of the latter may not marry girls of the former." Tondamān is the family name of the Rāja of Pudukkōttai, a Native State surrounded by the British districts of Tanjore, Madura, and Trichinopoly. The Rāja is the head of the Kallan caste. Copper coins, called amman kāsu, are current only within the State, and their greatest distribution is during Navarātri or Dusserah, when they are issued to the people with a dole of rice every day during the nine days of the festival. They bear on one side the word " Vijaya," meaning victory, or more probably having reference to our faithful ally Vijaya Ragunātha Tondamān, in whose reign they were first struck, it is said in 1761, after the surrender of Pondicherry to the British.
Tondamandalam.— The name of a sub-division of Vellāla, derived from Tondanādu, the ancient Pallava country.
Tonti.— The Tontis are said to be cotton-weavers of Bengal, who have settled in Ganjam.*[1] The name denotes threadmen, and the weaving of rough white cloths is the traditional occupation of the caste. All Tontis belong to a single gōtra named after Kāsyapa, one of the seven important rishis, and the priest of Parasurāma. Various bamsams or exogamous septs, the names of some of which occur also as titles, exist, e.g., Biswālo, Dasso, Pālo, Bono, Chondo, Parimaniko, Korono, Bēhara, and Mahāpātro. The marriage and death ceremonies conform to the standard Oriya type. On the fourth day of the marriage rites, a Bhondāri (barber) is presented with some beaten rice and sugar-candy in a new earthen pot. These are sold to those who have assembled, and the proceeds go to the Bhondāri.
- ↑ • Cf. Tanti. Kisley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal.
