THE PEOPLE.
shave by making them practice for some months on an old chatti smeared with wet mud. They will not shave the polluting castes, but will lend them razors for a consideration. They are musicians as well as barbers, are often (like the Uriya barber caste of Bhondáris) store-keepers to rich households, and their women are sometimes midwives. Marriage occurs before puberty and is of the usual kind. A Bráhman officiates. Remarriage is generally permitted only in the case of childless widows, but divorce is allowed. The dead are burnt and chinna rózu rites observed.
Jáláris, fishermen in the sea, number some 15,000 and are more common than elsewhere. The name is derived from the Sanskrit jála, a net. The caste seems to have originally been an inland community, fishing only in fresh water, and to have afterwards gravitated to the sea-shore. Its marriage ceremonies are not peculiar, except that no pandal is used; widow remarriage and divorce are allowed; the dead are burnt and a Sátáni performs the pedda rózu ceremonies.
The Mílavándlu (míla means fish) or Odavándlu ('boatmen') are another caste of sea-fishermen. Their ways resemble generally those of the Jáláris, but they have different inti pérulu and are apparently a distinct caste. The caste goddess is Pólamma, in whose honour an annual festival is held.
The Nágavásulu, who are in greater strength (nearly 20,000 persons) here than elsewhere,were originally a dancing-girl caste (nágavásamu means a company of dancing- women) but are now chiefly well-to-do agriculturists. Some of the women are still dásis, and they gather recruits from other castes. Both ménarikam and éduru ménarikam are followed; marriage is either before or after puberty; a vóli is paid; widow remarriage and divorce are allowed; and the dead are burnt. The caste is commonest in the Pálkonda country.
The Rellis, also known as Sachcharis and called Sapiris among themselves, are a caste who speak Uriya (though they are not found in the Agency) and are partly gardeners and partly scavengers. The latter are said to have only taken to their present occupation during the 1877 famine, when they were starving, but they are now held to carry pollution and seldom marry with the other section.
Another Uriya-speaking caste found on the plains are the Godagula basket-makers who live all along the foot of the hills.They should not be confused with the Gúdalas, and are a polluting caste, which the Gúdalas are not. They make special kinds of winnowing-fans and other articles which the Médaras, Gúdalas and other basket-making castes do not manufacture.
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