Note 9 — N

The Oddēs are in some places Vaishnavites, in others Saivites, but they also worship minor deities, such as Ellamma, Ankamma, etc., to whom goats and sheep are sacrificed, not with a sword or knife, but by piercing them with a spear or crowbar. Writing at the commencement of the nineteenth century, Buchanan states9 that “although the Woddaru pray to Vishnu, and offer sacrifices to Marima, Gungama, Durgama, Putalima, and Mutialima, yet the proper object of worship belonging to the caste is a goddess called Yellama, one of the destroying spirits. The image is carried constantly with their baggage; and in her honour there is an annual feast, which lasts three days. On this occasion they build a shed, under which they place the image, and one of the tribe officiates as priest or pujāri. For these three days offerings of brandy, palm wine, rice, and flowers are made to the idol, and bloody sacrifices are performed before the shed. The Woddas abstain from eating the bodies of the animals sacrificed to their own deity, but eat those which they sacrifice to the other Saktis.”