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88
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MARCH, 1879.
ledge, the following extraordinary custom as existing two hundred years ago, which, for obvious reasons, I can only quote in Italian :
"De Malavari poi solo sentii de notabile, che le loro donne negle atti venerei per usanza far loro ricevuta, ed universale, non vogliono mai soggiacere agli uomini." Can this be the case P
8. NAGA CUSTOMS.-Still more astounding is a Någa custom quoted by General Fitche, vol. I. p. 350, which can only be described in Latin :
"Annulum, a quartâ ad octavam partem unciæ latum, et ex cornu cervi factum, glandem penis et præputium arctè comprimentem, mares inducere solent: propositum est erectionem penis impedire, opinantibus iis privata membra conspiciende præbere, nisi in tali conditione, rem non indecoram esse; annulus a pubertates ævo assumitur, et ad mortem geritur."
(To be continued).
NOTES ON THE ABOVE. 1. PIGMIES.--Amongst the Vizianagram Mahdraja's attendants are two dwarfs, stated to pertain to the race so graphically described by Herodotus. One is said to be eighteen years old and forty inches high, and the other is sixteen and only thirty inches in height. They are also represented to us as pot-bellied, thin-limbed, knock-kneed, spherically-headed, copper-coloured, and tow. haired.-Newspaper cutting.
2. CANNIBALISM.-There is much reason to believe that cannibalism has always existed among some tribes in India, and some reason to believe that it yet exists. Bardesanes (ed. Hilgenfeld, pp. 94-97) expressly mentions it; this is perhaps the earliest historical notice strictly speaking; it is of about 200 A.D.
Frequent but trustworthy mention of cannibal. ism in India occurs in the works of the early travellers, though mostly they are in times of famine, as, e.g., in the great famine in Gujarat in 1630 (Van Twist, Gen. Beschrijvinge van Indien, pp. 8-9, 1648). Thevenot appears to mention the use of human flesh as food as common not far from Bhroch, but I cannot now refer to his book.
In 1812 Maria Graham (Journal, p. 15) writes of Bombay Pariahs : "They are filthy in all their habits, and do not scruple to use as food any dead animal they find; it is even said that, in some places, they do not reject human bodies." The Madras Pariahs, are, certainly, no better.
In Life in the Mofussil, by an ea-Civilian, pub. lished last year, there is a full account of a case of cannibalism by a low-caste man in Bengal which is beyond doubt. Want in this case could not be the cause.
Some sixteen years ago a Nair was murdered in Malabar by some people of very low caste called there 'Cherumar'. The body was mutilated, and on my asking the accused (who freely confessed their crime) why this had been done P they answered: "Tinnál pápam tirum"-"If one eats, the sin will cease." This is the only unquestionable case that has come under my notice.
Do not some of the wild and disgusting fanatics in the Bombay Presidency also practise cannibalism?
A. B. 30th January, 1879.
3. Vibháji, the present Jám of Navanagar, in Kathiavad, married a Muhammadan wife by whom he has a son Kalubha, whom he has got declared his successor on the gadi. His father, Ranamalla, had also a Muhammadan wife. The Jadej& chiefs marry Musalman wives.
4. Among the Môrs (or Meberas) and Rabåris the wife is regarded as the head of the house; she only can pay accounts, and transacts business with Baniyas, &c.
The Ramanujyas, or Sri Vaishnavas, in religious festivals, eat with people of any caste.
In the Dakhan and southern India children are admitted from infancy into higher castes.
The Sarasvati Brahmans also eat with Lohånds, Khatris, and Bansalis.
5 POLYANDRY.-In Kamaun between the Tons and Jamuna, about Kalsi, the Rajputs, Brâhmans, and Sadras all practise polyandry, the brothers of a family all marrying one wife, like the Pandavas. The children are all attributed to the eldest brother alive. None of the younger brothers are allowed to marry a separate or additional wife for themselves. When there is only one or two sons in a family it is difficult to procure a wife, lest she should become a widow.
BHAGVANLAL INDRAJI PANDIT.
6. NÅTAR CUSTOMS.-This vicious practice is fully admitted in Malabar to be one of the andchdra or perverse customs peculiar to that part of India. Graul mentions it (I believe) as such on Gundert's authority. It is sometimes called upakrida; a meaning of this kind is not given to this word in any Sanskpit Dictionary ; uparikradd and uparisambhoga are commonly used in this sense: see Gundert, Malaydlam Dictionary, p. 135, col.a. From the Någars other castes have adopted it.
There are allusions to such habits (though not as of universal prevalence) in Sanskrit books, but it is not possible to collect them here.
A. B. (To be continued).
