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THE FOLK-SONGS

OF

SOUTHERN INDIA,

BY

CHARLES E. GOVER,

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY AND OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTR,

FELLOW OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

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HIGGINBOTHAM AND CO.,

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PRINTED AT THE LAWRENCE ASYLUM PRESS, :OUNT ROAD, BY WM. /TIIOMAS.’

-

i

CONTENTS.

D PE L

THE FOLK-SONGS OF SOUTHERN INDIA

2ee osoe

CANARESE SONGS

BADAGA SONGS ...

63

COORG SONGS.

101

TAMIL SONGS

147

THE CURAL

201

MALAYALAM SONGS

246

TELUGU SONGS

261

SRR A 22

>

o e b

S

AINTRODUCTION.

Asour half of the songs in the following pages were

collected and translated for the Royal Asiatic Society,

and were read before that learned body about two

years ago.

The essays containing them were thought

worthy of publication in the journal of the society,

but have not yet been issued, as the journal cannot

keep pace with the more valuable demands upon its

space. A few have also appeared in The Cornhill Maga-

zine. Beyond this the present publication is original.

Looking to the mode in which the book has been

composed, it may be said that it consists of “Hssays

written 1in intervals of business.”

The portions re-

presented by the papers read before the Royal Asiatic

Society were written and their materials collected

during occasional sick or other leave, and the pleasant

labor thus involved added fresh zest to the enjoyment

which a holiday always brings to an overworked

Indian official.

The remaining portions have been

written at times when arduous occupation made change

of work a necessity. These facts are not mentioned

as a plea ad musericordiam, for no author has a right to

inflict a bad book on the public on the ground that he

is not able to write a good one, but to explain the

\::

Vi

INTRODUCTION.

unequal character of the renderings of the songs and

account for certain sudden breaks in the narrative.

}

Two great objects have been kept in view through-

out

First, to exhibit irrefragable evidence of the real

|

feelings of the mass of the people, and thus enable

Huropeans to see them as they are.

Second, to draw

|

public attention to a great body of excellent vernacular

literature, in the hope that other persons, far better

qualified for the task than myself, will follow the

enquiry and publish critical editions and translations

of the great ethical works of the Dravidian Augustan

period.

It is almost impossible now to obtain a

printed copy of any early Tamil book that has not

been systematically corrupted and mutilated, to meet

E

the views of those whose livelihood depends on the

rejection by the public of Dravidian literature and

its acceptance of the Puranic legends.

The first principle is of vital importance in connec-

tion with a subject that has never been thoroughly

examined—ithe race to which the Dravidian nations

belong.

Since the learned book by Dr. Caldwell—

“Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian languages”—

was Issued, it has been taken for granted that the

Tamils, &c., are a Turanian people.

The progress of

philological enquiry and the new means of analysis

furnished by the great German writers on language

have shown the error of this classification. Driven at a

very early period into the extreme south, and cut off

by vast oceans from intercourse with other peoples,

the Dravidian nations have preserved with singular

i

i

INTRODUCTION.

Vil

|

|

purity the vocabulary they brought with ‘them snand it

i1s probably not extravagant or untrue to say that

there is not one true Dravidian root common to the

three great branches, Tamil, Telugu and Canarese,

As an

that cannot be clearly shown to be Aryan.

interesting example both of the true character of the

language and the linguistic progress made since the

publication of Dr. Caldwell’s book, it may be noted

that the learned doctor gives an appendix containing

a considerable number of Dravidian words which he

asserts to be Scythian, and most efficient witnesses

It 1s

to prove the Turanian origin of the language.

now known that every word in this list is distinctly

Aryan, although some of them have representatives

in the Finnish group of Turanian tongues—the group

which has been most constantly exposed to Aryan

influences.

The greater portion of them are included

in Fick’s Indogermanischen Grundsprache as Aryan

roots, although Fick does not appear to have seen

Caldwell’s work.

This however is a digression.

The songs do not

touch the question of roots or derivatives. On another

side of the same argument their evidence is decisive.

It has always been noted that the true Turanian

peoples are inferior to the Aryan in everything con-

nected with the moral nature of man.

One recent

writer lays 1t down as a rule that the Turanian peoples

display “an utter want of moral elevation.”

Mr.

Farrar, the learned and eloquent author of ¢ Families

of Speech,” asserts (page155)—“ We may say ge-

INTRODUCTION.

!

‘ viil

nerally that a large num.ber of them (the Turanian

peoples ;—he has previously stated that the exceptions

are the Chinese, Finns, Magyars and Turks.) belong

to the lowest palceozoic strata of humanity

peoples

whom no nation acknowledges as its kinsmen, whose

languages, rich in words for all that can be eaten or

handled, seem absolutely incapable of expressing the

reflex conceptions of the intellect or the higher forms

of the consciousness, whose life seems confined to the

glorification of the animal wants, with no hope in the

future and no pride in the past.

They are for the

most part peoples without a literature and without a

history, and many of them apparently as imperfectible

as the Ainos of Jesso or the Veddahs of Ceylon,—

peoples whose tongues in some instances have twenty

names for murder, but no name for love, no name for

gratitude, no name for God.”

This 1s but a fair description of the clags to which

are sald to belong the writers and learners of the songs

this book contains.

It will be seen that the Dra-

vidian peoples possess one of the noblest literatures,

from a moral point of view, the world has seen.

Compare with the above, the remarks of the Rev. P.

Percival, in his excellent book—“ The land of the

Veda.”—* Perhaps no language combines greater force

with equal brevity ; and it may be asserted that no

human speech 1s more close and philosophic in its

expression as an exponent of the mind....the language,

thus specific, gives to the mind a readiness and clear-

e

ness of conception, whilst its terseness and philosophic

oy

e

INTRODUCTION.

1X

idiom afford equal means of lucid utterance.” The

Rev. W. Taylor, the well known Dravidian scholar,

declares of Tamil, the representative Dravidian tongue,

—““1t is one of the most copious, refined and polished

languages spoken by man.” And again in his Catalogue

Raisonnée of Oriental MSS. (vol. I. p. v.) “It is

desirable that the polish of the Telugu and Tamil

poetry should be better known in Europe: that so

competent judges might determine whether the high

distinction accorded to Greek and Latin poetry, as if

there were nothing like it in the world, is perfectly

just.” Dr. Caldwell asserts— It is the only vernacular

literature in India which has not been content with

imitating the Sanscrit, but has honorably attempted

to emulate and outshine it.

In one department, at

least, that of ethical epigrams, it is generally maintain-

ed, and I think must be admitted, that the Sanscrit

has been outdone by the Tamil.” Three such witnesses,

added to the hundred this book contains, suffice to

show that, whether as regards literature or morals,

the Dravidian people are deserving of and entitled

to the honor of omission from the Turanian family.

This 1s no unimportant matter.

Looking to the

necessity that the goverring race should not be dis-

qualified from performing its noble task by laboring

under a complete mistake as to the nationality, as-

pirations, feelings and errors of the people it rules :

seeing that the Dravidian peoples distinctly claim

unity of race and origin with the yet more cultivat-

ed Sanscrit nation that has settled among them :

2

—

X

INTRODUCTION.

knowing that Orientals look as much to points of

etiquette, which require in their observer an accurate

knowledge of popular social ideas, as to matters of

stern fact—would as soon be robbed as lose a title :

it is indisputable that there can scarcely be a more

serious and interesting question than that which would

enquire of the true character and position of the subject

nation.

A1l this is over and above that interest and

value which is everywhere inherent in all attempts to

learn the true life and the inner feelings of any portion

of the great human brotherhood.

To show how a simple error in such matters may

lead to gigantic mistakes, and because the subject has

a close connection with the question under discussion,

it will be profitable to examine one feature of the

theory started by Dr. Caldwell regarding the South

Indian demonolatry. He shows truly enough that the

Shanars worship malignant beings, pure devils, and

proceeds to note that there is ample proof that the

Shanars, and the argument includes the Tamils also,

cannot be related to the Sanscrit race.

He says—

“Every word used in the Tamil country relative to

the Brahmanical religions, the names of the gods and

the words applicable to their worship, belong to the

Sanscrit, the Brahmanical tongue; whilst the names

of demons worshipped by the Shanars in the South,

the common term for “devil,” and the various words

used with reference to devil-worship are as uniformly

Tamil

The words used with reference to devil-

worship being exclusively Tamil, we are obliged to

INTRODUCTION.

X1

assign to this superstition a high antiquity, and refer

its establishment in the arid plains of Tinnevelly and

amongst the Travancore jungles and hills, to a period

long anterior to the influx of the Brahmans and their

civilization of the primitive Tamil tribes.”

The most important word thus noted is Pé or as

Ziegenbalg correctly writes it Péy.

It means a devil.

The places of worship are called Pé-Coils. Another

form of the word in Tamil is penam, a devil. Now let

us follow up this word. It appears in Khond as Pennu,

the name of the deity. But the object of worship is

the sun or the light,

Macpherson says—¢ There is

one Supreme Being, self-existing, the source of good,

and Creator of the universe.”

This divinity is some-

times called “the God of Light,” by others “the Sun-

God, and the sun and the places from which it rises

beyond the sea, are the chief seats of his presence.”

Again Macpherson says—*“The Supreme Being and

sole Source of Good is styled the God of Light.” Tt

is true there are other gods to whom the name Pennu

is generically given, and even the sun-god takes a pre-

name and is known as Bella Pennu, literally the ““light

of the sun.”

But.this, it is clear, does not touch the

question, for there are kinds of light which require an

adjective for definition. Then subordinate deities arose,

to whom, though not representing light, the name was

attached. This has happened everywhere. The San-

serit word ““deva” means the deity. But there are Siva

Deva, Vishnu Deva, Agni Deva and so on. Pennu ex-

actly corresponds with Deva and both mean “the light.”

X11

INTRODUCTION.

But how came Pennu or its root form Pey to be

reduced till it means a devil ? Macpherson again gives

the answer.

He distinctly states that this worship

of light is “common to all the tribes.” DBut the

Khonds are divided into north, middle, and south con-

federations.

The former has degraded its worship

into a demonolatry. The deity exhibits nothing but

“ pure malevolence towards man, and they believe

that while no observances or course of conduct can

change her malignant aspect into benignity, her male-

volence may still be placed in partial or complete

abeyance by the sacrifice of human life, which she has

expressly ordained.”

He describes the rites of this

horrid superstition, and they are the exact counterpart

of the Shanar devilry, where, by the way, the male

god has also been changed into a female devil.

The

Khonds of the middle region have maintained the true

MGHAI B AR

and earlier doctrine. Macpherson says of their deities,

the same as those worshipped in the north—“ No

malevolence towards mankind is ascribed to them. On

the contrary they are merciful and benign towards

those who observe their ordinances and discharge their

rites.

Instead of delighting in cruel offerings, they

abhor the inhuman ritual of the northern, southern and

western districts ; and they would resent with detesta-

tion any semblance of participation in it by their

worshippers.”

First, that demonola-

This teaches us two things.

try may surround deities that were originally good,

—human passions and fears may change a good

INTRODUCTION.

X1ii

into an evil spirit.

Second, that the true meaning

of the word Pey or Pennu is not “devil” but “light.”

But Dr. Caldwell asserts that the word i1s neither

Sanscrit nor related to Sanserit.

This 1s a strange

EEEOL,

Before Caldwell wrote, 1t had been frequently

noted that the Dravidian Pe or Pey 1s identical with

the root of the Sanscrit pi-sacha, meaning a devil, a

malevolent being. The words are interchangeable.

There is no reason to suppose that the Tamil word is

derived from Sanscrit or vice versa, yet the roots are

identical.

But Sanscrit authorities ascribe pusacha

to a root pis, to adorn, and this, as given by Benfey,

has the parallel form pemsa from the root pims to

shine.

This exact coincidence

m both Dravidian

and Sanscrit forms proves their identity beyond a

doubt. The Sanscrit forms just quoted probably

belong to the great cluster of important roots that

has its centre in Bha, to shine.

Thus the Tamil Pey

and the Khond Pennu find their exact equivalents

in the Greek phao and phaino, from the root pha.

The same derivative appears in the gods Phanos and

.

Phaethon.

But the Dravidian tongues do not need these foreign

analogies to show that pey, a devil, comes from a root

meaning light.

In Madi pey-al, in Rutluk piy-al, in

Madia biy-ar, in Tamil pag-al, in Tuluva pag-il, all

mean day, the light time.

Al and «l are merely sub-

stantive terminations. In ancient Tamil pi-res was the

moon, and in modern vey-il is the sunlight. In another

dialect péymoro 1s the light.

A hundred other ex-

X1V

INTRODUCTION.

amples might be given, proving beyond doubt that the

Tamil pey originally meant the bright one, that is, the

deity. As some Khond tribes made Pennu the god of

light a devil, so some of the Tamils, when cut off

from the better teaching of the fathers of their race,

degenerated in their worship and degraded their deity

to match their superstition.

It has always been easy to change a god into a

devil.

The last word used is an illustration, for dewvil

is a clear derivative from deva, and is closely related

to “deity ¥’ Opposing nations have ever called the

gods of their adversaries devils.

But enemies are

not needed for this change.

Ignorant sinful man

must ever look upon God as a being to be propi-

tiated rather than loved, and when such propitiation

becomes an instrument in the hands of ignorant and

poor but greedy priests, it pays well to make the

deity as dreadful as possible, that offerings may be the

Out of Hinduism

more readily made to appease it.

came the devilry of Sakti.

Kali the protector and

avenger is now Durga the devil.

The name of the devil-god of Tinnevelly, when thus

carefully examined, proves the exact opposite of what

Dr.

Caldwell would learn from it.

He asserts—

S ——————

“of elementary worship there is no trace whatever

in the

usages of any portion of the Tamil people.”

The word shows, in reality, that the demonolatry is

corrupted from an early worship of the element light.

In the Khond country all the elements are worship-

ped. Caldwell asserts that the Tamils are not related

R R T

INTRODUCTION.,

XV

to the Aryan race, and adduces the name and worship

of devils as evidence. The name proves that the deity

is Aryan, and there is every reason to believe the

worship to be but one example of a process that hap-

pened in many Aryan races.

Caldwell employs the

facts under notice to prove the Turanian origin of the

people. Their evidence is entirely on the other side,

though by no means conclusive either way:.

The composers, teachers and, generally, the singers

of the songs belong to a distinct class in Hindu

soclety.

The better castes will seldom sing, although

most liberal in their treatment of the professional

singers.

Women will sing to their children, boys will

in their lightness of heart hum the more popular

melodies both in the street and at home, and there are

merry housewives who are fond of exercising their

sweet voices while performing their ordinary domestic

duties. As a rule, however, and invariably in public,

the singers belong to the religious mendicant frater-

nities, who make their chants subservient to their

fortunes, and sing for the scanty livelihood which falls

to the beggar’s lot in a land where beggars are plentiful

as blackberries in Epping Forest.

The greater part of the singers now-a-days belong to

the anomalous class called nattuvan, the sons of dancing

girls, knowing nothing of their fathers and, therefore,

of the caste to which they should belong. F ormerly

they were rigorously shut out of the Hindu body

politic, yet, as their mothers, they were not despised

or treated as outcastes. They were the propel“‘py of

xvi

INTRODUCTION.

the God, bound to his service, entitled to a share in

his offerings

They grew up as musicians, as lighters

of lamps, as stewards and general servants in the

pagodas.

In modern times the English law has made

a vast difference in their condition.

If the mother be

well-to-do and can give her son a good education, she

tacks the caste title ¢ Moodelliar” after his name and

sends him away from the place of his birth to a district

where his antecedents are not known.

In his new

position none can deny that he is a Vellala.

If he

become rich none

would wish to refuse him the

privilege. Choosing the daughter of some poor Vellala

who finds it prudent to ask no questions, he marries

into his assumed caste.

The issue of the marriage are

as good Vellalas as those who came in the train of

A gastya.

In this way the sons of the temple women

are constantly absorbed.

Formerly such things could not be done.

The

nattuvan found himself an outsider, civilly treated it

is true, but yet without a privilege and almost without

a right.

Their numbers were constantly increased.

Wives were always ready to their hands in the female

offspring of the dancing girls that were not well favor-

ed enough to follow the profession of their mothers,

Thus the race was perpetually recruited. Things might

have gone badly both for them and the caste people

had not a door been open for their entrance into decent

life.

There has always existed a class of devotees

named dasas or slaves to the deity. A man in deep

trouble vowed that if God should spare him he would

5

INTRODUCTION;

Xvil

|

; devote himself to God’s service, Sick men in fear of

| death vowed themselves to the life of a dasa if they but

recovered. Women longing for children vowed their

first-born to the deity that would give them issue.

Rebels in imminent danger of a horrible death fled to

the temple to find sanctuary in the life of a slave. Brah-

mans who had infringed the laws of their caste found

a safe haven and an accustomed life in the same state.

No questions of caste entered into the matter.

Any

man might become a dasw, and any woman might

enter the ranks of the dass.

The dasa’s duty was to

serve God at all hazards, at all loss.

The Sanyassi

was a dasa, the Yogi was a dasa, but the class included

many who had small claim to sanctity. They must

have no worldly occupation but begging, they could

have no home but the forest or the pyalls of houses in

the villages. Their service was, first of all, poverty ;

secondly,

singing

S D152

thirdly, forgetfulness of caste.

Their reward lay in human honor and the certainty of

a living. None dared to despise the “slave of God,”

none could refuse him a handful of rice or a couple of

oppams or chupatties.

At weddings and feasts, at

fasts and funerals, at sowing and harvest, at full moon

and sankranti (the passing of the equator as the sun

changed its tropic,) the dasa must be invited, listened

to, and rewarded.

At weddings, he must sing of

Krishna ; at burnings, of Yama ; before maidens, of

Kama ; before men, of Rama.

As he begs he sings of

right and duty ; when he hears the clink of copper in

his shell, of benevolence and charity.

3

xVviil

IN'TRODUCTION.

Here then was the centre to which the nattuvan

converged, where he stood shoulder to shoulder with

Brahmans, Vellalas and Chetties.

If he loved liberty

he left wife and child to live as an ascetic.

If he loved

ease he set up as poojari or director of some wayside

If he

shrine to Hanuman, Vighnéswara, or Krishna.

loved profit he learned to read the Puranas and some-

times even the Vedas, and came before the world as a

pundit skilled in logic and perfect in ritual and

sacrifice.

In either case he became the bard of his

If such

neighbourhood, emphatically ‘the singer.”

men be worshippers of Vishnu they are called Satani

or Chatali, and, in the Tamil country, Tadan. If they

adore Siva they are known as Pandarams ; while if

they belong to the uncompromising reformers known

as Vira Salvas or Lingayets they receive the title of

Jangams.

There can be few more pleasant scenes than when,

in the cool of the evening, the dasa enters some quiet

country village to find and earn his food and quarters

for the night.

Marching straight to the mantapam or

many-pillared porch of the pagoda he squats on the

elevated basement, tunes his vina, places before him

his huge begging shell.

The villagers are just return-

ing from the fields, weary with their labors, anxious

for some sober excitement. The word is quickly passed

round that the singer has come, and men, women and

children turn their steps towards the mantapam.

There they sit on the ground before the bard and

wait his pleasure.

He begins by trolling out some

s

12

INTRODUCTION.

XX

praise to Krishna, Vishnu or Pillaiyarswami. Then

he starts with a pada or short song such as those

with which this book commences.

There is chorus to

every verse.

If the song be well known, before the

bard has finished the long-drawn-out note with which

he ends his verse, the villagers have taken up their

part and the loud chorus swells on the evening breeze.

If the song be new they soon learn the chorus, and

every fresh verse bears a louder and louder refrain.

Then the shell is carried round and pice are showered

nto it.

When darkness closes in, the headman of the

village invites the singer to his house, gives him a full

meal and then leaves him with mat, vina and shell to

sleep on the pyall.

In busy towns the singer squats

by the roadside and soon collects a crowd to hear his

song. The chorus here is less frequently heard. The

people cannot stay, their children are at home, they

hear a little and then pass on.

The contents of the following pages will give

samples of almost every kind of songs that thus catch

the public ear and dwell in the national heart,

The

only exceptions of which I am aware are the episodes

of the great epics and the erotic chapters which I dare

not translate. Neither belong to our subject, for both

are purely Brahmanic, entirely foreign to the Dravidian

literature and mind. The word “ samples” is advisedly

used. There is a great mass of noble writing ready to

hand in Tamil and Telugu folk literature, especially

in the former.

Total neglect has fallen upon it.

Overborne by Brahmanic legend, hated by the

XX

INTRODUCTION.

Brahmans, it has not had a chance of obtaining the

notice 1t so much deserves.

The people cling to

their songs still, and in every pyall-school the pupils

learn the straing of Tiruvalluva, Auveiyar, Kapila,

Pattunatta and the other early writers.

To raise these books in public estimation, to exhibit

the true products of the Dravidian mind, would be a

task worthy of the ripest scholar and the most en-

lightened government. I would especially draw atten-

tion to the eighteen books that are said to have

received the sanction of the Madura College, and are

among the oldest specimens of Dravidian literature.

Any student of Dravidian writings would be able to

add a score of equally valuable books.

If these were

carefully edited they would form a body of Dravidian

classics of the highest value,

If the syndicate of the

university could be persuaded to lend themselves to a

task so noble, they could with ease ensure that pub-

lication should meet with a demand sufficiently ex-

In the Rev.

tensive to pay for the cost of editing.

P. Percival, Madras, has a scholar of remarkable

powers who yet has vigor and leisure enough to

accomplish a task so great,

It may not be considered a digression to protest

against the Christian mutilation to which the Tamil

classics are now liable, an offence not inferior in demerit

to that Brahmanic mutilation which has been so fre-

quently referred to in the text. A school of Christians

has arisen so forgetful of what is due to the great laws

of right as to be desirous of compelling a Tamil author

INTRODUCTION.

XX1

to run in a Christian groove,

They object to that

most praise-worthy act by which the author of a Dra-

vidian book dedicates his book to the god he serves.

Men who learnt Juvenal at college and who send

their sons to Eng].and to become learned in all the

wisdom and vice of Greece and Rome : who are proud

when their sons gain prizes for proficiency in Ovid or

Terence : are so unconscious of the puerility and incon-

sistency of their acts as to think it a sin to read and

explain the humble dedication of his work to his god

by some poor Hindu. Would to God that Christians

were equally mindful of the duties they owe their

Maker!

A learned and estimable missionary has been

publicly condemned because he would faithfully trans-

late a noble poem without a really impure thought

in 1t, and was, therefore, compelled to commit the

awful crime of likening a woman’s bosom to a pome-

granate. Aye, condemned by men who read the song

of Solomon in their families and from their pulpits.

A mere conventionality has tabooed all verbal

reference to matters that enter into the life of every

sentient being. It is perhaps well that it should be

so, but nothing is more absurd than to carry such

conventionalities into our estimation of foreign lite-

ratures, where such rules are unknown.

This princi-

ple is always borne in mind with regard to the

European classics, but is forgotten when Indian classics

are in question. A large portion of modern Dravidian

literature carries freedom into license, but of such

books we need know nothing.

In the early literature

xxi1

INTRODUCTION.

there is little that so sins, and it is unpardonable

that Christians, who ought to be above fashionable

conventionalities and free from any suspicion of wrong-

doing, should deliberately mangle a fine work of art

because it will not fit modern English proprieties or

modern narrow-minds.

At the risk of unduly extending this preface, it will

be well to prove this point by quoting the following

from the “ Classified Catalogue of Tamil printed

books” by that laborious, energetic and wandering

genius, Dr. Murdoch, whom to know 1s to respect.

“The Vedas have never been translated into Tamil; the

writings of Auvaiyar, Tiruvalluvar, and other poets, form the

real moral and religious code.

They are taught in every

native school, and their dicta are received as infallible truth.

The bulk of the verses are unobjectionable ; some of them are

of great beauty and excellence.

There are, however, inter-

mingled passages, inculcating idolatry and superstition of vari-

ous kinds.

The following may be quoted as specimens from

the edition of the Tamil Minor Poets, printed at the Public

Tnstruction Press for use in Government Schools :—

Invocations.— Milk, sweet honey, syrup, and grain, these

four mixed together, to thee will I give.

Do thou O majestic

noble, elephant-faced one, thou holy jewel, grant me the three

kinds of Tamil common in the world.”—p. 28.

“ Let us ornament our heads with the wonderful flower, the

foot of the five-handed glorious one, Who is the mystic syllable,

OM.”—p. 14.

Worship of Vishnu.— Serve Vishnu.”—rp. 6.

Worship of Siwa.—* To those who medidate on Si-va-ya-na-

ma, there will be no suffering at any time : this is the way of

IR T

|

INTRODUCTION.

Xx111

I

|

overcoming the decree of destiny; this is true wisdom ; but

fate will be the cause of all other occurrences to men.”—p. 31.

Rubbing of Sacred Ashes.—«The forehead without sacred

ashes is void of beauty.”—p. 31.

Panitheism.— He will not make any distinction saying,

‘This is good and this is bad, ¢I did this and he did that,’

‘ This is not and this is;” but in his state of perfection, it will

be true of him that ‘he himself is that,” (meaning God.)

=, 36,

Fatalism and Transmigration.—“ Each must enjoy the

fruits of his actions done in former births according to what

Brahma has written (on the forehéad.) Oh king, what shall

we do to those who are angry with us ? Though the whole

town together be opposed to it, will destiny be frustrated ?’—

p. 34.

Although in these days of religious indifference, the worship

of “ Jehovah, Jove, or Lord,” may be regarded with equal eye,

every right-minded Christian will shudder at countenancing

in the slightest degree the crime of high treason against the

God of heaven. The British Government rightly puts down,

with a strong hand, rebellion against itself; it forbids the

teaching in its schools of the blessed words, “ Believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;” yet in Govern-

ment school-books youths are taught to worship the gods of

the Hindu pantheon, and to believe that their foreheads are

void of beauty unless they bear the mark of rebellion against

their Creator.”

In the extracts given by Dr. Murdoch, we have the

worst he could find, and there is not one that is in the

slightest degree objectionable, remembering that we

read Tamil authors.

There 1s not a word that can be

compared with the impropriety of the “Christian”

paragraph with which Dr. Murdoch closes.

Such

O

XX1V

INTROD UC;fION.

forgetfulness of charity is always next door to mis-

representation. He would have it that, because Hindu

boys are required in school to read a Hindu book

embodying certain phrases, they are “taught to

believe that their fore-heads are devoid of beauty

unless they bear the mark of rebellion against Christ.”

This is just as true as a similar assertion that, because

in school we read the Metamorphoses of Ovid, we

are thereby taught to believe that Proteus or Jove

is the true God, and that their disguises are true in-

carnations of the deity.

I candidly profess that I can see no difference in

guilt or folly between those who would modify Siva-

vakyer in a Christian direction, and those who would

make him speak Puranism. There is no better way of

perpetuating evil, or what 1s deemed evil, than to treat

it evilly, and the expurgated and improved editions of

some missionaries only lead Hindu enquirers to rush

to the genuine book and seek for the suppressed

passages.

Every man of ordinary experience knows

that the very best mode of advertising a thing, be

it good or bad, is to cause it to be suppressed. Thus

“1mproved” editions seldom gain their end.

It was at first intended to issue with this book the

vernacular originals of certain of the SONgS.

This

design has been abandoned for the following reasons :

Ist.—It was deemed of primary importance to make

the selection of songs as wide as possible, so as to cover

This made

the greater part of the Dravidian peoples.

1t necessary to occupy the whole book with English

D

SRR

INTRODUCTION.

XXV

renderings., Not only so, but the book is now consider-

ably larger than was at first intended and announced.

2nd.—So many languages are represented that few

readers would be -able to follow more than a small

portion of the originals, and the rest would be so much

waste paperi:

3rd.—1It is hoped that an attempt will be made to

issue the genuine critical editions referred to on page

xx., and it will be better in every way to have com-

plete series of the songs and poems of which specimens

only have been given in this book, than to allow an

important literature to continue represented by a few

examples.

i

It remains to speak of the great assistance with

which I have been favored. No mention is made in

the text of the help to which I am so much indebted

1{1

t was intended

with regard to the Canarese songs.

to speak in this place of the kindness which has been

80 bountifully exhibited in the collection and trans-

lation of the songs generally ; but, while the book was

passing through the press, a discussion arose in the

English press regarding the best mode of expressing

the obligations due to friendly aid in literary work. Tt

was there decided that such obligation should be ac-

knowledged in the text where it is exhibited. From

the Badaga songs onwards, the help afforded me has

been gratefully acknowledged.

I regret that one

amendment 1s necessary, with regard to the Coorg

songs and explanatory text.

I have spoken strongly

and justly of Mr. Richter’s kindness, but now learn

4

INTRODUCTION.

i XXV1

(from an article and letter in the Madras Times) that

Mr. Richter had himself employed the language of an

eminent missionary, Dr. Moegling, to whom therefore

my first thanks are due. Dr. Moegling’s book con-

tains the whole of the explanatory prose inserted as

quoted from Richter’s Manual, but does not contain a

The unfortunate mistake

line of any of the songs.

made by My. Richter will not invalidate any one of

the many services he has rendered to Coorg.

Of the Canarese songs it 1s necessary to speak at

greater length.

I owe the originals to the kindness

of two excellent and able missionaries, the Revs. A. J.

0. Lyle and 'S. Dalzell.

They followed in the foot-

steps of the Revs. T. Hodson and J. Stephenson, and

thus a considerable body of the Dasarapadas has been

collected.,

The two gentlemen first named gave me

literal translations of most of the songs,and these I ren-

I am not aware that they

dered as they now appear.

have ever before been translated into English, except

that some five or six, put into metre by the Rev.

Messrs. Stephenson and Greenwood, appeared in a

magazine now extinct,

he ¢ Harvest Field.”

After

the first paper for the Royal Asiatic Society was sent

home, I learnt through Mr, Kggeling, the secretary

of the society, that Dr. Moegling had previously pub-

lished the text and a German translation of many of

the songs in Vols. 14 and 18 of the Journal of the

German Oriental Society. Before this T had come

e

across a rare Canarese text of twenty-four songs litho-

graphed by Dr. Moegling.

It is a pleasure to ascribe

e

|

INTRODUCTION.

XXVil

to Dr. Moegling the credit of having first drawn atten-

tion to this very interesting literature, and to follow in

his footsteps. Lest however he should be held responsi-

ble for such errors as may have crept into these pages, it

is necessary to state that the only portion of Dr.

Moegling’s labors that has been before me is the litho-

graphed Canarese text above referred to, and this not

till the greater part of my renderings were complete.

For the text of the Malayalam songs I am indebted

to my brother, A. G. Gover, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, who

was kind enough to make diligent search at my re-

quest. Some of the Tamil songs, and much aid through-

out, I owe to a young native friend, Mr. T, Davaraju

Pillai, B. A., to whom my warm thanks are due.

It would be wrong to conclude without publicly and

aratefully acknowledging how much of whatever merit

this book may possess is owing to the kind encourage-

ment of the Lord Napier, x.1., who has taken the

greatest Interest in the work from its commencement,

and whose suggestions and criticism have been of

material benefit.

But for the liberal subseriptions of

His Lordship and of the Madras Government, the book

would not have been published, nor would the col-

lection of songs have been so complete.

The Madras

Government has shown of recent years a most earnest

desire to obtain and publish all available information

concerning the condition and wants of the great people

E

it rules, and if this work should throw any light on so

jmportant a subject the pleasant labor of its composi-

tion will not have been in vain.

XX Vil

INTRODUCTION.

Nor must I omit to mention the generous aid of

Colonel Meade, the Chief Commissioner of Mysore,

and of Sir Seymour Fitzgerald, the Governor of

Bombay. Both gentlemen have, on the part of their

respective governments, done all that lay in their

power to forward an enquiry which cannot fail to

be interesting and may be productive of very impor-

tant results.

November 15th, 1871

RSt

~.C

R ey

THE FOLK SONGS

OF

SOUTHERN INDIA.

It has often been said that there is no better way of

discovering the real feelings and ideas of a people than

that afforded by the songs that pass from lip to

lip in their streets and markets.

None know from

whence they come.

Verses are added to or sub-

tracted from them as new ideas come in or old ones pass

away. Thus they keep up to date, as it were, the

expression of those inner feelings which never rise to

the surface of a set literature, but are in reality the

very essence of popular belief. Their satire is often

sharp, and never fears to attack shams, however vener-

able they may be. Such satire is often the only means

left to the illiterate and obscure of showing that the

priesteraft, the outer polish, the grosser abuses as well

as the showier fabrics, which to outsiders seem to be the

life of the nation, are in no sense the life or even a

portion of the life of the millions who in reality form

the mass of the nation, but who are far too often utter-

ly forgotten by those who judge a people by its upper

ten thousand. A lengthened residence in India has

shown that the Dravidians or Hindus of Southern

.

2

THE FOLK SONGS OFV

India, and probably all others, are not what ordinary

descriptions of Hinduism would make them out to be.

With the exception of a few monographs like Hunter’s

Rural Annals, and occasional descriptions of village life,

almost all books that have come before the public pro-

ceed upon the assumption that, as are the Brahmans,

so are the Hindus.

They are filled with descriptions of

Brahman ceremonial. They comprehend only Brahman

literature.

The vices and the virtues of the priesthood

are ascribed to the nation as a whole.

Tl}ere seldom

seems to dawn upon the mind a single suspicion that

perhaps so exclusive a caste, so jealous of contact with

the impure masses around, so determined to keep to

itself all the religious books, so pertinacious in main-

taining its own essential superiority, is not a fair

representative of the masses 1t despises, and with

whom 1t will have no dealings.

As a matter of fact

the Brahmans are as different from the people in social

habit, religious practice, and mode of thought, as the

Greek philosophers from the vulgar crowd in Thessaly

or Sicily, who plodded in their fields sublimely indif-

ferent to the wrangles of Epicurean and Stoic, Peripa-

tetic and Platonist.

Even 1n religious Hinduism the same truth holds

good. The modern representative Brahman scorns the

service of the temples, and looks upon the actual

priests as a lower caste.

In hundreds of pagodas the

poojari 1§ not a Brahman at all ; and the church-

wardens, under the system recently introduced by the

Indian Government, are seldom Brahmans, even in the

L

R S Y A 833 Y AN 1 Ao e o e

e

SOUTHERN INDIA.

3

‘While the lower

larger and more sacred shrines.

castes flock to the temple festivals, the Brahman dis-

courses 1n his house upon the Vedanta, or criticizes the

doctrines of Sancaracharya, Ramanuja and Madhva-

charya—systems in which idolatry and polytheism have

as small a share as in the works of Berkely, Mill, or

Spinosa.

Even the purohita, formerly the highest

dignitary in the Aryan economy, is now degraded into

an inferior,—one who must minister to the ignorance

and superstition of the crowd.

The Brahmans of Southern India are divided into

three great sects—those who believe that there is but

one soul, in short, that everything is God, (adwaita)—

those who believe that there are two souls, God and

Man, (dwaita)—and those who take a medium course

and believe that there 1s but one soul, which in man

and created things is somewhat different from the

To those who are not

divine soul, (visishta adwaita).

Brahmans these philosophical distinctions are almost

unknown, and men worship a being to whom they

give the puranic names of Vishnu and Siva, Krishna

and Hanuman.

While so many names are given and

acknowledged by every Hindu, as if each referred to a

separate deity, each person acknowledges but one as

his own God and ascribes to him all the attributes of

the Godhead.

It will be seen, however, that while the philosophy

of the schools i1s unknown to the crowd, the strong

tendency of the popular mind is towards monotheism

of a character not unlike that of the Visishta Adwaita

4

THE FOLK SONGS OF

school.

Vishnu and Siva are, according to books,

members of a triad of equal Gods, but in popular

theology the worshipper of either scorns-the others.

One of the songs that follow condemns as utterly foolish

the man who honors Siva when his professed God

1s Vishnu.

In social life and act the worshipper of

Vishnu acknowledges but one god. He speaks of

Vishnu as if there were no other god. So with the

devotee of Siva, even in a greater degree. He transposes

the name into the neuter, Sivam ; and expresses thus

his belief that his deity is the one great essence,

without sex or corporeal shape.

This distinction has been abundantly and accurately

explained by many great writers.

Yet the truth has

never come home to the European mind, because, as

such works went through the press, they were accom-

panied, and much more than out-numbered, by other

books on India—chiefly written by missionaries.

The

latter dilated upon the enormities of vulgar Hinduism,

its millions of deities, the obscenities, quarrels, defeats,

and victories of the gods themselves.

Clubbing these

together under the shade of the old proverb—¢ as are

their gods so are the people”—these authors have

ascribed utter abominations to the mass of the people,

until 1t has become the general idea that all under the

ranks of the higher Brahmans is one seething mass of

impurity, polytheism, and the grossest superstition.

Far be 1t from me to reflect upon the self-denying and

able men who have done so much to renovate India.

The greater the earnestness with which such men as

et

SOUTHERN INDIA,

5

Ward, Arthur, Heber, Ziegenbalg, Duff and a host

of worthy compeers, applied themselves to their great

work, the more were they driven to abhor the religious

system that stood in their way, that is, the puranie

ritual of the pagodas.

They naturally looked to the

priests and temples as representing Hinduism. The

temple Brahmans, excluded from the society of their

more intelligent brethren, have undoubtedly given

ample cause for every reproach. The traditions of the

gods as repeated in the temples are, to the present day,

The literature

too often hideous beyond conception.

floated by the same class is obscenity itself. The gods

are viler than devils elsewhere.

But it has not been noticed how great is the gulf

between even the low class Brahmans and the higher

members of the Sudra caste.

The Sudra hears these

stories in the temples, receives them without a blush

and passes them on to his sons ; but, out of the temple,

he 1s another man.

The Brahman cannot come to his

house except to perform certain religious ceremonials,

may not eat with him, may not even touch him, dares

not speak to the women who are moulding the next

generation, does not even see him again until he goes

to some festival, which may not come for another

month. Meanwhile the Sudra lives, works, rules his

house, performs his daily devotions. He sees wherever

he goes, and in whatever he does, that truth and

chastity, honesty and industry, and all those other

virtues that the gods despise, are the keys of peace and

happiness.

He knows that obscenity at home will

6

THE

FOLK SONGS OF

o B L ]

only bring ruin, and keeps his wife almost under lock

and key.

He soon learns that, however it may be

among the gods, industry and skill are better things

than idleness and begging

He 1s as sure as he 1s of

his life that he cannot do business, cannot provide for

his family, unless he keep his promise and meet his

bond.

If such be the case, there can be no hesitation

in his choice—the gods perhaps have a different rule of

life, because they are gods; but that is their look-out.

As for bim he will listen to and applaud the amorous

tricks of a Krishna and the thefts of other divinities,

but they must not shape his life.

But these Vaisyas and Sudras form the people.

The Brahmans, all told, are not more than a fraction

of the population.

Even in Madura, a stronghold of

the faith, they are but one to fifty of the other castes.

In Northern India they are much more numerous, but

in the North-west Provinces they are only one in

seven.

Everywhere 1t 1s the other castes that form

the working population, and 1t is they that have the

richt to be considered the people of India.

Close

observation for several years, and the extended friend-

e e

ship with Hindus with which I have been honored,

have long shown that in all matters of daily Ilife the

popular Hinduism of the priests is not found among

the lower castes.

If such an illustration may be per-

mitted it might be said that modern Hindu life in

Southern India much resembles that of Europe just

before the Reformation.

Instead of ascendancy on

the side of the priest and deference on the part of the

L

S ———

i

-

o

% R i

—

=q

s

=

SOUTHERN INDIA.

people, there was antagonism, not only in act but

much more in thought and word.

The priests were

necessary evils, not to be got rid of, but existing as

the mark of satire, and a vast proof that religion and

morals need not coincide.

Church festivities became

fairs rather than times of worship, and even the very

churches were given over to “ Lords of Misrule ;” while

the most sacred mysteries of religion were made the

means of murder and the sport of those who were most

bound to revere them.

Yet everywhere there was the

feeling that, after all, the church was something that

at times ought to be dreaded.

A man might live

scorning the priests, but he dared not die without abso-

lution. He might break every commandment when it

suited him, but he must be prepared for penance or

pilgrimage when his sins made him uncomfortable.

Such is really popular ‘Hinduism now, and so has it

been for many generations past.

It will be said that such a state of things could not

continue ; that the Reformation was the necessary result

of the time of Erasmus ; and that some such movement

must have happened in India had the above description

been true.

Precisely, and just such a revolution,

modified by nation and locality, has taken place ; except

that it has worked itself out so silently that few Europe-

ans have been aware of its existence. Religious Hindu-

ism 1n Southern India 1s now a thing of sects, each

under its own guru.

It requires the acuteness and

learning of a Colebrooke to describe the bearings and

specialities of each sect. Every Hindu below the

8

THE FOLK SONGS OF

Brahman caste chooses his sect, distinguished by certain

marks and signs.

He promises unhesitating obedience

to the guru, who is seldom a Brahman, and gives him

divine honors. Every year he pays a certain proportion

of his income for the maintenance of his guru, and the

support of the sect.

Occasionally the guru travels in

great state through the districts which contain the

most of his adherents.

Everywhere he collects his

dues, receives offerings and gifts, teaches the peculigr

doctrines of the sect, initiates new members and, in

short, performs in an Indian fashion the functions of a

Pope.

Very little is known of the inner workings of

these sects, but as a general rule it may be accepted as

a fact that while they do not absolutely reject the

ordinary puranic system-—that 1s, the Brahmanic tra-

ditional systemdescribed above—theirgeneral tendency

is to import the results of the philosophical systems of

the higher Brahmans, and present a scheme, more

moral than religious, in which idolatry is unknown, and

the divinity is always spoken of as the great soul of

the universe, one and indivisible.

There has been no

open breach between the old and the new systems, and

few members of a sect will condemn the most flagrant

instances of immorality exhibited in the temples. Nor

will they refuse to join in the ordinary temple services.

The excuse always given is that these things are fit

for the vulgar crowd, and it is not right to depart from

the customs of their sires.

This silent revolution has

been, as far as can now be seen, altogether independent

of European influence and agency.

In fact, by giving

o

SOUTHERN INDIA.

9

to the people a more refined system of religious

thought, 1t has greatly tended to hinder the spread of

Christianity. It had begun long before the rise of the

British power.

All this points to the fact, with which we started,

that the people of India are not accurately described

from Brahman sources ; and that in thought and habit

they are, in a marked sense, different from the sacred

caste.

This has often been noticed ; but there has

always been a great lack of material for proving it to

those who have not lived in India or, having lived there,

took their knowledge from Brahmans.

It is necessary

that the proof should be really popular and purely

indigenous.

The dramas published by the Rev. J

Long have done much to reveal local feeling in Bengal,

but Madras has not been so fortunate as to possess an

enquirer of like character.

The following pages con-

tain the result of an attempt to fathom the real feel-

ings of the masses of the people, by gathering and

collecting the folk songs of each family of the great

Dravidian nation.

It has been the pleasant labor of

years to make this collection—in the plains where

dwell the Tamil and Telugu peoples : on the Mysore

plateau, the home of Canarese

among the hills and

valleys of the Neilgherries and the Western Ghauts,

sheltering the stalwart tribes of Coorg and the humble

Badagas of Ootacamund : along the narrow strip of

low-lying coast that parts the sea from the Western

Ghauts and gives a home to the Malayalim tongue.

- It would be unwise to describe the songs beforehand,

2

10

THE FOLK SONGS OF

when the reader will find them for himself in the pages

that follow. It is, however, permitted to point out the

more salient features that mark them all.

First and

foremost we see deep aversion to the lower Brahmanic

system, and a vigorous clinging to the love and goodness

of the deity.

I say the deity, for there is no trace of a

plurality of gods. Vishnu, Purandala Vithala, Brahma,

Yama may be named, yet they are but epithets for the

one God and his minister, death.

The temple stories

find no place here except, now and then, like Jannes

and Jambres in the New Testament epistle, as refer-

ences to a popular legend, legend really.

No one can fail to be struck with the sadness that

prevails. The world and every soul in 1t are so sinful, so

full of all evil, that man should give up all to save his

life ; and even then can hardly hope to succeed. ““ How

to cross the sea of sin ?” becomes the great question. Its

current is so strong, its waves so high, its hidden rocks

so many, that none but a strong swimmer can dare to

hope to reach the other side. Even he is so battered by

storm and rock, so exhausted by the contest or worn

by exertion, that when he seems able to touch the

shore his strength may fail, his heart grow weak, and

;

he sink back into the roaring tide.

If things be so

with the vigorous manful few, how can the feeble

trembling many ever hope to see the golden feet of

It 1s inexpressibly

the god whose help they crave ?

saddening again and again to note such songs as these,

and know that they represent the inmost feelings of the

better part of a great nation.

S

SOUTHERN INDIA,

11

It is not hard to find the cause of so much sorrow. To

the great mass of the nation there 1s positively no way

open towards religious peace, except in that hardest of

all courses—abstract faith in an abstract deity. Virtue

18 its own reward, it is true ; but sin has its pleasures as

well, and they are near,

Who knows what is virtue’s

reward in a Hindu country ? Brahmanism has little hold

of the national mind in Dravida.

The Brahmans are

foreigners, their doctrines or rather legends, as taught

in the temples, are repulsive or else vicious, and no man

can rest a troubled heart in them. The philosophical

systems of the thoughtful Brahmans are jealously kept

from the masses.

What then have they ?

Many of the songs would seem to show that the crowd

lean tenderly towards the Buddhist doctrines of absorp-

tion and annihilation.

“It 1s better to die than live,”

—Dbetter to die and never again know life, than to run

the risk of a new birth that may only produce fresh

sorrow, increased pain, and plunge the soul into another

series of births each worse than the last.

If to live 1s

but to suffer such fears, doubts, and pangs as man has,

it is better not to live,—better to forfeit the possibility

of one day entering into the higher life, than to meet

the certainty of what seems a never-ending cycle of

forfeitures and penalties induced by that omnipresent

sin which not one out of a million can successfully

resist. But future nothingness, though better than

constant pain, is not a hopeful prospect. It is an escape

to be grateful for, not a pleasure to be proud of. To be

merely free from pain is but a very low goal for the

S

12

THE FOLK SONGS OF

human soul to aspire to, and cannot give that zest and

glory to life which are required to make a man joyous

while he suffers, peaceful when surrounded by anxie-

He who would live

ties, triumphant when he dies.

righteously in this present life is driven back on every

side. No repentance opens his way to pardon.

