember seeing noted anywhere, is performed the day after death. Some boiled rice and a small fowl are taken to the burning place. The fowl is split down the breast, and placed on the spot; it is afterwards eaten, and the soul is invoked to enter a new-Aborn child."

The following note on a Kondh funeral dance in the Ganjam Maliahs is from the pen of an eye-witness. [176] "The dead Patro is, as usual, a hill Uriya, of ancient lineage, no less than that of the great totem of nola bompsa or the ancestral wood-pigeon that laid its eggs in the hollow of a bamboo, from which this family sprang. Various and most interesting are the totems of the Maliahs. In passing, I may mention another curious totem, that of the pea-fowl, two eggs of which a man brought home to his wife, who laid them in an earthen pot, and from them sprang a man-child, the progenitor of a famous family. But to return to the Patro. Before sunset, mourned by his two wives, the younger and favourite one carrying a young child of light bamboo colour, he had been burnt, without much ceremony, in an open grassy spot, his ashes scattered to the four winds of heaven, and the spot marked by wooden posts driven deep into the soil. Not now would be celebrated the funeral obsequies, but a month hence on the accession of his eldest son, the future Patro, a fair lad of eighteen years. As the day for the obsequies drew near, an unusual bustle filled the air. Potters from the low country arrived, and hundreds upon hundreds of earthen pots of all sizes and shapes were turned, and piled in great heaps near the village. Huge buffaloes, unconscious of their approaching fate, lay tethered near, or wallowing in bovine luxury in a swamp hard by. Messengers had been sent far and near to all the Patros, Molikos, and Bissoyis. Even the Kuttiya Khonds were not left out. The auspicious morning at length dawned, when a distinguished company began to arrive, each chief with his followers, and in many cases his wives and little children, all dressed in their best, and bent on enjoying everything to the utmost. I noticed fine stalwart men from Udiagiri on the edge of the ghauts, together with Khonds from more civilised Baliguda, and Khonds from cold and breezy Daringabadi, cheerful in spite of the numbers of their relatives that had found a horrid tomb inside a man-eating tiger that since 1886 (together with another ally lately started) had carried off more than four hundred of their kith and kin. Distinguished amongst even that wild horde for savagery were the Khonds from the Kuttiya country, who live on tops of hills, and whose women are seldom, if ever, seen. These are remarkable for their enormous quantities of frizzly hair tied in huge chignons over the right brow, and decorated with feathers of every hue--the jay, the parrot, the peacock and the white quills of the paddy-bird predominating. Their short, sturdy limbs are hung in every direction with necklaces and curious blue beads and cut agates, said to be dug out of ancient burial places and cromlechs in Central India. Certain it is that almost no inducement will prevail on a Khond to voluntarily part with these precious heirlooms. As each fresh detachment arrived, their first occupation was to go to a neighbouring tank (pond), and, after a wash and decoration of head and hair with either the orthodox feathers, or, prettier still, with wreaths of wild flowers, to repair to the late chief's house, and, presenting themselves at the door, condole, with much vigour of lungs, with the now less disconsolate widows on their recent loss. This ceremony over, they tendered their allegiance to the young son of the dead Patro, permitted by Government to take his place, and each man received from him an earthen cooking-pot, and each circle of villages a buffalo. The Khond is a beef eater, but a curious custom prevails in some parts, that a married woman must abstain from the flesh of a cow. These preliminary ceremonies over, the crowd adjourned, with great noise of shouting, blowing of buffalo horns, and beating of drums, to the open grassy spot marked by posts, where the late Patro had been burned, and where a recently killed buffalo, weltering in its gore, now lay. Among the throng of men, women and children, most of the former more than slightly elevated by drinking copious draughts of a kind of beer made from the kuhari grain, were three Khonds carrying long poles surmounted by huge bunches of peacock feathers that blazed in the sunlight like emeralds and sapphires. The funeral dance now commenced. The dance itself is simple in the extreme, for, when the right spot was reached, old men and young began gyrating round and round in a large circle, a perfect human merry-go-round. The old grey-beards, plodding slowly round the ring, and stamping on the soil with their aged feet, presented a great contrast to the younger and wilder men, who capered and pranced about, sometimes outside