KALLAR, a race in the southern part of the Peninsula of India, in the Trichinopoly, Madura, and Tanjore districts. They are known in Orine and older writers as the Collery. They and the Maravar take Dever as a tribal name. Kallar in Tamil means thief. In very early times the Kallar had petty princes of their own,—and still have one at Puducottah,—and they were employed as soldiers by the more powerful kings of the south, and in predatory excursions against neigh bouring sovereigns. For these services lands were assigned them. All ancient Tamil writers, when discoursing about land, divide it into five distinct different kinds, namely, Kuransee, Palei, Mullei, Maruthum, and Neythel ; and the same writers distinctly state the castes and classes of people residing on each, but not one of these writers mentions the Kallar. The celebrated Jain, Mantala Puraden, in his Dictionary, mentions Kallar as a synonym for robber, not as the name of a caste. The tradition among the Kallar is
that they and the Maravar are from the same stock. The legend is as follows :—When the gods churned the ocean, amongst other things brought to the surface was a most beautiful virgin, named Ahalya. After some discussion, it was agreed that the virgin should be given to him that per formed the greatest austerity. The sage Gautama won the prize, but the god Indra was enamoured of the beauty, and, availing himself of an oppor tunity, he seduced her, and, she gave birth to three sons, the Maravar, the Kallar, and the Akumbadiar. In Hindu mythology Indra means the sun, and Ahalya the night. Scholars will discover here the old fable of Acheron and Nos.