124 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
cultural classes to one another are very strained, and the 
evidence which the one may supply with respect to the other 
should always be accepted with great caution. Thus the 
acrimonious dissensions which exist between the Pallis and 
Vellalar are a matter of deep regret, but they must be men- 
tioned here to explain why certain statements concerning 
both cannot be admitted in an historical inquiry, as they are 
unsupported by facts and are tainted by prejudice. 
The investigation which I am now making is sine im 
et studio, and I trust it will be accepted as such by those 
who come within its range. 
The difference which at an early stage divided the Pallar 
from the Pallis was, I believe, that the former confined 
themselves to the country, pdlayam, while the latter congre- 
gated mostly in villages and towns. These were named 
(ueusiS) or {uemsrfl) in contradistinction to the country 
or Pdlaii/dm {un-^iuih) in Tamil and pdlemii (s^l^) in 
Telugu. The feudal chieftains were called after the country 
Poligars.''^ The bulk of the Pallas, who lived as agricultural 
88 Compare " The Poyakharries versus Meerassidars, or the Eevenue 
System of Madras," by A. Venkatachella Naicker, p. 9. Again, in the third 
place, Mr. Place states that the Pullees were servants of the Brahmms. Any 
thing more untrue could not he stated. The Pullees or Vunneers were not 
the servants of the Brahmins. They were formerly the ruling race of a very 
large portion of Southern India. The potentates, Sharen, Cholen, and Paun- 
dian were all Vunneers, and all the southern and western Poligars and 
Zemindars are, even at the present time, Vunneers ; and on p. 12 : In proof 
that the Pullees or Vunneers were the most powerful and most prevalent 
race in Southern India, there are the boundary stones which are marked vriih 
the Royal "wheel of mandate " an ensign of the royal descent of the 
Vunneers ; also the inscriiJtions on the temples of Conjeeveram and in fact 
on the muntapums and other sacred shrines throughout the Chingleput 
district. Whilst the Vellaiars had the mark of a trident on their boundary 
stones, and the boundary stones of the agraharums bore the impression of 
a short Brahmin with an umbrella. 
Consult about the Sasanams concerning the Vauniyar Jdiisahgra/uisirn, 
pp. 272, 326, &c. 
89 rdlaiyakkdraii in Tamil and PdhffifJii in Telugu. For Pdhmu, 
encampment, baronial village, occiu-s in Telugu also the word Vthinni. 
