sought refuge with the Kápus and adopted the customs of their protectors. Others of them say that they are descended from the same ancestor as the Velamas and some of the Kápus and that the subdivisions in these castes are the same as in their own. Like the Kápus, they are generally cultivators, and their social position and characteristics are similar.
In this district, Kammas are subdivided into the Kávitis, Erédis, Gampas or Gúdas, Uggams and Ráchas, who eat in each others' houses and intermarry. The names have a totemistic flavour, but according to local accounts are derived from curious household customs, generally from traditional methods of carrying water. Thus the Kávitis ordinarily will not carry water except in pots on a kávidi; the Erédis except on a pack-bullock; the Uggams except in pots held in the hand and not borne on their hips or heads; and the Ráchas except in pot carried by two persons. The Gampa women, when they first go to their husbands' houses, take the customary presents in baskets, gampa or gúda. It is said that these practices are generally observed to the present day. The Káviti and Uggam women are said to wear their cloths over the right shoulder and the Erédi and Gampa women over the left. The Erédi and Uggam women are said to be strictly gósha. The Kammas, support a special beggar caste, namely the Pichchiguntas. These beg only of Kammas, Velamas and certain Kápus.
The Perikes are a small cultivating caste who are particularly numerous in Gódávari. The name means a gunny-bag, and the caste were originally gunny-bag weavers. Those in this district are now mostly cultivators (the Pisu Perikes, who still weave gunny, are said not to belong to the caste proper, who call themselves Rácha Perikes) but the gunny-bag plays a part in their traditions and ceremonies. They are perhaps commonest in the Prattipádu subdivision of Peddápuram taluk and the southern villages of Tuni. Their social position is similar to that of the Kápus and Kammas, whom they resemble generally in character and customs. Like some of the Kammas, they claim to be of Kshatriya stock, and say they are of the lineage of Parasu Ráma but were driven out by him for kidnapping his sister while pretending to be gunny-weavers. They say they were brought into this country by the king Nala mentioned in the Mahábhárata in gratitude for their having taken care of his wife Damayanti when he quitted her during his misfortunes, Perikes support the begging caste of the Varugu Bhattas, who, they say, helped them in their exile, and to whom they gave a sanad authorizing them to demand alms. These people go round the Perike houses for their dues every year.