A par-

don bought by offerings to despised priests and

immoral shrines will give no peace when Death draws

nigh. The sorrowing man 1s too ignorant to fathom

the philosophy of the schools, and too old to begin to

learn.

The songs divide into several classes. Ist, Moral

songs, dealing with the subjects described in the last

para. 2nd, Proverbial philosophy. This 1s a very large

elass.

3rd, Songs representing the Adwaita system,

filled with high morality but strongly pantheistic, and

hence exhibiting the most curious paradoxes regard-

ing human conduct.

4th, Ancient Tamil songs of the

period when Dravidianism and Brahmanism were

struggling for the mastery—when men like Tiruvalluva

and Sivavakyer used their tongues and pens in favor

of deism and against the ceremonial polytheism of the

Brahmans,—when the best men poured out what are

distinctly called “songs of sorrow,” and were very

Jeremiahs in weeping over the corruptions that surged

upon the land. 5th, Theological chants of considerable

length that can scarcely be called songs at all, contain-

6th Ceremonial

ing as they do regular ethical essays.

songs, belonging chiefly to the Hill tribes. The Badaga

and Coorg songs of this class are especially worthy of

SR

a5

S

s

e

]

13

SOU'.J'HERN“ h\"DlA.

attention.

Interesting examples will appear in the

following pages.

7th, Labor songs, only met with

among the working classes.

They are generally com-

posed in the vulgar dialect, and scorn the restraints of

grammar and the nice rules of poesy.

8th, Mothers’

songs, composed for and sung to children.

There are

many such, but 1t is not easy for a European to gather

them. All of these classes are represented in the

following pages.

There 1s another class of Songs,‘or rather chanted

poems, which has not come within the sphere of this

book—the episodes from the Bhagavatam, Mahab-

harata, Ramayana and the Puranas, which form so

large a portion of the public amusements.

These are

distinct Brabman importations and are in no sense

indigenous. They are eagerly listened to, and form the

chief means by which the Brahmans plant in the

national mind the evidences of their own greatness.

Many writers, and notably Mr. Griffiths of Benares,

have given attention to and translated them. They do

not represent pure Dravidian feeling and therefore do

not belong to this subject.

It is the common remark of all who study Dravidian

The fact

literature that the older it is the purer it is.

is induced by the growing influence of the Brahmans.

At first warmly repelled, because of the pretensions of

the priesthood, it gradually forced its way to the

front, as the influence of an educated and closely united

class ever will, mainly because it embraces all the

higher literature.

For a while the fight was evenly

P R, VST R R

2

RS

<

AR T

14

THE FOLK SONGS OF

maintained, but the foreign element progressed till

almost the whole written literature of the country

became Brahmanic.

Indigenous poetry fell into

undeserved contempt or, where that was not possible,

was edited so unscrupulously, that the original was

hidden under a load of corruption.

Take for example

the songs of Sivavakyer. Purely deistical and strongly

opposed to idolatry and cumbrous ceremonial, they

were so vigorous as poetry, so fervid in expressing the

inmost feelings of every honest heart, and took such a

hold upon the people, that they could not be burked.

What followed ? The Brahmans have corrupted what

they could not destroy. The editing of all books gradu-

ally fell to them, because they alone had the leisure

and knowledge that literary labor required. To the

public demand for Sivavakyer they responded by issu-

ing ““ expurgated and improved” editions. Each editor

added new names and references to Siva or Vishnu,

left out further verses from the original, and softened

still more the many vigorous phrases.

This process

was continued till it became almost impossible to dis-

cover the original. The Mackenzie MSS. contain but one

mutilated copy of a decently pure collection. The only

copies that I have been able to purchase are as obscure

and overloaded with puranic superstition as the legend

of any pagoda. The same thing has occurred with all the

best Dravidian poetry. The Gnana Venba cannot be

obtained at all, though in the 15th century it was one

of the most popular of books. The Tiruvalluva Charitra

has been remodelled till it appears that every early

e e

—

e

o

—

BE

RSN REE w

e ————

i e ————— o

SOUTHERN INDIA.

15

Dravidian writer was a Brahman, although the very

object of the book was to show that Tiruvalluva and

his fellows were pariahs. Still the book is looked upon

as something almost heretical, and this because it seems

to show that Brahmans could marry even Pariah

women in past ages without loss of caste, and that

early literature was chiefly cultivated by the indigenous

races.

In the Malayalim country; where Brahmanic influ-

ence 1s most powerful, the greater part of the popular

songs have perished without leaving a trace of their

existence.

Even in the temple services translations

from Tamil puranic chants are constantly used. At the

other extreme of the social scale, where Brahmanism is

only now forcing its way, the hill tribes are musical

with ballad, lyric and dirge. They have songs for every

event in life.

They cut the first sheaves of harvest to

a song.

They come into life, are married, and die to

the music of some chant, song or requiem.

As far as my information extends at present, ballads

proper do not exist, except among the hill-tribes.

By

ballads I understand songs containing a story, in

which the catastrophe or triumph 1s the key to the

whole piece.

The tendency of the national mind is

ethical. The Brahmanic importations are usually vio-

lently amorous, or extravagantly wild. In neither case

is there room for the simple pathetic ballad. Modern

Dravidian literature (poetic) is almost confined to the

three classes of amorous poems, pagoda sthalams or the

legends on which the temples claim sanctity or honor,

2

16

THE FOLK SONGS OF

and songs or rather poems in praise of a particular per-

son or deity. The second class is very numerous, and

the demand for them 1s great. Each pagoda has a grand

day or days, the anniversary of the event that is sup-

posed to have led to its foundation, and on these occa-

sions the legend 1s publicly recited or sold for a few

pice to the crowd. Now and then plays are published,

and there is now living a Tamil author whose works

are very popular.

But they are so dreadfully long,

requiring several days for their representation, that

they cannot possibly be brought within the class of

songs. The Tahsildar Natakam (Natakam-play, drama)

is the most admired of this class.

But it is now time that the songs should speak fo/r

themselves.

They are arranged in order of language

and subject. As my first introduction to this literature

was through the Canarese ¢ Dasarapadas,” I give

them first. Pada 1s our English word pad, Latin ped-us,

and means a foot, corresponding with the English term

of the same meaning.

It means a song or poem,

because it is composed of feet or goes by paces.

Dasa

means a servant or slave, and 1s the name given to

those who devote themselves or are devoted by their

parents to the service of God.

They are usually

attached to some pagoda or temple and perform all

menial duties there.

In process of time the Dasas or

Dasara have become a singing caste and have traditions

and customs as other castes.

Those not attached to a

pagoda usually obtain a livelihood by begging. Not

that they are despised or counted disreputable. Far

e

=

i

e

—

THE NEARNESS OF DEATH.

17

As

e O

from it. To be a mendicant in the Puranic system is

to serve God in the most acceptable method possible.

The first three or four songs describe the attacks of

death and the uncertainty of life.

The next point out

that inward purity is required by God rather than

outward service.

The third class contain outpourings

‘against the sorrows of life, its pain and darkness,

Lastly are several collections of proverbs.

i,

7%

s )

L~

THE NEARNESS OF DEATH,

-

Oh! what is food to me! Death stands so near !

j

Morn, noon and night his angels close appear.

i

In one short day they snatched, as past they ran,

My friend, my foe, the young, the grey-haired man.

Their wealth doth stay behind, although so dear.

There is no joy for me, my life is drear.”

Chorus.—How near is death ! Mercy he cannot bring.

Then, oh my heart, cease from the world, and cling

With all thy power to tender Lakshmi’s* king.

2. “Two days ago the marriage feast was mine,

And only yesterday I bought milch kine

Wherewith to start my modest home.

My field

Is bright with corn, with gold my coffers yield,

I cannot die.

While yet thou speakest, fool,

Dread Yama'st step comes near.

Farewell, vile soul.

Chorus.—How near is death ! &ec.

,-

* Lakshmi the goddess of beauty and wife of Vishnu.

T Yama, the god of the regions of the dead—the agent employed by the

higher Gods for carrying mortals away from earth to Hades.

i

S ————

s

B

T

——

(0'e)

THE NEARNE

PAQ

ISTe]

OF DEATH.

=

2

=

)

(3]

i

“My house is newly built.

F’en now they say

o

The mantr

aAan

* that have power to drive away

All evils from my home.

My wife is great

Vith child.

The day that weds my son we wait.

Life is so good, I cannot, will not, die.”

Vain fool ! Death’s hand now shades thy glazing eye.

Chorus.—How near 1s death ! &e.

-~

To-day the milk boils with the rice.

We feast

The birth-day of our son.

The next bright east

Will see the sacred threadt by priests thrown o’er

The shoulders of my heir.”

Oh, trouble sore !

S

2

Thow say’

(e}

, “ Thou canst not die’

Behind thy back

Death stands and laughs, and fears not to attack.

Chorus.—How near 1s death ! &c.

>

You may not eat

He will not give you time.

The rice that now stands cooked.

Your eager feet

n(¢

Q

May bring no helping frie

LACANC

Accounts must stay

Srinel

Unpaid.

In short, my friend, you must obey

When death doth call.

Oh

s 410

n

ayl

C

wrt, my trembling heart,

Think well on Vishnu’s god-like feet. From him ne’er part.

Chorus.—How near is death

&e

%

A

e - ———

* Magic sentences, generally unintelligible to the people. These senten-

ces are said to have the most miraculous power.

Even the Hindoo trinity

are supposed unable to resist their operation.

t Brahmans, Vaisyas and the higher Sudra castes always carry a number

of threads, loosely fastened together, forming a string which hangs over the

left shoulder down to the waist. Investiture with the thread is the entrance

into manhood and conveys permission to join in all religious ceremonies.

It is said to represent a new birth, something like the baptismal regenera-

tion of certain Christian sects.

After the ceremony, the young Brahman

receives the title of ** the twice born.”

-

XA

DEATH

U

ST |

DEATH

1. He will not give you time to eat cooked rice

Nor dun the gull whose note you've filed

No jewels ﬁom the box may make you nice :—

For Yama*

oives no time

horus

Although you love your body, trust it not

]‘)Pt

+

vl

rive to gain due merit for thy lot

I

Thy

usty strength cannot avail one jot

5]

You wish to call your sister to your side

And bid farewell to wife and child ;

5hcd salt tears for facts from dreams so wide

——i

But Yama gives no time.

My

f!(/(}/

e

S. ~-A:tnouf>11 you love your body,

&e

You cry that friends must not be left so soon

That pulse and ghee to priests you’ll send

The marriage of thy son waits but new moon

Yet Yama give

no time

SE——

Chorus.—Although you love your body, &c

Your

house 1

high

seems the skies to touch—

Your

purse is full, you ought to spend—

Youwr

elephan

and men want watching mucl

i

Stil

Yama gives no ctime.

Chor

love you

vody, &

9

Your

strength, you think, will

ever stand your pax

Yet worse than useless Wl

1I 1t prove.

Let Purandala see a loving heart :—

Then )

/

ama brings no fea

horus.— Although you love your body, &

Yama, the God of death and the infernal regions—the Indian repre

v

sentative of Pluto

SRS oA

e

-

S At e SR L S

PAEESTE A

20

TI IE BEST FRIEND.

iE

FH i BEST FRIEND.

e

1. One begs of others for a wife,

On her bestows both rule and Lome,

|

He counts her half of all his life.

But when death comes, he dies alone.

é

Chorus.—Of all good things the best are three—

Wives, lands, and countless gain.

Which is the dearest friend to thee ?

<)

P

One mounts the throne of mighty kings,

His palace girds with fort and wall ;

Of his great power the whole world rings.

His lifeless corse to dogs will fall.

Chorus—Of all good things, &ec

3. King’s grace, good luck, hard work and trade,

May load with wealth of coin or land.

What tyrants leave, the moths invade;

For riches fly like desert sand.

Chorus.—Of all good things, &c

4. In vain wives mourn, in vain sons weep,

Wealth helps e€’en less in death’s last scene.

Two things alone the gulf can leap—

The sin, the good, our life has seen.

Chorus.—Of all good things, &c

5. In this weak frame put not your trust,

But think on Him with inward calm.

Is your heart clean ? For Him you lust ?

Then Vishnu is a healing balm.

Chorus.—Of all good things, &c

e

e —

-

-

S ——

e e e T ——

LIFE,

9

JJIFEu

[ ———

I. If men have no health, Sir,

What good is their wealth ?

If men have no wealth, Sir,

What good is their health ?

If both of the twain should o’er him reign

Do you think a good wife he will gain ?

Chorus.—Oh, Vishnu, thou wilt never give

Thy grace—the good man’s vital breath

—

To those who still in sin do live,

Whose feet run in the way to death,

©

Our frame is a house, Sir,

Short notice we get.

Our wives have the nous, Sir,

Examples they set.

Our houses we quit, like smoke we flit

)

But the next is as bad or worse fit.

Chorus.—Oh, Vishnu, &c.

(3]

(3]

If life you will trust, Sir,

Old Seratch will you nab.

To death go you must, Sir,

Your alms he will grab.*

“To-morrow” you say—'tis just your way—

My advice is but this, give to-day.

Chorus—Oh, Vishnu, &e.

“ The Poet refers to the world-wide practice of trying to buy off death

and future punishment by a charity that only begins when the hand can no

longer hold the wealth that it has laid up.

He graphically describes how

the dying man is still reluctant to pay the very bribe he promises—he will

give “ to-morrow.”

e

iyt

et

SRR

LS R

5

9

2

LIFE.

-

i i b s l

%a

Oh, where will you be, Six

In twenty-four hours ?

Grim death you will see, Sir,

Your pleasure it sours.

;

T'm sure you know

You say you wont go ?

How they* grin as they hear you say so.

1%

Chorus.—Oh, Vishnu, &c.

%

(9]

You see that men die, Sir,

How sick you soon grow !

%

You cannot tell why, Sir,

In turn you must go.

¢ That’s mine, this is thine”—such is his whine

Beﬁter pray, so I say, while there’s time.

Chorus.—Oh, Vishnu, &c.

§

Oh man, only dust, Sir,

A weak broken reed !

If flesh you would trust, Sir,

A friend you will need.

In Vishnu you’ll find a tender mind,

Take his feet to your heart—he’ll be kind.

Chorus.—Oh, Vishnu, &ec.

i 7 x o R

We now come to a series of the highest moral charac-

ter, exhibiting a purity of doctrine which is the last

thing most persons would expect to see in Hindoo

literature.

The thought will often intrude itself that

here we find a standard of religious duty almost

unknown to the world, as intended for the masses,

except in the New Testament. Equally frequent will be

|

H

{

* The angels of death, sent f’orﬂl to gather in the lost soul.

1

PSS S SN

i

e

i

SSCEERCa—

U SU——

-

‘;Iiﬁﬁl PURITY.

2

9

D

the reflection that Brahmanism, that is Puranism, never

could produce such works, and that the songs exhibit a

spiritual tone which makes one deeply regret that there

is so little left of indigenous Dravidian literature. The

songs that follow are but samples of a considerable

mass. It 1s odd indeed to hear them chanted, as I first

did, in the entrance hall of a pagoda dedicated to Hanu-

man, the monkey deity who so greatly aided Rama in

his search for Sita. The Bhagavat Gita contains noble

descriptions of the deity, but has no conception of faith.

On the contrary it teaches that the highest human duty

18 that of meditation and the strictest ceremonial ob-

servance. The first of the series fitly introduces the rest,

in strains that, even in a feeble translation, send a thrill

of pleasant recognition through the Christian mind.

——

— s

&

T

TRUE PURITY.

Oh, wouldst thou know in what consists

The purity which keeps the soul ?

Behold the things the good resists,

The works that make the wounded whole.

Chorus.

Oh man, why boastest thou in pride,

The smallness of thy mind to screen ?

Go, bathe thy vile polluted hide

In meditation’s sacred stream.

)

Lk 3

Thy parents honor and obey,

Release the prisoner from his chain,

In Heaven’s road for ever stay,

And think on Vishnu’s wondrous reign.

; Chorus.—Oh man, &e.

-

R e SRS L L L

28

o

=

i

il

24

TRUE PURITY.

The common woman hate and scorn,

At neighbour’s head no hard words send,

With honesty thy life adorn,

Desire the things which please thy friend

Chorus.—Oh man, &c

Examine oft thy inner self,

e

Deal justly in the market seat,

Proclaim the truth at loss of pelf,

Think long on Hari’s golden feet.

Chorus.—Oh man, &c

With good men let thy life be spent,

True wisdom strive to understand,

Read oft the Shastras God hath sent,

E

And seek for good from Vishnu’s hand.

Chorus.—Oh man, &c

II:

0

Pay soon thy vows at sacred shrine,

Despise not e’en the lowliest thing,

Of evil eye fear not the shine,

3ut meditate on Lakshmi’s king.

Chorus.—Oh man, &

~J

Abhor the pride that falsely tells

That thou art good and clean,

And bathe thy soul in sacred wells

From meditation’s stream.

Chorus.— Oh man, &c.

i

R

— T S

p]

The next song contains an attempt to render into

1

English one of the most characteristic Dravidian metres.

J

A certain consonant is selected to begin the first line of

!

e

-

e —————————

A AN s SRS

e weesea——

—

——

L S

RS

PURITY IN THE SIGHT OF GOD.

25

the verse.

In the next line that consonant heads the

In the third line it commences the

second syllable.

third syllable, and so on.

To employ this metre lite-

rally would be both difficult and useless, as English

readers rely upon accent or rhyme alone and the

repetition of the letter would catch neither eye nor ear.

I have, therefore, substituted accent, and it will be

found that with each line of the song the accent moves

forward one syllable.

The chorus is excepted.

T

PURITY IN THE SIGHT OF GOD,

1. Purification before the Great God

Is greater than life and is stronger than death—

’ Tis the hope of the wise, 'tis the prize of the saint.

Where is the fount from which comes the pure stream ?

Chorus.—What profit can the sinner find

In washing oft ? How vain the care!

God knows full well—He sees the mind—

That true devotion dwells not there.

Alms-giving lies at the base of the steps

That lead to the height from whick purity flows.

To know wisdom and truth, and thy lusts to forsake,

Trust in thy God—meditate on His grace.

Chorus.—What profit, &e.

Drink the foul water in which have been washed

The feet of thy guru, and honor the words

Of thine elders and priests; to thy guests give thy best;

Cling above all to the feet of thy God.

Chorus.—What profit, &ec.

26

THE NAME OF GOD.

4. Purification must bring in its course

The hate of the bad and the love of the good.

"Twill bring freedom from prick of the conscience for sin

Union with God in his mercy and love.

Chorus.—What profit, &ec.

R P S A e SNl o et T

B DR

The two songs that follow are pure metaphor, adapt-

ed to a high religious purpose. The first deals with the

name of God, which is described as being sweeter than

aught else to the man who loves and fears the deity.

THE NAME OF GOD.

e, s

1. My stock is not packed on the backs of strong kine,

Nor pressed into bags strongly fastened with twine.

Wherever it goes it no taxes doth pay,

But still is most sweet, and brings profit, I say.

Chorus.—Oh, buy sugar-candy, my candy so good,

For those who have tasted say nought is so sweet

As the honey-like name of the Godlike Vishnu.

2. It wastes not with time, never gives a bad smell.

You've nothing to pay, though you take it right well.

White ants cannot eat the fine sugar with me,

The city resounds as its virtues men see.

Chorus.—Oh, buy sugar-candy, &c.

From market to market it is needless to run,

The shops know it not, the bazaar can have none.

My candy, you see, is the name of Vishnu,

So sweet, to the tongue that gives praise as is due.

Chorus.—Oh, buy sugar-candy, &c.

Rt xR e

COOKED RICE.

27

COOKED RICE.

1. Take virtue for your boiling pot,

Pour water cleansed with holiness,

With speed—a mind that wavers not—

Let honor strain the steaming mess.

)

Chorus.—Be sure you take cooked rice with you

Take pains to pack cooked rice, pray do.

Your joy will be beyond all price

If you but pack enough cooked rice.

Lo

Spread wisdom’s cloth, so free from taint,

And sprinkle curds of manner grave.

Then with the grace of firm restraint

To Hari offer all He gave.

Chorus.—Be sure you take, &c.

3

Great Vishnu is my stock of food,

My bag of rice so oft untied.

Each day I eat—’tis always good.

All those who eat are satisfied.

‘Chorus.—Be sure you take, &c.

— 5 uaea@)ﬁW'

We now turn to one of the bitterest pieces of satire

that can anywhere be met with. The contrast of style

and matter with those that have preceded it is very

striking ; yet it cannot be called illnatured, for it points

at a class and not at individuals. Each verse contains an

antithesis, comparing sinful deeds with the hypocritical

religious fervour so often employed either to conceal

or expiate a sin which is still continued. The first two

lines contain the vice, the last two the sanctimonious

zeal which is intended to hoodwink both God and man.

s

28

WHY I LAUGH.

WHY I LAUGH.

——

1. One night I saw a man

Kissing a harlot’s lips.

Next morn to bathe he ran,

And prayed on finger tips !*

Chorus.—Oh, how I laugh ! T laugh out loud.

It makes me laugh to see the crowd,

Such tricks they do.

I oft have vowed

I’d laugh no more: with it I'm bowed.

2. A woman left her house

And joined a man as mean.

She made a thousand vows

And washed at holy stream !

Chorus.—Oh, how I laugh! &c

3. I saw one live in lust,

His gentle words were few.

He fed upon a crust,

And thought upon Vishnu !

Chorus.—Oh, how I laugh ! &c

30 S OO

CEREMONIAL NCT RELIGION.

———

1. You bathe, in meditation pass the day,

And sit or stand as still as any crane !

You meditate ? A foolish dream, I say !

Can Krishna, who himself cut short the reign

Of demons and their imps, love aught but deeds ?

* He counted on his fingers the prayers he uttered that he might be sure

he omitted none and thus performed his full religious duty.

g

GOD THE SAVIOUR.

29

Chorus.— Tis surely worse than fool would do,

To flog and starve thy fleshly part;

When thou hast never set thy heart

On Lakshmi’s Lord, the great Vishnu.

2. What good can come from sitting like a bear

And crying ever—“ 1 will pray, will pray;”

Yet, to escape a bore, will count each prayer ?

One prayer alone yields fruit, and that for aye—

The great and goodly name, Narayana.

Chorus.—Tis surely worse than fool would do, &ec.

Oh God, didst thou not in the former time

Forgive Jamila’s sins, in that his tongue*

Gave forth thy name ? Oh Soul, what doubts are thine

And fears ! O stay not, flee at once, as stung

By snake or bee.

Keep Vishnu in thy view.

Chorus.—"Tis surely worse than fool would do, &e.

GOD THE SAVIOUR,

1. When proud Komava raised the robe

That covered Draupad’s charms,

Her five brave husbands, mad with rage,

Were helpless to protect.

Oh, Hari, thou wast near to save.

How strong art thou and brave !

* This refers to a popular legend regarding a notorious thief. Ie was

one day surprised by a tiger, and in his fright ejaculated the words “ Oh

Hari, Hari.” The God immediately sent help and relieved Jamila from

his danger.

The robber was so grateful for the divine interposition that

he erected a shrine on the spot and became an ascetic.

+ This is a well known incident in the story of the Pandus as related in

the Mahabharata.

Kach verse that follows contains a similar reference.

The Dravidian poet draws a useful lesson from the Brahmanic legends.

13

30

OUTWARD RITES NOT RELIGION,

Chorus.—If Hari be not mine,

Who else can help or see ?

Oh, Hari, grace and strength are thine.

Be ever near to me !

2. If thou, oh father, hadst not come,

Great Vishnu’s sword in hand,

And split the gaping monster’s mouth

The friendly king had died.

Oh Vishnu, who can save like thee?

So great thy help and free !

Chorus.—1If Hari be not mine, &ec.

When Agmilanu broke his caste

Death’s Angels shadowed him.

Yet thou, O Lord of worlds, didst hear

His weeping children’s cry.

How swift thy Angels flew to help !"

His life was from thyself.

Chorus.—If Hari be not mine, &e.

— WM

OUTWARD RITES NOT RELIGION,

et

1. Oh Soul ! What good can Ganges give ?

Can water cleanse, or thinking long

On God ? When still thy feet choose sin,

And merit springs not from thy deeds.

L

Chorus.—Oh heart ! My heart ! How vile art thou

i

No hound more mad than thou art now.

Can folly bring thee peace or praise ?

Then turn, oh fool, and lift thy gaze

To never dying Visl?nu’s feet.

L AL .

OUTWARD RITES NOT RELIGION.

31

When guile o’erspreads thy crooked path,

And inward sin kills holy zeal,

Can prayer make clean thy soul, or whips

Drive out the foulness from thy heart ?

Chorus.—Oh heart ! &c

Why hide thy face or pull thy nose,*

Do all that Brahman law commands ?

When He who on the serpent rests

Can hear no praise, no worship see.

Chorus.—Oh heart! &c

“ A priest I am.

My life is spent

In searching long for sacred shrines.”

Go to, Oh fool ! A priest is he

Who humbly learns and holy lives.

Chorus.—Oh heart! &e

Not, in the smoke of sacrifice,

Nor in the chant of Vedic hymns,

Does God look for the lowly mind

That fitly enters into bliss

Chorus.—QOh heart ! &c

The fiery God is found by those

Who lust no more—who feel no pride.—

Whose senses close ’gainst sin and self—

Who humbly walk before their God.

Chorus.—Oh heart! &c.

* Both phrases describe a portion of the daily ceremonial of the Brahmans,

In the morning ablutions it is necessary to close every aperture of the

body ; thus, among other things, the Brahmau covers his face, so that he

may be sure he has closed eyes, nose, mouth and ears. A subsequent ritual

requires that the devotee should pass his thumb and forefinger down both

sides of the nose. 'The author insinuates that, to be quite sure that he has

duly saluted his nose, the Pharisaic devotee firmly grasps the organ, pulling

it smartly and frequently.

g

BODY AND SOUL.

?

7. What good can come from earthly toil ?

Whence can the root of merit spring ?

If, oh my soul, thy grasp be weak,

Or wandering thoughts let Vishnu slip.

Chorus.—Oh heart! &c

e D R

BODY AND SOUL.

1. Skin covers flesh and blood and bone :

Within are worms, excretions vile,

Disease and spirits evil, pain and moan.

Thy strength, oh man, is death and hell.

Chorus.—Think not this flesh will bide,

On earth shall find its goal.

But love the lotus-eyed ;

In him find peace, O soul.

2. You love your child, your friend, your wife,—

"Tis joy you say ; 'tis sin you know.

Forego this joy, it steals your life,

And think on Him who saves from woe.

Chorus.—Think not this flesh will bide, &c.

3. Serve Brahma* first, your neighbour love,

Avoid a harlot as a sword ;

Go where they praise the Lord above,

And shout—“ Oh, Hari, Hari, Lord ”

Chorus.—Think not this flesh will bide, &e.

* In this and similar phrases, the word Brahma must not be supposed to

refer to the first person of the Hindu Triad. It is always used in the

neuter as a sort of scientific term for the Deity, and has no connection with

the personal masculine Brahma.

33

4. Purandala Vithala, help !

If thou hast e’er extended grace,

Give it to me, give me thyself.

For this is joy—to see thy face.

Chorus.—Think not this flesh will bide, &c.

% 2o i e

The song “ How to cross the sea of sin” introduces

a group perhaps the most characteristic of Dravidian

literature and character.

It has been common among

western thinkers to look upon the theory of the trans-

migration of souls as eminently comforting to those

who trust in it.

Here we see the direct contrary

taught by the most convincing testimony. It gives no

rest either in the present or the future. But the human

soul craves for rest, even in suffering, as the highest

good.

I venture to say “ even in suffering,” because

every heart that fears the future instinctively cries “let

me know the worst.” Transmigration can never reveal

the worst. . The punishment of sin in this life is a more

degraded life still.

That inevitably leads to something

yet more to be dreaded. Thus the future is a long

cumulation of woe, almost without one redeeming ray

of light ; for where mercy can only be earned by merit

the wicked have no hope.

Note the bitter cry :—

“How many births are past I cannot tell.

How many yet may be, no man may say.

But this alone I know, and know full well,

That pain and grief embitter all the way.”

=

S

3

o e R

Still more grievous is the opening of another appeal

against the fate that has made man what he is

<

A weary and broken down man,

With sorrow I come to thy feet ;

Subdued by the fate and the ban

That hides the long future I meet.

I suffer, without ceasing, the pain

Of sorrowful infinite life.”

And again

“ Earth’s pains I cannot bear,

More still await me there.

In these and similar expressions we seem to meet

the utmost of human woe—despair.

If transmigration

could give ultimate hope it might be well ; but it robs

such hope as might otherwise be.

A bad man may

become a dog or a horse or perhaps a lizard. Let the

soul do well there, and it may enter the human frame

It

again.

This sounds like hope, but it gives none.

{f

is a million times easier to be a good dog than a good

man, and down again goes the poor lost soul, lower

than ever before.

I

Life 1s a “sea of sin.”

With sin come trouble and

pain,

Life is agony and sorrow.

There is no rest,

e

now and hereafter.

Such is the sad Dravidian creed.

The Tamil “Songs of sorrow” have already been refer-

red to.

The Telugu Vemana in some thousands of

verses does not contain one broad laugh. Some minds

cannot bear such darkness. If virtue can bring no rest,

Q

v

if ab

NDOLL

rience in this world cannot ensure pleasure in

i

SO

RS

E

s’

(IL]

Ot

S

o

SR—

the next, and anyhow the soul must go down into the

dark abyss of the future, why not fly to the pleasure

that 1s within our reach ?

While we live, let us live.

Out of this reaction has grown a glorification of

pleasure, of sexual enjoyment, of every kind of sensual

gratification.

Even the great and good Tiruvalluva

has written in ¢ Praise of lust.”

Let us pity rather

than blame, Puranism grasped the worse school, deified

vice and created a Krishna.

[t conquered because

it was alded by three potent allies—the

superior

intelligence and knowledge of the Brahmans, the

ignorance and necessary hesitation of their victims,

and its glorification of human licence.

The Tamils

are the most civilized Dravidian people,—among them

chiefly do we find outspoken rampant sensuality under

the guise of religion. It is, however, necessary to

bear in mind that sensual enjoyment is not neces-

sarily immoral.

Tiruvalluva’s ¢ Praise of Lust” would

be grievously misunderstood if it were supposed to

exalt indiscriminate harlotry.

He constantly requires

that men should live with their own wives and * hate

a harlot as a sword.”

Where pleasure of any kind may

legitimately be enjoyed, Tiruvalluva and many other

writers believe that it may be eulogized, may be de-

seribed 1n detail.

They act on the principle that it

cannot logically be wrong to describe what every one

The hill tribes are the least Brah-

may experience.

manized, among them sensuality is never glorified.

Between these extremes are the Canarese,—their songs

e i —————

will show their views.

36

HOW TO CROSS THE SEA OF SIN.

HOW T0 CROSS THE SEA OF SIN.

A FATHER’S ADVICE.

1. Our life is but a sea of sorrow,

This comes, that goes, the old old way.

No joy will last beyond to-morrow,

FE’en grief and pain—they will not stay.

Why should we run such things to meet,

Or set our hearts on things so fleet ?

One thing alone is worth a nod—

To touch the heart of Lakshmi’s God.

Chorus.—Oh, sons of mine, how shall we win

Across the fearful sea of sin ?

Oh sons, shout loud Narayana.

Lakshmi’s king, my sons, Nardyana.

9. The strength obtained by food will fail,

So will the gold which fills your purse.

The glories of your house will pale,

Your lofty fort may prove a curse.

Not one of these will serve you well

To fight against the king of hell.

Then, sons of mine, your voices raise

In world-renowned Vishnu’s praise.

‘horus.—Oh, sons of mine, &ec.

3. Some play at dice, and some at chess,

Some plague the wife and she plagues some.

Some with great wealth their souls would bless.

To one sure end they all will come.

The infernal God will catch them all,

Who Vishnu’s name forget to call.

In Narasimha's lovely face

é

Lay all your hopes of future grace.

Chorus.—Oh, sons of mine, &c.

;

S e

bt

HOW TO CROSS THE SEA OF SIN.

37

4, Don’t be too fond of wife or girls

Or laugh because thy sons are three.

For when grim death his life-wheel twirls*

The stern demand will come for thee.

Of Maya’ never be the slave

Else thou wilt not the death-god brave.

Adore the God that sleeps on sea,

And endless bliss thy lot shall be.

Chornus—Oh, sons of mine, &c.

5. In pride or strength, in hate or love,

In wealth or goods put not your trust.

Embrace the feet of God above,

Or else your hopes will turn to dust.

Long thought on God will steel the mind

Against the ills which all men find.

And if thy sorrows thou wouldst heal

To glorious Vishnu ever kneel.

Chorus.—Oh, sons of mine, &e.

s Q,Szm_,.

* This 1s an old Aryan figure.

Death is a lottery.

How else can be

explained the seeming cruelty which takes the young and leaves the old ;

that carries away the bread-winner and permits the bread-eater to continue

his useless life ?

Our names are shaken together in a whirling box, and

that which comes out first belongs to the next victim of the grisly king.

T The proper meaning of the word is ¢ that which is not self-existent.”

As all things depend on God, can be made or unmade at Iis pleasure, it is

a mistake to look upon matter as having any goodness or power,

God is

all in all.

Every thing is but a shadow of Ilim.

But ignorant men cannot

see this.

They live for the world.

To them the world is everything and

i

God is nothing.

I'hey

are victims of Maya.

AR S ST

38

A CRY FOR HELP.

I

’A CRY FOR H

1

n

LP

lf

1. How many births are past I cannot tell,

How many yet may be, no man may say.

e E s

But this alone I know, and know full well,

i

That pain and grief embitter all the way.

My woes are more than I can bear, but thou,

Great God, who once didst bless e’en Ibharaj,*

Of elephants the king, canst help me now.

Be pleased to grant my prayer—my soul enlarge.

Chorus.—Oh Vishnu, help ! Great Vishnu, Save

A wretched soul like mine !

A

Thou holdest up the earth and wave,

Oh, send thy aid in time.

§

[ S-)

Great Lord, my boyish years were one long paiﬁ,

Although théy seemed to pass in play. For play

Is nought but pain, in that it brings disdain

Of God and holy things.

This very day,

Thou happy Narasimha,f hear my prayer

And freely, from thy heart, on me bestow

ig

The help that now to ask I humbly dare.

Oh, help and save before from life I go !

Chorus.—Oh Vishnu, help ! Great Vishnu, Save, b&-c

e’

But now, in age and feebleness extreme,

Distress and pain are harder still to bear.

I cannot bear such woe.

'Tis like a stream

That surges over-head. Dost thcu not care,

t

8¢

* The story Qf Ibharaj the king of elephants is similar to that of Jamila

T Narasimha, the man-lion, the fourth incarnation of Vishnu.

th

el

L

i

by

~—

Q

LIFE’S SORROW,

(3]

9

:’;’:

Purandala Vithala, in whose eye -

All men are one and equal ? On thy throne,

|

Oh king of birds, how swiftly dost thou fly !*

List, hear with joy, and take me for thy own.

Chorus—Oh Vishnu, help! Great Vishnu, Save, &c.

— S T ——

LIFES

SORROW,

PG R

1. A weary and broken down man,

o

With sorrow I come to thy feet,

Subdued by the fate and the ban

That hides the long future I meet.

I suffer, without ceasing, the pain

Of sorrowful infinite life.

Thou never canst listen in vain

To earnest and soul-yearning strife.

Chorus.—Govinda,t thy feet are my part.

Come, tread on the ground of my heart.

T'll always remain where thou art.

[\-]

T counted as dearest on earth

Fair women, great wealth and wide land :

g

And saw not the joy and the worth

5

Of merited grace from thy hand.

Zaps

g

* All the Puranic deities are seated on some animal, showing figuratively

that all nature serves them. Vishnu’s throne is an eagle. Ganesa is always

seated on a rat.

T A name of Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu. It means—* He

that looks after the cows”—and refers to Krishna's infancy, when he was

brought up by a tribe of cowherds.

;1

40

THIS TROUBLESOI\IE WORLD.

Fell Maya* came in with my birth—

What physic can cure or can save ?

With waters of wisdom begirth,

Oh, drown my poor soul in the wave.

Chorus.—Govinda, thy feet are my part, &ec.

)

[/

All sins I have done in the past

Now, now make them clean and forgot.

And long as the future may last

Let heavenly life be my lot.

On Vishnu’s bright feet ever cast

A longing and confident glance :

And thus wilt thou gain and hold fast

A taste of the bliss in advance.

Chorus—Govinda, thy feet are my part, &ec.

THIS TROUBLESOME WORLD.

P pu—.

T T—————————

1. If thou shouldst have a wife,

Trouble 1s thine.

[f none should bless thy life,

Trouble is thine.

If neither wise nor witty,

Sorrow will come.

Still more if she be pretty,

Sorrow will come.

-

* The doctrine usually though incorrectly rendered ¢ illusion.”

It

teaches that this earth leads its inhabitants astray, causing them to forget

God, seeing that it seems so much nearer and is so much dearer to the

sinful soul,

See note on page 37.

o

SEEE

—

e

j

s S I

Sl s

el

s

e

THIS

TROUBLESOME

WORLD.

41

ey

%

ji

For then, all cuarding vain

S SRR

Sore trouble this

;

She bring 1gS U

inmeasured pain,

1

Sore trouble this

S ——

Chorus—Never,

3

oh my soul,

can peace be thine

Until great Runga’s*

grace

mine

If angry He, all hope resign.

If child

iren come

)L

C Albu,

S

[}

orrow comes too

B

if no heir should

be,

DOTTOW comes too

With earning wealth

and power,

1{

Pain fills the cup.

But when the wretched poor—

Pain fills the cup

Complain

s he has no rice—

T1s dolor sor

Wherewith to

acrifice

1s dolor sore

INO SOTTOW

pain

or

care

I

1 SOYrow ueep

(Jdll be s

so hard t

beax

E’en sorrow deep

Choru

ts—Never, oh-my soul, &c.

*

Yet another name for Vishnu and meaning probably “he that flies

swiftly

referring to the wonderful speed of light as it issues from the sun

R R A

Vishnu under the name of Hari is both the sun and the licht

T English reader

can have

little idea

of the yearning of every Hindoo

couple for a son

It is universally believed that the future of the dead is

without hope if certain ceremonies are not performed at the cremation and

on each succeeding anniversary of that occasion

These ceremonies can

only be perfectly performed by a son

If there be no son, the whole series

of ancestors is debarred from absorption and rest throughout all ages. Hence

the necessity of adopting a son if none be born to the house.

—

-

-

-

S——

Ao R S

—

42

nTHE PAINI;‘UL SERVANT.

3. When men are sick and poor,

Sorrow enters.

Though wealth should bar the door,

Sorrow enters.

If, gained by strength and care,

Pain is 1n store.

(Great hoards the shelves should bear,

Pain is in store.

But if each day you pray,

No sorrow comes.

To him who hears alway,

No sorrow comes.

The excellent Vishnu,

Your joy is great.

Great peace will dwell in you,

Your joy is great.

'horus—Never, oh my soul, &c.

—_—0 {(\)\—/

~— T G

——

S SIS

THE PAINFUL SERVANT.

P—

1. Some pairs may not be seen,

They show no wound, I ween,

Although so deep and keen

Oh, fearful pain !

No woman some hath wrought,

Some come from want of thought,

%

A few go soon as brought.

Such pains are mine.

C‘hm*us.——()h, dreadful pain ! I can’t bear pain.

%

In mercy, Vishnu, save me!

|

B ——

CEte

THE PAINFUL SERVANT.

2. My stomach gives me pain,

Bad friends bring it like rain,

Deep trouble leaves the stain.

Oh, cruel pain !

Great pain may come from friend,

Abuse no balm can mend,

Bad men deep pain will send.

Such pains are mine.

Chorus.—Oh, dreadful pain, &c

3. What pain comes to the poor,

Breached promise addeth more,

To rule oneself is sore.

Oh, biting pain !

Earth’s pains I cannot bear,

More still await me there.

Distress must follow care.

Such pains are mine.

Chorus.—Oh, dreadful pain, &c

4. To be, and not to be,

To see, and not to see,

Are troubles sore to me.

Oh, burning pain !

Oh, Vishnu, let me know

Why pain doth plague me so,

And joy so soon doth go.

Hear my prayer.

Chorus.—Oh, dreadful pain, &c

e

o]

Q

O

= AR

et e

!..___.._~_w.

fé

w

AT}

HEE

\

A

1}

i

&

1’1

LT AT

1

N11 R

]

11 Q

ALl

>

llfJU

y within the village bounds

Contains some early friend

;

But though in each the food-gong sound

No rice to me they lend

1)

When sad I w

aixg

the village street

Tor

the

come not near

And when 1

rive my priest to meet

He

tarts from me in feax

a }(

VLN

shmi’s King

Oh *Hari, Hari, L

['heir stare 1s maddening.

é

T

Chorus.—Oh,

wh

ith

o1

1

flee for aid ?

=

For s

L

In

am

cursed

The dre

1

\&

|

€C1

ree

CC

by Brahma madef

M ay neve

L)

) prsed

l

fa g’

2. W

i

1en |

hw ng

exr

gnaws my

life away

%

To dearest 1

friend I oo

T

For food and drink I humbly pray

Oh God, why hate me so %—

They fle

e from me, th

ir food they hide

An empty house I find

names of Vishnu and his incarnation

# Hari is one of the most popul

me

§9 L v

ant

‘ oreen

and then was used to describe

Krishna

It originally 1

Thus it

came to mean the sun.

Vishnu

anything beautiful and bright

has superseded Surya as the sun-god, and in some of the songs that follow

is called ¢ the disc of the sun

i

T In consequence of sin 1n

-.XAA

0

rmer birth the unfortunate man is doomed

by Brahma to be an outcaste.

It was

unalterable fate that drove him to

commit the deed for which he has been cursed and rejected by both God

xnd man

This curse must be worked out

By e

——

-

-

—

OISR

FATE.

e

|

The sugar-cane which then I spied—

What joy was in my mind —

Oh Hari, Hari, Lakshmi’s King,

i

How poisonous the thing!

Chorus.—Oh, whither, &ec.

3. In dreadful heat, for shade I pine,

And sit beneath a tree.

Still worse on me the sun doth shine.

The curse is there on me.

With burning thirst about to die

1 flee to well and lake.

Before my eyes they fail and dry,

No comfort may I take.

Oh Hari, Hari, Lakshmi’s King,

Sweet death to me soon bring.

~

Chorus.—Oh, whither, &c.

4, Before my house rich plantains grow,

I may not eat of one.

My fate is written on my brow*

And cannot be undone.

To thee I turn, for refuge seek, ‘

And cry—“ Have mercy, Lord !”

To stem the water flood too weak—

Oh save me by thy word.

Oh Hari, Hari, Lakshmi’s King,

Let me of pardon sing.

Chorus.—QOh, whither, &c.

* The curse noted above is written by the finger of God on the forehead

of the unhappy sinner. Man cannot re.ad it. Compare the mark of the

beast in the Apocalypse.

~—

46

THE COURSE OF

LIFE.

5. No money can I give to thee,

No breath have I to pray.

So sore distress has come to me

To live I see no way.

Oh God, most perfect God, look down

On one so poor as L.

No other hope I have.

I drown

While thou, Oh God, art nigh.

Oh Hari, Hari, Lakshmi’s King,

Close to thy feet I cling.

Chorus.—Oh, whither, &ec.

— s

THE COURSE OF LIFE.

1. Within my father’s frame three months I passed,*

And then, unknowing, came to mother’s womb.

For nine long months—each day was as the last—

I burned with pain within my living tomb.

Before I knew my fate a year had gone—

A year of pain.

Oh Indra, Hear my moan !

Chorus.—Oh, Sir, my youth is past, my youth is past !

o

Immured in darkness, vows I made to thee ;

But sorrow in my birth made me forget.

When childhood came, not yet from sorrow. free,

To ease my pain my earnest mind was set.

The filth of self made hell to gape around ;

Yet still I knew thee not—to earth was bound.

Chorus.—Oh, Sir, my youth is past, &e.

* Itis a popular idea that life commences twelve months before birth,

and that the time is spent in the manner described in the text.

15

5

-

B

=

S

—

-

2

=

%

THE COURSE ';)F LIFE.

47

/]

My boyhood came.

The dreams of sixteen years

Ran through my soul.

The sports of boys

Drew me from thee.

My follies drowned my fears

And lust enticed me on. I drew my joys

From earth.

Oh Vishnu! God ! whose feet I left,

My sorrow hear, who am of hope bereft.

Chorus.— Oh, Sir, my youth is past, &c.

I grew to manhood, tall and straight as palm,

Made friends with elders, middle-aged and youth.

I went from house to house.

Without a qualm

My life I spent, nor feared nor sought the truth.

I fell—the sea of sin was ever nigh—

And lost the sweetness of thy lotus-eye.

Chorus.—Oh, Sir, my youth is past, &ec.

Ox

Now, old and imbecile, I groan with pain,*

And sink beneath the swelling of the wave.

Parandalat Vithala, Lord, disdain

Me not, but take me in the ship I crave—

The sturdy ship, by meditation built.

S e

Save quickly, Lord of Lakshmi! Cleanse my guilt !

C?z,m'us,-—~0h, Sir, my youth is past, &e.

S

2,

o

=

i

L

* The whole of this song deserves notice.

How- distinct is its coloring !

How sad must they be whose feelings it represents !

Every stage of life is

full of evil

of evil that cannot be avoided, although its penalty is exacted

to the uttermost farthing. It should be noted that the one deity is invoked

under three names. Indra is the old Vedic deity, but is only known now

to the Vaishnava as another name for Vishnu, who has usurped the dignity

of his majestic predecessor.

T A local name for Vishnu.

2

&£

=

Al

48

NO HELP BUT INM(;%’OD.

NO HELP BUT IN GOD.

P ——

1. I‘ worshipped a stone I could see and could feel,

And therefore have now neither strength nor ally.

I visited oft with the fool and the rogue,

And, like a mad elephant, wounded my friends.

Was wise but for folly ; in sinning was brave.

