Komti: Deccan
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Komti
This article is an extract from THE CASTES AND TRIBES OF H. E. H. THE NIZAM'S DOMINIONS BY SYED SIRAJ UL HASSAN Of Merton College, Oxford, Trinity College, Dublin, and Middle Temple, London. One of the Judges of H. E. H. the Nizam's High Court of Judicature : Lately Director of Public Instruction. BOMBAY THE TlMES PRESS 1920 Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees |
Komti, Komati, Vaishya, Baqal, Bania, Sahukar — a wealthy trading caste, who are cloth and grain dealers, bankers, money- lenders, grocers, and shop-keepers. They are found scattered all over the Nizam's Dominions but are especially numerous in the Telugu speaking districts, where they enjoy the almost entire monopoly of trade. The etymology of the word ' Komti ' is uncertain and throws no light upon the origin of the caste. It is .supposed to be a variant of the Sanskrit ' Kumati ' (^u-base, mair-mind) meaning base-minded, or peculant, which probably has reference to the exacting practices of the members of ihe caste as money-lenders and village grocers. The Komtis themselves, maintain that their original name was " Gomati ' and its corruption into ' Komti ' was the outcome of the feeling of jealousy with which their rival classes have always regarded them. Even the word ' Gomati ' has not been satisfactorily explained. Some derive it from go-cow and mathi-shed and assert that it refers to their traditionary occupation of cattle-keepers, which was assigned to them as Vaishyas by Manu. Others trace its connection to the river Gomati in Oudh, whose valley, it is alleged, the ancestors of the present Komtis originally occupied. Other derivations, more or less fictitious, follow, all tending to support the pretensions of the caste to an Aryan origin.
Origin
The Komtis of the Atrafi Balda District have the following legend regarding the origin of their caste. In the far remote past, the Vaishyas pleased Mahadeo by their devotions and piety and were in a body translated to Kailas, the blessed abode of Shiva. This caused distress in the world. Trade vanished and men and beasts died of hunger. To alleviate the prevailing calamity, the Vaishya were directed by Mahadeo to revisit the world and renew their mortal existence. To this they demurred on the ground that they had been, once for all, absolved, by his grace, from the cycle of life and death. The solution of the difficulty devolved upon Vishnu who created a golden cow with a golden city in her stomach and induced the Vaishyas to people it, as this would save them from the wrath of Shiya. The Vaishyas, on entering it, were so oppressed by the internal heat that they repented of their folly and implored the God Shiva to release them, promising never to disobey him in future. They were helped out through the cow's ear and therefore got the name 'Gomati,' which, as the Komtis interpret the word, mccuis sprung from the cow's ear'. They were, subsequently, established at Penukundapattan (situated nearly 100 miles from Bezwada, on the Madras Railway line), and the god Mahadeo, who promised ever to remain with them and to protect them from danger or distress, was installed in the town and, under the name of Nagareshwar, became the patron deity of the caste.
The komtis, as the legend suggests, claim to be the descendants of the ancient Vaishyas and, next to Brahmans, are most strict and punctilious in the performance of their religious and ceremonial duties and the observance of ceremonial purity. They occupy a very high rank in the caste system, as it prevails at the present day in Telingana, and have assumed for themselves such denominations as Vaishya, Urjaloo, Oorvaya (all meaning 'sprung from the thigh of Brahma') and such titles as 'Gupta' (concealed) and 'Shetti' a corruption of the Sanskrit shreshti (noble). Their present calling, too, is in keeping with the traditionary functions assigned to the Vaishyas in the Smritis. On the other hand, the exogamous sections into which they are divided are entirely of the totemistic type, being the names of plants, trees, flowers, &c., which are held in reverence by the mem- bers of the sections bearing their names. So also the custom of Msanarikam (marrying one's maternal uncle's daughter), so common among the Dravidians, has become a rigid law among the Komtis, so that a Komti is obliged to marry his maternal uncle's daughter whether she is liked by him or not. Whatever claims, therefore, the Komtis may have to an Aryan origin, their uniformly dark complexion and coarse features, the totemistic character of their- exogamous sections and the existence among them of well preserved Dravidian usages lead to no other conclusion than that they are of Dravidian descent.
Internal Structure
The Komtis of the Hyderabad Territory have the following endogamous divisions : —
(1) Yegna or Vegna Komti.
