The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India,...

Vellāla.—The great cultivating caste of the Tamil country, to whom by general consent the first place in social esteem among the Tamil Sūdra castes is awarded. They have a strength of more than 2½ millions in India; in the Central Provinces there were in 1911 about 700 in Chānda, Nāgpur and other Districts. In the Madras Census Report of 1901, Mr. Francis gives an interesting description of the structure of the caste and its numerous territorial, occupational and other subdivisions. He shows also how groups from lower castes continually succeed in obtaining admission into the Vellāla community in the following passage: “Instances of members of other castes who have assumed the name and position of Vellālas are the Vettuva Vellālas, who are really Vettuvāns; the Puluva Vellālas, who are only Puluvāns; the Illam Vellālas, who are Panikkāns; the Karaiturai (lord of the shore) Vellālas, who are Karaiyāns; the Karukamattai (palmyra leaf stem) Vellālas, who are Balijas; the Guha (Rāma’s boatman) Vellālas, who are Sembadavāns; and the Irkuli Vellālas, who are Vannans. The children of dancing girls also often call themselves Mudali, and claim in time to be Vellālas, and even Paraiyāns assume the title of Pillai, and trust to its eventually enabling them to pass themselves off as members of the caste.” The Vellālas will not touch the plough with their own hands. Some of them abstain from flesh and liquor, and prohibit the remarriage of widows with a view to raising their social status.

Wakkaliga, Okkiliyan.—A Canarese caste of cultivators, of which a few representatives were returned from Nāgpur. They reside mainly in the Madura and Coimbatore Districts. The name is derived from the Canarese okkalu,103 which means cultivation or agriculture.