Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/147

Rh the serpent rishi. Nāga is further a gōtra or sept of Kurnis and Toreyas, of whom the latter, at their weddings, worship at 'ant' (Termites) hills, which are often the home of cobras. It is also a sub-division of Gāzula Kāpus and Koppala Velamas. Nāgavadam (cobra's hood) is the name of a sub-division of the Pallis, who wear an ornament, called nāgavadam, shaped like a cobra's head, in the dilated lobes of the ears. Among the Vīramushtis there is a sept named Nāga Mallika (Rhinacanthus communis), the roots of which shrub are believed to be an antidote to the bite of poisonous snakes. The flowers of Couroupita guianensis, which has been introduced as a garden tree in Southern India, are known as nāga linga pu, from the staminal portion of the flower which curves over the ovary being likened to a cobra's hood, and the ovary to a lingam.  Nāgali (plough). — An exogamous sept of Kāpu.  Nāgalika (of the plough). — A name for Lingayats engaged in cultivation.  Nagarālu.— The Nagarālu are a cultivating caste in Vizagapatam, concerning whom it is recorded * that "Nagarālu means the dwellers in a nagaram or city, and apparently this caste was originally a section of the Kāpus, which took to town life, and separated itself off from the parent stock. They say their original occupation was medicine, and a number of them are still physicians and druggists, though the greater part are agriculturists."

For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C.Hayavadana Rao. Viziarām Rāz, the friend of Bussy, conferred mokhāsas (grants of land) on some of the most important members of the caste, whose descendants 