The Miana of Mallia in Mucha Kanta, on the banks of the Muchu river, have a Thakur, but own allegiance only to their own Chowhattia or heads of tribes. They are of a turbulent dis position.
Murli.—Several of the Indian races, the Dhan gar, Dher,Mhang, and Iklanurwara,and occasionally even the higher Hindu castes, under various vows, devote their girls to the gods. The deity to whom the girl is more frequently vowed, is some incarnation of Siva or his con sorts. Amongst the Mahratta people on the western side of India, Kandoba is the usual Siva avatar to whom the girls are devoted, and his chief shrines are at Jejuri, Khanapur near Beder, and at Mallig,aon ; but other deities, or even a dagger, are objects for their vows. The ordinary people believe that from time to time the shadow of the god comes on the devotee (deo ki chaya ati, ang par), and possesses the devotee's person (Murli ke ang ko bhar deti). These devotees are called Murli in Mahrati, Jogini or Jognidani in Canarese, and Basava in Telugu. They at times affect to be or really are possessed, during which they rock the body, and people occasionally make offerings to them as to an oracle or soothsayer, laying money at their feet, and await the possessing to hear a decision enun ciated. The female deity to whom those near the Bhima river are devoted, is Yellama ; the Bhuili race devote their Murli to Mata. Boys also are devoted, and styled Waghia, from Wag, a tiger. Near Amraoti it is to Amba and to Kandoba that the Murli and the Waghia are devoted. The Waghia does not associate with the Murli. At Amraoti, the people say that Kandoba moves on Sunday particularly, and selects a clean tree (clean Murli), whose body he fills.
Paggi of Gujerat must not be omitted. Their skill in tracking footmarks has acquired for them great fame.
The Ramusi, 43,037, are found in all the dis tricts westward from Telingana to the edge of the Western Ghats. They call themselves Boyill or Boiggia. They claim to have three Sections, as under :— 1. Bhaka. 2. Helga.
a. Chauhan. c. Roray. 3. Behdar.
b. Jadn. d. Gurgul.
Though they have adopted Mahrati, they pre serve a few words of their original Telugu for purposes of crime.
The Ramusi have continued predatory for about 500 years. When Ma-ud-Din Husain Gangui Bahmani (A.D. 1347-1358), heading the revolted troops of the empire, assumed sovereignty, and made war on the Hindu countries that encircled the kingdom of Kulburga, the Ramusi seem to have been detached from the Teling nation, and to have at first settled among the fertile valleys of Maharashtra around Kuttuw, Musswur, loura Nalgund, the hill fort of Maimanghar in Mandesh, and east of Satara and the town of Pnulton, and now they are found scattered from Hyderabad westwards ; and the valleys of the Maun, Neera, Bhima, and Peera rivers, with the hills and plains in the vicinity, the districts of Satara, Poona, and Ahmadnaggur, give shelter to their descendants, who are thus scattered through a region lying between lat. 17° and 20° N., and
long. 78° 40' and 75° 40' E. But in this wide extent 40,000 is perhaps the utmost number of their people. They are generally ill-favoured, but not dark coloured, short statured, but muscular and capable of untiring labour. The women are even more ill-favoured than the men, but are active and hardy, are very much attached to their children, and are strictly virtuous. They are pantheistic, but their favourite deity is Kan doba or Kandi Rao, named also Martinda, to whom, as also to Bhawani and Rama, they made -their vows on their plundering expeditions.
The Bhaka Ramusi are hardy, active, and enter prising, covetous, rapacious, and treacherous. From the time of Sivaji they plundered and were the ready instruments of rebellion, and successive rulers retaliated by massacring them on every opportunity. They were finally put down in 1832 by the British, when their leader Oomiah was hanged on the 3d February. During the unquiet times of the Mahratta rule between 1790 and 1818, they had gained head, and kept the country disturbed. They have now settled down to husbandry, and some of them are employed as watchmen, an office which in several towns is hereditary, the Rakhwala being one of the muni cipality. The Holga branch arrange themselves in 13 sections ; their language is nearly Canarese. Though not hereditary robbers, many of them are decoits, highwaymen, and burglars, and often commit murder when engaged in robbery. They are part of the commune, as village watchmen, with shares of the village fees, and some are cultivators. In olden times they undertook to track up all robbers, and if they failed they had to make good half the value of the property plundered.