Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/436

VELLALA chiefly distinguished Kānchīpuram (Conjeeveram) and Tripati as his place of residence or capital. The era of Adondai is not higher up than the seventh century of our reckoning. He is said to have brought the Brāhmans from Srī Sailam in Telingāna, and certainly attracted a large colony of Sudra Vellālas, or agriculturists, from Tuluva or northern Canara." At Conjeeveram, there are a Nāttar and a Dēsayi, whose authority, in olden times, extended over the whole Presidency. The Nāttar must be a Tuluva Vellāla, and the Dēsai a Ralla Balija. The two offices conjointly are known as the Nādu Dēsam. The authority of these officers has in great measure ceased, but some still go to the Nādu Dēsam for appeal. For purposes of caste organisation, Conjeeveram is regarded as the head-quarters. All sections of the Tondamandalam Vellālas are divided into twenty-four kōttams and seventy-nine nādus. The latter are subject to the former. The following legendary account of the Tondamandalam Vellālas is given in the Baramahal Records. " During the reign of a certain Rāja of Chōladēsa, a kingdom supposed to have comprised the present provinces south of the river Kāvēri, the countries between the Kistna and Kāvēri were quite a wilderness, in which many families of the Kurbavar caste or shepherds resided here and there in villages surrounded by mud walls. On a time, the Rāja came forth into the wilds to take the diversion of hunting, and, in traversing the woods, he came to a place in the vicinity of the present town of Conjeeveram in the Kingdom of Arcot, where he met with a Naga Kanya or celestial nymph, fell in love with her, and asked her to yield to his embraces. She replied, ' If I consent to your proposal, and bear you a son, will you make him your successor in the kingdom?' He