Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/380

HOLEYA :Madavāli — Washerman's pot, fire-place, mallet, and stone.


 * Kumbāra — Potter's wheel, pots, and mallet.


 * Vakkaliga — Plough,


 * Chetti — Scales and basket.


 * Kuruba — Sheep-shears.

A small whistle, called kola-singanātha, made of gold, silver, or copper, is tied round the neck of some Holeyas, Vakkaligas, Besthas, Agasas and Kurubas, by means of threads of sheep's wool intertwined sixteen times. All these castes are supposed to belong to the family of the God Bhaira, in whose name the whistle is tied by a Bairāgi at Chunchingiri near Nāgamangala. It is usually tied in fulfilment of a vow taken by the parents, and the ceremony costs from a hundred to two hundred rupees. Until the vow is fulfilled, the person concerned cannot marry. At the ceremony, the Bairāgi bores a hole in the right ear-lobe of the celebrant with a needle called diksha churi, and from the wound ten drops of blood fall to the ground (cf. Jōgi Purusha). He is then bathed before the whistle is tied round his neck. As the result of wearing the whistle, the man attains to the rank of a priest in his caste, and is entitled to receive alms and meals on festive and ceremonial occasions. He blows his whistle, which emits a thin squeak, before partaking of food, or performing his daily worship. It is noted in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that the marriage of the Holeyas is "nothing but a feast, at which the bridegroom ties the bottu (marriage badge) round the bride's neck. The wife cannot be divorced except for adultery. Widows are prohibited from remarrying, but the caste winks at a widow's living with a man." In an account given to me of marriage among the Gangadikāra Holeyas, I was told that, if a girl