Castes and Tribes of Southern India is a seven-volume book of social groups of Madras Presidency and the princely states of Travancore, Mysore, Coorg and Pudukkottai. "The practice of human sacrifice, or Meriah rite, has been abolished within the memory of men still living, and replaced by the equally efficacious slaughter of a buffalo or sheep. And I have notes on a substituted ceremony, in which a sacrificial sheep is shaved so as to produce a crude representation of a human being, a Hindu sect mark painted on its forehead, a turban stuck on its head, and a cloth around its body. The picturesque, but barbaric ceremony of hook-swinging is now regarded with disfavour by Government, and, some time ago, I witnessed a tame substitute for the original ceremony, in which, instead of a human being with strong iron hooks driven through the small of his back, a little wooden figure, dressed up in turban and body cloth, and carrying a shield and sabre, was hoisted on high and swung round."
- ISBN10 1304215067
- ISBN13 9781304215062
- Publish Date 9 July 2013
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Lulu.com
- Format eBook
- Language English