Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/502

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Brahman
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the fishermen, and thus turned; them into Brahmins, and retired to the mountains to meditate, after informing them that, if they were in distress and called on him, he would come to their aid. After the lapse of some time, during which they suffered no distress, they were curious to know if Parasu Rāma would remember them, and called upon him in order to find out. He promptly appeared, but punished their thus mocking him by cursing them, and causing them to revert to their old status of Sudras. After this, there were no Brahmins in the land till Tulu Brahmins were brought from Ahi-Kshētra by Mayūr Varma of the Kadamba dynasty. A modified form of the tradition states that Parasu Rāma gave the newly reclaimed land to Nāga and Machi Brahmins, who were not true' Brahmins, and were turned out or destroyed by fishermen and Holeyas (Pariahs), who held the country till the Tulu Brahmins were introduced by Mayūr Varma. All traditions unite in attributing the introduction of the Tulu Brahmins 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 (Pariahs), drove out Mayūr Varma, but was in turn expelled by Mayur Varma's son, or son-in-law, Lōkāditya of Gōkarnam, who brought Brahmins 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 (Pariahs) and fishermen who had turned out Parasu Rāma's Brahmins. Mayūr Varma and the Brahmins 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 Brahmins from his mother, who had been a dancing-girl