Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Rāgala

by Edgar Thurston

Rāgala (rāgi: Eleusine Coracana). — An exogamous sept of Chembadi, Korava and Mādiga. The equivalent Rāgithannaya occurs as an exogamous sept of Bant. Rāgi grain constitutes the staple diet of the poorer classes, who cannot afford rice, and of prisoners in jails, for whom it is ground into flour, and boiled into a pudding about the consistency of blanc-mange. The name is derived from rāga, red, in reference to the red colour of the grain.