Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/286

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RAMADOSA
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sub-division into Mutiāla (pearl) and Kempulu (rubies) is said to exist.

Rāmadōsa (Cucumis Melo: sweet melon). — A sept of Vīramushti.

Rāma Kshatri.— A synonym of Sērvēgāra.

Rāmānuja.— Sātānis style themselves people of the Rāmānuja Matham (religious sect) in reference to Rāmānuja, the Tamil Brāhman, who founded the form of Vaishnavism which prevails in Southern India.

Rānaratōd. — An exogamous sept of the Kuruvikkārans, who call themselves Rātōdi.

Ranavīran, — A name, meaning a brave warrior, returned by some Chakkiliyans.

Rāndām Parisha (second party). — A section of Elayad.

Rangāri.— The Rangāris are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, as being " a caste of dyers and tailors found in almost all the Telugu districts. They are of Marātha origin, and still speak that language. They worship the goddess Ambābhavāni. The dead are either burned or buried. Their title is Rao."

In an account of the Rangāris of the North Arcot district, Mr. H. A. Stuart Writes that " Rangāri is a caste of dyers, chiefly found in Wālājāpet. They claim to be Kshatriyas, who accompanied Rāma in his conquest of Ceylon, from which fact one of their names, Langāri (lanka, the island, i.e., Ceylon), is said to be derived. Rāma, for some reason or other, became incensed against, and persecuted them. Most were destroyed, but a respectable Kshatriya lady saved her two sons by taking off their sacred threads and causing one to pretend that he was a tailor sewing, and the other that he was a dyer, colouring his thread with the red betel nut and leaf, which she hurriedly supplied out