Heggade

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This article is an excerpt from Castes and Tribes of Southern India By Edgar Thurston, C.I.E., Superintendent, Madras Government Museum; Correspondant Étranger, Société d’Anthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa,Romana di Anthropologia. Assisted by K. Rangachari, M.A., of the Madras Government Museum. Government Press, Madras 1909.

Heggade

The Heggades are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as being a class of Canarese cultivators and cattle-breeders. Concerning the Heggades of South Canara, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes that they “are classified as shepherds, but the present occupation of the majority of them is cultivation. Their social position is said to be somewhat inferior to that of the Bants. They employ Brāhmins as their priests. In their ceremonies, the rich follow closely the Brahminical customs. On the second day of their marriage, a pretence of stealing a jewel from the person of the bride is made. The bridegroom makes away with the jewel before dawn, and in the evening the bride’s party proceeds to the house where the bridegroom is to be found. The owner of the house is told that a theft has occurred in the bride’s house and is asked whether the thief has taken shelter in his house. A negative answer is given, but the bride’s party conducts a regular search. In the meanwhile a boy is dressed to represent the bridegroom. The searching party mistake this boy for the bridegroom, arrest him, and produce him before the audience as the culprit. This disguised bridegroom, who is proclaimed to be the thief, throws his mask at the bride, when it is found to the amusement of all present that he is not the bridegroom. The bride’s party then, confessing their inability to find the bridegroom, request the owner of the house to produce him. He is then produced, and conducted in procession to the bride’s house.”

Some Bants who use the title Heggade wear the sacred thread, follow the hereditary profession of temple functionaries, and are keepers of the demon shrines which are dotted all over South Canara.

Of the Heggades who have settled in the Coorg country, the Rev. G. Richter states that “they conform, in superstitions and festivals, to Coorg custom, but are excluded from the community of the Coorgs, in whose presence they are allowed to sit only on the floor, whilst the former occupy a chair, or, if they are seated on a mat, the Heggades must not touch it.” In the Mysore and Coorg Gazetteer, Heggade is defined by Mr. L. Rice as the headman of a village, the head of the village police, to whom, in some parts of the Province, rent-free lands are assigned for his support. Heggade is sometimes used as a caste name by Kurubas, and occurs as an exogamous sept of Stānikas.