Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/513

Rh Widows take off all their ornaments, and wear a red or white cloth. They ought not to attend any auspicious ceremonies or festivals, but of late years there has been a tendency to relax the severity of the restrictions on a widow's freedom, and a young widow is allowed to keep her head unshaven, and to wear a few ornaments. A few Shivallis in the Malayālam-speaking portion of the Kāsaragōd taluk follow the customs and manners of the Malayālam Brahmins, and amongst these a girl does not lose caste by remaining unmarried until she comes of age.

"Kōtēshwar Brahmins are a small body, who take their name from Kōtēshwar in the Coondapoor taluk. They are practically the same as the Shivalli Brahmins,except that, like all classes in that taluk, they talk Canarese.

"Havīka, Havīga, or Haiga Brahmins are the descendants of the section of the Brahmins brought in by Mayūr Varma, who settled within the tract known as Haiga, which comprised the southern part of North Canara and the extreme northern part of South Canara. They did not, like the Shivallis, adopt the teaching of Mādhavāchārya, but remained followers of Sankarāchārya, and they now speak Canarese, though their religious and family records are written in old Tulu-Malayālam character. Though originally of the same stock, a distinction has arisen between them and the Shivalli Brahmins, and they do not intermarry, though they may eat together. A number of Havīka Brahmins are to be found scattered throughout South Canara, engaged for the most part in the cultivation of areca palm gardens, in which they are very expert. A very well-to-do colony of them is to be found in the neighbourhood of Vittal in the Kāsaragōd taluk, where they grow