Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/481

Rh spot on the hills, where the goddess is to be adored in the shape of a stone called Vellandiswāmi. The nature of the rites it is difficult to learn. In the village they worship, also excluding women, small images of Venkatēswara of Tirupati, which are carefully concealed in caskets, and not allowed to be seen by people of other castes. A few bundles of tobacco are buried with the dead. When any one falls ill, the Malaiālis do not administer medicine, but send for a pūjāri, and ask him which god or goddess the patient had offended. The assessment paid to Government by them is a fixed charge for each plough or hoe possessed, without reference to the extent of land cultivated. They collect jungle produce, particularly the glandular hairs of the fruits of a certain flower (Mallotus philippinensis), which is used by the Rangāris for dyeing silk a rich orange, and the roots of a plant called shenalinsedi, supposed to possess wonderful medicinal virtues, curing, among other things, snake-bite." The Malaiālis of the Javādi hills in the North Arcot district also earn a living by felling bamboos and sandal trees.

The Malaiālis snare with nets, and shoot big game — deer, tigers, leopards, bears, and pigs — with guns of European manufacture. Mr. Le Fanu narrates that, during the Pongal feast, all the Malaiālis of the Kalrāyans go hunting, or, as they term it, for parvettai. Should the Pālaiagar fail to bring something down, usage requires that the pujāri should deprive him of his kudumi or top-knot. He generally begs himself off the personal degradation, and a servant undergoes the operation in his stead. A few years ago, a party of Malaiālis of the Shevaroys went out shooting with blunderbusses and other quaint weapons, and bagged a leopard, which they carried on a frame-work, with jaws