Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/208

TOPPA TALI The corpse of a dead person is washed at the burning ground, instead of, in accordance with the common custom among other castes, at the house.  '''Toppa Tāli. —''' A name applied to certain Vāniyans in the North Arcot district, owing to the peculiar tāli (marriage badge) which married women wear.  Torai.— A title of various Oriya castes.  Toreya.— The Toreyas are a Canarese class, living chiefly in the Tamil districts of Coimbatore and Salem. They are said to have been originally fishermen and palanquin bearers, and the name is derived from turai, a river ghāt. Most of them are now cultivators, especially of the betel vine (Piper betle). Those whom I examined at Coimbatore were earning their living as betel and sugar-cane cultivators, vendors of tobacco, bakers, cloth merchants, contractors, petty traders, and police constables.

By the Coimbatore Toreyas, the following endogamous divisions were returned: —


 * Elai, leaf. Betel cultivators.


 * Chunam, lime. Lime burners.


 * Gāzul, glass bangle. The Toreya caste is said to have originated from the bangles of Machyagandhi or Gandhavati, the daughter of a fisherman on the Jumna. She was married to king Shantanu of Hastinapūr, who was one of the ancestors of the heroes of the Mahābhārata.

Many exogamous septs exist among the Toreyas,of which the following are examples: —


 * Belli, silver. May not wear silver toe-rings.


 * Nāga, snake. The members of the sept, at times of marriage, worship ant-hills, which are the home of snakes.


 * Alwar or Garuda.

