Note 65 — Glossary (continued 2)

Mutrāsi, Mutrāsa, Muthrāsi, Mutrācha.—(From the Dravidian roots mudi, old, and rāchā, a king, or from Mutu Rāja, a sovereign of some part of the Telugu country.)65 A caste which is numerous in Hyderābād and Madras, and of which a few persons are found in the Chānda District of the Central Provinces. The Mutrāsis are the village watchmen proper of Telingāna or the Telugu country.66 They were employed by the Vijayanagar kings to defend the frontier of their country, and were honoured with the title of Pāligar. Their usual honorific titles at present are Dora (Sāhib or Lord) and Naidu. As servants they are considered very faithful and courageous. Some of them have taken to masonry in Chānda, and are considered good stone-carvers. They are a comparatively low caste, and eat fowls and drink liquor, but they do not eat beef or pork. It is compulsory among them to marry a girl before she arrives at adolescence, and if this is not done her parents are put out of caste, and only readmitted on payment of a penalty.