According to Mr. Grigg, the Badagas recognise eighteen different "castes or sects." These are, however, simplified by Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri [75] into six, "five high castes and one low caste." They are--
1. Udaya. | 2. Haruva. | 3. Adhikari. | High caste. 4. Kanaka. | 5. Badaga. | 6. Toreya Low caste.
"Udayas are Lingayats in religion, and carry the Sivalinga--the Siva image--tied round their necks. They claim to be superior to all the other Badagas, and are regarded as such. They are priests to all the Badagas of the Lingayat class, and are strict vegetarians. They do not intermarry with any of the other high caste Badaga sects. Udaya was, and is the title assumed by the Maisur Rajas, and those Badagas, by being thus designated as a caste, claim superior blood in their veins." The Lingayat Badagas are commonly called Lingakutti. "Next in rank come the Haruvas. From their name being so closely connected with the Aryas--the respectable--and from their habit of wearing the Brahmanical thread, we are warranted in believing that they must originally have been the poor Brahman priests of the Badagas that migrated to this country (the Nilgiris), though they have now got themselves closely mingled with the Badagas. These Haruvas are also strict vegetarians, and act as priests." It has been suggested that the Haruvas (jumper) derive their name from the fire-walking ceremony, which they perform periodically. A further, and more probable suggestion has been made to me that Haruva comes from a Canarese word meaning to beg or pray; hence one who begs or prays, and so a Brahman. The Canarese Basava Purana frequently uses the word in sense. "The Adhikaris are to a certain extent vegetarians. The other two high castes, and of course the low caste Toreyas also, have no objection of any kind to eating flesh. It is also said that the vegetarian Adhikari, if he marries into a flesh-eating caste of the Badagas, betakes himself to this latter very readily." The Kanakas are stated by Mr. Grigg to be the accountants, who were probably introduced when the hills were under the sway of the Tamil chiefs. This would, however, seem to be very improbable. "The Toreyas are regarded as sons and servants to the five high caste Badaga sects--to the Haruvas especially. They are the lowest in the scale, and they are prohibited from intermarrying with the other or high caste Badagas, as long as they are sons to them." The Toreya does the menial duties for the tribe. He is the village servant, carries the corpses to the burning-ground, conveys the news of a death from village to village, is the first to get shaved when a death occurs, and is sent along with a woman when she is going to visit her mother or mother-in-law at a distance from her own home. "The Udayas, Adhikaris and Kanakas are Lingayats in religion, and the other three, the Haruvas, Badagas, and Toreyas are Saivites." Of the six divisions referred to, the Udayas and Toreyas are endogamous, but intermarriage is permissible between the other four. At the census, 1891, a large number of Badagas returned as their sub-division Vakkaliga, which means cultivator, and is the name of the great cultivating caste of Mysore.