the circle, waving their tanghis in the air, and every now and then leaping up to the slain buffalo, and dipping their axes into its blood, and then back again, dancing more wildly than ever, round and round from west to east, till the eye ached to behold the perpetual motion of this animated wheel. In the centre revolved the three men with the huge bunches of peacock feathers afore-mentioned. When any dropped out of the circle to rest there were many eager and willing to take their places, and so, with relays of fresh dancers, this human circle revolved on for three whole days, only ceasing at nightfall, when by large fires the various tribes cooked in the earthen pots provided the buffaloes presented by the new Patro. In olden days, an animal was given to each village, but on this occasion only to a circle of villages, occasioning thereby certain grumblings among the wiseacres for the good old days of the past, when not only buffaloes in plenty, but Meriah human victims as well were lavishly provided and sacrificed. 'Ichabod,' said they in Khond, 'the glory of the Maliahs hath departed.' On the afternoon of the third day, the Patros, Molikas, Bissoyis, and others of the great men began to depart with their retainers for their distant homes in the jungles, having had a thoroughly good time. The women, who had been very shy at first, fled at my approach, now, after three days' familiarity with a white face, began to show symptoms of friendliness, so that they allowed me to go quite near to them to examine their pretty necklaces of coloured grasses, silver coins, and curious beads, and to count the numbers of small sticks (generally about twelve or fifteen) of broom that were arranged in the shape of a crescent round the outer edges of the pierced ears of each unmarried village belle, and to observe at close quarters the strange tattooed patterns in blue of zigzag and curve that to my eyes disfigured their otherwise comely faces. As to beauty of figure, I think very few can compare with a young and well-grown Khond maiden, with her straight back and handsome proportions. It was, therefore, without much difficulty that I persuaded some of them to dance before me. Six buxom girls stepped out, all of them the respectable daughters of well-to-do Khonds, prepared to dance the famous peacock dance. Round their supple but massive waists was twisted the strip of national Khond cloth of blue, red and white, and for bodices what could be more becoming than their glossy brown skins of nature's millinery, gracefully wreathed with garlands of coloured grasses and strings of gay beads. The polished jet black hair, neatly tied in a knot at the back, and decorated with pretty lacquered and silver combs, or with forest flowers, added yet more to their picturesque appearance. Each girl now took a long strip of white cloth, and, winding it round her waist, allowed one end to trail at the back in the fashion of a Liberty sash. This was supposed to represent the tail of the peacock. Three of the girls then faced the three others, and, with their left hands resting on their hips, and their elbows sticking out (to represent the wings), and the right arms extended in front with the fingers outstretched to simulate the neck and beak, began to dance to the ear-piercing shrieks of cracked trumpet, and to the deep beatings of a Maliah drum marking excellent time. On and on they danced, advancing and retiring, and now and then crossing over (not unlike the first figure of the quadrille), while their tinkling feet, 'like little mice, stole in and out,' the heels alternately clashing against each other, in exact time to the music, and the lips gracefully waving from side to side as they advanced or retired. There was perfect grace of movements combined with extreme modesty, the large expressive eyes veiled by the long lashes never once being raised, and the whole demeanour utterly oblivious to the crowd of enthusiastic admirers that surrounded them on all sides. But for the wild scene around, the noise and shrieking of instruments, and the fantastic dresses of the Khonds (many of whom had buffalo horns tied on to their painted faces, or had decorated their heads with immense wigs of long black hair), one might easily have supposed these shrinking damsels to have been the pick of a Mission School specially selected for propriety to dance the South Indian kummi before, say, an itinerant Bishop of ascetic tendencies and æsthetic temperament. When their heaving, panting bodies showed that exhausted nature claimed them for her own, the man with the trumpet or the drum would rush up, and blow or beat it almost under their drooping heads, urging them with shouts and gesticulations to further energy, till at length the shades of night crept over the hills, and, with one accord, the dancing and the deafening music ceased, while the six girls stole quietly back and were soon lost in the crowd."

