The skins of all animals dying within the village boundary are the property of the Kulawadi, and this one fact often settles a village boundary dispute. The Karu Kallu is the village boundary stone ; it is a plain menhir, and the village Patel once a year makes an offering to it, which the Kulawadi at the conclusion of the ceremony carries off. Where there is no Patel, the Kula wadi performs the annual ceremony. The ordinary attire of all the Holiyar, and of the Bihar, is the narrow lungoti strip of cloth passing between the thighs, with a coarse hair blanket or cumbli for covering. The ancient Mysore Holiyar, Vira Baraka, is said to have been cursed gods thus: An old cumbli for clothing, a stick in your hand, The leavings of betters you'll eat in this land.' And these words paint the present condition of the Kulawadi.
Washermen of Mysore -worship Basava-devaru or Ubbe in a temple with a shapeless stone, and to this they sacrifice animals, to prevent the clothes being burned in the Ubbe or steaming-pot. They also worship Vishnu. Basava lived in the 12th century, at Kalian, where he was minister to Bajal, the king, and he introduced there the worship of the lingam. But the Mysore'wiisher men, though worshipping Basava as a deity (devaru), nevertheless are Vaishnava.
Beder or Nayik.—Their clans are called Kira tika, Barika, and Kaunaiya in different parts of Mysore. They have two other divisions, Karnata in the south, 'and Tanga in the north, who neither eat together nor intermarry. The former wear the lingam. Most of the Pallegar of Mysore are of this race. They are a brave, martial, but predatory race, and have two small principalities at Beder Zorapur and Gurgunta, between the Kistna and the Bhima rivers. The Bader are said to have formed part of the armies of Tipu.
.Pin Bari (Beder) tribe of Muhammadans, con verts from the Beder race, and were formerly predatory, have now settled to agriculture, and take employ in the Mysore horse.
Idiga, or toddy-drawers of Mysore (80,715), worship all the Hindu deities, but especially evil spirits, and they adore pots full of toddy. In the Nagar division they are called Hale Paika, and were soldiers under the Pallegars. They eat animal food, and drink largely. Their widows do not re-marry, but are concubines, and, their children become an inferior division of the caste.
Kuruba of Mysore have two sections,—Betta Kuruba and Hande Kuruba. The Kuruba worship Bire-devaru, also a box containing the wearing apparel of Krishna under the name of Junjuppa. They are agricultural, herdsmen, labourers, and blanket weavers. .
Berta Kuruba or Hill Kuruba are met with in the forests along the S.W. boundary of Mysore, and amongst the hills at the foot of the Neilgherry range, living in small, rudely-built villages called Hadi. They earn a livelihood by felling timber, at which , they are very expert. They are a diminutive race, the men averaging about 5 feet 2 inches in height ; but they are very active, and capable of much endurance. Of late years they have been seeking employment in the neighbour ing coffee estates. The Jenu or Honey Kuruba (1094) gather honey and other forest products. Theyare shorter and darker than the Berta Kuruba, and in Coorg are migrants. Iraliga collect forest
produce, and differ from the Jenu Kuruba only in name. See Kuruba.
Badaga, of the Neilgherry Hills, regard the Kuruba as sorcerers, and at the beginning of the ploughing season they get a Kuruba to turn the first furrow, and to bless the first handful of the seed corn, otherwise they imagine the harvest would be a failure, and they give the Kuruba a small portion of the crop.
Soliga (1069) dwell in the Beligiri -raugam Hills on the S.E. frontier of Mysore. They live in small communities of five or six huts in the midst of the forests. They speak old Canarese. They cultivate with the hoe small patches of ground to grow a coarse plantain, vegetables, and a little ragi, which they eat with edible roots and the flesh of animals they catch. They avoid strangers as much as possible, and visit the plains only to purchase necessaries.
Natwa (Natya, &NM., dancing), or dancing women attached to temples, are also called Kunda Golaka. ' They are drawn chiefly from the Sudra classes, Banajiga, Beder, and Besta ; are born in the caste, or adopted or devoted by their parents even before birth.
Waddara are earth and stone masons, but give information largely to robbers. They are poly gamists on a large scale, and widows and divorced women are re-married.
Hasular occupy the ghats in the N.W. part of Mysore. They are a short, thick-set race, very dark shinned, and with curled hair. They fell timber, work in betel-nut gardens, and gather wild cardamoms, pepper, etc. They speak a dialect of Canarese.
Yeravp,;in the southern taluks of the Mysore district, are said to have been slaves to the Nairs in the Wynad district. They resemble the African•in•features, having thick slips and a com pressed nose. They speak a language 'of their own.
Nagarta call themselves Vaisya Hindus, but this claim is not admitted by the Brahmans or by the KOmati. They engage in agriculture, but never till the ground with their own hands, nor even follow any mechanical profession.
Of mendicant sects in Mysore, the more im portant' are the Hasa, Jangama, Satani, Domba, Budabudiki, Pichakimte, Hale or Pansu, and Helva or Paknati Jogi.
In 1871 there were 12 -wild tribes, 44 servile tribes, and 16 of homeless migrants. Omitting mere trade and country designations, the remaining castes and tribes are the Agamudi, Agasa, Berta or Bhoi, Bilwa, Golla, Koracha, Lumbana, Murka or Hale Kanadiga, Namadhari, Palli, iachwar, Rajpindi, and Uppara.
Many of the Christian sects of Europe have missionary bodies in Mysore,—English, French, German, Scotch, Roman Catholics ; but the French have been prominent since the days of the Abbe Dubois in the 18th century, and they have now a vicar-apostolic, with 13 European missionaries and native priests.
Mr. (Sir) Walter Elliot mentions in the Journal of the Ethnological Society that the Canarese race of Mysore and the Southern Mahratta country believe that the spirits of unmarried persons, of the unchaste, of those who have died a violent death, etc., become malignant ghosts, called Viraka, who are appeased by offerings.