the indefatigable assistance of the Madigas or Chakkilians. But for the zealous support of these degraded classes, this enemy of public peace would have disappeared from the land several centuries ago.
Yet such a distinction, notwithstanding Dr. Macleane's statement to the contrary, is not maintained with so much zeal and pertinacity in the Tamil districts as in the Canarese and the Telugu parts of Southern India. The Pallis or Vanniyas have, in their fond hope of becoming Kshatriyas, forgotten all about the feuds; many Kaikolas have, in order to wipe off the so-called tribal or rather the social indignity still clinging to the left-hand faction, be. come within the last six centuries dancers and singers in Hindu temples as the following Kanchipuram inscription will show :-
முதன்மையும் அடைப்பும் தேவர் அடிமையும் கைக்கோளமையும் தாங்கள் நின்ற அடைவுகளிலே விற்றும் ஒற்றிவைத்தும் கொள்ளக் கடவர் ஆகவும்.—(S. I. I. I. 122.)
[May sell or mortgage the head-ship, the right of lease, service to god (dancing, &c.), and weaving.]
Again the Kammalas in asserting that they are the Deva-or Visva-Brahmans not only try to conceal their Vaga origin but also take shelter in a tradition that all the above privileges were granted to them by Kali, and that they are of the highest rank having been placed by that goddess on her left-hand side which in India is the place of honour. Further, before the introduction of this distinction in Malabar by the later settlers from the surrounding Tamil and
