Note 55 — B (continued 3)

Bēri Chetti.—The Bēri Chettis, or principal merchants, like other Chettis and Kōmatis, claim to be Vaisyas, “but they will not admit that the Kōmatis are on a par with them, and declare that they alone represent the true Vaisya stock.”55 With regard to their origin, the Kanyakapurāna states that a certain king wanted to marry a beautiful maiden of the Kōmati caste. When the Kōmatis declined to agree to the match, the king began to persecute them, and those Kōmatis who left the country out of fear were called Bēri or Bediri (fear) Chettis. The story is, in fact, similar to that told by the Nāttukōttai Chettis, and the legend, no doubt, refers to persecution of some king, whose extortion went beyond the limits of custom. Another derivation of the word Bēri is from perumai, greatness or splendour. The name Bēri, as applied to a sub-division of the Kōmatis, is said to be a corruption of bedari, and to denote those who fled through fear, and did not enter the fire-pits with the caste goddess Kanyakamma.