Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/345

Rh Sārāyi (alcholic liquor). — A sub-division of Balija.  Sārigē (lace). — The name of a class of gold-lace makers in Mysore, and of an exogamous sept of Kuruba.  Sāstri.— In the Madras Census Report, 1901, Sāstri (one learned in the shāstras) is described as "unrecognizable. The word is used as a title by Smarta Brāhmans in the Madras Presidency, but the persons returning it came from Bombay, and were not Brāhmans." Sāstri is recorded in my notes as a title of Dēvāngas.  Sātāni.— The Sātānis are described in the Madras Census Report, 1891, as "a class of temple servants very much like the Mālis of Bengal. The word Sātāni is a corrupt form of Sāttādavan, which, literally means one who does not wear (the sacred thread and tuft of hair). For temple services Rāmānuja classed Vaishnavites into Sāttinavan and Sāttādavan. The former are invariably Brāhmans, and the latter Sūdras. Hence Sātāni is the professional name given to a group of the Vaishnava creed. It is sometimes stated that the Sātānis of the Madras Presidency are the disciples of the famous Bengali reformer Chaitanya (15th century), from whom, they say, the term Sātāni took its origin. But, so far as I can ascertain, this supposition rests on no better foundation than the similarity in sound of the two names, and it seems to me more than doubtful. There is no evidence of Chaitanya having ever preached in the Dravidian country, and the tenets of the Sātānis of this Presidency differ widely from those of the followers of Chaitanya. The former worship only Krishna, while the latter venerate Vishnu in the form of Nārāyana also. The Sātānis, too, have as much reverence for Rāmānuja as the followers of Chaitanya have towards their guru, who is said to be an incarnation of Krishna. With 