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FEBRUARY, 1894.]
THE DEVIL WORSHIP OF THE TULUVAS.
43
And then they said : -“Before we can drink the water given by you, you must first tell us in what place you were born, the tribe you belong to, the names of your mother and father and the Bhata you worship."
“As for my native place, in its eastern part it is named Setti Bannala; in its western part it is called Uppi Bannala; in its southern part it bears the name of Kirodi Bannala. In the northern it is known by the name of Becchi Bannala. My father is Kantaņņa Baidya, my mother Deyi Baidyadi, and my uncle Sayina Baidya. As for the Bhůta, worshipped by my family, I have merely heard it said that it is the Bhata, Brahmara of Kommule. I have not personally seen it. It is said that after my birth my mother gave birth to two children in Parimâle's house, that these latter are burning city after city even without fire, and that my hands were joined in marriage to those of a stranger at the age of seven. My name is Kinni Daru."
“We are the persons that committed depredation in the kingdom of Parimale !” said the brothers.
Hearing this she held Channayya by her left hand and- Koti by her right, and led them both into the house and seated them on the swinging cot. Then she held a little grass in her hand and called home the cow that had gone out to graze. She put the calf to suck, and drew two sêrs of milk. She boiled it and reduced it to one sér. When Paiyya Baidya, the rich man of Palli, came home, carrying a pot of toddy, he went into a small room, and heard the creaking of the swinging cot.
"My old enemies are come," said he to himself, and, seeing the brothers, he precipitately fled.
Kôți saw him running and said :-"O, my sister Kinni Daru, your husband, our brotherin-law, is ranning away. Fetch him hither," said he.
She went out and addressed her husband :-"O my lord! O you monkey of the forest ! Stop! My brothers, your brothers-in-law, have come."
Thas she brought him back to the house. She entered the house through a narrow door, came to wbere her brothers were sitting, and seated her husband between them. Then she went in and brought the milk and gave it to her brothers saying:
“Drink milk to assuage your thirst, my brothers; and as they drank, they said to each other:
“We will not meditate evil to a house in which we have drunk milk."
Kinni Darn then went inside the house and made preparations for cooking. Channayya and Koti bathed themselves, and went to a room where there was sanılal-wood. They ground up a great deal of it, and besmeared their bodies. They came to the basin of the sacred tulasi, and each made a mark with the earth of the basin on his forehead, in order to earn merit. They then came in and sat down to take their food, and were served with green boiled rice, ghi, five hundred kinds of curries mixed with cards, three hundred kinds mixed with tamarind, and tender bamboo shoots, and pickled berries called kávade, and ate the food mixed with ghi. They washed their hands in butter-milk, and, thus finishing their meals, sat down on the swinging cot and chewed betel-nut.
They asked Paiyya Baidya of Pali :-"Who are the most intimate friends and the most faithful servants of Khmer Ballal of the village of Panje P
"I was the dearest friend of the last Ballal, but those of the present one are Chamundu Bernaye and Chandagidi Baidya," said Paiyya.
"Can you introduce us to Kêmêr Balla!?” asked the brothers. “I can," said Paiyya ; and so the three set out together to visit him.