Oh Vishnu, Lord, speedily save !

i

Chorus.—1 see how foolish I have been

And cry against the dread Vishnu—

“ Oh, wilt thou never mark the scene

Of strife and sorrow so undue.”

I made many vows and am weary of sin,

For nothing delights or can profit me now.

Each temple I've circled and circled again

Till, weary and worn, I am worse than before,

And nothing is left but thy love or the grave.

Oh Hari, Lord, speedily save !

Chorus.—I see how foolish I have been, &c.

3. The quack and the fool were as gurus to me,

So simple was I, so defiled and unclean.

Purédndala’s grace I now strive to obtain,

So pure and so good, ever worthy of praise.

Thou canst not refuse the protection I crave.

Oh Hari, Lord, speedily save !

Chorus.—1 see how foolish I have been, &e.

B SRR~

IE

E

R

=

-

‘:{;U LLY,

49

=

3

e

£

—

QA

There follow

v

series of songs which vividly remind

of the Proverbs of Solomon.

Both are intended for

1ave

av o

singing, and both 1

arranged themselves rather by

1

¥

the demands of metre and consonance

uil’)u

i

1 by any con-

The Dravidian lax

)

i

1

3

LY

nected argument.

gus

ges are won-

\

b Y

1

O

derfully rich in pro

4

{

7

rbs.

In

v

h

L5

i

Tamil ]fmguage alone

the Rev. P. Percival has collee

ted

about four thousand

five hundred proverbs

i

n

common use.

In Tanjore

| %1

the Rev.

G

(&7}

Y

has

gathered nearly as many

in the

same

|

Al

1

LAC

oe

L\

é})

O

f course many are to be

found in both

colle

C

tions, but after

O Y

71953 8

eful comparison

|

1

W

Yy

C

earnes

4

v

i

mi

DL

[alab |

1t appears that

onaries named

above h

ve noted

an

nd

translated not less than six

%

¥

thousand inde

1

I

endent proverbs.

Each couplet, and

L e

yi

sometimes each line. of the foll

A

owing is a proverb.

i

{

|

-{

L

Y

1ner

From the open si

Hide what good you can.

Say not words of wisdom

To an angry man.

4','2":’.),.0‘ rUS.~

Do not spout your verses

In the public way:

Lest the world compare them

With a poet’s lay.

N

From the heap beside him

Folly took a clod,

Bowed his head before it,

Thought he saw a God.

B

God SR

50

FOLLY.

€

. Who mends a broken pot—

Lifts it from the ground ?

He who visits relative

When his woes abound.

Chorus.

Do not spout, &c

. Vaishnava is hellish

Praising Siva’s name :*

So is he who, falsely,

Tells of neighbour’s shame.

Chorus.—Do not spout, &c

E

4. Who will take to fighting

When his wife commands ?

He who gives the leisure

Prattler’s tale demands.

Chorus.—Do not spout, &ec.

5

. Men who have two faces

Scorn with hatred strong.

Keshanat the God-like,

Be thy constant song.

Chorus.—Do not spout, &c

e~ DT

* This curfous evidence of the strongly monotheistic tendency of the

popular mind has been already quoted. A man may worship Vishnu or

Let him serve both and he is looked

Siva and no objection will be made.

upon either as a knave or a fool. The reason of so strange a paradox lies

in the presumed necessity that the devotee should have but one God in

mind, and He must be esteemed as the supreme being, the incorporeal

If the worshipper call that being Vishnu, well.

If

essence of all things.

he call Him Siva, well.

But if he use both names he will run great danger

of dividing the Deity in his thoughts, and of worshipping two individuals

rather than one essence.

T In his fourth incarnation Vishnu took the form of a lion, under the

name of Narasimha or the man lion. Hence he is popularly styled Keshana

or the lion-maned, from the Sanscrit Kesa, hair.

G s

—

e

'i‘HE FOOL.

9

2

THE FOOL

‘E

1. The man who leaves his wife and home,

:‘

Or trusts relations’ love ;

Who gives his wealth to friends to mind,

Or stoops to paltry spite.

That man is fool indeed, Sir.

Chorvs.—The world is full of foolish folk

Who know not wisdom’s worth,—

Forsake their God,—His wrath provoke,—

Bow down to Gods of earth.

2. Who sells his daughter’s pride for food,

Or lives with wife’s papa ;

;

Who being poor will scold the rich,

Or knows not his own mind.

Such folk a.re dreadful fools, Sia

Chorus.—The world is full, &ec.

3. Some marry when their hair is gray,

Or joke before a snake;

And some forget their parents’ need

And Vishnu’s fatherhood.

"These, too, are fools, you know, Sir.

Chorus.—The world 1s full, &e.

- 4. To Brahmans give, at Kasi bathe,

Are duties strict.

So these—

en s

A Dasi be, on Vishnu think.

If one should fail in them,

A fool outright is he, Sir.

Chorus.—The world is full, &e.

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horus.— llm world 1s full, &e.

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orus.—1The world is full &ec.

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ourth ver:

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the preceding song 1s (,\'ldently

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lation

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mple of the

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remove the ce

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the seventh incarnation of Vishnu

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Come

1 earth to overthrow the Kshatriyas

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et

THE GOOD AND EVIL OF WEALTH.

1915}

S

THE GOOD A‘ND EVIL OF WEALTH.

What fills the house with children good,

And gives the taste of sweets and ghee ?

What saves from duns and bailiffs rude,

And without which life cannot be ?

Sister, it 1s wealth.

Chorus.—See, sister mine, the sorrows deep,

That hide in wealth’s great heap.

Two sorrows dire great wealth must reap.

i

.

What makes relations’ need forgot,

But saves in danger from the foe ?

What teaches men to tie a knot,*

And hate all change, as fraught with woe ?

Sister, it is wealth.

Chorus.

See, sister mine, the sorrows deep, &c.

\r

I

M)

:

What makes the foolish wise again,

And passes hosts of bad rupees 2}

What sweeter than the sugar-cane,

il

And if 1t fly leaves little ease ?

d

Sister, it is wealth.

%)

Chorus.—See, sister mine, the sorrows deep, &e.

10

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15

Thus in the original.

The knot of course is a moral one, and refers to

the complications and artifice which a rich man can throw round his doings

l'a

to the injury of the poor and weak.

fi

O T

T This illustration is full of meaning in India, where it has always been a

fayorite occupation of the powerful to debase and clip the coin, trusting to

I‘E

their power and armed servants for impunity.

5.

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;;THAT MATTI*%RS I

What hides a bad repute, and brings

A crowd of servants, courtiers gay ?

What loads with pearls and golden rings

And stays sore trouble in its way ?

Sister, it is wealth.

Chorus.—See, sister mine, the sorrows deep, &c

What brings the learned at one’s nod,

Yet drives real friends from board and hall ?

What causes men to turn from God—

The great Purandala Vithal ?

Sister, it is wealth.

Chorus.—See, sister mine, the sorrows deep, &c

R N > 2 N e

WHAT MATTERS IT?

1. What if the food a man doth hate

g

Hang high as palm-tree leaves ?

Or that the house be wide and great

When the owner no alms gives ?

What can it be to you who wait

If office fall to fools ?

Or if the bitch beside your gate

Have milk for all she rules ?

Chorus.—If earth be full of precious things

But none may come your way,

What matters i1t ?

If when the goat his capers flings

His throat teats dance so gay,

What matters 1t ?

o

;;

SRR SR SR

BRI, T L

WHAT MATTERS IT.

O

Wt

2. What use is handsome face and eyes

S SR S

To surly son and heir ?

Or all the beauty of the skies

To spiteful sharp “grey mare ?’

What good or gain in brother lies

If wrathful man he be ?

What benefit can e’er arise

If pariah feast one see ?

Chorus.—If earth be full of precious things, &c.

3

Why ask the way to here or there,

If that be not thy road ?

Or heap up gold and jewels rare,—

A useless worthless load

To him who offers not a prayer

And dares a Saint despise ?

For neither rich nor pure can bear

God’s wrath ’gainst them to rise.

Chorus.—If earth be full of precious things, &c

SN0 ‘;@:oo._._‘M

The song on the next page is one of the best speci-

mens of a proverbial series that I have ever met with.

Kach couplet is a perfect proverb, and many of them

are very popular, occurring constantly in the ordinary

business of life.

The verses are arranged much more

Thus the second and third

systematically than usual.

verses deal particularly with the punishment that

certain sins will surely bring home to those who

commit them. The fourth and fifth describe the reward

that will, equally certainly, be the fortune of those who

leave the world and cling to religious duty. The‘ reward

e

—

S

e

SRS

A S S S S R

56

WISDOM.

el

may either be bliss in the world to come or freedom

from temptation in this.

The first verse 1s a warning

t

that we must not expect impossibilities.

The previous

songs also deserve attention, giving, as they do, an

excellent idea of the every-day morality of the masses

of the people.

“ Poor Richard” has evidently a wider

popularity than most scholars have been willing to

admit.

WISDOM.

SRR

1. If every day with glowing speech you teach the truth,

Will that give joy to woman’s heart ?

If in its lustrous beauty wisdom should be taught,

Will understanding reach the ass ?

If, bowing low, I kiss a golden idol’s feet,

Will kindly words flow from its mouth ?

If sacred musk be used to make the forehead’s mark,

Will aught but pleasure greet the sense?

Chorus.—WIill those who worship not the glory of the sun

Obtain the peace that springs from mukti won ?

9. If truth be lost and falsehood take its hallowed place,

Can man escape the doom of hell ?

If vicious son should break a loving father’s heart,

Can pardon for such sin be found ?

If sinful man despises that which God hath made,

Can he o’ercome the world’s contempt ?

If one should take his neighbour’s goods by guile,

Will not the burglar steal his own ?

Thorus.—Will those, &c.

s

s

AP L

WISDOM.,

57

—=

-

<

€

. When sinners take delight in scorning godly men,

Their folly can but hurt themselves.

Who robs the poor and him whose only friend is God,

Shall live, yet call for death for pain.

When sages, for their gain, call folly good and wise,

The street shall hear them jeered as fools.

While nightfall guides the thief to rob the rich man’s chest

Who guards the spoil of last night’s theft ?

Chorus.—Will those, &c.

To him whose soul has left this earth to sink in God,

Can youth or beauty bring a charm ?

Can golden rings or muslins light as air adorn

The forest yogee* in his filth ?

Does Vishnu leave without content or bliss or peace

The man who loses all for him ?

Or can the man who worships not the golden feet

Obtain the peace and bliss he needs ?

Chorus—WIill those, &e.

14

Can he whom bonds of sense and earth no more restrain

Neglect the customs of his sires?

Or he who knows the Shasters six—Can he, O Brahm—

|\

Absorption’s bliss e’er fail to reach ?

Great Vishnu’s favor is a gem of worth : the man

Who owns need fear no evil eye.

If thou wouldst reach this bliss, go, kiss the lovely feet

Of Vishnu, Vilapura’s king.

Chorus—Will those, &ec.

e S o :

* An ascetic who has left the world to retire into some lonely place for

meditation and penance.

He scorns all the ordinary decencies of life, and

usually sits in one posture contemplating his navel or the tip of his nose, so

that he may see and know nothing of what passes around him,

.

8

THE TRUE PARIAH.

B 2

The song we read next will come ‘lS a surprise to

most people.

It 18, however, much to be feared that in

this respect the popular habit follows the advice of the

old preacher, and cries—‘“do as I say, not as I do.”

If caste estimation depended on personal goodness,

India would not have needed the English.

THE

TRUE

PARIAH.

D -

1. Who guides not his life by the Shastras six,*

An outcaste will live and will die.

Who hears not the story of Vishnu’s tricks,+

An outeaste will live and will die.

The traitor whose cause with his king’s dares mix,

An outeaste will live and will die.

Who visits the house where the harlot sticks,

Is outcaste complete in God’s eye.

Chorus.—Beyond the walls the outcastes dwell,

"T'is worse than death to touch such men.

What pundit skilled dare ever tell

How many live within his ken ?

2. The man who his debts will not strive to pay,

A pariah surely must be.

And he who would walk in a wicked way,

A pariah surely must be.

* The Shastras are the sacred books and are said to be six in number,

but no two sects would agree as to the books they include.

1 This word is not used in an offensive sense. The Bhagavatam, one of

:;

the most popular of books, is wholly occupied with the “tricks” of Krishna.

2%

R it

THE TRUE PARIAH

59

So he who a lie to his host, will say

A pariah surely must be

In him who his wife for advice will pray

Most foolish of pariahs see.

Chorus. —Beyond the walls, &c.

The man who is rich but his wealth gives not

Is worse than an outcaste indeed

So he who would poison one’s food, I wot

Is worse than an outcaste indeed

Who shuns not the hypocrite’s fearful lot

Is worse than an outcaste indeed

But he who would puff his good deeds one jot—

No outcaste commits such a deed

Chorus.—Beyond the walls, &c

The man who his promise forgets to keep,

In pariah village should dwell

Who sows not the good he desires to reap

In pariah village should dwell

The man who deceives, yet at night can sleep

In pariah village should dwell.

Than he who in blood his right-hand dare steep

No pariah blacker in hell.

|

Chorus.—Beyond the walls, &c

Who keeps not the precept that well he knows

Is outeaste indeed before God

On Lakshmi’s great lord who does not repose

Is outcaste indeed before God

Who seeing his guru no praise bestows

T

Is outcaste indeed bhefore God

But he who meets harlot “und

No outcaste so merits the rod

Chorus.—Beyond the walls, &c.

f

60

IGﬁORAN CE.

IGNORANCE.

1. 'Tis ignorance brings the black death to my house

Her terrible visage embitters my life.

Untrained in & wiser and honester course

The cruel dacoit brings his band to my home.*

Because I'm not wise, with a scandalous tongue,

I steal the fair fame of my neighbour and friend.

An ignorant heart makes me love the false face

Of girls without beauty who dance without grace.t

Chorus.

The ignorant man is a madman indeed.

Hither and thither he rushes, then cuts off his head.

9. This foolishness leads me to plunder my wife

To give all her jewels to prostitute hands;

To think it a pleasure to meet in the street

The woman whose glances are levelled at men.

It leads me to say of the friend of my sire

That virgins by him are oft robbed of their pride.

When means are but small to meet harlot’s desire,

It prompts me to steal what may add to her hire.

Chorus.—The ignorant man, &e.

* Dacoity is an important item in the police returns of every part of

India.

It is gang-burglary.

A party of from eight to fifty men proceeds

Fearless of the

in the night to the house of some rich man and rifles it.

police their operations are ostentatiously open, and the only precaution

taken is that of so arranging the gang that none shall be known to the

inhabitants of the village they rob.

Dacoity was the curse of India till

the new police system was introduced.

T It must be understood that dancing is an accomplishment peculiar to

the Hindu Hetaire. No chaste woman could possibly permit herself to

dance.

———

IGNORANCE.

61

3. At sight of a greedy and painted old wretch

It makes my heart leap as if loaded with gifts.

I cry like a cat if she come not in time,

And love the vile bonds which prevent my escape.

While under its power do I earnestly strive

For aught that is good, that can bless, or is wise ?

Nay, rather, I love to turn night into day

By swilling with rogues who will praise while I pay.

Chorus.—The ignorant man, &e.

When told tilat my house is infested with rats,

'?

To smoke their retreat I must burn down the house.

If ecrowds should collect when the evenings are cool,

Of course I am there, and am seized as a thief.

My folly is such that I throw in the ditch

The ashes that ought to be rubbed on my breast.*

Contempt to my caste and the temple I give;

A Brahman my father, an outcaste I live.

Chorus.—The ignorant man, &e.

It persuades me at last my own sons to forget,

And take to my breast dirty brats from a stew.

I swear in the court that a buffalo gives

Quite ten seers of milk, though I know she is dead.

My sword from the scabbard I hasten to draw

To plunge in my bosom—not that of my foe.

Indeed it so lays my best wits on the shelf,—

No enemy else is so bad as myself.

Chorus.—The ignorant man, &e.

* It is a mark of orthodoxy to mark the forehead, breast and arms, with

the symbols of Vishnu,

The material used is the ashes of sandalwood,

62

IGNOi{ANCE.

6. My nets when I fish are soon crowded with seer,*

But, having no basket, they rot on the shore.

I rush ’gainst the cobra forgetting my stick,

Am bit for my pains, and most surely will die.

When meeting my creditor’s wife in the street,

Her husband and children I load with my curse.

When Yama himself for a victim looks out,

His grip is on me.

I must needs give a shout.

Chorus.—The ignorant man, &c.

7. Oh heart, oh my soul, let thy plans come from Hiny,

Who Lakshmi doth love, and who sleeps on the sea.t

Let pride be forgotten, and praise be thy work ;

Then Vishnu will give the true wisdom to you,—

Receive in your service the thanks that are due,—

Will load you with blessings and keep you from death.

Go, sluggard, to view the small ants in the field,

Be humble as they, better thanks should’st thou yield.

Chorus.—The ignorant man, &c.

* The seer is a favorite Indian fish, and in the Madras Presidency is

about the size of a good American cod-fish.

T One of the most favorite names of Vishnu is Narayana, meaning ‘ he

that rests on the sea.”

He is represented as reclining on a leaf floating on

the water.

§§§

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BADAGAJ:S‘_F)N GS.

S

63

e e i |

BADAGA SONGS.

Y

' In the cluster of hills, where the eastern and western

Ghauts meet, are embosomed many charming valleys.

They afford to the Europeans in India a climate perhaps

the most perfect in the world, equally removed from

extremes of heat and cold. Coorg and the Wynaad have

attracted the planter ; and the virgin forest enframes,

so to speak, hundreds of plantations or ‘ estates,”

chiefly devoted to the growth of coffee, but now con-

taining many an acre of tea and cinchona.

The Ooty

valley is the best of Indian sanitaria, lacking only, for

perfect beauty, such snowy hills as surround and

overtop the viceregal Simla.

These hills and green

plateaus are the home of several mwountain tribes.

The Kurgis are the highest, the Kotas the lowest in

the tribal scale.

Below the noblest are the Todas.

1‘l

Above the basest are the Badagas.

Other tribes are

called Kurumbers and Irulas. They all speak varieties

of Hali Cannadi or ancient Canarese, and doubtless

represent, almost unchanged, the condition, speech and

occupation of the great original stock which has pro-

gressed and become civilized in Mysore until it has

become what we now see in the Canarese nation.

The vocabulary of the dialects is almost pure Aryan,

and presents the most startling affinities with the

grand Teutonic stock. The grammar is only now

G4

BADAGA SONGS.

beginning to be studied, but will doubtless claim the

same relationship,

1t seems proper, therefore, that the songs of these

older races should follow the Canarese songs previ-

ously given, neglecting for the moment the more

polished tongues of the plains.

We commence, there-

fore, with a few of the very beautiful chants of the

Badaga tribe.

Though not so high in the social scale as the Todas,

the Badagas are the most numerous and prosperous

tribe in the Neilgherry hills.

They number about

fifteen thousand.

The Todas, though a military caste,

have no songs.

It is not with them ¢ the thing” to

sing.

When they want music they can listen to the

songs and pastoral pipes of the Badagas and Kotas.

The latter are a musical race.

Fach man has his pipe.

Not the reedy assembly that makes the instrument of

“the great God Pan,” but a flute, with sufficiently

numerous and well placed holes to render it easy to

produce what may fairly be called melody. They are

always ready to sing ; at birth, marriage, or death.

But it is not only on such occasions that they

sing. The belated traveller along hillside tracks will

often hear the distant chant, the loud and sudden

chorus, and then again the floating strain of the

single singer, borne gently and like the reflex of

some distant wave on the wings of the cool night

breeze.

Such echoes tell of Badaga merriment, and

remind the man who is not ignorant of the brother

men who dwell around him, that at that moment a

bl

LG s

B i e e

S TN PR

BADAGA SONG%

65

£

AL IR

s

|

whole village-full of folk are gathered round some

mossy stone, listening to and then joining in the song

of a rustic Homer or Badaga bard, who, neither “ mute

i

nor inglorious,” leads the resounding melody.

Men,

women, and children are there.

Ever as they sing

some man or maiden springs to the front and dances

to the song, light and agile as a deer or, better still, a

mountaineer, such as they are.

Thus with song and

dance the evening glides away.

It 1s not certain that -civilization

has furnished

greater nations with better modes of enjoying

the

It is quite certain that

few

|

silvery moonlight tide.

nations can boast of better songs as far as words may

2]

A

g0

They err in length for ears and mine

Is polite, for

one will fill an evening.

They are rather songs such

as the minnesingers trolled out

stories in poetry.

More than ballads, less than books, they remind one,

in everything but their morality and lack of apprecia-

tion of the beauties of nature, of Chaucer’s stories.

Imagine, if 1t be possible, a Wife of Bath or a Mer:

chant’s Tale that should be devoted to the wicked-

ness of sin rather than to the pleasures of the flesh ;

Yo

i

e.V

1

1

and then in dramatic character, poetic fo

L&) \'_-)

vidness

of colouring and completeness of story, we shall get

a Badaga song.

This reminds that, as with the Canarese songs last

described, a strong religious and moral thread runs

Lkl

tbrough the whole.

In every Dravidian tongue we see

the same phenomenon. Get back to the folk literature,

as distinguished from that which has its spring in

s

-

s

t5

9

60

BADAGA SONGS.

Sanscrit, that is, Brahmanic importations, and we

]

find “the people” singing of the evils of sin, of the

hideousness of hypocrisy, of the utter unworthiness of

man,

The sternest Judaic morality is taught with

Judaic precision and force.

For want of better knowledge 1t has been customary

of recent years to class the Dravidian tongues and

peoples with the Scythians of northern Asia and eastern

Russia ; yet every writer who has attempted to describe

the Scythic character, has placed as the fundament

and key to the whole “an utter want of moral eleva-

tion,” to use the words of a recent thinker.

Among

the Dravidians the precise opposite is the case.

All

who know them declare, with Dr. Caldwell, their

infinite superiority in this respect to the Aryanized

nations of northern India, of the valleys of the Ganges

and Nerbudda.

The most prominent feature of all this class of

literature is its high morality ; often using very plain

words and calling things by their right names, but

ever preaching such truths as are, in “ civilized”

countries, supposed to be the peculiar property of

the pulpit and very unfashionable everywhere else.

Vice, as distinguished from legitimate sensual enjoy-

ment, is never glorified in Dravidian folk songs.

The more one reads them the greater is the astonish-

ment that peoples should, in these latter days, so

openly denounce the sin that is among them ; should

do so much to make every man, woman and child know

that wickedness is evil and not good.

Perhaps 1t is

A e AN SR

BADAGA SONGS.

67

well and a mark of high civilization that all mention of

evil should be taboed, except in the mouths of a privi-

leged class ; but it is surely better and a mark of noble

blood, if not of higher civilization, that denunciation of

evil should ring at each fireside and every village feast.

The first of the songs that follow 1s the funeral dirge

that is sung at every cremation, a little before the

actual burning.

It is so beautiful, in sentiment rather

than poetry, and the whole funeral ceremony 1s so

1‘

interesting, that it will be well to look for a moment

at the ritual of which the dirge forms a part.

The ceremonial commences somewhat before death.

As soon as the last struggle sets in, the whole village

springs into activity and earnest labor. The family

gathers round the dying man.

The father or senior

member of the family takes a small gold coin—a rem-

nant of times long forgotten—worth but about six

pence and, therefore, very very tiny ; dips it in ghee

and places it in the sick man’s mouth, telling him to

swallow what should be his last and most important

food and fortune.

If the tiny coin slip down, well.

The one to sustain

He will need both gold and ghee.

his strength in the dark journey to the river of death,

the other to fee the guardian of the fairylike bridge

that spans the dreaded tide.

If sense remain to the

wretched man he knows that now his death 1s nigh.

Despair and the gold make recovery impossible, and

there are none who have swallowed the Birianhana

If insensibility or deathly weak-

S

and yet have lived.

ness make 1t impossible for the coin to pass the thorax,

Y

SRS

v

22

68

/

BADAGA SONGS.

R

it is carefully bound in cloth and tied to the right arm,

so that there may be nought to hinder the passage of

a worthy soul into the regions of the blest.

|

Meanwhile, a host of men fly to every quarter of the

|

compass

The burning

must not be delayed more

than twenty-four hours

The Neilgherries are large

and the Badaga villages very widely scattered, so forth

must go a dozen runners, speeding as if with fiery cross

to call the tribe and friends of the deceased.

As they

run they shout in the fashion peculiar to mountaineers,

so that the hills and vales for miles ring with the

e

long drawn-out cry that seems to fly through the air

like some swift dark bird, to such incredible distances

1

does

o

t

reach.

‘While they thus carry their news,

another

dozen start for the nearest shola (patch of

jungle trees)

With eager hands they cut off the

straighter branches and hale them to the village.

Another set go forth to the nearest Kotagherry (hill

inhabited by Kotas), to call musicians and carpenters.

The latter attack the branches brought from the shola

and soon produce a pyramidal car of such dimensions

as time and material permit.

Qthers prepare bows

and arrows, to show that the deceased was a warrior,

If the dead be a

and belonged to a fighting race.

woman, a rice-pounder serves instead.

Then the car 1s

Towards evening all this is done.

covered with cloth, and the corpse is brought out on a

h

charpoy or native cot, and laid under the car. On one

side of the cot are placed the various tools employed

On the

by the deceased, his plough, his knife, &c.

e

-

SEE TR S

i

-

-

: ﬁAbAGA SONGS.

69

other are laid out his flute, his stick, and the bows and

arrows made by the Kotas.

Last of all, an empty

gourd, to serve him as a drinking pot in the long

journey from the known to the unknown, is laid at the

dead man’s feet.

With early dawn the crowd of friends comes in.

Man and woman are dressed in their best.

Their best

is not much to be sure, except in the way of jewels,

which are often very valuable. The first ceremonial is

that of the dance. It begins with the male relations of

the dead, who circle round the corpse, now fast, now

slow, now with joined hands and then separately.

Above all rises the shrill music of the Kotas, who

Music and

officiate at this portion of the ceremony:

dance get faster and faster still.

As friends arrive

they join in, and with their fresh vigor keep up the

frenzied round.

They are supposed to be accompany-

ing the parted soul in its rapid flight to the feet of

God or, rather, to the pillar of fire, of which more will

be said hereafter.

The women stand around holding

in their bands the emblem of their calling, a rice-

beater.

As the excitement rises, one or more ot them

will dash into the dance, whirling round and round

Sometimes this frantic dance

their massive weapon.

will last for hours.

So far, the ceremony is much like what we know to

have been common among many early races.

But

now commences a more solemn service \Vhi()h must

demand the most earnest attention.

When the dance is done and the performers have

e

70

BADAGA SONGS.

recovered breath and calmness, the nearest relations of

the dead man walk in sad procession round the body.

One or more of them carries a basket of rice or other

food wherewith to satisfy the wandering soul or bribe

away the demons or beasts who would otherwise hinder

its journey. Ever as they walk one tells the goodness,

the prowess, the tender care for animals, the domestic

virtues of the deceased. At every fresh illustration

of his manly vigor or loving heart, his parents, brothers

and friends burst into fits of weeping; and what

seem, and doubtless are, bitter tears of deep sorrow

roll down many a sad but dingy face.

Then the

crowd takes up the body, its car or canopy, and all its

appurtenances, and carefully places them outside the

village bounds.

Again in solemn silence they stand around, until one

’

brings within the circle a buffalo-calf. It has been

carefully selected and is without blemish. One of the

leading men then steps to the side of the calf, lays his

hand upon its head and in a loud voice chants the

dirge to which reference has been made.

The lines of

the poetry are so arranged that each stanza is finished

by the principal verb of the sentence.

The whole 1s

a confession of sin.

In the village the good deeds

of the deceased were rehearsed. They stood in the

presence of family and friends, and the proper rule

was ntl nist bonum de morturs. Now they stand before

God, to whom every sin is known. Now man’s un-

worthiness appears, and the only proper attitude 1s

that of confession of sin.

After a short invocation, the

st

o i

S

gt

BADAF}A SONGS.

7l

performer makes a general confession. By a conven-

tional mode of expression the sum total of sins a man

may do is said to be thirteen hundred. Admitting

that the deceased has committed them all, the per-

former cries aloud ““ Stay not their flight to God’s pure

feet.”

As he closes, the whole assembly chants aloud,

“ Stay not their flight.” The God invoked is Bassava,

after whom is named the great propagator of the Vira

Siva or ultra Siva worship.

It is a name peculiar to

Siva himself. The chief symbol of Siva is the bull

Nandi: in Badaga the cow, Banige.

The calf 1s,

therefore, a peculiarly appropriate symbol, answering

to the scape-goat of the Jews.

Again the performer enters into details and cries,

“ He killed the crawling snake, 1t 1s a sin.” In a

moment the last word is caught up and all the people

cry, “Itisa sin.” As they shout the performer lays

The sin 1s transferred to the

his hand upon the calf.

calf. Thus the whole catalogue is gone through in this

impressive way. But this is not enough. As the last

shout—“ Let all be well”—dies away, the performer

gives place to another, and again confession is made

and all the people shout, “ It is a sin.” A third time

is it done.

Then, still in solemn silence, the calf 1s let

loose.

Like the Jewish scape-goat, 1t may never be

used for secular work. It is sacred, bearing till death

the sins of a human being.

The solemn confession done, the relatives put earth

on their heads and, carrying hatchets in their hands,

circle the corpse three times, weeping bitterly all the

72

BADAGA SONGS.

while. Lastiy, they place a little earth upon the dead

man’s face.

Then the crowd carry the body and 1its

canopy to the nearest stream, heap up fuel round the

corpse and burn the whole in one great blaze. With it

are burnt jewels, cloths, implements and all the personal

belongings of the deceased. While yet cremation con-

tinues, all leave the spot.

Next morning the relatives

return, gather up the ashes and cast them into the

stream.

Should any bones remain unconsumed, they

are reverently placed on the ground and covered with

a tumulus of such stones as the men may be able to

lift.

When all is over, the friends of the deceased

shave their heads and faces in sign of mourning and

return to their ordinary lives.

The song deserves careful attention.

The version

that follows 1s an almost literal translation, and has

been drawn from a literal prose rendering which the

Rev. F. Metz, the devoted and self-sacrificing mission-

ary who has for so many years persevered in what has

seemed the almost hopeless task of Christianizing the

He

Badagas, most kindly placed at my disposal.

and his few colleagues of the Basel Mission are the

only Europeans sufficiently acquainted with the Badaga

tongue and people to obtain either the means or the

confidence required for gaining a knowledge of the

inner life of this strange people. All honor to those

who have been willing to live and die among such

people as the Neilgherry tribes.

SR —

)

DIRGE FOR THE DEAD.

DIRGE FOR THE DEAD.

Invocation

In the presence of the great Bassava,

Who sprang from Banigé the holy cow.

—

The dead has sinned a thousand times.

E’en all the thirteen hundred sins

That can be done by mortal men

May stain the soul that fled to-day.

1'\

Stay not their flight to God’s pure feet

C'horus— Stay not their flight

He killed the crawling snake.

Chorus

It 1s

a sin

The creeping lizard slew.

1t 1s

a sin

Also the harmless frog.

1t 1s

a sin

Of brothers he told tales.

It 1s

a sin

The landmark stone he moved.

It 1s a sin

Called in the Sircar’s aid.*

It 1s a sin

Put poison in the milk.

Tt is a sin.

é

* This is a curious example of the hatred that all Hindoo tribes felt

towards the old regime.

To appeal to the Rajahs or their courts was to

invite oppression, to require a large outlay on bribes, to let loose false

witnesses, to reveal secret mountain paths, in short, to bring upon the poor

hill people all the ills that the rapacity of the governing class could inflict

upon ignorant and helpless mountaineers.

U

i

s

S

10

S

DIRGE FOR THE DEAD.

To strangers straying on the hills

He offered aid but guided wrong.

Chorus.—It 1s a sin.

His sister’s tender love he spurned,

And showed his teeth to her in rage.

It 1s a sin.

He dared to drain the pendent teats

Of holy cow in sacred fold.

It is a sin.

The glorious sun shone warm and bright—

He turned his back towards its beams.

It 1s a sin.

Ere drinking from the babbling brook

He made no bow of gratitude.

It 1S a sin.

His envy rose against the man

Who owned a fruitful buffalo.

It 1s a sin.

He bound with cords and made to plough

The budding ox too young to work.

It 1s a sin.

While yet his wife dwelt in his house

He lusted for a younger bride.

It 1s a sin.

The hungry begged—he gave no meat.

The cold asked warmth—he lent no fire.

It 1s a sin.

He turned relations from his door,

Yet asked unworthy strangers home.

It 1s a sin.

The weak and poor called for his aid

He gave no alms, denied their-woe.

It is a sin,

v

i

e

DIRGE F?R THE DEAD

=

When caught by thorns, in useless rage

He tore his cloth from side to side.

Chorus. —1It 1s a sin.

%

PR

The father of his wife sat on the floor,

Yet he reclined on bench or couch.

g

It is a sin.

He cut the bund around a tank,

Set free the living water’s store.

It 1s a sin.

Against the mother of his life

He lifted up a coward foot.

1t i1s a sin.

What though he sinned so much,

Or that his parents sinned ?

What though the sins’ long score

Was thirteen hundred crimes ?

O let them every one

Fly swift to Bas'vas’ feet.

Chorus.—Fly swift.

The chamber dark of death

Shall open to his soul.

The sea shall rise in waves,

Surround on every side,

AL TR

But yet that awful bridge,

No thicker than a thread,

Shall stand both firm and strong

The dragon’s yawning mouth

Is shut—it brings no fear.

The palaces of heaven

Throw open wide their doors. .

i

Chorus.—Open wide their doors

S

e s,

76

UI‘A)IRGE FOR THE DEAD.

The thorny path is steep,

Yet shall his soul go safe.

:1

ll

The silver pillar stands

So near—he touches it.

He may approach the wall,

The golden wall of heaven.

The burning pillar’s flame

Shall have no heat for him.

Chorus.—Shall have no heat

Oh, let us never doubt

That all his sins are gone,

That Bassava forgives.

May it be well with him !

i

Chorus.—May it be well !

Let all be well with him.

Chorus.—Let all be well !

,;

How vividly all this brings to mind the grand

pictures of the Mosaic Exodus! Forget that we listen

to a puny tribe of Neilgherry mountaineers, and we see

Ebal and Gerizim revive ; when the man of God pro-

nounced the blessings and the curses—the good that

would bring life and the ill that must cause death.

No prophet was ever more explicit in declaration of sin,

no people ever more ready to learn. In fact this 1s the

grandest thing about either Ebal or the lonely village

in the hills:—that a people should, in the most solemn

ceremony that man can attend, with one voice de-

nounce evil and justify the holy God, who “cannot

regard sin with any degree of allowance.”

AL

-~

DIRGE FOR THE DEAD.

(¥

More than one observer has noticed physical and

facial peculiarities so strongly reminding of the Jew,

that he has not hesitated to proclaim that here at

last are found those lost tribes which so strangely

disappeared from the world’s history 2,500 years

ago

These observers knew nothing of the ceremony

described above.

Had they known, how much louder

still had been their shout of recognition.

History

There 18

repeats itself, and coincidence is not identity.

nothing, positively nothing, beyond physical features

and this ritual, to support the theory, and it may

be allowed to pass into that great limbo where lie

Yet read

philosopher’s stones and squared circles.

the book of Leviticus, and then compare the history of

gl -

the scape-goat with that of the Badaga buffalo.

shall bring the live goat, and Aaron shall lay both his

hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over

him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all

their transgressions in all their sins, putting them

upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away

by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness, and the

goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities, into a

land not inhabited ; and he shall let go the goat in the

wilderness.”

Is not this the exact scene that takes place each year

on the Neilgherry hills? In the solemn gathering of

the people, the loud rehearsing of the sin, and the still

more awful reply of the great crowd, we see, combined

with the touching ceremony of the scape-goat, the

| greatest and most solemn gathering in Judaic history

2

78

‘VDIRGE FOR THE DEAIi

after the thunders and lightnings of Sinai,—when half

the people stood on Grerizim and half on Ebal. Midway

stood the ILevites, and one and another came for-

ward and cried ‘“Cursed be he that setteth light by

his father and his mother.”

As the words left his

mouth the whole multitude shouted “ Amen.”

Even

the very confession is in many points the same.

The

Jews said, “Cursed be he that removeth his neigh-

bours’ landmark.”

The people answered “ Amen.”

Turn to the Badaga ritual. « “ The landmark stone he

moved.”

The people cry “ It is a sin.”

Let us note a few in parallel columns.

J EWISH.

|

BADAGA.

1. Cursed be he

“The father of his wife sat on the floor

Yet he reclined on couch or bench.

that setteth light by

his father and his

It is a sin.”

mother.

“ Against the mother of his life

2. Cursed be he

He lifted up a coward foot.

that

maketh

the

It is a sin.”

blind to wander out

“To strangers straying on the hills

of the way.

He offered aid, but guided wrong.

3. Thou shalt not

It is a sin.”

see thy brother’s ox

In the song about to be quoted is

or his ass astray and

the following passage describing the

hide thyself from

deeds of good men :—

them. Thou shalt

“Whentheysaw on the hillsthelostkine

Of stranger or neighbour, they drove

In any case bring

them all home.”

them agaln unto

thy brother.

LS SR

ey

il

DIRGE FOR THE DEAD.

79

Many similar parallels might be produced by run-

ning through the commands in Leviticus, but these

suffice to show the remarkable coincidence in word and

ritual.

Yet it must be repeated that, after careful

enquiry, I can discover no shadow of ground for sup-

posing that the Badaga form has been introduced by

Jewish influence, although it must be confessed that

the presence in Cochin of that strange colony of

“ Black Jews,” who distinctly claim to belong to the

lost ten tribes ; and the fact that Cochin is not many

days’ march from the Neilgherry plateau, might afford

some presumptive additional evidence to the hand of

the puzzled searcher.

Had the Todas or DBadagas

been connected with the ‘“ Black Jews,” the tie must

have been known. On the contrary, all Neilgherry

tradition points to an early journey from the north—

from the great road by which every Aryan tribe

entered India.

The next song is of equally interesting character.

It describes the other world— where parted spirits

dwell.” Tt is only necessary to premise that, according

(419

eidolon”

to Badaga belief, the soul carries with 1t an

or image of its earthly body, capable of bearing pain

and delighting in pleasure.

The succeeding song also

expresses the same idea.

As another link in the great

chain of evidence proving the Aryan origin of this

curious literature, it should be noted that the portals of

death are guarded by a gruff’ porter or concierge, who

demands payment for permitting or aiding the passage

of the departing soul. The Todas suppose that thif:

07

s P A SR

80

DIRGE FOR THE DEAD.

surly keeper dwells at Makurty Peak, remarkable for

the enormous precipice that forms one side.

We meet

this personage again and again in every Aryan race.

The peculiar configuration of the Neilgherries will

explain at once the idea of seeing the other world from

their furthest peaks.

The observer from Dodabetta,

Snowdon or any other high peak, sees the low country

at his feet, spread out like one vast carpet.

The great

distance throws a haze over the landscape that seems

to render 1t unlike the surrounding world. The traveller

who has seen Italy from the south side of the Alps

will know what is meant. At one point in the Coondah

range, among the Neilgherries, the wanderer sees a

little cleft in the rocks that have hitherto bounded his

rugged path on either side.

He turns to look beyond

and sees, as by a charm, that he stands on the brink of

one of the most awful precipices in the world.

In one

sheer straight dip of several thousand feet the fascinat-

ed eye rests on the plain below.

It s another world.

The song i1s a aialogue between a tender curious

woman and one of the ‘““wise men” who act as the

advisers of their tribe.

These wizards are greatly

feared.

TLike the ¢ medicine men” of the Red Indian

they must be propitiated before any important work

can be undertaken.

Their curse brings death—their

blessing commands the Gods.

26 2y

R

FRLEAN

=

THE NEXT WWORLD.

81

THE NEXT

WORLD:

Hattitippé, to see the other world,

Went walking where this sinful world of ours

%

Is bounded by Neilgherry rocks and steeps

Beyond Makurty Peak. Then, peering from

::

The furthest hill, she saw the wondrous land

Where parted spirits dwell.

There came with her

Her dearest friend, to whose sad mind and eyes

Had been revealed the fate of those whose life

Had left this world to stand before its judge.

While yet she looked she thus addressed her friend :—

“ Oh brother simpleton,

If T bend down I see

The tails of lowing kine.

But if I stand upright

I see their horned heads.

To whom do they belong ?”

“ No funeral rites were performed for the men

On the earth

Whose cattle have come to your view.*

Their relatives died before them.

So the king

Who rules in the land out of sight was their heir.

The cattle do feed in his fields—they are his.”

* We see here the germs of the Hindu theory noted on page 41.

The

possibility of amending the condition of the dead requires that the living

should never slacken in their pivus labor for their ancestors—hence the

monthly and annual ceremonies for the good of dead forefathers are the

keystone of the whole edifice of Hindu social ritual.

e —————

—

-4

L1

THE N E'X.'l‘. ‘"WO R L];.

“ Tis true, my brother dear.

But now I see a tree,

e

And from its spreading boughs

Hang many wretched men,

Suspended by their necks.

ﬁVho then are they, I ask ?”

“ Oh sister beloved, must I tell you of this,

And have your own ears never heard of the tale ?

i

For ever they hang from the boughs of the tree

Because they thus ended a God-given life,

And fled from the woes their own sin had provoked.”

“ T see a loathsome ditch

Where wretched men lie prone.

\E

They ever seen to smoke

The brown tobacco-leaf.

Who then are these, I ask,

Dear brother simpleton 2

“ When Badagas died on the Neilgherry Hills

‘E

Their widows were robbed of the mite that was left.

The poor were oppressed by the strong and the rich.

The men that you see were great chiefs in their day,

Who grew to be rich on the spoil of the poor.

Such crimes have they done, and their punishment now

Is to lie in the ditch so defiled and unclean.

No food may they eat.

To their ravening mouth

Tobacco is given.

They may smoke but not eat.*

In luxury starve.

In their mouths is but smoke.”

* This is rather a novel punishment, but yet highly suggestive of the

]

fact that luxury bought by crime is an unsatisfying thing

-

—

¥

_—

—

—

-

THE NEXT WORLD.

83

“ Again I see sad men,

Some garden land they bless ;

Ever pouring water

On tall and gaudy plants.

Oh brothker, who are they ?”

“ Oh sister, you surely must know about this ;—

They poisoned themselves when they dwelt on the earth

On these hills

With opium deadly and vile.

They ate of the fruit of this terrible plant.

So now and for ever they water the seed,

The plant and its tall swelling head. While they live

The water they pour.

Thus their sin is their pain,”

“ But, brother, stay.

I see

A narrow hill-side path,

The track of buffaloes.

In it there lies a child,

Mosquitoes cover it.

How sad and sore 1t cries !

Whose tender child 1s that 2’

“ The child of a woman so cruel and hard

That when, in the days of her life, a poor child,

The child of a stranger, besought her for bread,

She murmured—This troublesome child is not mine,”

And would not receive her, nor comfort her soul.

‘}

So now, without help, her own child dies alone.”

* Oh, brother, let me go

And save that helpless child.

E’en yet her lips may suck

New life from out my breast.”

84

V THE NEXT WORLD.

“ Oh sister, approach not that suffering child.

The giant, with mouth like a crow, will devour

Each one that would touch that forlorn helpless babe.

All sins that are done against children on earth

Are written above, and are known at the last.”

“ Yet once again I see

A lovely field of grain

With ears an ell in length :

They swell as doth a pot.

Whose golden field is this ?

Tell soon, oh brother dear !”

“ You see the tall grain in the field of the man

Who lived to his God and did right in the world :

Who tilled his own land, and then cheerfully helped

His neighbour or friend. He gave alms to the poor,

The hungry he fed.

To the cold he brought fire,

i

The naked he clothed, and the poor he relieved.

If now he should scatter his seed on a rock,

No barn would contain the bountiful crop.”

“ But, brother, now I see

Some men whose hair is smooth,

Well combed and shining bright.

One cloth around the loins

Is all the dress they wear.

Before they milk their kine

They wash in water warm.

How vast a pot they take,

And yet it fills with milk !”

They get such abundance of white frothing milk,

Because when they saw on the hills the lost kine

Of stranger or neighbour, they drove them all home,

And saved from the tiger, the cheetah, or wolf.”

—

e

-

s

-

-

-

o

-

e

THE NEXT >WORLD.

85

“ A stranger thing appears.

I see red mud out there;

And men are dicging it.

DO TS

Who can such wretches be 2

“ These people, my sister, are those who had much

Of food and of wealth when on earth.

Yet they hid

The meal they were eating when beggars drew nigh.

So now they have fallen in thick and deep mud,

From whence they may never escape.

To their cries

For food and for drink, they are answered but this,—

“ Eat mud, there is mud. You may drink of the mud.”

“ But now I see a house,

How white and clean it is !

It has verandahs wide.

Some men are writing there

Or reading, as they will.

E

My brother, who are they ?”

“ They never complained to the Sircar’s dubash,*

Nor slandered their friend or their foe.

In the world,

Where sins are so many, they acted aright,

And hated the rogue who could poison a foe.

God gave them their eyes, they perceived the great good,

God gave them their hands, they were used for His work,

God gave them their food, to the stranger 'twas given,

God gave them their feet, they have walked in his ways.

A happy reward is for them, they are scribes.”

* Dubash is the Hindoo term for interpreter, and means—* he that speaks

two languages.”

The dubash is an important officer in all dealings of the

government with the people. Sefe note on page 73.

THE NEXT WORLD.

86

“ Oh brother, who are these,

Most wretched of them all ?

In naked shame they’re bound

To rugged gnarled trees.

They ever seem to talk,

But none are there to hear.”

Oh sister, you surely have heard who these are":—

Abandoned and profligate women, who wandered astray

From virtue and home. They have nothing wherewith

To cover their shame.

They are hungry and cold.”

“ A new thing now I see.

Oh brother, near the road

That leadeth to the plains

A fiery pillar stands.

Beyond, a river flows.

Across, from bank to bank,

Is stretched a bridge of thread.

What can these strange things mean ?”

“ Look, sister, again.

On the happier side

There stands a white house—the abode of the blest.

The place of the lost, where they meet their reward,

Is nearer to you—on this side of the stream ?”

“ Oh brother, how I wish

To reach that blissful shore !

