Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/209

Rh Parties are organised to give this performance on all auspicious occasions in rural districts. (3) Kolati. Around a lighted lamp, a number of persons stand in a circle, each with a stick a foot in length, and as thick as a thumb, in each hand. They begin to sing, first in slow time, and gradually in rapid measure. The time is marked by each one hitting his neighbours' sticks with his own on both sides. Much dexterity and precision are required, as also experience in combined action and movements, lest the amateur should be hit by his neighbours as the measure is accelerated. The songs are invariably in praise of God or man."

The Kaniyans, according to one tradition, are Brāhman astrologers, who gradually lost their position, as their predictions became less and less accurate. Concerning their legendary history, Mr. Anantha Krishna Iyer writes as follows. " Once, says one of these legends, when the god Subrahmanya, son of Siva, and his friend were learning astrology, they knew that the sound of a lizard close by foreboded some evil to the mother of the former. The friend practiced some magical rite, which averted the evil. His mother, who had been in a state of unconsciousness, suddenly woke up as if from slumber, and asked the son 'Kany-ar,' i.e., who it was that she looked at. To which the son replied that she was looking at a Kaniyan (astrologer). The Kaniyans still believe that the umbrella, the stick, the holy ashes, and the purse of cowries, which form the paraphernalia of a Kaniyan nowadays, were given by Subramanya. The following is another tradition regarding the origin of the caste. In ancient times, it is said, Pānāns, Vēlans, and Kaniyans were practicing magic, but astrology as a profession was practiced exclusively by the Brahmans.