stated that "the Balija people are Kshatriyas of the Lunar Race, as can be proved by a reference to the Bahgavatham, Vishnupurānam, and Brahmmandapurānam, etc In this connection, it will be interesting to note that one Sevappa Naidu married Murthiammal, sister-in-law to Achuta Deva Rayulu of Narapathi Samasthanam of Vijayanagar, and as a marriage portion or dowry received the territory of Tanjore, over which he ruled as king for a long period. It was at this time that the celebrated Tirumalay Naidu of Madura took as wife one of the daughters of Sevappa Naidu's family. Tirumalay's grandson, one Chockalinga Naidu, married Mangammal, daughter of Vijiaragavulu Naidu, a grandson of the said Tanjore Sevappa Naidu. It will thus be seen that the Naidu rulers of Tanjore, Trichinopoly, and Madura, were all relations of Narapathi Samasthanam of Vijianagar. That these Narapathies of Vijianagaram were Kshatriyas of the Lunar Race can be clearly seen by a reference to Manucharithra, Pārijāthāpaharanam, Prouda Prabanda Kavi Charitra, etc., and that they were direct descendants of the great Andra Kings can be proved with equal satisfaction by referring to Colonel Mackenzie's MSS., in the introduction of A. D. Campbell's Telugu Grammar, and James Prinsep's Useful Tables of Andra Kings will show that the Andras were immediate descendants of the well-known Yayathi Rāja of the Lunar Race."
"The Balijas," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,[1] " are the trading caste of the Telugu country, but they are now found in every part of the Presidency. Concerning the origin of this caste several traditions exist, but the most probable is that which represents them as a recent
- ↑ Madras Census Report, 1891.
