Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Ēkāri

by Edgar Thurston

Ēkāri.— This caste is summed up in the Madras Census Report, 1901, under the names Ēkāri, Ēkali, Yākari, and Yākarlu, as a sub-caste of Mutrācha. Mr. H. A. Stuart writes *^[1] that " Ekaris or Yākarlu are a class of cultivators and village watchmen, found chiefly in the northern taluks of North Arcot, and in the adjoining district of Cuddapah. It is very doubtful whether the Ekaris and Mutrāchas are identical castes. The census statistics are, I think, sufficient to throw grave doubt on this view. Neither name, for instance, appears as a sub-division of the other, although this would certainly be the case if they were synonymous. Nor is there any similarity in the sub-divisions that are given. They are said, in the Nellore Manual, to be hunters and mercenaries, and in Cuddapah, where they are known to some as Bōyas and Kirātas, they are classed as a forest tribe. It is clear, however, that they enjoyed some authority, for several rose to be poligars. Thus the poligars of Kallūr, Tumba, Pulicheria, Bangāri and Gudipāti are of this caste, and many of its members are village policemen. They do not wear the sacred thread, but employ Brāhmans as their priests. Their ceremonies differ very little from those of the Kāpus. They are flesh-eaters, and their titles are Naidu and Dora. The caste possesses some interest as being that which had, in 1891, the highest proportion of widowed among females between the ages of 15 and 39. Little is known of the caste history. Some assert that they were formerly Hindu cotton cleaners, and that their name is derived from the verb yēkuta, to clean cotton. They returned 74 sub-divisions, of which the most important seem to be Dodda (big) and Pala."

There is neither intermarriage, nor free interdining between Ēkāris and Mutrāchas. By some, Kampin,and Nagiripilla kāyalu, and by others Kammi and Yerrai were given as sub-divisions.

One of the recognised names of washermen in Tamil is Egāli or Ekāli.

1. * Manual of the North Arcot district; Madras Census Report, 1891.