when the question whether to enter the fire-pits or not was being discussed by the caste elders.
The mutual relations between the various sub-divisions vary much. Broadly speaking, Gavaras and Kalingas do not intermarry, and the objection to intermarriage is due to several causes. The former, according to the caste Purāna, gave their lives to their goddess, while the latter did not. Moreover, the former do not partake of animal food and spirituous drinks, whereas the latter do. Lingadhāris and ordinary Saivites intermarry, as also do Saivites and Mādhvas. Gavaras and Traivarnikas occasionally intermarry, but such marriages are looked down upon. The Traivarnikas, like the Kalingas, eat animal food. The occupational sub-divisions neither intermarry nor interdine. Socially, the Gavaras are held in the highest esteem, while the Beris are regarded as the lowest in the social scale.
The sub-divisions are split up into septs, which are of a strictly exogamous character. That these originated in totemistic belief seems to be supported by what remains of these beliefs at the present day. All the sub-divisions contain such septs, which are very numerous, the names of as many as a hundred and twenty having been collected. The tendency for a long time past has been to reduce the number to a hundred and two, to represent the number of families which followed Kanyakamma to the fire-pits. It would be tedious to enumerate the names of all these septs, from which the following, with the corresponding totems, are selected: —
- (a) Plants.
- Munikula ... ... Agasi (Sesbania grandiflora).
- Amalaka or Usiri ... Amalaka or Usiri (Phyllanthus Emblica).
- Anupa or Anupāla ... Anupala (Dolichos Lablab).
- Tulasi or Tulashishta. Tulasi (Ocimum sanctum).
