Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Paidi
Paidi.— The Paidis are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, as "a class of agricultural labourers and weavers, found in the Vizagapatam district. Some of them are employed as servants and village watchmen. They are closely akin to the Pānos and Dōmbos of the hills, and Mālas of the plains. They speak a corrupt dialect of Uriya." In the Census Report, 1901, Kangara (servant) is recorded as a synonym for Paidi.
For the following note on the Paidis of the Vizagapatam district, I am mainly indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. There is a great deal of confusion concerning this caste, and the general impression seems to be that it is the same as Dōmb and Pāno. I am informed that the same man would be called Paidi by Telugus, Dōmb by the Savaras, and Pāno by the Konds. In the interior of the Jeypore Agency tracts the Dōmbs and Paidis both repudiate the suggestion that they are connected with each other. The Paidis, in some places, claim to belong to the Vālmiki kulam, and to be descended from Vālmiki, the author of the Rāmāyana. A similar descent, it may be noted, is claimed by the Bōyas. In the Vizagapatam Manual, the Paidimālalu or Paidi Mālas (hill Mālas) are described as cultivating land, serving as servants and village watchmen, and spinning cotton. It is said that they will not eat food, which has been seen by Kōmatis. The Paidis stoutly deny their connection with the Mālas.
When a Paidi girl reaches puberty, she is kept under pollution for a varying number of days, and, on the last day, a Mādiga is summoned, who cuts her finger and toe nails, after which she bathes. Girls are married either before or after puberty. The mēnarikam custom is in force, according to which a man should marry his maternal uncle's daughter. If he does so, the bride-price (vōli) is fixed at five rupees; otherwise it is ten rupees. The marriage ceremonies last over four days, and are of the low-country Telugu type. The remarriage of widows and divorce are permitted.
The Paidis are Vaishnavites, and sing songs in praise of Rāma during the month Karthika (November-December). Each family feeds a few of the castemen at least once during that month. They also observe the Sankramanam festival, at which they usually wear new clothes. The dead are either burnt or buried, and the chinna (small) and pedda rōzu (big day) death ceremonies are observed.
Some Paidis are cultivators, but a large number are prosperous traders, buying up the hill produce, and bringing it to the low-country, where it is sold at markets. Their children study English in the hill schools. The caste titles are Anna and Ayya.
Some time ago some prisoners, who called themselves Billaikāvu (cat-eaters), were confined in the Vizagapatam jail. I am informed that these people are Māla Paidis, who eat cat flesh.
The following note refers to the Paidis who live in the southern part of Ganjam. Some have settled as watchmen, or in other capacities, among the Savaras, whose language they speak in addition to their own. In their marriage ceremonies, they conform to the Telugu type, with certain variations adopted from the Oriya ceremonial. On the first day, a pandal (booth) is set up, and supported on twelve posts. A feast is given to males during the day, and to females at night. Like the Oriya Dandāsis, they bring water from seven houses of members of castes superior to their own. The auspicious time for tying the pushte (gold marriage badge) on the following day is fixed so as to fall during the night. At the appointed time, the bridegroom rushes into the house of the bride, and the contracting couple throw rice over each other. Taking the bride by the hand, the bridegroom conducts her to the pandal, wherein they take their seats on the dais. The bride should be seated before the bridegroom, and there is a mock struggle to prevent this, and to secure first place for the bridegroom. He then ties a mokkuto (chaplet) on the bride's forehead, a thread on her wrist, and the pushte on her neck. After this has been done, the couple bathe with the water already referred to, and once more come to the dais, where a small quantity of rice, sufficient to fill a measure called adda, is placed before them. Some amusement is derived from the bride abstracting a portion of the rice, so that, when the bridegroom measures it, there is less than there should be. The marriage ceremonies conclude on the third day with offerings to ancestors, and distribution of presents to the newly married couple.
The death ceremonies are based on the Oriya type. On the day after death, the funeral pyre is extinguished, and the ashes are thrown on to a tree or an ant-hill. As they are being borne thither, the priest asks the man who carries them what has become of the dead person, and he is expected to reply that he has gone to Kāsi (Benares) or Jagannātham. A cloth is spread on the spot where the corpse was burnt, and offerings of food are placed on it. On the fourth day, a pig is killed and cooked. Before being cooked, one of the legs is hung up near the spot where the deceased breathed his last. Death pollution is got rid of by touching oil and turmeric, and the ceremonies conclude with a feast. An annual offering of food is made, in the month of November, to ancestors, unless a death takes place in the family during this month.
The Ganjam Paidis worship the Tākurānis (village deities), and sacrifice goats and sheep at local temples. As they are a polluting caste, they stand at a distance opposite the entrance to the temple, and, before they retire, take a pinch or two of earth. This, on their return home, they place on a cloth spread on a spot which has been cleansed, and set before it the various articles which have been prepared as offerings to the Tākurāni. When a Paidi is seriously ill, a male or female sorcerer (Bejjo or Bejjano) is consulted. A square, divided into sixteen compartments, is drawn on the floor with rice-flour. In each compartment are placed a leaf, cup of Butea frondosa, a quarter-anna piece, and some food. Seven small bows and arrows are set up in front thereof in two lines. On one side of the square a big cup, filled with food, is placed. A fowl is sacrificed, and its blood poured thrice round this cup. Then, placing water in a vessel near the cup, the sorcerer or sorceress throws into it a grain of rice, giving out at the same time the name of some god or goddess. If the rice sinks, it is believed that the illness is caused by the anger of the deity, whose name has been mentioned. If the rice floats, the names of various deities are called out, until a grain sinks.
It is recorded *[1] that, in the Parvatipūr country of the Vizagapatam district, "the Paidis (Paidi Mālas) do most of the crime, and often commit dacoities on the roads. Like the Konda Doras, they have induced some of the people to employ watchmen of their caste as the price of immunity from theft. They are connected with the Dombus of the Rāyagada and Gunupur tāluks, who are even worse."
- ↑ * Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district.