Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/391

Rh the house during the time of the marriage ceremony." The custom had its origin in a legend that, generations ago, when all the members of the caste were in danger of being swept off the face of the earth by some of their enemies, the Pallis came to the rescue with their boats, and carried all the Gūna Velamas to a place of safety. The Gūna Velamas, Mr. Cain continues, were " formerly regarded as quite an inferior caste, but, as many members of it have been educated in Anglo- Vernacular schools, they have found their way into almost every department and risen in the social scale. Their caste occupation is that of dyeing cloth, which they dip into large pots (gūnas). The term Gūna Tsākala is one of reproach, and they much prefer being called Velamalu to the great disgust of the Rāca (Rāja) Velamalu." To the Rāca Velama section belong, among other wealthy land-owners, the Rājas of Bobbili, Venkatagiri, Pittapūr, and Nuzvīd. At the annual Samasthānam meeting, in 1906, the Mahārāja of Bobbili announced that "none of the Velamavāru were working in any of the offices at the time when I first came to Bobbili. There were then a small number acting as mere supervisors without clerical work. Only from the commencement of my administration these people have been gradually taken into the office, and induced to read at the High School." For the following note on the Velamas who have settled in the Vizagapatam district, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The following sub-divisions of the caste may be noted: —

(1) Pedda or Padma found chiefly in the Bobbili tāluk. Those composing it are said to be the descendants of the military followers and dependents of Pedda Rājudu, the founder of the Bobbili family, who received a territorial grant in 1652 from Shēr Muhammad Khān, the