Buchanan’s journey through
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their deceafed parents. They fay, that, as they wafli the clothes of the adrologer, orpanchanga, he occafionally comes, and tells them fome lies; for that he is never atthe trouble of predicting the truth, except to thofe who are rich.
The Wully Tigulas, like the Vana Pallis, are a cad of Tamul or Tigula origin;and their only employment is the cultivation of kitchen gardens. They have loll theiroriginal language; but when there is a fcarcity of girls here, they go down tothe Lower Carnatic, and get wives from the parent dock. The men are allowed aplurality of wives, and never divorce them, but content themfelves with giving theirfemales a good drubbing when they prove unfaithful. The girls continue to be mar-riageable after the age of puberty, and are very indudrious in gathering the produceof the garden, and in carrying it to market. They do not fpin. This cad hashereditary chiefs called Gaunda, which is the Tamul name for the head man of a.village. None of them can read. With the Vana Pallis they eat, but cannot inter-marry. They are allowed to eat animal food, but not to drink fpirituous liquors.They. bury the dead, and have fome faint notions of a future date; but rather as athing of which they have heard, than as a thing of which they are firmly convinced,or in which they are much intereded. They take the vow of Daferi, which literallymeans fervice; the perfon, who takes the vow, thereby dedicating himfeif to thefervice of God . They are admitted into all temples, fo that they are not confideredof an impure defcent; but they have no Guru. At the annual commemoration oftheir deceafed parents, the panchanga reads prayers (mantrams ), which they do notunderdand; but at births, marriages, or funerals, no fuch ceremony is required.They do not obferve the amavafyas. The cad god is Vencata Ramana, or the Vifhnuof Tripathi. When they go into a temple of this idol, they give the pried fome fmallmoney, and get in return holy water and confecrated flowers. They offer facrificesto the Saktis , and in fact worlhip every thing they meet, which is called a deity.
17th July.—In the morning I went three coffes to Bhidi-caray, a fmall fortifiedvillage fituated on the fide of Nandi-durga, which is oppofite from Chica Bala-pura.I paffed through among the hills by the fide of Chin’-raya-conda; from whence, it isfaid, fprings the Pennar, or, the Utara Pinakani, as it is called in the Sanfkrit.This river runs toward the north ; and the Palar, which fprings from Nandi, runs tothe fouth. Thefe hills may therefore be looked upon as the highed part of thecountry in the center of the land, fouth from the Krifhna. The fources of the Kaveriand Tungabhadra , towards the wedern fide, are probably higher.
Among the hills of Nandi-durga is much fertile land, now covered with bamboos,and ufelefs trees; but which, with a little encouragement, might be brought into culti-vation : this, however, would be improper, until there be a number of people, and aquantity of dock, fufficient to occupy all the lands that have formerly been cultivated,but are now wade. Such, at lead, is the opinion of the amildar, who is a fenfibleman.
I took an opportunity, in company with this amildar, of examining into themanagement of the lac infeCt; and for this purpofe we collected all the people whofollow that employment. I have always found, that the more of any clafs of peopleWere affembled, the more likely I was to get jud information: not that all of themfpoke; fome one or two men generally anfwered my quedions; but they did it with-out fear of reflexions from thofe who might otherwife have been abfent; as everyone, if he chofe, had an opportunity of fpeaking. The Hindus of all defcriptions, fofar as I have obferved, are indeed very defirous of having every kind of bufmefs dif-cuffed in public affemblies.
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