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lands, for the accommodation, for which he was willing to pay any thing that could be reasonably required. The business, however, proceeded but slowly. The lords of the treasury and the commissioners of the crown lands were at a loss how to act with respect to making the grant at all, there being no precedent except in the spontaneous acts of his majesty in the exercise of his royal bounty. The space required by sir Lionel Darell was, besides, so smail, that it was hardly worth setting a value upon it; and it could not be granted gratis without an application to the king, which ministers seldom like to make, unless they have some particular object to answer. Sir Lionel being anxious to complete his improvements, and seeing no way out of the endless labyrinth of solicitation at the treasury, and at the office of the crown lands, resolved at length to apply to his majesty directly in person. Accordingly, the next day of his majesty's passing that way, on his graciously stopping to speak with sir Lionel, as he usually did, sir Lionel took the opportunity of stating to his majesty the difficulty he laboured under, and that the only possibility of relieving it was the grant of a few feet of land from the park. His majesty immediately said, with his usual warmth of beneficence," Certainly, sir Lionel, certainly, you shall have it by all means." His majesty then got off his horse, and said, "how much do you want, sir Lionel?" Sir Lionel having pointed out the quantity he had occasion for, which was but a very small space, his majesty exclaimed, "Very little indeed, sir Lionel; are you sure it will be enough? do not stint yourself." Sir Lionel assured his ina

jesty that he had pointed out the full extent of his want, and that his majesty's gracious and liberal compli ance could not induce him to abuse his royal bounty by extending his demand any further. "Well, then,” said his majesty, "let us make a mark;" and his majesty accordingly took a stick, and drew a line round the extent that sir Lionel had marked out. "There, sir Lionel, that is your ground; it is mine no longer.” His majesty then mounted his horse and rode off; leaving sir Lionel no less penetrated with gratitude for his majesty's easy compliance with his request, than with admiration and love for the truly bountiful and cordially beneficent manner in which that compliance had been expressed.

Customs of the Coicular, near Coimbetore.

[From Dr. Buchanan's Journey from Madras, through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar.]

The Natami Carun, or hereditary chief, of the Coicular weavers here, informs me, that in this tribe there are the following divisions; namely, Siritali, Tatayuatar, and Conga, to which last he belongs. In other districts other divisions are known; at Sati-mangalam, for instance, they are divided into Chóla, Culcundo, Murdea, and Conga. There the hereditary chief is a Murdea. Those divisions do not intermarry, but can eat in common.

As the Coicular

never marry persous of the same family in the male line with themselves, their marriages are confined to a few families, whose descents are known to each other. The men may marry several wives, and the women continue

continue after the age of puberty to be marriageable. Except among the Siritali, a widow cannot marry again. They do not allow of that kind of inferior marriage, called Cutiga above the Ghats, and Wopati or Jaty-bidda in this country. A woman, who has any criminal connection with a strange man, is excommunicated; but when a married woman is seduced by a Coienlar, both seducer and cuckold pay a fine of two Fanams, or almost a shilling, and the matter is settled in an amicable manner by the hereditary chief. The Coicular are allowed to eat animal food, and to drink intoxicating liquors. Many of them read legendary tales, and can keep accompts. Some of them bury, and some of them burn the dead. On both occasions, proper Mantrams must be read by a Bráhman; otherwise the departed soul inevitably becomes a Muni, or a low kind of devil; as is also the case with the souls of all those who are killed by accident, whether they may have been good or bad. If the proper ceremonies have been performed, the souls of good men are received into the heaven called Coilasa; those of bad men are punished by being born again, either as mea or animals. The Coicular are of Siva's side, but consider Camachumia, or Parvatí, as the proper deity of their cast. Some of the idols of this goddess are served by priests of the Coicular, others by Pundarum, and in some large temples by Brahmans; but these never join in the bloody sacrifices that are offered by the low tribes to the idol, and retire whenever the animals are going to be killed. The Coicular offer sacrifices also to the Saktis and Munis. These last are destructive spirits of the ruale

The

sex, of whom the worship is very common throughout the province of Coimbetore. The Guru of the Cois cular is a Smartal Bráhman, whose office is hereditary. He gives them Upadésa, and consecrated food, water, and ashes, and receives their annual contributions. He either comes round, or his disciples visit for him, once in the year. Pauchanga, or astrologer, acts for the Coicular as Puróhita, and reads Mantrams at the annual and monthly commemoration of their deceased parents, at the builting of a new house, at marriages, and at funerals. The hereditary chief punishes transgressions against the rules of cast by fine and excommunication. He is assisted by a council, and pre'tends also to have a jurisdiction in disputes; but in these an appeal is commonly made to the officers of government. The Coicular are weavers, writers, or accomptants, schoolmasters, and physicians; and all the dancing wonien, and musicians attached to them in this country, formerly belonged to this cast; but the decent part of the community have entirely given up all society with these abandoned characters.

