Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Valai

by Edgar Thurston

Valai (net). — The name, said to indicate those who hunt with nets, of a section of Paraiyans. The Ambalakkārans, who are also called Valaiyans, claim that, when Siva's ring was swallowed by a fish in the Ganges, one of their ancestors invented the first net made in the world.