Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Tulabīna
Tulabīna.— The Tulabīnas are a class of cotton-cleaners, who are scattered over the Ganjam district, and said to be more numerous in Cuttack. It is suggested that the name is derived from tula, the beam of a balance, and bīna (or vīna) a stringed musical instrument. The apparatus used by them in cleaning cotton, which bears a fanciful resemblance to a vīna, is suspended by a rope so that it is properly balanced, and the gut-string thereof struck with a dumb-bell shaped implement, to set it vibrating.