Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Kavarai

by Edgar Thurston

rich in trade or otherwise, assume this title, wear the nāmam (the trident mark on the forehead emblematic of the Vaishnava persuasion), and call themselves Kavarais or Vadugars, though they cannot speak Telugu, much less point to any part of the Telugu country as the seat of their forefathers."

One of the largest sub-divisions of the Kavarais is Valaiyal, the Tamil equivalent of Gazula, both words meaning a glass or lac bangle.* ^[1]

1. * Madras Census Report, 1891.