Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/433

Rh in prison, in consequence of which not a drop of rain fell on any part of the Bhūloka or earthly world, which threw the people into a great consternation, and the whole with one accord addressed their prayers to Dēvendra, the god of the firmament, and beseeched him to relieve them from their present distress. Dēvendra sent an ambassador to the Rāja of Pāndya dēsa, and requested that he would release the clouds, but he refused to do it unless they gave security for their future good behaviour, and likewise promise that they would never again withhold the rain from falling in due season on his kingdom. At this juncture, the Vellal caste of Pāndya dēsa became security for the clouds, and, from that circumstance, were surnamed Kārakāva Vellal Wāru, or redeemers of the clouds."* In an interesting account of the Kāraikat Vellālas of the Palni hills by Lieutenant Ward in 1824 †, it is recorded that " their ceremonies, it is said, are performed by Pandārams, although Brāhmans usually officiate as priests in their temples. They associate freely with the Kunnavans, and can eat food dressed by them, as also the latter can eat food dressed by a Kārakat Vellālan. But, if a Kunnavan is invited to the house of a Kārakat Vellālan, he must not touch the cooking utensils, or enter the cookingroom. Wives are accustomed, it is supposed, to grant the last favor to their husband's relations. Adultery outside the husband's family entails expulsion from caste, but the punishment is practically not very severe, inasmuch as a Kunnavan can always be found ready to afford protection and a home to the divorcée. A man who disgraces himself by an illicit connection with a woman of a lower caste than his own is punished in a similar manner. Formerly the punishment was in either