Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/336

BESYA Bōyis have been employed as attendants in public and mercantile offices in Madras, and have continued to maintain their good reputation." Of the use of the word Boy (a corruption of Bōyi) for palanquin-bearer, numerous examples are quoted by Yule and Burnell.* Thus Carraccioli, in his life of Lord Clive, records that, in 1785, the Boys with Colonel Lawrence's palankeen, having struggled a little out of the time of march, were picked up by the Marattas. Writing in 1563, Barras states † that "there are men who carry the umbrella so dexterously to ward off the sun that, although their master trots on his horse, the sun does not touch any part of his body and such men are called Boi."

The insigne of the Besthas, as recorded at Conjeeveram, is a net.‡  Bēsyā (a prostitute). — Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a sub-caste of Oriya Gūnis. It is a form of the word Vēsya.  Betta (hill). — A sub-division of Kurumba.  '''Bēvina. —' Bēvina or Bēvā (nīm or margosa: Melia Azadirachta'') has been recorded as an exogamous sept of Kuruba, and a sub-division of Kādu Kurumba. The nīm tree is held sacred by Hindus, and takes an important part in many of the ceremonials connected with the small-pox goddess and other village deities.  Bhāg (tiger). — A sept of numerous classes in Vizagapatam, e.g., Bhumia, Bottada, Domb, Gadaba, Mattiya, Omanaito, Pentiya, and Rōna. The equivalent Bhāgo occurs among some classes in Ganjam.  Bhāgavatulu.— Recorded as play-actors in the Telugu country. Their name is derived from the fact 