Why did I ever come

r

To see such fearful things !

If, when at last I die,

A solemn gathering mourns,

And fire devours my corpse—

—

e—

BADAGA SON;%S.

87

If toll be paid to him

Who guards the heavenly gates—

If this and more be done,

Can I obtain that bliss,

Or must I sink to hell ?”

& Alas, my dear sister, I know not of that.”

What a touch of life is there in the verses that de-

scribe the lone babe! How near akin is the whole

scene to that when the Great Teacher said—¢ Suffer

little children to come unto me.”—¢“Take heed that ye

offend not one of these little ones.

It were better

that a millstone were tied about his neck and he be

cast into the sea.”

Note again the strange (to us) reverence in which

the art of writing is held.

To be a scribe is to enjoy

the best place in heaven.

No greater joy or honor can

be than that one should write.

As this is the summit

of moral ambition, the height of physical enjoyment is

to have plenty of milk, to bathe in warm water and to

wear but one cloth, and that merely round the loins.

The two latter point naively to the joy

warmth, that

contrasts with the greatest evil the mountaineer has to

meet—cold. The wearing but one cloth is an inferential

not a positive good.

It proves that the blessed dwell

in a land so pleasant that clothing is only needed for

the sake of decency, not for warmth. The water in

88

BADAGA SONGS.

Neilgherry streams is certainly cold, and inability to

provide either vessel or fuel for a hot bath may perhaps

account for what Europeans count the greatest dis-

figurement of a Badaga, the dirt which forms so sub-

stantial a dress, in which convenience 1s certainly more

studied than elegance.

Again we see the strong living morality of an early

Aryan or Semitic people. Here is no trace of that utter

lack of a high sense of right or wrong which marks the

Scythian.

In the deep abhorrence of suicide which

gives the oplum-eater and the more direct self-destroyer

the worst places in hell, we mark a higher grade of

thought than Latins or Greeks reached. The practice

of eating opium is especially condemned, The poppy

grows abundantly on the hills, and self-indulgence in

the use of 1ts juice is much too common.

How striking, too, is the analogy between our Lord’s

parable of the judgment and several passages of this

and the preceding song.

Compare Matthew—“ For

I was an hungred and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty

I was a stranger and ye took

and ye gave me drink

me in : Naked and ye clothed me : I was sick and ye

visited me : I was in prison, and ye came unto me”—

with the following :—

“ You see the tall grain in the field of the man

Who lived to his God and did right in the world.

Who tilled his own land, and then cheerfully helped

His neighbour or friend. He gave alms to the poor,

The hungry he fed, to the cold he brought fire.

The naked he clothed, and the poor he relieved.”

e

bl

=

BADAGA SONGS.

89

Sl

Also with this from the Funeral song :—

“ The hungry begged—he gave no meat.

%7

¥

The cold asked

vy

armth-——he le

1

1t no fire.

The weak and poor called for his aid,

He gave no alms—denied their woe.”

Another curious feeling th

(e 1 V]

ot

constantly oozes out 1s

that of fear lest: government should interfere in any

v

1T

matter COHCBI‘IH..Pg tl

m. In addition to the passages

N

given 1n the sor

i

gs we may quote an expressive

>

proverb, ““If you appeal to the magistrate, you might

as well poison your opponent’s food.”

And again—

“ Riches acquired by serving the sircar (government)

M1

(¢ If

are like a post in a swar

.ﬂ.xiJ)

rats carry it away.”

There

a tiger be

hungry, he will even eat grass.”

was ample

reason for this in the days of the petty

rajahs and

greater kings that preceded the English

rule.

While the mountain tribes were quiet and

unthought of, they lived in peace.

But the hungry

princes needed little reminding, and an appeal for

justice was but an invitation to plunder.

Greedy but

light-footed soldiers cam

e close behind ﬂ.le bailiff along

the trodden paths.

The bridge of thread reminds immediately of the

Mahomedan idea

Ol

&

harp sword spanning the

11T

me

QN

L)

dreadful gulf. So

holar with leisure and oppor-

tunity may trace the origin of this idea, and will

probably light upon an interesting subject. The

next song will itself explain both it and the burning

b

pillar.

e

s

1 2

90

STORY OF BALI

The story of Bali is a ballad

[n the following ren-

dering an attempt has been made to catch the spirit

as well as the verbiage of the original

One stanza

1s marked as an interpolation, as it is manifestly

different from all the rest of the piece

1t has pro-

bably been inserted by some bard who felt strongly

that opium-eating could not be too often condemned

It 1s a favorite song and evokes many expressions of

pity

Its form is so dramatic that the story has fair

play. Other characters come on the scene only to shed

light upon the heroines, and disappear when their work

1s done

The reader will again note with interest the

purely Aryan idea of burying souls in trees, and may

discover the germ of the great scheme of transmigration

of souls, although there i no suspicion of the gross

Brahmanic developments of the system.

STORY

OF

})A Llc

D ——

A rich man lived in Marly Mund

And daughters two had he

He called the twain by one strange name

For both should Bali be

ro

His lands were wide

Twelve yoke of kine

Were scarce enough for tilth

His buffaloes were numberless

And golden hoards his wealth

;

—

STORY OF BALIL

91

In fourteen chests the coins were hid ;

They stood in one great pile.

But all his wealth could not bring joy,

His daughters were so vile.

The Gods looked down from heaven above—

Such sins must them provoke,

F’en they had never seen before

Such wilful sinful folk.

J

Their wrath was great, like lightning burned,

It swallowed everything.

In one short week the wealth was gone ;

They stood but in their skin.

6

Where poor by hundreds once were fed,

Was not one grain of food.

Great store of gold had filled the house

Which now all empty stood.

~J

The farmer prayed a W‘izm:'d grey

To tell why pain so keen

And loss so great had come to him,

Who had so wealthy been.

8

The wizard said all this had come

To show that sin brought woe :

That if he wished to prosper still

His daughters twain must go.

9

The man went home and, fearing God

His daughters from him sent.

So out into the wide lone world

The sinful women went.

v

STORY OF BALI

G

10

They had not learned to earn their bread

In jungles food to ga

{0 »"m“‘ had they to shelter them

et

From sun, or win

a, o1

k|

11}

Sy

At last they reached a lofty hou

(> A

K(‘\

And served there night and day.

But soon the

1aster 1c

st his we

salth—

Decame «

poor as they

e

N

He asked a wiz

oA

O

oY

why s

such wratl

Had turned hi

O(

0

C

;

U

i

s

y bad ?

5

o

SWe

€ ,(

el Ul

that

a bitt

t"\‘-

er

" cul

\”x

a8 01l

» UL

_V,li‘\( ('\

women

ad

1

(3

He sent them both away in peace

And looked for good again

A

i

4

A ﬁgi antal

o'a

L

L

°

{

v

with fri

St

)(

Yl

car

vl

UC

€

A

o

Se

I paln

E

S

pads

b 4

With outstretched hand

1ey tried to pluck

The rich

nd fruity tme

g:

['he trees fell down, the fruit grew black

-

Their hung

* bu

ned VF‘T‘E more.

%

z

1D

Lhe g

raeners sa

the ruin dire

Which round the women lay.

(44

I'hey called them

witeh,’

> assailed with stones,

And hunted them away

]

H

6

Near by there stood a Jack-tree tope

it they then did run—

A. cocoa-grove was just beyond-

0 both black death did come

-

RPN

DR

.

STORY OF BALL

17

The curse was now so hard to bear,

So hot and deep their scathe,

The tears flowed down so large and fast,

The stream a bird would bathe.

18

In deep despair a tigress lean

They roused as first she fed.

For speedy death they looked and prayed,—

The tigress stared and fled.

19

“ Oh, sister dear” said one of them,

“ Why may we never die ?

What sins so great can we have done

To merit wrath so high ?”

20

« Perhaps if we would dare to go

Into a bear’s dark den,

The beast may turn and rend us so

That life may leave us then.”

g

21

They dared to go.

Great stones they threw

Upon the savage beast.

In awe they wait. He turned and fled :

Rejects the proffered feast.

|82

|\

They swallowed lumps of opium

And smiled as sleep enchained.

But soon they start and vomit forth

‘'The drug whose help they claimed.

23

With eyes close shut, nay, bound with cloth,

They rushed into a stream.

The waters parted 'neath their feet,

They stood as in a dream.

2ady

s ———

-t

94

STORY OF BALL

24

They hid themselves in jungle thick

And set the grass alight.

The flames rose high, but came not near

2

Destroyed to left and right.

[\

Ot

At last they chose a lofty rock

To plunge from off its brink.

But as they stood to bid farewell,

The rock did split and sink.

Most eagerly they sought for death

In water, earth and sky.

But death would not receive their souls.

They might not, could not die.

27

One moment more they stood and talked

At top of some lone hill.

“ No child nor husband may we have,

So die we must and will.”

28

Then casting off their little packs

Of clothes and some few rings,

They start afresh, with vigor new,

As seeking precious things.

29

They climbed in haste a hill so steep,

An ox would backwards fall ;

Ran quickly down the further side,

Which would a goat appal.

30

At last they met a flock of sheep,

By shepherds was it led.

They asked of one the way to heaven,—

Both sheep and shepherd fled.

%z

?g

STORY OF BALI

95

31

“ Oh, sister dear, when we were young

We made our sins our boast.

And now sweet death denies our prayer

And heaven’s road is lost.”

3

Still walking on, an outcaste comes,

A tiger’s skin his clothes.

He asked for food, for all they had,

Then cursed them with loud oaths.

33

“ What money can we give to thee ?

We only long to die.

But tell us, outcaste, what may be

That lofty flame near by ?”

“The Gods have raised that flaming pile

For all men to embrace,

If but one sin remain unpurged

Death meets you face to face.”

35

“Yet though to ashes you are burnt,

Hell opes that very hour.

The giant with the raven mouth

Will torture and devour.”

36

“ But brother, who are they we see,

|

This verse is

Great water-pots they bear ?”

|

revidently an

“They killed themselves with opium

| interpolation.

To scape all pain and care.”

“ Alas, my brother, where doth rest

The husband of my youth ?”

“Go ye away from me, for now

I know you both in truth.”

96

STORY

OF BALIL

-

38

“Ye are the wilful Bali folk,

Whose sins are manifest.

Amid Neilgherry hills ye dwelt

And made of sin a jest.”

39

Still on they went, and soon did come

Unto that bridge of thread :

Beside them yawned the dragon’s mouth

In front, the pillar red.

40

By terror blanched, they stood in dread

Of what might yet befal.

Five angels bade them follow close,

And on, straight on, went all.

41

The angels seized them by their throats

And dragged them to their shame.

“It is not large,—put both your arms

Around that pillar’s flame.”

Beyond the stream they saw the God ;

And with him sat his wife.

They begged the trembling women folk

To clasp, and enter life.

43

While yet they spoke, with eager feet

Two virgins past did run.

Their robes were white, and bright they shone

As either moon or sun.

44

Two bracelets glistened on one arm,

With them a bangle vied.

A green umbrella shaded them,

They seemed on ghee to glide.

-

S

e

]

STORYMC;F BALI

2

S SRR I s B A L T

They boldly grasped the pillar’s flame,

LR

Passed on and crossed the tide,

Fell prostrate at the feet of God,

Who placed them at his side.

46

“Ye Gods, pray tell us who are these

Whose garments glint with sheen ?

“ The righteous daughters of good men ;

They have not walked in sin.”

“ Whoe'er is free from sinful stain

When that his work is done,

Shall hither come and ever dwell

Before the Holy One.”

48

Then said the women to themselves—

“If virgins such as they

Have passed the flames unhurt; then we

Most surely can and may.”

49

But ere they came to grasp the pile,

The burning flames did dart

And seize their tender shrinking frames,

Consuming every part.

50

Whate'er remained the angels cast

Into the deep dark hell.

E

The ravening giant waited there

And caught them as they fell.

51

He tortured them.

The dragon fiend

More bitter pains prepared.

%

For seven long days their pangs endured.

So leng God’s wrath they shared.

3

(&)

Q

9

BADAGA SONGS.

i‘

(9]

ok

5]

Seven piles of wood the dragon made,

A

¥ v/

A

ith oil his victims drenched,

Then laid them on their dreadful bier

Where life by fire was quenched.

53

But still the dragon’s rage was hot,

g

Not yet enough their dree.

The one he hid within a pig,

The other in a tree.

-

Ot

P

While earth shall last they suffer thus

In cold or summer heat,

For none may taste or joy or rest,

If death and sin should meet.

w2

o

This sad story needs no note.

It is only necessary

f

therefore to add once more that in reading these simple

but most pathetic songs, we do not meet with a single

idea that is not ﬁ%miliar to us.

The singers are a poor

and almost unknown race of heathen mountaineers, far

away 1n the extreme south of India.

They repeat

what 1s their inherited property, brought down almost

unaltered from ages long passed from the history of

India.

No Brahman can have taught them.

Even

their neighbours in the plains could give nothing so

pure, although presenting much in - their folk-songs

that is close akin.

Whence did such learning, such

morality come ?

It partakes much of the Semitie, and

much of the Aryan, but 1s in no sense Scythic.

That

e ——

i

the people are Dravidian, their language, their appear-

i

sl

%

—

BADAGA SOAG

99

ance, their caste system, their tradition fully prove

Recent increase of knowledge has left no shade of

doubt on this point, and Caldwell admits it

If so

and Telugu thouch

and litera-

deep digging in Tan

ture must reveal simils

ar 1deas.

The Badaga

JLI"“U age 1s rich 1n similay

Pro

auc

r~ 110

tions.

1

x-

The Rev. F. M

has fille

a

by

Yy

TO) }

large folio volume

with his collection of Bada

84

Mo

QA

(o]

Gioof b

i

e

it o,

ga po o’@"fy.

me within

‘lr

It g

L ) W)

Ul

th

LD

pieces are too long to co

P

book, but otherwis

are well worthy of public atten-

a7l

tion.

They tell again

<

nd again the lesson taught so

V1V1dly in the ballads that hav

re been quoted—that sin

18 an evil of which to

be ashamed and for which one

QU 9 }

S5 alwa

>

Q

oood to do the right

ought to fear,—that 1t i

v

It will be no slicht benefi

gained by this publication

if it should cause scholars

to pers

1ade Mr.

Metz to

put the whole

ries befor

the world of lette

While these lines are passing through the Press the

Madras Govern

ment

has taken action 1

n the matter

i

and has ‘Lutherlzu

L

tl

ne ‘Cxuhh 118

sioner of the Neilgher-

7

L

ries

J

W. Bre

*\Ji&

s

S

_L‘qu’

to

ma

ke

an

exhaustive

examination of the history, religion, customs and anti-

:“

T,

The order does not

quities of the Neilgherry tribe

h

B

L

0

Ao

specially mention tl

L%

ure,

oral of course, of the

amcasisan

hill peoples

but 1t is greatly to be hoped that this

subject will be attended to

Th

tribes are 1 rapidly

A\

Y

1:

(o 08 41

>Rt v4

dying out under that strang

which will not permit

a ruder tribe to coexist with modern civilization

They

are kindly treated and a

e permitted to enjoy their

simple holdings, but yet decrea

n number year by

B S

s

e

=2

e o,

e

i

|

100

BADAGA SONGS.

The women

R

year.

Strong drink destroys the men.

steadily deteriorate in contact with Europeans. Child-

ren become fewer and fewer, and there seems every

probability that before another century has rolled

away the smaller Neilgherry races will have died out.

There is no such fear in Coorg, where the people have

settled on the rich wet lands and become a civilized

nation rather than a rude hill tribe.

1

7~

A

9 |

1!

%

§

g

\

=)

4¢)

N\

=\

fD

ol

S

()

70

=g

q

e —

e e

COORG SONGS.

101

COORG SONGS,

[

The word Coorg is a corruption of the native name

Kodagu,and belongs to the country lying on the summit

of a plateau on the western Ghauts. Kodagu, from Kodj,

means a hill, and the name as a proper noun is there-

fore The Hilly Country.

This is by no means inappli-

cable, for the whole land is a series of ridges rising from

the body of the Ghauts.

Between the lines of hillg

are charming valleys, watered perfectly by the clouds

from the Indian Ocean which impinge upon the

Ghauts.

Perennial verdure clothes every hollow and

glant forest trees cover the hill slopes.

Every dale

1s constantly receiving fresh stores of the fertilizing soil

washed down from the hill sides by the monsoon rains.

At the lowest point of each depression is usually some

clear fresh lake, kept ever full by the constantly renew-

ed moisture that sparkles down the rugged steeps in

tiny streamlets from the cloudy summits.

No wonder

that the land is fertile or that its people look upon it

as the most beautiful and blessed realm upon earth.

They speak of it as a necklace among the countries ;

an 1mage that derives especial force from the fact that,

to him who views the land from the higher peaks,

the many brilliant lakes lie in the sunshine on the

bosom of the country in a double or treble chain of

singular and brilliant beauty. The Coorg song or palamé

almost invariably opens with a wivid expression of

e

et

102

COORG SONGS.

delight that Providence has given to the singers such a

pleasant land. Some of these patriotic strains are

worthy of more renowned countries than Coorg ever

has been or will be. Let us quote a few.

Nothing higher can be seen,

Though one look through all the earth,

Than the Mahameru hill.

Brightest ‘'mongst the flower trees

Is the brilliant Sampigé.

So in all the fertile earth

Coorg a necklace is of gold.

One of the more modern songs contains the following

glowing eulogy :

Like the star-besprinkled heaven

Are the happy Kurgi homes

On the bosom of our land.

Blooming children fill each house

Like a garth of richest flowers.

Like the royal Sampigé

Are our tall and stately men.

Strings of choicest purest pearls,

Beauteous as the forest flowers,

Are our wives and little ones.

Prosperous and well they live,

Jasmin has no sweeter smell.

E’en our cattle multiply

Many as the jungle race.

As the Cauvery river sand

So our rice and wealth increase.

None doth suffer in this land

Kither want or grievous pain.

All are happy, all are rich.

e B U ———

SO——

——

=

COORG SONGS.

Another palamé calls Cborg a

« Land of houses and of farms.”

E

In the songs that follow other such ascriptions will

be found.

It is a pleasure to meet with a people so

heartily and out-spokenly proud of their country. But

it must be confessed that seldom has a people such

reason to be proud of its national home.

This sense of material prosperity and social comfort

pervades all the songs that will be quoted.

It 1s an

opposite pole of human existence to that which leads

the Tamil and Canarese bards to find such sorrow in their

world.

Here we find no repining, no feeling of the

Just the opposite—all is

vanity of all worldly things.

warm with prosperity, with domestic happiness, with a

Is not this very

comfortable sense of sufficiency.

largely owing to the fact that there has not been in

Coorg the same long strife between the old and new

life, between Dravidianism and Brahmanism-—that the

people are permitted to enjoy their national hopes, to

hold without dispute the old-fashioned doctrines of

morality and religious right—to look into the future

with the certainty that the bountiful Being who gave

them their pleasant fertile land intended that they

should rejoice in his gift ?

The following pages will contain, besides a few child-

ren’s rhymes, three of the songs that best represent the

whole class.

They are of considerable length—other-

wise other examples might have been given.

I am

indebted to two earnest and capable German Mission-

aries, the Revs. W. Greaeter and George Richter, for

LB

B o T

|

—

104

COORG SONGS

literal translations of the originals

The first-named

gentleman collected and published them in the Kodagu

vernacular and also rendered most of them into English

Mzr. Richter is a striking example of the immense

amount of good that one persevering, able and clear-

minded man may do

Originally set down in an almost

unknown country to christianize an entirely unknown

people without a written literature or even an alphabet

he has by force of his high personal character obtained

a first place in the confidence both of the people and 1ts

rulers

Almost single-handed he reduced the language

to writing, thoroughly investigated the capabilities of

the country and its people, examined and described

1ts fauna flora and geology.

When the people had learned to value his efforts

he opened schools and taught in them himself. So

efficiently was this work done that, a few years back

the leaders of the nation came forward of their own

accord to ask the Supreme Government to extend to

them the school system which, in other parts of India

had only been established after years of opposition

and only grew into vigorous life after many other

years of misrepresentation, discouragement and nu-

merous mishaps

Mr. Richter now holds the high

post of Inspector of Schools and Principal of the

Mercara High School—specially exempted from the

operation of the rule which prohibits a missionary

or clergyman from holding high office in the educa-

tional department, because, though an earnest suc-

cessful missionary, there is no other man who could

e -

-

= L2

St

COORG S‘OI\:GS.‘

b

e

i

so command the confidence of the people. His last

feat has been the production of a Gazetteer of Coorg,

compiled almost entirely from the results of his own

enquiries, and forming one of the best specimens of the

official gazetteers which the Government of India has

ordered to be drawn up in every province in India.

It is a pleasure to acknowledge that to his kindness

and the literary collections of himself and his worthy

colleague, Mr. Grezeter, I owe the originals of every

one of the Coorg songs that follow.

I was myself

anxiously searching for them when I learned of the col-

1:

lection made by these gentlemen.

On my application

to be permitted to copy the songs, the whole were

placed at my disposal, on the sole condition that Mr.

Richter should possess the right of prior publication.

This right has been exercised in the *Manual of

Croog,” where versions of the W edding and Funeral

Songs and of one of the children’s rhymes have

already appeared. For the present version I am res-

ponsible, except that it is necessary to state that the

Funeral song is but little altered from Mr. Graster's

rendering.

Mr. Richter added to his other kindness

by permitting me to render his literal translations

into such metric form as might be thought ad-

visable.

The series commences with the Huttari or Harvest

Song.

The word Huttari means “ new rice,” and the

’

feast 1s the Coorgi representative of the Tamil Pongol

or Feast of the Boiling. Tt is the harvest festival and

R A

corresponds exactly with the Jewish feast of Ingather-

14

COORG SONGS.

106

ing. All or almost all agricultural nations celebrate

the arrival of the national food crop with great rejoic-

ing. Inthe Tamil lands the key of the whole ceremony

is the boiling of the first meal of the new rice.

In

Coorg the new rice is pounded or ground, and the flour

made into a dough which is eaten by all present.

With such slight variations as must have been produc-

ed by centuries of separation and by different physical

circumstances the feast is of precisely the same charac-

ter in all the Dravidian countries.

In Malabar it

is called Pudiari ; but this 1s the same word with

Huttari, as the Tamil and Malayalim p becomes % in

Canarese and Coorgi.

On the Eastern coast the paddy does not ripen till

the end of the year, and the celebration takes place on

the day that the sun crosses the equator to enter the

tropic of Capricorn.

On the West coast, around

Calicut and Mangalore, the corn is ripe about the

middle of September.

The cultivated lands of Coorg

have an elevation of about 3,500 feet above the sea,

and the lower temperature retards the ripening.

It

happens therefore that the paddy cannot be cut in

Coorg till about the middle of November, or two

months later than in Malabar.

It should be remem-

bered that the word ‘rice” is only applicable after the

grain has been cut, threshed and husked. Till it 1s

thus ready for the table the proper name of the plant

and its fruit is “ paddy.”

This distinction should

always be borne in mind. Rice is the cleaned grain.

Paddy is the grain in the husk.

ey =

COORG SONGS.

107

The learned Brahmans at Mangalore are far more

ready at calculating times and seasons than the hard-

working but ignorant Coorgs.

Tt has therefore come

to pass that the Coorg feast is made to depend upon

that in Malabar, and happens exactly two months after-

wards. Shortly before the time of the Malabar festival

a messenger is sent down the ghauts to ascertain the

day fixed in the lowlands.

‘When the rejoicings have

actually commenced there, he returns with the news,

delivering his message to the priest of Iguttappa at

the temple in the Padinalk-nad, where a small colony

of Brahmans from Mangalore has settled. Here the

leading men of every nad,—as each of the thirty-five

divisions of the country is named—have already as-

sembled. Then, amidst special religious services, the

Coorg day is fixed, and all depart to their homes to

make ready for the great occasion.

f

The feast occupies a week properly, but the re-

Like the

joicings and holiday last for four days more.

|

Pongol it needs no Brahman. In fact its ceremonial 1s

opposed to all Brahmanic teaching, assuming as 1t

does that each thankful individual is able to approach

It

the deity direct—to offer gifts and utter praise.

should also be noted that the presiding deity is the

Sun, who with the rain has brought forth the golden

Crops.

The following description is quoted almost verbatim

from that given by the Rev. G. Richter in his Manual

‘!%

of Coorg, and gives in a condensed form the leading

portions of the ceremonial.

E

=

108

COORG SONGS.

Six days before the chief festival of tasting the new

rice, all the males, from six to sixty years, assemble on

one of the Mandus of the Grima, after sunset.

The

Grama 1s the village.

The houses do not cluster as in

English villages, but stand alone on the land of the

owner. But for purposes of domestic and public life

all the houses in a particular valley form the Grima

or village. Mandu is the name of the open public place

in which business is transacted or festive games carried

on

Grimas have generally three Mandus, one called

the Punchiyati-mandu for business ; a second, Dévara-

mandu, on which dances are performed in the name of

Bhagavati during the after-Huttari days ; a third, Ura-

mandu (2. e., the Mandu of the village) on which the

Huttari performances take place.

The time of these national games and dances is from

sunset till after ten o’clock. The whole male popula-

tion of the Grama, except little boys and old men past

sixty, has religiously to attend. The assembly gathers

;

gradually between six and seven o’clock. When ‘the

assembly is full, a space is marked out for the perform-

ances of the party. At a little distance a band of

j

musicians, two Holeya or slave horn-blowers and two

Méda-drummers, sit near a fire, which they have

kindled for warming themselves and their instruments.

The horns are large and of brass.

The drums are a

Pare (large drum) and a Kudike-pare (kettle drum of

a smaller size.)

Three Coorg-men then step into the centre of the

open space and call aloud three names :

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COORG SONGS.

1 ()bf)‘

Mahadéva ! Bhagavati! The men stand in a triangle,

their faces towards the centre, their backs towards the

company. Ayappa is the Coorg forest-god ; Mahédéva,

the Shiva of the Hindus, and Bhagavati, his wife.

The Chandukutti (ball-and-peg play) now follows.

The whole assembly takes part in it, the moon shedding

a bright silver-light on the scene.

A peg is driven

into the centre of the chosen ground. A piece of rope

is fastened to it by a loose loop. The people who make

this preparation then seize some one, who must hold

this rope.

A piece of wood, generally of a creeper

called Odi, is cut into seven parts, which are called

Chandu, 2. e., balls.

The man holding the rope puts

six of these balls in a circle round the peg at a distance

of the rope’s length, the seventh is deposited close by

the peg. The whole company now endeavours to pick

up and carry away the balls without being touched by

their guardian.

The player in the centre, always

keeping the rope’s end in one hand, turns round and

round, and tries to touch some one of the aggressors.

If he succeed, the person touched must take his place

and the play recommences.

When six balls are ab-

stracted, the seventh must be moved to the distance

of one foot from the peg.

When this also is lost, the

man has to run through the whole crowd and escape,

without being caught, to the musicians’ place. If he

reach this asylum in safety, the play is won and finish-

ed.

If he be caught on his way, he is brought before

the Nettle-man, an officer of the play-court, who has

been waiting all the time, a long Angare-stick—a large

T

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110

COORG SONGS.

fierce nettle—in his hand for the victim.

His hands

and feet are well touched and the play ends.

Now the assembly perform different kinds of plays

and dances, representing the wars which in ancient

times appear to have been waged between people of

different districts.

A man is wounded ; a physician

is called, who prescribes for him.

Another wounded

man dies, and Holeyas are called to invite his friends

to the funeral.

The funeral is performed. A scene

of demoniacal possession is acted. Now stories are

told of Incredibilities.

“I saw the other day a little

hare attacking a tiger and breaking its neck.” Reply :

“ Did you ? I saw a buffaloe flying over the mountains,”

etc

Three men invoke again Ayappa, Mahiddéva and

Dances follow, accompanied by the beat-

Bhagavati.

ing of sticks, keeping time with the music of the band

outside. Feats of gymnastic strength and agility are

then performed and another invocation of the three

deities concludes the performance.

The Huttari takes place on the night of full moon.

Early in the morning, before dawn, a quantity of Ash-

vatha (ficus religiosa), Kumbali and Keku (wild trees)

leaves, some hundred of each for great houses, together

with a piece of a creeper, called Inyoli, and some fibrous

bark called Achchi, are collected and deposited in a

shady place for the use of the evening

During the

day, the house is cleansed, brass vessels are scoured,

and everything wears the appearance of a great

holiday. Beggars come and are dismissed with pre-

sents.

The Méda (low caste cultivator) brings the

SSAIRRERATR

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COORG SONGS.

111

Huttari basket, the potter the little Huttari pot, the

blacksmith a new sickle, the carpenter a new spoon,

the Holeya a new mat.

Each carries off his Huttar1

portion of rice and plantains.

The astrologer follows,

to communicate the exact time of the full moon, and

claims his share of the Huttari bounty. The cattle are

washed and scrubbed, for once ; the menial servants

have an extra allowance of rice ; breakfast and dinner

At sunset the whole house

are served to the family,

prepares for a hot bath.

The precedence is given to the person whom the

astrologer has chosen in the morning for the ceremony

On his return from bath-

of cutting the first sheaves.

ing, he repairs to the threshing floor, spreads the

Huttari mat, and, while the rest are engaged in their

ablutions, cuts the Inyoli creeper into small pieces,

|

rolls each piece into an Ashvatha, a Kumbali and a

Keku leaf, in the fashion of a native cheroot, and

ties up the little bundle with a bit of Achchi fibre.

All the bundles are placed in the Huttari basket.

Now the women take a large dish, strew it with rice,

and place a lighted lamp in it.

This done, the whole

household march towards the fields, where the silvery

light of the full moon affords ample illumination. The

dish with the lamp is carried in front ; the sheaf-cutter

follows with basket and sickle in one hand, and a

bamboo bottle of fresh milk in the other.

Arrived at

the chosen spot, the young man binds one of the leaf

:‘

scrolls from his basket to a bush of rice, and pours

milk into it.

He cuts an armful of rice in the neigh-

112

COORG SONGS.

bourhood and distributes two or three stalks to evéry

one present. Some stalks are put into the milk-vessel.

No one must touch the sheaf-cutter.

All return to the threshing floor, shouting as they

walk on: “ Polg, pole, Déva |” (Increase, O God'!) A

bundle of leaves i1s adorned with a stalk of rice, and

fastened to the post in the centre of the threshing floor.

Sufficient of the new cut rice is now threshed, cleaned

and ground to provide flour enough for the dough

cakes which each member of the household is to eat.

The company then proceeds to the door of the house,

where the mistress meets them, washes the feet of the

sheaf-cutter, and presents to him, and after him to all

the rest, a brass-vessel filled with milk, honey and

sugar, from which each takes a draught.

They move

into the kitchen. The Huttar:t mat is spread, the brass

dish, the rice sheaf, and the basket with leaf scrolls,

each with a stalk of rice, are placed on it.

The sheaf-cutter now distributes the bundles to the

members of the family, who disperse to bind them to

everything in house and garden, doors, stools, roof,

trees, etc.

The primest stalk must be tied on the

north-west pillar of the verandah, a sort of special

offering to that point of the compass from which came

up the joyous harvest as it spread to the south-east

from the rich low-lands of Malabar.,

In the meantime

the performer sits down to knead the Huttari dough

of rice

meal.

Plantains, milk and honey, seven

new rice corns, seven pieces of cocoanut, seven small

pebbles, seven piecgs of dry ginger, seven cardamom

S —

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COORG SONGS.

113

seeds, and seven corns of sesamum are added. Every

one receives a little of this dough upon an Ashvatha

leaf, and eats it.

The ceremony is now over, and the

sheaf-cutter mixes with the company. Supper follows,

consisting of sugared rice and sweet potatoes, into

which a handful of new rice is thrown, and of a

substantial common repast of rice and curry. The

Huttari chants resound in every house during the

night.

But the Coorgs have not yet altogether done with

their pleasant festival.

Four after-Huttari days are

i

added to the holy week. On the eighth day the

Urukélu, or village stick-dance, collects the whole

community. The women of two or three houses repair

together to the Urumandu, a pair leading and a second

pair following, all four beating cymbals and chanting

ancient songs or impromptu verses.

‘When they have

arrived at the place of meeting, they sit down in groups

with the children, and look at the dances performed

by the men, who go through the evolutions of Coorg

saltation, beating small rattans, of which they carry

one in each hand, while they move to the time of

music, which proceeds from a group of Holeyas, station-

ed between the assembly of the Coorgs and that of

their own people, who enjoy themselves, in the same

fashion as their masters, at a little distance.

Brahmans,

Theatrical performances are added.

Moplas, Voddas (tank-diggers from Orissa), Gadikas

(snake-dancers), J6gis (represented by little boys), play

through the village.

15

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114

COORG SONGS.

After dinner, on the ninth day, the Nadukdlu begins.

This is an assembly of the whole district.

Everything

is done as at the Urukélu, only on a larger scale.

At

these assemblies, while the monotonous music plays

and the large circle of dancers moves in the measured

stick-dance, a couple of men from different gramas and

armed with a small shield and a long rattan, step from

opposite sides into the ring with a shout of defiance.

Keeping time with the music, they approach and evade

each other, swinging their rattans and dealing blows

at the legs of the opponent and with their shield ward-

ing them off, but often the players get so excited that

their single-stick sham combat ends in a mutual severe

flogging, which has to be stopped by the spectators.

As evening draws on the parties from the different

villages separate and go home.

In the afternoon of the tenth day, the Dévarakdlu

(stick-dance in honor of Bhagavati) takes place in every

village.

The entertainment 1s the same as on the two

:

preceding days.

Dinners, held at different houses as

appointed, terminate the feasting.

On the 11th day

the joyous celebration winds up with a large public

dinner, that is given on some open plain in the forest,

when the musicians, bards, drummers, Holeyas and

Médas unite their exertions to give eclat to the

festivity.

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115

COORG HUTTARI OR HARVEST SON%«

COORG HUTTARI OR HARVEST SONG

1

Sun and moon the seasons make,

Rule o’er all the sky they take.

God is Lord of heaven and earth.

All the joyous earnest toil

Happy ryots give the soil,

Our rich land is fully worth.

Famous Jambudwipa’s bounds*

Circle many fertile grounds;

Which among them is the best ?

Far above the highest hill,

Mahameru’st snows are still

Showing where the saints are blest.

Midst the beauteous forest trees

Brightest to the eye that sees

Is the brilliant Sampige.f

Sweeter than the sweetest rose,

Purer than the mountain snows,

Better than mere words may say ;—

* Jambudwipa means the * island of the Jambu tree,” in the cosmogony

of the ancient Hindus.

The universe consisted of circular continents sur-

rounded by belts of ocean,

The oceans were named according to the liquid

of which they were composed—milk, ghee, water, &ec.

The continents were

called by the name of some product.

Jambudwipa includes the whole of

India.

t Mahameru is the mountain of the Gods, the centre and glory of the

whole cosmos.

It is a mythological rendering of a physical fact, and

represents the higher peaks of the Hindu Koosh, whose snowy summits are

the last brilliant outlook of the fatherland from which the Aryas came,

§ The Sampige is known to Europeans as the Champak (Michelia Cham-

It is a noble tree with bright yellow flowers evolving a very sweet

paka.)

perfume. A lowland feast in the month of May is known as the Champaka

Chaturdasi, the offering of these flowers being an essential part of the ritual.

S S ———

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116

COORG HUTTARI OR HARVEST SONG.

Thus is Coorg the noblest land,

Rich and bright as golden band

On the neck where youth doth stay.

In this happy lovely realm

No misfortunes overwhelm.

Live and prosper while you may !

Now my friends with one accord,

Joyous on the verdant sward,

Sing we our dear country’s praise.

Tell us then, from first to last,

All the wondrous glorious past,

Trolling out a hundred lays.

Like a robe of precious silk,

Green or golden, white as milk,-—

Like the image in a glass—

Bright as shines the sun at noon,

Or at night the silver moon,—

Sweet as fields with flowers and grass,—

Thus in happiness and peace,

Riches knowing no decrease,

Apparandra lived at ease.

In this glorious land he dwelt,

Forest girt as with a belt,

Coorg the blessed, green with trees.

Soon he said within his heart,—

“Now’s the time to do our part,

- For the tilling of the field.

Sow we must, and speed the plough,

Dig and plant, spare no toil now,

Harvest then the ground will yield.”

COORG HUTTARI OR HARVEST SONG.

117

Thus he said, to Mysore went,

To her fairs his steps he bent,

Where the country met the town.

Thirty-six great bulls he bought

Of the best and largest sort ;

White and black, and some red-brown

Nandi, Mudda were one pair,

Bullocks both of beauty rare.

Yoked together were two more ;

Choma, Kicha were they called.

With them was their leader stalled,

Kale, best among two score.

Then did Apparandra say,—

“ All my bulls will useless stay,

If T give not tools and plough.”

Know ye why they worked so well ?

No ? Then listen as I tell

How he made those we have now.

Choosing sago for the pole,

At the end he made a hole;

Pushed the palm wood handle through

Sampige was for the share,

On its edge he placed with care,

Iron plates to make the shoe.

Sharp as tiger’s claws the nail

Fixing to the share its mail.

Yoke and pins he made of teak.

Strongly tied the whole with cane

Strong and lithe as any chain ;

Other strings would be too weak

R

SO

118

COORG HUTTARI OR HARVEST SONG.

When, in June, the early rain

Poured upon the earth and main,

Sweet as honey from the bee;

All the fields became as mud,

Fit for plough and hoe and spud,

Far as e’er the eye could see.

Then before the break of day,

Ere the cock began his say,

Or the sun had gilt the sky,

In the morning still and calm,

Twelve stout slaves who tilled the farm,

Roused the bullocks tethered nigh.

Six and thirty bulls they drove

Through the verdant fragrant grove,

To the watered paddy field,

Brilliant ‘neath the silver moon

As a mirror in the gloom,

Or at noon a brazen shield.

Turning then towards the east

Apparandra gave a feast,

Milk ‘and rice, unto the Gods.

Then unto the rising sun

Glowing like a fire begun,

Lifts his hands, his head he nods.

After that they yoke the bulls.

Each then other harder pulls,

The ground they quickly plough.

Day after day the work goes on,

e

For the seed seven times is done,

Then the harrow smooths the slough.

s

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COORG HUTTARI OR HARVEST SONG

119

e

Six times more they plough the field

Before the planting drill they wield.

This requires full thirty days.

Then a dozen blooming maids

Crowned with heavy glossy braids,

Leave the house like happy fays.

Kach one brings into the fields

An offering to the God that shields

House and home from drought and pain

Each one lifts her tiny hands,

Before the Sun a moment stands,

Offers thanks for heat and rain.

Then they pluck the tender plant,

Tie in bundles laid aslant;

Twenty bundles make a sheaf.

Next the sheaves are carried thence*

To their future residence,

Where they spend their life so brief.

But they only plough a part

Of the field to which they cart

Plants so tender and so young.

Just enough is done each day

For the plants they have to lay

The new-made soil among.

* Paddy is seldom sown on the spot where it is to grow.

The seed is

thickly planted in a rich garden piece of the best land. This nursery is

prepared with great care, as the song describes.

In order to secure that its

soil shall be intimately mixed with the water, the ground is ploughed no

less than seven times, the trampling of the cattle being more effective

than the plough. Then, to secure that the rich mud shall be of equal depth

throughout, it is harrowed with a machine composed of branches of trees

laid in a frame.

It is only after this long preparation that the seed is laid

120

COORG HUTTARI OR HARVEST SONG.

In the following month they weed,

Mend the bunds as they have need,

Place new plants where others died

Two months after this they wait

Till with corn the ears are freight

Near the western ocean tide.

There the Huttri feast they make

For the bounteous harvest’s sake.

Spreading ever towards the east

By the Paditora ghaut,

Gilding all the land about,*

Coorg receives the Huttri feast.

To the Padinalknad shrine

Gather all the Coorgi line,

Offering praise and honor due.

There they learn the proper day

From the priest. who serves alway

[guttappa Devaru.

When at last the time has come,

And the year’s great work is done

In our happy glorious land.

When the shades are growing long

All the eager people throng

To the pleasant village Mand.

in the mud. Ina few days it comes up thick as grass on a lawn. When it

is some four or five inches high it is transplanted to the field, which has

meanwhile been ploughed several times. It is planted in regular lines about

four inches apart. The song accurately describes the ordinary procedure.

* It has been explained how the harvest takes two months to pass from

Mangalore to Coorg. It marches upwards, so to speak, by the Paditora

ghaut.

As we rise higher and higher the local harvest is later and later.

Thus it spreads towards the east.

Mangalore is on the western coast.

COORG HUTTARI OR HARVEST SONG

121

First they praise the God they love,

Throned high the world above.

Then the Huttri games commence

And the evening glides away.

Singing, dancing, wrestling, they

Strive for highest excellence.

When the seventh bright‘ day begins,

Each man for his household wins

Leaves of various sacred plants.

Five of these he ties with silk

Then provides a pot of milk,

Ready for the festive wants.

When the evening shades draw nigh

Each the others would outvie

In rich and splendid dress.

Thus they march with song and shout,

Music swimming all about,

For the harvest’s fruitfulness..

First they pray that God’s rich grace

Still should rest upon their race.

Waiting till the gun has roared

Milk they sprinkle, shouting gay,

Pole! Pole ! Devare !

Multiply thy mercies, Lord !

Soon the tallest stems are shorn

Of the rich and golden corn,

Carried home with shouts and glee.

There they bind with fragrant leaves,

Hang them up beneath the eaves,

On the north-west pillar’s tree.

16

122

COORG HUTTARI OR HARVEST SONG

Then at home they drink and sing,

Each one happy as a king,

Keeping every ancient way.

On the morrow- young and old,

Dressed in robes of silk and gold, *

Crowd the green for further play.

Here they dance upon the sward,

Sing the songs of ancient bard,

Fight with sticks in combat fierce.

All display their strength and skill

Wrestling, leaping, as they will;

Till with night the erowds disperse

Last of all they meet again,

Larger meed of praise to gain,

At the district meeting place.

There before the nad they strive,

All the former joys revive,

Adding glories to the race ?

Now, my friends, my story’s done.

If you're pleased my end is won,

And your praise you'll freely give.

If T've failed, spare not to scold.

Though I'm wrong or overbold,

Let the joyous Huttri live.

—

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COORG SONG.

123

The picture will

We have seen the joy of harvest.

not be complete without the joy of marriage.

Like

most other Coorgi ceremonies it includes much feast-

ing and physical pleasure, though not enframing a

repetition of the sports which make the Huttari a sort

of lesser edition of the Olympic games, The chief mover

in the transaction is the Aruva or family friend,—a

personage of almost unique character and position.

Every Coorg house must choose 1ts aruva from some

neighbouring household. The duties of the aruva are

very important, and he may be entitled the arbiter and

counsellor of domestic life.

Does any quarrel arise ?

The

Each party calls in his aruva and tells his tale.

aruva soothes the ruffled temper, points out the liability

to error, meets the aruva of the opposite party, arranges

terms of peace.

Does any family difficulty spring up ?

Husband and wife quarrel—an unruly son disobeys his

father—misfortune or error destroys the family pro-

perty—in all of these and a hundred other matters the

aruva ig called in, the whole thing is laid before him,

his counsel is asked. He looks at the matter from an

impartial point of view, eliminates personal error, and

decides as to the course to be pursued in every case.

His decision is final and must be obeyed.

To be

appointed aruva to a family is to receive a public and

influential token that age, experience or wisdom has

changed an impulsive youth into a thoughtful worthy

man

The privilege is highly prized and has, perhaps

more than anything else, made the Coorg people the

happy contented race we see.

8%

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124

COORG SONG:

The youth who wishes to marry must first ask his

father’s consent, This given, the aruva is called in. The

ladies of the neighbourhood are then canvassed, unless

the eager bridegroom have already made his choice.

There need be no difficulty in ascertaining the eligibles,

for every young lady who is “ open to an offer” carries

a few grains of paddy on her head, to show that she is

able and willing to become a wife.

When this important point is settled, the aruva goes

to the house of the chosen lady and announces his

mission.

He is immediately referred to the aruva of

the lady’s family, with whom the matter is discussed.

If the lady and her family be willing, the first sign of

the happy event consists in the careful sweeping of the

house of the bride.

Then 2 brilliant lamp is lighted in

the house verandah, and the aruvas, supported by the

head of each houge, stand face to

face under the lamp.

Now the man’s aruva solemnly

asks of his fellow

the hand of the young woman

The bride’s aruva,

agrees, and asks for some token

of the engagement.

{e receives a coin or other valuable oift.

Then the

two aruvas and the two fathers shake hands. The light

above them represents the Sun-god, and is the binding

witness of the agreement.

The young people are now betrothed. The marriage

need mnot take place at once, and seldom does.

The

girl, if not already arrived at the age of sixteen, must

wait till she has.

But even if this be not the case,

the betrothal usually takes place amid the glad times of

Huttari ; while the marriage will not occur till April or

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COORG SONG.

125

May, when the hot season has made the earth hard as

the nether millstone and utterly unworkable.

In the latter days of March the astrologer is con-

sulted. He must fix upon a lucky day. This done,

ten days before the event the aruvas send out invita-

tions to the relatives of their respective houses.

The

actual family sit 1dle while the relatives, under the

control of the aruva, make all preparations that they

deem fitting. Many an avaricious man grieves over

his melting stores and diminished riches, but is utterly

unable to check what he deems such reckless profusion.

His keys are not his own during these dreadful ten

days.

On the day before the marriage every household

in the Valley is asked, and as the sun sets at least one

man and one woman from every house must appear,

else 1t will be presumed that some deadly hatred parts

the families.

With this large accession of labor the

work grows apace.

Great sheds of palmyra or sago

leaves are erected to cover the festive boards or rather

grounds—for tables are out of the question.

Pigs, the

chief element of a feast where it 1s mortal sin to eat

beef, are killed by threes and fours.

Rice 1s boiled

in the largest vessels that can be procured. Every-

thing portends a valiant eating.

All 1s ready by the

dark hours and then relatives and friends reward them-

selves by enjoying the first dinner of the series.

With early morn of the next, the great day, all are

astir again. In each house a crowd of eager but clumsy

friends surrounds the happy man or woman.

