Note 10 — G

Concerning the Gānigas of the Mysore Province, Mr. V. N. Narasimmiyengar writes as follows.10 “The account locally obtained connects this caste with the Nagartās, as forming the leading communities of the left-hand faction, in opposition to the Lingayats and other castes composing the right-hand faction. Caste supremacy is ever associated in India with preternatural mythology. If the average Brāhman traces his nobility literally to the face of Brahma, according to the Vēdic Purusha Sūkta, every other castelet claims a patent of superiority in a similar miraculous origin. The Gānigas allege that they immigrated from the north at a time beyond living memory. A Mysore noble, named Mallarāje Ars, established and first peopled the pēte (market town) of Bangalore, when the Gānigas first came there, followed by the Nagartās, who are said to have been co-emigrants with the Gānigas. Mallarāj made Sattis and Yajamāns (headmen) of the principal members of the two castes, and exempted them from the house-tax. The Gānigas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites. Their guru is known as Dharmasivāchārsvāmi in the Madras Presidency, and certain gōtras (family names) are said to be common to the Gānigas and Nagartās, but they never eat together or intermarry. The Gānigas claim the peculiar privilege of following the Vishnu image or car processions, throughout the province, with flags exhibiting the figures of Hanumān and Garuda, and torches. These insignia are alleged to have been aboriginally given to an ancestor, named Siriyāla Satti, by Rāma, as a reward for a valuable gem presented by him. The Gānigas call themselves Dharmasivāchār Vaisyās like the Nagartās, and the feud between them used often to culminate in much bitter unpleasantness. The order includes a small division of the linga-wearing oilmongers, known as Sajjanā (good men), whose population is a small fraction of the community. The Sajjanās, however, hold no social intercourse of any kind with the other sub-divisions.”