(2) Neti or Raipak Komti.
(3) Vidur Komti.
(4) Arva Komti.
(5) Gouri Komti.
(6) Jain Komti.
Vegna or Vegna Komtis — these form the bulk of the caste in His Highness's Dominions and receive their name from Venginada or Veginada, "which, in olden times, ccanprised the territory between the Godaveri and the Krishna rivers below the Eastern Ghats." (Mr. Waiter Eliot of R. A. S., Vol. IV). It was from this tract they appear to have entered the adjoining districts of Warangal and Nalgunda and to have thence migrated as far north as Adilabad and as far west as Bidar and Parbhani. The members of the sub-caste are, however, disposed to give a mythical origin to their name, which they derive from the follow- ing legend. Once upon a time a Gandharva named Chitra- kanta was deeply in love with a celestial nymph, Wasukanya, but she refused to listen 'to his addresses. Enraged at this refusal, he inflicted upon her a curse by which she was doomed to be born a Vaishya girl on earth and he, born as a Kshatriya king, would seize her by force, and gratify his lust. Wasukanya meekly replied that were that to be her destiny she would rather perish in flames than submit to his will. In course of time the curse took effect and Wasukanya was born as the daughter of Kusuma Shetti, an opulent merchant (Vaishya) of Penkunda- pattan. Chitrakanta took birth in the illustrious family of the Pandawas, then reigning at Raj Mahendry, on the banks of the Godaveri river, and was named Vishnuwardhan. When Wasavambika, as was the girl's name, was eight years old,
Vishnuwardhan happened to visit the town. The girl accom- panied her father, who went to the court to pay allegiance to his sovereign. The girl's superhuman charms captivated the king's heart and he expressed his desire to marry her. The father could neither refuse the king's demand nor could he consent to marry his daughter to a Kshatriya. He therefore made some excuse and returned home in grief. The king persisted and was impatient of delay. To save her honour Wasavambika resolved to die. It was also resolved in an assembly that the headman of .each family of Vaishyas should perish with the maiden to save their caste from disgrace. A large funeral pyre was made and Wasavambika, before leaping into it, cursed beauty and ordained that no Komti female should, in future, be born beautiful. She also enjoined that a Komti boy should have, henceforth, for his wife his maternal uncle's daughter. She then threw herself into the flames and was reduced to ashes. Out of 714 Vaishya families only the heads of 102 followed her to death. One pair (Labha Shetti and his wife) had no issue to perpetuate their lineage and the family became extinct. The descendants of the others have since been known as Yegna, or Agni, Komtis meaning "sprung from those who perished in fire." The maiden received divine honours and, under the name of Kanyaka Parmeshwari, became the tutelar goddess of the caste. The members of the Pindli Kula gotra, to which Kusuma Shetti belonged, have been highly respected and accorded special honours in all religious ceremonies. Ncti or Raipak Komtis — an offshoot from the Yegna Komtis, so called since the members sepjirated from the main caste owing to a petty quarrel over the serving of ghi (neti-ghi in Telugu). At a caste dinner, two lines (pangats) of Komtis sat at meals and ghi was served to one line, which commenced eating before it was served to the other. This was against etiquette and the two parties quarrelled and separated. After the incident above referred to, the insulted Komtis retired to the village of Raipak and hence were known by that name. The legend continues that the two classes agreed to make up the quarrel and unite and, with this purpose, arranged a common dinner party in a mango grove. Kankamma, their patron deity, appeared on the scene in the disguise of a milk-woman, bearing on her head a milk-pot which, on arrival, she dashed on the ground and began to cry. This attracted the attention of the guests who gathered around her and offered her the price of the broken pot. " Can that unite the broken pieces?" she asked, and so saying declined the offer, thereby intimating that once they had separated, union among them was impossible. The Neti Komtis are exclusively Vibhutidharis or Shaivaits, bury their dead, acknowledge Aradhi Brahmans as their gurus, or spiritual teachers, and wear a lingam on their person. It may be that the difference of cult has occasioned their separation from the main caste. Vidur Komti — the illegitimate offspring of the Vegna Komtis by
women of other castes. Art)a Komtis — emigrants from Madras are so called, ' Arva ' being a generic term distinguishing the Tamil -speaking p^ple from the Telugu-speaking communities. They are mostly found in Chancharta, Kangipalli, Masaipeth and Jagtyal of the Karim- nagar District. They have a peculiar custom by which a girl, on attaining puberty, is immediately removed from her father's house and is either sent to her husband or is kept in a neigh- bour's house. Gouri Komtis — are believed to derive their name from Gouti, the wife of Mahadeo, with whom Kankammawaru or Kcinyaka Parmeshwari, the patron deity of the Komti caste, is identified. They are found in very small numbers in these dominions and are probably immigrants from the Madras Presidency and the Mysore State. Both the Vegna and the Gouri Komtis are said to have sprung from the same stock, their customs and traditions closely resembling each other. Jain Komtis — the legend relating to Kankammawaru says that those of the Vaishyas who, through fear of King Vishnuwar- dhan, escaped from Penukundapattan and embraced Jainism, were so styled. Whatever value may be attached to this legen- dary account, the term Komti is, at the present day, erroneously applied to the Kambhoj and other Jains and probably has its origin in the similarity of their occupations to that of the Komti caste.
