follows in the Baramahal Records. [132] "In ancient days, when the
God Paramesvaradu and his consort the goddess Parvati Devi resided
on the top of Kailasa Parvata or mount of paradise, they one day
retired to amuse themselves in private, and by chance Visvakarma, the
architect of the Devatas or gods, intruded on their privacy, which
enraged them, and they said to him that, since he had the audacity
to intrude on their retirement, they would cause an enemy of his to
be born in the Bhuloka or earthly world, who should punish him for
his temerity. Visvakarma requested they would inform him in what
part of the Bhuloka or earthly world he would be born, and further
added that, if he knew the birth place, he would annihilate him with
a single blow. The divine pair replied that the person would spring
up into existence from the bowels of the earth on the banks of the
Ganga river. On this, Visvakarma took his sword, mounted his aerial
car, and flew through the regions of ether to the banks of the Ganga
river, where he anxiously waited the birth of his enemy. One day
Visvakarma observed the ground to crack near him, and a kiritam or
royal diadem appeared issuing out of the bowels of the earth, which
Visvakarma mistook for the head of his adversary, and made a cut at
it with his sword, but only struck off the kiritam. In the meantime,
the person came completely out of the earth, with a bald pate,
holding in his hand a golden ploughshare, and his neck encircled
with garlands of flowers. The angry Visvakarma instantly laid hold
on him, when the Gods Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, and the supporters
of the eight corners of the universe, appeared in all their glory,
and interceded for the earth-born personage, and said to Visvakarma
thou didst vow that thou wouldst annihilate him with a single blow,
which vow thou hast not performed; therefore with what justice hast
thou a second time laid violent hands on him? Since thou didst not
succeed in thy first attempt, it is but equitable that thou shouldst
now spare him. At the intercession and remonstrance of the gods,
Visvakarma quitted his hold, and a peace was concluded between him and
his enemy on the following stipulation, viz., that the pancha jati,
or five castes of silversmiths, carpenters, ironsmiths, stone-cutters,
and braziers, who were the sons of Visvakarma, should be subservient to
the earth-born person. The deities bestowed on the person these three
names. First Bhumi Palakudu or saviour of the earth, because he was
produced by her. Second, Ganga kulam or descendant of the river Ganga,
by reason of having been brought forth on her banks. Third, Murdaka
Palakudu or protector of the plough, alluding to his being born with
a ploughshare in his hand, and they likewise ordained that, as he had
lost his diadem, he should not be eligible to sovereignty, but that he
and his descendants should till the ground with this privilege, that
a person of the caste should put the crown on the king's head at the
coronation. They next invested him with the yegnopavitam or string,
and, in order that he might propagate his caste, they gave him in
marriage the daughters of the gods Indra and Kubera. At this time,
the god Siva was mounted on a white bullock, and the god Dharmaraja
on a white buffalo, which they gave him to plough the ground, and from
which circumstance the caste became surnamed Vellal Warus or those who
plough with white bullocks. After the nuptials, the deities departed
to their celestial abodes. Murdaka Palakulu had fifty-four sons by the
daughter of the god Indra, and fifty-two by the daughter of the god
Kubera, whom he married to the one hundred and six daughters of Nala
Kubarudu, the son of Kubera, and his sons-in-law made the following
agreement with him, viz., that thirty-five of them should be called
Bhumi Palakulu, and should till the ground; thirty-five of them named
Vellal Shetti, and their occupation be traffic; and thirty-five of
them named Govu Shetlu, and their employment breeding and feeding
of cattle. They gave the remaining one the choice of three orders,
but he would not have any connexion with any of them, from whence
they surnamed him Agmurdi or the alien. The Agmurdi had born to him
two thousand five hundred children, and became a separate caste,
assuming the appellation of Agmurdi Vellal Waru. The other brothers
had twelve thousand children, who intermarried, and lived together
as one caste, though their occupations were different.... During the
reign of Krishna Rayalu, whose capital was the city of Vijayanagaram or
city of victory, a person of the Vellal caste, named Umbhi or Amultan
Mudaliyar, was appointed sarvadhikari or prime minister, who had a
samprati or secretary of the caste of Gollavaru or cowherds, whose name
was Venayaterthapalli. It so happened that a set of Bhagavata Sevar,
or strolling players, came to the city, and one night acted a play
in the presence of Krishna Rayalu and his court. In one of the acts,
