Note 35 — K (Continued) (continued 2)

Kummara, Kumbāra, Kumbāro.—“The potters of the Madras Presidency,” Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,35 “outside the Tamil country and Malabar, are called Kummara in Telugu, Kumbāro in Uriya, and Kumbāra in Canarese, all these names being corrupted forms of the Sanskrit word Kumbhakāra, pot-maker (ku, earth). In social position they are considered to be a superior class of Sūdras. The Telugu Kummaras were cooks under the ancient kings, and many of them still work in that capacity in Sūdra houses. The Kumbāros are purely Vaishnavites and employ Boishnob priests, while the Kummaras and Kumbāras call in Brāhmans. Widow remarriage is allowed among the Uriya section alone. All of them eat flesh.” Concerning the potter classes, Mr. Stuart writes further36 that “Kummaras or Kusavans (q.v.) are the potters of the country, and were probably at one time a single caste, but are now divided into Telugus, Northern Tamilians and Southern Tamilians, who have similar customs, but will not intermarry or eat together. The northern and southern potters differ in that the former use a wheel of earthenware, and the latter one made of wood. The Telugu potters are usually followers of Vishnu and the Tamilians of Siva, some being also Lingāyats, and therefore burying their dead. All the potters claim an impure Brāhmanical descent, telling the following story regarding their origin. A learned Brāhman, after long study, discovered the day and hour in which he might beget a mighty offspring. For this auspicious time he waited long, and at its approach started for the house of his selected bride, but floods detained him, and, when he should have been with her, he was stopping in a potter’s house. He was, however, resolved not to lose the opportunity, and by the daughter of his host he had a son, the celebrated Sālivāhana. This hero in his infancy developed a genius for pottery, and used to amuse himself by making earthen figures of mounted warriors, which he stored in large numbers in a particular place. After a time Vikramarka invaded Southern India, and ordered the people to supply him with pots for his army. They applied to Sālivāhana, who miraculously infused life into his clay figures, and led them to battle against the enemy, whom he defeated, and the country (Mysore) fell into his hands. Eventually he was left as its ruler, and became the ancestor of the early Mysore Rājas. Such is the story current among the potters, who generally believe that they are his progeny. They all live in a state of poverty and ignorance, and are considered of a low rank among other Sūdras.”