Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/442

VELLALA Sōlapūram (or Chōlapūram) Chettis are apparently called after the village of that name in the Kumbakonam tāluk of Tanjore. The Sōlias (or Chōlias) are numerous and ubiquitous. They are generally regarded as of doubtful descent, since parvenus, who wish to be considered Vellālans, usually claim to belong to this sub-division. The more respectable Pandārams, the Thambirans who own temples and matams, and the Oduvar or Ādi Saivāl, belong to the Sōzhia section. The Uttunāttu sub-division is local in origin. Its head-quarters is the country round Uttatūr. The members thereof are the special devotees of the Siva of that place. The Arunāttus (six nādus) are also called Mottai (shaved) Vellālans, apparently because they always shave their moustache, and wear only a very small kudumi (hair-knot). Some of their customs are unlike those of the rest of the caste. They have exogamous septs, their widows always dress in white and wear no ornaments (a rule not universally observed in any other sub-division),they never marry their sister's daughter, and their wives wear the tāli (marriage badge), like the Panta Reddis, on a golden thread. Of their six nādus, three of which are supposed to have been located on each side of the Aiyār river, only two are now recognised. These are the Sērkudi nādu in Nāmakkal tāluk and the Omandūr nādu of Musiri. The Yēlūr (seven villages) Vellālas are very few and far between. There is a small colony of Tuluvas, engaged in dyeing, at Illuppūr. The Malaikandas are only found near the Ratnagiri hill in the Kulittalai tāluk. They take their name from the fact that they are required to look at the Ratnagiri hill when they get up in the morning. They are devotees of the god there. The Kāniyālans (landowners) are scarce, but widely distributed, since the man who carries