Note 27 — I

In connection with the religion of the Ilavars, the Rev. S. Mateer writes as follows.27 “Demon worship, especially that of Bhadrakāli, a female demon described as a mixture of mischief and cruelty, is the customary cultus of the caste, with sacrifices and offerings and devil-dancing like the Shānārs. Shāstāvu and Vīrabhadran are also venerated, and the ghosts of ancestors. Groves of trees stand near the temples, and serpent images are common, these creatures being accounted favourites of Kāli. They carry their superstitions and fear of the demons into every department and incident of life. In some temples and ceremonies, as at Paroor, Sarkarei, etc., they closely associate with the Sūdras. The Ilavar temples are generally low, thatched buildings, with front porch, a good deal of wooden railing and carving about them, an enclosure wall, and a grove or a few trees, such as Ficus religiosa, Plumeria, and Bassia. At the Ilavar temple near Chākki in the outskirts of Trevandrum, the goddess Bhadrakāli is represented as a female seated on an image, having two wings, gilt and covered with serpents. Twice a year, fowls and sheep are sacrificed by an Ilavan priest, and offerings of grain, fruit, and flowers are presented. The side-piercing ceremony is also performed here. A temple at Mangalattukōnam, about ten miles south of Trevandrum, at which I witnessed the celebration of the annual festival on the day following Meena Bharani, in March or April, may be taken as a fair example of the whole. In connection with this temple may be seen a peculiar wooden pillar and small shrine at the top, somewhat like a pigeon-house. This is called a tani maram, and is a kind of altar, or residence, for the demon Mādan, resembling the temporary shrines on sticks or platforms erected by the Pulayars. On it are carvings of many-headed serpents, etc., and a projecting lamp for oil. For the festival, the ground around the temple was cleared of weeds, the outhouses and sheds decorated with flowers, and on the tani maram were placed two bunches of plantains, at its foot a number of devil-dancing sticks. Close by were five or six framework shrines, constructed of soft palm leaves and pith of plantain tree, and ornamented with flowers. These were supposed to be the residence of some minor powers, and in them were placed, towards night, offerings of flowers, rice, plantains, cocoanuts, and blood. The Ilavars who assemble for the festival wear the marks of Siva, a dot and horizontal lines on the forehead, and three horizontal lines of yellow turmeric on the chest. They begin to gather at the temple from noon, and return home at night. The festival lasts for five days. Some of the neighbouring Sūdras and Shānārs also attend, and some Pulayars, who pay one chuckram for two shots of firework guns in fulfilment of their vows. Offerings here are generally made in return for relief from sickness or trouble of some kind. The pūjāri, or priest, is an Ilavan, who receives donations of money, rice, etc. A kind of mild hook-swinging ceremony is practised. On the occasion referred to, four boys, about fifteen or sixteen years of age, were brought. They must partly fast for five days previously on plain rice and vegetable curry, and are induced to consent to the operation, partly by superstitious fear, and partly by bribes. On the one hand they are threatened with worse danger if they do not fulfil the vows made by their parents to the dēvi (deity); on the other hand, if obedient, they receive presents of fine clothes and money. Dressed in handsome cloths and turbans, and adorned with gold bracelets and armlets, and garlands of flowers, the poor boys are brought to present a little of their blood to the sanguinary goddess. Three times they march round the temple; then an iron is run through the muscles of each side, and small rattans inserted through the wounds. Four men seize the ends of the canes, and all go round in procession, with music and singing and clapping of hands, five or seven times, according to their endurance, till quite exhausted. The pūjāri now dresses in a red cloth, with tinsel border, like a Brāhman, takes the dancing-club in hand, and dances before the demon. Cocks are sacrificed, water being first poured upon the head; when the bird shakes itself, the head is cut off, and the blood poured round the temple. Rice is boiled in one of the sheds in a new pot, and taken home with the fowls by the people for a feast in the house. At Mayanādu, the Bhagavathi of the small temple belonging to the Ilavars is regarded as the sister of the one worshipped in the larger temple used by the Sūdras, and served by a Brāhman priest; and the cars of the latter are brought annually to the Ilavar’s temple, and around it three times before returning to their own temple. At the Ilavar’s temple, the same night, the women boil rice in new earthen pots, and the men offer sheep and fowls in sacrifice. In further illustration of the strange superstitious practices of this tribe, two more incidents may be mentioned. An Ilavatti, whose child was unwell, went to consult an astrologer, who informed her that the disease was caused by the spirit of the child’s deceased grandmother. For its removal he would perform various incantations, for which he required the following, viz.:—water from seven wells, dung from five cowsheds, a larva of the myrmeleon, a crab, a frog, a green snake, a virāl fish, parched rice, ada cake, cocoanut, chilly, and green palm leaves. An Ilavan, who had for some time been under Christian instruction, was led away by a brother, who informed him that, if he built a small temple for the worship of Nina Mādan, and offered sacrifices, he should find a large copper vessel full of gold coins hid underground, and under the charge of this demon. The foolish man did so, but did not find a single cash. Now the lying brother avers that the demon will not be satisfied unless a human sacrifice is offered, which, of course, is impossible.”