Of superstitions among the Kondhs, the following are recorded by Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar:--

"When a Kondh starts out on a shooting expedition, if he first
meets an adult female, married or unmarried, he will return home,
and ask a child to tell the females to keep out of his way. He will
then make a fresh start, and, if he meets a female, will wave his
hand to her as a sign that she must keep clear of him. Before a
party start out for shooting, they warn the females not to come
in their way. The Kondh believes that, if he sees a female, he
will not come across animals in the jungle to shoot. If a woman
is in her menses, her husband, brothers, and sons living under
the same roof, will not go out shooting for the same reason.

A Kondh will not leave his village when a jathra (festival) is
being celebrated, lest the god Pennu should visit his wrath on him.

They will not cut trees, which yield products suitable for human
consumption, such as the mango, jak, jambul (Eugenia Jambolana), or
iluppai (Bassia) from which they distil a spirituous liquor. Even
though these trees prevent the growth of a crop in the fields,
they will not cut them down.

If an owl hoots over the roof of a house, or on a tree close
thereto, it is considered unlucky, as foreboding a death in the
family at an early date. If an owl hoots close to a village, but
outside it, the death of one of the villagers will follow. For
this reason, the bird is pelted with stones, and driven off.

They will not kill a crow, as this would be a sin amounting to
the killing of a friend. According to their legend, soon after the
creation of the world there was a family consisting of an aged man
and woman, and four children, who died one after the other in quick
succession. Their parents were too aged to take the necessary steps
for their cremation, so they threw the bodies away on the ground,
at some distance from their home. God appeared to them in their
dreams one night, and promised that he would create the crow,
so that it might devour the dead bodies.

They do not consider it a sin to kill a Brahminy kite (Haliastur
indus: Garuda pakshi), which is held in veneration throughout
Southern India. A Kondh will kill it for so slight an offence as
carrying off his chickens.

They will not cut the crops with a sickle with a serrated edge,
such as is used by the Oriyas, but use a straight-edged knife. The
crops, after they have been cut, are removed to the village, and
threshed by hand, and not with the help of cattle. While this is
being done, strangers (Kondh or others) may not look on the crop,
or speak to them, lest their evil eye should be cast on them. If
a stranger is seen approaching near the threshing-floor, the
Kondhs keep him off by signalling to him with their hands, without
speaking. The serrated sickle is not used, because it produces a
sound like that of cattle grazing, which would be unpropitious. If
cattle were used in threshing the crop, it is believed that the
earth god would feel insulted by the dung and urine of the animals.

They believe that they can transform themselves into tigers or
snakes, half the soul leaving the body and becoming changed into
one of these animals, either to kill an enemy, or satisfy hunger
by having a good feed on cattle in the jungle. During this period,
they are believed to feel dull and listless, and disinclined for
work, and, if a tiger is killed in the forest, they will die
synchronously. Mr. Fawcett informs me that the Kondhs believe
that the soul wanders during sleep. On one occasion, a dispute
arose owing to a man discovering that another Kondh, whose spirit
used to wander about in the guise of a tiger, ate up his spirit,
and he became ill.

When cholera breaks out in a village, all males and females smear
their bodies from head to foot with pig's fat liquefied by heat,
and continue to do so until a few days after the disappearance
of the dread disease. During this time, they do not bathe, lest
the smell of the fat should be washed away."

The Kondhs are said [177] to prevent the approach of the goddess of small-pox by barricading the paths with thorns and ditches, and boiling caldrons of stinking oil. The leopard is looked upon in some way as a sacred beast by the Kondhs of the northern Maliahs. They object to a dead leopard being carried through their villages, and oaths are taken on a leopard's skin.

