Pulayar

“ The master's field must be guarded at night against the encroachment of cattle, and the depredations of thieves and wild beasts. They keep awake by shouting aloud, singing in a dull monotone, or beating a drum. Given a drink of toddy, the Pulayans will work for any length of time. It is not uncommon to see them thrashed for slight offences. If a man is thrashed with a thanda garment, he is so much disgraced in the eyes of his fellowmen, that he is not admitted into their society. ”

“ The Valluvan, or caste priest, leads the assembled group to the vicinity of the banyan tree in front of the temple, and offerings of a diverse nature, such as paddy, roots, plantain fruits, game, pulse, coins, and golden threads are most devoutly made. Pulayas assemble for this ceremony from comparatively distant places. A deity, who is believed to be the most important object of worship among the Pulayas, is Utaya Tampuran, by which name they designate the rising sun. Exorcism and spirit-dancing are deeply believed in, and credited with great remedial virtues. ”

“ The Paliyans are described, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, as a “very backward caste, who reside in small scattered parties amid the jungles of the Upper Palnis and the Varushanād valley. They speak Tamil with a peculiar intonation, which renders it scarcely intelligible. They are much less civilised than the Pulaiyans, but do not eat beef, and consequently carry no pollution. They sometimes build themselves grass huts, but often they live on platforms up trees, in caves, or under rocks. Their clothes are of the scantiest and dirtiest, and are sometimes eked out with grass or leaves. ”

“ Allusions to pasturage, however, are by no means so frequent as allusions to agriculture. Pushan is the god of shepherds–he is the sun as viewed by shepherds–and is supposed to protect them and travellers generally in their wanderings over the country. And here and there in a hymn to Pushan, we find that the Aryans of India had brought with them recollections and songs about those migrations which they occasionally undertook in their primitive home, if not after their settlement in India. ”

“ The Kuravas are prædial slaves, who were liable in olden days to be bought and sold along with the land they occupied. They are not regarded as so faithful as the Pulayas. Their homes are, like those of the Pulayas, low thatched sheds. They eat meat, and drink toddy and arrack. Their women tie their hair in the centre of the head, and not behind like the Pulayas. Tattooing is very largely resorted to. Though Hindu deities are worshipped, the Chavars, or spirits of the dead, receive the most particular attention. ”

“ The Palliyars regard sylvan deities with great veneration. Kurupuswāmi is the tribe's tutelary god, and, when a great haul of wild honey is made, offerings are given at some shrine. They pretend to be followers of Siva, and always attend the Adi Amavasai ceremonies at Courtallum. The Palliyar cultivates nothing, not even a sweet potato. He keeps no animal, except a stray dog or two. An axe, a knife, and a pot are all the impedimenta he carries. ”

“ There is a faquir's establishment on the top, and the view on either side is very fine. That looking down over the plain past Rijaori and Nowshera—over the several wave-like lines of inferior hills into the plains of the Punjab of limitless extent, lost only in vapour and distance—is grand from its great extent, and beautiful in its varied features as in its colouring.
The other side presents the masses of the Pir Panjal, covered with snow. This range is of bold massive proportions, and affords the traveller a truly sublime picture of mountain scenery. ”

“ Though the Punjab is not blessed by nature like the rich tropical Gangetic valley, it is fruitful in bold and enterprising men. This is the secret of its great prosperity at the present day. Nowhere in India are the peasantry more flourishing and contented, as it was Lord Lawrence's policy fifty years ago to make them—to become the bulwark of the Indian Empire in the north. ”

“ Hopes are impotent things often; but I hope that some day I may go back to the East. I wish that I could have written more adequately of the Orient—I wish it very much.
There are many places to which my heart goes back eagerly, but of which I have not found time to write a sentence.
We passed some dreadful but delightful months in the cantonments of the Punjab, when the Punjab was hottest.
Murree was to me the most delightful spot in India. It is a hill place—a resting spot and a breathing station for soldiers who are worn out, or blessed with indulgent Colonels. ”

