Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/369

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HOLEYA

Kadamba dynasty). All traditions unite in attributing the introduction of the Tulu Brāhmins of the present day to Mayūr Varma, but they vary in details connected with the manner in which they obtained a firm footing in the land. One account says that Habāshika, chief of the Koragas, drove out Mayūr Varma, but was in turn expelled by Mayūr Varma's son, or son-in-law, Lōkāditya of Gōkarnam, who brought Brāhmins from Ahi-Kshētra, and settled them in thirty-two villages. Another makes Mayūr Varma himself the invader of the country, which till then had remained in the possession of the Holeyas and fishermen who had turned out Parasu Rāma's Brāhmins. Mayūr Varma and the Brāhmins whom he had brought from Ahi-Kshētra were again driven out by Nanda, a Holeya chief, whose son Chandra Sayana had, however, learned respect for Brāhmins from his mother, who had been a dancing-girl in a temple. H is admiration for them became so great that he not only brought back the Brāhmins, but actually made over all his authority to them, and reduced his people to the position of slaves. A third account makes Chandra Sayana, not a son of a Holeya king, but a descendant of Mayūr Varma and a conqueror of the Holeya king."

In Coorg, the Rev. G. Richter writes, *[1] " the Holeyas are found in the Coorg houses all over the country, and do all the menial work for the Coorgs, by whom, though theoretically freemen under the British Government, they were held as glebœ adscripti in a state of abject servitude until lately, when, with the advent of European planters, the slave question was freely discussed, and the 'domestic institution' practically abolished. The Holeyas dress indifferently, are of dirty habits, and eat

  1. • Manual of Coorg.