Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/155

Rh Mutrāchas. The name occurs further as a name for the Kuruvikkārans, who manufacture spurious jackal horns as charms.  Nāli (bamboo tube). — An exogamous sept of Kuruba.  Nālillakkar (people of the four illams). — A section of Mukkuvans, which is divided into four illams.  Nalke.— The Nalkes or Nalakēyavas are described by Mr. H. A. Stuart* as "a caste of mat, basket, and umbrella makers, who furnish the devil-dancers, who play such an important part in the worship of the Tulu people. They have the usual Tulu exogamous sub-divisions or balls. They are generally held to be Holeyas or Pariahs. In Canarese they are called Pānāras."

"Every village in Canara," Mr. Stuart writes further,† "has its Bhūtasthānam or demon temple, in which the officiating priest or pūjāri is usually a man of the Billava caste, and shrines innumerable are scattered throughout the length and breadth of the land for the propitiation of the malevolent spirits of deceased celebrities, who, in their lifetime, had acquired a more than usual local reputation whether for good or evil, or had met with a sudden or violent death. In addition to these there are demons of the jungle and demons of the waste, demons who guard the village boundaries, and demons whose only apparent vocation is that of playing tricks, such as throwing stones on houses, and causing mischief generally. The demons who guard the village boundaries seem to be the only ones who are credited with even indirectly exercising a useful function. The others merely inspire terror by causing sickness and misfortune, 