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ftances. The Panchanga attends at births, marriages, funerals, and other ceremonies;and on each occafion receives a fanam. At the nevv and full moons, he alio gets fometrifling prefent of grain. Befides the worffiip of the great gods, they offer facrificesto the deftrudtive powers; among whom a female fpirit, named Chaudefwari, has inthis neighbourhood many temples. The Pujari, in at leaft one of them, is an oil-maker of the caff formerly deicribed, and his office is hereditary. The Ruddi is oneof the lower carts employed in agriculture, and allowed to be of pure defcent; butmany of its members are rich, and are the Gaudas, or hereditary chiefs of villages.
The Bheri are a kind of merchants, who call themfelves alfo Nagaratra, corruptedby the Mufl'ulmans into Nagarit. They pretend to be of the Vaifya cart ; but this isdenied both by the Brahmans, and by the Comatigas. They deal in drugs, grain, cloth,and money, and travel about in caravans. Some of them are farmers ; but they nevercultivate the ground with their own hands ; nor do they ever follow any mechanicalprofeffion. They are divided by religion into two fe£ts, that do not eat together,nor intermarry ; and each has its own hereditary chief, who adls independently as tomatters of ceremony; but in matters of a civil nature, the chief of the feet that ismolt numerous in the place affumes the foie authority. Thefe chiefs are calledIjyamana, and poffefs the ufual jurifdiclion; but are not indulged with any immunitiesfrom taxes. When a man w'ants to marry, he goes to his hereditary chief, as is indeedufual with all the higher carts, prefents him with betel, and difclofes his intention.The chief fends for the father of the girl, and endeavours to bring the matter to afavourable conclufion. As for the girl, lhe is not at all confulted, and is indeed tooyoung to have formed any attachments, as ffie muff be married before any fignsof puberty appear; for afterwards ffie is confidered as being deflowered, andincapable of marriage. Owing to the cuftom of polygamy, however, very few ofthe women in this country live in a ftate of celibacy, except young widows ofthe higher cafts^ who never" can marry again, and who are very numerous; formatches between old men and mere children are common. The comfort of havingchildren, however, is in general all the pleafure that married women of rank inIndia enjoy. Where polygamy prevails, love is little known ; or if it does poffefsa man, he is generally captivated by fome artful dancing girl, and not by any ofhis wives; all of whom were married before they could either excite or feel thatpaffion.
The Nagaratra, who worffiip Viffinu, are here the molt numerous feet. They burntheir dead, and the rules of cart require the widow to burn herfelf with her hufband’sbodv ; but this cuftom has fallen into difufe. They do not intermarry with fuch oftheir fe£t as, being originally of the Lower Carnatic, fpeak the Tamul language as theirnative tongue. Their Guru is Trimula-tata Acharlu, an hereditary chief of the SriVaiffinavam Brahmans ; but, as forming part of left hand fide, they are in, all mattersbelonging to that divifion, under the authority of Dharma Siva Acharlu, a SmartalSannyafi, and who, they fay, bellows upadefa and chakrantikam on them, in thefame manner as their own Guru. My interpreter, however, fufpedls that in this thereis fome miftake ; as the latter ceremony is performed with the point of Viffinu’s fpear,which a Smartal Brahman, fo far as he knows, never ufes. Their own Guru comesonce a year, receives contributions, bellows upadefa and chakrantikam, and, asufual, exercifes fpiritual jurifdidlion. The Panchanga abls as their Purohita; andy it is of no conlequence, whether or not he be of the fame feci with them. Some ofthis call are able to read poetry, and perufe a book called Vaiiya Purana, wLch theyconfider as belonging to their call.
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