Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/424

IRULA nostril. Brass ornament in lobe of each ear. Eight brass bangles on right wrist; two brass and six glass bangles on left wrist. Five brass rings on right first finger; four brass and one tin ring on right forefinger. Woman, æt. 25. Red cadjan (palm leaf) roll in dilated lobes of ears. Brass and glass bead ornament in helix of right ear. Brass ornament in left nostril. A number of bead necklets, one with young cowry shells pendent, another consisting of a heavy roll of black beads. The latter is very characteristic of Irula female adornment. One steel bangle, eight brass bangles, and one chank-shell bangle on right wrist; three lead, six glass bangles, and one glass bead bangle on left wrist. One steel and one brass ring on left little finger. Woman, æt. 35. Wears loin-cloth only. Breasts fully exposed. Cap of Badaga pattern on head. Girl, æt. 8. Lobe of each ear being dilated by a number of wooden sticks like matches. Average stature I59'8 cm.; nasal index 85 (max. 100). Irulas of Chingleput, North and South Arcot. The Irulas, or Villiyans (bowmen), who have settled in the town of Chingleput, about fifty miles distant from Madras, have attained to a higher degree of civilisation than the jungle Irulas of the Nīlgiris, and are defined, in the Census Report, 1901, as a semi-Brāhmanised forest tribe, who speak a corrupt Tamil. In a note on the Irulas, Mackenzie writes as follows.* "After the Yuga Pralayam (deluge, or change from one Yuga to another) the Villars or Irulans, Malayans, and Vedans, supposed to be descendants of a Rishi under the influence of a malignant curse, were living in the forests in a state of nature, though they have now taken to