Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/153

Rh let it be generally known that I am entirely in accord with what is known as the anti-nautch movement in regard to such performances."

It was unanimously decided, in 1905, by the Executive Committee of the Prince and Princess of Wales' reception fund, that there should be no performance by nautch girls at the entertainment to be given to Their Royal Highnesses at Madras. In a note on Basavis, the Collector of the Bellary district writes that "it is usual among Hindus to dedicate a bull for public use on the death of a member of their family. These are the breeding bulls of the village flock. Similarly, cows are dedicated, and are called Basavis. No stigma attaches to Basavis or their children, and they are received on terms of equality by other members of their caste. The origin of the institution, it has been suggested, may probably be traced to the time when the Bōyas, and other castes which dedi- cate Basavis, were soldiers, and the Basavis acted as camp-followers and nurses of the wounded in battle. According to Hindu custom, the wives of the men could not be taken from their homes, and, other women of the caste being required to attend to their comforts, the institution of Basavis might have been started; or, if they existed before then as religious devotees attached to temples, they might have been pressed into their service, and the number added to as occasion required. In Narayandēvarkeri there are many Bōyas and many Basavis. On the car-festival day, the Bōyas cannot take meals until the car is taken back to its original place after the procession. Sometimes, owing to some accident, this cannot be done the same day, and the car-drawing Bōyas sleep near the car, and do not go to their houses. Then it is their Basavis who bring