The Kammalans belong to the left hand, as opposed to the right hand faction. The origin of this distinction of castes is lost in obscurity, but, according to one version, it arose out of a dispute between the Kammalans and Vellalas. The latter claimed the former as their Jatipillaigal or caste dependents, while the former claimed the latter as their own dependents. The fight grew so fierce that the Chola king of Conjeeveram ranged these two castes and their followers on opposite sides, and enquired into their claims. The Kammalans, and those who sided with them, stood on the left of the king, and the Vellalas and their allies on the right. The king is said to have decided the case against the Kammalans, who then dispersed in different directions. According to another legend, a Kammalan who had two sons, one by a Balija woman, and the other by his Kammalan wife, was unjustly slain by a king of Conjeeveram, and was avenged by his two sons, who killed the king and divided his body. The Kammalan son took his head and used it as a weighing pan, while the Balija son made a pedler's carpet out of the skin, and threads out of the sinews for stringing bangles. A quarrel arose, because each thought the other had got the best of the division, and all the other castes joined in, and took the side of either the Kammalan or the Balija. Right and left hand dancing-girls, temples, and mandapams, are still in existence at Conjeeveram, and elsewhere in the Tamil country. Thus, at Tanjore, there are the Kammala Tevadiyals, or dancing-girls. As the Kammalans belong to the left-hand section, dancing-girls of the right-hand section will not perform before them, or at their houses. Similarly, musicians of the right-hand section will not play in Kammalan houses. In olden days, Kammalans were not allowed to ride in palanquins through the streets of the right hands. If they did, a riot was the result. Such riots were common during the eighteenth century. Thus, Fryer refers to one of these which occurred at Masulipatam, when the contumacy of the Kamsalas (Telugu artisans) led to their being put down by the other castes with the aid of the Moors. The Kammalans call themselves Achari and Paththar, which are equivalent to the Brahman titles Acharya and Bhatta, and claim a knowledge of the Vedas. Their own priests officiate at marriages, funerals, and on other ceremonial occasions. They wear the sacred thread, which they usually don on the Upakarmam day, though some observe the regular thread investiture ceremony. Most of them claim to be vegetarians. Non-Brahmans do not treat them as Brahmans, and do not salute them with the namaskaram (obeisance). Their women, unlike those of other castes, throw the end of their body-cloth over the right shoulder, and are conspicuous by the nose ornament known as the nattu.