a player appeared in the garb and character of a female cowherd, and,
by mimicking the actions and manners of that caste, afforded great
diversion both to the Raja and his courtiers. But no person seemed
to be so much pleased as the prime minister, which being perceived by
his secretary, he determined on making him pay dear for his mirth by
turning the Vellal caste into ridicule, and thus hurt his pride, and
take revenge for the pleasure he expressed at seeing the follies of
the cowherd caste exposed. For that purpose, he requested the players,
when they acted another play, to dress themselves up in the habit of a
female of the Vellal caste. This scheme came to the ears of the prime
minister, who, being a proud man, was sadly vexed at the trick, and
resolved on preventing its being carried into execution; but, having
none of his own caste present to assist him, and not knowing well how
to put a stop to the business, he got into his palanquin, and went to a
Canardha Shetti or headman of the right-hand caste, informed him of the
circumstance, and begged his advice and assistance. The Shetti replied
'Formerly the left-hand caste had influence enough with Government to
get an order issued forbidding the right-hand caste to cultivate or
traffic; therefore, when we quarrel again, do you contrive to prevent
the ryots of the Vellal caste from cultivating the ground, so that
the public revenue will fall short, and Government will be obliged to
grant us our own terms; and I will save you from the disgrace that is
intended to be put on you. The prime minister agreed to the proposal,
and went home. At night, when the players were coming to the royal
presence to act, and one of them had on the habit of a female of the
Vellal caste, the Canardha Shetti cut off his head, and saved the
honour of the prime minister. The death of the player being reported
to the Raja Krishna Rayalu, he enquired into the affair, and finding
how matters stood, he directed the prime minister and his secretary to
be more circumspect in their conduct, and not to carry their enmity
to such lengths.' Since that time, the Vellal castes have always
assisted the right-hand against the left-hand castes." (See Kammalan.)
At the time of the census, 1871, some Vellalas claimed that they had
been seriously injured in reputation, and handled with great injustice,
in being classed as Sudras by the Municipal Commissioners of Madras
in the classification of Hindus under the four great divisions of
Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. In their petition it
was stated that "we shall first proceed to show that the Vellalas
do come exactly within the most authoritative definition given of
Vysias, and then point out that they do not come within the like
definition of Sudras. First then to the definition of Vysia, Manu,
the paramount authority upon these matters, says in paragraph 90
of his Institutes:--'To keep herds of cattle, to bestow largesses,
to sacrifice, to read the scripture, to carry on trade, to lend at
interest, and to cultivate land, are prescribed or permitted to a
Vysia.'" In the course of the petition, the Vellalas observed that "it
is impossible to imagine that the Vellalas, a race of agriculturists
and traders, should have had to render menial service to the three
higher classes; for the very idea of service is, as it needs must
be, revolting to the Vellala, whose profession teaches him perfect
independence, and dependence, if it be, upon the sovereign alone
for the protection of his proper interests. Hence a Vellala cannot
be of the Sudra or servile class. Besides, that the Vellalas are
recognised as a respectable body of the community will also appear
from the following. There was a ceremony called tulabharam (weighing
in scales) observed by the ancient kings of, at some part of their
lives, distributing in charity to the most deserving gold and silver
equal to the weight of their persons; and tradition alleges that, when
the kings of Tanjore performed this ceremony, the right to weigh the
king's person was accorded to the Vellalan Chettis. This shows that
the Vellalas have been recognised as a respectable body of mercantile
men in charge of weights and measures (Manu 30, chap. 9). So also,
in the Halasya Puranam of Madura, it is said that, when the King
Somasundara Pandien, who was supposed to be the very incarnation
of Siva, had to be crowned, there arose a contention as to who was
to put the crown on his head. After much discussion, it was agreed
that one of the Vellalas, who formed the strength of the community
(note the fact that Manu says that Vysia came from the thighs of
the Supreme Deity, which, as an allegory, is interpreted to mean the
strength of the State) should be appointed to perform that part of the
ceremony. Also, in Kamban's Ramayana, written 1,000 and odd years ago,
it is said that the priest Vasista handed the crown to a Vellala,
who placed it upon great Rama's head."
