Velamas were in danger of
being exterminated by their enemies, the Pallis rescued them in their
boats and carried them to a place of safety. But now it is considered
sufficient to hang up a fishing-net in the house when a marriage
ceremony of the Guna Velamas is being celebrated. [715] The caste do
not permit the marriage of widows, and divorce is confined to cases
in which a wife is guilty of adultery. The Velamas usually employ
Vaishnava Brahmans as their priests. They burn the bodies of those
who die after marriage, and bury those dying before it. Children are
named on the twenty-first day after birth, the child being placed in
a swing, and the name selected by the parents being called out three
times by the oldest woman present. On this day the mother is taken
to a well and made to draw a bucket of water by way of declaration
that she is fit to do household work.

Vidur

List of Paragraphs

1. _Origin and traditions_.
2. _The Purads, Golaks and Borals_.
3. _Illegitimacy among Hindustani castes_.
4. _Legend of origin_.
5. _Marriage_.
6. _Social rules and occupation_.

1. Origin and traditions

_Vidur, [716] Bidur_.--A Maratha caste numbering 21,000 persons in
the Central Provinces in 1911, and found in the Nagpur Division and
Berar. They are also returned from Hyderabad and Bombay. Vidur means
a wise or intelligent man, and was the name of the younger brother
of Pandu, the father of the Pandava brothers. The Vidurs are a caste
of mixed descent, principally formed from the offspring of Brahman
fathers with women of other castes. But the descendants of Panchals,
Kunbis, Malis and others from women of lower caste are also known
as Vidurs and are considered as different subcastes. Each of these
groups follow the customs and usually adopt the occupation of the
castes to which their fathers belonged. They are known as Kharchi or
Khaltatya, meaning 'Below the plate' or 'Below the salt,' as they are
not admitted to dine with the proper Vidurs. But the rule varies in
different places, and sometimes after the death of their mother such
persons become full members of the caste, and with each succeeding
generation the status of their descendants improves. In Poona the
name Vidur is restricted to the descendants of Brahman fathers, and
they are also known as Brahmanja or 'Born from Brahmans.' Elsewhere
the Brahman Vidurs are designated especially as Krishnapakshi, which
means 'On