Referring to elf stones, or stones of the dead in European countries, to which needles, buttons, milk, eggs, etc., are offered, Mr. F. Fawcett describes [178] a Kondh ceremony, in which the ground under a tree was cleared in the form of a square, within which were circles of saffron (turmeric), charcoal, rice, and some yellow powder, as well as an egg or a small chicken. A certain Kondh had fever caused by an evil spirit, and the ceremony was an invitation to it to come out, and go to another village.

The following account of a cow-shed sacrifice is given by Mr. Fawcett. [179] "A special liquor is brewed from grain for the ceremony, on the first day of which there is a general fast, a pig is bought by general subscription, and dragged to the place where it is to be sacrificed by a rope 'through its belly.' The pig is stoned to death, but, ere it dies, each Khond cuts off some of the hair and a little piece of the ear, which are treasured. The meat is divided among them, and cooked with rice. The priest goes from house to house, and performs the ceremony of the cow-shed. The ropes of the cattle (chiefly buffaloes) which are out grazing are tied to the central point in the cow-shed, and the other ends are laid on the ground across the shed. These ropes are the visible objects, to which sacrifice is made. The head of a chicken is buried near the ends tied to the post, and near it are ranged leaves, on which are placed rice, flesh of the pig, and a bit of its ear. A little in front of these is buried a rotten egg. The chicken, whose head is buried, is boiled, and eaten by children who have not yet donned a cloth. The Khond puts the rice, piece of the ear, and the hair of the pig, under the roof. In the evening the cattle come home, and are tied by the ropes used in the ceremony. Then the women break their fast--they must eat then. Drinking and dancing occupy the two following days, during which no manure is removed from the cow-shed. On the third day, the Khonds come out with a lump of it in the hand, and throw it in one place, forming a heap, on which the priest pours liquor and rice."

The following example of a Kondh oath is given by Mr. J. A. R. Stevenson. "The subject of the circumstance is first repeated by the swearing party, and a basket containing the following things is held before him:--

A blood-sucker (lizard).
A bit of tiger's skin.
A peacock's feather.
Earth from a 'white-ant' hill.
Rice mixed with fowl's blood.
A lighted lamp.

He proceeds with his oath, touching each object in the basket at that part of the oath which refers to that object. 'Oh! father (god), I swear, and, if I swear falsely, then, Oh! father, may I become shrivelled and dry like a blood-sucker, and thus die. May I be killed by a tiger. May I crumble to dust like this white-ant's hill. May I be blown about like this feather. May I be extinguished like this lamp.' In saying the last words, he puts a few grains of rice in his mouth, and blows out the lamp, and the basket with its contents is made to touch the top of his head."

In 1904, a case illustrating the prevailing belief in witchcraft occurred in the Vizagapatam hill tracts. The youngest of three brothers died of fever, and, when the body was cremated, the fire failed to consume the upper portion. The brothers concluded that death must have been caused by the witchcraft of a certain Kondh. They accordingly attacked him, and killed him. After death, the brothers cut the body in half, and dragged the upper half to their own village, where they attempted to nail it up on the spot where their deceased brother's body failed to burn. The accused were arrested on the spot, with the fragment of the Kondh's corpse. They were sentenced to death, and the sentence was confirmed by the High Court. [180]

In 1906, a Kondh, suspecting a Pano girl of having stolen some cloths and a silver ornament from him, went to the dhengada house in Sollagodo, where the girl slept with other unmarried girls, and took her to his village, where he confined her in his house. On the following day, he took her to an Oriya trader, who thrashed her, in order to make her confess to the theft. Subsequently, some of the villagers collected to see her undergo the ordeal of boiling water. A pot nearly full of water was boiled, some cow-dung and sacred rice added, and a rupee placed in the pot. The girl was ordered to take out the rupee. This she did three times, but, on the fourth occasion, the water scalded her hand and forearm. She was then ordered to pay as a fine her ear-ring, which was worth one rupee. This she did, as it was the custom for an unsuccessful person to hand over some property. Her right hand was practically destroyed as the result of the scalding. An elderly Patro (headman) deposed that the ordinary practice in trials of this sort is to place two pots of water, one boiling and the other cold. In the boiling water a rupee and some rice are placed, and the suspected person has to take out the rupee once, and should then dip his hand in the cold water. If the hand is then scalded, the person is considered guilty, and has to pay a fine to the caste.

