Concerning the Ganigas of the Mysore Province, Mr. V. N. Narasimmiyengar writes as follows. [136] "The account locally obtained connects this caste with the Nagartas, as forming the leading communities of the left-hand faction, in opposition to the Lingayats and other castes composing the right-hand faction. Caste supremacy is ever associated in India with preternatural mythology. If the average Brahman traces his nobility literally to the face of Brahma, according to the Vedic Purusha Sukta, every other castelet claims a patent of superiority in a similar miraculous origin. The Ganigas allege that they immigrated from the north at a time beyond living memory. A Mysore noble, named Mallaraje Ars, established and first peopled the pete (market town) of Bangalore, when the Ganigas first came there, followed by the Nagartas, who are said to have been co-emigrants with the Ganigas. Mallaraj made Sattis and Yajamans (headmen) of the principal members of the two castes, and exempted them from the house-tax. The Ganigas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites. Their guru is known as Dharmasivacharsvami in the Madras Presidency, and certain gotras (family names) are said to be common to the Ganigas and Nagartas, but they never eat together or intermarry. The Ganigas claim the peculiar privilege of following the Vishnu image or car processions, throughout the province, with flags exhibiting the figures of Hanuman and Garuda, and torches. These insignia are alleged to have been aboriginally given to an ancestor, named Siriyala Satti, by Rama, as a reward for a valuable gem presented by him. The Ganigas call themselves Dharmasivachar Vaisyas like the Nagartas, and the feud between them used often to culminate in much bitter unpleasantness. The order includes a small division of the linga-wearing oilmongers, known as Sajjana (good men), whose population is a small fraction of the community. The Sajjanas, however, hold no social intercourse of any kind with the other sub-divisions." The Ganigas of Sandur, in the little Maratha State of that name, returned Yenne (oil) and Kallu (stone) as sub-divisions. The average cephalic index of these Ganigas was very high, being 80.5 as against 77.6 for the Ganigas of Mysore city. "The oil-mill of the Ganigas is," Mr. W. Francis writes, [137] "a sort of large wooden mortar, usually formed out of the heart of a tamarind tree, and firmly imbedded in the ground. A wooden cylinder, shod with iron, fits roughly into the cavity. A cross beam is lashed to this in such a way that one end is close to the ground, and to this a pair of bullocks or buffaloes are fastened. By an arrangement of pullies, the pressure of the cylinder can be increased at pleasure. As the bullocks go round the trough, the seeds are crushed by the action of the cylinder, so that the expressed oil falls to the bottom, while the residuum, as oil-cake, adheres to the side of the mortar."