Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Sipiti

by Edgar Thurston

Sipiti.—- The Sipitis are described, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as "Oriya temple priests and drummers; a sub-caste of Ravulo." In an account of them as given to me, they are stated to be Smartas, and temple priests of village deities, who wear the sacred thread, but do not employ Brāhmans as purōhits, and are regarded as somewhat lower in the social scale than the Rāvulos. Some of their females are said to have been unrecognised prostitutes, but the custom is dying out. The caste title is Mūni. (See Rāvulo.)