They believe that they came from Mahēndrāchāla mountain, the mountain of Indra, and the following legend is current among them. Dakshudu, the father-in-law of Siva, went to invite his son-in-law to a devotional sacrifice, which he was about to perform. Siva was in a state of meditation, and did not visibly return the obeisance which Dakshudu made by raising his hands to his forehead. Dakshudu became angry, and told his people not to receive Siva or his wife, or show them any mark of respect. Parvati, Siva’s wife, went with her son Ganapati, against her husband’s order, to the sacrifice, and received no sign of recognition. Thereat she shed tears, and the earth opened, and she disappeared. She was again born of Himavant (Himālayas), and Siva, telling her who she was, remarried her. Siva, in reply to her enquiries, told her that she could avoid a further separation from him if she performed a religious vow, and gave cakes to Brāhmans in a chata, or winnowing basket. She accordingly made a basket of gold, which was not efficacious, because, as Siva explained to her, it was not plaited, as bamboo baskets are. Taking his serpent, Siva turned it into a bamboo. He ordered Ganapati, and others, to become men, and gave them his trisula and ghada to work with on bamboo, from which they plaited a basket for the completion of Parvati’s vow. Ganapati and the Gānas remained on the Mahēndrāchāla mountain, and married Gandarva women, who bore children to them. Eventually they were ordered by Siva to return, and, as they could not take their wives and families with them, they told them to earn their livelihood by plaiting bamboo articles. Hence they were called Mahēndrulu or Mēdarlu. According to another legend,[35] Parvati once wanted to perform the ceremony called gaurinōmu, and, wanting a winnow, was at a loss to know how to secure one. She asked Siva to produce a man who could make one, and he ordered his riding-ox Vrishaban to produce such a person by chewing. Vrishaban complied, and the ancestor of the Mēdaras, being informed of the wish of the goddess, took the snake which formed Siva’s necklace, and, going to a hill, planted its head in the ground. A bamboo at once sprang up on the spot, which, after returning the snake to its owner, the man used for making a winnow. The snake-like root of the bamboo is regarded as a proof of the truth of the story.

As among many other castes, opprobrious names are given to children. For example, a boy, whose elder brother has died, may be called Pentayya (dung-heap). As a symbol of his being a dung-heap child, the infant, as soon as it is born, is placed on a leaf-platter. Other names are Thavvayya, or boy bought for bran, and Pakiru, mendicant. In a case where a male child had been ill for some months, a woman, under the influence of the deity, announced that he was possessed by the goddess Ankamma. The boy accordingly had the name of the goddess conferred on him.

The following are some of the gōtras and exogamous septs of the Mēdaras:—

(a) Gōtras.

Hanumanta (monkey-god).Bombadai (a fish).
Puli (tiger).Vināyaka (Ganēsa).
Thāgenīlu (drinking water).Kāsi (Benares).
Avisa (Sesbania grandiflora).Moduga (Butea frondosa).
Rēla (Ficus).Kovila (koel or cuckoo).
Sēshai (snake?).

(b) Exogamous septs.

Pilli (cat).Nuvvulu (gingelly).
Parvatham (mountain).Senagapapu (Bengal gram).
Putta (ant-hill).Tsanda (subscription).
Konda (mountain).Nīla (blue).
Javādi (civet-cat).Sirigiri (a hill).
Nandikattu (bull’s mouth).Kanigiri (a hill).
Kandikattu (dhāl soup).Pōthu (male).
Kottakunda (new pot).Nāginīdu (snake).
Pooreti (a bird).Kola (ear of corn).
Kallūri (stone village).

A man most frequently marries his maternal uncle’s daughter, less frequently the daughter of his paternal aunt. Marriage with a deceased wife’s sister is regarded with special favour. Marriage with two living sisters, if one of them is suffering from disease, is common.

In a note on the Mēdaras of the Vizagapatam district, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao writes that girls are married before or after puberty. A Brāhman officiates at the marriage ceremonies. Widows are allowed to remarry once, and the sathamānam (marriage badge) is tied by the new husband on the neck of the bride, who has, as in the Gūdala caste, to sit near a mortar.