or Pādamangalakkār is also recorded as a sub-division of Nāyars, who escort processions in temples. Mr.N. Subramani Aiyar writes that "Pādamangalam and the Tamil Pādam are recorded as a division of Nāyars, but they are said to be immigrants to Travancore from the Tamil country." Pādam also occurs as an exogamous sept of Moosu Kamma.
Padarti. — A title of pūjāris (priests) in South Canara, and a name by which Stānikas are called.
Padavala (boat). — An exogamous sept of Dēvānga.
Padiga Rāju. — Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, as the same as Bhatrāzu. The Padiga Rājulu are, however, beggars attached to the Padma Sālēs, and apparently distinct from Bhatrāzus. The name is probably derived from padiga, a kind of vessel, and may bear reference to the vessel which they carry with them on their begging expeditions.
Padma (lotus). — A sub-division of Velama.
Padma Sālē.— The Padma (lotus) Sālēs are a Telugu-speaking caste of weavers, who are scattered all over the Madras Presidency. The majority are engaged in their hereditary occupation, but only the minority possess looms of their own, and they work, for the most part, for the more prosperous owners of hand-looms. As a class they are poor, being addicted to strong drinks, and in the hands of the money-lenders, who take care that their customers always remain in debt to them. Like the Kaikōlans, the Padma Sālēs weave the coarser kinds of cotton cloths, and cannot compete with the Patnūlkārans and Khātrēs in the manufacture of the finer kinds.
The Padma Sālēs have only one gōtra, Markandēya. But, like other Telugu castes, they have a number of