These dancing women, and their musicians, thus now form a separate kind of cast; and a certain number of them are attached to every temple of any consequence. The allowances which the musicians receive for their public duty is very small; yet morning and evening they are bound to attend at the temple to perform before the image. They must also receive every person travelling on account of the government, meet him at some distance from the town, and conduct him to his quarters with music and dancing.

All

All the handsome girls are instructed to dance and sing, and are all pros titutes, at least to the Brahmaus. In ordinary sets they are quite common; but, under the company's government, those attached to temples of extraordinary sanctity are reserved entirely for the use of the native of ficers, who are all Bráhmans, and who would turn out from the set any girl that profaned lierself by communication with persons of low cast, or of no cast at all, such as Christians or Mussulmans. Indeed, almost every one of these girls that is tolerably sightly is taken by some officer of revenue for his own special use, and is seldom permitted to go to the temple, except in his presence. Most of these officers have more than one wife, and the women of the Brahmans are very beautiful; but the insipidity of their conduct, from a total want of education or accomplishment, makes the dancing women be sought after by all natives with great avidity. The Mussulman officers in particular were exceedingly attached to this kind of company, and lavished away on these women a great part of their incomes. The women very much regret their loss; as the Mussulmans paid liberally, and the Brahmans durst not presume to hinder any girl, who chose, from amusing an Asoph, or any of his friends. The Brahmans are not near so lavish of their money, especially where it is secured by the company's government, but trust to their authority for obtaining the favours of the dancers. When a Mussulman called for a set, it procured from twenty to two hundred Fanams (from 12s. 6d. to 61. 4s. 9d.), according to the number and liberality of his friends who were present; for in this country it is customary for

every spectator to give something. They are now seldom called upon to perform in private, except at mar riages, where a set does not get more than ten Fanams, or about Gs. 3d. The girls belonging to this cast, who are ugly, or who cannot learn to sing, are married by the musicians. The Nutua, or person who performs on two small cymbals, is the chief of the set, and not only brings up the boys to be musicians, and isstructs all the good-looking girls, born in the set, to sing and dance, but will purchase handsome girls of any cast whatever that he can procure, When a dancing girl becomes old, she is turned out from the temple without any provision, and is very destitute, unless she has a bandsome daughter to succeed her; but if she has, the daughters are in general extremely attentive and kind to their aged parents. To my taste, nothing can be more silly and unanimated than the dancing of the women, nor more harsh and barbarous than their music. Some Europeans, however, from long habit, I suppose, have taken a liking to it, and have even been captivated by the women. Most of them that I have had an opportunity of seeing have been very ordinary in their looks, very inelegant in their dress, and very dirty in their persons: a large proportion of them have the itch, and a still larger proportion are more severely diseased.

The Panchalar are a set of artists, who (as their name imports) are of five different trades; goldsmiths, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, carpenters, and masons. By the Braitmans they are reckoned a low kind of Súdras; but this they do not readily acknowledge to be true, aud say, that they are of the Vislima

Karna

Karma cast, being descended from the five sons of that person, who lives in heaven, and is the chief artist among the Brahmná Lóka, or angels. All the Panchalar in southern India wear a thread like the Brahmans. In the dispate about precedency, their hereditary chiefs lead the right hand side. On this account Coimbetore has been long divided into separate quarters. In its own quarter, each party may perform its ceremonies in whatever manner it pleases; but it is not allowed to go into the adversary's quarters with any procession. This keeps the peace; and, although the killing of a jackass, is known by report to the natives in this part of the country, it never has been practised. A Panchala may follow any of the five arts that he pleases; but there are many divisions among them, that prevent intermarriage. No man can marry a woman of a different nation; a Telinga Panchala, for instance, could not marry a woman of this country. Again, a man cannot marry any woman of the same family with himself; and, in order to prevent mistakes, marriages are always made with families who are well known to each other. The men are allowed a plurality of wives, and the women continue to be marriageable after the age of puberty. Widows are not allowed to marry again; nor are they permitted to live with another man in the kind of concubinage called Jaty-bidda, of whom none belong to this tribe. Widows, indeed, ought to burn themselves with the dead bodies of their husbands; but, for at least a century, the practice has gone into disuse. When two persons of the cast commit adultery, they are carried before the Guru. The man is fined, and the VOL. XLIX.

