Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/284

RAJPUT It may be noted that, among the Shivalli Brāhmans, the mat is taken to a tank in procession. The bride and bridegroom make a pretence of catching fish, and, with linked hands, touch their foreheads.

In the Madras Census Report, 1891, Rājāpuri Konkanasta is given as a synonym of the Rājāpuris, who are said to be one of the sixty-six classes of Konkanasta people, who inhabited the sixty-six villages of the Konkan. In the Census Report, 1901, Kudāldēshkara and Kūdlukāra are returned as sub-divisions of Rājāpuri. The Kūdlukāras are Konkani-speaking confectioners, who follow the Brāhmanical customs.  '''Rājput. —''' The Rājputs (Sanskrit, rāja-putra, son of a king) have been defined * as "the warrior and landowning race of Northern India, who are also known as Thākur, lord, or Chhatri, the modern representative of the ancient Kshatriya." At the Madras census, 1891 and 1901, the number of individuals, who returned themselves as Rājputs, was 13,754 and 15,273. "It needs," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, † "but a cursory examination of the sub-divisions returned under the head Rājput to show that many of these individuals have no claim whatever to the title of Rājput. The number of pure Rājputs in this Presidency must be very small indeed, and I only mention the caste in order to explain that the number of persons returning it is far in excess of the actual number of Rājputs." Mr. Stuart writes further‡ concerning the Rājputs of the North Arcot district that "there are but few of this caste in the district, and they chiefly reside in Vellore; a few families are also found in Chittoor and Tirupati. They assert that they are true Kshatriyas who came from Rājputāna 