Uppu (salt).--A sub-division of Balijas and Koravas, who trade in salt, which they carry about the country in panniers on donkeys or bullocks. It is also an occupational sub-division of Komati. The equivalent Uppa is an exogamous sept of Kelasi. Uppukottei occurs as a division of Maravan, Upputholuvaru (salt-carriers) as an exogamous sept of Odde, and Uppiri (salt-earth) as a sept of Kuruba. Urali.--In the Madras Census Report, 1891, the Uralis are described as "a caste of agricultural labourers found chiefly in the districts of Madura and Trichinopoly. The word Urali means a ruler of a village. Like the Ambalakkarans, they trace their descent from one Mutturaja, and the only sub-division returned by any number is Mutracha. They also assert that they were formerly employed as soldiers. In the Wynad there is a section of Kurumbas called Urali Kurumbas, and it is not improbable that these Uralis of the Tamil country are an offshoot of the great Kurumba race." The Uralis are further summed up in the same report, as "agricultural labourers in Coimbatore, Trichinopoly, and Madura. There seems to be some connection between the Uralis and the Ambalakkarans or Muttiriyans. Muttiriyan is a sub-division of both Urali and Ambalakkaran, and both of these are found in the same districts. Perhaps the Uralis are an offshoot of the Tamil Valaiyans, which by change of occupation has transformed itself into a distinct caste (see Ambalakkaran). The caste is split up into a number of sub-divisions, called after the name of the tract or nadu in Trichinopoly which each inhabits. To get back into the caste, an excommunicated man has to kill a sheep or goat before the elders, and mark his forehead with the blood. He then gives a feast to the assembly, and puts part of the food on the roof of his house. If the crows eat this, he is received back into the caste. [Brahmans always put out portions of the sraddha offerings in the same way, and judge whether they are acceptable or not by noting if the crows eat them or not.] Marriage is infant or adult. A man detected in an intrigue with an unmarried woman is fined, and has to marry her, and at the wedding his waist string is tied round her neck instead of a tali. The well-to-do people of the caste employ Brahmans as priests, but others content themselves with their own elders. Widows and divorced women may marry again. The dead are either burned or buried. The richer members of the caste perform sraddha (memorial service for the dead). They drink alcohol, and eat fowls, mutton, pork, fish, rats, etc. In social position they come below the Idaiyans, Tottiyans, and Kallans. Their title is Kavandan."