Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/278

Urāli.— In the Madras Census Report, 1891, the Urālis are described as "a caste of agricultural labourers found chiefly in the districts of Madura and Trichinopoly. The word Urāli means a ruler of a village. Like the Ambalakkārans, they trace their descent from one Mutturāja, and the only sub-division returned by any number is Mutrācha. They also assert that they were formerly employed as soldiers. In the Wynād there is a section of Kurumbas called Urāli Kurumbas, and it is not improbable that these Urālis of the Tamil country are an offshoot of the great Kurumba race." The Urālis are further summed up in the same report, as "agricultural labourers in Coimbatore, Trichinopoly, and Madura. There seems to be some connection between the Urālis and the Ambalakkārans or Muttiriyans, Muttiriyan is a sub-division of both Urāli and Ambalakkāran, and both of these are found in the same districts. Perhaps the Urālis are an offshoot of the Tamil Valaiyans, which by change of occupation has transformed itself into a distinct caste (see Ambalakkāran). The caste is split up into a number of sub-divisions, called after the name of the tract or nādu in Trichinopoly which each inhabits. To get back into the caste, an excommunicated man has to kill a sheep or goat before the elders, and mark his forehead with the blood. He then gives a feast to the assembly, and puts part of the food on the roof of his house. If the crows eat this, he is received back into the caste. [Brāhmans always put out portions of the srāddha offerings in the same way, and judge whether they are acceptable or not by noting if the crows eat them or not.] Marriage is infant or adult. A man detected in an intrigue with an unmarried woman is fined, and has to marry her, and at the wedding his waist string is tied round her neck instead of a tāli. The