Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Mēda, Mēdara, Mēdarlu, or Mēdarakāran
Mēda, Mēdara, Mēdarlu, or Mēdarakāran. — The Mēdaras are workers in bamboo in the Telugu, Canarese, Oriya and Tamil countries, making sieves, baskets, cradles, mats, fans, boxes, umbrellas, and tatties (screens). Occasionally they receive orders for waste-paper baskets, coffins for Native Christian children, or cages for pigeons and parrots. In former days they made basket-caps for sepoys. They are said to cut the bamboos in the forest on dark nights, in the belief that they would be damaged if cut at any other time. They do not, like the Korachas, make articles from the leaf of the date-palm (Phœnix).
They believe that they came from Mahēndrāchāla mountain, the mountain of Indra, and the following legend is current among them. Dakshudu, the father-in-law of Siva, went to invite his son-in-law to a devotional sacrifice, which he was about to perform. Siva was in a state of meditation, and did not visibly return the obeisance which Dakshudu made by raising his hands to his forehead. Dakshudu became angry, and told his people not to receive Siva or his wife, or show them any mark of respect. Parvati, Siva's wife, went with her son Ganapati, against her husband's order, to the sacrifice, and received no sign of recognition. Thereat she shed tears, and the earth opened, and she disappeared. She was again born of Himavant (Himālayas), and Siva, telling her who she was, remarried her. Siva, in reply to her enquiries, told her that she could avoid a further separation from him if she performed a religious vow, and gave cakes to Brāhmans in a chata, or winnowing basket. She accordingly made a basket of gold, which was not efficacious, because, as Siva explained to her, it was not plaited, as bamboo baskets are. Taking his serpent, Siva turned it into a bamboo. He ordered Ganapati, and others, to become men, and gave them his trisula and ghada to work with on bamboo, from which they plaited a basket for the completion of Parvati's vow. Ganapati and the Gānas remained on the Mahēndrāchāla mountain, and married Gandarva women, who bore children to them. Eventually they were ordered by Siva to return, and, as they could not take their wives and families with them, they told them to earn their livelihood by plaiting bamboo articles. Hence they were called Mahēndrulu or Mēdarlu. According to another legend,*[1] Parvati once wanted to perform the ceremony called gaurinōmu, and, wanting a winnow, was at a loss to know how to secure one. She asked Siva to produce a man who could make one, and he ordered his riding-ox Vrishaban to produce such a person by chewing. Vrishaban complied, and the ancestor of the Mēdaras, being informed of the wish of the goddess, took the snake which formed Siva's necklace. and, going to a hill, planted its head in the ground. A bamboo at once sprang up on the spot, which, after returning the snake to its owner, the man used for making a winnow. The snake-like root of the bamboo is regarded as a proof of the truth of the story.
As among many other castes, opprobrious names are given to children. For example, a boy, whose elder brother has died, may be called Pentayya (dung-heap). As a symbol of his being a dung-heap child, the infant, as soon as it is born, is placed on a leaf-platter. Other names are Thavvayya, or boy bought for bran, and Pakiru, mendicant. In a case where a male child had been ill for some months, a woman, under the influence of the deity, announced that he was possessed by the goddess Ankamma. The boy accordingly had the name of the goddess conferred on him.
The following are some of the gōtras and exogamous septs of the Mēdaras: —
- (a) Gotras.
| Hanumanta (monkey-god). | Bombadai (a fish). |
| Puli (tiger). | Vināyaka (Ganēsa). |
| Thāgenīlu (drinking water). | Kāsi (Benares). |
| Avisa (Sesbania grandiflora) | Moduga (Butea frondosa). |
| Rēla (Ficus). | Kovila (koel or cuckoo). |
| Sēshai (snake ?) |
- (b) Exogamous septs.
| Pilli (cat). | Nuvvulu (gingelly). |
| Parvatham (mountain). | Senagapapu (Bengal gram). |
| Putta (ant-hill). | Tsanda (subscription). |
| Konda (mountain). | Nīla (blue). |
| Javādi (civet-cat). | Sirigiri (a hill). |
| Nandikattu (bull's mouth). | Kanigiri (a hill). |
| Kandikattu (dhāl soup). | Pōthu (male). |
| Kottakunda (new pot). | Nāginīdu (snake). |
| Pooreti (a bird). | Kola (ear of corn). |
| Kallūri (stone village). |
In a note on the Mēdaras of the Vizagapatam district, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao writes that girls are married before or after puberty. A Brāhman officiates at the marriage ceremonies. Widows are allowed to remarry once, and the sathamānam (marriage badge) is tied by the new husband on the neck of the bride, who has, as in the Gūdala caste, to sit near a mortar.
Formerly all the Mēdaras were Saivites, but many are at the present day Vaishnavites, and even the Vaishnavites worship Siva. Every family has some special person or persons whom they worship, for example, Vīrullu, or boys who have died unmarried. A silver image is made, and kept in a basket. It is taken out on festive occasions, as before a marriage in a family, and offerings of milk and rice gruel are made to it. Bāla Pērantālu, or girls who have died before marriage, and Pērantālu, or women who have died before their husbands, are worshipped with fruits, turmeric, rice, cocoanuts, etc.
