Indian Antiquary Vol 52

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 236

220
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ Adaust, 1923
same as the Chàuga of the South. All Ancamanese when they die, he says, become Lau or Spirits. He further observes that aliens are, to them, also visitors from the world of Spirits (p. 138). So far I am with him, but he then goes on to say that "the clothes that these' spirita' (scil, foreign visitors) wore they called Lau-ot-julu, the word of-julu meaning cold.'” In the Bêa language the term for cloth, clothes and even canvas sails is ia-yolo. Now, assuming the term julu to convey the sense of clothing, the obvious Bêa equivalent for Mr. Brown's Northern Lau-ot-julu would be Chauga-l'ia-yolo, which means "the Spirits' clothes." But neither in the South nor in the Mid Andaman has any term been found which even approaches julu, yolo with the sense of cold. Whereas the exact equivalent of the form Lau-ot-julu is, in Bea, Chauga-l'öt-yólo, but that has the sense of "the foreigner's18 soul.' " No doubt Mr. Brown will heartily disagree with all this, but it goes to show how much depends, in speculation about savages, on the correct apprehension of the native terms and how necessary it is to .look into those presented.
Here is a strong instance. Mr. Brown is giving a legend of the first ancestor, derived from some men of the Bôjigyáb tribe19 (Mid Andaman), and the end of him is (p. 194) that "he is turned into a kara-duku." On this Mr. Brown remarks at length: “There is some doubt about the translation of the word kara-duku. It is an Aka-Bea word, although it was used as given above, by an A-Puchikwar man. Mr. Man translates it 'cachalot.' Mr. Portman says [Notes on the Languages of the South Andaman Group of Tribes) that kara-duku is
crocodile,' but that the cachalot, the proper name for which is biriga-ta, is sometimes [p. 227 of Portman's book has 'equally '] called kara-duku. The only authority for the existence of crocodiles in the Andamans is the statement of Mr. Portman, who says that the natives killed one in the Middle Andaman and brought the bones to him. Although I was in many of the creeks at the Andamans at different times I never saw a crocodile, and none of the other officers of the Settlement, who have repeatedly explored a large part of the islands, ever seems to have seen one, so that the one recorded by Mr. Portman may possibly have been & single one that had come oversea from the mainland of Asia," Mr. Portman, however, thought differently, as he was well aware of an old controversy as to the true meaning of kdra-daku and as to the existence of crocodiles in the Andamans. There are plenty in the Nicobars. Remembering this I referred to Mr. Man. Here is his reply: " I remember there was doubt about the correct meaning of kedra-daku at one time, and it was wrongly described as the word for cachalot (sperm whale,) but later I found that biriga-ta meant whale' and kåra-důka
crocodile.' In confirmation of this the somewhat similarly formed reptile, the iguana, is called duku. I well remember being told of a man, while swimming a creek in the Middle Andamans, being seized and carried off by a crocodile. It occurred some time in the sixties," during the latter part of which I may remark Mr. Man was in the Andamans. The inference here is that a reference to Mr. Man would probably have modified the remarks above quoted from p. 194. Finally, Mr. Brown might as well have quoted Mr. Portman correctly, for he says, p. 227 op. cit : "the word kára-dúku is also applied to the cachalot equally with the proper name of biriga-ta. There remained some doubt regarding the proper translation of the word in the minds of Europeans until a crocodile was killed by the Andamanege in Yêretil Creek in 1894. Crocodiles are rare in the Andamans, but have been very occasionally killed by the Andamanese and I have known of three cases in which Andamanese have been eaten by the reptiles." Mr. Brown's methods are thus sufficiently clearly seen.
18 Ohduga nowadays means specially a native of India as well as spirit.'
19 Mr. Brown calls it "A-Puchikwar," written with a c diacritically marked in Eastern European fashion 1 an instructive instance of the art of puzzling students. It is done, I know, in the name of scientific accursey; but suppose for the same reason one took to writing about Kozhikkodu for Caliout, or Kahanpur for Cawn pore, or Varanas for Benares, or Mramma for Burma.