Page:Madras Journal of Literature and Science, series 1, volume 6 (1837).djvu/223

1837] therefore, the southern portion of the peninsula was parcelled out amongst a number of petty chiefs, scarcely to be dignified even as commanders of banditti; The state of the countries, and the characters of their Collaries find their other inhabitants, are well described in History; and their unaltered condition, at a period a little subsequent, is concisely and clearly described by. The extent and dreary aspect of the thickets, as well as the ferocious manners of the people, are also the subject of frequent and interesting description by the members of the Catholic missions, which were sent to this part of India between the end of the seventeenth and the middle of the eighteenth century. See Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, vols. x to xv. The Collars have several peculiar customs contrary to those of the Hindus, particularly the frequency of remarrying allowed to the women, either upon voluntary separation from their husbands, or their death. This custom exists with very few exceptions (MS. Accounts of the Collaries, 25, 26). The pre-eminent power and stability of the tondiman, as the principal Poligar chief is called, has introduced a bias to Hindu habits; and his wives having sometimes been known to sacrifice themselves on the funeral pile, the fashion has gained ground in his dominions. The Collars are chiefly worshippers of Siva and Kali. They are not very rigid in their diet, drinking spirits and eating flesh and fish. The lax observance of the Hindu practices, which prevailed formerly amongst these tribes to a greater extent than at present, may partly furnish a reason to believe that the extensive proselytism effected by the Madura missionaries in these districts was not altogether a fiction. It appears, indeed, that amongst the thirty thousand Christians under the Madura mission, was included a considerable portion of the calaris, or thieves. "Je me mis sous la conduite de ce guide qui me fit bientôt quitter le grand chemin pour entrer dans le pays de la caste des voleurs. On la nomme ainsi parce que ceux qui la composent faisoient autrefois metier de voler sur les grands chemins. Quoique la plupart de ces gens-la se soient faits Chretiens, et qu'ils ayent aujourd'hui horreur de l'ombre même du vol. Ils ne laissent pas de retenir leur ancien nom, et les voyageurs n'osent encore passer par leurs forêts. Les premiers missionaires de Maduré furent assez heureux de gagner l'estime de cette caste de sorte qu'à present il n'y a guerès de lieu, ou nous soyons mieux reçus et plus en sureté que dans leurs bois." — Du Père au Père le, Decembre 1700, vol. x. p. 160. their predatory followers preferring a system of insidious pilfering to open plunder, and rarely venturing, without decided superiority of number or position, to face an enemy in the field. Too indolent to till the soil, too insecure to desire fixed property, they lived by hunting and robbery, and were, therefore, but little disposed to check the luxuriance of rank vegetation, which yielded them at once subsistence and shelter. It is not surprising, therefore, that the countries which the Poligars occupied should have been overrun with inhospitable and noxious forests; and, it may be concluded, that had not a wise and powerful policy interfered to enforce the habits of social life, the fine districts to the south of the Kaveri, most admirably fitted by nature to support an industrious population, would have reverted to the state in which tradition describes them long anterior to Christianity, and would once more have become a suitable domicile for none but the goblins of Ravana, or the apes of Hanuman.

The princes of Vijayanagar had established their supremacy over most of the countries south of the Krishna river before the sixteenth century, but they appear in general to have left the native princes in