them; but it is said that some of them speak Kóya. They are of slighter build than the Kóyas and their villages are even smaller. They will not eat in the house of a Kóya.
They call themselves by various high-sounding titles, such as Pándava Reddis, Rája Reddis and Reddis of the solar race (súrya vamsa), and do not like the simple name Konda Reddi. They recognize no endogamous subdivisions, but have exogamous septs. In character they resemble the Kóyas, but are less simple and stupid and in former years were much given to crime. They live by shifting (podú) cultivation. They do not eat beef, but will partake of pork.
They profess to be both Saivites and Vaishnavites and occasionally employ Bráhman priests at their funerals; and yet they worship the Pándavas, the spirits of the hills (or, as they call them, 'the sons of Rácha'), their ancestors (including women who have died before their husbands) and the deities Muthyálamma and her brother Póturázu, Sáralamma and Unamalamma. The last three are found in almost every village. Other deities are Doddiganga, who is the protector of cattle and is worshipped when the herds are driven into the forests to graze, and Désaganga (or Paraganga), who takes the place of the Maridamma of the plains and the Muthyálamma of the Kóyas as goddess of cholera and small-pox. The shrine of Sáralamma of Pedakonda (eight miles east of Rékapalle) is a place of pilgrimage, and so is Bison Hill (Pápikonda), where an important Reddi festival is held every seven or eight years in honour of the Pándava brothers, and a huge pig fattened for the occasion is killed and eaten. The Reddis, like the Kóyas, also observe the harvest festivals. They are very superstitious, believing firmly in sorcery and calling in wizards in time of illness. Their villages are formed into groups like those of the Koyas and the hereditary headmen over these are called by different names, such as dora, muttadár, varnapedda and kulapátradu. Headmen of villages are known as Pettamdars. They recognize, though they do not frequently practise, marriage by capture. If a parent wishes to show his dislike for a match, he absents himself when the suitor's party calls and sends a bundle of cold rice after them when they have departed.
Children are buried. Vaishnavite Reddis burn their adult dead, while the Saivites bury them. Sátánis officiate as priests to the former and Jangams to the latter. The pyre is kindled by the eldest male of the family and a feast is held on the fifth day after the funeral. The dead are believed to be born again into their former families.
