Mīla

Select Language Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bulgarian Bengali Catalan Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Filipino Finnish French Galician Georgian German Greek Gujarati Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Javanese Kannada Khmer Korean Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Marathi Nepali Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Tamil Telugu Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese Welsh Yiddish

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.

Mīla

The Mīlas are a fishing caste in Ganjam and Vizagapatam, for the following note on whom I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The name Mīlavāndlu, by which they are commonly known, means fishermen. They also call themselves Ōdavāndlu, because they go out to sea, fishing from boats (ōda). When they become wealthy, they style themselves Ōda Balijas. The caste is divided into numerous exogamous septs, among which are dhōni (boat), and tōta (garden). The custom of mēnarikam, according to which a man should marry his maternal uncle’s daughter, is in force, and a man may also marry his sister’s daughter. Girls are generally married after puberty. Gold jewellery is [64]presented in lieu of money as the bride-price (vōli). On the occasion of a marriage, half a dozen males and females go to the house of the bride, where they are entertained at a feast. She is conducted to the home of the bridegroom.

A plank is placed at the entrance to the house, on which the bride and bridegroom take their seats. After they have bathed, new cloths are presented to them, and the old ones given to the barber. They then sit once more on the plank, and the caste headman, called the Ejaman, takes up the sathamānam (marriage badge), which is passed round among those assembled. It is finally tied by the bridegroom on the bride’s neck. The remarriage of widows is recognised. Each village has an Ejaman, who, in addition to officiating at weddings, presides over council meetings, collects fines, etc. The caste goddess is Pōlamma, to whom animal sacrifices are offered, and in whose honour an annual festival is held. The expenses thereof are met by public subscription and private donations. The dead are burnt, and a Sātāni officiates at funerals. Death pollution is not observed. On the twelfth day after death, the pedda rōzu (big day) ceremony is performed. The caste titles are Anna and Ayya.