Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/262

LAMBADl children, etc. When their prayers are answered, the Lambādis walk all the way to Tirupati, and will not travel thither by railway.
 * (2) Hanumān, the monkey god.


 * (3) Poleramma. To ward off. devils and evil spirits.


 * (4) Mallalamma. To confer freedom to their cattle from attacks of tigers and other wild beasts.


 * (5) Ankalamma. To protect them from epidemic disease.


 * (6) Peddamma.


 * (7) Maremma.

The Lambādis observe the Holi festival, for the celebration of which money is collected in towns and villages. On the Holi day, the headman and his wife fast, and worship two images of mud, representing Kama (the Indian cupid) and his wife Rati. On the following morning, cooked food is offered to the images, which are then burnt. Men and women sing and dance, in separate groups, round the burning fire. On the third day, they again sing and dance, and dress themselves in gala attire. The men snatch the food which has been prepared by the women, and run away amid protests from the women, who sometimes chastise them. It is narrated by Moor * that "he passed a tree, on which were hanging several hundred bells. This was a superstitious sacrifice by the Bandjanahs, who, passing this tree, are in the habit of hanging a bell or bells upon it, which they take from the necks of their sick cattle, expecting to leave behind them the complaint also. Our servants particularly cautioned us against touching these diabolical bells; but, as a few were taken for our own