Page:Pre-Aryan Tamil Culture.djvu/65

 products of the tops of hills (such as sandal, agil, gold, gems, etc.)'. Of the hunters it is said:

'They drink the sweet rice-liquor, tŏppi, brewed in their houses; they cut in the open field the strong bull and eat its meat. The drum faced with folded hides sounds and they lift the left arm, strong with the constant bending of the bow, place it around the right side and dance all day with glee.'

The food of the Āyar is thus described:

'Early in the morning when the thick darkness begins to disappear and birds rise from their sleep, Iḍaiyar women ply with the rope the churning-rod, mattu, with a noise like the grunt of a tiger; they churn the milk with folded crust, having been curdled by the curds reserved for the purpose, uṛai, which looks like the white mushroom, and remove the butter; they place a pad of flowers, śummāḍu, on their heads and stand thereon a pot of buttermilk, whose mouth is sprinkled with drops of curds and sell it in the mornings. They are dark of skin; at their ears dangle earrings; their shoulders are like the bamboo; their hair is short and wavy. They feast their relatives with rice bartered for buttermilk. Then they sell ghi and buy gold and milch buffaloes and cows and calves. If you stay with the Iḍaiyar with hanging lips, they will feast you with tinai, which looks like the young of crabs, boiled with milk. Their strong feet are scarred with constant wearings of sandals; their hands lean on sticks with which they cruelly beat the cattle; and are horny with handling the axes which fell trees; their shoulders, scarred and hairy by carrying Kāvaḍis with double hanging loops; their hair, smelling because they wipe the head with hands full of milk-drops. They wear garlands of mixed flowers, Kalambagam, plucked from trees and plants growing in the forests;