Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/462

VIBHAKA GUNTA There is a class of people in Malabar called Vettan or Vettuvan, which must not be confused with the jungle Vēttuvan. These people were, it is said,* "once salt-makers, and are now masons, earth-workers, and quarry-men. They are said to be divided into two classes, the marumakkattāyam (with inheritance in the female line) regarded as indigenous to Malabar, and the makkattāyam (with inheritance from father to son), said to be immigrants from the south."  '''Vibhāka Gunta. —''' Recorded in the Madras Census Report as "a low class of wandering beggars; clubbed with Māla." Some Mālas in the Vizagapatam district possess gunta mānyams, or petty fields, and supplement their income by begging.  '''Vignēsvara. —''' A synonym for the elephant god Ganēsa, which occurs as a gōtra of Nagarālu. The equivalent Vināyaka is a gōtra of Mēdara.  Vilkurup.——The Vilkuruppu or Vilkollakuruppu are the priests and barbers of the Malayālam Kammālans, and also makers of umbrellas and bows (vil) and arrows. In former times they supplied the latter articles for the Malabar Infantry. Malabar and Travancore are, par excellence, the home of the palm-leaf umbrella, which still holds its own against umbrellas of European manufacture, which were, in 1904- 1905, imported into India to the value of Rs. 18,95,064. A native policeman, protecting himself from the sun with a long-handled palm umbrella, is a common object in towns and villages on the west coast. Concerning the Vilkurups of the Cochin State, Mr.L. K. Anantha Krishna Aiyar writes as follows. † "In former times, their occupations were training low caste men to arms and athletic feats, to use sticks in fighting, 