Kōli

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This article is an excerpt from Castes and Tribes of Southern India By Edgar Thurston, C.I.E., Superintendent, Madras Government Museum; Correspondant Étranger, Société d’Anthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa,Romana di Anthropologia. Assisted by K. Rangachari, M.A., of the Madras Government Museum. Government Press, Madras 1909.

Kōli

In the Madras Census Report, 1901, the Kōlis are described as being “a Bombay caste of fishermen and boatmen in South Canara; also a low class of Bengal weavers found in Ganjam.” The Kōlis who were investigated in Ganjam are an Oriya-speaking class, who are apparently Telugu people who have settled in the Oriya country as weavers of coarse cloths, traders, and agriculturists. They have Oriya titles such as Bēhara. They worship village deities (Tākurānis), are Saivites, and none of them have been converted to the Paramartho form of Vishnavism.

The caste council, puberty and death ceremonies, are based on the common Oriya type, but the marriage rites are an interesting blend of the Oriya and Telugu types of ceremonial. Thus the usual Telugu marriage post, but made of Streblus asper wood, is set up, and nine kinds of grain are placed near it. A bottu (marriage badge) is tied on the neck of the bride by the bridegroom, and the hands of the contracting couple are united (hasthagōnthi) as among the Oriyas.