Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Helava

by Edgar Thurston

Helava.———Helava, meaning lame person, is the name of a class of mendicants, who, in Bellary, Mysore, and other localities, are the custodians of village histories. They generally arrive at the villages mounted on a bullock, and with their legs concealed by woollen blankets. They go from house to house, giving the history of the different families, the names of heroes who died in war, and so forth.