Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/502

JANAPPAN (janapa, Crotalaria juncea), and so obtained their name. But they are now met with as Dāsaris or religious beggars, sweetmeat-sellers, and hawkers of English cloths and other goods. By the time they have obtained to the last honourable profession, they assume to be Balijas. Telugu is their vernacular, and Chetti their usual caste name. According to their own tradition, they sprung from a yāgam (sacrificial rite) made by Brahma, and their remote ancestor thus produced was, they say, asked by the merchants of the country to invent some means for carrying about their wares. He obtained some seeds from the ashes of Brahma's yāgam, which he sowed, and the plant which sprang up was the country hemp, which he manufactured into a gunny-bag. The Janapa Chettis are enterprising men in their way, and are much employed at the fairs at Gudiyāttam and other places as cattle-brokers." The Saluppans say that they have twenty-four gōtras, which are divided into groups of sixteen and eight. Marriage is forbidden between members of the same group, but permitted between members of the sixteen and eight gōtras. Among the names of the gōtras, are the following: — The Janappans of the Telugu country also say that they have only twenty-four gōtras. Some of these are totemistic in character. Thus, members of the Kappala (frog) gōtra owe their name to a tradition that on one