Singe: Deccan

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Singe

This article is an extract from THE CASTES AND TRIBES OF H. E. H. THE NIZAM'S DOMINIONS BY SYED SIRAJ UL HASSAN Of Merton College, Oxford, Trinity College, Dublin, and Middle Temple, London. One of the Judges of H. E. H. the Nizam's High Court of Judicature : Lately Director of Public Instruction. BOMBAY THE TlMES PRESS 1920 Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Secondly, this has been scanned from a book. You can help by sending the corrected version/ additional information to the Facebook page, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be duly acknowledged.

Singe — a low class of mendicants >vho beg only from Hatkers and Devangas and take their name f«.om Singa, a horn or trumpet which they blow at every religious ceremony of their patrons* Their traditions say that they were formerly Deekshioant and were in charge of the store department of the Emperor. It once so happened that the whole stores were looted and the Emperor ordered their heads to be cut off. He relented, however, and agreed to their release on condition that the loss he suffered should be made good. The Devanga weavers undertook to stand security for them. The Emperor was pleased and not only released tljem but decreed that they should be ever attended with a drum, a flag, a bugle, a lighted torch even in day light and the image of Choundcshwari, the para- phernalia of great men.

They have no endogamous divisions and their exogamous sections are of the Maratha type as, Jirge, Wale, Kole, Sontake, Mirje. These are the only exogamous divisions of the caste which have now expanded into many.

Girls are married either as infants or as adults between the ages of 5 and 12. Immediately after marriage the girl is sent to her husband's house. Adultery before marriage is condoned by puri- ficatory rites, which consist in making the girl drink water in which the toe of the chief man of the caste council has been washed. If she become pregnant before marriage, she is purified similarly and married to her lover. Polygamy is permitted. The marriage of the caste is of the Lingayit type and Jangams are called in for the performance of the ceremony. The Antarpat ceremony is performed after the Lingayit ritual of Panch Kalasha has been celebrated. The tying of the black bead necklace round the bride's neck forms the essential portion of the ceremony. They follow the Hindu Law of

Inheritance

Their favourite object of worship is Choundeshwari, the tutelary goddess of Devangas. They are Lingayits in creed, anti engclge Jangams for religious and ceremonial observances. They daily worship Siva Linga, whose symbol they wear in a casket upon their bodies. Socially, they rank immediately below the Devangas and, as Lingayits, abstain from flesh and wine.