The distinction of right and left hand casks is peculiar to the south of India. It is supposed by Professor Wilson to be of modern origin, and to have been introduced at Conjeveram as a part of civil policy to divide the people and destroy their power. But Sir Walter Elliot is of opinion that the separation into right and left hand castes had its origin in the violent conversion of the ancient races from Buddhism to Hinduism ; and he has been shown a figure of Buddha, which the artisan caste worship. At present they appear to wor ship Visvakarma, but the bulk seem to recognise Siva as their supreme deity. They all bury their dead, and in a sitting posture, like that of Buddha, sitting, with the head of the corpse close to the surface, and looking to the north; and their dislike to Brahmans is intense. In Southern India, the goldsmiths strenuously resisted the rule of the Brahmans, and for ages claimed to be the true spiritual guides, styling themselves Acharyas, religious teachers,' and wearing the sacred thread. The Dattas, a sept of the Kayasth or writer caste, formally renounced the position assigned to them in the Brahmanical classification of Hindu society. They claimed to rank next to the Brah mans, and thus above all the other castes. They failed ; but a native author states that one of their body, within the memory of men still living, maintained his title, and wore the sacred thread of the pure twice-born.' In the Peninsula, caste had certainly nothing to do with religion, but related solely to race. Amongst the Tami lian people the right and left hand sections appear. The Idan-kai or Idan-gai are the left hand caste, and the Valan-gai are the right-hand caste; and, according to Professor Wilson, the names and appellations of Right-hand castes vary in different parts of peninsular India, but are usually supposed to be eighteen in number. Ho names them 1. Banijaga or trader.
2. Okhaliga or cultivator.
3. Jotipbana or oil-maker, employing one bullock.
4. Rangajiva, dyer or calico printer.
5. Ladaru, Mahomedan traders and artificers.
6. Gujcrati, bankers from Gujerat.
7. Komati, merchant shopkeepers of the Vaisya.
8. Jaina.
9. Kurubar, shepherds.
10. Kumhar, potters.
11. Agasa, washermen.
12. Beata, fishermen employed as palanquin-bearers.
13. Padma Shalaysa, weaver.
14. Naindu, a barber.
15. Upparanu, a tank-digger.
16. a painter.
17. Golla, a cowherd.
18. Wallia, or I'areyan, or Paris, who is the champion for the right-hand caste, as is the Idadaga or for the left-hand caste.
The castes Edagai; Edagai kula• I Idangai ; Idaru ; Idakai, Eddayai, . . . Kaax. I TAM.
1. Panchala or artisans.
a. Kammaramu, blacksmiths.
b. Badage, carpenters.
c. Kansagar, braziers.
d. Kallurtiga, stone-cutters.
e. Akasale, goldsmiths.
2. Berisethi, traders.
3. Devangada, weavers.
4. Ganigar, oil-makers. Gollur, money-carriers.
G. Paliwan and Palawan, cultivators.
7. Beds, hunter, fowlers.
8. Madiga, tanners, curriers, and shoemakers.
The right and the left hand sections are known in the Bellary district as the Davachary and Dow anga. Their enmity has been a constant source of anxiety to the police of the Madras districts.
The artisans intermarry and eat together, and all wear the zonar. They claim to be a prior Brahman race,—and learned Europeans recog nise their claim. The intermarriages of castes in ancient times, and the descendants of illegiti mate children, have been known as mixed castes, the Varna sankra, to whom Menu allotted suitable avocations. The ancient marriage code recognised as lawful, unions of men of higher castes with females from any of the lower ones, and their off spring had a quite different social status from the progeny of illicit concubinage. In bygone times, individuals and even races have been raised to castes of higher rank, and others have been lowered. There have been occasions of rulers of the Dekhan and of Hindustan raising great numbers to the rank of Brahmans, others to the rank of Kshatriya ; and many of the races now ranked as Sudra Hindus have been comparatively recent converts. Other instances are known of Brahmans as individuals and clans being degraded. In Bengal, -the Ahir, Kunbi, Lohar, Mali, Tuna boll, Kumar, Hajam, and Kahar are considered unclean. The Veluthaden of Travancore are said to be descendants of a Brahman who was seen to wash and starch a friend's cloth, and was in conse quence thrown out of caste. Cloths washed by them are, however, received into pagodas. The ancestors of the Urila parisha Musinmar of Tra vancore, who accepted gifts of land from Parasu Rama • the ancestors of another subdivision, who countenanced the murder of Bhntarya Pandi Perumal, a sovereign of Malabar; and the ancestors of the villagers of Panniyur, who offered insult to the idol Varaha, an object of worship of other Brahmans,—all of these have lost their castes ; and although claiming still to be Brahmans, they cannot associate on equal terms, cannot eat nor intermarry with other Brahmans. There are religious mendicants who accept alms only from certain castes. The caste ideas of ceremonial un cleanness are very peculiar. A Hindu visitor to a European house changes all his clothes, and uses the secretions of the cow on his return home from the visit ; or, on being visited by a European, has the floor spread with fresh cow-dung. Every workman is clean in his own trade ; but no Hindu will use any article of earthenware which a M'hlecha has polluted by his touch ; all earthen vessels are immediately broken, and brass or copper utensils are scoured with sand to free them from impurity. There are places where water is given to the natives as they walk along the road. Small brass pots are kept for the caste people, but there is no pot kept for the Pariah. So, if a Pariah wish to quench his thirst at some of these water pandals, a long hollow bamboo is provided, one end of which the thirsty man holds. Water is then poured down the tube, and he has to catch the water in his mouth after it leaves the tube. He is not 'allowed to put his lips close to the bamboo, for fear of defilement.