Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/506

PAGATI VESHAM Pagati Vēsham.— A class of Telugu beggars, who put on disguises (vēsham) while begging.* At the annual festival at Tirupati in honour of the goddess Gangamma, custom requires the people to appear in a different disguise every morning and evening. These disguises include those of a Bairāgi, serpent, etc.†  Paguththan.——A title of Sembadavan.  Paida (gold or money). — An exogamous sept of Māla. The equivalent Paidam occurs as an exogamous sept of Dēvānga.  Paidi.— The Paidis are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, as "a class of agricultural labourers and weavers, found in the Vizagapatam district. Some of them are employed as servants and village watchmen. They are closely akin to the Pānos and Dōmbos of the hills, and Mālas of the plains. They speak a corrupt dialect of Uriya." In the Census Report, 1901, Kangara (servant) is recorded as a synonym for Paidi. For the following note on the Paidis of the Vizagapatam district, I am mainly indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. There is a great deal of confusion concerning this caste, and the general impression seems to be that it is the same as Dōmb and Pāno. I am informed that the same man would be called Paidi by Telugus, Dōmb by the Savaras, and Pāno by the Konds. In the interior of the Jeypore Agency tracts the Dōmbs and Paidis both repudiate the suggestion that they are connected with each other. The Paidis, in some places, claim to belong to the Vālmiki kulam, and to be descended from Vālmiki, the author of the Rāmāyana. A similar descent, it may be noted, is claimed by the Bōyas. In the Vizagapatam Manual, the Paidimālalu or Paidi Mālas (hill Mālas) are 