Buchanan, Francis: A Journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar ... (Band 3) (London, 1807)

J 84

A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH

March 3.

Customs of
the Comara-
peea.

CHAPTER from above the Ghats. At this season they are in a most wretched
condition, and are supported entirely on straw; for in Kankana no
hay is made. In this part of the country few buffaloes are em-
ployed.

The Comarapeca are a tribe of Kankana descent, and seem to be
the Siidras of pure birth, who properly belong to the country; in
the same manner as the Nairs are the pure Siidras oiMalayala. By
birth they are all cultivators and soldiers; and, as usual with this
class of men among the Hindus, are all strongly inclined to be
robbers. From the anarchy which has long prevailed in this neigh-
bourhood, they had acquired an extraordinary degree of cruelty,
and had even compelled many Brahmans to assume their customs,
and adopt their cast. They have hereditary chiefs called Ndyakas,
who, as usual, with the assistance of a council, can expel from the
cast, and settle disputes among their inferiors. A man's own chil-
dren are his heirs. They can read poetical legends, and are per-
mitted to eat meat and drink spirituous liquors. Their women are
not marriageable after the age of puberty. Widows ought to burn
themselves with the bodies of their husbands, but this barbarity is
no longer in use. Widows, and women who have been divorced
for adultery with a Brahman or Comarapeca, may be taken into a
kind of left-hand marriage; but their children are despised, and
no person of a pure descent will marry them. A woman cannot be
divorced for any other cause than adultery; if the crime has been
committed with any man but a Brahman, or Comarapeca, she loses
cast. The men may take as many wives as they please. The Sringa-
giri Swamalu is their Guru. He receives their Dharma, and bestows
on them Upadesa, holy-water, consecrated ashes, and the like. The
Panchanga, or astrologer of the village, is their Purohita, and reads
prayers (Mantrams) at marriages, Namacurna (the giving a child its
name), Tit hi, Amdvdsya, &c. &c. They worship the great gods,
Siva and Vishnu, in temples where Kankana Brahmans are Pujdris.
They offer bloody sacrifices; and at the temples of the Saktis, or