Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 8.djvu/84

 AMMA KODAGI, OR KAVERI BRAHMINS. (425)

HE persons represented in the group are a father, mother, and daughter; they are Amma Kodagi, or Kaveri Brahmins. They belong to a small sect of Brahrnins who reside in the south-western portion of Coorg, and are the indigenous and hereditary priesthood devoted to the worship of Amma, or mother, the goddess Kaveri. Their number does not exceed fifty persons, and they are entirely unlettered, and ignorant of Brahminical lore, of a quiet, inoffensive character, performing a few ceremonies in connection with the worship of the holy river. They do not intermarry with other Brahmins, or with Coorgs, and are inferior to other Coorgs in personal appearance and strength. Their diet is strictly vegetarian, and they use no intoxicating liquors.

The dress of the men and women is similar to the rest of the Coorgs. The Amma in the Photograph wears a blue coat and turban, and a red sash, in which a silver handled knife is worn, with chains and tassels of the same material. His height is five feet six inches. One of the women wears a white, the other a blue, sari, and the usual head, neck, ear, nose, hand, and feet ornaments of gold and silver. The old woman is four feet nine inches in height. Their complexions are rather fair, eyes dark brown, and their hair black and straight.—Official Report.