Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/502

kORAVA Korava begs in villages, dragging about with him a monkey, while the females earn a livelihood by tattooing, which occupation, known as pricking with green, has gained for them the name of Pacchai (green) Kutti. The patterns used in tattooing by a Korava woman, whom I interviewed, were drawn in a note-book, and consisted of fishes, scorpions, a fortress, five-storeyed house, conventional designs, etc. The patterns were drawn on the skin, with great dexterity and skill in freehand drawing, by means of a blunt stick dipped in a mixture of a lamp-black, lamp-oil, and turmeric contained in a half cocoanut shell. The pattern is pricked in with a bundle of four or five needles tied together. The needles and drawing-stick were kept in a hollow bamboo, and the tattooing mixture in the scooped out fruits of the bael (Ægle Marmelos) and palmyra palm (Borassus fiabellifer). For tattooing an entire upper extremity, at several sittings, the Korava woman would be paid from eight to twelve annas, or receive food-grains in lieu of money. The hot weather is said to be more favourable for the operation than the cold season, as the swelling after it is less. To check this, lamp-oil, turmeric, and leaves of the avarai plant (Dolichos Lablab) are applied. Concerning the Pacchaikuttis, or, as they are also called, Gadde (soothsayers), Mr. Paupa Rao Naidu writes that "the women start with a basket and a winnowing basket or tray into a village, proclaiming their ostensible profession of tattooing and soothsaying, which they do for grain or money. When unfortunate village women, who always lose children or who often fall ill, see these Gadde women moving about, they call them into their houses, make them sit, and, pouring some grain into their baskets, ask them about their past