of part of two fingers of women of the caste was instituted.
"Since the prohibition of cutting off the fingers," Mr. L. Rice writes,*[1] "the women content themselves with putting on a gold or silver finger-stall or thimble, which is pulled off instead of the finger itself."
Morasa Kāpulu women never touch the new grain of the year without worshipping the sun (Sūrya), and may not eat food prepared from this grain before this act of worship has been performed. They wrap themselves in a kambli (blanket) after a purificatory bath, prostrate themselves on the ground, raise their hands to the forehead in salutation, and make the usual offering of cocoanuts, etc. They are said, in times gone by, to have been lax in their morals and to have prayed to the sun to forgive them.
Morasu has further been returned as a sub-division of Holeya, Māla and Oddē. The name Morasu Paraiyan probably indicates Holeyas who have migrated from the Canarese to the Tamil country, and whose women, like the Kallans, wear a horse-shoe thread round the neck.
Motāti.— A sub-division of Kāpu.
Moyili. — The Moyilis or Moilis of South Canara are said †[2] by Mr. H. A. Stuart to be "admittedly the descendants of the children of women attached to the temples, and their ranks are even now swelled in this manner. Their duties are similar to those of the Stānikas" (q.v.). In the Madras Census Report, 1901, Golaka (a bastard) is clubbed with Moili. In the Mysore Census Report, this term is said to be applied to children of Brāhmans by Malerus (temple servants in Mysore).
