Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/216

DOMMARA snake-bite, a black stone, said to be made of various drugs mixed together, and burnt, is placed over the seat of the bite, and will, it was stated, drop off of its own accord as soon as it has absorbed all the poison. It is then put into milk or water to extract the poison, and the fluid is thrown away as being dangerous to life if swallowed. As a remedy for the bite of a mad dog, a plant, which is kept a secret, is mixed with the milk of a white goat, pepper, garlic, and other ingredients, and administered internally. A single dose is said to effect a cure. At Tarikēri in Mysore, a wandering troupe of Ārē (Marātha) Dommaras performed before me. The women were decorated with jewels and flowers, and carried bells on their ankles. The men had a row of bells attached all round the lower edge of their short drawers. Before the performance commenced, a Pillayar (Ganēsa) was made with cowdung, and saluted. The entertainment took place in the open air amid the beating of drums, whistling, singing, and dialogue. The jests and antics of the equivalent of the circus clown were a source of much joy to the throng of villagers who collected to witness the tamāsha (spectacle). One of the principal performers, in the waits between his turns, played the drum, or took a suck at a hooka (tobacco pipe) which was passed round among the members of the troupe. The entertainment, in which both men and women took part, consisted of various acrobatic feats, turning summer-saults and Catherine wheels, stilt-walking, and clever feats on the tight rope. Finally a man, climbing up a lofty bamboo pole, spun himself rapidly round and round on the top of it by means of a socket in an iron plate tied to his loin cloth, into which a spike in the pole fitted.