Exogamy. — The Komtis are divided into 102 exogamous sections, mostly of the totemistic character, bearing the names of trees, plants or flowers, which the members of the sections abstain from touching, using, cutting,' or injuring in any other way. Alongside of these clearly defined totemistic sections are found the names of Vedic Rishis, or saints, which have no bearing upon the regulation of marriages and appear to be only ornamental appendages intended to give an eponymous character to the original sections, so as to make them conform to the Brahmanical gotras. Some of the sections are divided into two or more sub-sects which do not, however, form different exogamous groups and may therefore be different local names of the parent sections.
The Komtis "forbid a man to marry a girl who belongs to the same gotra as himself. The Komtis observe an elaborate system of prohibited degrees by which each member of the caste is required to know —
(1) one's own gotra — styled " First gotra ;"
(2) one's maternal uncle's gotra — styled " Second gotra ;"
(3) one's father's "maternal uncle's gotra — styled "Third gotra."
Now if the gotra of the proposed bridegroom, or his first gotra, should be the same as the gotra in which the proposed bride's paternal grand-mother is born, or the bride's third gotra, the bride stands in the relation of a grand-daughter to the bridegroom and the parties can be married. If, however, the above gotras are reversed, i.e., the third gotra of the proposed bridegroom be the same as the first gotra of the proposed bride, the bride is regarded as the mother of the bridegroom and the parties cannot be married.
This table is consulted only if the boy has no maternal uncle's daughter, for, by the usage of Myanarkam, he is obliged to marry her, whether there is mutual liking or affection between them or not.
The marriage of two sisters to the same man is permitted. Adoption is resorted to and the boy adopted may belong to the adoptor's gotra or to any other gotra. In the latter case, preference is given to the daughter's son. Outsiders are not admitted into the caste, but it is said that an infant of a higher caste may be admitted before its umbilical cord is cut. Polygamy is allowed in case the first wife is barren, adulterous or incurably diseased.
Marriage
The Komtis marry their daughters as infants between the ages of five and ten. Should a girl attain puberty before marriage she is turned out of the caste. Generally, a dowry is paid to the bridegroom, but if the bridegroom be a widower, or advanced in age, a price varymg in amount from Rs. 100 to Rs. 500, or even more, is paid for the bride. Girls are not offered to temples nor dedicated to trees. The Garbhadan ceremony (the purification of the womb) is performed even before the girl Is sexually mature, where- upon she is allowed to cohabit with her husband.
