Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/552

JOGI and carrying a bag slung over the shoulder. The contents of one of these bags, which was examined, were fruits of Mimusops hexandra and flower-spikes of Lippia nodiflora (used for medicine), a snake-charming reed instrument, a piece of cuttle-fish shell, porcupine quills (sold to goldsmiths for brushes), a cocoanut shell containing a powder, narrikombu (spurious jackals' horns) such as are also manufactured by Kuruvikārans, and two pieces of wood supposed to be an antidote for snake-poisoning. The women go about the streets, decorated with bangles and necklaces of beads, sharks' vertebrae, and cowry shells, bawling out "Subbamma, Lachchamma," etc, and will not move on till alms are given to them. They carry a capacious gourd, which serves as a convenient receptacle for stolen articles. Like other Telugu castes, the Jōgis have exogamous septs or intipēru, of which the following are examples: — At the Mysore census, 1901, Killekyāta, Helava, Jangaliga, and Pākanāti were returned as being Jōgis. A few individuals returned gōtras, such as Vrishabha, Kāverimatha, and Khedrumakula. At the Madras census, Siddaru, and Pāmula (snake) were returned as sub-castes. Pāmula is applied as a synonym for Jōgi, inasmuch as snake-charming is one of their occupations. The women of the caste are said to be depraved, and prostitution is common. As a proof of chastity, the ordeal of drinking a potful of cow-dung water or chilly-water has to be undergone. If a man, proved guilty of