“ Mal. pulayan, [from Tam. pulam, 'a field,' because in Malabar they are occupied in rice cultivation] . A person of a low or impure tribe, who causes pollution (pula) to those of higher caste, if he approaches within a certain distance. [The rules which regulate their meeting with other people are given by Mr. Logan (Malabar, i. 118) .] ”

“ Yellow bowlders crop out here and there above the mounded sand, which looks as if it might cover many a forgotten temple. Presently the clay bank is gone and a low barrier of limestone rock, black and shiny next the water-line, has taken its place. And now, a long way ahead, where the river bends and the level cliffs lead on into the far distance, a little brown speck is pointed out as the Convent of the Pulley. Perched on the brink of the precipice it looks no bigger than an ant-heap. ”

“ They marry and their children are their heirs. The women wear much brass on their ears, necks, arms, and legs, in bracelets, rings, and beads.
PULER.
There is another lower sect of gentiles called puler. [239] These are held as excommunicated and accursed; they live in [143] swampy fields and places where respectable people cannot go: they have very small and abject huts, and plough and sow the fields with rice, they use buffaloes and oxen. They do not speak to the nairs, except from a long way off, as far as they can be heard speaking with a loud voice. ”

“ There is a Beam let in to that part of it that the Plough-man holds in his hand, to which they make their Buffaloes fast to drag it.
The convenience of these Ploughs.These Ploughs are proper for this Countrey, because they are lighter, and so may be the more easie for turning, the Fields being short, so that they could not turn with longer, and if heavier, they would sink and be unruly in the mud. These Ploughs bury not the grass as ours do, Page 10and there is no need they should. For their endeavour is only to root up the Ground, and so they overflow it with Water, and this rots the Grass. ”

“ Right across the vast Punjab swept the famous corps of Guides, through shady groves of peach and apricot trees, and over dusty plains destitute of shelter; across the five rivers to which the land owes its name, [1] each day bringing the stalwart frontiersmen nearer to the goal of their desire. Every man in that band was eager for the fray.
[1] Punjab means “the country of the five rivers”.
Afridis, Afghans, and the various Pathan tribesmen of the [Pg 146] corps looked forward to the sacking of the wealthy city. ”

“ Though invisible and immortal, Puluga eats and drinks, and shows his anger by raising storms of wind and rain, and by hurling lighted faggots. He seeks his food on earth. Over the evil spirits he has no authority. ”

“ What drove the iron into the soul of India more than the things actually done in the Punjab, for which many Indians admit the provocation, was the reluctance of her rulers to look them in the face, and the tardiness and half-heartedness of the atonement made for them. ”

“ Your Excellency's separation is the harder to bear for the men of the Punjab because it is our Punjab that is proud of the fact that about forty years ago the foundation stone of all your famous and noble achievements, which not only India, but England, rightly boasts of, was laid down in one of its frontier cities, and that the greater part of your indomitable energies was spent in the Punjab frontier defence. ”

“ The Cherumans are almost solely employed as agricultural labourers and coolies; but they also make mats and baskets.”
It is noted26 by Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer that “from traditions current among the Pulayas, it would appear that, once upon a time, they had dominion over several parts of the country. A person called Aikkara Yajaman, whose ancestors were Pulaya kings, is still held in considerable respect by the Pulayas of North Travancore, and acknowledged as their chieftain and lord, while the Aikkaranād in the Kunnethnād tāluk still remains to lend colour to the tale. ”

“ The Vedic Aryans were, however, not merely a pastoral people. They had brought with them from beyond the valleys of Afghanistan at least a primitive knowledge of agriculture, as is shown by the Indians and Iranians having such terms as "to plough" (kṛish) in common. This had, indeed, by the time of the Rigveda, become an industry second only to cattle-breeding in importance. The plough, which we learn from the Atharva-veda had a metal share, was used for making furrows in the fields, and was drawn by bulls. When the earth was thus prepared, seed was strewn over the soil. ”

