Note 46 — Glossary

Kammala.—A small Telugu caste in the Chānda District. The name Kammala is really a generic term applied to the five artisan castes of Kamsala or goldsmith, Kanchara or brazier, Kammara or blacksmith, Vadra or carpenter, and Silpi or stone-mason. These are in reality distinct castes, but they are all known as Kammalas. The Kammalas assert that they are descended from Visva Karma, the architect of the gods, and in the Telugu country they claim equality with Brāhmans, calling themselves Visva Brāhmans. But inscriptions show that as late as the year A.D. 1033 they were considered a very inferior caste and confined to the village site.46 Mr. (Sir H.) Stuart writes in the Madras Census Report that it is not difficult to account for the low position formerly held by the Kammalas, for it must be remembered that in early times the military castes in India as elsewhere looked down upon all engaged in labour, whether skilled or otherwise. With the decline of military power, however, it was natural that a useful caste like the Kammalas should gradually improve its position, and the reaction from this long oppression has led them to make the exaggerated claims described above, which are ridiculed by every other caste, high or low. The five main subdivisions of the caste do not intermarry. They have priests of their own and do not allow even Brāhmans to officiate for them, but they invite Brāhmans to their ceremonies. Girls must be married before puberty. The binding ceremony of the marriage consists in the tying of a circular piece of gold on a thread of black beads round the bride’s neck by the bridegroom. Widow-marriage is prohibited.