Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/136

KURICCHAN hunting days. This must be the production of a highly imaginative person. Dr. Gundert thinks it is derived from, or allied to, Canarese Koracha (Korava). I would rather say it is allied to that word, and that both are derivatives of kuru, a hill (cf. Tamil kurinchi), kurunilam, etc., and Malayālam kurissi, a suffix in names of hilly localities. With the exception of 2,240 persons in Kottayam, and 373 in Kurumbranād, both bordering on Wynaad, all the Kuricchans are found in Wynaad. They are excellent bowmen, and played an important part in the Pyche Rāja's rebellion at the beginning of the (nineteenth) century. The Kuricchans affect a great contempt for Brāhmans. When a Brāhman has been in a Kuricchan's house, the moment he leaves it, the place where he was seated is besmeared with cowdung to remove the pollution! They follow inheritance in the male line in some places, and in the female line in others. Their god is called Mūttappan, which literally means grandfather. They now subsist mostly by punam (shifting) cultivation."

In the Gazetteer of Malabar, the Kuricchiyans (kuricchi, hill country) are described as "a jungle tribe of punam cultivators, found in the Wynaad and the slopes of the ghats, north of Calicut. They consider themselves polluted by the approach of other hill tribes and by the touch of Tiyans and Kammālans; and their women require water sanctified by a Brāhman to purify them. They perform the tāli kettu ceremony before puberty, and say that they follow the marumakkattāyam family system (of inheritance in the female line), though the wife usually goes to live with her husband in a new hut, and the husband has to pay a price for his bride. They act as oracles during the great festival at Kōttiyur. The performer becomes inspired after sitting for some