Both

bride and bridegroom must be bathed, dressed, per-

126

COORG SONG.

fumed, bejewelled and made altogether as uncomfort-

able as human nature can permit. Those who cannot get

near the principal personages busy themselves with the

property of the pair.

Still more pigs are killed, cut up

and set up before the fire.

Boiling rice steams from

the courtyard. Plantains lie about in heaps.

';[‘he.n

they wait for the lucky hour.

When the moment arrives, the bride and bridegroom,

each 1n their own family house, are led to a sort of

The relatives and

throne prepared for the occasion.

friends form in line in order of dignity or relation-

ship. In a long procession they defile before the bride

or bridegroom as the case may be, for as yet the pair

have not met.

Each one, as he passes, drops a few

grains of rice on the head of the unfortunate bride or

her betrothed. . Each one pours a little milk into his or

her upturned mouth. Kach one gives a present of a

few annas.

When the long file has passed, the

victim is led into a dark inner room and there receives

renewed congratulations. Soon, however, the appetiz-

ing perfume of roast pork distracts the attention of the

guests, and they turn away to the feast,

As they eat,

the bards sing the song that appears on the next page

7

but one, and such others as may appear suitable.

the house be wealthy, an improvisatore will be engaged

to sound the praise of each guest before his face.

When the sun bends towards the west, the bride-

groom sets out for the house of the bride, surrounded

by all his relatives and guests.

Singing and music

accompany them.

The walk aids digestion, and much

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COORG SONG. :

12

{

is 1t needed. No sooner does the procession arrive than

a new feast is set out, of which all must partake.

The

merriment is greatly aided by an abundant supply of

ardent spirits, of which the Coorgis are somewhat too

fond.

But in the nature of things eating must come to an

end, or at all events must have some moments of inter-

mission. Advantage is taken of this interval to per-

form the actual binding ceremony, The friends and

family of each party draw up in line facing each other.

Between the rows a lighted lamp is placed, to symbolize

the sun.

Then the bride’s aruva steps forward and

loudly asks—* Do you give to our daughter, house and

yard, field and jungle, gold and silver ?” The bride-

groom’s aruva steps forward and says, “ We do.”

Three times is the question put and answered. When

the agreement is thus concluded, the bridegroom’s

aruva takes three pebbles and gives them to the bride.

She ties them in the hem of her cloth to show that thus

she has received the ownership of her husband’s house

and land.

She is then led into her father’s kitchen and placed

upon a chair.

Again a lamp is lighted, and the bride-

groom comes in.

He puts a few grains of rice on her

head, pours a little milk in her mouth and gives her

a little money. His party passes by in single file,

paying her the same honors and openly accepting her

as a member of their family.

When all is done, the

new husband takes his wife’s hand and leads her into

the outer room. Here she bids farewell to her rela-

L S SO |

128

WEDDING SONG.

Ll

tives and friends and departs to her new home,

All

the party follow her and find a new feast, the third

since noon, ready for them. Again they eat, and

again the bards sing.

When satiated nature can

feast no longer, the bridegroom’s aruva leads him and

his wife to their own room and the ceremony con-

cludes.

p—

ALGK

WEDDING SONG,

e .

For ever rule, for ever live,

Almighty God, our king and Lord.

Qur sovereign be, protection give.

Though Coorg is but a tiny land,

It shineth like a pearly band

Across the bosom of the earth.

Twelve valleys lie within its girth,

And thirty-five bright nads there are.

Amidst the whole the brightest far

Is that in which for aye doth bloom

A heavenly flower, whose rich perfume

Has published Apparandra’s name.

And from this house a great man came.

——e——

Mandanna was a mighty man

Whose fame throughout the country ran.

For when he asked his Lord for land

The king could not his wish withstand,

WEDDING SONG.

12

dd ¢

LSRRtk

But gave, without a price or fee,

The richest land his eyes could see. *

Then with his wealth he bought a band

Of Holeyas¥ to till his land.

He purchased next at prices great

Suflicient bulls for his estate,—

To plough the field and drag the wain,

To house the corn and tread the grain,

With this Mandanna’s toils were done

And ease and comfort quy won.

But though ~he was a mighty man

Mandanna would the future scan.

For constantly this one idea

Would fill his mind and haunt his ear :—

SO

“ Much rice have I and costly dress,

But none to clothe or souls to bless.

With precious stones my chests are rife,—

A useless heap when I've no wife.

And all my toil is toil in vain

Unless a child the house contain.

e

For no ! There is no joy on earth

Without a wife or children’s mirth.

The tank that never gathers rain

Was surely dug and built in vain.

* The richness of land depends almost entirely upon the quantity

of water that is available for cultivation.

In the original the grant

is called “jumma” land or freehold.

This tenure is called in Malabar

‘¢ jemmi

T Holeyas were preedial slaves until the British conquest. Slavery

and the slave trade were things of every day life on the Western Coast

till recent years, and it is said that, even now, there are thousands of

persons living as slaves simply because they know not they are free.

]

PRSI

-

’y?‘?

WEDDING SONG.

i

Of little use is garden fair

Unless the flowers flourish there.

For who would like to eat cold rice

Unless some curds should make it nice.

gt irantd

So every house should have a son,

And little children in each room.”

=

With thoughts like these within his heart

He needs must act a manly part.

So on a lovely Sunday morn,

The dew yet sparkling on the corn,

He took his meal, put on his best,

Then lifted up his hands and blessed

The God who through all time had cared

For him and those whose love he shared.

His sturdy stafl’ with silvered bend, -

His aruva and trusted friend,

Were all the company he took

When he his house and home forsook

To seek through hill and ‘dale a wife.

Through weary weeks of anxious life

He wandered all the land about,

Until his shoes were quite worn out.

He sat and pondered on each green

Until his clothes were torn and thin.

So long he journeyed in the sun

His reeling brain was quite undone.

And €’en his stick grew much too short

Although at first too long "twas thought.

In every place the mighty man

cf

Sought high and low, through every clan,

A girl who would be good and kind.

At first no house would suit his mind.

;x

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S SR

.~

FR——

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L

—l

WEDDING SONG

131

Perchance the house was good enouoh

But there the servants were too rough

The servants might not be such fools,

But tl 1en he did not like the bulls

The bulls were sometimes large and strong

But then the lands wer

all tilled wrono

I'he culture perhaps could be set right

The pastures then were poor and ligl

If all his carpings were in vain

The maid herself was very plain

At last he heard some joyful news

And hope his mind could not refuse

Repaid his pains to bear so hard

There lived in the Nalkunad

In Pattamada’s house and care

A maid of grace and beauty rare

The maiden’s name was Chinnawa

When oreat Mandanna heard of het

The aruva and he set out

And slowly, like two men in doubt

Proceeded to the house, and ¢

sat

Upon the pyall,* where a mat

Was placed beneath the leafy shade

When Chinnawa, the lovely maid

Almost every house in Southern India has a sort of bench

made

of brick and mortar, extending along the whole front of the house against

the main wall

This bench or pyall is usually about two and a half

feet high and three feet broad. It is the first reception place of all visitors

or stranwers

The laws of caste make it necessary ; for, otherwise, the

cultivator might receive into his house a low caste trader or mcssen"er who

would pollute the whole house

The pyall is outside the house and

by a convenient custom, cannot be polluted. Ience every stranger must

halt here until his business and caste are known.

In the hot weather the

males of the family sleep on the pyall

|

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e

10«

WEDDING SONG.

Was told that weary men from far

o

Were come to them, she brought a jar

Of water, poured it forth for them.

And next she brought a mat with hem

Of gold, for them to sit upon.

Then at the door she waited long.

“My friend,” she asked, “ Why take you nét

The water from the silver pot ?

Pray use it, and then ecall for more.”

«I will, my dear one, and will pour

It on my feet, if always thou

Wilt give it as thou gav’st it now.”

She answered, “If you come each day

The water I will give alway.”

e

“To-morrow I will come again,”

Mandanna thought, and so did deign

To wash his feet and hands and face.

Then, seated in the highest place,

Mandanna said unto the maid

“ My pretty maiden, give thy aid

And tell where doth thy father stay.”

Then she—¢ My father went this day

j‘l

To join a meeting on the green,”

:E

“ And where then hath thy mother been?”

“She went to grace a wedding feast

At potter’s village towards the east.”

i

S U

WEDDING SONG.

133

“ Your brother, is he not within ?”

“ My brother took his bulls to win

A load of salt from down the ghaut.”*

An hour or two were passed in thought

Before the father could return.

Mandanna’s heart towards him did yearn;

He bowed and touched the old man’s feet

Another hour or two they wait,

And then the mother homeward came.

Mandanna bowed before the dame.

Once more an hour or two pass by

And then the brother cometh nigh.

To him Mandanna lowly bowed.

And now, in eager converse loud,

They talk about their friends and kin.

“ Oh cousin dear” they all begin,

“ We wish so much you'd let us know

For why you on your travels go ?”

“ My dearest father, I have heard

Amongst the bullocks of your herd

Are many that you wish to sell.

"Tis also said, I trust it well,

A lovely maiden dwelleth here

Of age to wed this very year.”

“ Last month the bullocks were all sold.

Two months before, a suitor bold

Was wedded to the lovely maid.”

\?

* The word ghaut is used in Southern India to express a mountain pass.

Thus the road from the plains to Ootacamund is called the Coonoor ghaut,

‘\

The British Government has converted many of them into splendid roads.

o

2

%

134

WEDDING SONG.

—

To this Mandanna answer made—

“ Let those who went be as they will,

(Give her to me that’s maiden still.”

Again the grey old farmer spoke—

“ Why did you say before these folk

That I your dearest father am ?”

Then wisely said that mighty man—

“Your lovely daughter I admire,

And hence I count you as my sire.

tl

The stately palm, when once tis seen,

Demands our ardent praise, I ween.

i

But we forget to look once more

1

b

Upon a tree both old and poor.”

11

Again the father spoke and said—

th

“T give to thee my dearest maid.

al

If you will take her, give a pledge.”

8t

“ Shake hands with me.

I do allege

fiy

Before these men that I will wed

- P

fo

The lovely maid,” Mandanna said.

fa

« And as a pledge I give this coin.”

I¢

And now with one accord they join,

W

Preparing for the marriage feast.

4

The father called the aged priest,

ﬂh

The women swept in merry mood,

€l

The stores were filled with luscious food,

S(

\J(

And all was ready for the night.

hs

Then, where the beauteous brazen light

St

Hung from the ceiling’s wooden beam,

The aruvas and friends did stream

du

From both the houses of the pair,

x‘ln

S—

s

WEDDING SONG.

135

Betrothal rites to see and share,

And fix the lucky wedding day.

The bridegroom gave his blushing fay

A necklace all of yellow gold.

And, waiting till away had rolled

Eight slow-gone days and sleepless nights,

Claimed from his bride a husband’s rights.

R a7y N ]

The two very interesting songs that have preceded

this have occupied so much space that it is not possible

to describe at length the funeral ceremonies.

They

have gradually approximated to the ordinary Hindoo

fashion, and do not deserve particular attention, except

in regard to the strangely beautiful song which forms

the most touching part of the service.

Its pathos

and 1maginative power are very marked.

1t 13

strange that all the Dravidian nations should have

first created and then preserved such fine lyrics

for occasions of cremation or burial.

The ritual has

fallen completely into the lowland rut, but the song

retalns its pristine vigor and popular acceptance.

It

would seem as if the mind set up a sort of barrier

against sacerdotal influence in certain points,—reserving

them, as 1t were, as perpetual tokens of early independ-

ence.

The Pongol festival among the Tamils, the

Sankranti among the Canarese, the Pudiari of Mala-

bar and the Huttari of Coorg, are other instances

standing out from the ordinary dead level, like the

droogs or hill forts on the Carnatic plain,—landmarks

showing the way back towards ancient life.

ST T

-

s

FUNERAL SONG.

136

FUNERAL SONG.

Woe ! My fathér, thou art gone !

Woe is me ! For ever gone !

Gone with all thy virtuous soul !

How, my father, can I live?

Woe ! Thy days are ended now,

And the share, assigned to thee

By the Lord, is all consumed

And no further portion given.

Oh ! Thou didst not wish to die,

But to stay among thy folk.

Surely man came to this world

But to die; not one of us

Is exempted from this doom.

IE

Onward, onward roll the years ;

Oh ! How soon were thine cut off !

Like the eagle in the sky

Thou wast roaming here on earth.

Woe ! The string of choicest pearls

Round the neck of favored child

Is for ever burst and lost !

Woe ! The clear and brilliant glass,

ti

Fallen from our trembling hands,

Fallen broken to the ground !

Woe ! The wrath of God most high,

Floods of fiery mighty wrath,

i"

Beating on the lofty hills,

Swept their summit to the ground

Like our enemies at night,

Breaking into peaceful homes,

Slaying all the valiant men ;—

Even thus the mighty God

FUNERAL SONG.

137

Suddenly cut off thy days.

Like the top of Tumbemale

In the summer sultry noon,

When the sun is burning hot,

And the grass is set on fire :—

Thus, O father, was this house

Desolated by thy death !

As the raging storms in June

Break the fruitful plantain trees

In the garden round our house :—

Thus, O father, didst thou die.

When the floods destroy the shed,

Where the stores of wood are hid,

All the house is in distress.

When the meeting hall falls down

p]

All the villagers lament.

If the temple be destroyed,

All the land is full of grief.

Thus our house is sore distressed

By our father’s sudden death.

As they quench the shining flame

Of the beauteous golden lamp,

Thus has God destroyed thy life !

As the stately Banyan tree

In the lofty mountain grove,

Which the ax has never touched,

Is uprooted by the wind ;—

Like the bright and shining leaf

Of the royal Sampigé,

Broken from the stem and dead ;—

Thus, O father, didst thou die !

In the days of life thy hand

Hast upheld and fed our house.

Thou hast planted all our fields.

18

138

FUNERAL SONG,

"Thou hast laid the corner-stone,

I o e

And our lofty house hast built

To the roof, with costly beams.

Thou hast built the solid gate,

And the courts around the house

Oh ! my father, yesterday

Fallen sick upon the bed ;

And to-day before the feet

Of the Lord of heaven and earth

And to-morrow, like the sun

Setting in the cloudy sky,

Thou shalt sink into the grave.

Woe ! my father, thou art gone !

Woe ! my father, ever gone !

Bt o e

Many persons will note with pleasure the nursery

rhymes of the Coorgs, reminding, as they do so plea-

santly, of the children’s poetry of our own land.

Considerable effort has been expended in the vain

attempt to gather such songs in all the Dravidian

They are sung only by the women, and are

tongues.

never written down.

But a Hindoo woman has an

insuperable objection to permitting a Kuropean to

know aught of the internal economy of her house.

The secrecy of domestic life, to which Sir H. S.

Maine in his ¢ Village Communities,” draws marked

attention, forbids that a stranger should ever be

informed of anything so private as the mode in

T have

which a mother soothes her child to rest.

heard women thus singing again and again, but

FUNERAL SONG.

139

]‘I

when they are asked to repeat for our information

what they have told the child, they pretend not to

understand what we mean or, if this be impossible,

declare that they have forgotten the rhymes. There

is a favorite Tamil nursery song of considerable length,

portions of which have been obtained, but it is better

to wait till further patience and kindness draw it forth

in its entirety than to publish isolated portions that

would give little idea of the merits of the whole piece.

Of course, no Hindoo would be so rude as directly to

Politeness and

refuse a request made by a superior.

presumed necessity are satisfied by the invention of a

string of excuses, which generally cause the impatient

European to turn away with the exclamation—“ What

liars these people are !” He does not care to think that

the people are bothering their brains to discover the

best way of avoiding the rudeness the European would

drive them to.

Such points of etiquette are small

things but are great obstacles, preventing much social

Itercourse.

All the Hindoo children’s songs are alliterative.

Some carry the jingle to an extreme, reminding of the

famous English lines beginning with

“ Peter Piper picked a peck of pepper.”

The fifth of the songs that follow is a good example

of this.

It begins thus,

Chemb chemb chemb yedet,

Chembanda mandi duddi yedet,

Manika mand mani yedet.

140

FUNERAL SONG.

The alliteration is largely caused by the use of words

of the same or nearly similar spelling but of entirely

different meaning. As if we should say—

“ A bear was bearing a bare bugbear. ”

Take for example the last of the three lines given

above,—

Manika maud mani yedet.

The first word, Manika, is a proper name. The second,

mand, abbreviated from mand: or nandi, means a

So in the

bull. The third, mant, is the word for a bell.

first line, the second chemb, abbreviated from cZembu,

means a brass water pot ; while the first is a proper

name.

In the fourth song the same thing appears

very plainly, Benga is the name of a place, but the

Coorgi word for to praise is also benga. So, in the last

line, the Coorgi word for stop is also benga. The second

line in the original is “ Paditobb paiduva,” where the

word padu means in the first instance a place and, in

The form is so curious

the second, the verb to sing.

that we may quote another from the first song.

This in

the original opens thus :—

Kak, kakéka !

Kakera mangale kek.

Here the first word, kak, 1s the imperative of to call.

The second, kdkéka, is a compound word, kak meaning

crow, and eke meaning sister ; and the whole is—

Call the crow’s sister.

FUNERAL SONG.

141

In the second line, kdk, in the word kakem; still

means crow, but the last word, kék, is the questioning

adverb of time, when.

The songs also indulge in frequent imitation of natu-

ral sounds.

We may refer again to the second set of

lines.

They run in the original something like this,—

Chakke kari

Chada, chada, béva.

Kambala kari

Guda, guda, béva.

We may render then closely as follows -

When the fruit of jack-tree boils,

It singeth— chada,” “ chada.”

When the kambala fruit boils,

2% ¢

It singeth— guda,

guda.”

The words chada and guda mark very distinctly the

different sounds caused by the breaking of the bubbles

that rise from liquids of different density when boiling.

So in the next song the word we render by “ cooing”

is in the Coorgi ““ kuthru,” with the » pronounced very

softly, giving a better representation of the dove’s note

than even our own word.

It is much to be desired that competent hands

should follow up this branch of the subject, as it has

often been found in other countries that such domestic

literature preserves the most ancient ideas and those

most valuable in tracing national relationship. As a

curious illustration it may be mentioned that “ pussy,”

the English domestic word for cat, appears in the Dra-

vidian languages almost unaltered as “ pusei,” a cat.

142

CHILDREN'S RHYMES.

CHILDREN’S RHYMES

o e

THE CROW’'S WEDDING.

Call the crow’s sister !

When is the wedding ?

To-morrow or Sunday morn.

All the kite’s young ones

Perished in the stream.

All the crow’s young ones

Are searching for cheese.

e O O ——

THE BOILING.

When the fruit of Jack tree boils,

It singeth “chada,” “chada.”

When the kambala fruit boils,

It singeth “guda,” “guda.”

e O SO e

*

THE DOVE'S FAMILY.

Cooing, cooing, cooing dove !

How many young ones have you ?

Five little ones I have hatched.

Where are the little ones now 2

On a strong bough I left them.

I cannot see them on the bough,

A crow has carried them off.

e O - O

RAIN.

While Benga: praises thee,

And Padi sings to thee,

Stop, rain, stop !

———————

CHILDREN'S RHYMES.

143

This song may psrhaps be better rendered thus:—

While Benga belauds thee,

And Padi sings padas,

Stop, rain, stop !

= OO

TAKINGS.

One Chemba took a brass pot,

And Chemba’s wife a tom-tom,

The bull takes up a bell.

Young Kapla took a horn

And Eyappa a stick.

The girl must have a cloth,

And I a spoon of flour.

|

TR (S

The next two songs, about the fingers, will imme-

diately strike a well remembered note in the memory.

‘Who has not heard a thousand times—

This pig went to market,

This pig staid at home,

This pig had roast beef,

This pig had none,

And this one cried, “ pee-wee !”

It 1s an almost exact reproduction of the idea of the

following song, which has never before been heard

beyond the confines of Coorg. Both songs are accom-

panied by the same action—the mother or nurse pulling

each tiny finger as she refers to it in the song.

Have

they not come out of the same nursery ?

144

CHILDREN'S RHYMES.

THE FINGERS.

The little finger nail is small,

The finger for the ring is gold,

The middle finger loveth coins,

The fourth is calléd Kotera,

The thumb is Murutika,

And both are gone for cheese.

THE TEN FINGERS.

Count the little fingers and those that bear the ring,

Middle fingers, forefingers and the thumbs are ten.

-0~

The following is very familiar, but I cannot call to

mind the home lines, and a foreign station does not

afford the help that the English student finds so ready

to his hand.

LITTLE CHICKENS,

An old story, an old story !

Clever Brahman, an old story !

What shall I say ?

I know none.

Little chickens! little chickens !

Sing me a song !

What can I sing ?

Pyong ! Pyong !

D e IV

COLORS.

The mother is black,

The daughter is white,

And the grand-daughter is like gold !

CHT’LDREN’S RHYMES.

145

The birth of a child (again quoting from Richter’s

Manual) renders not only the mother of the new born

babe, but the whole house unclean, and equally pol-

lutes every one who may come in contact with them.

This ceremonial uncleanness (Sutaka) lasts for seven

days, be the babe male or female.

The mother is

confined for two months te the house and is not ex-

pected to engage in any work, but to recover her

strength and to devote herself entirely to her child.

This singular custom no doubt greatly contributes to

the general good health and vigour of the Coorg

women. Daughters are not much valued. They must

be brought up, and yet are destined to be entirely alie-

nated from the house by their marriage.

Boys are the

stay of families.

As soon as a Coorg boy is born, a

little bow made of a branch of the castor-oil plant,

with an arrow made of a leafstalk of the same plant,

is put into his little hands, and a gun fired at the same

time in the yard. He is thus, while taking his first

breath, introduced into the world as a future hunts-

man and warrior.

This ceremony, however, has almost

lost its meaning and ceases to be generally observed.

On the twelfth day after birth, the child is laid in the

cradle by the mother or grandmother, who on this

occasion gives the name, which in many instances is

both well-sounding and significant : thus for boys—

Belliappa (silver father), Ponnappa (gold-father), Man-

danna (the brother of the village-green) ; for girls—

Puvakka (flower-sister), Muttakka (pearl-sister), Chin-

nawa (gold-mother.)

19

-

146

CHILDREN’S RHYMES.

The cradle, woven of slit bamboos and cane, and

fitted to be hung up for swinging, requires but a little

trimming to render it as tidy as any fashionable

berceaunette ; at all events the little Kodagu smiles

and sleeps in it as happy as a prince.

As his mother

bends over her darling her overflowing love and hap-

piness find vent in the Coorg lullaby :—

Jawa, jawa, baby dear !

When the baby’s mother comes,

She will give her darling milk.

Jawa, jawa, baby dear !

When the baby’s father comes,

He will bring a cocoanut.

Jawa, jawa, baby dear !

When the baby’s brother comes,

He will bring a little bird.

Jawa, jawa, baby dear !

When the baby’s sister comes,

She will bring a dish of rice.

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TAMIL SONGS.

147

TAMIL SONGHS.

e

At the extreme of the social scale farthest removed

It

from the hill tribes is the great Tamil nation.

occupies the country from the Mysore plateau on the

north to the sea on the south, and is constantly

extending its possessions in Ceylon, first impoverishing

and then expelling the Cingalese.

Twenty millions of

persons speak the Tamil language and form the most

intelligent and civilized nation south of the Ganges.

With the intellectual power of the Bengali, they

combine much of the physical energy of the Mahratta,

and the literary culture of the Hindi.

Never having

been overwhelmed by Mahommedan invaders from

the North, they preserve, almost intact, the national

characteristics of ages that have long passed from

memory in the Gangetic valley, and there is probably

no district in India that more faithfully represents

Hindoo life before the inroads of the Affghan Mah-

mouds; than the quiet villages of Tanjore, round

Combaconum and Manargudi.

t

As the Tamils thus lead the Dravidian nations, it has

148

TAMIL SONGS.

seemed right to describe their folk-literature at greater

length and over a larger area.

The better classes are

especially fond of the Adwaita® songs that will come

first. At the other extreme are the purely laboring

tribes, known to Europeans under the common name

of coolies. The strains to which they labor are well

worthy of notice.

Those that follow were taken down

on the spot, as they were sung by a number of coolies

who were at work driving piles.

Between these

extremes and common to all classes except the lowest,

are the songs or, to speak more correctly, the chapters

of the Cural, which is as truly the national representa-

tive of Dravidian people’s literature as Homer was of

the Greek.

The Adwaita philosophy teaches that the deity is

the.one great essence, filling all space and time.

It 1s

separated by a very narrow line from pantheism, and it

will be noticed that some of the expressions employed

have slipped into pantheism.

“ Everything is of God”

is the exact maxim ; and it is no wonder that the

masses should render it without the particle, and say

‘““ Everything is God.”

The impossibility of ensuring that the many shall

catch and retain a fine intellectual distinction has led

to another set of expressions that will startle the

reader. Adwaita teachers say, ¢ Since everything is of

God, it must have some good purpose or, to speak

more accurately, some divine purpose.

Therefore we

must call nothing that the world contains good or bad.

* For a description of the Adwaita philosophy, see page 3.

r

TAMIL SONGS.

149

It may seem strange to us, but God is greater than

we, and knows all about it.” This is not far wrong,

but was very easily carried on into the expression

“ Whatever I chose to do is good.”

The teachers say again, “ See God in everything,

and therefore be just, be without fear and equally

without desire.

Nothing you ought to have is with-

held, and therefore hope or desire nothing. Nothing

can hurt unless God wish it, therefore fear nothing.”

For this some are quite ready to say, ‘ Have neither

hope nor fear, therefore nothing is wrong,—virtue and

vice are terms without meaning.” Notwithstanding

this misconception, there need be no hesitation in as-

serting that the tone of the songs is highly moral, and

that the oneness of God is as strongly maintained as

by any Christian.

What will demand even more attention is the

palpable contradiction given by the songs to what we

are accustomed to call Hinduism.

If they be, as in

fact they are, the correct expression of the views of the

mass of the Tamil people of the better class in the

Madras Presidency, we are compelled to admit that

the Dravidian peoples differ largely in their religious

ideas from their northern brethren, and that such

doctrines could not have come out of the system

which presents Krishna and Kali, Rama and Hanuman

as the greatest objects of worship, and their deeds

as true specimens of the conduct of the deities who

rule heaven and earth.

It is commonly said that the

Adwaita philosophy is a Brahmanic development, like

150

TAMIL SONGS.

the Sankhya and Nyaya systems of northern India.

To some extent this is true ; but only in this, that

the learned Brahmans carried on into scientific defi-

nition and scholastic shape the principles they found

so firmly fixed in the Dravidian mind that they had to

choose between accepting the principles or forfeiting

:}

their own influence,

The indigenous Dravidian exist-

ence of the ideas that lie at the root of the Adwaita

philosophy is proved by the fact that all the early

Dravidian literature 1s of the like character, and 1t 1s

never pretended that this great series is otherwise

than pure Dravidian; not only independent of, but

o LS

opposed to Brahmanic influence.

After the Adwaita songs are purposely inserted some

very popular songs by Kapila, Sivavakyer and other

The most

very early Dravidian (Tamil) writers.

cursory comparison will show that one spirit breathes

in all.

Nor will it be difficult to see how the later

philosophical songs have grown out of the earlier out-

There 1s also added

bursts of passion and deep feeling.

an abstract of the Tiruvalluva Charitra, valuable both

for its evidence that even the Brahmans acknowledge

that the early Tamil literature was not dependent on

Sanscrit, and also for the further witness it gives as to

the ideas of religion and *the Godhead that were

current in very early times.

The profoundly religious spirit that pervades every

member of the series will seem so strange that many

will ask whether these songs are fair samples of a great

mass or mere sporadic efforts of some great men who

TAMIL SONGS.

151

rose above their fellows.

It 1s therefore distinetly

asserted that they are fair samples of a great national

literature.

If any reader will take the trouble to study

that great magazine of early Tamil literature—Ells’

Cural, he will find a thousand examples of similar cha-

racter.

It is strictly true that every one of the songs

given below is popular in the most rigid sense.

The thoughtful reader will find much in Sir H. S.

Maine’s “ Village Communities” and especially in the

second lecture, to show how it has become possible that

the acknowledged written literature should be satu-

rated with sacredotalism and entirely devoted to the

interests of the Brahmans, and yet that this should

not represent the views and feelings of the masses,

whose true voice 1s only seen in that literature which

is not written and thereby withdrawn from the influence

of the educated literary caste.

It 1s superfluous to

repeat what Sir H. S. Maine has so well exhibited, and

I would only quote one passage bearing on the very

question of the songs.

He says of the people of India

as distinguished from the Brahmans—¢“ Those who

know most of them assert that their religious belief is

kept alive not by direct teaching, but by the constant

recitation in the vernacular of parts of their sacred

poems.”

We begin with a dialogue between Rama and Vasish-

tha, the famous rishi.

It is noticeable from the fact

that the deity seeks information from the rishi, and

would seem to teach that,in the mind of the Tamil writer

of the song, Rama 1s rather the historical hero than

152

TAMIL SONGS.

the Puranic incarnation of Vishnu. This may not be the

case, however, as a similar application from gods to men

for advice is not uncommon in more polished literature.

Vasishtha 1s the Vedic priest.

The writer in quot-

ing him appeals from Philip drunk to Philip sober,

from modern Brahmanism to the ancient Vedas.

It remains only to make a last note, that, in the

Adwaita system, true worship is supposed to be begun

by what Methodists would call a “ conversion,”—a

change from darkness to light. This change introduces

the state of ¢ knowing.”

Before it, a2 man knows

nothing of God, he can even worship a stone. After

it, he perceives the essence that fills all things, and

“ knows”

that

God

18,

and is so filled with this

knowledge that nothing else can claim a moment’s

thought.

This very curious fact deserves the more

attention because the conversion is not accompanied

by or dependent upon any initiatory rite, like those of

the later Greek sects.

The change does not come

because of a flood of new light thrown upon the mind

from without, as by the instruction of a teacher or

the performance of mystic rites.

The enlightenment

which causes the great change of nature comes from

within.

It is as if some veil or shutter within the

soul 1s suddenly raised, so that the mind can at once look

right at God and thereby learn what He really is. The

devotee did not know before because he could not see.

Now the obstacle is removed. He can see and there-

fore ¢ knows.”

—-—--‘Q:;&o’———u—-

GOD IS A SPIRIT.

153

TAMIL ADWAITA SONGS.

A

GOD IS A SPIRIT.

Vasishtha ! Rama speaks to thee and asks—

Where may a sinner find those holy things

That drive out, root and branch, each fault and sin,

And give to him who worships perfect peace ?

To him Vasishtha.

God, supreme and great,

Dwells not in mortal flesh, nor hath He frame

Of substance elemental.

He 1s not

Confined in what the simple call a God—

In Hari, Hara,* and the minor host.

The Godhead is not even mind itself :

"Tis He, the Uncreate, who knoweth all,

Who ne’er began and never hath an end.

Rama.

But will that God bow down and dwell with men,

Abide in things that have no worth or praise,

That are not one, but some and separate ?

Vasishtha.

He hath no end nor ha& beginning, He

Is one, inseparate.

To Him alone

Poor fools

Should mortals offer praise and prayer.

Must bow to idols—they cannot discern

The higher things.

As when some weakly man,

Who cannot walk a mile, is urged to pace

* Hari and Hara are terms for Vishnu and Siva respectively, and have

previously been explained. See page 44, note.

1

20

154

GOD IS A SPIRIT.

Such distance as he can,—so fools adore

An image.

Not to them the perfect bliss

Of knowing inner things.

The wise man saith

That God, the omniscient Essence, fills all space

And time.

He cannot die or end. In Him

All things exist. There is no God but He.

If thou wouldst worship in the noblest way

Bring flowers in thy hand. Their names are these :

Contentment, Justice, Wisdom. Offer them

To that great Essence—then thou servest God.

No stone can image God—to bow to it

Is not to worship. Outward rites cannot

Avail to compass that reward of bliss

That true devotion gives to those who know.

S SFP L

How strange that idolatry should flourish most

by the side of such teaching !

One is never tired

of noting the marvellous contradiction given by this

If the

literature to our commonly received notions.

contrast should seem to be marked too often, it is

because every new song that has been brought to light

has more vividly expressed the difference between the

real feelings of the people and those which have so

uniformly been ascribed to them.

Long and familiar

intercourse with natives must lead every one who can

look below the surface of the life around him to expect

much that is opposed to idolatry and the Puranic

absurdities.

But the great mass of these poems go

beyond what ordinary conversation usually sets forth.

This proves, what might perhaps have been foreseen,

155

GOD IS A SPIRIT.

that the influence of the sacerdotal caste has caused

even those who love the doctrines of their ances-

tors to modify them sufficiently to be able to use

them in combination with more fashionable 1ideas.

The Brahmans are at the top of the social ladder, and

their position is strengthened by the fossilizing in-

fluence of our policy. They therefore set the tone of

educated life.

Sumner Maine also notes this.

His

second lecture on Village Communities is full of strik-

ing thoughts, explaining why English supremacy has

very efficiently though unintentionally contributed to

strengthen the sacerdotal influence, killing popular

tradition by the weight of Brahmanic written law.

If the people have gone towards the Brahmans, the

reverse process has not been less marked. It is pro-

bably owing to the steady approach of the higher

Brahmans towards Dravidian monotheism that there is

now so great a gulf between them and the temple and

The purohita is looked down upon

domestic priests.

as an ignorant servant of unreal deities. The poojar

or temple priest is still lower, for he is openly engaged

in worshipping and teaching the worship of impossible

idols. The philosophical Brahmans have entirely given

up such things, and live upon the produce of lands

granted to them in former times. Most of the songs

now given have been coolly appropriated by this class

and published as “translations from the Sanserit ;"—

a fraud as guilty though not as serious as the mutila-

tions about to be noticed.

N e ~———

156

|

THE TRUE GOD.

f

THE TRUE GOD.

o emaa

God 1s the one great all.

Can such as He,

Eternal Being, see our praise or prayer

In outward aects ? If thou wouldst worship Him,

Lift up thy heart—in spirit serve thy God.

Some bow themselves, lie prostrate on the earth,

In meditation spend their days. - Some tell

Their beads in prayers, or mantras whisper oft,

Pay dues at sacred shrines.

All this is nought.

External objects cannot help. They bring

Great grief to those who trust them. Life is thine

And endless bliss, if thou wilt look within.

God may be seen in spread out space : yet I,

Who looked so long, quite failed to catch the sight

2

And darkness held me fast in life-long pain.

But now, by Sivam,* I declare that all

That is is God : yet what I see is not.

It and the thousand evils of the world

* The word Sivam is the neuter of Siva, and expresses two things.—

First, that the bard is nominally a worshipper of Siva. Every respectable

man must call the Deity he serves by one of three names, Vishnu, Siva or

Brahma.

The question is usually decided by birth. Certain castes are

conventionally supposed to worship Vishnu, and certain others Siva. It

seldom happens that a man changes his deity-name. Secondly, it proves

that while the bard worships Siva, he does so only on the understanding

that his deity is not to be considered a person, God is an essence or

spirit and therefore without sex. The protest against idolatry generally

takes this form; as it must be at once understood, even by the most ignorant,

that there can be nothing in common between the neuter spirit and

the masculine representation which idolatry gives to the personages it

delights to honor.

THE TRUE GOD.

157

Are not of God nor true.

They Maya are.*

Though He doth dwell in everything, the fool

Discerneth not.

From him the Godhead hides.

To him who knows, the hidden stands revealed—

The real becomes the seen : but yet not seen,}

For God hath neither form nor earthly frame—

A spirit only. Nor is there any priest

But he that teacheth thus of Deity.

In majesty and bliss, in glory vast,

The great Intelligence pervades and fills

* This verse seems to contain a contradiction.

It arises from the form

of the last affirmation.

When the poet says—* All that is is God: yet

what I see is not”—he means that the impression made upon him by the

external world is not a true representation of such reality as the external

world possesses.

The maxim is so condensed that, for a European,

it must be somewhat enlarged as follows —¢ All that really exists is

but a portion of the Godhead. But my senses are so imperfect, and I can

so imperfectly understand what my senses exhibit, that the impression

my mind at last receives does not at all correspond with the reality

of the thing I seem to perceive.

7

By trusting to my senses I am

led astray.

The ignorant man judges the earth from the evidence

of his senses, and never dreams of asking what it really is as intended

and brought into existence by God. It—the image of the earth on his

retina and still more upon his mind—* is not of God nor true.”

He

knows the world only by his own five senses, which have no more to do

with external objects than the painter’s brush and oils with the landscape

He thinks he knows what the world s, because he is con-

he represents.

scious that it has certain effects upon his own nerves—these effects he takes

to be the thing itself. He therefore makes a mistake, is led astray by his

own ignorance. Before he can have even the slightest knowledge of

external things, he must learn that his internal sensations have nothing to

do with the reality of the things which they seem to bring to his notice and

knowledge.

T Here again is a paradox caused by using the word seen in two senses.

The same play upon words is in the original.

The phrase when enlarged

runs thus—* The real becomes perceptible by the mind, but remains

imperceptible by the eye.”

i

158

THE TRUE GOD.

What then

Each part of all the universe.

Is great and what is small ? Who is my friend,

And who my foe—if He have thought him good ?

If this I love, and that I hate, have I

The right to blame what God hath known it wise

To show ? Will then the wise repeat such things ?

The wise man sees that living souls surround

His life, and one Intelligence doth rule

In all. He turns with sad and loathing soul

From penance, meditation, outward rites,

And all the cant of sects—from unreal things

That can but bar the road to peace and bliss—

Becomes the loving servant of the truth,

Disciple of a real and faithful priest.

—SapuptBate—

The song—True knowledge—is one of a series known

!

as “Pattanattu’s Psalms.”

The author and a still more

eminent poet, Patirakiriyar, lived in the tenth century,

Both

about the time of the English king Canute.

poets had been possessed of great wealth, but a sense

of the vanity of worldly things caused them to give up

all and live in privation and pain.

They were strongly

opposed to the then growing influence of idolatry, and

poured out bitter but highly poetic satires on the influ-

ence of caste and idolatry. Patirakiriyar is the author

of some of the “ Songs of Serrow” referred to on page 12.

A few stanzas may not be inappropriate in connection

with Pattanattu’s song.

They are taken almost at

random from a modern edition, but fairly represent

the scope of the book, which is exceedingly popular

and often reprinted.

b et o i

SONGS OF SORROW.

159

When may I know the hidden things of life

And thus attain perfection ?

I would show

How false the Vedas are, with error rife:

And burn the Shasters; so the truth might grow.

T

Oh, when will mankind learn to use aright

The carved stones, the clay baked hard with fire,

The burnished copper shining in the light,

And not to worship them as Gods require ?

—OT——

When shall our race be one great brotherhood

Unbroken by the tyranny of caste,

Which Kapila in early days withstood

And taught that men were one in times now passed ?

—<—

When may my thoughts be fixed alone on Him

Who is Himself all sweetness, made all things,

Whom all the Vedas sought, though seeing dim,

Who saveth him that to His mercy clings ?

OO

When will my God attract to Him my soul

And keep it ever near, beneath His eare ?

Just as a magnet draws, as to a goal,

Unto itself the weighty iron bar.

—OT——

When will that God who hath no earthly shape,

Of all the end, and yet who maketh all,

Whose clear pervading eye nought can escape

Accept my service, all my soul enthral?

There is much more to the like purpose, but we

must pass on to the song of Pattanattu.

160

TRUE KNOWLEDGE.

TRUE KNOWLEDGE.

My God is not a chiselled stone,

Or lime, so bright and white :

Nor is he cleaned with tamarind,

Like images of bronze.

I cannot worship such as these,

But loudly make my boast

That in my heart I place the feet

>

The golden feet of God.

If He be mine what can I need ?

My God is everywhere.

Within, beyond man’s highest word,

My God existeth still.

In sacred books, in darkest night,

In deepest, bluest sky,

In those who know the truth, and in

The faithful few on earth ;—

My God is found in all of these,

But can the Deity

Descend to images of stone

Or copper dark and red ?

Where'er wind blows or compass points,

God’s light doth stream and shine,

Yet see yon fool—beneath his arm

He bears the sacred roll.

TRUE KNOWLEDGE.

161

How carefully he folds the page

And draws the closing string !

See how he binds the living book

That not a leaf escape !

ol vED

Ah'! Yes; the truth should fill his heart,

But ’tis beneath his arm.

To him who “ knows,” the sun is high ;

To this, ’tis starless night.

If still, oh sinful man, With’ ash

Thou dost besmear thy face,

Or bathest oft, that thus thy soul

May cast away its load.

10

Thou knowest naught of God, nor of

Regeneration’s work.

Your mantras, what are they ? The Veds

Are burdened with their weight.

11

If knowledge be not thine, thou art

As one in deep mid-stream :

A stream so wide that both the banks

Are hidden from thine eyes.

12

Alas ! How long did I adore

The chiselled stone, and serve

An image made of lime or brass

That’s cleaned with tamarind.

21

fanty

162

THE SIN OF IDOLATRY.

%

THE SIN OF IDOLATRY.

1

Men cannot know from whence they came,

Else they would never call the sun

Or moon their God. They would not bow

To idols made of clay, or mud

Baked in the fire.

No image made

Of stone or wood, no linga stump,

Built up of earth and made by hand,

Could ever seem divine to one

Who knew he came from God.

Some say

That eight plain letters hold all truth,*

And some that it doth dwell in five !

No wonder that such living fools

Exalt Vishnu, and Siva praise.

* It is common in the obscure mysticism to which the more reasonable

aspects of Puranism have descended, to count the letters forming the name

of the deity that is honored, and say that all wisdom may be found in them.

The eight letters here spoken of form the name of Vishnu and the five the

name of Siva.

A great number of books commence with an invocation in

the same style, greatly resembling the illustrated alphabets of which our

infants are so fond,—where A stands for apple, B for bear, and so on. All the

Hindu “ologies” can thus be brought into the name of the deity. Curious

examples of this practice will be seen in the subsequent pages referring to

Sivavakyer.

There is another and unobjectionable mode of using the first

and last letters of the alphabet. Thus, in the Bible, God is said to be Alpha

and Omega, the first and the last. Patirakiriyar says—* When will the

time come for me to understand the hidden meaning of the letter A, the

first of all letters, and know its full meaning.”

The Cural commences with

a similar comparison of Deity with the letter A. Very many of the better

poets exhibit the same idea.

THE SIN OF IDOLATRY.

163

)

e

A hundred thousand living things—

From elephants to tiny ants—

Abound throughout the world. Not one

Of all but has somewhat of God.

The outward sense cannot perceive

This inner sacred habitant.

But turn the vision of thy mind

Upon thine inward self, and then,

As perfume from the blushing flower,

Thou shalt perceive what mortal eye

May never see.

Thou then art wise.

For those who call a stone their God,

i;

Or dream that Kasi or Sathu*

Can cleanse them from their sin,—for those

Who take a part in heathen rites,

Who murder, steal, or throw the dice,

Speak falsely for their gain or friend,

The seven dark hells do gape.

They wait

;

Until the time of fate be come

And sinners meet the doom they earn.t

When time shall turn again, and life

Shall come to some, these men shall pine

In stones for seven painful births.

# Kasi is the native name for Benares.

Sathu is the sacred island of

Ram@swaram, in the strait that separates India from Ceylon.

The south

of India is full of sacred places to which pilgrims come each year by thou-

sands.

Some of the most eminent are Mylapore, Tripathy, Trivellore,

Seringham, T'anjore and Conjeveram. The spread of education is gradually

but surely killing the system. The number of pilgrims diminishes every

year.

T See note on next page.

It is not often that the retributive character

of hell is so clearly stated. The profitable sacerdotal doctrine that sin is

punished by new births, and that these may be prevented by due offerings

and repeated ceremonies, has gradually supplanted the earlier truth.

e

s e meemne

164

"THE SIN OF IDOLATRY.

How mad are ye who offer praise

To carven stones ! As if such things

Could fitly image God most High !

Can He be but a dirty stone ?

And can such worship reach His ear ?

Be faithful to the glorious priest

Who teaches truth. Receive from him

The heavenly light that shall make clear

What body is and what is soul.

Let all thy mind be overwhelmed

With that great blaze of light which beams,

From what is typified by “Om.”*

Ut

Who teach that copper, stones, or wood

Are Gods, and also those who follow them,

Shall never reach the blessed home,

But perish in the seven dark hells.+

—eraipaLe—

* Om, or more properly Aum, is a mystic word of which no one knows

the real meaning. It is used for a hundred different things; as each

writer has a different idea of a something that pervades the world and yet

is not God, It is supposed to typify a mysterious excellence which is of

God and yet is not God. It enshrines the essence of the Trimurtti or Hindu

Trinity and is something beyond Vishnu or Siva, yet not greater than

they. It is the essence of the Vedas. It is infinite wisdom and mysticism.

It is the highest summit of every thing that man should aspire to, yet is

utterly beyond even the greatest of Rishis, and they can be more than Gods.

+ The Hindu theory of transmigration does not prevent their having hells.

There is, almost invariably, an immense period of time between death and

the next birth, and through that period the soul suffers or enjoys accord-

ingly to its merits. There is a chapter in the Mahabharata of singular

interest, seeing that it anticipates Dante’s Inferno. As with Dante, hell is

divided into circles of particular punishments, and the leading sins on earth

have each their peculiar retribution. The parallel is often very close, and

the whole chapter is well worthy of translation.

e e e

THE UNITY OF GOD.

165

|

THE

UNITY OF GOD.

\

Into the bosom of the one great sea

Flow streams that come from hills on every side.

Their names are various as their springs.

'

And thus in every land do men bow down

To one great God, though known by many names.

!

This mighty Being we would worship now.

What though the six religions* loudly shout

|

That each alone is true, all else are false ?

Yet when in each the wise man worships God,

The great almighty One receives the prayer.

Oh Lord, when may I hope

To find the clue that leads

From out the labyrinth

Of brawling erring sects ?

£

Six blind men once described an elephant

That stood before them all.

One felt the back.

of

The second noticed pendent ears. The third

of

Could only find the tail.

The beauteous tusks

fu

Absorbed the admiration of the fourth.

While of the other two, one grasped the trunk.

b

The last sought for small things and found

i

Four thick and clumsy feet.

From what each learned,

He drew the beast.

Six monsters stood revealed.

s

Just so the six religions learned of God,

nd

And tell their wondrous tales.

