Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/199

Rh Brāhmans, the Tamils consider them to be a low caste. Like the Brāhmans, they wear the sacred thread, and tack on to their names such titles as Iyengar, Iyer, Rao, Bhagavather, Sastrigal, and so forth, though the conservatives among them still cling to the time-honoured simple Chetti. Child marriage is the rule, and widow marriage is never practiced. Hindus by religion, they worship indiscriminately both the Siva and Vaishnava deities, but all of them wear big Iyengar nāmams on their foreheads, even more prominently than do the real Iyengars themselves. All of them pass for pure vegetarians. The proud position of Madura to this day as second city in the Presidency is mainly, if not solely, due to her prosperous and industrious community of Saurāshtra merchants and silk-weavers, who have now grown into nearly half her population, and who have also come to a foremost place among the ranks of her citizens. They have their representatives to-day in the Municipal Councils and in the Local and District Boards. Their perseverance has won for them a place in the Dēvastānam Committee of one of the most prosperous temples in the district. But, in spite of their affluence and leading position it must be confessed that they are essentially a 'backward class' in respect of English education and enlightenment. They are, however, making steady progress. An English high school for Saurāshtra boys, and a number of elementary schools for girls, are now maintained by the Saurāshtra Sabha for the proper education of their children." In 1906, a member of the community was appointed a member of the committee of the Srī Kalla Alagar temple in the Madura district.

In an order of the Director of Public Instruction, in 1900, it was laid down that " Saurāshtras having been