A suitable girl being selected, proposals of marriage are formally made by the parents of the boy to the parents of the girl and, on their being accepted by the latter, a Brahman astrologer is called upon to examine the calculations made on the astrological data at the births of the young couple. The parents of both parties are very scrupulous on this point and when tiiey are thoroughly satisfied that the horos- copes of the couple entirely agree, they proceed to decide the question concerning wedding expenses, the amount of dowry to be paid to the bridegroom and the value of jewels and clothes to be presented to the bride on the wedding day. These points having been settled, a day most propitious for the celebration of the nuptials is ascertained and fixed, and the fact is announced by the father of the bridegroom to the bride's party. Invitation letters, sprinkled with saffron water, are addressed to relations and friends, requesting them to grace the occasion with their presence. On an auspicious day, marriage pandah decorated with flowers, plantain trees, bunches of cocoanut and mango leaves, and adorned with festoons, are erected by both parties in front of their respective houses. To the wedding pole {muhurta medha), which consists of the umbar tree {Ficus glomerata) and which forms one of the supports of the pandal in the bride's house, are tied pieces of turmeric, nine kinds of grain and some coins, all contained in a piece of turmeric-coloured cloth. The household gods and departed ancestors are invoked to attend the marriage ceremony. This is followed by Kottanam, in which five married women, whose husbands are alive, pound rice, in a wooden mortar with two wooden pestles bound together and consecrated by the fastening to them of a piece of turmeric and two betel leaves. After this, the females proceed to grind turmeric in grinding mills. Both the turmeric powder and the pounded rice are then collected in a bundle and are reserved for use on the occasion of the wedding. The next ceremony is that of Ratii Reni (Araveni Kundulu), or the ceremonial bringing of earthen vessels from the house of a potter. On the afternoon of the same day, Pochamma and Nagalu, the village guardian deities, are propitiated with offerings of flowers and sweet dishes, the whole family, men and women, proceeding under a canopy to the temple of the deities, situated outside the village. These ceremonies are per- formed by both parties separately. The bridegroom's party, after this, set out for the bride's village, timing their journey so as to arrive at sunset. Previous intimation of their arrival having been conveyed to the bride's people, both parties meet on the outskirts of the village, the greeting being marked by their mutual embraces and by the throw- ing of abir (red powder) at one another. The bridegroom is here formally welcomed by his future father-in-law and is conducted, with music and singing, to the house prepared for his temporary lodging. This ceremony is known as Yadulukpdalu. The next day begins with Ghatikapuja (the worship of the time-indicating pot) and the distribution of 5 pieces of turmeric and oil to each family invited to attend the ceremony. The bride and bridegroom, in their respective houses, are smeared over with turmeric, the bridegroom a short while after the bride, a part of the turmeric used by the bride being sent for the use of the bridegroom. To wash this off is deemed very inauspicious to the bridal pair and they are not allowed to bathe until the day of the Naghali ceremony. As the auspicious moment for the wedding approaches, a procession is formed at the bride- groom's house and the boy, dressed in white, is pompously taken, on horseback, to the bride's house, holding in his right hand a nut-cutter {sarota) and a small bag containing the pusti (lucky string), toe-ring, bracelets, a sandal puppet, five pieces of cocoa-nut, five areca nuts and the jewels to be presented to the bride. At the entrance to the bride's house, a mixture of cooked rice and curds are waved round his face and then thrown to evil spirits to avert their baneful^ influence. Here, too, he is accorded a welcome by the bride "s father and con- ducted to a seat, specially prepared, under the wedding booth. As he enters the booth, he ties a piece of silk cloth to one of its posts. On being seated on a low wooden stool, he is offered madhuparka, or a mixture of honey and clarified butter, by his parents, in token of reception. He is, thereupon, invested with the sacred thread by his father, under the guidance of the family priest, a ceremony which is supposed to entitle him to take a wife and to enter upon his duties as a house-holder. The bride is now brought out, attired in white silk, her brow adorned with bashingams (paper ornaments) and is made to stand facing the bridegroom, the bridegroom also stand- ing; a silk curtain is interposed between them, auspicious verses are chanted by the priests and grains of rice are sprinkled over their heads by the Braihmans and by the assembly of men and women. This concluded, the bridal pair throw cumin seeds and jaggery three times on each other's heads and tread upon each other's feet, it being incum- bent on a man of the ' Pendlikulam ' gotra to hold their feet while this treading is being done. These ceremonies are known as /r/^ar- belam and Padghattan respectively. The curtain being raised, the bridal pair are seated opposite each other, the bridegroom facing the east and the bride the west. It is now the turn of the bride's father to offer madhuparkfl to the bridegroom and invest him with the sacred thread. The Kanyadan ceremony, or 'the gift of the virgin," follows, at which the bridegroom places the bride's hand in the hollow of his own forming two cups, and the bride's mother pours cold water upon the palm of her husband, which he