In 'The Tamils eighteen hundred years ago,' Mr. V. Kanakasabhai
writes that "among the pure Tamils, the class most honoured was
the Arivar or Sages. Next in rank to the Arivar were the Ulavar
or farmers. The Arivars were ascetics, but, of the men living in
society, the farmers occupied the highest position. They formed the
nobility, or the landed aristocracy, of the country. They were also
called Vellalar, 'lords of the flood,' or 'Karalar,' 'lords of the
clouds,' titles expressive of their skill in controlling floods,
and in storing water for agricultural purposes. The Chera, Chola and
Pandyan Kings, and most of the petty chiefs of Tamilakam, belonged to
the tribe of Vellalas. The poor families of Vellalas who owned small
estates were generally spoken of as the Veelkudi-Uluvar or 'the fallen
Vellalas,' implying thereby that the rest of the Vellalas were wealthy
land-holders. When Karikal the Great defeated the Aruvalar, and annexed
their territory to his kingdom, he distributed the conquered lands
among Vellala chiefs. [133] The descendants of some of these chiefs
are to this day in possession of their lands, which they hold as petty
zamindars under the British Government. [134] The Vellala families who
conquered Vadukam, or the modern Telugu country, were called Velamas,
and the great zamindars there still belong to the Velama caste. In the
Canarese country, the Vellalas founded the Bellal dynasty, which ruled
that country for several centuries. The Vellalas were also called the
Gangakula or Gangavamsa, because they derived their descent from the
great and powerful tribe named Gangvida, which inhabited the valley
of the Ganges, as mentioned by Pliny and Ptolemy. A portion of Mysore
which was peopled mostly by Vellalas was called Gangavadi in the tenth
and eleventh centuries of the Christian era. Another dynasty of kings
of this tribe, who ruled Orissa in the eleventh and twelfth centuries,
was known as the Gangavamsa.... In the earliest Tamil grammar extant,
which was composed by a Brahman named Tholkappiyan, in the first
or second century B.C., frequent allusions are made to the Arivar
or Sages. But, in the chapter in which he describes the classes of
society, the author omits all mention of the Arivar, and places the
Brahmins who wear the sacred thread as the first caste. The kings,
he says, very guardedly, and not warriors, form the second caste, as
if the three kings Chera, Chola and Pandy could form a caste; all who
live by trade belong to the third caste. He does not say that either
the kings or the merchants wear the sacred thread. Then he singles
out the Vellalas, and states that they have no other calling than the
cultivation of the soil. Here he does not say that the Vellalas are
Sudras, but indirectly implies that the ordinary Vellalas should be
reckoned as Sudras, and that those Vellalas who were kings should
be honoured as Kshatriyas. This is the first attempt made by the
Brahmins to bring the Tamils under their caste system. But, in the
absence of the Kshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra castes in Tamilakam, they
could not possibly succeed; and to this day the Vellala does not take
meals at the hands of a Padaiyadchi, who calls himself a Kshatriya,
or a merchant who passes for a Vaisya." In speculating on the origin
of the Vellalas, Mr. J. H. Nelson [135] states that "tradition
uniformly declares them to be the descendants of foreign immigrants,
who were introduced by the Pandyas: and it appears to be extremely
probable that they are, and that an extensive Vellala immigration took
place at a rather remote period, perhaps a little before or after the
colonization of the Tonda-mandala by Adondai Chakravarti. The Vellalas
speak a pure dialect of Tamil, and no other language. I have not heard
of anything extraordinary in the customs prevailing among them, or
of any peculiarities pointing to a non-Tamil origin.... With regard
to the assertion so commonly made that the Pandyas belonged to the
Vellala caste, it is observable that tradition is at issue with it,
and declares that the Pandyas proper were Kshatriyas: but they were
accustomed to marry wives of inferior castes as well as and in addition
to wives of their own caste; and some of their descendants born of the
inferior and irregularly married wives were Vellalans, and, after the
death of Kun or Sundara Pandya, formed a new dynasty, known as that
of the pseudo-Pandyas. Tradition also says that Arya Nayaga Muthali,
the great general of the sixteenth century, was dissuaded by his family
priest from making himself a king on the ground that he was a Vellalan,
and no Vellalan ought to be a king. And, looking at all the facts of
the case, it is somewhat difficult to avoid coming to the conclusion
that the reason assigned for his not assuming the crown was the true
one. This, however, is a question, the settlement of which requires
great antiquarian learning: and it must be settled hereafter."