In trial by immersion in water, the disputants dive into a pool, and he who can keep under water the longest is considered to be in the right. On one occasion, some years ago, when two villages were disputing the right of possession of a certain piece of land, the Magistrate resorted to a novel method to settle the dispute. He instituted a tug-of-water between an equal number of representatives of the contending parties. The side which won took possession of the disputed property, to the satisfaction of all. [181]

In connection with sacred rice, which has been referred to above, reference may be made to the custom of Mahaprasad Songatho. "It is prevalent among the Khonds and other hill tribes of Ganjam and Orissa, and is found among the Oriyas. Sangatho means union or friendship. Mahaprasad Songatho is friendship sworn by mahaprasad, i.e., cooked rice consecrated to god Jagannath of Puri. The remains of the offering are dried and preserved. All pilgrims visiting Puri invariably get a quantity of this mahaprasad, and freely distribute it to those who ask for it. It is regarded as a sacred thing, endowed with supreme powers of forgiving the sins and wrongs of men by mere touch. It is not only holy itself, but also sanctifies everything done in its presence. It is believed that one dare not commit a foul deed, utter a falsehood, or even entertain an evil thought, when it is held in the hands. On account of such beliefs, witnesses in law suits (especially Oriyas) are asked to swear by it when giving evidence. Mahaprasad Songatho is sworn friendship between two individuals of the same sex. Instances are on record of friendship contracted between a wealthy and cultured townsman and a poor village rustic, or between a Brahmin woman of high family and a Sudra servant. Songatho is solemnised with some ceremonies. On an auspicious day fixed for the purpose, the parties to the Songatho, with their relatives, friends and well-wishers, go to a temple in procession to the festive music of flutes and drum. There, in that consecrated place, the would-be friends take a solemn oath, with the god before them, mahaprasad in their hands, and the assemblage to witness that they will be lifelong friends, in spite of any changes that might come over them or their families. The ceremony closing, there will be dinners, gifts and presents on both sides, and the day is all mirth and merriment. Thus bound by inseparable ties of friendship, they live to the end of their lives on terms of extreme intimacy and affection. They seize every opportunity of meeting, and living in each other's company. They allow no festival to pass without an exchange of new cloths, and other valuable presents. No important ceremony is gone through in any one's house without the other being invited. Throughout the year, they will send each other the various fruits and vegetables in their respective seasons. If one dies, his or her family does not consider the bond as having been snapped, but continues to look upon the other more or less in the same manner as did the deceased. The survivor, if in need of help, is sure to receive assistance and sympathy from the family of the deceased friend. This is how the institution is maintained by the less civilised Oriyas of the rural parts. The romance of the Songatho increases with the barbarity of the tribe. The Khonds, and other hill tribes, furnish us with an example of Songatho, which retains all its primitive simplicity. Among them, Songatho is ideal friendship, and examples of Damon and Pythias are not rare. A Khond has been known to ruin himself for the sake of his friend. He willingly sacrifices all that he has, and even his life, to protect the interests of his friend. The friends have nothing but affection for each other." [182]

