The Kammālans and Chettis are regarded as friends, and there is a Tamil proverb “Settiyum Kammālanum onnu,” i.e., the Chetti and Kammālan are one. In this connection the following legend is quoted. “In the town of Kanda, anciently the Camalas (artificers of five sorts) lived closely united together, and were employed by all ranks of men, as there were no artificers besides them. They feared and respected no king, which offended certain kings, who combined against them, taking with them all kinds of arms. But, as the fort (Kanda Kōttai, or magnetic fort), in which the Camalar lived, was entirely constructed of loadstone, this attracted, and drew the weapons away from the hands of the assailants. The kings then promised a great reward to any one who should burn down the fort. No one dared to do this. At length the courtesans of a temple engaged to effect it, and took the pledge of betel and areca, engaging thereby to do so. The kings, greatly rejoicing, built a fort opposite, filled with such kind of courtesans, who, by their singing, attracted the people from the fort, and led to intercourse. One of these at length succeeded in extracting from a young man the secret, that, if the fort was surrounded with varacu straw, set on fire, it might be destroyed. The king accordingly had this done, and, in the burning down of the fort, many of the Camalar lost their lives. Some took to ships belonging to them, and escaped by sea. In consequence, there were no artificers in that country. Those taken in the act of endeavouring to escape were beheaded. One woman of the tribe, being pregnant, took refuge in the house of a Chetti, and escaped, passing for his daughter. From a want of artificers, who made implements for weavers, husbandmen, and the like, manufactures and agriculture ceased, and great discontent arose in the country. The king, being of clever wit, resorted to a device to discover if any of the tribe remained, to remedy the evil complained of. This was to send a piece of coral, having a fine tortuous aperture running through it, and a piece of thread, to all parts of the country, with promise of great reward to any one who should succeed in passing the thread through the coral. None could accomplish it. At length the child that had been born in the Chetty’s house undertook to do it; and, to effect it, he placed the coral over the mouth of an ant-hole, and having steeped the thread in sugar, placed it at some little distance. The ants took the thread, and drew it through the coral. The king, seeing the difficulty overcome, gave great presents, and sent much work to be done, which that child, under the council and guidance of its mother, performed. The king sent for the Chetty, and demanded an account of this young man, which the Chetty detailed. The king had him plentifully supplied with the means especially of making ploughshares, and, having married him to the daughter of a Chetty, gave him grants of land for his maintenance. He had five sons, who followed the five different branches of work of the Camalar tribe. The king gave them the title of Pānchalar. Down to the present day there is an intimate relation between these five branches, and they intermarry with each other; while, as descendants of the Chetty tribe, they wear the pūnūl, or caste-thread of that tribe.”[58]
The Acharapākam Chettis are known as Malighē Chettis, and are connected with the Chettis of this legend. Even now, in the city of Madras, when the Bēri Chettis assemble for the transaction of caste business, the notice summoning the meeting excludes the Malighē Chettis, who cannot, like other Bēri Chettis, vote at elections, meetings, etc., of the Kandasāmi temple.
Some Bēri Chettis, Mr. Stuart writes, “worship Siva, and some Vishnu, and a few are Lingāyats, who do not marry into families with a different worship. They bury, while the others burn their dead. All the divisions wear the sacred thread, and do not tolerate widow remarriage. Unlike Kōmatis, their daughters are sometimes married after puberty.”
Berike.—The children of a Bōya widow by a man of her own caste, with whom she lives, are said[59] to drift into a distinct section called Berike.