In the Madras Census Report, 1871, the Vellalas are described
as "a peace-loving, frugal, and industrious people, and, in the
cultivation of rice, betel, tobacco, etc., have perhaps no equals
in the world. They will not condescend to work of a degrading
nature. Some are well educated, and employed in Government service,
and as clerks, merchants, shop-keepers, etc., but the greater part
of them are the peasant proprietors of the soil, and confine their
attention to cultivation." In the Madura Manual, it is recorded that
"most Vellalans support themselves by husbandry, which, according
to native ideas, is their only proper means of livelihood. But they
will not touch the plough, if they can help it, and ordinarily they
do everything by means of hired servants and predial slaves. In the
Sathaga of Narayanan may be found a description of their duties and
position in society, of which the following translation appears
in Taylor's work, the Oriental MSS. The Vellalans, by the effect
of their ploughing (or cultivation), maintain the prayers of the
Brahmans, the strength of kings, the profits of merchants, the
welfare of all. Charity, donations, the enjoyments of domestic life,
and connubial happiness, homage to the gods, the Sastras, the Vedas,
the Puranas, and all other books, truth, reputation, renown, the very
being of the gods, things of good report or integrity, the good order
of castes, and (manual) skill, all these things come to pass by the
merit (or efficacy) of the Vellalan's plough. Those Vellalans who
are not farmers, husbandmen, or gardeners, are employed in various
ways more or less respectable; but none of them will condescend
to do work of a degrading nature. Some of them are merchants, some
shop-keepers, some Government servants, some sepoys, some domestic
servants, some clerks, and so forth." In the Tanjore Manual, it is
stated that "many Vellalars are found in the Government service, more
especially as karnams or village accountants. As accountants they
are unsurpassed, and the facility with which, in by-gone days, they
used to write on cadjan or palmyra leaves with iron styles, and pick
up any information on any given points from a mass of these leaves,
by lamp-light no less than by daylight, was most remarkable. Running
by the side of the Tahsildar's (native revenue officer) palanquin,
they could write to dictation, and even make arithmetical calculations
with strictest accuracy. In religious observances, they are more strict
than the generality of Brahmans; they abstain from both intoxicating
liquors and flesh meat." In the Coimbatore Manual, the Vellalas are
summed up as "truly the backbone of the district. It is they who,
by their industry and frugality, create and develop wealth, support
the administration, and find the money for imperial and district
demands. As their own proverb says:--The Vellalar's goad is the
ruler's sceptre. The bulk of them call themselves Goundans." In the
Salem Manual, the Vellala is described as "frugal and saving to the
extreme; his hard-working wife knows no finery, and the Vellalichi,
(Vellala woman) willingly wears for the whole year the one blue cloth,
which is all that the domestic economy of the house allows her. If she
gets wet, it must dry on her; and, if she would wash her sole garment,
half is unwrapped to be operated upon, which in its turn relieves the
other half, that is then and there similarly hammered against some
stone by the side of the village tank (pond), or on the bank of the
neighbouring stream. Their food is the cheapest of the 'dry' grains
which they happen to cultivate that year, and not even the village
feasts can draw the money out of a Vellalar's clutches. It is all
expended on his land, if the policy of the revenue administration
of the country be liberal, and the acts of Government such as to
give confidence to the ryots or husbandmen; otherwise their hoarded
gains are buried. The new moon, or some high holiday, may perhaps
see the head of the house enjoy a platter of rice and a little
meat, but such extravagance is rare." The Vellalas are summed up by
'A Native,' [136] as being "found in almost every station of life,
from the labourer in the fields to the petty zamindar (landholder);
from the owner of plantations to the cooly who works at coffee-picking;
from the Deputy Collector to the peon in his office." It is recorded,
in the Census Report, 1871, that a Vellala had passed the M.A. degree
examination of the Madras University. The occupations of the Vellalas
whom I examined in Madras were as follows:--
Cart-driver.
Bricklayer.
Cooly.
Varnisher.
Painter.
Watchman.
Cultivator.
Gardener.
Compositor.
Railway fireman.
Peon.
Student.
