Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/90

PANIYAN a kind of priest, called Nolambukāran, take the chief parts. The former dresses in the goddess' clothing, and the divine afflatus descends upon him, and he prophesies both good and evil."

Games. — A long strip of cane is suspended from the branch of a tree, and a cross-bar fixed to its lower end. On the bar a boy sits, and swings himself in all directions. In another game a bar, twelve to fourteen feet in length, is balanced by means of a point in a socket on an upright reaching about four feet and-a-half above the ground. Over the end of the horizontal bar a boy hangs, and, touching the ground with the feet, spins himself round. Some Paniyans have a thread tied round the wrist, ankle, or neck, as a charm to ward off fever and other diseases. Some of the men have the hair of the head hanging down in matted tails in performance of a vow. The men wear brass, steel, and copper rings on their fingers and brass rings in the ears.

The women, in like manner, wear finger rings, and, in addition, bangles on the wrist, and have the lobes of the ears widely dilated, and plugged with cadjan (palm leaf) rolls. In some the nostril is pierced, and plugged with wood. The Paniyans, who dwell in settlements at the base of the ghāts, make fire by what is known as the Malay or sawing method. A piece of bamboo, about a foot in length, in which two nodes are included, is split longitudinally into two equal parts. On one half a sharp edge is cut with a knife. In the other a longitudinal slit is made through about two-thirds of its length, which is stuffed with a piece of cotton cloth. It is then held firmly on the ground with its convex surface upwards, and the cutting edge drawn, with a gradually quickening