recognised (in 1892) as a backward class falling under Pattunulgars, the manager cannot continue to enjoy the privileges accorded under the grant-in-aid code to schools intended for backward classes, if he returns his pupils as Brāhmans. If the pupils have been returned as Saurāshtra Brāhmans, the manager should be requested to revise, as no such caste is recognised." A deputation had an interview with the Director, and it was subsequently ruled that "Saurāshtras will continue to be treated as a backward class. Pupils belonging to the above class should invariably be returned in future as Saurāshtras, whether the word Brāhman is added or not."
In a "History of the Saurāshtras in Southern India"*[1] it is recorded that "when the Saurāshtras settled in the south, they reproduced the institutions of their mother country in the new land; but, owing to the influence of the Southern Dravidians, some of the institutions became extinct. During their migrations, the men were under the guidance of their leader, and the process of migration tended to increase the power of kinship. The people were divided into four heads, called Goundas (chiefs), Saulins (elders), Vōyddoos (physicians), and Bhoutuls (religious men). Some traces of the division still survive in the now neglected institution of Goundans. The Goundans were supposed to be responsible for the acts and doings of their men. The masses enjoyed the property under the joint undivided Hindu family system as prescribed in the Code of Manu. The chiefs were the judges in both civil and criminal affairs. They were aided in deciding cases by a body of nobles called Saulins. The office of the Saulins is to make
- ↑ * By the Saurāshtra Literary Societies of Madura and Madras, 1891.