It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that "the Khonds steal cattle, especially those belonging to Brinjari gangs, in an open manner, for the sake of their flesh. In 1898, at Veppiguda near Gudari a party of them attacked four constables who were patrolling the country to check these thefts, thrashed them, and carried off all their property and uniforms. Efforts to arrest these men resulted in the inhabitants of their village fleeing to the hills, and, for a time, it looked as if there was danger of others joining them, and of the Khonds going out. In 1882, the Khonds of Kalahandi State rose against the Uriyas, and murdered some hundreds of them. Luckily the invitation to join them, conveyed by the circulation of the head, fingers, hair, etc., of an early victim, was not accepted by the Khonds of this district." The news of the rising was conveyed to Mr. H. G. Prendergast, Assistant Superintendent of Police, by a Domb disguised as a fakir, who carried the report concealed in his languti (cloth). He was rewarded with a silver bangle. At a meeting held at the village of Balwarpur, it was decided that the Kultas should all be killed and swept out of the country. As a sign of this, the Kondhs carried brooms about. At Asurgarh the police found four headless corpses, and learnt from the widows all that they had to say about the atrocities. The murders had been committed in the most brutal way. All the victims were scalped while still alive, and one had an arm and a leg cut off before being scalped. As each victim died, his death was announced by three taps on a drum given slowly, followed by shouting and dancing. The unfortunate men were dragged out of their houses, and killed before their women and children. Neither here nor anywhere else were the women outraged, though they were threatened with death to make them give up buried treasure. One woman was in this way made to dig up a thousand rupees. On a tamarind tree near the village of Billat, affixed to it as a trophy, there was the scalped head of a Kulta, hacked about in the most horrible way. [183]

The fact is noted by Mr. Jayaram Moodaliar that the Kondh system of notation is duodecimal. Thirteen is twelve and one, forty three twelves and four, and so forth.

Kondh Bibliography.

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Caldwell, R. Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages, 2nd edn., appendix, 516-17, 1875.

Campbell, G. Specimens of Languages of India, including those of the Aboriginal Tribes of Bengal, the Central Provinces and the Eastern Frontier, 95-107, 1904, Calcutta.

Campbell, Major-General. Personal Narrative of Service amongst the Wild Tribes of Khondistan, 1864.

Dalton, E. T. Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, 285-301, 1872.

Duff, Rev. A. The First Series of Government Measures for the Abolition of Human Sacrifices among the Khonds. Selections from the Calcutta Review, 194-257, 1845-6.

Fawcett, F. Miscellaneous Notes. Journ., Anthrop. Soc., Bombay, II, 247-51.

Francis, W. Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam District, Vol. I, 1907.

Friend-Pereira, J. E. Marriage Customs of the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc. Bengal, LXXI, part III, 18-28, 1903.

Friend-Pereira, J. E. Totemism among the Khonds. Journ., Asiat. Soc., Bengal, LXXIII, Part III, 39-56, 1905.

Frye, Captain. Dialogues and Sentences in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.

Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an English translation, 1851, Cuttack.

Frye, Captain. Fables in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.

Frye, Captain. The History of Joseph in the Kui or Kondh Language, 1851, Cuttack.

Frye, Captain. Primer and Progressive Reading Lessons in the Kondh Language, with an Oriya translation, 1851, Cuttack.

Frye, Lieut. J. P. On the Uriya and Kondh Population of Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XVII, 1-38, 1860.

Grierson, G. A. Linguistic Survey of India, IV, 457-71, 1906.

History of the Rise and Progress of the Operations for the Suppression of Human Sacrifice and Female Infanticide in the Hill tracts of Orissa. Selections from the Records of the Government of India (Home Department) No. V, 1854, Calcutta.

Hunter, W. W. Orissa II, 67-100, 1872.

Huttmann, G. H. Lieut. Macpherson's Report upon the Khonds of the Districts of Ganjam and Cuttack. Calcutta Review, VIII, 1-51, 1847.

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Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religious Opinions and Observances of the Khonds of Goomsur and Boad. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, VII, 172-99, 1843.

Macpherson, Captain S. C. An account of the Religion of the Khonds in Orissa. Journ., Roy. Asiat. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, XIII, 216-74, 1852.

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Rice, S. P. Occasional Essays on Native South Indian Life, 97-102, 1901.

Risley, H. H. The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, I, 397-413. 1891.