Note 69 — B (continued 3)

The following account of a criminal class, calling themselves Batturājas or Battu Turakas, was published in the Police Weekly Circular, Madras, in 1881.69 “They are known to the Cuddapah and North Arcot Police as criminals, and a note is made whenever an adult leaves his village; but, as they commit their depredations far from home, and convert their spoil into hard cash before they return, it is difficult to get evidence against them. Ten or twelve of these leave home at once; they usually work in parties of three or four, and they are frequently absent for months together. They have methods of communicating intelligence to their associates when separated from them, but the only one of these methods that is known is by means of their leaf plates, which they sew in a peculiar manner, and leave after use in certain places previously agreed upon. These leaf plates can be recognised by experts, but all that these experts can learn from them is that Battu Turakas have been in the neighbourhood recently. On their return to their village, an account of their proceedings is rendered, and their spoil is divided equally among the whole community, a double share being, however, given to the actual thief or thieves. They usually disguise themselves as Brāhmans, and, in the search of some of their houses lately, silk cloths worn only by Brāhmans were found together with other articles necessary for the purpose (rudrāksha necklaces, sālagrāma stones, etc.). They are also instructed in Sanskrit, and in all the outward requisites of Brāhmanism. A Telugu Brāhman would soon find out that they are not Brāhmans, and it is on this account that they confine their depredations to the Tamil country, where allowance is made for them as rude uncivilized Telugus. They frequent choultries (travellers’ resting-places), where their very respectable appearance disarms suspicion, and watch for opportunities of committing thefts, substituting their own bags or bundles (filled with rubbish) for those they carry off.” To this account Mr. M. Paupa Rao Naidu adds70 that “it is during festivals and feasts that they very often commit thefts of the jewels and cloths of persons bathing in the tanks. They are thus known as Kolamchuthi Pāpar, meaning that they are Brāhmins that live by stealing around the tanks. Before the introduction of railways, their depredations were mostly confined to the choultries and tanks.”