Chapter XVIII: Part 18

The following note on the Koravas of the west coast is interesting as showing that Malabar is one of the homes of the now popular game of Diavolo, which has become epidemic in some European countries. "In Malabar, there is a class of people called Koravas, who have, from time immemorial, played this game almost in the same manner as its Western devotees do at the present time. These people are met with mostly in the southern parts of Malabar, Cochin and Travancore, and they speak the Malayalam language with a sing-song accent, which easily distinguishes them from other people. They are of wandering habits. The men are clever acrobats and rope-dancers, but those of more settled habits are engaged in agriculture and other industries. The beautiful grass mats, known as Palghat mats, are woven by these people. Their women are fortune-tellers and ballad singers. Their services are also in demand for boring the ears of girls. The ropedancers perform many wonderful feats while balancing themselves on the rope, among them being the playing of diabolo while walking to and fro on a tight rope. The Korava acrobat spins the wooden spool on a string, attached to the ends of two bamboo sticks, and throws it up to the height of a cocoanut tree, and, when it comes down, he receives it on the string, to be again thrown up. There are experts among them who can receive the spool on the string without even looking at it. There is no noteworthy difference in the structure and shape of the spool used by the Koravas, and those of Europe, except that the Malabar apparatus is a solid wooden thing a little larger and heavier than the Western toy. It has not yet emerged from the crude stage of the village carpenter's skill, and cannot boast of rubber tyres and other embellishments which adorn the imported article; but it is heavy enough to cause a nasty injury should it hit the performer while falling. The Koravas are a very primitive people, but as acrobats and ropedancers they have continued their profession for generations past, and there is no doubt that they have been expert diabolo players for many years." [228] It may be noted that Lieutenant Cameron, when journeying from Zanzibar to Benguela, was detained near Lake Tanganyika by a native chief. He relates as follows. "Sometimes a slave of Djonmah would amuse us by his dexterity. With two sticks about a foot long connected by a string of a certain length, he spun a piece of wood cut in the shape of an hour-glass, throwing it before and behind him, pitching it up into the air like a cricket-ball, and catching it again, while it continued to spin."

NOTES

[1] Gazetteer of the Bellary district.

[2] Madras Diocesan Magazine, June, 1906.

[3] John S. Chandler, a Madura Missionary, Boston.

[4] Madras Mail, November, 1905.

[5] J. Hornell. Report on the Indian Pearl Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar, 1905.

[6] Madras Diocesan Mag., 1906.

[7] Notes from a Diary, 1881-86.

[8] Lecture delivered at Trivandrum, MS.

[9] Nineteenth Century, 1898.

[10] Malay Archipelago.

[11] Monograph. Ethnog: Survey of Cochin, No. 9, 1906.

[12] Malabar Manual.

[13] Manual of the Coimbatore district.

[14] Madras Journ. Lit. Science, I. 1833.

[15] W. W. Skeat and C. O. Blagden. Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula, 1906.

[16] Gazetteer of the Malabar district.

[17] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[18] Manual of Malabar.

[19] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[20] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[21] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[22] A reddish formation found all over Southern India.

[23] Op. cit.

[24] Journey through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar.

[25] Rev. H. Jensen. Classified Collection of Tamil Proverbs, 1897.

[26] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[27] Gazetteer of the Trichinopoly district.

[28] For this note I am indebted to Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar.

[29] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[30] Mokhalingam is in Ganjam, not Vizagapatam.

[31] Place of meeting, which is a large tamarind tree, under which councils are held.

[32] Gazetteer of the Madura district.

[33] Gazetteer of the Madura district.

[34] Setupati, or lord of the bridge. The title of the Rajas of Ramnad.

[35] Gazetteer of the Madura district.

[36] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[37] Manual of the Madura district.

[38] G. Oppert. Madras Journ. Lit. Science, 1888-9.

[39] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[40] Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.

[41] Madras Review, 1899.

[42] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[43] Gazetteer of the Madura district.

[44] Op. cit.

[45] Illustrated Criminal Investigation and Law Digest, I, 3, 1908, Vellore.

[46] Madras Journ. Lit. Science, XXV.

[47] I am informed that only Mel-nadu, Sirukudi, Mella-kottai, and Puramalai are endogamous.

[48] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[49] Manual of the Madura district.

[50] Hindu Feasts, Fasts, and Ceremonies, 1903.

[51] The Tamils eighteen hundred years ago, 1904.