Our God is one.

i

It

15

* All these songs were written before the advent of Europeans, and the

six religions do not include Christianity. Very different accounts of them

|

are given, but they may be supposed to be Buddhists, Jains, Vedantists,

Vaishnavas, Shivas, and Lingayets.

166

TYHE UNITY OF GOD.

1;

5. Men talk of penance, fastings, sacred streams—-

Make pilgrimage to temples, offer gifts;

Performing to the letter all the rules

Of senseless complicated ritual.

Yet are they doomed to sorrow’s deepest pain.

Oh, fling such things away and fix thy heart

On rest and peace to come.

Seek that alone.

To them that fully know the heavenly truth,

There is no good or ill ; nor anything

To be desired, unclean or purely clean.

To them there is no good can come from fast

Or penance pains.

To them the earth has naught

For hope or fear, in thought or word or deed*

They hear the four great Vedas shout aloud

That he who has true wisdom in his heart

Can have no thought for fleeting worldly things.

f

Where God is seen, there can be naught but God.

His heart can have no place for fear or shame,

For caste, uncleanness, hate or wandering thought.

Impure and pure are all alike to him.

;

* This verse is one of those that appear to countenance the grosser

impurities of life.

If nothing be unclean or bad, if there be no fear of

evil consequences for immoral actions, why may not we live only for

the flesh? This is the very argument employed by Sakti worshippers,

by the Maharajahs of Bombay and others who teach similar doctrines.

I;’

Yet it is quite clear that the verse cannot lead to this inference.

It

is only “ to them who fully know the heavenly truth,” that nothing is

unclean or bad. But the very fact assumes that they have overcome their

senses—they have no desire—they think only on God—they have left the

world. As another song asserts, youth or beauty have no charm for them,

They cannot even be tempted to immorality, for its essence is fleshly

pleasure, and this they have eschewed. Evil results follow only when those

who do not * know"

take upon themselves the privileges of those who do.

To them things may be and are both unclean and utterly bad.

| d

THE UNITY OF GOD.

16

{

The ¢ Brotherhood of Man” is especially worthy of

notice.

Its morality is so high and its imagery so

vivid that I have translated it as literally as possible

without rhyines.

In its present form it professes to

have been rendered from a Sanscrit original, but this

1s merely a literary fraud, perpetrated probably by the

printer, in order to make the publication acceptable to

his Brahman customers.

It 1s another incidental link

in the chain of facts showing how diligently the literary

caste have taught that nothing good can come from

any other source.

It is in reality the work of Kapila,

who is said to have been the brother of Tiruvalluva.

BRSNS

That 1t is very ancient is shown by a verse of Patiraki-

riyar, quoted on a previous page, which, though itself

written in the tenth century, speaks of Kapila, refer-

ring probably to this very song, as having so “taught

in the beginning.”

That is, Kapila was then an ancient

writer.

It helps to establish what has been assumed

in the pages concerning Tiruvalluva, that he dates from

about the third century. The song was probably a part

of Kapila’s Agaval,

If so, 1t has been separated from

the context and somewhat modified by popular use,

since the Agaval, as we have it, does not contain the

precise passage, although there is much of the same

tenor.

Seldom has the argument for the essential

unity of mankind been more pithily expressed, and it

says much for the inner heart of the nation that the

song should have survived and remain so popular.

e

THE BROTHERﬁOOD OF MAN,

168

THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN.

BY KAPILA,

Oh Brahmans, list to me

And answer if you can.

When ye at funeral rites

Do represent the dead,

Receiving in your hands

The precious things and food

His sons so freely give ;—

When solemn rites are made

With every offering ;—

Have you or yours e’er seen

The spirit hands outstretched

Because they need the food ?

Or have you seen them close

When hunger is assuaged ?

Do rain and wind avoid

Some men among the rest

Because their caste 1s low ?

When such men tread the earth

Hast seen it quake with rage ?

Or does the brilliant sun

Refuse to them its rays ?

Oh Brahmans, has our God

E’er bid the teeming fields

Bring forth the fruit and flowers

For men of caste alone ?

Or made the forest green

To gratify the eyes

Of none but Pariahs ?

THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN..

169

Such wealth as men may have,

Such biting poverty,

Aye, even death itself,

Are but the common lot

Of all that dwell on earth,

L

The logical results

Of deeds of good or bad

6

Our deeds may never die,

And even now we rue

What, in our former births,

We did or left undone.

To this alone we owe

That we have bliss or pain,

Have hope or deep despair.

Oh Brahmans, list to me !

In all this blessed land

There is but one great caste,

One tribe and brotherhood.

One God doth dwell above,

And he hath made us one

In birth and frame and tongue

8

If therefore, O ye fools,

Ye would observe and do

The precepts of your sires,

Give alms to all who need,

And, as for life, avoid

All that is mean, or smacks

Of lies and knavery.

* This and the next verse are the key to much of the Dravidian

argument explaining the inequalities of this life, and the doctrine of

transmigration.

God is not to be blamed if we are poor or unhappy—we

suffer what we have ourselves created.

y;

o

)

170

TRUE WORSHIP.

e

DEHRARERES

9. Virtue alone is strong,

And fears no present pain.

Its life may never end,

Nor can its joys abate ;

For virtue’s self is peace.

Learn virtue then, my friend,

And give thy life to it.

=

TRUE

WORSHIP.

BY SIVAVAKYER.

1. When once 1 knew the Lord

What were to me the host

Of pagan deities ?

5

Some fixed in te

mple sh riﬁcs,

Or carried in the crowd ;

Some made of unbaked clay,

And some burnt hard with fire 2

With all the lying tales

That fill the sacred books

They’ve vanished from my mind

2

Of two stones on the hill,

The first you take and carve—

Into an idol make.

You rub with sandal ash,

Adorn with brilliant flowers,

And worship it as God.

The next serves for a road—

You tread it underfoot.

In neither can our Ged

Take pleasure or delight.

TRUE WORSHIP.

17k

3. How many flowers I gave

At famous temple shrines !

How many mantras said !

Oft washed the idol’s head !

And still with weary feet

Encireled Siva’s shrines !

But now at last T know

Where dwells the king of Gods,

] g

And never wil

L D

alute

1

ANYa

A fcmple\mzbdo with hanc

3ut yet I have a shrine—

The mind within my breast

[

A linga* too is there—

The soul that came from God.

%

I offer ash and flowers—

The praises of my heart.

And all the God-made world,

Is frankincense and myrrh.

And thus, where’er I go,

I ever worship God.

X

Ye knaves and fools, who boast

[}

How well and much you write

$

No ass can bray so loud

As ye proclaim your skill.

* The linga, the Grecian phallus, is the emblem of creation and the

special symbol of all who worship Siva. It is a curious instance of the

mode in which Brahmanism has mutilated the religious thought it found

in existence, that Siva, in the Hindu triad, is always the destroyer. The

worshippers of Siva never countenanced this.

With them Sivais purely

the Creator, the maker and upholder of all that is,

The Brahmanic triad

is but the clumsy effort of the sacerdotal caste to comprehend the other

religions it found in India with its ewn,—an ill-assorted group of er-

roneously described figures, varnished with legend made for the purpose

of hiding imperfections as they came to light.

SRS

-

-

17

TRUE WORSHIP.

And yet your souls lie prone

In flesh that creeps with worms.

Oh, will you never learn

How petty such things are ?

Strive with your might to gain

The one eternal truth.

6. Een if you read thé Veds,

The Sama and the Rik;

And know the Shasters’ six;

You still may never know

The great divine Sivam.

Yet if you will but turn

From flesh and its desires,

Suppressing lust and shame,

Your eyes and heart may see

The Being that is God.

7. You utter lies in hosts

While books are in your hands.

j

Yea, pour them out afresh

As many as you wish !

But know that soon will come

Your dreaded final day

When God will judge aright.

All they that know the Lord,

The great unknown first cause,

Are blest with wisdom high.

—e R

The corrupting efforts of the Brahmans, as exercised

on old Dravidian literature, have so often been referred

to that the reader may think the feeling exaggerated.

On the other hand all will feel the exceeding beauty

Joor

TRUE WORSHIP.

i

{

3

of the song just rendered, and will be inclined to speak

It

with severity of those who would mutilate it.

will not therefore, be deemed too great a digression to

give the opening chapter of the works of Sivavak-

yer, as expurgated and improved by the sacerdotal

class.

It cannot be promised that any one will under-

stand 1t.

I went over 1t carefully with a learned

Brahman and failed to extract any connected sense

from it, nor was my guide more successful.

‘When

pressed for an abstract of its meaning he replied—

“That is the way we talk when we mean to say that

Siva is the greatest God.”

1

Many bodies come from A ;

They stand so firm with O.

Through M the ‘world was dark,

But S sets all things free.

The first three letters make the mystic word aom or

AvM, which has already been referred to.

The letter

8 1s the initial of Siva, and is supposed to state that

even AuM itself is of no force unless Siva guides it.

Sl

)

Essential Nama-sivayum,

He is both beginning and end.

He is twelve crores, a countless host,

He is all mantras, the four Vedas,

The six Shastras, all the puranas.

Vishnu and Brahma seek after him.

He is almighty God, God, God.

!

Nama-sivayum is the “name of Siva.”

A crore

18 ten millions.

The mantras are mystic sentences

supposed to have power over the Gods.

TRUE WORSHIP.

174

3. Nama-sivayum has five letters,

These are all things that remain on earth.

Nama-sivayum has five letters,

But he has one more.

Nama-sivayum is the five elements,

The other one stands for king.

Oh Nama-sivayum, teach me the truth.

4

Na means two legs, Ma is the stomach,

Si is two arms, Va is the mouth.

Ya is two eyes, and why they both were made.

So out of five letters we see Sivayum,

Agreeable, beautiful, standing.

5

Heaven can be gained in Siva’s five letters,

Siva’s five letters will conquer Heaven.

True wisdom is known from Siva’s five letters,

Deeply consider the five letters of Siva.

A few verses quoted at random will still better

explain how the book has been metamorphosed. It

seems to have been born again in some lower world,

We com-

and to teach an altogether new doctrine.

mence with one that directly contradicts the whole

tenor of Sivavakyer’s teaching,

Five and three are eight—

Eight original mantras.

If you keep them in mind,

Tell them hundreds of times,

Then your sins fly away

Like to cotton in wind ;

Though a billion they are.

So I learn from the Veds.

3248

TRUE WORSHIP.

17

(o4

There is a wandering vital air,

It flows through all the living frame.

If with your mind you seize this breath

And lift it to your head, its force

Will make the old man young again.

New strength will come to weakened limbs.

By Siva and his lovely wife I swear

That every word I say is true.

The Vedas four and those who study them,—

The wisdom that thus comes to those who read,—

The poison-drunken Rudra,—Brahma too,—

And Vishnu,—All these deeply meditate

On one great object—Nama-sivayum.

But this will surely be enough to show how careful

has been the corruption, how skilful the mutilation that

has in time landed Sivavakyer in such a plight.

It

has been done gradually, here a little and there a little,

line upon line, so that the masses might not know how

their food was being .stolen from them.

The peculiar audacity of the mutilation does not

appear so strongly until we remember that, in the ori-

ginal, the words Siva and Vishnu do not once appear

except for censure. In its new form, almost every verse

of the poem contains the name of Siva, and the opening

chapter can speak of nothing else. The subject cannot be

better closed than with the following extract from

Taylor’s Oriental Manuscripts (Vol. 3, page 26.) The

work of Sivavakyer “is a didactic moral poem, charac-

terized chiefly by its monotheistical purport.

It is

very severe on 1dol-worship and on various abuses con-

1

[d

(

6

TRUE WORSHIP.

nected with the common Brahmanical system ; main-

taining the necessity of rejecting the names of Siva

and Vishnu, and worshipping one only God.

Hence

it has always been made great use of by Native Chris-

tians, in disputing with Hindu natives.

I was told,

some years ago, that the ascetics (or Pandarams) of the

Saiva class seek after copies of this poem with avidity,

and uniformly destroy every copy they find.

It is, by

consequence, rather scarce and chiefly preserved by the

Native Christians...... I have had one good copy care-

CRCRC N I

fully restored

The restoration was of the greater

consequence, because of a proceeding of the Dherma

Sabha at Madras. As the book could not be destroyed,

they caused to be printed an interpolated and greatly

corrupted version, as the genuine work of the author,

but maintaining just the reverse of his real opinions.”

This is but one specimen of a process that has been

going on for centuries, deliberately aiming at the

destruction of all early Dravidian literature.

The

process has gone so far that the greater part of Siva-

vakyer cannot now be called folk-literature so much as

relics of ancient folk-literature.

Hence 1 have given

but one song, which has been separated from his other

works by the people and kept floating among them.

This 18 therefore truly a folk-song.

Having said so

much about him, however, the student will be glad to

compare genuine stanzas of the chief work of Siva-

vakyer with the corrupted passages before quoted.

l‘

The following are a few pearls among the many strung

e e e e e ey

together \to form the poem :

i

TRUE WORSHIP.

177

Our God an ocean is, infinity ;

No eye can see the end. IHe has no bound.

He who would see and know Him must repress

The waves of his own heart, must be at peace.

His sole desire is God. His every sense

Must turn to that great One and clasp but Him

> -

There is no real but He,—the One that fills

All space.

He dwelleth everywhere.

The sun

That sends its light through all the lower world

Pervades much less than He.

Yet men deny

And will not know their God. They love to lie

In mire of sin.

But I have learned of Him,

And find no single thing in all the world

Words must fail

To show how great His glory.

To tell the joy, the bliss, I have in Him:

Yet when I try no man believes my speech.

PRV P -

That highest One is not a beauteous rose,

Nor doth He hide Him in the sweet perfume.

What men ascribe to Him, that is He not.

ll

He is not great, much less can He be small.

The voice that speaks is not the Lord, nor can

He be shut in or out.

He hath no shape,

Nor dwelleth only in some single thing.

This Infinite surpasseth all our thoughts.

— ) B

There is but One in all the world, none else.

That one is God, the Lord of all that is,

He never had beginning, never hath an end.

e P> G

23

178

TRUE WORSHIP.

l%

Oh God! I once knew nought of what Thou art,

And wandered far astray.

But when Thy light

Pierced through my dark, I woke to know my God.

E

Oh Lord! I long for Thee alone. I long

For none but Thee to dwell within my soul.

s e

When Thou didst make me, Thou didst know my all

But I knew not of Thee.

"Twas not till light

From Thee gave me to understand of Thee

"That T could know.

But now where’er I sit,

Or walk, or stand, Thou art for ever near.

Can I forget Thee ?

Thou art mine ; and I

Am only Thine.

Fen with these eyes I see,

And with my heart perceive, that Thou art come

To me as lightning from the lowering sky.

o L

If thy poor heart but choose the better part,

And in this path doth worship only God,

His heart will stoop to thine, will take thy heart

And make 1t His.

One heart shall serve for both.

e

When thj poor mind has always God within,

The highest One will surely dwell with thee:

Will rob thee of thy sins.

As with his tool

The artisan will shave or cut clean off

Each roughness from the wood, so He will make

Thee free from sin and altogether pure.

TRUE WORSHIP,

179

S TR

To lay her eggs the turtle swimmeth far

To reach the sandy shore.

She buries them

And swimmeth back again.

Yet doth her mind

Adhere to them.

When young ones break their shell

They feel the tie.

It draws them as a rope

Along their mother’s path.*

At last they meet.

Just so hath God placed us.

We wander here-

While He is far above.

Yet in His mind

'{

We ever stay.

The tie doth reach to earth

From highest heaven.

If we but follow it,

We cannot fail to reach and live with Him.

L

2SO IR

Some think to find their God upon the hills,

And climb with weary feet.

So some declare

He is beyond the sea.

They sail afar

To find Him out.

Oh ignorant and fools !

'Tis pride that prompts your work.

His sacred feet

Are in your heart.

If there you seek, your soul

Will find the Being that alone is real.

T

Not for a single moment has my God

Forgotten helpless me.

Oh only God !

I could not live

My king and king of kings !

One moment without Thee.

One mercy more

Bestow—that praise may dwell upon my tongue.

~DODY SO e

* The verse refers to a popular idea that, when the young turtle

is able to trust himself to the sea, he swims straight towards his parent.

Though the sea is boundless and pathless he can find his way, for the

mother’s love draws him unconsciously towards her.

The figure as applied

SRR W

to the mode in which God acts upon the souls of men is very beautiful.

S A

BRI,

=

A

180

TRUE WORSHIP.

Is it any wonder that old Ziegenbalg, the pioneer of

Protestant Missions in India, should exelaim—¢ From

all this it is sufficiently evident what these heathens

believe of God, the Supreme Being, and how much

further they have come in his knowledge by the light

of nature, than the heathens of Rome.

But the light

of nature has been quite obscured by their ancient

(Sanskrit) poets and Brahmans, who have written

many fabulous stories, and introduced a confused idol-

worship, out of which they cannot easily extricate

themselves, though they feel much opposition to it in

their consciences, and can speak very reasonably of the

Supreme Being.”

We turn from these highly wrought protests against

idolatry to an altogether different class of songs—the

labor strains of the working people. They were all

taken down on the spot as they were sung by a gang of

coolies engaged in arduous manual labor.

The custom

follows that of the English sailor—one member of the

gang gives the strain, the rest join in the chorus.

It

generally happens on board-ship, however, that the

singer is the same throughout, and is exempted from

great muscular exertion as a recompense for the stimu-

lant his song gives to the others. In coolie gangs they

usually take turns with the strain, each man giving a

complete song. Of course it often happens that one or

more of the men ¢annot sing and they never rise higher

than the chorus, but they are exceptions to the rule.

Some of the songs are in long lines slowly repeated ;

these are employed where the work requires great effort

|

LABOUR SONGS.

181

exerted at comparatively long intervals. Othe1°s, and

notably the last, are intended to accompany rapid but

less strenuous effort.

The palankeen bearers are great singers, very fond

of having a sharp revenge on stingy employers by

inventing impromptu verses reflecting on their physical

and moral characteristics and those of their female re-

latives. So few Europeans understand them that they

I remember a stout

offend almost with impunity.

gentleman who had hired bearers to carry him up the

ghaut, but who was either so impecunious or illiberal

as not to offer a handsome present in consideration of

his unusual weight.

Unfortunately he knew low

Tamil well.

Hardly were they well on the ghaut

before his torment commenced. Mile after mile pro-

duced a portrait of him by some new hand.

It was

undignified to protest.

It was beyond human nature

to be patient. He fumed with rage. He ordered them

to be quiet—he wished to sleep. They obeyed for a

while, and then again broke forth the monotonous wail

against the untoward fate that compelled them to

carry a mountain up a mountain.

They gained their

end, though not in the way they wanted. The traveller

would not give, and could not put up with their com-

ments. When still a mile or more from the top, he

dismissed the bearers, and resolved to trust to his own

powers of climbing. Hours afterwards, a weary but

corpulent way-farer crawled into Coonoor—a sorrowful

victim of Dravidian impromptus.

The labor songs are the utterance of an illiterate*

182

LABOUR SONGS.

class.

They are almost unintelligible to a respectable

caste-man.

The language holds about the same re-

lation to literary Tamil as the Keighley dialect to the

English of Macaulay.

It will be seen they are not

without humour ; that about wives is exceedingly rich.

How the Bayadere’s song sprang up among coolies

it 18 not easy to see, unless it be due to the common

re-active feeling which makes the worker dream of the

happiness of the idle, and the hungry delight in visions

of luxurious meals.

It must be remembered that the

Bayadere or dancing-girl is not contemned like an

English prostitute.

Popular respect, and the absence

of all sense of moral guilt on their own part, have

ensured that they should respect themselves.

There

is no class of native society less frequently before the

criminal courts than the dancing-girl, that is, the pro-

fessional prostitute.

There are hundreds of abandoned

women, of whom this cannot be said, but they belong

to an entirely different class.

The song, therefore,

really amounts to no more than such an envious

effusion as might spring to the lips of some poor

London laborer when witnessing or dreaming of the

life of the “gilded youth” of Belgravia or Mayfair.

The first 1s a joyous offering to Pillaiyar, commonly

known as the Belly God. Iis respectable name is

Ganesa.

He is universally venerated as the God of

oood luck, the remover of difficultics. The poorer

classes are especially fond of him—their whole life is

one series of difficulties, and who then so welcome as

*» Pillaiyar.

He is represented with an elephant’s head

LABOUR SONGS.

183

and an enormous stomach, so that his name is very

appropriate.

There 1s a close connection between

Ganesa and Saraswati the goddess of learning, inas-

much as Ganesa will only remove such obstacles as

cannot, by the aid of knowledge, be surmounted. The

ordinary mythology makes them brother and sister.

——— Q-0 G OO

i

LABOUR SONGS.

Pillaiyar brings good luck to you,

And Saraswati wit.

Ho! Ho! work hard !

The God was born before Kudu.*

O clear our way some whit !

E

Ho! Ho ! work hard !

Kre Aluvar thou wast, I ween.

Pillaiyar, clear our way !

Ho! Ho ! work hard !

Beneath the banyan and the neem

To Pillaiyar I'll pray.

Ho! Ho! work hard!

* Proper names are so altered in the coolie patois, that it is doubtful

what Kudu and Aluvar in the next verse refer to. The latter may

be a corrupt form of the word alvar and refer to one of the twelve

rishis of Southern India. It may, however, be that both words describe

more homely things, and that kudu is but another form of kudi, a

house; and aluvar another form of aluval, business, labor.

In that case

the words would mean that Pillaiyar was anterior to the present state

of things, before there was work to be done or houses to be built,

184

LABOUR SONGS.

Oh, young Pillaiyar’s golden feet

I never will forget.

Ho! Ho! work hard !

Oh kind Pillaiyar, when we meet

How shall I pay my debt ?

Ho! Ho! work hard !

I'll take green gram and mix it well

With ten full pounds of rice,—

Ho! Ho! work hard !

And add oil seeds—how rich they smell—

They make the rice so nice.

Ho! Ho! work hard !

(1 ¢

Take then a heap of sugar-cane,—

"Twould serve to drive the ewes ;—*

Ho! Ho! work hard !

Aye, e’en picotta-work would gain

By using such bamboos.

Ho ! Ho! work hard !

* This and the next verse mean that the sugar-cane stick he will

offer shall be of the finest. It shall be strong enough to drive sheep

and cattle with, It shall be long and thick enough to serve as the

rod for a picotta, a machine for raising water from deep wells by hanging

a bucket at the end of a long pole and then attaching the other end of the

pole to one arm of an elevated horizontal lever. The weight of a

man on the other end of the lever raises the pole and with it the water.

This apparatus is found to be the most efficient means of raising water in

a land where coal is costly. It is another instance of the mode in which

Hindoos have very frequently hit upon the very best means of employing

natural forces for human purposes.

No European engineer would have

dreamt of such a contrivance—so simple and so inelegant—yet none can

supersede it.

The Railway companies have tried every possible deviee and

the best of English machinery, but have been driven back on the picotta,

LABOUR SONGS.

185

Then pluck some jack that hangs so great

Just at the tree’s gnarled root.*

Ho! Ho! work hard !

And from the guava tree its weight

Of sweet and luscious fruit.

Ho! Ho! work hard !

In bringing these I bear in mind

To gather leaves of green.

Ho! Ho! work hard!

Ascending northern slopes, I find

The plantain’s verdant sheen.

Ho! Ho! work hard!

Upon the southern side there grow

The taper leaves of teak.

Ho! Ho! work hard!

The flower that out of reach doth blow

I with a ladder seek.

- Ho! Ho! work hard!

9. Then with a crook and knife are shorn

The buds both rich and rare.

Ho! Ho! work hard !

And soon the epening flowers adorn

Some lock of jet black hair.

Ho! Ho ! work hard !

S === e

* The gigantic fruit of the Jack-tree does not hang from the smaller

twigs as with most other fruit trees. The fruit is so large and heavy

that anything less than a thick bough would be broken by its weight.

So it hangs from the trunk and strongest branches. The largest speci-

mens will often be found within a few feet of the ground.

t‘i

24

186

BAYADERE'S SONG.

BAYADERE’S SONG,

WITH MORAL.

1

From the banks of the Ganges the water they brought

In a vessel of brass.

Heave O! Heave O!

I bave washéd my feet as a dancing girl ought,

And have wiped them with silk.

Heave O! Heave O!

2. Let us go then, oh girls, before Madavan’s* shrine :

Let us worship him now.

Heave O! Heave O'!

If we offer our flowers to the image divine,

We may hope for new joys.

Heave O! Heave O!

3. What delight can exceed those of love and desire ?

And all these are for us!

Heave O! Heave O!

Oh my girls, like the pea-hen in mien and attire,

T was born for the dance.

Heave O ! Heave O'!

4. What a joy to be born as a girl for the dance !

And what more can I want ?

Heave O! Heave O'!

What a pleasure to feel I can do with a glance

More than kings on their throne !

Heave O! Heave O'!

* Madavan is abbreviated and corrupted from Mahadevan or the great

God—a title usually applied to Siva.

BAYADERE'S SONG.

187

Moral (by an ill-tempered man)

9

I would rather remain but a lump of vile clay

Than be only a girl.

Heave O! Heave O'!

For a potter can make it a pot any day,

And ’tis therefore of use.

Heave O! Heave O!

—eeE

The song entitled ¢ Mother” probably combines the

divine with the human, the goddess with the nurse.

The lower classes in the Tamil country worship very

largely a set of deities called Gramadévatas or village

deities.

These with two exceptions, Ayenar and Vira-

bhadra, are all females and take the title amma or

mother.

The chief of them are Ellamma, Agathamma,

Mariamma, Ankalamma and Bhadrakali, also called

mata or mother.

The little pagodas belonging to

these deities are found almost everywhere.

The tra-

veller in the interior will often have noticed near such

“Swamy-houses” a grotesque collection of hollow figures

of horses, elephants, demons, &c., made of burnt clay

and then glaringly colored. These images are offerings

made by grateful worshippers who suppose themselves

to have been preserved from danger or death by the

deity. One of the finest collections I have ever seen

is near the railway station at Caroor in Tanjore. Along

the coast, north of Madras, are regular hills composed

188

MOTHER.

entirely of the debris of such images, proving how great

the manufacture must have been in former times.

Thinly scattered fishermen’s huts are the only signs

of habitation now. The reader will be able to judge

as to which of the verses are intended to applied to the

earthly mother.

It is probable that every one has

either a direct or indirect reference to the deity.

MOTHER.

1 \Ve‘have bowed three times at your feet ;

We have bowed our head.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

Oh our mother, our thanks we repeat ;

And we wait in dread.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

2. We were borﬁ of thee, and our hope

Is in none but thee.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

Give us food and a sword ; else we mope,

And from foes we flee.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

3. Oh! How loud we shout, for we yearn

Thy bright face to see !

Yo Ho! Yo Ho'!

We have sought thee long, and we burn

For thy love so free.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

MOTHER.

189

Like a pear]l, mamma, is thy mouth,

May it speak again !

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

In my need, distress and in drouth,

I have begged in vain.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

(o) §

And for whom, I ask, is the grace

That by right is mine ?

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

Sons-in-law, their kin, or their race,

Who are nought of thine ?

Yo Ho! Yo Ho'!

Oh return, mamma, to your son !

I will then be still.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

Thou hast had five sons, and hast known

Of the pangs they feel.

Yo Ho !l Xe Hol

Thou hast known our hearts and the pain.

That doth break them now.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

Thou canst not thy love so refrain

As to scorn our vow.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

As for her, my love, who has none

Of her own to guard,—

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

How can she share the pain of a son,

Or his woes regard ?

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

190

MOTHER.

In your pain and love I was born,

And you gave my name.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

All the day, at night, and at morn,

You have fed my flame.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

10

As a field of milk you were then,

And in i1t T fed.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

As a pot of ghee to poor men,

You were thus my bread.

Yo Ho!! Yo Ho!

i1

And yet now with pain I am racked,

And my heart is fire.

Yo Ho! Yo Hol

And my side, how long has it ached !

And the pangs are dire.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

12

How my breast, mamma, doth up-heave !

Let it plead for me !

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

Is it fate, mamma, that I grieve,

Or my need of thee ?

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

SRR

The following needs no introduction.

It will be im-

mediately recognized as no mean member of the great

array of poetical attacks upon man’s “_better h;tlf.”

.

THE WIFE,

191

THE WIFE.

e

To every man is tied a wife,

She clings to him as long as life.

Yo Ho! Heave O'!

Of all our wealth she takes two-thirds,

Yet thinks we pick up more like birds.

Yo Ho! Heave O'!

If any day we give her none,

You'd think her wrath would ne’er be done.

Yo Ho! Heave O!

While still ’tis dark she turns us out,

But sleeps for two hours more, no doubt !

Yo Ho! Heave O'!

We toil all day with spade or bar ;

To bring our dinner ’tis too far.

Yo Ho! Heave O!

Oh ! How we strain and heave and sweat ;

While she buys cloths and runs in debt !

Yo Ho! Heave O!

No moment may we stay to rest ;

She works an hour a day at best.

Yo Ho! Heave O

19

THE WIFE,

We are too busy e’en to eat;

She scarcely ever leaves her seat.

Yo Ho! Heave O!

What comes of all the wage we earn 2.

Ah ! that from her no man can learn.

Yo Ho! Heave O!

Our breasts are bruised by rope and pole;

That ne’er prevents her daily stroll.

Yo Ho! Heave O!

Our pain is more than we can bear ;

She combs and oils her jet-black hair.

Yo Ho! Heave O'!

Sometimes we faint through heat and toil ;

To sweep the house her cloth would soil !

Yo Ho! Heave O'!

‘Tis well if we may earn some pice;

At home her mouth is filled with rice.

Yo Ho! Heave O!

We rest,—the master stops our pay,—

She scolds and bawls till morn is grey.

Yo Ho! Heave Q!

i e

How strange and odd a world is this,

To us the wprk, to them the bliss !

Yo Ho! Heave O!

— O

St

CHRISTIAN SONGS.

193

The following song is interesting as being the only

Christian one in the series. Yet it is truly a folk-song.

The early Roman Catholic missionaries were very suc-

cessful among the fishermen and coolies who made the

ancient city of St. Thomé their head-quarters.

With

the peace and physical prosperity introduced by the

English, these classes have become very numerous and

may be counted in the city of Madras by thousands.

Madras has absorbed St. Thomé much as London has

absorbed Westminster, and the fisher castes have spread

One of

southward, along the coast, for many miles.

the wealthiest religious corporations in India is the

Roman Catholic church of Royapuram, whose large

accumulated funds have come entirely from the thou-

sands of poor fishermen who look upon it as their

cathedral.

The requirements of a large city have

withdrawn many fisher families from the sea to utilize

them as common day-laborers or coolies, as they are

commonly called, from a word meaning daily wages.

A large number of pariahs; a still lower class, also

became disciples of the self-denying Catholic mission-

aries, and help to swell the proportion of converts

among the laboring class.

The Catholic missionaries, especially the Portu-

guese, have always shown a strong desire to assimilate

Christian ritual and social practice as much as possible

with those of the orthodox Hindus. Hence an ordinary

observer would not be able to notice any difference

between the Christian festival and procession of St.

Joseph and the Hindu festival and procession of

N

i

a9 3

194

CHRISTIAN SONGS.

Krishna or Pillaiyarswami. This principle led the

more capable priests to compose songs and poems, in

imitation of those so popular among the worshippers

of Vishnu and Shiva.

Beschi began the series with

lyrics in the high dialect, for the use of the better

castes.

Others went lower in the scale, and now there

1s a constant stream of vernacular Christian poesy

intended for the masses.

Beschi’s Tembavans, or para-

phrase of Seripture, is one of the very finest Tamil

poems and is constantly quoted by the pundits as

representing the most classical form of high Tamil,

It

takes an almost equal place beside the Cural for

beauty of language, although the text is but a greatly

corrupted transecript of the Bible.

Other less known

poems by Beschi are the Calivenba, Veda Vilaccum,

and Gunana Unerttal.

Robert de Nobili had set an

example many years before in poems which were

then highly esteemed. Beschi’s superior talent has,

however, driven his precursor out of the field.

The song now to be quoted was sung by a mixed

company of coolies, of whom not more than one-third

were Christians.

It appeared well known to them all,

and had doubtless been learnt by constant repetition,

as a matter of course, without any thought whether it

was Christian or Heathen.

Its short lines adapt it for

its purpose—to sing when the work required frequent

effort at short intervals.

After every line came the

chorus, “ Yells,” a corrupt patois for a word meaning—

work hard or well.

P

—

AR

e S

e

~ CHRISTIAN LABOUR SONG.

195

CHRISTIAN INJABOU R SONG.

RS

i

When time began

Chorus—Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

The mighty Lord

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Created man

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

With but one word.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

)

ol

All things depend

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

On other things,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

But from our Friend

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

They have their springs.

Yo Hg! Heave Ho!

}

Our God and Lord

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

On earth was born;

Yo Ho! Heave Ho'!

By us adored,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

In servant’s form.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

e e —

196

CHRISTIAN LABOUR SONG.

Justice and truth

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

He brought with Him,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho'!

His heart was ruth,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho'!

His eye not dim.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho'!

Q

He came to save

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

All men from sin ;

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

His life He gave

Yo Ho! Heave Ho'!

Our life to win.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

6

Men broke the law

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Our God had made,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Nor stood in awe

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Of what He bade.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

~J

Thus labor came

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

On all our race;

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

On man the blame,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

From God the grace.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho'!

CHRISTIAN LABOUR SOl\iG.

197

The fruit they ate

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Of Eden’s tree,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

A sin so great

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Brought all our dree.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

9

Since we must work

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

And feel the curse,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Let us not shirk

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Our fate adverse.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

10

Time glides away,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Our babes will cry.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

How long we stay ;

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Night cometh nigh.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

11

Then let us strive

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

E

Till work 1is done,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Keep heart alive

Yo Ho! Heave Ho'!

Till rest is won.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

198

CHRISTIAN LABOUR SONG.

12

Our work is great,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Much yet to do.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho

Time will not wait,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Howe’er we woo.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

13

But why so strive ?

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Our daily pay

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Will just contrive

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

To pay our way.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

The last verse sounds like an addition by some

workman not at one with the song.

He wants to

know why they should make haste.

They are daily

laborers ; their pay is enough to keep them alive ; if

they finish the work to-day, they will want work

to-morrow.

Why then should they be so anxious to

take delight in their curse?

That such improvised

additions are common, we may be quite sure.

The

Bayadere’s Song has just such another cynical turn

tacked on at the end. But there is actual witness to

As this

this mode, not of robbery but of addition.

very song was being taken down, the leader of the

singing thought opportunity and his talent combined

might cause a good chance of substantial benefit

SESSISES

e

CHRISTIAN LABOUR SONG.

199

coming out of the occasion.

So without a moment’s

hesitation, and making no sensible breach in the nar-

ration, he tacked on the following three verses.

The

verse just referred to cannot have been invented at

the same time, for it distinctly states that their wage

is sufficient, while these loudly proclaim how bare a

pittance it is.

1

Our pay is small.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Oh kind good Sir !

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

We one and all

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Ask you for more.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

This kindly man

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

If we but pray,

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Hell find a plan

l

Yo Ho! Heave Ho'!

To give more pay.

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

His Highness then

1

Yo Ho! Heave Ho

.

Will hear our prayer,

Yo do! Heave Ho!

And give us men

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

Good gifts to share.

e e e MR S s TORVANSM S e R A i L T i i Tt A

Yo Ho! Heave Ho!

200

CHRISTIAN LABOUR SONG.

As these verses were trolled out, the whole company

gave the choruses as smartly as if they knew them by

heart, and had heard them every day of their lives. It

must be confessed, though, that the improvisatore was

not equal to the maker of the song itself.

It will seem strange to a western reader that the

Cural of Tiruvalluva should be the most venerated and

popular book south of the Godavery. To those who

know the Illiad, the Afneid, the Divine Comedy,

Paradise Lost, and the Nibelungen Lied,as the epics of

great nations, it seems incredible that thirty millions of

people should cling to a series of moral essays as their

typical and honored book. There is no doubt of the fact

that the Cural is as essentially the literary treasure,

the poetic mouth-piece, the highest type of verbal and

moral excellence among the Tamil people, as ever

Homer was among the Greeks.

We can only explain

it by the principle that has so frequently been noted in

the preceding pages, that the whole aspect of the Dra-

vidian mind is turned towards moral duty.

There is not one military song in the whole collection

that has been made.

Nor can any be discovered,

except among the Moplas of Malabar.

They have

many legends of warlike adventure, but their basis is

Mahommedan and not Dravidian.

The Moplas them-

selves are followers of the prophet and are a mixed

race dating from modern times. The Seféys of the

#e

el

e

LS

o

e

il

THE CURAL,

201

British Army are fond of singing the exploits of a

certain Rajah of Gingee, but the book is quite modern,

and goes no further back than the struggle with the

Mahrattas. The poem is not worth translating. Much

of the Mahabharata and Ramayanam deals with fight-

ing, but the poems are exotics, nor are the battle

scenes those which have caught the public mind.

May we not imagine that it was this moral tendency

of the masses which prepared the way for, and main-

tained the existence of Buddhism. The Brahmans

frequently explain the tone of Tiruvalluva, Sivavakyer,

Kapila, Auveiyar and the other early Dravidian poets

by asserting that they were Jains. There is no proof

of this, but it can hardly be doubted that both Bud-

dhism and Jainism reflected the same popular tendency

that we see in the early poets.

The Brahmans ex-

tirpated Buddhism in India by fire, sword and relent-

less persecution. They could not touch the fons et

origo from which the rival religion derived its life.

By careful avoidance of theological discussion, Tiru-

valluva saved his work from the flood that destroyed

every avowed obstacle in its grievous course.

The

Brahmans could find no ground for persecution. No

priest can openly condemn the poet who called upon

wives to love their husbands ; upon men to be truthful,

benevolent and peaceful ; who enjoined mildness and

wisdom on those who governed ; and justice, obedience

and willing aid on' those who were ruled. The Cural

l:

says no word against a priest, commands faithful service

towards God, paints the happiness of a peac§fu1 home.

26

202

THE CURAL.

Few persons out of the Madras Presidency can have

any idea of the reverence and love that surrounds the

Cural.

Tts sentences are counted as binding as the

Ten Commandments on the Jews.

Its very language

It 1s no

has become the test of literary excellence.

exaggeration to say that it is as important in Tamil

literature, as influential on the Tamil mind, as Dante’s

great work on the language and thought of Ttaly. it

will not therefore be thought a digression to employ

a few pages in sketching the life, legendary certainly

but earnestly believed, of Tiruvalluva, the author of

the Cural.

It is contained in a book called the Tiruvalluva

Charitra. Strangely enough, though the Charitra or

Life is in every-day use among the better classes, it 1s

almost unknown to Europeans.

T am not aware that

it has ever been published or translated except by

Monsr. J. Vinson in the Revue Americaine et Orien-

tale, where a French version appeared some years ago.

There is also an abstract of the story by Dr. John in

the Fourth Volume of the Asiatic Researches.

1t 1s

well worthy of attention, but all that can be done in

these pages is to give a short abstract, dwelling espe-

cially on Tiruvalluva’s birth and early years.

Brahma desired that the languages of north and south

India should be brought to perfection.

For this pur-

pose his son Kasyapa took Urvasi to wife, and Vasish-

tha was born.

Urvasl was a courtesomn.

Vasishtha fell

in with Arundhati a chandali or out-caste woman, and

from her Sakti was born. Sakti’s son was Parasara, by

THE CURAL.

20

o

a pulecht or pariah woman (the word properly means

those who eat flesh),

Parasara’s son by a valeya

(pariah woman belonging to the fish-eating class) was

Vyasa.

All of these were learned in the Vedas and

brought the northern languages to a high state of

perfection.

To perform the same task on the southern or Dravi-

This

dian languages, Brahma made a Vedic sacrifice.

brought Kaleimagal or Saraswati

mto existence,

Brahma took her for his wife and Agastya was born.

He married a daughter of the Ocean, and begot

Sagara.

Sagara was the father of Bhagavan by a

pulechs.

Bhagavan was taught all knowledge.

\‘

At this time a Brahman named Tapamuni married

a Brahman woman, and was the father of a girl.

Being about to go on a pilgrimage, it was impossible

for him to be troubled with an infant.

He therefore

left the child by the roadside and thought no more of

her.

She was found by a respectable pariah belonging

to a small town in Mysore, and lived with him for

SOme years.

Then the skies rained sand upon the

village, and all perished but the little girl.

She was

mercifully received by a Brahman of Melur, named

Nityaya.

Bhagavan, having conquered all knowledge and at-

tained eminence as the holiest of Brahmans, went on a

pilgrimage to Benares. On his way he passed through

Melur and staid for the night at a chuttrum, or travel-

lers’ rest house, near the Brahman village.

Havin g

performed his devotions he began to prepare his food.

\ it WESEEIE S L

1

204

THE CURAL.

At that moment the girl came in to see the stranger.

He saw at once that she was a pariah, and she did not

deny the charge. He became so angry at the pollution

she brought that he drove her out with blows and

curses.

To hasten her departure he struck her on the

head with his curry ladle, inflicting a serious wound.

The saint went on to Benares, bathed in the Ganges,

and after a year or two returned to the south. Again

he passed through Melur.

Meanwhile the girl had

grown into the most lovely of women, beautiful as

Lakshmi.

Bhagavan caught sight of her and became

mad with love.

He applied to Nityaya for her hand.

The proposal was accepted. The marriage was post-

poned till Bhagavan’s return from Ramésweram, to

whose shrine he was bound to go.

On his return the

wedding began.

On the fifth-day he had to pour

oil on his bride’s head.

To do this perfectly he parted

her rich hair with his fingers.

This brought to light

the mark of the wound. Memory and conscience com-

bined to remind him of his former violence.

Struck

with double horror, he asked— Are you the woman 1

saw before ¢’

Q

N

ilence proved him right, and he fled

from the place.

The word adiyal means before.

The

question gave the woman a name—A4dx.

Bhagavan fled all day, but he could not outstrip

love.

Adi followed and presented herself at the chut-

trum where he rested. She refused to be separated

and yet live,

He was struck with her love, but

could not take a pariah.

He therefore named a con-

dition that he thought impossible of acceptance—

THE CURAL.

205

!i

“If you love me so much, you may on this condi-

tion come with me; every child that may be born

shall be at once abandoned. Agree to this and you

may come.”

She accepted the hard terms and, un-

married, went with him.

A girl was first born, Auwver, or more respectfully

Auveryar.

The mother’s heart yearned towards the

child, and she begged to be allowed to keep it. Bhaga-

avan replied in words that are sacred among the

Tamils.

Is that God dead who wrote upon our brow

The things that are to be ?

Can deepest pain

Be more than He can bear ?

Doth not He know

Thou hast a child ?

Let not thy fear complain.

This comforted the mother.

She left the little one

by the roadside and went on with Bhagavan.

The

child was found by some temple-singers and was

brought up among them as a dancing-girl.

She

became a famous authoress.

The most beautiful of

her works is entitled Attisuds, and 1s well worth

attention.

A portion of it was translated, some years

back by the Rev. W. Robinson,

His version has been

published in the Rev. P. Percival’s instructive book,—

The land of the Vedas.

The next child of Adi and Bhagavan was born

in the Tondamandala. It was a girl named Uppe:

or Uppeiyar.

Again the mother grew fearful and

cried—Who will take care of my little one? Bhaga-

van replied with the following verse.

It will be seen

206

THE CURAL.

that the birth of each child was the occasion of the

composition of a verse, in the metre called wvenba.

These verses are now most sacred, and are always

quoted with deep reverence.

They are probably quota-

tions from some larger work on the Providence of God,

which has been lost during the many centuries that

have passed since the days of Tiruvalluva.

The king whose pleasure it hath been to feed

All living things, from elephants to ants,

Who ruleth all, hath he forgot our need ?

Hath He not taken on Him all our wants ?

A mother thou, yet He is still thy God.

This overcame the mother’s objections, she left the

child behind and went on with Bhagavan.

Some

washermen found the girl and brought her up as their

own. It must be remembered that washermen, though

not absolutely pariahs, are the most despised of caste

people. To call an enemy a washerman, is to bestow

upon him the most deadly insult.

The child grew into

perfect beauty, and at her death was deified by the

common people as Mariamma, the goddess of the Small

Pox

She is evidently, from her name, rather the god-

dess of death.

It 1s hard to see how the beautiful

Uppel came to be identified with the dreadful Mariam-

ma

Many hymns of great beauty are ascribed to

her.

Bhagavan and Adi wandered into Tanjore, and

another child was born at Karuvur, probably the

modern town of Caroor.

This time it was a boy,

P

THE CURAL.

20

{

who received the name of Adigaman.

Again the

father reminded Adi of her promise ; again her heart

§

&

B

f:

C

iiled her, and she cried—Who will care for my child ?

Bhagavan, for the third time, turned her thoughts

Ao the goodness of God, in the following lines :—

The true and living God knows all our griefs.

He nourishes the egg ere 'tis begot:

He feeds the frog before its rock it leaves:*

If thus He cares for unborn things, will not

He make them grow, when He new life doth add ?

Oh, too distrustful mother, why so sad ?

Rejoice thee in thy God,—give Him the lad.

Comforted by these words, the mother left her son

and passed on with Bhagavan.

The boy was found

and brought to the king

of Cheéra, who caused him to

be instructed in all the

Adi-

learning of the time.

gaman became a great

poet, and recited his most

famous work, Ponvannattandadi, at Chillumbrum. His

fame reached the heaven of the Gods, who desired to

hear him recite and therefore took him to Kailasa at

once, without inflicting any subsequent births on him.

Bhagavan and Adi went on to Caverypatam, where

Once more the

another girl was born, named Uruvei.

mother complained of her hard fate, and again Bhaga-

van comforted her with thoughts of the goodness of

God

* Referring to the fact that frogs are sometimes found imbedded in trees

or rocks where, to all appearance, they must have been confined for a long

series of years, the poet uses it as a proof of the unceasing care exercised by

God over everything that lives,

208

THE CURAL.

Hast thou considered what a marvellous thing

It is that life within an egg should dwell ?

Or that the food of unborn child should spring

From that which doth its mother’s pains dispel ?

Why then, Oh mother, art thou so distressed ?

Thy God is still a God, by all confessed,

And knowing this thy fears should be repressed.