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woman is flogged; but, after she has been purified by some consecrated food, and water, her husband receives her back again. If a woman has criminal connection with a man of any other cast, she is excommunicated. Some of these people eat animal food, others do not. They are allowed to drink intoxicating liquors. They never offer sacrifices to any of the destructive spirits, either male or female. The deity peculiar to the cast is Camachuma, or Kama, who is, they say, the same with Parvati, the wife of Siva. The priests in her temples are all Brahmans; but in the southern parts of India no sacrifices are offered to this idol, as is done in Bengal. The images of this goddess in the two countries are very differently shaped. The Panchalas are frequently, instructed to read and write, and there is a book called Vishwa Puranam, which any of them may read. It is written in the vulgar languages. The Gurus of the Panchalas are not Bráhmans, but persons of the cast. They have four Matams, the authority of all which is equal. One Matam, situated beyond the Tunga-bhadra river, is under the government of a Sannyasi, who appoints his successor from among his relations in the male line. The persons of this family who are not called upon to fill this sacred office work at the anvil as usual, and are not too proud to intermarry with ordinary families. The heads of the other three families marry, and their office is hereditary in the male line: one of them named Parsamium, lives at Tinevelly; another, named Vepuru Vencata Achárya, lives at Andeuru; the name of the third, and his place of residence, are unknown to the people of Coimbetore. To their followers these 3 P

Gurus

Gurus read Mantrams and Charitra, or prayers and legends, in the Telinga language. They also bestow Upadesa, and receive the gifts called Dána and Dharma; for which purpose they once a year travel round, and receive from each person a Fanam at least.

The Panchanga of the village acts as Purohita for the Panchalar, and reads to them Mantrams, in an unknown language, at marriages, births, the building of a new house, and at the monthly and annual celebrations of the ceremonies for their deceased parents. He also receives the charity called Dána.

The Toreas, or Torearu, are a tribe of Karnáta, although many of them have been long settled in this country. They are rather a low cast, and their proper duty is the cultivation of the Betel-leaf. Many of them formerly were armed messengers, employed to collect the revenue; but, having been deprived in a great measure of this resource by the reduction made in that body of troops, or rather rabble, they have become small dealers in grain, and cutters of firewood; both of which are considered as low employments. They have hereditary chiefs called Gotugaras, or Ijyamánas, who with the advice of a council reprimand all troublesome persons, and inflict slight punishments on those who transgress the rules of cast. The Toreas may eat animal food, but are not permitted to drink intoxicating liquors. They are not allowed to marry a second wife, without obtaining the consent of the first; and this is never asked for, if she has any children. The girls continue to be marriageable after the age of puberty, and widows may marry again without disgrace,

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The bridegroom generally gives his father-in-law forty Fanams (11. 5); but this is only to assist in defraying the expence of the ceremony, which is performed at the father's house, and which costs more money. In cases of adultery, the husband does not always turn his wife away, but contents himself with flogging her. A woman loses cast if she cohabits with a strange man. This cast has two deities peculiar to itself; the one a male, the other a female. The male is called Sidday Dévaru, and is usually represented by a stone placed in the Betel-leaf-garden. The man of every house acts as priest for his own family, and offers up bleoty sacrifices to this stone, in order to appease the wrath of the god which it represents. Once in three or four years a feast is celebrated in honour of Sidday Dévaru, in order to induce him to bestow prosperity on the cast. This is done by a contribution, and costs fifteen Pagodas (41. 13s. 7d.) On this occasion Sidday Dévaru is represented by a pot, which is placed in a house, and has worship (Puja) performed in its honour; that is to say, flowers, and water dyed yellow with turmeric, are poured over it, and incense is burned before its throne. The female deity is named Urucate, and is represented by a stone placed in a wood. To this, sacrifices and Puja are offered eight days after the great feast of Sidday Dévaru, and the goddess is solicited to bestow prosperity on her votaries. Although these are the peculiar deities of the Toreas, these poor people pray to any image that comes in their way, and use the mark of Siva. They have no Guru. The Panchanga acts as Puróhita, and reads Mantrams at marriages, and when they build a new house.

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