[52] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[53] Gazetteer of the Tanjore district.

[54] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[55] Madras Mail, 1908.

[56] Ind. Ant., III., 1874.

[57] A lakh = a hundred thousand.

[58] Compare the theft of Laban's teraphim by Rachel. Genesis, XXXI, 19.

[59] Gazetteer of the Tanjore district.

[60] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[61] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[62] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[63] Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[64] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[65] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[66] Hutchinson. Marriage Customs in many lands, 1897.

[67] Gazetteer of the Bellary district.

[68] Gazetteer of the Anantapur district.

[69] Mediæval Sinhalese Art.

[70] Maduraikanchi, Line 521.

[71] E. Hultzsch. South Indian Inscriptions, II, i, 44, 46, 1891.

[72] Ibid. III, i, 47, 1899.

[73] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[74] Madras Census Report, 1871.

[75] New Asiatic Review, Jan. 1907.

[76] Madras Mail, 1907.

[77] Classified Collection of Tamil Proverbs, 1897, from which some of the proverbs quoted are taken.

[78] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[79] See the legendary story narrated in the article on Tiyans.

[80] Malabar and its Folk, 1900.

[81] Letters from Malabar.

[82] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[83] Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[84] Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district.

[85] Yule and Burnell, Hobson-Jobson.

[86] Monograph, Eth. Survey of Cochin, No. 4, 1905.

[87] Unhusked rice.

[88] Manual of the South Canara district.

[89] Money-lender.

[90] Malabar Quarterly Review, 1905.

[91] Indian Review, III, 1902.

[92] Monograph, Ethnog. Survey, Cochin.

[93] According to another version of the legend, it was the hut of a Tiyan.

[94] Malabar Manual.

[95] Gazetteer of the Malabar district.

[96] C. Karunakara Menon. Madras Mus. Bull., V, 2, 1906.

[97] Madras Mus. Bull., II, 3, 1901.

[98] This account is mainly from an article by Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar.

[99] Ind. Ant., IX, 1880.

[100] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[101] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[102] Historical Sketches, Mysore.

[103] Gazetteer of the Madura district.

[104] Gazetteer of the Madura district.

[105] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[106] Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency.

[107] Loc. cit., and Manual of the North Arcot district.

[108] Section III, Inhabitants, Madras Government Press, 1907.

[109] Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[110] J. F. Kearns. Kalyana shatanku.

[111] Madras Series, IV, 1882; VI, 1883.

[112] Illatakaru, a bride's father having no son, and adopting his son-in-law.

[113] See further C. Ramachendrier. Collection of Decisions of High Courts and the Privy Council applicable to dancing-girls, illatom affiliation, etc., Madras, 1892.

[114] Gazetteer of the Anantapur district.

[115] Madras Mail, Nov. 1905.

[116] Madras Mail, 1905.

[117] Gazetteer of the Malabar district.

[118] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[119] Gazetteer of the Malabar district.

[120] Tamil and English Dictionary, 1862.

[121] The word, in this sense, is said to occur in a Tamil work named Pingala Nikandu. Karuku is Tamil for the serrated margin of the leaf--petiole of the palmyra palm.

[122] Yule and Burnell. Hobson-Jobson.

[123] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[124] Manual of the Salem district.

[125] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[126] Manual of the Madura district.

[127] Manual of the Tanjore district.

[128] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[129] Madras Christ. Coll. Mag., 1894.

[130] Malabar Law and Custom.

[131] Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[132] Mysore and Coorg Gazetteer.

[133] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[134] Journ. Anthrop. Inst., II, 1873.

[135] Gazetteer of the Anantapur district.

[136] Indian Review, VII, 1906.

[137] See Ravi Varma, the Indian Artist. Indian Press, Allahabad.

[138] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[139] Madras Museum Bull., V. 3, 1907.

[140] Epigraphia Indica, VI, 1900-1901.

[141] Rev. J. Cain, Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[142] Trans. Ethnolog. Soc., London, 1869; Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[143] Original Inhabitants of Bharathavarsha.

[144] The panas have reference to the division of South Indian castes into the right- and left-hand factions.

[145] The mofussil indicates up-country stations and districts, as contra-distinguished from the "Presidency" (Madras City).

[146] Marriage Customs in Many Lands, 1897.

[147] Moore. Indian Appeal Cases, Vol. III, 359-82.

[148] Journey through Mysore, Canara and Malabar.

