Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 8.djvu/125

KOTA MEN.—KOTA WOMEN. silver are also presented. 'When the girl is old enough she is taken to her husband's house, when a feast takes place, and the Tali ornament of marriage is tied round her neck by the mother of the bridegroom. The Kotas burn their dead face upwards, and with a man an axe, a handkerchief; a chopper, a small knife, a baguri, one or two walking sticks, an umbrella, and some cheroots, are burnt with him; with a woman, a rice measure, rice beater, sickle, winnowing basket, and umbrella, also her cloth and jewels in every day wear. Next (lay the bones are collected, put in a pot, and buried near the burning place, a stone being laid over them, and a circle of stones placed around it. A second or dry funeral takes place sometime afterwards, at which cows and buffaloes are sacrificed, and articles similar to the first burning, and a bow and three arrows are added.

Mr. Breeks does not mention whether the Kotas have any original language like the what they speak is a dialect of Canarese. They have no history or tradition, but it is presumed that at some distant period they emigrated from the plains, invited by the Todas, who gave them lands to cultivate.