Coorgs believe in certain malignant demons, both male and female, called Kuli, a word which occurs in Tamil and Tulu, and which means an evil spirit. When a Coorg house is befallen with rampant misery and unnatural deaths, sometimes the word of an astrologer (kaniye) is sought, who may attribute the incidents to a Kuli. The Coorg family then has to perform a Kuli-kola. As such performances, however, take place only at fixed periods - once a year at a place called Kutta, and at other places once every second or third year. The master of the house vows to have the Kuli-kola duly performed at the appointed time.
At times a ceremony is performed for the release of a departed spirit supposed to have been carried off by a demon or Kuli in the dying hour. During such a ceremony, the performer who represents the demon is begged to let go of the spirit that it has captured. After some resistance he throws a handful of rice on the members of the house near him, and with this action he gives the spirit over to them. The spirit then alights on the back of one of these members of the family, who at once falls into a swoon, and is carried by others into the house. With his return to consciousness, the spirit is supposed to have gained his right place amongst the ancestors.
These ceremonies are performed in the courtyard of the house, and they are held either in the name of five Kulis - Chamundi, Kalluruti, Panjuruli, Guliga and Goraga, termed the pancha bhuta; or in the name of three - Kallugutti, Panjuruli and Kalluruti; or in the name of only one - Chamundi. The food offered in these occasions, which is the same as that used in Karana Kola, is called Kuli Barani.
The final act of a Kuli Kola is the decapitation of pigs in front of the so called Kuli-kota or demon abode, which may be anywhere near to or far away from the house or village.
Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice
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