Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/134

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APOTO
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into eighteen kilais or branches, each of which inter-marries only with certain of the others. Caste panchāyats (councils) are held on a blanket, on which (compare the Tottiyan custom) is placed a pot of water containing margosa (Melia Azadirachta) leaves, to symbolise the sacred nature of the meeting. Women who go astray with men of other castes are expelled, and various ceremonies, including (it is said) the burying alive of a goat,are enacted to show that they are dead to the community.The right of a man to his paternal aunt's daughter is as vigorously maintained as among the Kāppiliyans and Tottiyans, and leads to the same curious state of affairs {i.e., a woman, whose husband is too young to fulfil the duties of his position, is allowed to consort with his near relations, and the children so begotten are treated as his). No tali (marriage badge) is tied at weddings, and the binding part of the ceremonies is the linking, on seven separate occasions, of the little fingers of the couple. Like the Kāppiliyans, the Anuppans have many caste and family deities, a number of whom are women who committed sati." {See Kāppiliyan).

Apoto.—Apoto, or Oppoto, is a sub-division of Gaudos, the occupation of which is palanquin-bearing.

Appa (father).—A title of members of various Telugu and Canarese castes, e.g., Idiga, Kannadiyan, Linga Balija, and Tambala.

Arab.—A Muhammadan territorial name, returned at times of census. In the Mysore Census Report, 1901, the Arabs are described as itinerant tradesmen, whose chief business is horse-dealing, though some deal in cloths.

Ārādhya.—For the following note I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The Ārādhyas are a sect of Brāhmans found mainly in the four northern districts of the Madras Presidency, and to a smaller extent in the