MYSORE, CANARA, AND MALABAR. 
257 
of their women. They deal in cloth, and all kinds of merchandize, CHAPTER 
especially money and jewels ; but are not allowed to sell spirituous 
liquors, nor any intoxicating substance ; nor do they ever cultivate June 22, &c. 
the ground, or follow any mechanical profession. They have here- 
ditary chiefs, called Pedda Chitties; and the chief of each town or 
district is totally independent of the others. When a town is very 
large, the chief, for the parts that are remote from his house, ap- 
points inferior officers, who settle trivial disputes. These chiefs pos- 
sess the usual jurisdiction, and enjoy more than common immuni- 
ties, for they pay nothing to government. They can in no case act 
without the assistance of all the elders in the place. The Comatigas 
are not allowed to take animal food, nor any thing that will intoxi- 
cate. Polygamy is allowed to the men, and the women are not di- 
vorced for any cause, except adultery. In this country they are not 
confined ; but in the northern parts of Hindostan the Comatigas fol- 
low the example of their neighbours, and shut up their wives. 
Many of this cast read books composed in poetry; that which is con- 
sidered as peculiarly belonging to it, is called Vaisya Parana , and 
is imagined to have been composed by the goddess Kanyakd Para- 
miswari, which is one of the names of the wife of Iszvara. They all 
burn the dead, and sometimes the widow accompanies on the pile 
her departed husband. The women are no longer marriageable 
after the signs of puberty have appeared ; and widows are condemn- 
ed to perpetual celibacy. Some families of this cast worship Vishnu, 
and their Guru is Bhadra Achdrya, one of the hereditary chiefs of 
the Sri Vaishnamm Brahmans, who resides at Sri Rang am near Trit» 
chinopoly . Younger branches of the family reside at different places, 
and act as deputies for the chief. The one who acts in this neigh- 
bourhood resides at Doda-Bala-pura, and is called Chicana Botalu . 
The other families of this cast worship Sim, and have for their Guru 
a Sannyasi Brahman of the Smartal sect, who lives at Sivaganga , 
and acknowledges the Sringa-giri Swamalu as his superior. 
The Ruddi are one of the tribes of Sudra cast, which being much Customs of 
VOL. L Li the liuddi. 
