182 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
The explanation of tlieir by-name Yerulndatandlu ,^Yeni- 
kalavandlu, Yerakalavandlu or Yerikalavandlu) offers some 
difficulties. Scholars like C. P. Brown and H. H. Wilson 
are inclined to take yeru in the meaning of err a, red ; but 
there does not seem sufficient ground for this derivation. It is 
trae, and I have elsewhere alluded to the fact, that Scythian 
tribes use occasionally terms signifying color, in order to 
represent political positions ; black, e.g., indicating, under 
these circumstances, dependence and servitude, and wliite 
liberty and sovereignty. I have not observed, however, this 
thi'one of turf, putting rice on tlie heads of the young people, and uttering 
some mystic words ; a pig is then killed, the flesh is cooked and eaten, and 
ample as their experience must be of the qualities of every kind of flesh, 
they are unanimous in declaring that pork is superior to all. They then 
jump about, beat their bellmetal vessels, and the whole concludes by the 
whole party, male and female, getting drunk. One of their customs is very 
peculiar. On the occasion of a birth the husband is looked on as the subject 
of compassion, and is carefully tended bj- the neighbours, as if he and not 
the wife had been the sufferer. Like all vagabonds they are regarded with 
suspicion, and with some reason, as they affect to possess a di\inm2; rod in 
the shape of the frond of the wild date, by which thej- may discover on the 
outside of the house where property is placed within . . . Although despised 
as a carrion-eating caste, the ryots do not hesitate in cases of sickness to 
consult them. Then the divining rod is produced, a Yai-kalwar woman 
holding one end while the other is given to the person seeking advice, a long 
string of words is rattled over, the result of the disease foretold, and the 
particular shrine is indicated where an offering is to be placed, or the 
offended Sakti named, whose wrath is to be appeased by sacrifice . . . They 
speak a corrupt Tamil." 
Compare also a " Brief Sketch of the Yerukala L;»nguage as spoken in 
Eajahmandry " in the Madras Journal of Literature aud Science, 1S79, pp. 
93-102. Messrs. A. G. Subrahmanyam Iyer, b.a., and P. Srinivasa Rao 
Pantulu, B.A., asked, under the direction of Rev. Mr. J. Cain, a Yeruka a 
series of questions and drew up the paper. Mr. Cain published afterwards 
a similar but shorter paper in the Indian Anf>qu^r>/, vol. IX (ISSO), pp. 
210-212. Tlie brief sketch contains, among others, the following statement-s: 
" The Yerukulas donot seem to have any distinctive trikil or national name. 
In conversation with each other thev call themselves ' Kuluvaru, evidently 
from the Sanskrit ' kula,' merely signifying ' our people ' wlrile to strangers 
tliey speak of themselves as Yeruk;ilavaru, a name most probably given them 
by their Telugu neighbours ( rclugu J?;^5'> in allusion to their supposed 
skill in palmistry, which they practise as a means of livelihood. Tho 
Yerukula in question was not able to say when his people settled in Rajah- 
mandry. He only loiew that a long time ago thoy came from the west... 
Tlieir customs arc gonorall}- of .h very simple character. They bum their 
