# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Mūka Dora

​Mūka Dora. — Mūka is recorded, in the Madras Census Reports, 1891 and 1901, as a sub-division and synonym of Konda Dora, and I am informed that the Mūka Doras, in Vizagapatam, hold a high position, and most of the chiefs among the Konda Doras are Mūka Doras. Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao, to whom I am indebted to the following note, inclines to the opinion that the Mūka Doras form a caste distinct from the Konda Doras. They are traditionally regarded as one of the primitive hill tribes, but their customs at the present day exhibit a great deal of low-country influence. They speak Telugu, their personal names are pure Telugu, and their titles are Anna and Ayya as well as Dora. They recognize one Vantāri Dora of padmapuram as their head.
The Mūka Doras are agriculturists and pushing petty traders. They may be seen travelling about the country with pack bullocks at the rice harvest season. They irrigate their lands with liquid manure in a manner similar to the Kunnuvans of the Palni hills in the Madura country. ​They are divided into two sections, viz., Kōravamsam, which reveres the sun, and Nāgavamsam, which reveres the cobra, and have further various exogamous septs or intipērulu, such as vēmu or nīm tree (Melia Azadirachta), chikkudi (Dolichos Lablab), velanga (Feronia elephantum), kākara (Momordica Charantia).
Girls are married either before or after puberty. The mēnarikam system is in force, according to which a man should marry his maternal uncle's daughter. On an auspicious day, some of the elders of the future bridegroom's family take a cock or goat, a new cloth for the girl's mother, rice and liquor to the girl's house. The presents are usually accepted, and the pasupu (turmeric) ceremony, practiced by many Telugu castes, is performed. On an appointed day, the bridegroom's party repair to the house of the bride, and bring her in procession to the house of the bridegroom. Early next morning, the contracting couple enter a pandal (booth), the two central pillars of which are made of the nērēdi (Eugenia Jambolana) and relli (Cassia Fistula) trees. The maternal uncle, who officiates, links their little fingers together. Their bodies are anointed with castor-oil mixed with turmeric powder, and they bathe. New cloths are then given to them by their fathers-in-law. Some rice is poured over the floor of the house, and the bride and bridegroom measure this three times. The ends of their cloths are tied together, and a procession is formed, which proceeds to the bank of a stream, where the bride fetches tooth-cleaning sticks three times, and gives them to the bridegroom, who repeats the process. They then sit down together, and clean their teeth. After a bath in the stream, the ends of their clothes are once more tied together, and the procession returns to ​the bridegroom's house. The bride cooks some of the rice which has already been measured with water brought from the stream, and the pair partake thereof. A caste feast, with much drinking, is held on this and the two following days. The newly-married couple then proceed, in the company of an old man, to the bride's house, and remain there from three to five days. If the girl is adult, she then goes to the home of her husband.
When a girl reaches puberty, she is placed apart in a room, and sits within a triangular enclosure made by means of three arrows stuck in the ground, and connected together by three rownds of thread. From the roof a cradle, containing a stone, is placed. On the last day, a twig of the nērēdi tree is plucked, planted on the way to the village stream, and watered. As she passes the spot, the girl pulls it out of the ground, and takes it to the stream, into which she throws it. She then bathes therein.
The dead are, as a rule, burnt, and death pollution is observed for three days, during which the caste occupation is not carried out. On the fourth day, a ceremony, called pasupu muttukōvadam, or touching turmeric, is performed. The relations of the deceased repair to the spot where the corpse was burnt, collect the ashes, and sprinkle cow-dung, nērēdi and tamarind water over the spot. Some food is cooked, and three handfuls are thrown to the crows. They then perform a ceremonial ablution. The ceremony corresponds to the chinnarōzu,or little day ceremony, of the low-country castes. The more well-to-do Mūka Doras perform the peddarōzu, or big day ceremony, on the twelfth day, or later on. The relations of the deceased then plant a plantain on the spot where he was burnt, and throw turmeric, castor-oil, and money according to their means. The coins are ​collected, and used for the purchase of materials for a feast.