brought with him some twenty-five families of these weavers, who were living in the Tanjore district, and established them at Ganjam near Seringapatam, and, in order to encourage silk and velvet weaving, exempted them from certain taxes. The industry flourished till the fall of Seringapatam, when most of the class fled from the country, a few only having survived those troublous times. At present there are only 254 souls returned to these people, employed in making carpets in Bangalore." "The Patnulkars," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [84] "say that they were originally Brahmans, living in a town of Surat called Devagiri, in which twelve streets were entirely peopled by them. For some reason, of which they profess themselves to be ignorant, the residents of one of these streets were excommunicated by the rest of the caste, and expelled. They travelled southwards, and settled in Tirupati, Arni, and Vellore, as well as in Trichinopoly, Tanjore, Madura, and other large towns, where they carried on their trade of silk-weaving. Another story is to the effect that they were bound to produce a certain number of silken cloths at each Dipavali feast in Devagiri for the goddess Lakshmi. One year their supply fell short, and they were cursed by the goddess, who decreed that they should no longer be regarded as Brahmans. They, however, still claim to be such, and follow the customs of that caste, though they refuse to eat with them. They acknowledge priests from among themselves, as well as from among Brahmans, and profess to look down upon all other castes. In religion they are divided into Smartas, Vaishnavas, and Vyaparis, some among the Smartas being Lingayats. Those who can write usually employ the Telugu characters in writing their language." The Patnulkarans, according to one tradition, claim descent from a certain Brahman sage, known as Tantuvardhanar, meaning literally a person who improves threads, i.e., manufactures and weaves them into cloths. This is, it is suggested, probably only an eponymous hero.