is sort of symbolism being particularly
noticeable in the marriage ceremonies of the people of Madras. Divorce
is not permitted even though the wife be guilty of adultery, and if
she runs away to her father's house her husband cannot use force to
bring her back if she refuses to return to him. The Kuramwars worship
the implements of their calling at the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi,
and if any family fails to do this it is put out of caste. They also
revere annually Mallana Deva and Mallani Devi who guard their flocks
respectively from attacks of tigers and epidemics of murrain. The
shrines of these deities are generally built under a banyan tree
and open to the east. The caste are shepherds and graziers and also
make blankets. They are poor and ignorant, and the Abbe Dubois [51]
says of them: "Being confined to the society of their woolly charge,
they seem to have contracted the stupid nature of the animal, and from
the rudeness of their nature they are as much beneath the other castes
of Hindus as the sheep by their simplicity and imperfect instruction
are beneath the other quadrupeds." Hence the proverbial comparison
'As stupid as a Kuramwar.' When out of doors the Kuramwar retains the
most primitive method of eating and drinking; he takes his food in a
leaf and licks it up with his tongue, and sucks up water from a tank
or river with his mouth. They justify this custom by saying that on one
occasion their god had taken his food out of the house on a leaf-plate
and was proceeding to eat it with his hands when his sheep ran away
and he had to go and fetch them back. In the meantime a crow came and
pecked at the food and so spoilt it. It was therefore ordained that
all the caste should eat their food straight off the leaf, in order
to do which they would have to take it from the cooking-pot in small
quantities and there would be no chance of leaving any for the crows
to spoil. The story is interesting as showing how very completely
the deity of the Kuramwars is imagined on the principle that god
made man in his own image. Or, as a Frenchman has expressed the idea,
'_Dieu a fait l'homme a son image, mais l'homme le lui a bein rendu._'
The caste are dark in colour and may be distinguished by their caps
made from pieces of blankets, and by their wearing a woollen cord
round the waist over the loin-cloth. They speak a dialect of Canarese.

Kurmi

List of Paragraphs

1. _Numbers and derivation of name._