The Ordway new era., 1906-09-07
OVER HOT EMBERs.
FIRE WALKERS TRupoE WITH.
OUT VISIBLE HARM.
Strenuous Form Of Worship and Devil
Driving In india-Remarkable
Feats Witnessed by Trav-
eIers from the West.

A large trench is dug In front OF
the shrine, about 80 or 40 feet long
and ten feet broad and two or three
feet deep. During the morning this Is
filled with logs OF wood and fagots.
which are set on fire and by the
evening become u mass OF glowing.
red-hot embers. After dark the people
assemble with torches and tom-toms
and music. and then some 30 or 40
people prepare To walk lengthwise
over the embers. They are worked up
to great state OF excitement by the
tom.toms and shouts OF the crowd. and
then the whole 80 or 40 walk over
bsrefooted. quite slowly and deliber-
ately, In single file. headed by one OF
the ''pujaris."
This custom OF fire walking Is quite
common In Malabar. Kooriche. three
miles from Tellichery, In the direction
of the French settlement of Maize. is
locality reputed for fire walking.
Here n famous ''pujari' by the name
OF oochatta dwells. lie actually sits
on heap OF fire ut an annual festival.
but is said TO be protected by the bark
of the areca nut, which Is known to be
bad conductor of heat. At the vii.
lage OF Putnam. 80 miles from Tell
cherry, in the Kayal Taluq. north Mala-
bar, weird ceremony is performed
arnually. at midnight, in connection
with the worship OF the village deity,
when the ''pujari." who goes by the
name OF Chamandy, throws himself
necessarily on hgap OF fire, about
six feet high and fifteen feet broad.
until he is able TO knock every faggot
down and level the whole heap with
tie ground. One end OF a rope Is
fastened TO his arms. while the other
end Is seized by two Malayali low
caste men, who pull the ''pjari' away
each time he rushes on the heap OF
fire. Two women at the same time.
with brooms bring the fagots together
as they are knocked down by the ''pu-
jari'' and endeavor to restore the heap
OF fire rs It is being dlsmantled by
him. The wood is the ''puum." a hard
jungle wood of the Malabar forest.
When the whole heap is leveled with
the groud the 'pujari'' brings this
ceremony TO a close.
Khaza Prabhu, pepper merchant
of Tellichery. who died few years
ago, and whose memory is still green,
&ad great name here for curing peo
pie who were possessed OF the devil,
ard was a great fire eater to boot. He
believed he was often summoned to
the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha temple by
the deity of this shrine TO cure people
troubled with the devil. Here he was
wont to incarcerate many devils that
We're troubling the people of Tell.
cherry, and every loose stone one no.
tices In the temple precincts repre-
sents one such devil driven out of
the human body and imprisoned by
him. These stones are granite slabs,
are generally three TO five feet long
and rest against wall or tree.
In the temple OF Malabar there are
several deities. but the number must
never exceed 80 in each. At Audaloor
village. three and a half miles from
Tellichery. one of the village deities.
Davatha lssuran by name, committed
atrocious sins and the other deities
pulled out his tongue, and Angaraka-
ram and Rappuran. two warrior del
ties. drove out the other deities from
the temple, allowing only any number
less than 40 to dwell in any one shrine.
From this date Angarakaran, the war
rior. carries long sword. while Bap-
puran bears sword and shield as
well, and they are the principal del
ties wor5hiped during the ceremony of
fire walking. Some of the minor del
ties are Muthupendalvyam Khandhak-
arnan and Kuttichathan. but all such
are not propitiatcd excepting Vassury-
mara. the smallpox god; Chamandy,
who puts devils into human bodies.
and Hi and Makal-the mother and
her two children of the jungles-who
smite people with jungle fever.-Mad-
ras Diocesan Magazine.