Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/140

KURIVI The offerings are distributed among those who have assembled. The management of tribal affairs is vested in the Pittans of the different families, and the final appellate authority is the Kottayath Rāja, who authorises certain Nāyars to hear appeals on his behalf. The Kuricchas celebrate the tāli-kettu kalyānam. Marriages are arranged by the Pittans. The wedding is a very simple affair. The bridegroom brings a pair of cloths and rings made of white metal or brass as a present for the bride, and a feast is held.  Kurivi (sparrow). — A gōtra of Kurni.  Kūrma (tortoise). — A gōtra of Nagarālu. The equivalent Kurum is recorded as a sept of Pentiya.  Kūrmapu.— "The Kurmapuvāllu are women, in the Vizagapatam district, who have not entered into matrimony, but earn money by prostitution, and acting as dancers at feasts. They are so called from the fact that they were originally dancing-girls attached to the temple of Srī Kūrmam, a place of pilgrimage in Vizagapatam.*  Kurni. — The name Kurni is, according to the Census Report, 1901, "a corruption of kuri (sheep) and vanni (wool), the caste having been originally weavers of wool. They now weave cotton and silk, and also cultivate. They have two main sub-divisions. Hirē (big) and Chikka (small). The Hirēs are all Lingāyats, and are said to have sixty-six totemistic septs or gōtras. They employ Jangams as priests, and also men of their own caste, who are called Chittikāras. They will mess with the non-Lingāyat section, and with Lingāyats of other castes. They do not eat meat, or smoke or drink alcohol, but the Chikkas do all three. Marriage before puberty 