Bestha.—The Besthas are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, as “a Telugu caste, the hereditary occupation of which is hunting and fishing, but they have largely taken to agriculture, and the professions of bearers and cooks.” In the Census Report, 1901, it is stated that “the fisherman caste in the Deccan districts are called Besthas and Kabbēras, while those in some parts of the Coimbatore and Salem districts style themselves Toreyar, Siviyar, and Parivārattar. These three last speak Canarese like the Kabbēras, and seem to be the same as Besthas or Kabbēras. Kabbēra and Toreya have, however, been treated as distinct castes. There are two endogamous sub-divisions in the Bestha caste, namely the Telaga and the Parigirti. Some say that the Kabbili or Kabbēravāndlu are a third. The Parigirti section trace their descent from Sūtudu, the famous expounder of the Māhābhārata. Besthas employ Brāhmans and Sātānis (or Jangams, if Saivites) for their domestic ceremonies, and imitate the Brāhman customs, prohibiting widow remarriage, and worshipping Siva and Vishnu as well as the village deities. The Maddi sub-caste is said to be called so, because they dye cotton with the bark of the maddi tree (Morinda citrifolia).” It is suggested, in the Gazetteer of the Bellary district, that the Besthas are really a sub-division of the Gangimakkalu Kabbēras, who were originally palanquin-bearers, but, now that these vehicles have gone out of fashion, are employed in divers other ways. It may be noted that the Siviyars of Coimbatore say that they are Besthas who emigrated from Mysore in the troublous times of the Muhammadan usurpation. The name Siviyar, they say, was given to them by the Tamils, as, being strong and poor, they were palanquin-bearers to officers on circuit and others in the pre-railway days. Their main occupations at the present day are tank and river fishing.
In the Manual of the North Arcot district, it is noted that many Besthas “trade, and are in a flourishing condition, being most numerous above the ghāts. The name Bestha appears to have no meaning, but they call themselves Sūtakulam, and say they are descendants of the rishi Sūta Mahāmuni. The term Sūta also applies to the offspring of a Kshatriya by a Brāhman, but it seems more probable that the Besthas gained the name from their superiority in the culinary art, sūta also meaning cook. They are divided into Telugu Besthas and Parigirti Besthas, the difference between them being chiefly one of religious observance, the former being in the habit of getting themselves branded on the shoulders with the Vaishnavite emblems—chank and chakram—and the latter never undergoing this ceremony. It is a rule with them to employ Dāsaris as the messengers of a death, and Tsākalas, as those of a birth, or of the fact that a girl has reached womanhood. Their chief object of worship is Hanumān, the monkey god, a picture or figure of whom they always have in their houses for domestic worship.”
In connection with the names Parigirti or Pakirithi which have been recorded as divisions of the Besthas, it may be observed that, in some parts of the Telugu country, the term Pakirithi is used as a substitute for Vaishnava. This word has become converted into Parigirti or Parikithi, denoting that the Besthas are Vaishnavites, as opposed to Saivites. Some Besthas, when questioned as to the origin of their caste, said that they had no purandam to help them. The word used by them is a corruption of purānam.
The Besthas are summed up, in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, as “fishermen, boatmen, and palanquin-bearers, who are known by different names according to the localities they live in. In the eastern districts they are called Bestha, in the southern Toraya, Ambiga and Parivara (boatmen), while in the western parts their names are Kabyara and Gangemakkalu. The Telugu-speaking population call themselves Boyis. Their chief occupations are fishing, palanquin-bearing, and lime-burning. Some of them are employed by Government as peons (orderlies), etc., while a large number are engaged in agricultural pursuits. The Boyis obey a headman called the Pedda (big) Boyi. The Toraya does not intermarry either with the Kabyara or the Boyi, whom he resembles in every way. The Kabyara or Karnatic Besthas proper never carry the palanquin, but live by either farming or lime-burning. They have a headman known as the Yajaman.”
I have often seen Besthas in Mysore fishing on tanks from rafts, with floats made of cane or cork-wood supporting their fish-baskets. The Besthas use small cast-nets, and it is thought by them that the employment of drag-nets worked by several men would bring bad luck to them. When a new net is used for the first time, the first fish which is caught is cut, and the net smeared with its blood. One of the meshes of the net is burnt, after incense has been thrown into the fire. If a snake becomes entangled in a net when it is first used, it is rejected, and burnt or otherwise disposed of.
The tribal deity of the Telugu Besthas is Kāmamma, and, when this goddess is worshipped, Māla Pambalas are engaged to recite the legendary story relating to her. They never offer the flesh of animals or liquor to the goddess.