(3) Koppala, or Toththala, who do not shave their heads, but tie the hair in a knot (koppu) on the top of the head. They are divided into sections, e.g., Nāga (cobra), Sankha (chank shell, Turbinella rapa), Tulasi (Ocimum sanctum), and Tābēlu (tortoise). These have no significance so far as marriage is concerned. They are further divided into exogamous septs, or intipērulu, of which the following are examples:—Nalla (black), Doddi (court-yard, cattle-pen or sheep-fold), Reddi (synonym of Kāpu). The custom of mēnarikam, by which a man marries his maternal uncle’s daughter, is observed. A Brāhman officiates at marriages. Widows are permitted to remarry seven times, and, by an unusual custom, an elder brother is allowed to marry the widow of his younger brother. Women wear on the right wrist a solid silver bangle called ghatti kadiyam, and on the left wrist two bangles called sandēlu, between which are black glass bangles, which are broken when a woman becomes a widow. The titles of members of this sub-division are Anna, Ayya, and, when they become prosperous, Nāyudu.
In a note on the Velamas of the Godāvari district, Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes that they “admit that they always arrange for a Māla couple to marry, before they have a marriage in their own houses, and that they provide the necessary funds for the Māla marriage. They explain the custom by a story to the effect that a Māla once allowed a Velama to sacrifice him in order to obtain a hidden treasure, and they say that this custom is observed out of gratitude for the discovery of the treasure which resulted. The Rev. J. Cain gives[41] a similar custom among the Velamas of Bhadrāchalam in the Godāvari district, only in this case it is a Palli (fisherman) who has to be married.”
There is, a correspondent informs me, a regular gradation in the social scale among the Velamas, Kammas, and Kāpus, as follows:—
- Velama Dora = Velama Esquire.
- Kamma Vāru = Mr. Kamma.
- Kāpu.
A complaint was once made on the ground that, in a pattah (title-deed), a man was called Kamma, and not Kamma Vāru.
It is noted by Mr. H. G. Prendergast[42] that the custom of sending a sword to represent an unavoidably absent bridegroom at a wedding is not uncommon among the Telugu Rāzus and Velamas.
Vēlampan (rope-dancer).—Possibly a name for the Koravas of Malabar, who perform feats on the tight-rope.
Vēlan.—As a diminutive form of Vellāla, Vēlan occurs as a title assumed by some Kusavans. Vēlan is also recorded as a title of Paraiyans in Travancore. (See Pānan.)
For the following note on the Vēlans of the Cochin State, I am indebted to Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer.[43]
The Vēlans, like the Pānans, are a caste of devil-dancers, sorcerers and quack doctors, and are, in the northern parts of the State, called Perumannāns or Mannāns (washermen). My informant, a Perumannān at Trichūr, told me that their castemen south of the Karuvannūr bridge, about ten miles south of Trichūr, are called Vēlans, and that they neither interdine nor intermarry, because they give māttu (a washed cloth) to carpenters to free them from pollution. The Mannāns, who give the māttu to Izhuvans, do not give it to Kammālans (artisan classes), who are superior to them in social status. The Vēlans at Ernakulam, Cochin, and other places, are said to belong to eight illams. A similar division into illams exists among the Perumannāns of the Trichūr tāluk. The Perumannāns of the Chittūr tāluk have no knowledge of this illam division existing among them.