The Komatis have for a long time been alleged to be connected with the Madigas in a variety of ways. "The Komatis," Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes, "do not as a rule deny the fact of this connection. The Madigas are, indeed, apparently under the protection of the Komatis, apply to them for help when in trouble, and obtain loans and other assistance. Some Komatis explain the connection with the Madigas by a story that either Vishnu Vardhana, or his successor Rajaraja Narendra persecuted the Komatis, and that they had to fly for refuge to the Madigas. The Madigas took them in, and hid them, and they say that the present favour shown to that caste is only in gratitude for the kindness shown to themselves in the past. The Komatis themselves do not admit the title Mid-day Madigas (applied to them by other castes), but explain it by a story that long ago a Komati killed and ate a cow-buffalo, which was really no cow-buffalo, but the wife of a great sage who had transformed her into that shape in order that she might be safe when he was in contemplation. The saint accordingly cursed the caste, and said that they should be Mid-day Madigas for ever more." It is possible that the connection between the Komatis and Madigas was originally such as that of the Kammalans, Ambattans, and other castes, with Paraiyans, Vettiyans, and other depressed classes, and that, in later times, weird stories were invented by fertile brains to explain them away. One of these undoubtedly is that which makes the Komatis the descendants of the issue of a plain Brahman and a handsome Madiga woman. It is said that their children managed a sweetmeat bazar, which the Brahman kept in a much frequented forest, and, in his absence, pointed with a stick (kol) to the plates, and thereby told their prices, without polluting the articles with the touch. Hence arose the name Kolmutti (those who pointed with the stick), which became softened down to Komutti. Another story runs to the effect that the Madiga woman, when she was pregnant with her first child, was gored by a cow, and gave birth to it in the cow-shed. Hence arises the name Go-mutti, or cow-gored. In days gone by, it was incumbent on the Komatis to bear the marriage expenses of the Madiga families attached to their village, much in the same way that the Chakkiliyan is treated in the Madura district by the Tottiyan caste in return for the services he renders when a Tottiyan girl is under pollution on reaching maturity. In later times, this custom dwindled in some places [141] to the payment of the expenses of the marriage of two Madigas, and even this was abandoned in favour of inviting the Madigas to their weddings. In the city of Madras, it would appear to have been customary, in the eighteenth century, for the Komatis to get the mangalyam or sathamanam (marriage badge) blessed by an aged Madiga before it was tied on the bride's neck. Further, it would appear to