Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/375

Rh and theirs if otherwise. The ultraconservative spirit of Hindu priestcraft casts into the far distance the realization of the hope that the lower castes will become socially equal even with the classes usually termed Sūdras. But the time is looming in the near distance, in which they will be on a level in temporal prosperity with the social organisms above them. Unlike the land tenures said to prevail in Chingleput or Madras, the Mysore system fully permits the Holeyas and Mādigs to hold land in their own right, and as sub-tenants they are to be found almost everywhere. The highest amount of land assessment paid by a single Holeya is Rs. 279 in the Bangalore district, and the lowest six pies in the Kolar and Mysore districts. The quota paid by the outcastes towards the land revenue of the country aggregates no less than three lakhs of rupees, more than two-thirds being paid by the Holeyas, and the remainder by the Mādigs. These facts speak for themselves, and afford a reliable index to the comparative well-being of these people. Instances may also be readily quoted, in which individual Holeyas, etc., have risen to be money-lenders, and enjoy comparative affluence. Coffee cultivation and allied industries have thrown much good fortune into their lap. Here and there they have also established bhajanē or prayer houses, in which theistic prayers and psalms are recited by periodical congregation. A beginning has been made towards placing the facilities of education within easy reach of these depressed classes." In connection with the Holeyas of South Canara, it is recorded * that "the ordinary agricultural labourers of this district are Holeyas or Pariahs of two classes, known as Mūlada Holeyas and Sālada Holeyas, the