Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 117

THE KADU-KURUMBARS
or brass bangles, small quantities of grain, or a
to smoke l
77
little
tobacco
.
Both men and women occupy themselves in making reed
bamboo mats, baskets, hampers, and other household
articles, which they exchange with the inhabitants of more
or
civilized parts for salt, pepper, grain, &c.
According to the people of the plains,
can,
the tigers,
these savages
and enchantments, charm all
elephants, and venomous snakes which share the
by means
of witchcraft
them, so that they need never fear their attacks.
Their children are accustomed from their earliest infancy
to the hard life to which nature appears to have condemned
them. The very day after their confinement the women
are obliged to scour the woods with their husbands in order
Before starting they suckle the
to find the day's food.
new-born child, and make a hole in the ground, in which
they put a layer of teak leaves. The leaves are so rough
that if they rub the skin ever so gently they draw blood.
In this hard bed the poor little creature is laid, and there
On the
it remains till its mother returns in the evening.
fifth or sixth day after birth they begin to accustom their
and in order to harden them at
infants to eat solid food
once to endure inclement weather, they wash them every
morning in cold dew, which they collect from the trees and
Until the infants can walk, they are left by them-
plants.
selves from morning till night, quite naked, exposed to
sun, wind, rain, and air, and buried in the holes which
serve them for cradles.
The whole religion of these savages seems to consist in
the worship of bhootams, or evil spirits, which worship they
perform in a way peculiar to themselves. They pay no
regard whatever to the rest of the Hindu deities.
Besides the Kadu-Kurumbars there is another tribe of
savages living in the forests and mountains of the Carnatic,
and known by the name of Irulers, or in some places
Soligurus.
Their habits are identical with those of the
Kadu-Kurumbars. They lead the same kind of life, have
in fact, one
the same religion, customs, and prejudices
may say that the difference between the two tribes exists
only in name.
1
These transactions are now regulated by the forest laws. En.
forests with
;
;
—