The Mēra or Mugayar Holeyas, like the Bākudas, abstain from eating beef, and refuse to touch leather in any form. They have no objection to carrying four-legged articles. Though their mother tongue is Tulu, they seem to follow the makkala santāna law of inheritance (in the male line). Their headman is entitled Kuruneru, and he has, as the badge of office, a cane with a silver band. The office of headman passes to the son instead of to the nephew. Marriage is called Badathana, and the details of the ceremony are like those of the Māri Holeyas. The dead are buried, and the final death ceremonies (bojja or sāvu) are performed on the twelfth or sixteenth day. A feast is given to some members of the community, and cooked food offered to the deceased at the house and near the grave.
The Māri or Mārimanisaru Holeyas are sometimes called Kāradhi by the Bākudas. Like certain Malayālam castes, the Holeyas have distinct names for their homes according to the section. Thus, the huts of the Māri Holeyas are called kelu, and those of the Mēra Holeyas patta. The headmen among the Māri Holeyas are called Mūlia, Boltiyādi, and Kallali. The office of headman follows in the female line of succession. In addition to various bhūthas, such as Panjurli and Jumādi, the Māri Holeyas have two special bhūthas, named Kattadhe and Kānadhe, whom they regard as their ancestors. At times of festivals, these ancestors are supposed to descend on earth, and make their presence known by taking possession of some member of the community. Men who are liable to be so possessed are called Dharipuneyi, and have the privilege of taking up the sword and bell belonging to the bhūthasthana when under possession.
Marriage among the Māri Holeyas is called porathāvu. At the betrothal ceremony, the headmen of the contracting parties exchange betel leaves and areca nuts. The bride-price usually consists of two bundles of rice and a bundle of paddy (unhusked rice). On the wedding day the bridegroom and his party go to the home of the bride, taking with them a basket containing five seers of rice, two metal bangles, one or two cocoanuts, a comb, and a white woman’s cloth, which are shown to the headman of the bride’s party. The two headmen order betel leaf and areca nuts to be distributed among those assembled. After a meal, a mat is spread in front of the hut, and the bride and bridegroom stand thereon. The bridegroom has in his hand a sword, and the bride holds some betel leaves and areca nuts. Rice is thrown over their heads, and presents of money are given to them. The two headmen lift up the hands of the contracting couple, and they are joined together. The bride is lifted up so as to be a little higher than the bridegroom, and is taken indoors. The bridegroom follows her, but is prevented from entering by his brother-in-law, to whom he gives betel leaves and areca nuts. He then makes a forcible entrance into the hut.
When a Māri Holeya girl reaches puberty, she is expected to remain within a hut for twelve days, at the end of which time the castemen are invited to a feast. The girl is seated on a pattern drawn on the floor. At the four corners thereof, vessels filled with water are placed. The girl’s mother holds over her head a plantain leaf, and four women belonging to different balis (septs) pour water thereon from the vessels. These women and the girl then sit down to a meal, and eat off the same leaf.
Among the Māri Holeyas, the dead are usually buried, and the final death ceremonies are performed on the twelfth day. A pit is dug near the grave, into which an image of the deceased, made of rice straw, is put. The image is set on fire by his son or nephew. The ashes are heaped up, and a rude hut is erected round them by fixing three sticks in the ground, and covering them with a cloth. Food is offered on a leaf, and the dead person is asked to eat it.
The Kūsa Holeyas speak Canarese. They object to carrying articles with four legs, unless the legs are crossed. They do not eat beef, and will not touch leather. They consider themselves to be superior to the other sections of Holeyas, and use as an argument that their caste name is Uppāra, and not Holeya. Why they are called Uppāra is not clear, but some say that they are the same as the Uppāras (salt workers) of Mysore, who, in South Canara, have descended in the social scale. The hereditary occupation of the Uppāras is making salt from salt earth (ku, earth). The headman of the Kūsa Holeyas is called Buddivant. As they are disciples of a Lingāyat priest at the mutt at Kudli in Mysore, they are Saivites. Every family has to pay the priest a fee of eight annas on the occasion of his periodical visitations. The bhūthas specially worshipped by the Kūsa Holeyas are Masti and Hālemanedeyya, but Venkatarāmana of Tirupati is by some regarded as their family deity. Marriage is both infant and adult, and widows are permitted to remarry, if they have no children.
At Tumkūr, in the Mysore Province, I came across a settlement of people called Tigala Holeya, who do not intermarry with other Holeyas, and have no exogamous septs or house-names. Their cranial measurements approach more nearly to those of the dolichocephalic Tamil Paraiyans than those of the sub-brachycephalic Holeyas; and it is possible that they are Tamil Paraiyans, who migrated, at some distant date, to Mysore.
| Cephalic length. | Cephalic breadth. | Cephalic index. | |
| cm. | cm. | ||
| Tamil Paraiyan | 18.6 | 13.7 | 73.6 |
| Tigala Holeya | 18.5 | 13.9 | 75.1 |
| Holeya | 17.9 | 14.1 | 79.1 |
Holodia Gudiya.—A name for the agricultural section of the Oriya Gudiyas.
Holuva (holo, plough).—A synonym of Pentiya, and the name of a section of Oriya Brāhmans, who plough the land.