Parasu Rāma (Rāma of the axe), an incarnation of Vishnu, secured from the gods permission to reclaim some land from Varuna the sea-god. Accordingly, he threw his axe from Cape Comorin as far as Gokarnam in South Canara, and immediately the sea receded, and there was dry land between these places as far as the western ghāts. To people this land, he brought the Nambutiri Brahmans from the north, gave them peculiar customs, such as the marumakkatāyam law of succession (descent in the female line), and located them in sixty-four grāmams (Brahman villages). To rule over the people, an individual named Kēya Perumal was selected, who was the first king of Malabar. The name Kērala is at the present day perpetuated in the masonic lodge called Lodge Kērala at Calicut.
The name Deccan (dakhan, the south) has been applied by some writers to the whole of the Peninsula south of the Nerbudda river, but is more properly restricted to the table-land between the eastern and western ghāts. It includes the Cuddapah, Kurnool, Bellary, and Anantapur districts, which are also known as the Ceded Districts, as they were ceded to the British in 1800, after the death of Tīpu Sultan.
The Agencies include the mountainous western portions of the Ganjam, Vizagapatam, and Godāvari districts in the north-east of the Presidency, which are inhabited by various wild tribes, e.g. the Kondhs, Savaras, and Koyis, who "differ in religion, language, customs, and ethnic characters, from the dwellers in the plains below them. Within these tracts, the ordinary law of the land is in force only to a limited extent. Collectors (or chief administrative officials) have extended and unusual judicial authority, both civil and criminal, which they exercise under the special title of Agents to the Governor."
The name Northern Circars or Sirkars (divisions of
