VIZAGAPATAM.
exogamous. The same relaxation of this essential characteristic of totemism is observable in several other castes in the plains and is an interesting example of the decay of the old ideas. Both the Panta and Gázula subdivisions comprise several exogamous intipérulu marriage follows the ménarikam rule, the vóli is Rs.3 and a Bráhman officiates; divorce and widow remarriage are allowed; the dead are burnt and chinna rózu ceremonies observed.
Velamas are a branch of the great Kápu clan and their name is sometimes supposed to mean ' seceder' therefrom. They number 274,000 in this district, or more than in any other. Their most prominent endogamous subdivisions are (i) Pedda ('big') alias Padma ('lotus') Velamas, who are said to be immigrants from Venkatagiri, are largely followers and dependents of the Bobbili family, forbid widow remarriage and keep their women-kind gósha;(ii) Kamma Velamas, who are found chiefly in Vizianagram town, are said to be descended from people who immigrated from Kistna in the train of the early Rájas of that place, keep their women gósha but allow widow remarriage; and (iii) Koppala Velamas (so called because they do not shave their heads but wear their hair in a tuft) who are the commonest of the three and who resemble the Kápus in their internal constitution, totemistic practices and marriage and funeral customs.
Another branch of the Kápus are the Telagas, who, including the Vantari subdivision, number 114,000 in this district. They have the same names as the Kápus for their intipérulu and occasionally intermarry with that caste, but are more Bráhmanized — having Bráhman gurus, marrying their girls before puberty, and refusing to recognize divorces and the remarriage of widows — are fonder of service under the zamindars and Government than of cultivation, and keep their women gósha.
The Nagarálu, another branch of the Kápus, are said to get their name, which means ' dwellers in towns' from the fact that in the eighteenth century their ancestors went to Vizianagram and rose into prominence as physicians. They are now physicians and cultivators by occupation and number some 11,000, or more than in any other district. The caste is divided into the three genuinely totemistic groups of the cobra, tortoise and mouse, which are again subdivided into intipérulu. Marriage follows ménarikam, usually takes place before puberty and is performed by a Bráhman. Except that there is no vóli, the ceremony is of the usual type. Divorce and widow remarriage are forbidden. The dead are burnt, both chinna and pedda rózu ceremonies are performed and a Bráhman officiates.
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