Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Malēru

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Malēru.— It is noted, in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that "in some temples of the Malnād there exists a set of females, who, though not belonging to the Natuva class, are yet temple servants like them, and are known by the name of Malēru. Any woman who eats the sacrificial rice strewn on the balipītam (sacrificial altar) at once loses caste, and becomes a public woman, or Malēru." The children of Malērus by Brāhmans are termed Golakas. Any Malēru woman cohabiting with one of a lower caste than her own is degraded into a Gaudi. In the Madras Census Report, 1901, Mālē or Mālēra is returned as a sub-caste of Stānika. They are said, however, not to be equal to Stānikas. They are attached to temples, and their ranks are swelled by outcaste Brāhman and Konkani women.