The child was found by certain charcoal-sellers of the

Shanar caste—one of the very lowest in the social

scale. She was devoted to God, and became a dancing-

girl of the first order.

Her accomplishments were

very great as, in addition to all perfection in her pro-

fession, she was a poet of a high class.

Her com-

positions have perished but not the reputation they

brought her. So great was her fame that she accepted

a challenge to dance with a God.

In that contest she

was worsted. After her death she is said to have

been deified under the name of Bhadrakali.

Bhagavan and Adi travelled to Trivellore, and in

that holy city Kapila was born. The mother grieved

to have to lose such a child, but was comforted with

the following verse :—

Though God cannot be seen, He knoweth all

Our many needs. He feedeth every day

The frog that on the forest rock doth crawl;

And from our birth till now, hath found a way

To give us day by day our daily food.

If thus it pleaseth Him to do us good

Will not the future bring such plenitude ?

THE CURAL.

209

Other copies of the book give a similar verse of

higher poetic force as the proper utterance on the

abandonment of Kapila.

As 1t 1s deserving of pre-

servation this alternative verse is given—

Is He that so protected us from birth

Until this very day, that nothing wrong.

Has ever happed to us;-—who made the earth

1

Bring forth enough to feed us for so

A

OO+

Hath he now turned from us or doth He sleep ?

Hath His great soul become like thine, to weep

Where it should joy ? Give Him thy child to keep.

Kapila was found by a Brahman, who educated him

as his own child, but dared not claim him as a member

of his caste. The child grew into a great poet. When

he reached manhood, he claimed the privileges of the

Brahman.

He was denied.

His next appeal was

backed by proofs of his great poetic power.

What

was refused to his birth was conceded to his genius

and he was admitted into the sacerdotal class.

The

chief of his works now existing is an Agaval or poem

in a particular metre.

It is especially noteworthy for

1ts attacks on caste.

A song that was probably a por-

tion of the A gaval has been inserted on page 168. The

poem also contains a short outline of that portion of

the Tiruvalluva Charitra which narrates the birth and

early progress of Bhagavan’s children.

The much tried mother travelled on with the man

she loved, and on a mountain in the South another

girl was born— Valliyamma,

Once more the mother’s

SRS S RS R

9

P

#~d

)

7

210

THE CURAL.

heart gave way and she cried out in her agony “ Who

will care for my child ?”

Bhagavan would not relent,

but soothed the stricken woman with the thought—

Will He who placed a living soul in thee,—

Who fed and made it grow within thy womb,—

Will He not feed it still, through life foresee,

O mother, all its wants ?

Where men entomb

Or burn their dead He danceth without fear.

His head is crowned with serpents ; they appear

As if on fire.

This God is always near.

The child was found by some members of a jungle

tribe known as Kuravers.

They are even lower than

the Pariahs.

The girl was brought up among them,

but devoted herself to God.

Her genius or penitence

was such that the ignorant people venerated her as a

deity, and to this day Valliyamma 1s one of the princi-

pal goddesses in the Pantheon of the pagans or

1ignorant village folk.

Bhagavan and Adi came towards Madras and at

Mylapore, one of its present suburbs, Tiruvalluva was

born.

For the last time the poor mother cried out

against the hard lot which compelled her to abandon

her child. Bhagavan replied—

Ts there or is there not a God whose care

Protects all living things ?

Have we not life ?

Then why, O mother, dost thou flutter here

And cling so fondly to thy babe.

Such strife

With God is wrong.

On earth all things that are

Are those that ought to be.

We may not bar

The course of things, else we God’s world may mar.

THE CURAL.

211

With this Bhagavan and Adi disappear.

Their

work was done.

Tiruvalluva was left

under

the

branches of a tree, the Bassia Longifolia.

For some

days no one came near the sacred spot, but the child

E;

was nourished by honey which fell into his mouth from

the flowers of the tree. At length the wife of a Vellala

or cultivator made a pilgrimage to the shrine near

which the tree stood.” She had no child and yearned

for one.

A heavenly voice bade her take this boy.

She knew it was the offspring of an out-caste, and named

it Tiruvalluva, or the holy pariah.

She

and her

husband rejoiced in their adopted son, but the neigh-

bours soon discovered the secret of its discovery or

N QY

Da

accepted it as a proof of the poor woman’s wickednes

They persecuted the unhappy pair so much that the

Vellala took the boy to a stable outside the village,

that is in the pariah quarter, and arranged with the

poor pariahs to bring him up. He continued with

them till he was five years old when, learning how

much his adoptive parents were maltreated on his

behalf, he bade them farewell with many expressions

of sorrow, and fled to the mountains, where he dwelt

with the holy hermits, and among them was taught all

the known sciences and philosophy.

When Tiruvalluva was grown up a fearful monster

invaded the plains.

He ravaged and destroyed wher-

ever he went and none could withstand his dread-

ful power.

At this crisis a rich landowner proclaimed

that to any person who would kill the monster, he

would give immense wealth, a whole township, and

212

THE CURAL.

everything else that might be desired.

None dared

to accept the task even on such terms. The despairing

et S b T~

landowner turned at last to the hermits and asked for

such aid as they could give.

They too shrank from

the task, and only Tiruvalluva dared to attempt it.

He was successful.

The death of the monster restored

peace and prosperity to the whole land. The Vellala

landowner was so pleased that*he gave the village,

wealth and all he had promised, and added the hand

|

of his daughter Vasuki, whom Tiruvalluva married.

She proved almost a miracle of goodness, and the songs

in the Cural describing the excellency and value of a

good wife were confessedly drawn from her life.

Tiruvalluva was now wealthy, but he thought 1t

il

wrong for any man merely to live, without producing

some share of that which he consumed. After careful

thought, therefore, he became a weaver.

His good

wife and he toiled hard at their work, living the while

in the performance of every public and private duty.

He now gathered many disciples, instructing them in

all that concerned holy living.

To prove his right to

teach he performed many miracles. As his disciples

increased they desired that he should make a book in

his own name, so that all the world might know how

best to live, both in this life and those that were to

come.

In reply to this repeated request, he sung the

Cural in thirteen hundred and thirty verses.

He di-

vided it into three parts treating respectively of virtue,

wealth, and physical pleasure.

There was then at Madura a college of forty-nine

THE CURAL.

213

learned men, who arrogated to themselves the right of

deciding finally upon the merits of every literary effort.

The legends sometimes say that these poets challenged

all the world to equal them or bear their criticism, and

that therefore Tiruvalluva humbled their pride ; and

sometimes that he desired to hear their judgment and

sought them. However this may be, he went to

Madura.

On the road he met his sister Auveiyar and

a contemporary poet of high reputation named Ideik-

kada, and they went together before the college.

There he recited his poem. The savants were astonish-

ed but would not at once give way. So they put him

a series of questions, which he immediately answered

in verses of deep meaning but humorous form.

Still not satisfied, and especially noting that he was

but a pariah, who could not be supposed to merit such

distinguished honor as their approbation would confer,

they said—“ O Pariah, a doubt has arisen in our minds

concerning the worth of your book, solve this and we

will accept it.

It is‘ this-—the bench we sit on has

remarkable power, it will only allow upon 1t books

written in pure high Tamil.

So place your book on 1it.

If the bench receive it, we will also.”

Tiruvalluva

— ——— e ————

accepted the test ‘and placed his book on the bench.

The effect was magical. The long bench, that would

easily seat fifty persons, began to contract lengthwise,

One after another of the judges fell off, until the bench

was but just large enough to carry the book and nothing

else.

Nothing more could be said. The savants so dread-

214

G

. THE CURAL.

fully discomfited were honorably free in praise of the

Cural. KEach man dictated a verse eulogizing the book

and 1ts author.

These verses remain and are in many

cases the sole evidence of the early remown of the

writers.

Tiruvalluva’s glory has never known dimi-

nution, and from that day the Cural has been the

king of books in the Tamil language.

On his return home, Tiruvalluva went back to his

old life, earning with his hands enough for the sub-

sistence of himself and wife, and giving all his wealth

away in hospitality.

He was once asked which had

the greater merit in the sight of God,—a life spent at

home in the practice of domestic virtue, or a life apart

He de-

from men spent in meditation and penance.

cided in favor of the former, but the questioner could

not withhold his opinion that Tiruvalluva’s excellent

wife made all the difference. When she died the glory

of his life departed, and though he lived many years

after, he never recovered the blow.

When his own

death was certain, he called his favorite disciple and

said,—“The time of my entire perfection is near.

When it has come, tie a rope round my body and

Throw 1t

drag it beyond the limits of the village.

under some bush and leave it there.” Then he thanked

God that bis perfection had so nearly come and; worn

out with long and faithful service, lay down and seem-

ed to die.

With loving disobedience the disciple pre-

pared a golden coffin, and placed the body within it.

But the saint was not dead.

Opening his eyes and

seeing his surroundings, he said to the disciple—

s

AL

et

=

2

&,

THE CURAL.

215

¢ What ?

You have not done what I desired!” With

that, it pleased God to take the patient perfect soul

to himself.

The disciple could no longer disobey.

Literally obeying the words of his master he left the

corpse under a bush.

What wonder filled the people

when they saw that the crows and other animals that

devoured his fiesh became beautiful in outward form

and of the color of gold !

They erected a temple over

the spot and there worshipped the man who had ever

taught them to worship God alone.

Now this story is evidently in great measure legend-

ary.

Its main object 13 to prove that Tiruvalluva and

all the early Dravidian writers were Brahmans, or at

least of Brahman parentage.

Adi, the mother of them

all, was admittedly brought up as a pariah, but then

she was the abandoned child of a Brahman couple.

Bhagavan was the son of a pariah mother, as was also

his father, and therefore could not have been anything

but a pariah himself, but excessive learning overcame

this difficulty. Tiruvalluva was confessedly brought up

as a pariah, but his powers and learning fully justified

his birth and proved him a Brahman after all.

It is as clear as the light that all this is but an

example of the literary fraud that has so often been

referred to.

With Kapila, things were carried further ;

and his poems were claimed as translations from Sans-

krit originals.

Popular feeling has prevented the fraud

from being completed, for, under Brahman law, con-

nection with a pariah woman is fatal to caste, and this

connection tradition compelled the authors of the

216

THE CURAL.

Charitra to accept. But the compromise itself suggests

that some pariahs in very early times must have occupi-

ed a very different position from now.

They, or some

of the better of them, could dwell in Brahman houses,

they could be wives and concubines of Brahmans, the

highest means of education were at their service.

1t

probably suggests that the name was then given to

classes that are now accepted as Sudras, as for example

the weaver castes—Salian and Kaikalar.

This has

long been suspected by those who have looked into the

condition and probable history of the lower Sudra

castes.

There are the potters for instance.

They are

known in the caste system as Kosavan, Kumbara,

Koravan, &c., and are inferior but acknowledged

members of the great Sudra caste.

Yet there 1s a

great probability that they are but domesticated (so to

speak) members of the jungle race known as Kurubas,

Koravers, Kurumbers, &ec.

Pot-making is the main

occupation of both, The pot-maker is an essential

mwember of a society which only uses earthen vessels ;

and convenience insisted upon his being recognized as

a suitable person to deal with and be permitted to live

in the village.

The story of Tiruvalluva’s weaving probably shows

that this was his caste occupation.

But this would

explain every difficulty, for the weaver may enjoy the

privileges the poet received, except that of marrying a

Vellala woman.

It 1s of a piece with the history

of his mother and grandmother, and would show

that, before the castes had time to crystallize, before

THE CURAL,.

217

peace and assured prosperity had made them exclusive,

there was much intermarriage that would now be

deemed highly irregular.

Strip the story of its Brahmanical element and we

learn that Tiruvalluva was a member of a low Dra-

vidian caste, that he attained great celebrity as a poet

and as a noble man, that he owed nothing and gave

nothing to the sacerdotal caste (after the disappearance

of Bhagavan there is not one reference to a Brahman

in all the story), and that he was but one of many great

Tamil poets who lived about the same time.

He

probably flourished about the third century of our era.

The Cural is divided into three parts, and contains

one hundred and thirty-three pathigams or chapters of

ten verses each. The popular reverence it gained from

the very first has ensured its preservation, and it is

probable that we have it almost unaltered. It has

received frequent attention but has never, as far as I

am aware, been fully translated into any European

language.

The third part is, in fact, not suited for a

Christian dress.

There 1s, with this reservation, a

German translation by Graul in the Bibliotheca

Tamulica.

The Rev. W. H. Drew translated the first

sixty-three chapters into English prose in a masterly

way, but died before he could complete the work.

Dr. John translated selected portions and published

them 1n the Asiatic Researches. A selection of stanzas

from the first thirteen chapters was translated in

metre by Mr, F. Ellis, an eminent Madras -civil

servant.

The rendering is exceedingly clumsy, but is

28

218

THE CURAL.

the only blot in a most valuable work,

It should

be admitted, however, that translation was not Mr.

Ellis’ object, so much as grammatical analysis and

the illustration of Tiruvalluva’s ideas by parallel pass-

ages from other eminent Tamil poets.

The abrupt

cessation of Mr. Ellis’ labors in this direction was a

great misfortune for Tamil literature.

Isolated chap-

ters, from the pens of missionaries, have occasionally

appeared in religious publications,

Beyond this I am

Mons. Ariel

not aware of any English renderings.

wrote two learned articles on the Cural in the Journal

Astatiqgue 1n 1848 and 1852, containing translations

of many interesting portions, and thus drew consider-

able attention to the subject in France, but the lead

does not appear to have been followed except) more

recently, by Mons, J. Vinson, a learned French official

at Karikal, who has written several valuable papers

on Dravidian literature and language for the Revue

Orientale.

The following versions have been carefully made

and, it is hoped, will give an accurate idea of the style

and matter of Tiruvalluva’s work. They form about

one-eighth of the whole book and one-sixth of the two

parts that are adapted to European codes of propriety.

For the first three odes, I am indebted to the kind

aid of A, W. D. Campbell, Esq., now Head Master

of the Bellary Provincial School.

(7

y

o

a2

PRAISE OF GOD.

219

ODES FROM THE CURAL

PRAISE OF‘G-ODO

e s e

As A is the first of all letters on earth,

So is God everlasting of all that hath birth.

The blest feet of the Fount of pure knowledge adore,

Else nought will avail thee, vain pedant, thy lore.

Fast flit those bright feet o’er the flow’r of the mind,

They who clasp them shall flourish, when worlds have declin’d.

At the feet of the Passionless, blessed to rest,

No harm can approach, and no evil molest.

;

Whoso bringeth to God real homage of heart,

Hath with deeds, the twin offspring of darkness, no part.

Long shall prosper the man that pursues the pure way

Of Him whom the lusts of the senses obey.

If, when sorrows oppress thee, relief thou would’st seek,

Fly, fly to the feet of the mighty Unique.

The billows of sin shall not close o’er thy soul,

If thou make but the Ocean of virtue thy goal.

At the feet of the Attributes eight lay thy head,

Else shall it but be as a sense that is dead.

The tide of existence no swimmer can ford,

Save he that doth cling to the feet of the Lord.

AR e AL 10 A

220

THE EXCELLEI-‘ICE OF RAIN.

Every vernacular book begins with an ascription of

praise to some deity. Usually Ganesa and Saraswati

are invoked, but Tiruvalluva would have nothing to do

with them. His opening chapter is to “The everlast-

ing God.” The second song also follows a general

custom. Rain is the great requirement of a tropical

country. Without it, man and beast must perish.

With abundance of rain all nature smiles, plenty fills

every garner, poverty becomes bearable for there is the

the certainty of food. Most ancient books therefore,

follow the invocation of the Deity with the “ praise of

rain.”

A collection of these odes would give a very

elevated idea not only of the poetical power of the

Dravidian people, but of their appreciation of the

beneficent operations of nature, and of their percep-

tion of the dignity and beauty of the physical world.

————

THE EXCELLENCE OF RAIN.

st

'Tis the showers sustain

All nature’s domain ;

Fit name is Ambrosia for life-giving rain.

Tis the showers of rain

That produce the grain,

Yield the food that we eat, and the draught that we drain

THE EXCELLENCE OF RAIN.

221

If the clouds grudge us rain,

Drought, dearth and their train

Will cause the vast sea-girdled world to complain

If we get not our rain,

The source of all gain,

Farewell to the plough in the hands of the swain.

The showers of rain

Lay waste the plain,

Then haste to repair their havoc again.

If the clouds withhold rain,

Through the whole champaign

Not a blade of the bright green grass will remain.

Did the clouds not, in rain,

Pay the drops they have ta'en,

They would minish the wealth of the measureless main.

Could mortals no rain

From heaven obtain,

No feasts would they keep ; they would brood o’er their pain.

g

\

If the sky gave no rain,

Alms, penance were vain,

And soon would mankind abandon the twain.

Without water, would wane

All that earth doth contain ;

But there cannot be water, unless there be rain

e O R R R o

T

222

VIRTUE.

VIRTUE.

Virtue can alone bestow

Bliss above and bliss below :

Say, Oh say, can man possess

Greater source of happiness ?

If to virtue thou take heed,

Ev’ry good will be thy meed :

11ls unnumber’d overtake

Those who virtue’s path forsake.

Virtue how thou may’st attain,

Ever strive with might and main

All thy days to virtue lend,

All thy pow’rs for her expend.

Where a heart, from sin exempt,

Prompteth not to some attempt,*

There alone is virtue found :

All besides is empty sound.

Would’st thou, what is virtue, know ?

All concupiscence forego :

Malice shun ; thy wrath restrain ;

Keep thy tongue from words that pain.

Leave not virtue till the last,

Choose her ere a day be past.

She will be, when death is nigh,

A support that cannot die.

* This verse will seem obscure to a European, but is full of meaning to

the Hindu. When a man knows God, he learns that the wise and infinite

Deity has given him all he needs—that he cannot be made happier by

striving after worldly fame, wealth or pleasure. His heart therefore should

dwell in perfect peace, making no attempt to indulge the senses or gratify

the passions.

VIRTUE

223

Needs no diatribe to show

Virtue’s friend and virtue’s foe

Mark who rides along the road ;*

Note who toils beneath the load

He that loseth not a day,

Adding good to good alway,

Is a barrier to impede

Ages that would else succeed.+

Raptures true from virtue flow

Other raptures none can know

All else, rapture but in name

May no panegyric claim

Whatsoe’er is meet to do

That is virtue ; that pursue

Whatsoe’er 1s meet to shun

That is vice, and best undone

e e

* This couplet is explained by a song already given (Page 169,) where we

learn that the present condition of every human being is

“ The logical result

Of deeds of good or bad.”

The man who rides is being rewarded for patience, justice, toil and faith

either in early life or a former birth. The poor man, who faints in the

burning sun under his heavy load, is suffering the due and just reward

of his actions

Every act must be worked out

It cannot fail in meeting

its reward whether of bliss or pain

T Repeated births are considered an evil

The very fact that any living

soul remains on earth is proof that it has not yet worked off the score

against it in the book of God. When by perfect patience, faith, and works,

no sin remains unbalanced, the soul suffers no further birth but goes up to

God, to be absorbed in Him, Good deeds therefore prevent future births

-~

NS

224

THE HUSBAND.

THE HUSBAND.

e e

s

He who is a firm support

Of the good wherever found,

With domestic bliss is fraught

And his joys abound.

Household joys shall crown his head

Who doth aid the helpless poor,

Pays due reverence to the dead,

Qpens wide his door.

Man’s whole duty is expressed

In five-fold service and its cost—

Done to God, himself, his guest,

Those he loves, and lost.

Sons shall always fill the house

Where the master shares his food

With the poor; and ne’er allows

Vice to taint his good.

Love and virtue when combined

Wedded life to bless and guard,

Show its worth as God designed

And its great reward.*

* This striking verse might well be adopted as the motto of every home.

e e,

O

THE HUSBAND.

“d

He who rules his house in peace,

Making virtue’s rule his law,

Hath mighty merit, swift release ;

No recluse hath more.

Thousands strive for future bliss

He comes nearest to the goal

Who at home is not remiss,

Blessing every soul.

Swerving not from virtue’s path,

Ruling well the household store,

Sheltering hermits by his hearth,—

Penance can no more.*

Marriage is a virtue true:

Marrying not is sometimes right.

But, amongst a world, how few

Can abstain aright.{

‘Who on earth in wedlock lives

As the strictest duty calls,

Place among the Gods receives,

Rests in heavenly halls.

e O O

* This and the sixth verse are hard hits at the sacerdotal system, which

makes penance and meditation the highest duties of life.

T How exactly this chimes in with the language of St. Paul ! Tiruvalluva

is pre-eminently the social poet.

In his eyes there is no state of life so

pleasing to God as that of the upright, loving, peaceful family. The good

husband is better than the most suffering hermit

29

i

26

THE

WIFE.

THE

WIF E.

S |

The wife who excels in the duties of home

And prudently spends the household means,

Is a help-meet indeed wherever she come,

Though still in her teens.

The house may be great, may be rich and well known,

And full of the rarest that money can buy ;

Yet all are as nothing if the wife be a drone,—

Will not even try.

What can that householder desire or wish more

Who has a good wife to take charge of his folk ?

But if she be bad, e’en the richest is poor,

And death will invoke.

What treasure on earth can compare with the prize

That falls to the man who obtains a good wife ?

As stable and chaste as the lofty blue skies

She brightens his life.

Each morning adoring her own master and swain,

Forgetting the God that is greater than he,

She yet so prevails—if she say “let it rain,”

A storm there will be.*

* So strict a dutyis it for the wife to honor her husband that, if

in doing this, she forget her God, she shall yet be counted as highly worthy.

To honor her husband is to honor God, and therefore the good wife serves

the Deity even when she is not aware of it.

THE WIFE.

227

Who guards from reproach her own matronly fame,

And cares for her husband throughout his whole life,

Preserveth unsullied the family-name,—

She is a true wife.

The guard of a woman is chastity’s fence ;

q

€

Without it defenceless

i

C

and shameless 1s she.

High walls might prevent her departure from thence,

Yet guilty she’d be*

The wife that due reverence pays to her lord

Will reap her reward in the heavens above;

The Gods in their Swerga high place will afford,

And her fgiley will love.

No husband can walk with a lionlike tread,

Be bold when his neighbours or foes should revile,

Whose wife has not chastity’s mantle o’erspread,

But selleth her smile.

Good children are jewels adorning the wife

Who crowneth her husband with loving delight.

Her excellence seizes all causes of strife,

Withdraws them from sight.

e e Qe

* This verse would seem to show that the modern system of lecking

women within the house did not then exist.

There is every reason to

believe that the physical restrain in which Hindu women are so often kept

is copied from the Mussulmans, and is but five or six centuries old.

—

228

CHILDREN.

CHILDREN.

o

In all the world there is no greater good than this—

To have between the knees a son

Whose intellect is bright.

The evils of the seven births shall ne’er be hig

Whose sons are free from vice, and shun

The deed that hates the light.

Men call their sons their wealth because they reap in blisy

The good they do the little one

Whose weakness is his might.

The rice in which their child’s small hand has played, I wis,

Is sweeter to the parents’ tongue

Than could the Gods invite:

What touch is sweeter than our children’s loving kiss ?

What sound thrills deeper than the tone

Of childhood’s wild delight ?

“The pipe is sweet, the lute is sweet,” say they who miss

The music of their child’s hot fun,

When play is at its height.

One mighty good a fatker gives his children is

To be the best when wise words run

From lips in learned fight.

A P SIS e S

CHILDREN.

229

To e’en the greatest man it cannot be amiss

To joy in that his son has come

Where higher views excite.

The mother when she hears her darling son called wise,

Joys more than when his life begun,

And he first blessed her sight.

That son is good whose life compels the crowed to guess—

“ What penance has the father done

To get a son so bright ?”

The last three songs describe the duties of husbands,

wives, and children in the family. Those that follow

describe our duty to others,

Love comes first, for it is

the key of every duty, but the poet is earnest in show-

ing that even love becomes an evil unless combined

with virtue.

The duty of hospitality is insisted on

with all the energy of an Arab. Gratitude is extolled

in terms that most Christians would deem extravagant.

This is the more noteworthy seeing that it has been

frequently stated that the Dravidians have no percep-

tion of this virtue, because there is no single word in

their languages carrying the idea.

If the fact were

true, the inference would still be wrong. There is no

word in the English language for filial love, for a

father-in-law, for a metalled road, for an iron-clad

vessel, yet it would be absurd to suppose that no such

things existed. But it is not the fact, for the simplest

school dictionary contains four or five neat renderings

230

CHILDREN.

of the word gratitude.

It is true they are not simple

roots but compound words describing the idea. Thus

the title of the chapter of the Cural means—recog-

nizing a good that is done.

But the English word

is of similar character, though not nearly so clear in

form.

Gratitude comes from gratus, which properly

means joyful.

Gratus may probably be referred to an

earlier form, corresponding to the Greek Xa,pw, and this

is derived from a root simply meaning rare, valuable.

Gratitude therefore means “ the joy of receiving.” The

words gratitude and care show how great the gulf be-

tween the original meaning of the root and the present

signification of the derivative.

The Tamil word is as

perfect in form and clear in meaning as the English

It cannot be too often remembered

word telegram.

that the great body of Europeans in India know

nothing of Hindu people of the respectable class.

Servants are almost invariably pariahs and have no-

thing in common with the better castes but country and

language.

That the lowest of the low are given to

deceit, fraud and the blackest ingratitude may be true,

although it is not admitted as being more deserved

than by any other low class, but it is most injudicious

and highly unfair to predicate of the respectable class

that which has only been observed in the outcast and

the ignorant.

Let their songs be witness of the senti-

ments of the middle class.

LOVE.

ro

31

LOYVE.

[

Can the skili of man devise

Aught to bar love’s sway ?

When we would its hopes disguise,

Tearful eyes betray

Loveless natures, cold and hard,

Live for self alone.

Hearts where love abides regard

Self as scarce their own.

Love and virtue once were wed

In the days of old,

Soul and body then were bred

As we now behold.

Love begetteth strong desire,

Thirst for intercourse.

This createth something higher—

Friendshi'p’s sacred force.

Heaven’s happiness, they say,

Crowns the good above.

It began when virtue lay

In the arms of love.*

* It should be borne in mind that the * Love” of this ode is almost syn-

onymous with the word ¢ Charity,” as found in the standard rendering of

St. Paul’s Epistles,

It is by no means to be confounded with amativeness,

or the mutual affection of man and woman,

232

LOVE..

Vice from love doth often grow,

Love from deepest sin.

Yet the foolish say they know

Love is virtue’s kin.*

Thus i1s it when virtue firm

Hath no loving goal,—

As the sun doth burn the worm,

So it kills the soul.

In his home the loveless man

Withers as he lives.

Like a tree beneath a ban,

Which no stream relieves.

What will active limbs avail,

Lands or growing wealth,

If no love o’er all prevail

Giving manly health ?

Where the body hath a soul,

Love hath gone before.

Where no love infils the whole,

Dust it is, no more.

e Qe O L

* How clear the definition between love and virtue ! Tiruvalluva counts

hospitality as one of the chiefest virtues, but, as in this verse, would

denounce indiscriminate alms as a vice that grows from love.

Compare

these remarks of a * heathen’ with the new American school that would

carry into action the adage that * Love shall still be Lord of all ”

HOSPITALITY.

233

HOSPITALITY.

R —

Domestic life, the heaped-up store,

Should look to one great end,—

To bless the stranger and the poor

By hospitality.

Though one ambrosia should pour,

To which the Gods would bend;

To wish a guest outside the door

Is immorality.

To children’s children evermore,

God doth salvation send,

Of him who daily giveth more

In hospitality.

Prosperity dwells on his floor

Who cheerfully doth tend

His guest, and ever proveth pure

His liberality.

Their fields give increase by the score,

Though they no seed expend,*

Who eat but what their guests abhor,

Through hospitality.

* Compare Proverbs xi. 25.

¢ The liberal soul shall be made fat : and

he that watereth shall be watered also himself,”

0

234

HOSPITALITY.

The Gods will greet those on the shore

To which the good ascend,

Who having guests, new guests implore,

With true humility. |

Who can a kindly deed explore,

Or trace it to its end ?

"Tis measured only by the lore

Of hospitality.

“To heap up wealth we laboured sore,

Yet now on gifts depend”—

Say they who from all good forbore

Through lack of charity #*

Amidst their wealth they most are poor

Who ne’er the poor befriend.

Their wealth they only can restore

By hospitality.

The Anicham fades long before

Its sweets you apprehend ;

So fares the guest whose host’s a boor,

i

Without civility.

a

P

st

-

.

{

* Compare Proverbs xi. 24.

“ There is that scattereth, and yet in-

creaseth ; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to

9

poverty.

AU S S

GRATITUDE.

2

3

5

;(‘rRATI’i‘ UDE.

P

=

A benefit conferred, where none has been received,

Is greater worth than e’er could be achieved

By giving heaven and earth.

And should the gift be made in bitter time of need,

Though it be smaller than the smallest seed,

e e

You cannot weigh its worth.

Who counteth not how great return his gift will bring,

Shall find it weighed by others, as a thing

More heavy than the sea.*

It may be smaller than the smallest seed, and yet,

It is to those who feel its power, as great

As yon palmyrah tree.

* How often do these passages of Tiruvalluva remind of Holy Writ !

Q)

Compare, for example, this verse with Luke vi

90,

“ Give, and it shall be

given you ; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running

over, shall men give into your bosom.”

I have heard missionaries declare

that no other uninspired man, who had not the Bible at his elbow, ever came

so near the truth in the higher morality as Tiruvalluva.

The first book

deals especially with this subject.

The maxims of the second book, especi-

ally those dealing with the duties of kings, reveal an equal breadth of

|

mind,

236

GRATITUDE.

We should not measure kindness by its money-cost,

But by the need and worth of those it crossed

When rushing to their end.

Remember all thy life the kindness of the good ;

And him who helped thee when thou lackedst food

Count as thy dearest friend.

His love whose hand hath wiped away the falling tear

Can never be forgotten, neither here

Nor in the sevenfold birth.

It is as great a sin to keep a wrong in thought

One moment after, as to count as naught

The gift that saved in dearth.

A single benefit conferred in former time

Will hide, as if in death, a present crime,

F’en though thy blood it spill.

He that hath broken every law of God or man

May yet escape, yet none may ’scape the ban

Who payeth good with ill.

— R —

PATIENCE.

237

PATIENCE,

e,

e

How good are they who bear with scorn

And think not to return it !

They’re like the earth that giveth corn

To those who dig and burn it.

E’en when you can repay in kind,

Reproach should aye be borne with

But not to keep the thing in mind

Is best to repay scorn with.

No poverty so deep as that

Which leaves the stranger cheerless

No strength so mighty in combat

As his whom right makes fearless.

Should you desire to bear for aye

A name of highest merit ?

Then patience should adorn each day

And exercise thy spirit.

None can esteem a hasty boor,

Yet all will love the peaceful.

For they are like a golden store,

So sweet they are and blissful.

S LI

bO

3

U\J

PATIENCE,

Resentful hearts may joy a while ;

It will not last the morrow.

But long as earth with flowers shall smile

The meek shall know no sorrow.

Though men should injure you, their pain

Should lead thee to compassion.

Do nought but good to them again,

Else look to thy transgression.

The proud are hateful to their friends,

Offend when they caress you.

Be patient—they will make amends,

Be overcome and bless you.

Ascetics should be holy folk ;

|

But those who bear with rudeness,

|

F’en when intended to provoke,

Are blessed with far more goodness

"Tis good to overcome desire,

Abstain from dainty dishes.

To better things thou shouldst aspire ;

Endure discourteous speeches.*

?

\'—'/-\§E&2//’:\/"

* How high the religious state of the man who fifteen centuries ago could

4;

write this and the preceding verses.

It should be remembered that all the

leaders of religious thought among the Brahmans have placed asceticism as

the highest of virtues. It is startling to hear a writer whom many would

call a “ heathen” declare that it is nobler and more pleasing to God to be

patient under wrong than to spend a life in holy meditation ; nobler to

endure a discoul}%ous speech than to overcome the physical passions.

e

BACKBITING.

239

BACKBITING.

|

l

——es

Though he speak not of right,

And sin with his might,

It is much if ’tis said that he does not backbite.

To deceive with his smiles

The man he reviles,

Is the sin above all which most deeply defiles.

Either here or in hell

In pain he shall dwell,

And receive the reward that the Shasters all tell.

Though you speak to one’s face

In words that abase,

In his absence be mindful to speak in his praise.

How empty the mind

Whose praise is but wind !

For see, he reviles when his victim’s behind.

;

All his faults are sought out

And published about,

Who the faults of another delighteth to shout.

L

240

BACKBITING.

He who laughs with a friend

Has friends without end.

If he cannot do this all his words will offend.

If he backbite his own,

The friends he has known,

What will he not do to the poor and the lone ?

Were it not for the good

Who vengeance withstood,

E’en the earth would have swallowed the backbiter’s brood

If their faults men but knew

As others they view,

Would the slandergr dare his profession pursue ?

e ) G

Every verse of this ode reminds of some correspond-

ing saying in our own literature.

The last verse 1s a

transcript of Burns’ immortal lines.

The one before it

renders literally more than one passage of the Old

Testament.

The fourth verse anticipated by a thou-

sand years the John Bull adage.— Say what you like

to a man’s face but never abuse him behind his back.”

The sixth and seventh bring to remembrance the saying

of our Lord—* Judge not, and ye shall not be judged :

condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned : forgive,

and ye shall be forgiven.”

BENEVOLENCE,

241

BENEVOLENCE.

B —

The clouds feed earth with rain,

The earth makes no return.

And thus the good disdain

Rewards that gifts might earn.

To be benevolent

Unto the worthy poor,

Is why all wealth is sent,

And labor addeth more.

Among the Gods above,

Nor in this world below,

Can aught so good as love

Be made with ease to grow.

He only truly lives

Whose charity is free.

But he who never gives

Is dead as dead can be.

The wise his wealth doth bank

By blessing all he meets :

Like streams from brimming tank

Cooling the dusty streets.

42

BENEVOLENCE

A wealthy liberal man

Is like a fruitful tree,

That ripens in a town,

Whose fruit to all is free.

With him who knows its use,

Great wealth is like a plant

Whose bark and leaves conduce

To cure each dire complaint.

And if their wealth should waste

The wise will still bestow :

And think that care misplaced

Which fears what time may show.

The good are only poor

When naught remains to give.

Then sorrow presses sore,

They fear ’tis wrong to live.

Some say that gifts are loss :

Their statement may be true.

"Twere well to bear that cross,

Though slavery ensue.

et T~ U

S

INCONSISTEN@Y.

243

INCONSISTENCY.

His very self will laugh aloud

And mock his tortuous path,

Who lives in fraud and lies.

Though high as heaven professions rise,

i

What can they €e’er avail

P>

Ag

Lo )

inst permitted sin ?

o

To be but weak, though seeming stron

o)

Is like a grazing cow

Dressed in a tiger’s skin.

:

Who hides his sins ‘neath

Qe

DC

vffron robes,

Has but a coward sport

Snaring unwary birds.*

i i S i

Who falsely say desire has gone,

Will suffer for their sin

And cry—“ What have we done ?”

* When a man. devotes himself to the service of God and becomes

an ascetic he either goes stark naked or dresses in yellow from head to foot.

This uniform serves him as the cowl and gown of the Franciscan monk, and

|

publishes to all that he is holy.

The poet insinuates that they are many

z

who don these robes for wicked purposes.

Their supposed sanctity gives

them free entry into every house, where silly women and foolish men

become their prey, led astray by the idea that ascetics can do nothing wrong.

i

¥

244

INCONSISTENCY.

"Mongst living men the worst are those

Who cling to darling sin

Yet seem to shun its stain.

Some men seem fair as coral seed,*

But in their hearts are black

As that is at the tip.

How many love to mask their lives,

Wash clean and seem upright,

And yet be black as hell !

The arrow kills though flying straight ;

The crooked lute gives joy ;t

Then judge men by their deeds.

If thou abstain from conscious sin,

There needs no shaven crown—

No ropes of tangled hair.

SR e —

* The beautiful scarlet and black seeds of the Wild Liquorice, Abrus pre-

catorius, Tamil, Cundumann,

The plant grows wild in the Madras Presi-

dency. The fruit is often called coral seed as in the text, because of its bril-

liant scarlet color.

T Judge not by outward appearances.

A man’s course may seem direct

and straightforward as the course of an arrow, but may only be so consistent

because some sin, as fatal to another as an arrow in the heart, is dictating

every act. On the other hand, it may seem to us that another man’s actions

are tortuous and suspicious ;—perhaps he is doing good by stealth, perhaps

he can only save another from fearful sin by pretending to go part of

the way with the sinner, perhaps he is “ all things to all men, that he might

by all means save some.”

We must therefore look to the aim or object to

be attained, and not simply accept a man for what he at first sight seems to

be

‘We must also remember that we shall be judged by the same law.

THE GOLDEN RULE.

245

THE GOLDEN RULE

[on earth.

The good are resolved not to injure or hurt,

Though ’twould gain them that wealth which brings greatness

Nor will they return of the ill they receive,

Though a foe should inflict an undeserved pain.

If one should do hurt to an unprovoked foe,

He will never escape from the sorrow ‘twill bring.

Would you punish the man who has injured your mind ?

Oh, put him to shame by your kindness and love.

What good has he gained by his knowledge and skill,

If he strive not for others as much as himself ?

No man should consent to inflict or permit

What he knows will give pain to his bitterest foe.

Of virtues the chief—to do nought that is mean,

Though the man may be bad and the time apropos.

Why do men e’er inflict upon others the pain

That experience teaches themselves to avoid ?

If a man in the morning bring grief to nis foe;

With the eve, uninvited, ’twill come to himself,

To give pain to another brings ten back again.

Would you guard you from grief ? To another cause none.

e O O

246

MALAYALAM SONGS.

MALAYALAM SONGS.

B w—

It has already been stated that the Malabar Coast

exhibits in its highest form the metamorphic effect of

Brahmanism.

Dravidian literature scarcely exists,

and the language itself is so overborne with Sansecrit

words that it sounds more like a Prakrit than a Dra-

vidian tongue. The legend of Parasurama is doubtless

an exaggerated description of a real Brahmanic con-

quest, in which the early peoples were entirely trodden

down and their nationality well nigh extinguished.

Hence the land can scarcely be said to have a literature

at all. Sanscrit works are numerous but are evidently

foreign.

Early Dravidian literature perished in the

storm of conquest.

Malayalam literature has scarcely

begun.

The Brahmans scorn the mongrel tongue that

is the badge of inferiority. The lower castes have lost

the key, as it were, of national composition.

Sanserit

is the learned language, but no Nair or Tier may learn

1t

Few Nairs will write in Malayalam, for then no

Brahman will care for it, and to the masses it would

be strange.

It is probably not incorrect to say that there is no

pure Malayalam literature extant that dates from more

than a few centuries back. The earliest poem is the

Rama Charitram, but its very name proves its Sanscrit

origin, although its age makes it interesting. Then

MALAYALAM SONGS.

247

follow, but long afterwards, translations of the Rama-

yanam, Mahabharata and the Puranas.

The Keérala

Utpatti, local in its character and therefore character-

istic of the country, more nearly approaches to what

we might call national literature ; but it is a historic

legend of purely Brahmanic interest.

It has been a matter of great difficulty to discover

any thing that could be called a folk-song between the

Western Ghauts and the sea, and the following are

offered with some diffidence. They were popular lyrics,

and still fly from mouth to mouth in Malabar and, so

far, are certainly folk-literature. But they are antique

in language, probably the remnants of a fading class of

poetry, and are evidently less known now than they

were a century ago. Notwithstanding their age they

are not Dravidian, for, as will be seen, they are purely

puranic, deal only with the Brahmanic deities and are

based altogether on the Bhagavatam and the modern

pantheon.

Hence it is clear they are not Dravidian,

in the sense that they do not belong to the soil. They

are popular adaptations of a foreign theme.

Except the last, a riddle, the songs are all amorous.

This of itself is sufficient to stamp them as importa-

tions. The first is very curious as showing how easy

it is to make the step that separates the sublime from

the ridiculous. It is a domestic quarrel between God

and Goddess reduced to homely language, and thus

shows how much like naughty men and women,

naughty deities may be.

It 1s a dispute between

Krishna and his wife Radha. The latter is ‘_jealous,

i

248

IRZE AMANTIUM.

and according to the Puranas had abundant reason to

be so.

How modern 1t all seems !

Yet the classical

scholar will at once say—how old it all 1s! The Hindu

deities are so much like the old Greek ones, in conduct

and speech, that nothing seems altered but the names.

But let us hear the Gods themselves.

IRE AMANTIU M.

s

KRISHNA.

O thou who art most beautiful,

The daughter of the mountain king,

Art thou asleep or lying down,

Hearing not my call ?

How long have I been waiting here

Detained from love and highest joy !

Thou art my sweetest counsellor.

Open then the door.

RADHA.

‘What ails thee, Hari ? Tell me first

Where thou hast stayed out so late ?

If Jagganatha® tells me this

He shall wait no more.

* Jagganatha is one of the thousand names of Krishna and means *‘ Lord

of the Universe.”

IRZA AMANTIUM,

249

KRISHNA.

Great Vishnu praised me, Indra too;

I staid while they did worship me,

And hence am late.

So let me 1n.

This is not a lie.

RADHA.,

How many lies a God can tell !

I will not ope the door, for 1

Can smell perfumes, can see the ash,

Telling of thy sin.

KRISHNA.

I tell you but the truth, yet you

Think me a liar.

I am pained

That you should doubt me.

Open then :

Let me enter now !

RADHA.

How shamefully you would deceive

Your honest wife !

But I know all

Your pranks with Gunga.*

With the morn

I will ope the door.

KRISHNA,

Why charge me thus, my lovely one ?

I burn with love for thee.

Thy darts

Have pierced me through. Open the door:

Else for love I die.

* The river Ganges‘ is personified in the Puranas as a lovely woman,

Gunga.

She sprung from Vishnu’s head, and her beauty won his love.:

32

250

IRA AMANTIUM.

RADHA.

Obh, master, can I meet thy craft ?

When you have told me why you come

At midnight, I will let you in.

Now the doors are shut.

KRISHNA.

Why say such things ? It is no lie.

No other woman shares with thee

The love that sets my heart on fire.

Do not shut me out.

RADHA.

Your very words betray your fault:

You hkave been visiting the quean.

If God himself should order me,

Open I will not.

KRISHNA.

Why say so many nasty things ?

My heart doth burn ; I'll kiss thy feet ;

Will bow before thee to the earth;

If thou let’st me in.

RADHA.

Her heart did melt at last.

She cried—

Come in, come in, my husband dear!

The door is open.

Ere ’tis day

Joy may fill our souls.

e

MORNING HYMN TO KALI

251

The next is addressed to Parvati, the consort of Siva,

under the name of Kali.

She represents in Southern

India the Durga of the north and the Bhavani of

the books.

She is not exhibited as the horrid monster

which takes the name of Durga ; but is a well-formed

beautiful woman, whose aspect only becomes terrible

when engaged in ridding the world of such monsters as

Darrika and Mahishasura. She represents the Sakt: or

creative power, and is therefore properly described as

the giver of all good things, the bestower of joy, the

provider of daily food. The song deserves attention,

further, in that it forms the first prayer and utterance

of thousands of people each day.

It is the morning

hymn of the Sakti Saivas in Malabar.

e Qe O

MORNING HYMN TO KALL

Oh beautiful one, who laughest so low,

Amusing thyself with Kama’s great foe,*

Praised be thou.

Thou givest all joy, with pleasures dost crown

Who worshippest thee, at thy feet bowing down

Praised be thou.

Old Indra reveres, the Munis adore

The Goddess we praise, whose grace we implore

Praised be thou.

* When Kama, the God of love, was plaguing Siva one day with his shafts,

Siva became angry and consumed Kama with one fiery glance. He was

restored to life, but never fully recovered from the effects of Siva’s wrath,

252

MORNING HYMN TO KALI.

Thou art, as it were, the kéy of the earth;

The mother of all, we owe thee our birth.

Praised be thou.

When hunger attacks, the heat of midday,

Thou givest us food, fatigue flies away.

Praised be thou.

Thou tookest with ease great Darrika’s head ;

Relieved all the world by leaving him dead.

Praised be thou.

How mighty thou wert, how fierce in the fight,

When Mahishasura was slain by thy might!

Praised be thou.

Yet art thou so meek, thy temper so bland,

That Brahmans are fed with rice from thy hand.

Praised be thou,

Thou givest each day thy blessings in heaps,

Removest alarms ; thy love never sleeps.

Praised be thou.

Oh goddess, grant me thy beauty to see !

1 worship thee now.

From sorrows set free,

Praised be thou.

Each day ere the light I crave for thy grace,

And offer this prayer befors thy sweet face.

Praised be thou.

Who daily repeat it, who hear it each morn,

Shall always have food, their barns shall have corn

Praised be thou.

MORNING HYMN TO ‘KALL

253

The song is of such interest that a freer and more

spirited version by Mr. C. M. Barrow, the able Head

Master of the Calicut Provincial School, may not be

thought out of place.

It has not been previously pub-

lished and was written for this book.

All praise and worship be to thee,

Thou beautiful, that merrily

With Kama's foe doth play ;

Thou who dost bless with pleasure those

Whose souls in Thee their trust repose

Throughout the livelong day.

b

To thee, O Princess, chastely bright,

Let praise and worship with delight

By all the gods be given.

To thee, O mother of us all,

Who dost our very hearts enthral ;

Who hold’st the keys of heaven.

From those whose hearts with toil are faint,

Their strength in midday labour spent,

Whom hunger home doth drive,—

Let thanks for aye to thee up go,

To thee who kill'd’st our bitter foe (‘Darika)

With whom no more we strive,

To thee, O fierce and full of fame,

Who Eartl's strong enemy (Mahishasura) didst tame

When he thy might withstood.

To thee let all give daily praise,

::f

For thou the Brahmins’ hearts dost raise

By sending holy food.

254

MORNING HYMN TO KALL

Ot

Be praised, O goddess, evermore,

Since thou on men thy good dost pour

Aund tak’st away alarms.

May I thy form’s divinest grace

With purged eye see face to face,

And gaze upon its charms,

To thee apart my prayer I make,

My daily woes away to take,

For thee my soul doth crave.

