Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/374

BONIYA however, improperly take the title Singh, and say they are Kshatriyas, that is, Rājputs. The Vaisya Bondilis are few in number, and only found in Vellore, Chittoor and Arni, where they are usually money-lenders. The Sūdras are mostly sepoys, constables, or revenue peons. Some say that they are not even Sūdras, but the descendants of Rājputs by women of the country, and probably many of them are such. All are very particular with respect to eating with an other professed Bondili, and refuse to do so unless they are quite certain that he is of their class. In their marriage customs they resemble the Rājputs." I am informed that one section of the Bondilis is named Tōli, in reference to their being workers in leather. There is, at Venkatagiri, a street called Tōli mitta, or Tōli quarters, and, in former days, the inhabitants thereof were not allowed to enter the temples. In the Census Report, 1901, Guvālo, or traders from Sambalpūr, is returned as a sub-caste of Bondili.  Boniya.— The Oriya name for Baniya (trader).Boniya Korono appears * as the name for traders and shopkeepers in Ganjam.  Bonka.— Recorded, in the Vizagapatam Manual, as cultivators in the Jeypore hills, and, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a small Oriya caste of hill cultivators, which has three sub-divisions, Bonka, Pata Bonka, and Goru Bonka.  Bonthuk.—The Bonthuks or Bonthuk Savaras are scattered about the Kistna and Guntūr districts, and lead a nomad life, carrying their small dwelling-huts with them as they shift from place to place. They are called Bonthuk Savaras to distinguish them from the Pothra 