134 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
As tlie Vellalar are essentially agricultmists and live upon 
the produce which they derive from cultivation, agrieultm-e 
is called in Tamil and in Malayalam velldnmai or velldyma. 
The Tamil word Velldnmai is a compound of Vellal and 
mai, the affix indicating abstract nouns. It means Yellalan- 
ship or the occupation and position of a Vellalan or culti- 
vator. It may perhaps be necessary to add that the terms 
Vellalan and Velldnma are hardly ever used in Malabar, 
except in Palghat, which, as a border district between the 
Tamil and Malayalam speaking population, contains many 
Tamil words. It is customary to derive the name of the 
Vellalan from tellanmai, i.e., the name of the cultivator from 
the work of cultivation to which he is devoted, but I regard 
this explanation as erroneous. The Telugu representative 
of the Tamil Vellalan is the Velama (Vellama), and if vel- 
ldnmai, agriculture, were derived from a common Dravidian 
root, a representative of this word should be found in all or 
most Dravidian languages. It is most probably not indi- 
genous in Malayalam, nor does it exist in Telugu, where we 
find words like kdpu denote a cultivator and sdgu cultivation. 
The Velama is the baron, the grand-seigneur, in the Telugu 
country. Most of the Telugu Rajas belong to the Yelama 
caste. The identity of Velama and Pallava has been already 
established by me. The Velldlar of Malabar are called 
Ndyar, which word means, as we have seen, ruler. This 
circumstance is very significant, as the term Vellalan, 
according to my explanation, designates also a ruler. 
The derivation of VeUanmai is very uncertain. The Tamil pandits 
propose diiierent explanations, a snre indication of their uncertainty. Some 
derive the word from vel, benefit, and wish to write it accordingly VfUin- 
mai ; others prefer Vellnm, abundance, &c. The Ve.Ualar are cultivatoi-s. 
Cultivation is in India generally divided into dri/ cultivation, which is 
applied in higher levels and in places which depend entirely on the rain- 
fall, and into wet cultivation, which is carried on by means of irripation 
chiefly from tanks. These two kinds of cultivation are called in Tamil 
punroj (or puricai) and nancey (^isesrQ^ih or naTiccy), in Telugu tnetta and 
pnjlain from pnlhiii, plain, and in Kanai-csc brfta and hnJla. Pul and r.al 
mean bad and good ; puTiccy is a sterile field for dry grains and nancey a 