allows to drop into the bride's, from whence it trickles into the bridegroom's and falls into the plate below. The whole procedure symbolises that the bride has been, formally, presented by her father to the bride- groom who, on his part, has formally accepted the gift. At the Kankan Bandhanam ceremony, the kflnkancms (thread bracelets) and pusti (auspicious bead necklace) are placed in a dish, worshipped by the bridal pair and afterwards handed round to the guests to be touched and blessed by each of them ; when this is done the pusti is hung round the bride's neck by the bridegroom and the kflnkanams are fastened on their wrists by the family priest. The bride honours, with puja, the clothes and jewels presented to her by the bridegroom and, adorned in them, takes her seat to the left of her husband. Their clothes being tied in a knot, they throw rice three times over each other's heads. The guests, one by one, offer them each three handfuls of rice, the ceremony being termed takwal. Wedding presents are given to the newly married pair by their parents, relatives and friends, after which the family priest takes both the bride and the bridegroom outside the marriage panda] and points out to them the star " Arundhati " (the pole star) as an emblem of matrimonial virtue and constancy. The happy pair are then taken round to make obeisance to the family gods, their parents and relatives. After the distribution of pan-supari (betel-leaves and areca-nuts), attar and nosegays of flowers, all the men retire leaving the bride and bride- groom under the canopy. Women then come and perform their own peculiar ceremonies, playing various tricks on the couple, all of which may be summed up in one word A\alpohal. At the pota, or wed- ding feast, which is generally given on the second day after the wedding, relatives, friends and acquaintances are entertained at the bride's house. This is followed, on the third day, by tt^ta, at which the newly wedded couple are perambulated, in a palanquin, through the town and led in procession to a garden outside. Here they make merry, nautch performances by dancing girls and feasting forming the order of the day. The procession returns to the bride's house by night. The ceremonies that are performed on the fourth day and subsequently, are described as follows : —
Mailapolu. — The bride and bridegroom are seated on a square of rice, with a brass vessel filled with water at each of its corners. The vessels are encircled five times with a raw cotton thread. The bridal pair are smeared with oil by a barber and bathed by five married women in warm water. The bridegroom subsequently stooping over the bride, the water in the vessels is poured over them. The pair change their clothes and their wet clothes are given away to the barber.
Sadasu or Alms-giving. — Alms are given by the bridegroom in the name of the 33 crores of gods, which comprise the Hindu pantheon. In counting the measures of alms, the bridegroom commits mistakes and his brother-in-law corrects him by gently striking him on the back. Much amusement ensues on the occasion.
Wadabiyaram or Marine Trade. — Two toy boats, each made of 16 grass sticks, are lighted with lamps, worshipped by the bridal pair and floated in water.
Nagabali. — Under the booth, a platform is built with earth, brought in procession and with music from an ant-hill outside the village. Beautiful patterns in five different colours (white, yellow, red, green and black) are traced upon the platform, which is sur- rounded by five earthen potB encircled with cotton thread, and by conical heaps of food, topped with lighted lamps. In its centre, on two wooden planks, are seated the bride and bridegroom, facing towards the east. The parents of the bride march five times round the pair, her father bearing in one hand a bell, and in the other a sword, while her mother keeps pouring a stream of water on the sword all the time. At the end of the last round, they take with them the bride and bridegroom and walk straight into the house, none of them turning back to see the bali. The nagbali, viz., the food, pots, etc., is
claimed by a washerman and removed by him immediately.
Panpu.-The wedded couple are seated, face to face, on a cot under the booth, with twenty-one turmeric figures, representing Gour- amma, arranged in a row between them. Each figure is placed on two betel leaves, with a comb, turmeric and kpnkum powders, black bead necklaces, dry dates, cocoanut kernels, almonds and flowers before it. The bridal pair worship the deities, with the help of the family priest and, after the puja has been completed, present the figures, with their offerings, to "married females. This ceremony over, the young couple are made to play a drama of domestic life with the sandal wood doll (brought by the bridegroom from his house) as their child. The doll is placed in a cradle hung between the couple and is rocked to and fro while a lullaby is chanted by all the women present. After a while, the bride takes out the doll and hands it to her husband, asking him to take charge of it as she has to attend to domestic affairs ; but the bridegroom returns it to her on the plea that he has to mind his shop business. This incident is attended with a great deal of mirth and amusement among the assembly.
Navagradha Puja, or the Worship of Nine Planets. — This cere- mony is performed in the god's chamber inside the house. A nose- ring is dropped in an earthen vessel and the couple are asked to pick it out. Whoever succeeds in first doing so is regarded as the cleverer of the two. As the couple enter the house for the performance of the preceding ceremony they are obstructed at the door by the bridegroom's sister, who demands her brother's first born daughter for her son, and lets them enter only after she has extracted a promise from them to tihat effect.
