Ten Kota men demonstrate the tiruganāṭ dāk / tirukanat (turning dance) counter-clockwise in a half circle with bodies lowered and twisting, causing their shawls to raise; bare feet on the earth are showing beneath their dhotis. Three men wear pink turbans. Dr. P. Varadharajan, dancing closest to the camera, is the first Kota medical doctor. He wears a dark Western suit jacket and pants under his shawl. Dr. P. Varadharajan is a medical officer in an industrial complex in Ooty and remains proud of his Ādivāsī Kota roots. Three men hold lowered kombu (kob) curving valveless trumpets, two men play koḷ (shawm) double-reed aerophones, one man plays a tabaṭk frame drum, with one stick in his left hand, two men play kinpar small barrel drums. A man in a Western shirt watches. A man and a woman wearing shawls stand watching next to a building with tiled roof, one side of the roof in disrepair. Buildings, terraced paddy fields with a single globular tree, and a row of tall tree are in the background. In Ticgār (Trichagadi) Village, near Ooty (Udagamandalam). Dr. Varadharajan, a medical officer in an industrial complex in Ooty, is the first Kota medical doctor and remains proud of his Ādivāsī Kota roots.
A Kota Ādivāsī man plays a bugīr aerophone (straight bamboo trumpet), with a boy child seated on his leg. In Ticgār (Trichagadi) Village, near Ooty (Udagamandalam).
Six Kota women sing while clapping after hearing a 1938 recording made by A. A. Bake (Tefi# 49.1: "Kota Woman’s Song”). Since Bake’s recording was a funeral song, and could not be danced, the women sang and danced others. One was a song to Basava, the milk cow of Lord Siva, one antiphonal “god song” had lyrics in the voice of a priest’s wife whose husband was unfaithful. The lyrics are addressed to an oil lamp which left the house because of the affair, and wandered through the forest. The lyrics are “Where are you my lamp?”
View of two chordophones (tata - Sanskrit term) long-neck wooden lute with four strings, four tuning pegs, and reptile-skin scroll. Possibly in the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum in Pune.
A group of Kota Ādivāsī people sit on grassy ground. A Kota instrumental ensemble plays the ten-beat “Dry Funeral Song” after hearing A. A. Bake’s 1938 recordings (Tefi 48.7, 48.8, and 48.9: “Funeral Song”). Two Kota men play koḷ (shawm), one plays kinpar barrel-drum with both hands, and one plays a tabaṭk frame drum with one stick. The piece is performed every December to remember all who have died during the year, while people shout to the music. Men, women, and children sit behind them, and begin to shout to the music. In Ticgār (Trichagadi) Village, near Ooty (Udagamandalam).
Five Toda men sit on a grassy bank while singing. One, named Kotatu (from Kotanad), plays bamboo bhugri (a bamboo end blown trumpet with five or six holes), with one cheek bulging, which suggests he is using circular breathing. A little girl and two little boys sit in their laps. In the village of Kash Madh (Toda name), also known as Kandal Mund (outsiders’ name) within the city of Udagamandalam (also called Ooty or Ootacamund).
An elderly Kota couple sings a song after hearing the "same" song recorded by A. A. Bake in 1938. A man leans on a dobar double-headed drum. To his left, a koḷ shawm (double-reed aerophone) is held upright. Another man (left) holds a bugīr (3’ long bamboo trumpet). Kota men listen under large tree. In Ticgār (Trichagadi) Village, near Ooty (Udagamandalam).
Two Toda girls and two Toda women, three covering their lips as they sing, wearing traditional Toda shawls. A small Toda boy sits with them. Their song is about the temple in this village: “Don’t you think the temple will help you? For male issue, for other wishes, surely God will help you.” The singers are: Nasham, Jayamattu, Darmanidi, Vasamali, and also an interpreter. In the village of Kash Madh (Toda name), also known as Kandal Mund (outsiders’ name) within the city of Udagamandalam (also called Ooty or Ootacamund).
Two elderly Kota men play koḷ double-reed aerophones with lip discs and flaring bells. Left: Thiru K. Puchan, age 70, father of Dr.P. Varadharajan of Trichagadi, wearing a white shawl with a gold stripe. Right: Thiru Kavundhan, age 60, wearing a white shawl with a black stripe.
