Caste and Race in India c8.205

c8.205

In a Prakrit inscription of an early date of the Brahmanic king Śivaskandavarman of Kāñchi are mentioned "Vallave" (herdsman) and "Govallave" (cow-herdsman).⁴ In an inscription of the tenth century from Lalitpur district, occur the following names of professions or castes in combination with the proper names of individuals: "Vanika" (merchant), "Nemavanika" (salt-merchant). "Tāmbūlika" (betel-seller) and "Sūtradhāra" (carpenter). In the same place is mentioned the shop of a brazier (Kamsara) and that of a Brahmin betel-seller.¹ In a South Indian inscription the boundaries of a particular piece of land are fixed in reference to the lands of a blacksmith (Karumān).² In other inscriptions we have references to individuals as the "Vellāḷan" (cultivator) So-and-so or of such and such locality.³ Ilavas (toddy-tappers) are referred to in another inscription.⁴ In the ancient city of Conjeevaram certain quarters were mostly inhabited by weavers, "who were patronized by the king and consisted of two sections of Pattasalins," which correspond with the identical divisions of the present day Saliyans (weavers) of Madras.⁵ Venkayya has observed that many names of individuals occurring in some of the South Indian inscriptions have as their second portions names of "profession or caste to which the individual belonged, with a complimentary epithet, the whole title meaning 'the great dancing master . . . carpenter, goldsmith, brazier, Brāhmaṇa, etc., of the king' whose name is prefixed to the title".⁶