Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/142

MUTRACHA however, would not allow the animal to take it. The goddess accordingly herself carried it off. The child grew up under her care, and eventually had three sons, named Karnam Rāju, Gangi Rāju, and Bhūpathi Rāju, from whom the Mutrāchas are descended. In return for the goddess protecting and bringing up the child, she is regarded as the special tutelary deity of the caste.

There is a saying current among the Mutrāchas that the Mutrācha caste is as good as a pearl, but became degraded as its members began to catch fish. According to a legend, the Mutrāchas, being Kshatriyas, wore the sacred thread. Some of them, on their way home after a hunting expedition, halted by a pond, and were tempted by the enormous number of fish therein to fish for them, using their sacred threads as lines. They were seen by some Brāhmans while thus engaged, and their degradation followed.

In the Telugu country, two divisions, called Paligiri and Oruganti, are recognised by the Mutrāchas, who further have exogamous septs or intipērulu, of which the following are examples: —

During the first menstrual seclusion of a girl, she may not have her meals served on a metal plate, but uses an earthern cup, which is eventually thrown away.