a spark fell on his moustache. He called his servant
to remove it, but by the time the man came, his master's moustache had
been burnt away. These stories and the customs of the Velamas appear
to indicate that they are a caste of comparatively low position, who
have gone up in the world, and are therefore tenacious in asserting
a social position which is not universally admitted. Their subcastes
show that a considerable difference in standing exists in the different
branches of the caste. Of these the Racha or royal Velamas, to whom
the chiefs and zamindars belong, are the highest. While others are the
Guna Velamas or those who use a dyer's pot, the Eku or 'Cotton-skein'
who are weavers and carders, and the Tellaku or white leaf Velamas,
the significance of this last name not being known. It is probable
that the Velamas were originally a branch of the great Kapu or Reddi
caste of cultivators, corresponding in the Telugu country to the Kurmis
and Kunbis, as many of their section names are the same as those of
the Kapus. The Velamas apparently took up the trades of weaving and
dyeing, and some of them engaged in military service and acquired
property. These are now landowners and cultivators and breed cattle,
while others dye and weave cloth. They will not engage themselves
as hired labourers, and they do not allow their women to work in
the fields.

2. Marriage and social customs

The caste are said to have 77 exogamous groups descended from the 77
followers or spearsmen who attended Raja Rudra Pratap of Bastar when
he was ousted from Warangal. These section names are eponymous,
territorial and totemistic, instances of the last kind being
Cherukunula from _cheruku_, sugarcane, and Pasapunula from _pasapu_,
turmeric, and _nula_, thread. Marriage within the section or _gotra_
is prohibited, but first cousins may intermarry. Marriage is usually
adult, and the binding portion of the ceremony consists in the tying
of the _mangal-sutram_ or happy thread by the bridegroom round the
bride's neck. At the end of the marriage the _kankans_ or bracelets
of the bridegroom and bride are taken off in signification that all
obstacles to complete freedom of intercourse and mutual confidence
between the married pair have been removed. In past years, when the
Guna Velamas had a marriage, they were bound to pay the marriage
expenses of a couple of the Palli or fisherman caste, in memory of
the fact that on one occasion when the Guna