The headman of the Khatris, who is called Grāmani, is elected once a month, and he has an assistant called Vanja, who is appointed annually.
The Khatris are Saivites, and wear the sacred thread, but also worship various grāma dēvatas (village deities). They speak a dialect of Marāthi. The caste title is Sā, e.g., Dharma Sā.
Kethree is described, in the Vizagapatam Manual, as “the caste of the Zamindar’s family in Jeypore. It is divided into sixteen classes. They wear the paieta (sacred thread), and the Zamindar used formerly to sell the privilege of wearing it to any one who could afford to pay him twelve rupees. Pariahs were excluded from purchasing the privilege.”
The Khatri agriculturists of the Jeypore Agency tracts in Vizagapatam are, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao informs me, entirely distinct from the weaving Khatris of the south. They are divided into four septs, viz., Surya (Sun), Bhāg (tiger), Kochchimo (tortoise), and Nāg (cobra). Girls are married before puberty, and an Oriya Brāhman officiates at their marriages, instead of the customary Dēsāri. They do not, like other castes in the Agency tracts, give fermented liquor (madho) as part of the jholla tonka or bride-price, which consists of rice, a goat, cloths, etc. The marriage ceremonies are performed at the bride’s house. These Khatris put on the sacred thread for the first time when they are married, and renew it from time to time throughout life. They are fair skinned, and speak the Oriya language. Their usual title is Pātro.
Khinbudi (bear).—A sept of Rōna.
Khodālo.—See Bāvuri.
Khodikāro.—A name for Panditos, derived from the stone (khodi), with which they write figures on the floor, when making astrological calculations.
Khodūra.—The name is derived from khodu, bangle. The Khodūras, Mr. Francis writes,[133] are “manufacturers of the brass and bell-metal bangles and rings ordinarily worn by the lower class Odiyas. Their headman is called Nahako Sāhu, and under him there are deputies called Dhoyi Nahako and Bēhara. There is a fourth functionary styled Aghopotina, whose peculiar duty is said to be to join in the first meal taken by those who have been excommunicated, and subsequently readmitted into the caste by the caste panchāyat (council). A quaint custom exists, by which honorific titles like Sēnāpati, Mahāpātro, Subuddhi, etc., are sold by the panchāyat to any man of the caste who covets them, and the proceeds sent to Pūri and Pratābpur for the benefit of the temples there. It is said that the original home of the caste was Orissa, and that it came to Ganjam with Purushōttam Dēva, the Māharāja of Pūri. In its general customs it resembles the Badhōyis.” I am informed that the name of the fourth functionary should be Aghopotiria, or first leaf man, i.e., the man who is served first at a public dinner.
Khoira.—Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a low caste of Oriya cultivators.
Khōja.—In the Madras Census Report, 1901, eleven Khōjas are recorded as belonging to a Mussalman tribe of traders from Bombay.