In an excellent summary of the Vellalas [137] Mr. W. Francis writes
as follows. "By general consent, the first place in social esteem
among the Tamil Sudra castes is awarded to them. To give detailed
descriptions of the varying customs of a caste which numbers, as
this does, over two and a quarter millions, and is found all over
the Presidency, is unnecessary, but the internal construction of the
caste, its self-contained and distinct sub-divisions, and the methods
by which its numbers are enhanced by accretions from other castes,
are so typical of the corresponding characteristics of the Madras
castes, that it seems to be worth while to set them out shortly.
"The caste is first of all split up into four main divisions,
named after the tract of country in which the ancestors of each
originally resided. These are (1) Tondamandalam, or the dwellers in
the Pallava country, the present Chingleput and North Arcot districts,
the titles of which division are Mudali, Reddi and Nainar; (2) Soliya
(or Sozhia), or men of the Chola country, the Tanjore and Trichinopoly
districts of the present day, the members of which are called Pillai;
(3) Pandya, the inhabitants of the Pandyan Kingdom of Madura and
Tinnevelly, which division also uses the title of Pillai; and (4)
Konga, or those who resided in the Konga country, which corresponded
to Coimbatore and Salem, the men of which are called Kavandans. The
members of all these four main territorial divisions resemble one
another in their essential customs. Marriage is either infant or
adult, the Puranic wedding ceremonies are followed, and (except among
the Konga Vellalas) Brahmans officiate. They all burn their dead,
observe fifteen days' pollution, and perform the karumantaram ceremony
to remove the pollution on the sixteenth day. There are no marked
occupational differences amongst them, most of them being cultivators
or traders. Each division contains both Vaishnavites and Saivites, and
(contrary to the rule among the Brahmans) differences of sect are not
of themselves any bar to intermarriage. Each division has Pandarams,
or priests, recruited from among its members, who officiate at funerals
and minor ceremonies, and some of these wear the sacred thread, while
other Vellalas only wear it at funerals. All Vellalas perform sraddhas
(memorial services), and observe the ceremony of invoking their
ancestors on the Mahalaya days (a piece of ritual which is confined
to the twice-born and the higher classes of Sudras); all of them
decline to drink alcohol or to eat in the houses of any but Brahmans;
and all of them may dine together. Yet no member of any of these four
main divisions may marry into another, and, moreover, each of them
is split into sub-divisions (having generally a territorial origin),
the members of which again may not intermarry. Thus Tondamandalam
are sub-divided into the Tuluvas, who are supposed to have come from
the Tulu country; the Poonamallee (or Pundamalli) Vellalas, so called
from the town of that name near Madras; and the Kondaikattis (those
who tie their hair in a knot without shaving it). None of these three
will intermarry. The Soliya Vellalas are sub-divided into the Vellan
Chettis, meaning the Vellala merchants (who are again further split
up into three or four other territorial divisions); the Kodikkals
(betel-garden), who grow the betel-vine; and the Kanakkilinattar, or
inhabitants of Kanakkilinadu. These three similarly may not intermarry,
but the last is such a small unit, and girls in it are getting so
scarce, that its members are now going to other sub-divisions for
their brides. The Pandya Vellalas are sub-divided into the Karkattas
or Karaikatus, who, notwithstanding the legends about their origin,
are probably a territorial sub-division named from a place called
Karaikadu; the Nangudis and Panjais, the origin of whom is not clear;
the Arumburs and Sirukudis, so called from villages of those names
in the Pandya country; the Agamudaiyans, who are probably recruits
from the caste of that name; the Nirpusis, meaning the wearers of the
sacred ashes; and the Kottai Vellalas or fort Vellalas. These last
are a small sub-division, the members of which live in Srivaikuntam
fort (in Tinnevelly), and observe the strictest gosha (seclusion
of females). Though they are, as has been seen, a sub-division of
a caste, yet their objection to marry outside their own circle is
so strong that, though they are fast dying out because there are so
few girls among them, they decline to go to the other sub-divisions
for brides. [See Kottai Vellala.] The Kongas are sub-divided into the
Sendalais (red-headed men), Paditalais (leaders of armies), Vellikkai
(the silver hands), Pavalamkatti (wearers of coral), Malaiyadi (foot
of the hills), Tollakadu (ears with big holes), Attangarais (river