“ There are five tribes of this people, who form a confederation, at the head of which is a union of warriors, which is called a Purrah. Each tribe has its own separate Purrah, and each Purrah has its chiefs and its tribunal, which is, in a more restricted sense, also called a Purrah. The general Purrah of the confederation is formed from the Purrahs of the five tribes.
To be a member of the inferior Purrahs, a man must be thirty years of age; no one under fifty can have a seat in the general Purrah. ”

“ At the present day, besides pursuing their traditional occupation, they also engage in agriculture and trade. The position of the Puvandans in society is not low. They are entitled to the services of [366] the Brāhman’s washerman and barber, and they may enter temples, and advance as far as the place to which Nāyars go, except in some parts of Central Travancore. They are flesh-eaters, and the drinking of intoxicating liquor is not prohibited. On ceremonial occasions, women wear the Tamil Idaiya dress, while at other times they adopt the attire of Nāyar women. ”

“ No other caste will eat or drink from their hands.
Occupation. 12. Their occupation is singing and dancing, and their women, as has been said already, act as midwives.
Bâlâhar, Bulâhar.—44 A tribe found in parts of the Duâb and Bundelkhand. The name seems to mean “crier” or “summoner” (Hindi, bulâna, “to call”) . In Cawnpur they are also known as Domar or Basor, which connect them with Doms and Bânsphors and Toraiha, because part of their business is to blow the long trumpet or “cholera horn” (turi, turai, turhi) at weddings. ”

“ The road to the Punjab through Kurnal was most providentially kept open. The Punjab was the only source from which a man, or a barrel of flour, or a case of medicine, could reach the English army before Delhi. Had that road been closed upon them, their condition must soon have become desperate. But the circumstances that retained that key of their position in friendly hands was as providential as the good will of the Rampore Nawab toward us at Nynee Tal. Mr. Le Bas, the Judge of Delhi, owed his life on the day of the slaughter to the speed of his horse. ”

“ Some time before 1881 A.D., some metal images were found near a village Imādpur in the Muzaffarpur district of Bengal, [18] which were pronounced The struggle with the Cedi Empire.by Dr. Hoernle to have been dedicated in the 48th year of Mahīpāladeva. [19] As these images were found in Tirhut or Tīrabhukti, it is natural to conclude that Mithila was in the possession of the Pālas up to the 48th year of Mahīpāla I. But six years before the erection of the temple Conquest of Mithilā.of Sārnath, Mithilā passed out of the hands of the Pālas. ”

“ Though Lord Tremlyn and Sir Modava, with their friends, were invited to the residence of the lieutenant-governor, the party went to the Victoria Hotel, for the viscount thought it would be an imposition to quarter them on the chief authority, being eighteen in number.
"We are now in the Punjab, the north-western corner of India," said the Hindu gentleman, when they were seated in the parlor of the hotel. "It is watered by the Indus and five of its branches, on one of which, the Ravi, Lahore is situated. Punjab means five rivers. ”

“ On the 11th we crossed by the ferry boats at Huree Ka Puttun, and landed in the Punjab at the village of that name. There are twenty-three boats at this ferry; and it is protected by a party of 400 horse, whom the ruler of the Punjab has stationed here to prevent the fanatics of the Seik creed from passing into the British territories. Our welcome chanted. As we entered the village, we were met by a crowd of females and children, who approached to chant our welcome. They are the poorer peasantry, and, of course, actuated by the hope of reward ”

“ The Swan and Defence arrived in the road of Puloroon on the 13th December. Next day the people of that island came on board, and conferred with us about surrendering the island to us. We represented that our nation had come often to their island, at great cost, and at their particular request, to settle a factory, and trade with them in a friendly manner, bringing them rice and other provisions, with cloth and sundry commodities, in exchange for their spices ”