Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/366

HEGGANIGA the amusement of all present that he is not the bridegroom. The bride's party then, confessing their inability to find the bridegroom, request the owner of the house to produce him. He is then produced, and conducted in procession to the bride's house." Some Bants who use the title Heggade wear the sacred thread, follow the hereditary profession of temple functionaries, and are keepers of the demon shrines which are dotted all over South Canara.

Of the Heggades w^ho have settled in the Coorg country, the Rev. G. Richter states * that "they conform, in superstitions and festivals, to Coorg custom, but are excluded from the community of the Coorgs, in whose presence they are allowed 10 sit only on the floor, whilst the former occupy a chair, or, if they are seated on a mat, the Heggades must not touch it." In the Mysore and Coorg Gazetteer, Heggade is defined by Mr. L. Rice as the headman of a village, the head of the village police, to whom, in some parts of the Province, rent-free lands are assigned for his support. Heggade is sometimes used as a caste name by Kurubas, and occurs as an exogamous sept of Stānikas.  '''Heggāniga. —''' A sub-division of Gānigas, who use two oxen for their oil-pressing mills.  Helava.———Helava, meaning lame person, is the name of a class of mendicants, who, in Bellary, Mysore, and other localities, are the custodians of village histories. They generally arrive at the villages mounted on a bullock, and with their legs concealed by woollen blankets. They go from house to house, giving the history of the different families, the names of heroes who died in war, and so forth. 