Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 4 of 7

Castes and Tribes of Southern India
Castes and Tribes of Southern India
By Edgar Thurston, C.I.E. , Superintendent, Madras Government Museum; Correspondant Étranger, Société d’Anthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa, Romana di Anthropologia. Assisted by K. Rangachari, M.A. , of the Madras Government Museum.
Volume IV—K to M Government Press, Madras 1909.

Kōri (blanket).—An exogamous sept of Kuruba.
Kōriannayya (fowl sept).—An exogamous sept of Bant.
The heads of the Ganjam villages are, Mr. S. P. Rice informs us, “called Korono, the doer, and Karji, the manager. The Korono, who is really only the accountant, but who, by reason of his higher education, is generally the ultimate authority in the village, appropriates to himself the title Potonaiko, as his caste distinction. The word signifies the Naik or head of the town.” It has been noted that “in the Telugu districts, the Karnam is usually a Brāhman. Being in some respects the most intelligent, and the most unpopular man in the village, he is both feared and hated. Murders of accountants, though infrequent, are not unknown.” Of proverbs relating to Karnams, the following may be quoted:—
Even if a thousand pagodas are levied from a village, not even a cash will be levied from the Karnam (a pagoda is a gold, and a cash a copper coin).
The Karnam is the cause of the Kāpu’s (cultivator caste) death.
The hungry Karnam looks into his old accounts (to worry his creditors).
The co-operation of the Karnam is as necessary as the axles to the wheels of a cart.