ted the bulk of the South Indian population. They could not put these earlier Naga inhabitants in the Sudra division along with the Dravidian Vellalas for fear of injuring the feelings of the Tamil kings and the Velir nobility. To get over this difficulty they had to devise a new scheme of classification on an altogether different principle, which depended on the nature of the soil or region[1] in which the tribes happened to live.
| REGION. | TRIBE. |
| 1. Neytal or maritime. | Paravas, Nulayas and Valaiyas. |
| 2. Marutam or fertile. | Mallar (Pallar) & Kadaignar. |
| 3. Mullai or pasture. | Idaiyar and Toduvar. |
| 4. Palai or desert. | Maravar and Eyinar. |
| 5. Kurinji or hilly. | Kuravar, Irular, Savarar, Vedar and Villiyar. |
This regional classification of the non-Aryan Tamil tribes is conspicuous by the absence of the Velir or the Vellala caste. It must, therefore, refer only to the pre-Dravidian tribes mentioned in Groups I and II given above. Palai is sometimes omitted or amalgamated with Kurinji; and the tribes of these two regions consequently interchange.
The earliest Tamil works inform us that there were two sections among the Velirs or pure Dravidi- ans, namely the cultivating and the non-cultivating. As a rule the latter section furnished statesmen and</references>
- ↑ The Tamil grammarians and lexicographers have classified the Soil as five tinais, -Neytal, Marutam, Mullai, Palai and Kurinji, or as four nilams making Palai common to the other four.