[149] See Talboys Wheeler, Madras in the Olden Time, II, 49-89.

[150] See Tales of Komati Wit and Wisdom. C. Hayavadana Rao, Madras, 1907.

[151] Classified Collection of Tamil Proverbs, 1897. See also C. Hayavadana Rao, op. cit., and Ind. Ant., XX, 78, 1891.

[152] Madras Census Report, 1871.

[153] Gazetteer of the Godavari district.

[154] Linguistic Survey of India, IV, 1906.

[155] Man. March 1902.

[156] G.O., No. 1020, Public, 8th October 1901.

[157] G.O., No. 3005, Revenue, 3rd November 1908.

[158] Occasional Essays on Native South Indian Life, 1901.

[159] Madras Census Report, 1881.

[160] Agricul: Ledger Series, Calcutta. No. 7, 1904.

[161] Madras Mail, 1894.

[162] Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district.

[163] A very interesting note on Totemism among the Khonds by Mr. J. E. Friend-Pereira has been published in the Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, LXXIII, 1905.

[164] The Golden Bough, 1900.

[165] Selections from the Records, Government of India, No. V, Human Sacrifice and Infanticide, 1854.

[166] Personal Narrative of Service among the Wild Tribes of Khondistan.

[167] Manual of the Vizagapatam district.

[168] Journ. Asiat. Soc., Bengal, 1898.

[169] Madras Mail, 1894.

[170] Selections from the Records of the Government of India (Home Department), V., 1845.

[171] J. A. R. Stevenson. Madras Journ: Lit. Science, VI, 1837.

[172] J. E. Friend-Pereira. Journ: Asiat: Soc. Bengal, LXXI, 1902.

[173] Madras Journ: Lit. & Science, VI, 1837.

[174] Loc. cit.

[175] Journ. Anthrop. Soc., Bombay, II, 249.

[176] Madras Mail, 1896.

[177] Macpherson. Memorials of Service in India.

[178] Journ., Anth. Soc., Bombay, II, 1890.

[179] Ibid.

[180] Madras Police Report, 1904.

[181] Madras Mail, 1894.

[182] Madras Mail, 1908.

[183] See G.O., Judicial, 14th August 1882, No. 952, Khond Rising.

[184] Manual of the South Canara district.

[185] Letters from Malabar. Translation. Madras, 1862.

[186] Fine cakes made of gram flour and a fine species of alkali, which gives them an agreeable taste, and serves the purpose of making them rise and become very crisp when fried.

[187] Journ. Anthrop. Inst., IV., 1875.

[188] Madras Christ. Coll. Mag. III, 1885-6.

[189] Ind. Ant. X, 1881.

[190] Manual of the South Canara district.

[191] Journ. Anthrop. Inst. IV, 1875.

[192] Manual of the South Canara district.

[193] Manual of the South Canara district.

[194] M. Paupa Rao Naidu. History of Railway Thieves.

[195] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[196] Madras Journ. Lit: and Science, 1888-89.

[197] Tirumurukairuppadai.

[198] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[199] Indian Antiquity, IX, 1880.

[200] Cyclopædia of India.

[201] Loc. cit.

[202] Note on Koravas, 1908.

[203] Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.

[204] Forest Inspection Report, 1896.

[205] Gazetteer of the Bellary district.

[206] Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district.

[207] F. S. Mullaly. Op. cit.

[208] Madras Journ. Lit. Science, XVII, 1853.

[209] History of Railway Thieves. Madras, 1904.

[210] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[211] Gazetteer of the Trichinopoly district.

[212] This story is based on well-known episode of Nalacharitra in the Aranya Parva of the Mahabharatha.

[213] M. Paupa Rao Naidu. Op. cit.

[214] Ibid.

[215] Police Report, 1902.

[216] Op. cit.

[217] A varaha or pagoda was worth Rs. 3-8-0.

[218] A seer is an Indian measure of weight, varying in different parts of the country.

[219] Trans. Eth. Sec. N.S., VII.

[220] J. F. Kearns, Kalyana Shatanku, 1868.

[221] Ind. Ant., III., 1874.

[222] Madras Census Report, 1871.

[223] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[224] India. Trübner. Oriental Series.

[225] Ind. Ant., III, 1874.

[226] Madras Mail, 1907.

[227] For this account of the Koravas, I am largely indebted to a report by Mr. N. E. Q. Mainwaring, Superintendent of Police.

[228] Madras Mail, 1908.