bank), and others, the origin of none of which is clearly known,
but the members of which never intermarry. In addition to all these
divisions and sub-divisions of the Vellala caste proper, there are
nowadays many groups which really belong to quite distinct castes,
but which call themselves Vellalas, and pretend that they belong to
that caste, although in origin they had no connection with it. These
nominally cannot intermarry with any of the genuine Vellalas,
but the caste is so widely diffused that it cannot protect itself
against these invasions, and, after a few generations, the origin of
the new recruits is forgotten, and they have no difficulty in passing
themselves off as real members of the community. The same thing occurs
among the Nayars in Malabar. It may be imagined what a mixture of
blood arises from this practice, and how puzzling the variations in
the cranial measurements of Vellalas taken at random are likely to
become. Instances of members of other castes who have assumed the
name and position of the Vellalas are the Vettuva Vellalas, who are
really Vettuvans; the Puluva Vellalas, who are only Puluvans; the
Illam Vellalas, who are Panikkans; the Karaiturai (lord of the shore)
Vellalas, who are Karaiyans; the Karukamattai (palmyra leaf-stem)
Vellalas, who are Shanans; the Gazulu (bangle) Vellalas, who are
Balijas; the Guha (Rama's boat-man) Vellalas, who are Sembadavans; and
the Irkuli Vellalas, who are Vannans. The children of dancing-girls
also often call themselves Mudali, and claim in time to be Vellalas;
and even Paraiyans assume the title Pillai, and trust to its eventually
enabling them to pass themselves off as members of the caste." The
name Acchu Vellala has been assumed by some Karaiyans, and Pattanavans
call themselves Varunakula Vellala or Varunakula Mudali, after Varuna,
the god of the waters. At times of census, many hill Malayalis return
themselves as Vellalas, in accordance with their tradition that they
are Vellalas who migrated to the hills. Some thieving Koravas style
themselves Aghambadiar Vellala or Pillai, and have to some extent
adopted the dress and manners of the Vellalas. [138] In Travancore,
to which State some Vellalas have migrated, males of the Deva-dasi
(dancing-girl) caste sometimes call themselves Nanchinad
Vellalas. There is a Tamil proverb to the effect that a Kallan may come
to be a Maravan. By respectability he may develop into an Agamudaiyan,
and, by slow degrees, become a Vellala. According to another proverb,
the Vellalas are compared to the brinjal (Solanum Melongena) fruit,
which will mix palatably with anything.
The account of the divisions and sub-divisions of the Vellalas recorded
above may be supplemented from various sources:--
1. Arampukutti, or Arambukatti (those who tie flower-buds). According
to Mr. J. A. Boyle, [139] the name indicates Vellalas with wreaths of
the aram flower, which is one of the decorations of Siva. They are,
he writes, "a tribal group established in a series of villages in
the Ramnad territory. The family tradition runs that they emigrated
five centuries ago from the Tondamandalam, and that the migration was
made in devendra vimanam or covered cars; and this form of vehicle
is invariably used in marriage ceremonies for the conveyance of the
bride and bridegroom round the village. The women never wear a cloth
above the waist, but go absolutely bare on breast and shoulders. The
two rivers which bound this district on the north and south are rigid
limits to the travels of the women, who are on no pretext allowed
to cross them. It is said that, if they make vows to the deity of a
celebrated temple in Tanjore, they have to perform their pilgrimage
to the temple in the most perfect secrecy, and that, if detected,
they are fined. Intermarriage is prohibited 'beyond the rivers.' It
is, with the men, a tradition never to eat the salt of the Sirkar
(Government), or take any service under Government."
2. Chetti. The members of the Vellalan subdivision of Chetti are "said
to be pure Vellalas, who have taken the title of Chetti. In ancient
times, they had the prerogative of weighing the person of kings on
occasion of the Tulabharam ceremony. (See Tulabharam.) They were,
in fact, the trading class of the Tamil nation in the south. But,
after the immigration of the more skilful Telugu Komatis and other
mercantile classes, the hereditary occupation of the Vellan Chettis
gradually declined, and consequently they were obliged to follow
different professions. The renowned poet Pattanattar is said to have
belonged to this caste." [140]
3. Karaikkat or Karkatta. The name is said to mean Vellalas who
saved or protected the clouds, or waiters for rain. Their original
profession is said to have been rain-making. Their mythological origin
is as follows.