Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/367

Rh Hijra (eunuchs). — See Khōja.  Hirē (big). — A sub-division of Kurni.  Hittu (flour). — A gōtra of Kurni.  Holadava.— A synonym of Gatti.  '''Holeya. —''' The bulk of the Holeyas are, in the Madras Presidency, found in South Canara, but there are a considerable number in Coimbatore and on the Nīlgiris (working on cinchona, tea, and coffee estates). In the Manual of the South Canara district it is noted that "Holeyas are the field labourers, and former agrestic serfs of South Canara, Pulayan being the Malayālam and Paraiyan the Tamil form of the same word. The name is derived by Brāhmins from holē, pollution, and by others from hola, land or soil, in recognition of the fact that, as in the case of the Paraiyan, there are customs remaining which seem to indicate that the Holeyas were once masters of the land; but, whatever the derivation may be, it is no doubt the same as that of Paraiyan and Pulayan. The Holeyas are divided into many sub-divisions, but the most important are Māri, Mēra, and Mundala or Bākuda. The Mēra Holeyas are the most numerous, and they follow the ordinary law of inheritance through males, as far as that can be said to be possible with a class of people who have absolutely nothing to inherit. Of course, demon propitiation (bhūta worship) is practically the exclusive idea of the Holeyas, and every one of the above sub-divisions has four or five demons to which fowls, beaten rice, cocoanuts and toddy, are offered monthly and annually. The Holeyas have, like other classes of South Canara, a number of balls (exogamous septs), and persons of the same ball cannot intermarry. Though the marriage tie is as loose as is usual among the depressed and low castes of Southern India, their marriage ceremony is somewhat elaborate. The bridegroom's 