bury, while the others burn their dead. All the divisions wear the sacred thread, and do not tolerate widow remarriage. Unlike Kōmatis, their daughters are sometimes married after puberty."
Berike.— The children of a Bōya widow by a man of her own caste, with whom she lives, are said *[1] to drift into a distinct section called Berike.
Bestha.— The Besthas are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, as "a Telugu caste, the hereditary occupation of which is hunting and fishing, but they have largely taken to agriculture, and the professions of bearers and cooks." In the Census Report, 1901, it is stated that "the fisherman caste in the Deccan districts are .called Besthas and Kabbēras, while those in some parts of the Coimbatore and Salem districts style them- selves Toreyar, Siviyar, and Parivārattar. These three last speak Canarese like the kabbēras, and seem to be the same as Besthas or Kabberas. Kabbēra and Toreya have, however, been treated as distinct castes. There are two endogamous sub-divisions in the Bestha caste, namely the Telaga and the Parigirti. Some say that the Kabbili or Kabbēravāndlu are a third. The Parigirti section trace their descent from Sūtudu, the famous expounder of the Māhābhārata. Besthas employ Brāhmans and Sātānis (or Jangams, if Saivites) for their domestic ceremonies, and imitate the Brāhman customs, prohibiting widow remarriage, and worshipping Siva and Vishnu as well as the village deities. The Maddi sub-caste is said to be called so, because they dye cotton with the bark of the maddi tree (Morinda citrifolia)" It is suggested, in the Gazetteer of the Bellary district, that the Besthas are really a sub-division of the
- ↑ * Madras Census Report, 1901.