Kankan Visarjan, or the Untying of the Wrist-threads.
Opagantha, at which the bride is formally entrusted by her parents to the charge of her husband and his parents.
Barat (Sade), or the bridal procession which conducts the bride- groom with his young wife to his house.
Padbari Panduga, or the concluding ceremony m connection with marriage, performed on the 16th day after the wedding, when all the family members are entertained with a dish of rice termed aialu.
The auspicious months for the celebration of marriages are Mar- gashirsha, Magh, Falguna, Vaishakha and Jaishta. The bride's parents pay oara dakshina, or dowry, to the bridegroom amounting to Rs. 116, or to any higher sum, with however the figures 1 and 6 as its last two digits, e.g., 216, 316, etc. Aged widowers are required to pay prices for brides which are proportional to the ages of the girls.
Widow-marriage is not recognised by the caste. A woman taken in adultery, is expelled from the house and entirely ceases to be a member of her husband's family. A woman abandoned by her husband is not allowed to marry again.
Inheritance
The Komtis follow the Hindu law of inherit- ance. At the time of the division of the property jaishta hhag, or an extra share, is paid to the eldest brother.
Religion
The Komtis are orthodox Hindus and belong to the Vaishnava and Saiva sects. The worshippers of Vishnu distinguish themselves as Tirmanidharis and mark their foreheads with three vertical streaks of sandal paste, running from the root of the nose to the root of the hair. The devotees of Shiva are designated Vibhutidharis, or those who smear ashes of burnt cowdung on their foreheads. A few of the caste have joined the Lingayit sect and worship Mahadeo in the form of Lingam. These wear both the lingam (phalic symbol) and the sacred thread as badges of distinction. The characteristic deities of the caste are Nagareshwar and Kankan;- mawaru, whose chief temples are situated at Penukundapattan in the Godaveri district. On Makar Sankrant (the 12th or 1 3th of January) Kankammawaru or Kanyaka Parmeshwari is worshipped by all the members, men and women, with offerings of sweetmeats, flowers, cocoanuts, \unkum and other objects. The Komtis employ Brahmans in this, as well as in the worship of Vyakatswami, Raj Rajeshwar, Hanuman, Ganpati and other Brahmanical gods and in the perform- ance of their religious and ceremonial functions. The tuhi plant, or sacred basil [Odmnm sanctum), and the pipal (Ficm religiosa) are worshipped by women daily, the badh or banyan {Firus bengalensis) on the 15th of Jaisha and the shami (Prosopis spicigera) on the Dassera holiday. The cow is regarded as a sacred animal and is not used for labour of any kind. The only other animal that is res- pected is the serpent, worshipped annually on the lunar 5th of Shra- wana. But the deity most in favour is Kedari Gouramma, honoured by every Komti family on Sundays, Wednesdays or Fridays in the lunar half of the month of Kartika. On a spot of ground, plastered over with cowdung and painted with designs of powdered lime and kunkftTn, are placed two idols made of turmeric powder and milk and representing Gouri, the tonsort of Shiva. Bodices of women and robes of men and children, all newly made of white cloth, are placed in front of the deity. A married couple of the family observe a fast during the day and, under the presidency of a Brahman priest, worship the goddess in the evening with offerings of sweet cakes, betel- leaves and nuts, cocoanuts and other fruit, molasses and flowers, all deposited on twigs of the badh or banyan (Ficus bengalensis), and the tarvar (Cassia auriculata) trees. All the members of the family, are required to be present on the occasion and, as the worship is over, they dress themselves in the consecrated apparel and wear kankanams,-' or thread bracelets, on their wrists. In the month of Aswin, the Komti females worship Badakamma, or the image of Gouri, perched on a heap of a variety of flowers. Offerings of auspi- cious objects are made to the goddess by married women who, with arms linked, sing and dance round the sacred object in a large circle. The Badakamma is then led in solemn procession by the throng and thrown into a stream or tank. The Komtis believe in charms and sorcery cuid appease spirits and ghosts, to whose malignant influence are generally ascribed all incurable diseases and the maladies of children.