Some of the Saivites bury their dead in a sitting posture, while others resort to cremation. All the Vaishnavites burn the dead, and, like the Saivites, throw the ashes into a river. The place of burning or burial is not as a rule marked by any stone or mound. But, if the family can afford it, a tulsi fort is built, and the tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) planted therein. In the Vizagapatam district, death pollution is said to last for three days, during which the caste occupation is not carried out. On the third day, a fowl is killed, and food cooked. It is taken to the spot where the corpse was burnt, on which a portion is thrown, and the remainder eaten.
The potency of charms in warding off evil spirits is believed in. For example, a figure of Hanumān the monkey-god, on a thin plate of gold, with cabalistic letters inscribed on it, is worn on the neck. And, on eclipse days, the root of the madar or arka plant (Calotropis gigantea), enclosed in a gold casket, is worn on the neck of females, and on the waist or arms of males. Some members of this, as of other castes, may be seen with cicatrices on the forehead, chest, back, or neck. These are the scars resulting from branding during infancy with lighted turmeric or cheroot, to cure infantile convulsions, resulting, it is believed, from inhaling tobacco smoke in small, ill -ventilated rooms.
Various legends are current in connection with tribal heroes. One Mēdara Chennayya is said to have fed some thousands of people with a potful of rice. His grandson, Mēdara Thodayya, used to do basket-making, and bathed three times daily. A Brāhman, afflicted with leprosy, lost a calf. In searching for it, he fell into a ditch filled with water, in which the Mēdara had bathed, and was cured. One Mēdara Kēthayya and his wife were very poor, but charitable. In order to test him, the god Iswara made grains of gold appear in large quantities in the hollow of a bamboo, which he cut. He avoided the bamboos as being full of vermin, and useless. At some distance, he found an ant-hill with a bamboo growing in it, and, knowing that bamboos growing on such a hill will not be attacked by vermin, cut it. In so doing, he cut off the head of a Rishi, who was doing penance. Detecting the crime of which he had been guilty, he cried " Siva, Siva." His wife, who was miles away, heard him, and, knowing that he must be in some trouble, went to the spot. He asked her how he was to expiate his sin, and she replied. " You have taken a life, and must give one in return," He thereon prepared to commit suicide, but his wife, taking the knife from him, was about to sacrifice herself when Iswara appeared, restored the Rishi to life, and took Mēdara Kēthayya and his wife to heaven.
As among many other castes, the sthambamuhurtham (putting up the post) ceremony is performed when the building of a new house is commenced, and the deeparathana (lamp-worship) before it is occupied. In every settlement there is a Kulapedda, or hereditary caste headman, who has, among other things, the power of inflicting fines, sentencing to excommunication, and inflicting punishments for adultery, eating with members of lower castes, etc. Excommunication is a real punishment, as the culprit is not allowed to take bamboo, or mess with his former castemen. In the Kistna and Godāvari districts, serious disputes, which the local panchāyat (council) cannot decide, are referred to the headman at Masulipatam, who at present is a native doctor. There are no trials by ordeal. The usual form of oath is " Where ten are, there God is. In his presence I say."
When a girl reaches puberty, she has to sit in a room on five fresh palmyra palm leaves, bathes in turmeric water, and may not eat salt. If there is "leg's presentation " at childbirth, the infant's maternal uncle should not hear the infant cry until the shanti ceremony has been performed. A Brāhman recites some mantrams, and the reflection of the infant's face is first seen by the uncle from the surface of oil in a plate. Widow remarriage is permitted. A widow can be recognised by her not wearing the tāli, gāzulu (glass bangles), and mettu (silver ring on the second toe). The lowest castes with which the Mēdaras will eat are, they say, Kōmatis and Velamas. Some say that they will eat with Sātānis.
In the Coorg country, the Mēdaras are said to subsist by umbrella-making. They are the drummers at Coorg festivals, and it is their privilege to receive annually at harvest-time from each Coorg house of their district as much reaped paddy as they can bind up with a rope twelve cubits in length. They dress like the Coorgs, but in poorer style.*[2]
It is recorded by Bishop Whitehead †[3] that, "in Mercāra tāluk, in Ippanivolavade, and in Kadikeri in Halerinad, the villagers sacrifice a kōna or male buffalo. Tied to a tree in a gloomy grove near the temple, the beast is killed by a Mēda, who cuts off its head with a large knife, but no Coorgs are present at the time. The blood is spilled on a stone under a tree, and the flesh eaten by Mēdas."
At the Census, 1901, Gauriga was returned as a sub-caste by some Mēdaras. The better classes are taking to call themselves Balijas, and affix the title Chetti to their names. The Godagula workers in split bamboo sometimes call themselves Oddē (Oriya) Mēdara.‡[4]