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JULY, 1914]
THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA
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Telugu and Canarese words, and at the same time imbibed the customs and habits of the Telugus. With the advance of time, the Saurashtras, thanks to the close political relationship which, as we have seen, existed between Vijayanagar and the South Indian kingdoms, migrated, in large numbers, to the basins of the Kaveri and the Vaigai. Wherever there was a chiefdom or a viceroyalty, wherever there was likely to be a demand for fine robes and garments, wherever there as the surety of royal patronage, they settled. The Chola and Pandya kingdoms, the Kongu and Mysore regions, became in this way centres of industrial activity, and the silk and laced cloths of Madura especially became famous throughout the world.
Other Telugu Communities. It is not possible to go into the history of the other Telugu communities who occupied the various parts of the South. It is plain that a number of Telugu Brahmans both of the Vaidika and the Niyôgi classes, must have come to the South in the wake of the immigrating Polygars. Then again there were professional castes like the Uralis or Uppiliyans, 9+ the traditional manufacturers of salt and salt-petre; the Kavarais, many of whom were sellers and manufacturers of bangles - Telugu spinners, dyers and painters; the Sêniyans or Telugu weavers ; Telugu barbers, leather workers, washermen; the fickle but industrious O dans, whose services in tank-digging and earth-working has made them highly useful in an age of utilitarian public works; the Dombans or jugglers; and lastly beggars attached to the superior castes. All these had generally their caste heads; and there were caste assemblies, which met at need and enquired into social complaints and grievances. These caste-assemblieso: freed the State largely from the necessity of administering justice as between persons of the same caste. Cases involving different castes or communities, however, came before the king for decision. As a matter of fact, each caste had its own self-government; and as each caste generally colonized in a separate village, caste government came to be more or less identical with village self-government,
Canarese Immigrants. It has been already pointed out that the Telugus were not the only northerners who migrated to the South in this age. Side by side with them there came large numbers of Canarese, of all grades and professions of life. They were of course not so numerous as the Telugus, nor so influential, but they were none the less conspicuous in the northernising of the South. The districts of Coimbatore and Salem, in particular, the hilly regions which divided the kingdom of the Pandyans from Travancore, became the scenes of their colonisation. The vast majority of them were known by the caste title of Kappiliyans, while others were known as Aņuppans. A number of traditions exist in connection with their migrations. The Kappiliyan tradition regarding their migration to this district is similar to that current among Tóttiyans (whom they resemble in several of their customs), the story being that the caste was oppressed by the Musalmans of the north, fled across the Tungabadra and was saved by two pongu trees bridging an unfordable stream which blocked their escape. They travelled, say the legends, through Mysore to Conjeeveram,
3 Tho Saurashtras were so indispensable in silk-weaving that even Haidar Ali ostablished a colony of them in Mysore and gave them special facilities.
91 The habits and customs of all these can be fully understood from Thurston's Castes, which is based on all the information it is possible to get.
18 Nelson points out, for examplo, that panchayats or juries of loading mon decided civil disputes among Tottiyans. Examples may be multiplied, but are unnecessary.