Funeral Ceremonies The dead are burnt by the Namdharis and buried by the Vibhutidharis and the Raipak and Lingayit Komtis. When a Komti is on his death-bed, he is required to perform Pra^aschit, or the ceremony of expiation, which is supposed to deliver him from all sin. He is also made to bestow gifts, such as godan, or the gift of a cow, upon Brahmans. After death the body is washed, wrapped in a white cloth, laid on a bamboo bier and borne to the burning or burial ground by four men on their shoulders. The chief mourner, the son, or in default the nearest of kin, heads the funeral procession, bearing fire in an* earthen pot. On arrival, a funeral pyre is made and the corpse is laid on it with its head pointing to the south. A piece of gold and' iulsi leaves (the sacred basil) are put in its mouth. The chief mourner walks three times round the pyre, with a pot filled with water on his shoulder. At the end of the third round, he throws the pot on the ground and sets fire to the pile. When the body is completely consumed, the mourners bathe in a well, or a running stream, and return to the house of the deceased. Before return to their houses, the bier bearers have to look at a lamp lighted on the spot where the' dead person breathed his last. The ashes and bones are collected on the third day after death and either thrown into a holy river or, if circumstances do not permit, into any stream that is handy. The dead bodies of unmarried persons are carried suspended on a bamboo pole termed untipara and buried without any ceremony. The Lingayit Komtis carry their dead to the burial ground in a sitting posture. The corpse is seated in a niche carved out at one side .of the grave and is buried with a lingam placed in its left hand and brlva (yEgle Marmelos) leaves and vtbhvti (ashes) on its side. Agnate relatives of seven degrees are mourned for fifteen days. Mourning is observed three days for unmarried agnates and for such cognates as maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, sister, daughter, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law and sister's son. Pindas, or balls of cooked rice, are offered for the benefit of the soul of the deceased generally on the fifteenth day after death. The funeral ceremonies followed by the Komtis, who aspire after the introduction of Vedic rites in their ritual, closely resemble those of the Brahmans and are giver as follows : —
(1) Dahan, or the cremation of the corpse.
(2) Sinchana, or the collection of the bones.
(3) Kshaura, or the shaving of the beard and moustaches.
(4) Nit\)a Karma, which is performed every morning during the
period of mourning and consists of — (i) Sila-prasthapan. (ii) Mritika Snana. (iii) Waso-cla\a.
(iv) Tilodakfl.
(v) Pinda-pradanam.
(5) Ama Sradha.
(6) Anhika.
(7) Dosha Homa.
(8) Shodasba Homa, or the last funeral sacrifice, on the per-
formance of which the mourners are free from pollution and are ceremonially clean. On the 16th day, caste people are entertained at the house of the deceased.
All the deceased ancestors are propitiated on the Pitra AmaWasya day, or on the 30th of Bhadrapad (middle of September), with offer- ings of til libations (water mixed with gingelly seeds). The Komtis celebrate monthly Sradha {masilzj during the first year and annual sradha every year subsequently. If the first wife dies, a small earthen pot (jagdi muntha) is set up in her name and worshipped annually, or periodically, by the second wife.
A Kamti widow removes the pusti (auspicious bead necklace) from her neck and breaks her bangles on the tenth day after the death of her husband. Children who die before teething are buried and not mourned. During the period of impurity, the mourners have to abstain from sleeping on a cot, eating sweet things, turmeric, betel- leaves and nut and even from smoking.
Social Status
In point of social status the Komtis rank almost next to Brahmans. All the Telugu castes, except Brahmans, Panchdayi, Satani, Lingayits, Jangam, Tamadi, and Gandalas, eat kachi (cooked food) from their hands. They are vegetarians and abstain from liquors or other alcoholic drinks. They do not eat the leavings of higher castes.
Occupation
The original occupation of the caste was supposed to be trade, the rearing of cattle, and agriculture. The Komtis of the present day are mostly traders and are found engaged in banking, shop-keeping, money-lending and similar other professions. Some of them are land-holders and have acquired rights of permanent tenure ; but in this respect they cannot be reckoned as agriculturists, for they do not plough themselves but employ labour in cultivation. In most of the villages the Komtis are sahu\ars, or money-lenders to the agricultural classes, advancing money on the mortgage of lands at exorbitant rates of interest. The poorer members of the caste are cooks, confectioners and petty brokers and follow every pursuit deemed respectable. A few of them have entered Government service.