Oh goddess, let thy presence bless

My nights and days.

By holiness

Do thou thy suppliant save.

7. To those who offer up this prayer

Devoutedly, at morn and eve,

Of all good things, O goddess, give

A full and an abundant share.

———0- 0@ 00—

The next two songs are in honor of Krishna.

They

dwell with marked emphasis on his peccadilloes, but

find in them reasons for new love; much as a long

suffering mother expends her deepest affection upon

the scapegrace who brings shame upon himself and all

belonging to him. Krishna is emphatically the pet

of the people—the merry ne’er-do-well who, when

occasion requires, is the bravest of the brave ; and

who, all over the world, wins the hearts of men and

womern.

He is the incarnation of the lusts of the flesh

and the pride of life ; never turning from temptation,

never thinking of the future.

KRISHNA.

255

KRISHNA.

ey S

ek

Krishna killed ten kings :

I worship him.

Born to bear our load :

I worship him.

Necklaced, bright with rings:

I worship him

Krishna, purple-robed.

I worship him.

Ghee and milk he stole :

I worship him.

Poothana he killed :

I worship him

All at once his soul:

I worship him.

With love’s darts was thrilled.

I worship him.

Child of God, of truth the ark:

I worship him

Wearing belt and rings of gold :

I worship him.

Tending kine in jungles dark:

I worship him

Lion of the earth of old:

I worship him

s

B

R

256

KRISHNA.

4, Man and lion all in one:

I worship him

Skilled in war, whose arrow keen,

I worship him

Ere its lightning course was done,

I worship him.

Seven great palm trees cleft in twain.

I worship him.

— OO R —

The ¢ Lament for Krishna” is put in the mouth of

Krishna's foster mother, Yasoda the wife of Nanda, the

cowherd who saved young Krishna’s life and brought

him up as his own son.

It ascribes to Krishna the

title Narayana, which is properly the most honorable

name of Vishnu in his divine form.

As Krishna was

an incarnation of Vishnu this ascription is not impro-

per.

The references in the song are all to incidents in

the life of Krishna as given in the Vishnu Purana, Gita

Govinda and Bhagavatam, and do not need comment.

It must be remembered that the Krishna of the

Mahabharata is a very different being from the Krishna

of the Gita Govinda.

It is a common saying among

the Hindus.—* If you want true manliness, look to

Rama ; if you want to please the women, look to

Krishna.”

But the Krishna of the epic is as noble a

being as Rama.

He is the greatest of warriors, the

In the Bha-

wisest of sages, the divinest of teachers.

gavat Gita we find Krishna’s highest expression, and

in the Gita Govinda his lowest.

e e e

LAMENT FOR KRISHNA.

257

LAMENT FOR KRISHNA.

s

Oh, Narayana! My soul is weak

Within me, for nowhere can I see

My lotus-eyed one.

Is he sick,

Or has he hurt his arm or knee

While stealing butter-milk and curd ?

Oh, Narayana !

Have robbers carried him apart,

Lest he should tell they stole the kine 2

Deep sorrow overwhelms my heart.

I cannot see my son divine,

Whose hair is dressed in glossy braids

Oh, Narayana !

My heart is broken if he stay

Away from me.

His smiling face

Must shine upon me, as the day.

Has he been frightened in the chase,

And ran he knew not where for help ?

Oh, Narayana !

Oh! Has he fled to jungles dark

Escaping dreadful present ill ?

Has hunger made him eat the bark

Or fruit of forest trees, that kill

All those who taste the tempting food ?

Oh, Narayana !

33

258

LAMENT FOR KRISHNA.

5. He is not given to go away :

FE’en when he lost hig tinkling chains

And flute, he did not go astray.

He must be listening to the strains

That flow from cowherds’ simple pipe.

Ob, Narayana !

6. But now I see him! I am shod

And crowned with gladness.

I will run

To care for him. But, oh my God,

Let not the loss of such a son

Bring desolation to my home!

Oh, Narayana.

We cannot better close this small collection of Ma-

layalam songs than with the following riddle.

It 1s a

good example of a class of composition that holds a high

place in the lower literature of some of the Dravidian

tongues. They are propounded with the utmost gravity

in assemblies that, aceording to our views, ought to be

the last to give way to pranks of this sort.

But every

man to his taste, and nation too. The propounding and

solution of good riddles is no mean intellectual amuse-

ment.

The key of the riddle is the word naiwa, the

tongue. It is composed of two syllables, each of which

is sometimes an independent word. The first syllable,

nat, 18 a dog. The second syllable, va, is the imperative

of the verb to come.

v—-—-—o{;’;@:{%————-

A RIDDLE.

259

A LD DL

I am very old.

When the first man was,

I was there with him.

Ancient kings thought me

Best among their friends:

Me they worshipped oft.

I sing praise to God

And have long done so.

God gave me a house,

Where I live on earth.

Yet he gives to all

What he gave to me.

Round my house are built

Mighty palisades,

Keeping out my foes.

Outside these again

Is another wall,

Guarding me from hurt.

Like raw meat I seem,

Yet am well and strong.

When my friends are sick,

I am out of health.

Sometimes I get sick

Then my friends are ill.

260

A RIDDLE,

Members two have 1.

Guess my first, I pray.

When my last comes forth,

Seems as if a man

Called an idle slave.

When my whole is said

Dogs collect in crowds,

Running fast and long

Lest they be too late.

A

58

o

R

Feao

J

\

=\

5

]

(o]

y

"

m;‘/

TELUGU SONGS.

261

TELUGU SONGS,

Of the greater Dravidian languages there remains

but the Telugu, the sweet sonant tongue of the people

between the Rivers Palar and Mahanuddy. It has

been very justly styled the Italian of the East, and

for flexibility and fullness may worthily compare with

Greek. Although not nearly so much Sanscritized as

Malayalam it is yet the best vehicle for Sanscrit

sounds and compound words, and hence has arisen a

great mass of literature transliterated from Sanscrit

into Telugu.

This is made bearable and possible by

the fact that the Telugu speech runs parallel with

Sanscrit in its sandhi or mode of forming compound

words, its collocation of words in the sentence, and its

general grammatical structure.

Not that there is any

suspicion that Telugu is derived from Sanscrit.

Far

from that. Like the sister languages, Tamil, Canarese,

Tulu, &c., Telugu is Aryan, and derived its source

from the great fountain of which Sanscrit and the

Dravidian group are but branching streams.

But

more than the other members of the group it retains

that hereditary force which renders hybridism possible.

Thus Sanscrit verbiage runs easily in Telugu letters.

This facility of transliteration has done much harm

to Telugu.

Sanserit words were so easily borrowed

that borrowing became a habit ; not, it is true, to the

262

TELUGU SONGS.

destruction of the national vocabulary as in Malayalam,

but to the overloading of it.

This process would

inevitably have led to an utter change of the national

tongue as Brahman influence extended, had not the

English conquest intervened and compelled Sanscrit

to enter the lists against a most active and penetrating

foe. Besides this, large portions of the Telugu country

are even yet unknown to the Brahmans, who have

only settled in the richest provinces and along the

coast ; and thus there has always been a spring of

Telugu, pure and undefiled, to well over the land and

save the country tongue from destruction.

Another cause has, however, done tenfold more

damage to Telugu people’s literature ; that is, foreign

conquest.

The traveller through Telugu districts is

constantly coming on the tokens of former magnifi-

cence. Temples falling to pieces, ruined cities, moulder-

ing pillars, abound everywhere and tell of wonderful

wealth and power in ages now forgotten.

Amravati

is but one of a hundred such. But a few years back

the great territory of Gondwana was marked on the

maps as “ unexplored territory,” so desolate was it, so

given over to barbarism and all unfruitfulness, Yet

in the midst of ancient jungle, buried among the

mighty trees that crown the hill tops, are the remains

of gigantic cities that must once have buzzed with the

noise of a hundred thousand people.

History fails to tell us much of what these kingdoms

But geo-

did, whom they conquered, how they fell.

graphy steps in to prove how far their arms reached,

TELUGU SONGS.

263

All over the Indian

how deep the impress they left.

seas we find the tokens of a great Telugu dominion.

What are the Klings of the Malay peninsula, but

Kalingas, a branch of the great Kalinga or Telinga

nation ¢ Who built the monster temples of Sumatra,

Java and the Archipelago, whose towering summits still

point to the heaven of Swerga ?

No other people

than the Telugus, the Pheeniciens of the Indian ocean.

In Burmah and Siam are the footprints of the same

people.

But we need not leave India to learn the same story.

The Dara Kumara Charitra, dating from the tenth

century, speaks of the Telugu kingdom of Andhra as

if it were a great maritime power, with fleets of ships

of war and sailors by thousands.

Probably the refer-

ences may belong to a much earlier period ; and in any

case we know that the great Telugu conquests across

the sea were made much earlier.

‘What are the Kava-

rai, the Vadukan, the Velamas of Southern India,

from Mysore to Cape Comorin, but Telugu settlers,

whose social position and landed property still proclaim

them as conquering tribes, the outposts of the Telinga

kingdom ?

The last of the great Telugu kingdoms was that of

Vijianuggour.

It was supreme in Southern India from

about 1300 to 1600, A.D.

Before the rise of this state,

the great Belal kings ruled at Warunkul. Before these

were the Cadumba and Chalukya dynasties, the latter

of which reaches back into dim antiquity before the

Christian era.

In the time of Pliny or, rather, in the

264

TELUGU SONGS.

still earlier days of the writers whom Pliny trusted,

the Telugu kingdom was supreme,—a civilized mighty

state ruling over the Eastern coast of India from the

Ganges to the Cauvery. From the overthrow of the

kings of Vijianuggur to the rise of the British ascend-

ency under Warren Hastings, confusion and despair fell

upon the poor Telugus. Ichabod, the glory is departed.

Moguls, Pathans, Mahrattas, Pindarries and My-

soreans, Nizams, Soubahdars and Rajahs came like

waves over the rich land. Perhaps the strength of the

nation had gone to foreign parts and the home-stayers

were too weak to fight, but whether this were so or no,

the Telugu nation was nearly wiped off the face of

the earth. There came to it what fell on Tyre and

Carthage, the homes of its antetypes in the Mediterra-

nean. Where once dwelt a great nation now roam the

wild tribes of Bustar and the hill agencies.

Human

sacrifices are offered where once ambassadors were

received.

In this great destruction the people’s literature could

not survive. There is scarcely a Telugu book older than

the thirteenth century, and only the Telugu Mahabha-

ratam and the grammar of Nunniah Bhutt were, in their

present condition, written earlier than the twelfth cen-

tury. But even these do not represent the people’s

ideas, for they were all written by Brahmans for Brah-

mans. Campbell broadly states that the “intolerant

zeal of the Mahomedans

has left of the more ancient

Telugu works little else remaining than the name.”

And again—“Indeed the three inferior classes of

TELUGU SONGS.

265

Telingana

eso0 e e

seem to have abandoned the culture of

their language, with every other branch of literature

and science, to the sacred tribe.

The Vussoochuritru

is the only Telugu work of note not composed by a

Brahmin.”

There is but one slight error in this description—the

omission in the last sentence of the work of Vemana.

Compiled, according to Mr. Brown, in the sixteenth

century, this is just the work we require. Vemana

was probably the arranger rather than the author of

the thousands of quatrains of purely popular lore

which go by his name.

Very far below Tiruvalluva

in moral feeling, and still further away in poetic power,

Vemana 1s yet more useful in exhibiting popular

ideas’; for he gathers what previously existed, while

Tiruvalluva made what became the national heritage.

Whether Vemana found them or made them, the

quatrains are now the proverbial stock of the people.

Any one may be quoted independently. Scores of

them are contradictory, a fact that makes it almost

certain that Vemana did not make them all.

As far as

is now known, this long chain of unconnected verses is

the only great remmnant of Telugu folk-lore,—purely

national, strongly monotheistic, intensely vulgar, using

the word in its proper sense.

It 1s interesting to note

how exactly the verses chime in with all that has gone

before. With the single exception of the inhabitants of

the Malabar coast, we find all the Dravidian nations

preaching the same truth, serving the one God, hating

the Brahmans.

(9]

266

TELUGU SONGS.

We are absolutely ignorant of the life of Vemana

and of the date of his birth or death,

Me O 2P

Brown, the greatest of living Telugu scholars, thinks

that he lived in the sixteenth century, but this is con-

fessedly a mere guess

Mr. Brown’s opinion is based

upon the character of the language of the book that

goes by his name and the local references that seem

But 1t 1s certain that the

capable of identification.

book has been again and again revised; and the

modern marks referred to would in all probability

be due to the revisor.

Mr. Brown has omitted to

note that certain passages of the book explicitly state

that Vemana wrote at an earlier date.

The follow-

ing are quoted from Mr. Brown’s translation :—¢ In

this iron age has Vemana by his celebrity rendered

the farmer tribe honorable ; striving to attain to the

Supreme God, he has dealt forth to all men, every

truth he knew.”—¢ Incessantly did Vemana speak in

our ears, sayi

no, evident

(o))

and manifest is the deity ; be

wise, attain it, and be for ever happy !"—“ Verily the

foolish wretches, who are unable to comprehend the

mental wisdom taught by Vemana, shall perish like a

hair when separated from the head ; devoid of suste-

nance here and perfection hereafter.”

All these, and there are many like them, imply that

Vemana wrote at a much earlier date and that, there-

fore, if the book in its present form is to be referred

to the sixteenth century, Vemana himself lived long

before.

From the absence of reference to Mahom-

medanism and the Moslem rule, and the close resem-

iy

' TELUGU SONGS.

b

blance in style and matter to the Tamil poets of the

tenth century or thereabouts, it is suggested that

the proper date of Vemana’s life is not later than

the end of the twelfth century.

Certain passages in

the book would seem to show that he was a jangam or

priest of the Lingayet or Vira Saiva sect.

But even

this 1s not otherwise known.

The only direct state-

ments are that he was born from Velama or cultivator

But Jl]hl»:)

parents, and that he was a yogi or hermit.

latter point is clearly contradicted by the numerous

passages that ridicule the yogi and place meditation

very far down in the list of virtues.

There can, however, be little doubt that the bulk

of the sayings are older than their reputed author,

and have been floating among the common people for

many centuries. Vemana probably added very many of

But

1t

1

Q

D

his own.

extremely doubtful whether

Vemana ever saw more than half of the epigrams that

go by his name.

Mr. C. P. Brown, to whose version

of a selection of about seven hundred of the quatrains

.

I am greatly indebted, and wh

un

O

e literal prose trans-

lation is the base of the renderings that follow, made

a large collection of MSS. going by the name of

Vemana, but none contained more than eight hundred

verses, while most exhibited not more than three or

four hundred.

The collation of the MSS. revealed

more than two thousand distinct epigrams. It is ex-

ceedingly improbable than any work so important as

that would have been which should have contained

the two thousand verses, could have been so broken

268

TELUGU SONGS.

up as the versions now dre, without exhibiting some

sign of the process in the way of grouping or

acknowledged selection.

But this we do not see, at

least to any extent.

On the other hand, nothing is more likely than that

the success of Vemana’s genuine collection of proverbs

should have led imitators to make similar gatherings

in their own locality. The more widely-known proverbs

entered into several collections.

The very easy metre

of Vemana’s work made the task a simple one, and

hence the present series is probably a sort of olla

podrida of Telugu folk-sayings cast into metrical form,

This will not detract from the value of the book for

our purpose, but rather increase it, since the popular

character of the epigrams is the more certain.

It has been stated that the verses.of Vemana exceed

two thousand in number. They follow in no order, but

are jumbled together ; as if each verse had been written

on a card, all the cards tossed together in a bag, and

then the cards withdrawn at random and strung‘ to-

gether in the order in which they came from the bag.

The following versions are groupings of quatrains of

similar subject, and 1t must be understood that, though

they are faithful renderings, they do not, in sequence,

at all follow the original.

— = OB T

SN

—

OBSERVANCE OF RITUAL,

269

OBSERVANCE OF RITUAL

To pray and serve yet not be pure,—

In dirty pot to place good food,—

To worship God while sins endure,—

Can never turn to good.

Our sins grow ever from our deeds,

Nor owe their birth or death to place.

"Tis better, then, to see our needs

Than look to works for grace.

Why dost thou long for holy springs,

Or seek at Kasi saintlihood ?

Can sinful man obtain the things

That Kasi gives the good ?

Though hypocrites should meditate,

And perfect keep the outward law,

They ne’er attain the holy state ;

But sink in hell’s dgnrk maw.

The sanctity that God counts right

Is not in sky or deserts rude;

"Tis not where holy streams unite :—

Be pure—thou viewest God.

God looks not on our race or dress,

But dwelleth closely with the soul ;

And those who don strange garb would bless

Their bellies with your dole.

U ————

270

OBSERVANCE OF RITUAL.

This quickly dying flesh to please

Most men will bear perpetual pain ;

They will not risk a moment’s ease

Eternal bliss to gain.

What fools the pilgrims are who think

That God may not be found at home.

"Tis exercise alone.

They sink

In woe: then back they come.

With eager mind they see Sathu,

Prayaghi, Kasi, Madura

And Kanchi.

‘What can all these do ?

"Tis naught but walking far.

To feed the hungry and the poor

Is nobler deed than sacrifice.

What greater good can man procure

Than save the poor from vice ?

Some mortify their flesh and take

The name of saints ; yet cannot cleanse

Their Learts.

Will you destroy the snake

By scraping its defence.*

The sacrifice that fools lift up

Is never perfect, brings no profit.

The dog that tries to lift a cup

Will damage it or drop it.

——

* Alluding to the common fact that snakes will take up their residence in

the ready-made holes of deserted ant-hills, he points out that to scrape

the out-side of the ant-hill will not kill the snake that dwells within it.

You may make the ant-hill look nice, but it is as dangerous to approach as

cever.

el

RITUAL NOT

RELIGION.

271

RITUAL NOT RELIGION.

—— ey

Will seeing Concan make a dog a lion?

Or Kasi make a pig as great

As any elephant ? How then

Can they a saintly man create ?

Though he should daily read or hear

The Veds, the sinner still is vile.

Will not its blackness still appear

Though coal in milk be washed a while ?

Thy creed and prayers may 1Qoth be rigilb,

But see that truth marks every plan;

Else thou shalt never see the light.

The truthful is the twice-born man.*

The fount of happiness is in

"The heart.

The foolish man confides

In man!

He’s like the stupid swain

Who seeks the lamb his bosom hides.+

* Qver and over again’do we find passages asserting that the new birth

which makes a Brahman adult * twice-born” must be a moral change

if it would be accepted by God. They assert not only that new birth

must represent a moral change but that the truly good man is sure to

experience the conversion.

T This refers to a common story of a stupid shepherd who went every-

where searching for the lamb that he was, all the while, carrying in his

bosom, because it was too weak to walk.

It corresponds to the English

i

saying of the man who looked for the spectacles that were perched above his

nose.

272

RITUAL NOT RELIGION,

Religions counted by the score

There are.

But yet not one is good

If faith be lacking in its lore.

Faith makes our worship please our God.

The dog doth love midst trees to go,

The crane stands still, the ass brays chants,

The frog bathes oft.* Can yogis know

The heart of man with all its wants ?

They read the Shasters, write them out,

And learn the truths that in them lie.

And yet of death they are in doubt:

They know not even how to die!

-~

You smear your face and arms with ash,

Hang silver idols round your neck !

All this may help to swell your cash,

But in the coming world will wreck.

“ Thou art unclean !

O, touch me not " —

They cry. But who can draw the line ?

What man was born without a spot ?

In each man’s ﬁesh sin has a shrine.

T T R JO A S e

* To live in the forest, to stand perfectly still in deep meditation, to

chant in a loud monotone the name of the Deity, and to take every op-

portunity of ceremonial bathing, are the marks of a Hindoo saint. Heis the

greatest saint who can stand motionless the longest, chant the thousand

names the loudest, &c.

The epigram points out that certain despised

animals can excel the highest saint in exercises of this sort.

S

IDOLATRY.

27

IDOLATRY,

What animals ye are who worship stones

And care not for the God that dwells within !

How can a stone excel the living thing

That praise intones ?

And how can those who serve a carved rock

Bow down before and praise the living One ?

Can he who tastes the honey on his tongue

Rank poison suck ?

What strange delusion draws your mind to dream

That God doth dwell in senseless images?

Is broken stone, which neither hears nor sees,

Fit house for Him ?

Yet men take earth, make idols, set the clod

In honor, count as gods and worship them!

How can they dare so blindly to contemn

Their inward God ?

Why bow and fall before the idol’s throne ?

The stone will not be changed. But ken

That God dwells in the soul.

Why then

Adore a stone ?

35

274

IDOLATRY.

The man that fasts shall next become a pig:

Who bows before a stone a stone shall be :

And he who wrongly chooses poverty

Shall have to beg.

What fools!

They take a stone from off the hill,

And after knocking it about with hands and feet,

With chisels cut it and with hammers beat :

Then chants they trill.

The living useful bull you starve and beat ;

But when ’tis carved in stone you it adore!

How gross such sinful folly is!

Abhor

So clear a cheat.*

Around a mould of wax you stick some clay ;

Then melt the wax, and in its room instal

Some melted metal.

This your God you call

And serve each day.

While He, the worshipful, dwells in the heart,

Why pile your gifts in temples made of stone ?

Can gods who, in and out, are rock alone

FE'er taste a part ?

< ETE—

* This verse hits one of the greatest blots in the Hindoo character.

Kine have to serve for all the purposes that, in Europe, fall to the lot of

horses. They are, therefore, constantly urged to tasks beyond their power.

When they resist or fall down, the most cruel punishments are inflicted.

There is not one bullock out of six whose tail has not been dislocated,

while many animals have suffered dislocation of almost every joint. For

the meres tailment the most extensive branding will be prescribed, and sickly

bullocks show brands that equal the tattooing ofa South Sea islander.

CASTE.

[\

i

(74

CASTE.

Beemen Y HTTROR

If we look through all the earth

Men, we see, have equal birth.

Made in one great brotherhood,

Equal in the sight of God.

Food or caste or place of birth

- Cannot alter human worth.

Why let caste be so supreme ?

"Tis but folly’s passing stream.

While the iron age doth last,

Men are good in every caste.

Blustering fools all men despise ;

None are good in such men’s eyes.

Viler than the meanest race

Is the man before whose face

Others only Sudras are.

Hell for him shall ne’er unbar.

Empty is a caste-dispute :

All the castes have but one root.

Who on earth can e’er decide

Whom to praise and whom deride ?

Why should we the Pariah scorn,

When his flesh and blood were born

Like to ours?

What caste 1s He

Who doth dwell in all we see?

S oD (O, MU

276

DEATH.

DEATH.

All those who brought us forth are not,

And most of those whom we begot.

Is this not proof enough ? Shall we

Live long as God’s eternity ?

Before the spirit goes, ’tis right

To use all means to keep alight

The vital flame.

But when away,

What use to try its flight to stay ?

The rich man dies ; his stores remain.

When he returns, he has again

To earn, and, dying, loses all.

Where then his wealth and where his soul 7*

For naked every man was born,

And naked must he die.

Forlorn

He roams the earth, is naked still :

For good he cannot do or will.

* This verse gives, very tersely, one of the principal complaints of the

people against transmigration. Human labor is like that of Sisyphus,—

it is always beginning again. I believe this palpable vanity of earning is

one of the greatest temptations to ascetic life that a Hindoo can meet.

Surely it is very hard of God, they say, not to permit a man to begin his

second life at the point where he finished his first,

How can he profit by

experience, how acquire the necessary merit, if he must always begin afresh

as ignorant, as poor, as helpless, as when he beg

[«

a

n the life of which he made

such a failure, and which he now must expiate ?

=

o

s

=

DEATIL

V)

7

7

If iron break it nieeds repair,

The smith can weld again as fair.

But if the spirit break and fail,

Who then can it restore or heal ?

If chatties break, we new ones buy.

If then a living man should die,

What wonder that his soul should get

Another body for its seat !

The holy saint whose course is run,

Shall in the world above the sun

Perceive and really know and see

The Formless, crying—¢ This is He.”

However long we live or learn,

However great the fame we earn,

We live at best but one short day.

With all our skill we turn to clay.

The brutish man counts as his own

The wealth of all his house.

Alone

He buries it.*

Yet when he dies,

Not e’en a pice with him he hies.

# It is certain that the universal peace and justice that came in with the

British is fast overcoming the habit of burying all superfluous cash and

valuables.

Vemana constantly refers to the practice, not to condemn its

propriety from a business point of view, but to urge that it would be much

better to give to the poor that which cannot be used.

Such liberality may

|

make the money-gainer less wealthy here, but goes a very long way to

prevent the burying of the giver in a score of ¢ troublesome births.’

Supreme

felicity may be earned by perfect liberality.

278

DEATH.

What are our wives, our sons, our friends,

And what relations’ love, when ends

This life ? Can we on slaves rely ?

Not one can help us when we die.

Our body, like an earthen bowl,

But still the soul

Will surely die.

Lives on.

Many pots may go,

But none the less the waters flow.

How great the folly tears to shed

When friends depart !

“Oh, he is dead,”

“Oh, he is dead,” they loudly cry.

As if a living soul could die!

While health is good they live in lust;

When death draws near to penance trust

How can they dream of swift release

While yet the heart is not at peace ?

He that 1s wise shall live for aye.

When earth breaks up his soul shall stay

Unhurt.

When all things else are gone,

His soul shall join the mighty One.

——

MORALS.

279

MORALS.

Except when duties call,

Forget thy lordlihood.

The low may yet be good.

A glass makes mountains small.

Forgive thy conquered foe :

For thus your foe you kill ;

Thy love his hate will still.

Then let him freely go.*

Who gives, yet covets not,

Who shuns his neighbour’s wife,

Shares not in angry strife,

Is wise and hath no spot.

Good deeds that pure hearts do,

Though small, are great in meed

How tiny is the Banyan seed,

How great a tree doth grow!

Gifts merit thanks not small,

But meditation more;

By wisdom higher soar;

Pure hearts are best of all.

* Compare this verse with the stanzas of Tiruvalluva’s on Page 236,

fourth verse, and Page 238, seeond verse, and both with our Lord’s command

—“Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them

which despitefully use you.” Many passages strongly remind of the Cural,

and it is quite possible that they were originally derived from it, since

it is well known that the Cural was exceedingly popular long before the

twelfth century, and nothing is more likely than that the conquering Telugu

armies should bring back with them the poetry as well as the spoils of the

Tamils.

Lt

280

MORALS.

Thy words, Oh God, are mine ;

Thy house is my abode:

My thoughts in thine are showed

My joy shall copy thine.

The good adorn our globe ;

Beneath them are the proud.

But those are worst who shroud

Their greed neath saffron robe.

We see the truth in Thee,

In us delusion hides.

But when the Godhead guides,

Ourselves aright we see.

By seeking we find Him ;

He seeketh those who seek.

Alas, how few awake

To seek their God in time.

He loveth those who love:

Who love Him not He spurns.

False prayers and praise by turns

Cannot avail above.

Who, faultless, loveth Thee,

Who lovingly believes

And penitently grieves,

Shall reach supreme mulkti.

———C@F—T—‘

e ——————

e

GOOD WIVES.

281

GOOD WIVES,

How neat is the house of a virtuous wife !

She shineth as light in a darkened recess.

The house that is ruled by a first-wedded wife

Reminds of the house of our God.*

When love hath preceded the great wedding feast,

The pair shall increase and shall spread as a tree,

Shall blossom and bud, shall rejoice in their strength,

Producing abundance of fruit.

For riches are not the true wealth of a house.

The first of all joys is the birth of a son.

But living together from youth to old age

Is greatest of riches on earth.

If she should delight in her husband’s desires,

And both are united in heart and in mind,

Perfection they reach.

For the wedded estate

Leads on to our union with God.

* The first-wedded wife is the agent that ensures a happy home. While

mutual love binds her and her husband, all goes well. When other wives

are introduced, the first wife knows she has lost her husband’s regard.

Hence she neglects the house, is jealous of her lord, and shrewish to the

new-comers.

Then nothing goes well.

36

282

| GOOD WIVES.

The Vedas are harlots, déluding our souls,

And who candiscover the meaning they bear?

The knowledge of God, when the hidden is seen,

Is good as a true-hearted wife.

f she should compel the true love of her lord,

Then sweetest of happiness rests on their life.

But if she repel, then your happiness is—

Get rid of your wife when you can.

She who, in the time of her husband’s life,

Should strive for the house, shall be loved by her sons.

In ups and in downs, as they come to us all,

The strength of strong sons is the best.

What sweeter than life can there be ?

Heaps of gold

Are better than thousands of other folks’ lives.

What sweeter than gold ?

Loving words of a lass,

‘Whese love is the sweetest of all.

Far sweeter than sugar, than honey or cream,

And sweeter than juice of the sugar’s long cane,

The heart of the Jack, or the Guava’s ripe fruit,

Are words from the lips that we love.

To gaze on the face of a beauteous wife,—

To look at our sons in the pride of their strength,—

Are fuel to love.

How they swell in the heart !

How easy to love them too much !

Liae

e

—

—

BAD WIVES,

283

LAl

J

)

WIVES.

e,

Wives who disobey their lords

Are as death, as poison snakes

Very demons,

Yea, they are

Only fit to plague old Nick.

.

If they’re thoughtle

Qg

D,

they're no good

5

Dowry is but thrown away.

Coward soldiers who would fead

(4

?

Why maintain a thoughtless quean ?

See her wrangling in the street,

Screaming if you check her speech :

Scolds her lord and then she eries :

She would sell him in a bag.

Like the course of ships at sea,—

836

Like the

1i4¢

8=

rht of bir

Is in air,—

{s a woman’s life on earth.

Where she goes is never known

|

Wealth is his,—the wife is good.

Wealth is gone—she loves no more :

Then her lord is but a name:

Eg

Then she counts him as the dead.

84

BAD WIVES;

Wives who live to please. their lords,

Wives indeed, the best on earth.

Wives who care for nought but self,

Are but arrows sent from death.

Low by nature, low in life :

Wife of worth you cannot maké.

She who lives by stealing scraps

Cannot hope for better things.

Stubborn folks are always wrong.

Can you straighten puppy’s tail ?

Shrewish wives would sell their lords,—

Tie together hands and feet.

If you work and slave and gain,

Then your wife applauds your love

Lose it all, and thien she scolds,

Daily heaps treproach on you.

Though her lord and home be good

Will the changeful wife be true ?

Though you rear a dog with milk

Will he learn to stay at home ?

Suffering ills, look well to friends.

Fearing danger, watch your guards

When your riches fly away,

Let your wife be closely watched.

BAD WIVES.

285

If at first you fail to rule,

Do not think to rule at all.

If you let a tree grow up,

Will it move for but a push ?

Disobedient wives are not

Wives at all, but only gyves.

Better dwell in desert wastes

Than abide with such a wife.

B FRE—

The preceding songs more than suffice to show that

the relation of husband and wife is pretty nearly the

same all the world over.

While physical force is on

the side of the men, the women will more than make

But both

themselves equal by power of the tongue.

!

good and bad wives prove that the complete subordina-

tion of the wife, as laid down by Manu and everywhere

preached, 1s only one of those theories that seem very

excellent except in practice.

As a matter of fact the

E

Hindu wife that has escaped from the rigorous rule

of her mother-in-law, and especially if she be a mother-

in-law herself, is by far the most potential personage

in the household.

The husband seldom interferes in

domestic matters, and sits on the pyall outside the

house while the wife is busy with domestic duties

within. We turp from these pleasant household scenes

to a terrific onslaught upon the Brahmans.

i

e S O O

oS e

86

BRAHMANS.

D i

D D

AODMANS.

They who were Sudras born,

And yet revile their kin;—

Who call themselves twice-born,

And think it makes them safe;—

Whose hearts love darling sin;—

*

The lowest Sudras

are.”

Upon his brazen brow

He bears a sacred mark

He has a wolfish mouth,

A demon’s shameless heart :

And yet he dares to say

He knows the only God.

* The second birth of the Brahman does not take place until the

thirteenth year, when the thread is first placed on his shoulders.

Up to

that period he is once-born, that is, is a Sudra.

Vemana frequently refers

to this fact and taunts the Brahmans with having been Sudras themselves.

See for example the verse on the next page regarding the sacred thread.

1 It is imperative on the twice-born to carry on their foreheads the mark

of their god.

The Vaishnavas wear a trident, the centre prong of which is

continued just on to the bridge of the nose.

The Saiva mark is a colored

spot just above the nose.

In addition to this the Saiva devotee should make

three horizontal parallel lines with sandal-wood ash, extending from one

temple to the other, A zealous worshipper of either Vishnu or Siva will

carry the marks on his breast, arms and back.

7

BRAHMANS.

287

He has an outcast’s heart,*

And yet the outcaste scorns.

Shall he become twice-born,

Renewed in life and caste,

While no good thought exists

Within his sinful mind ?

The greatest sin of all

Is want of sterling truth.

But lie upon a lie

Is always in his mouth.

What rogues some Brahmans are,—

They call themselves twice-born !

They say, the lords of earth,

“How pure we are, how learned

In all the Shasters teach !”

They scorn us simple men !

But yet the poorest poor

Are better than such brags.

The Brahman thinks that when

—

He takes the sacred thread

His Sudraship is o’er.

How strangely he forgets

That when he comes to die

His Brahmanship is o’er.f

* Till the ceremony of the putting on of the thread the postulant is not a

Brahman.

He is not a member of any other caste and is, therefore, an

out-caste.

T He cannot take his thread with him,—his new birth has failed him, for

the dead are ceremonially unclean. If, therefore, he is not born a Brahman

and cannot continue holy at death, what good is Brahmanship at all ?

288

BRAHMANS.

And then he takes the dress

Of Somayaji state !*

And why ?

He’s killed a goat,

Then cooked and ate it up!

He has the Brahman’s name,

But where’s the good result ?

Just see how such men walk !

It shows they cannot know

The hidden things of God:

Their minds are far too light

‘Tis plain they know the way

To Yama’s deepest hell.

They paint themselves with ash,

But this takes not away

The smell of drafts of wine.

Will strings around their neck

Convert such sinful men,

And render them twice-born ?

If he should e’en forget

That he 1s flesh and blood,

And be so basely proud

That he is called twice-born,

Will fear seize death and hell ?

Will they forsake their prey .?

* This trenchant verse refers to the Yagnya sacrifice. At this ceremony a

goat is roasted and every Brahman who assists in the rite is obliged to eat

of the flesh.

(Brown).

This and other verses expressing horror at the

thought of killing an animal would lead to the idea that Vemana was a

Jain.

BRAHMANS.

289

You foul your skin with ash :

What good will that do you ?

Your thoughts should soar above :

Be set on God alone.

An ass can roll in mud

As well as any priest.

Bald head and matted locks !

Strange dress and mantras loud !

Outlandish cramps and pains

And all the ashy filth !

i

Ah! Bah! No man is good

Who is not pure in heart.

He leaves his Lkouse and wife,

‘With iron binds his loins,

Prefers bad food to good,

And bitter drink to sweet !

Will living like a beast

Secure him endless bliss 2%

:;

* These are some of the verses that express Vemana’s dislike of a yogi’s

life. If written by him, and they tally with much that must be ascribed to

his hand, it would be incredible that Vemana was a yogi or jangam, It

appears to me that the many expressions praising the jangams have been

added by one of the many revisors or collectors whose handiwork is so

visible throughout the series. The last verse but one describes the habits

of the yogi or sanyassi.

They must be familiar to all readers of Indian

literature, although few will have deemed it possible for a Hindu to speak

so frankly of their utter folly and vanity. English rule and western ideas

are now making sad inroads on the yogi’s profits.

37

290

POOR RICHARD.

POOR RICHARD:

]

Do nothing slowly, else “twill never come to pass:

Do nothing hurriedly, for then ’twill surely fail.

Will unripe fruit grow ripe if cut too soon ?

In water ships ride easily : yet on the land

Cannot be moved a step. And thus the skilful man

Is only worth his salt at his own trade.

The crocodile will kill an elephant within its stream,

And yet on land a little dog can master it.

Thus things are strong when in their proper place.

A pig will have at least a dozen little ones:

The giant lordly elephant can have but one.

Is not one worthy man enough at once ?

What teacher fails to benefit the clever man?

What man, however wise, can teach a stupid fool ?

For who can make a crooked river straight ?

The empty man will always talk in boastful style:

The excellent will keep his peace or gently speak.

Will gold ring out, when struck, like brazen bells ¢

POOR RICHARD.

291

The mighty Ganges flows in peace, with quiet stream :

But with a roar leaps down the short-lived turbid brook.

The base are not as quiet as the good.

To kill a miser needs no deadly poisoned draft.

Just try this method. Ask him for a gift of pice*

And he will instantly fall down and die.

He who will neither eat nor let his friends partake,

Is but a vicious wretch.

Just like the grinning face

Set up to scare the birds from ripening corn.}

Behold the swelling fig. Outside tis like pure gold;

But bite it, then you find it holds but worms.

;g

How like the silence of the empty man !

The man who gives the rein to all his passions vile

Is mad as any hare.

He wanders o’er the earth.

Desiring wrongful gain, he doubles like a dog.

Will those who love a lie e’er prosper like the; good ?

Will fortune smile on them or glorify their home ?

"Tis drawing water with a leaky pot.

* Tight pice make one penny, and the pice is therefore worth just half

a farthing. It is the smallest copper coin in the world perhaps, certainly

the smallest in the British empire.

T Here we have the Dravidian representative of the “ dog in the manger,”

both in its image and its moral.

The scare-crow has to serve a double

purpose, guarding the corn from the birds and from the * evil-eye” of men.

292

DOMESTIC MORALITY,

DOMESTIC MORALITY.

rtrom msroene)

They that leave the wife at home,

After prostitutes to roam,

Are but mad. They leave good crops

For the straw the gleaner drops.

Thieves and harlots love the night,

Ever hiding from the light.

Neither dare to see the moon

Rising o’er the dark night’s gloom.

Never sport with these four things,

Either one destruction brings—

Fire, and weapons made to kill,

Princes, women given to ill.

Wrongful speech we may set right:

Stones be cut by any wight:

But the mind no man can mend,

As it was, ’tis to the end.

If but Wisdom fill his mouth

What concerns his age or youth ?

Will the lamp become less bright

If an infant hold its light 2

DOMESTIC MORALITY.

95

Pour the water on the seed,—

-

Soon it sprouts, then leaves succeed.

Next the buds to flowers blow,

And a tree on earth doth grow.

Talk is easy, virtue hard :

We may teach, yet not regard :

Any fool a sword can hold,

None can wield it but the bold.

Writ in water what will stay ?

So our blessings fade away.

Foolish man for surety longs,

Trusts to words to right his wrongs.

When misfortune comes to be,

He reviles the deity.

Lauds himself when good things come.

Good and ill are both our own.

If your fault offend your lord,

Do not blame his angry word :

Else you'd count among your foes

Glass that shows your crooked nose.

Riches, like a woman’s charms,

Fly away like ghostly forms;

As the moonlight’s glory fades

When a cloud its crescent shades.

|

2

94

PROVERBS,

PROVERBS.

Wealth he heaps, gives none away,

Useth none, in earth doth lay.

Knows, he not how men devour

What the bee hides in his bower ¥

You may break a granite stone :

Highest hills may crumble down :

But a hardened cruel screw

Naught will soften or subdue.

Misers cannot see, and live,

Liberal men their wealth to give.

Like the thorn that always dies

Near the tree of Paradise.f

Milk that’s drunk at tavern door

Counts as wine, you may be sure.

If you stand where you ought not

‘Why be shocked when shame is got.

* There are many passages in Vemana like this, showing that, as in

Russia tyranny is kept within bounds by fear of assassination, so wealth

under native rulers in India was kept down by the certainty of confiscation,

if the Rajah or Nabob got scent of it. No man can perfectly hide rapidly

growing wealth,

T Compare the second verse on Page 291. The miser is a favorite butt of

the Hindoo poet.

;

|

PROVERBS.

295

Join the vile, and vile you’ll be

In the eyes of those who see.

If beneath a palm you drink *

Though but milk, what must we think ?

Blind man’s legs the lame man plies,

Cripples lend the blind their eyes :

Thus for each the poor take heed,

Help each other’s urgent need.+

Give promotion to the rude,

They will chase away the good.

Can the dog that eats old shoes

:E

Taste the sugarcane he chews ?

Wash a bear skin every day,

;

Will its blackness go away 2¢

If you beat an idol’s face

Will the god acquire new grace ?

—— - (e

* All the fermented liquors used in Southern India are made from the

juices of the Palmyra and Cocoanut palms. When the juice is freshly drawn

it is called “ toddy,” and even then is somewhat intoxicating. If a man

drink beneath a palm-tree we are justified in thinking his beverage is

toddy, for we judge a man by the company he keeps.

1 This anticipates the English fable of the blind and lame beggars—the

latter guided, the former trudged, and botk flourished.

{ How often do these epigrams bring to mind the parallel passages

that abound in European literature and folk-lore !

Among the Dravidian

middle classes, proverbs and epigrams form a large proportion of all conver-

sation. While a European, who does not catch the idiom, stands dumb

with astonishment at the nonsense his native hosts or friends utter, they

are in reality making the most trenchant repartees, putting in single neat

sentences arguments which would cover a page if expressed in any other

form,

296

FINAL PHILOSOPHY.

FINAL PHILOSOPHY.

o e

If you swim, you fear no stream.

Poverty is but a dream

When a girdle makes you rich.

Waiting death, earth has no hitch.

Catch a monkey, dress it well,

"Tis the king of all the hill.

Thus, ‘'mongst men, the senseless rule,

And the luckless serve the fool.

Snakes are finest when they strike:

Deadly foes your friendship like:

When the king would take your head,

Perfect freedom leaves you dead.

Water dropped in oyster shell

But that which fell

Brought forth pearls.

On the sea is water still.*

Wrongfgl time turns good to ill.

U

If a fool should find the stonet

It would not remain his own.

It would melt, escape again,

Like the hail that comes with rain.

B e &0

* Ts it possible to account for this constant repetition of Aryan ideas except

on the supposition of a common origin ?

T The philosopher’s stone—as great an object of search in India now as

in Europe during the middle ages.

e e s

INDEX,

B e & = ®) =L o ¥ S,

NQ

tQ

Pace,

THE FOLK-SONC

L1S)

OF

A

SOUTHERN INDIA

CANARESE SONGS...

e

eéa

The Nearness of Death..,

seoe

e

eva

(1)

17

Death

6.6

ese

(X4

e0s

19

The best Friend

LLE]

20

Life,..

L)

Ses

21

True Purity...

ws o

(11}

3

Purity in the Sight of God..

se

25

The name of God

fe

eee

e

XX

26

Cooked Rice..,

°

s0e

s8e

27

Why I Laugh

sea

L1 X}

o8e

Ll

(XT3

28

Ceremonial not Religion

o0

28

God the Saviour...

boa

agy

sne

29

Outward rites not Religion...

83

(1]

30

2s e

Body and Soul

(X X]

(X

o00

32

How to Cross the Sea of Sin

36

A cry for Help

®

see

eoe

38

Life’s Sorrow

ese

(Xr

e

39

This troublesome world

e

[

40

The Painful Servant

s

(XX

42

Fate...

see

LYY

44

The course of Life

46

No help but in God

Jae

oe

48

°¢0

e

“e

Folly

LL L)

L)

49

The Fool

.

60

so0

LT

-

The good and evil of v;'aealth

(rx

0

(L)

>t &

wW

What matters it ?

°

.

ese

o0

()]

[ISS

Wisdom...

oo

880

sas

oee

D

The true pariah

‘e

L

oo

[ B

o

Ignorance...

sne

eoe

=

e)

INDEX

298

Pacr.

BADAGA SONGS

L]

LX)

coe

e0e

63

i

Dirge for the dead...

e

0082

(o

eso

oo

ees

e0e

81

The next world

Story of Bali.,.

90

COORG SONGS

eqe

Qre

eee

®e

101

115

Coorg Huttari or Harvest Song...

Wedding Song

ece

(1 1)

se0

128

Funeral Song...

see

e

136

eee

88

142

Children’s Rhymes

TAMIL SONGS

°

Qe

eeon

147

I

-3

God is a Spirit

The true God..,

ve

ese

156

True Knowledge...

eoe

o6

16

16

The sin of Idolatry

The Unity of God...

o

s00

16

The Brotherhood of Man

ve

168

e0e

o0

170

True Worship

Labour Songs

L1 E]

ese

e60

°0e

183

183

Pillaiyar...

on

*0e

LX)

o0

(X XY

186

Bayadere’s Song

Mother

oo

(YY)

epe

(XX}

ece

188

ees

191

The Wife

t.0

X

o0

eee

193

Christian Songs

Christian Labour Song

Qe

LT

195

201

THE CURAL

®

°

(X 1]

LX R

Praise of God...

[ 1]

(X X1}

2

The Excellence of Rain

eoe

e

;2

22

%

Virtue

1]

The Husband

see

The Wife

L X

oo

| )

z

adse

Children.e.

Love

soe

O N

(VY]

(W]

[PV

Hospitality

LT

L, 1

(1]

[\]

Gratitude

°

o8e

e

o

<o

Patience...

sae

(2 1]

o0

<2

-~ O

X3

Ce

Nel

Backbiting

(1)

Benevolence

°0

o0

s

g

ot

Inconsistency.a.

e

AL T

eoo

'S

200

NERERO Y N - B

g

v Qo

The Golden Rule...

00

e

oe

IﬁDEX.

299

SEUE

Pace.

MALAYALAM SONGS

246

Ire Amantium

L L]

248

Morning Hymn to Kali

(1T

LX)

251

Krishna ..

255

Lament for Krishna.

257

A Riddle...

soe

(1]

259

TELUGU SONGS

o

261

‘0

se

269

Observance of Ritual

Ritual not Religion

(X1

(X

271

°e

202

273

Idolatry...

Caste...

A 1

()

oo

275

Death

(11]

276

Morals

s

oe

279

Good Wives

00

281

Bad Wives

(1)

o0

eve

ece

283

Brahmans

*00

286

Poor Richard...

o9

290

Domestic Morality...

(1]

e

292

Proverbs

2@

o0

294

Final Philosophy ...

296

f

e (58

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ARLES E. GOVER,

ASIATIC SOCIETY AND OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS,

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