Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/322

GOLLA out of the village for three months. The woman's husband generally makes a little hut about fifty yards from her, and watches over her; but he may not go near her on pain of being outcasted for three months. Food is placed on the ground near the woman's hut, and she takes it. On the fourth day after parturition, a woman of the village goes to her, and pours water on her, but she must not come in contact with her. On the fifth day, the village people clear of stones and thorny bushes a little bit of ground about ten yards on the village side of the hut, and to this place the woman removes her hut. No one can do it for her, or help her. On the ninth, fifteenth, and thirtieth days, she removes the hut in the same way nearer to the village, and, again, once in each of the two following months. On the ninetieth day, the headman of the village calls the woman to come out of the hut. The dhōbi (washerman) then washes her clothes. She puts on clean clothes, and the headman takes her to the temple of their tutelary deity Junjappa, where the caste pūjari breaks cocoanuts, and then accompanies her to her house, where a purificatory ceremony is performed. Junjappa, it is said, takes good care of the mother and child, so that death is said to be unknown."

It is stated * that, in the Chitaldrūg district of Mysore, "the wife of the eldest son in every family is not permitted to clean herself with water after obeying the calls of nature. It is an article of their belief that their flocks will otherwise not prosper." Writing in the early part of the last century about the Gollas, Buchanan informs us that "this caste has a particular duty, the transporting of money, both belonging