_Balija, Balji, Gurusthulu, Naidu._--A large trading caste of the
Madras Presidency, where they number a million persons. In the Central
Provinces 1200 were enumerated in 1911, excluding 1500 Perikis,
who though really a subcaste and not a very exalted one of Balijas,
[111] claim to be a separate caste. They are mainly returned from
places where Madras troops have been stationed, as Nagpur, Jubbulpore
and Raipur. The caste are frequently known as Naidu, a corruption
of the Telugu word Nayakdu, a prince or leader. Their ancestors
are supposed to have been Nayaks or kings of Madura, Tanjore and
Vijayanagar. The traditional occupation of the caste appears to have
been to make bangles and pearl and coral ornaments, and they have
still a subcaste called Gazulu, or a bangle-seller. In Madras they
are said to be an offshoot of the great cultivating castes of Kamma
and Kapu and to be a mixed community recruited from these and other
Telugu castes. Another proof of their mixed descent may be inferred
from the fact that they will admit persons of other castes or the
descendants of mixed marriages into the community without much scruple
in Madras. [112] The name of Balija seems also to have been applied
to a mixed caste started by Basava, the founder of the Lingayat sect
of Sivites, these persons being known in Madras as Linga Balijas.