In connection with the special attachment of the Bhatrazus to the Velama, Kamma, and Kapu castes, the following story is narrated.
It is not improbable that there was once a closer connection than now between the Kapus and the Balijas, and the claim of the Balijas to belong to the Kapu caste may have a foundation in fact.
In South Canara Arya Kshatri occurs as the equivalent of Are, and, in the Telugu country, Are Kapurefers to Marathi cultivators.
Concerning the origin of this caste several traditions exist, but the most probable is that which represents them as a recent offshoot of the Kapu or Reddi caste.
The bulk of the Balijas are now engaged in cultivation, and this accounts for so many having returned Kapu as their main caste, for Kapu is also a common Telugu word used for a ryot (farmer).
If an enemy is his neighbour; if another Karnam is his superior; if the Kapu bears complaints against him, a Karnam cannot live on.
Maddila or Maddili has been recorded as an exogamous sept of Kapu and Mala.
This is the strict rule, but, as already stated, Kapu Lingayats will sometimes eat with a non-Lingayat relative or friend.
The castes from which outsiders occasionally come are the various sub-divisions of the Kapu or Reddi caste.
The former, though under the above named mutts, acknowledge Srivaishnava Brahmins as their gurus, to whom they pay homage on all ceremonial occasions.
Subsequently, learning that all his misfortunes were due to his want of respect to Matangi, he became one of Ellamma's Vokkalu.
They then bring forward a chicken and try to persuade it to eat some of the grains they have thrown down before the image, requesting the goddess to inform them whether she will leave their village or not.
Though the makers of the shoes have worked in ignorance of each other's work, the shoes brought from the north and south, and those from the east and west, are believed to match, and make a pair.
The name of a sub-division of Shanan, apparently meaning sweet liquor, and not the town of Madura.
In the olden time certain varieties of fish were tabooed and could not be caught at all times, being subject to the kapu of Ku-ula, the fish god, who propagated the finny tribes of Hawaiian waters.
Kapoi built the temple as directed; set kapu days for its dedication, and placed the customary sacrifice on the altar.
The sign of the shallow sea kapu was the placing of branches of the hau tree all along the shore.
Ulu kapu a Kane, the breadfruit tabooed for Kane, p.
With the removal of the hau branches, indicating that the kapu was lifted, the people fished as they desired, subject only to the makahiki taboo days of the priest or alii, when no canoes were allowed to go out upon the water.
Upon a rocky platform he also built a house to be sacred for the fishing kapu which he called by his own name, Ku-ula.
This King had made a law that whoever among his people should erect a heiau and kapu the same before the King had his temple kapued, that man should pay the penalty of death.
The writer was one of those brought up to this belief, and only lately has eaten the kapu fish of his ancestors without fearing a penalty therefor.
The people seeing this token of thekapu respected it, and any violation thereof in ancient times was said to be punishable by death.
While this kapu prevailed the people resorted to the deep sea stations for their food supply.
It is probable that the Velamas were originally a branch of the great Kapu or Reddi caste of cultivators, corresponding in the Telugu country to the Kurmis and Kunbis, as many of their section names are the same as those of the Kapus.
Similarly the Tailanges and Munurwars appear to be an offshoot of the great Kapu caste of cultivators in the Telugu country.
It is a convincing proof that women were regarded as inferior to men, that they could in no case eat with their husbands, and that the kapu was often put upon their eating the most delicious food.
That would, indeed, be an unexceptionable testimony, for by the law of kapu a wife could not, under pain of death, approach her husband while in her courses.
The kapu extended to the edge of the outer inclosure, and no one might pass on penalty of death.
At Demir Kapu we finished the most strenuous march I have ever done.
At length we reached Demir Kapu (iron gates), where a cool translucent stream runs through some rocks, and we drank and bathed, and some having slept began to fish.
A modern variant is that the Kapu goes not to the court (of law).
In the Kapu community, women play an important part, except in matters connected with agriculture.
After this, the Kapu proceeds to the potter's kiln, fetches ashes from it, and makes a figure of a human being.
When the Kapu woman sings this song, the woman of the house brings a little water in a vessel, pours it over the frog which is left on the fan outside the door, and gives some alms.
It is further noted in the Kurnool Manual that Pedakanti Kapu women do not wear the tali, or a bodice (ravika) to cover their breasts.
Many of the Balijas are now engaged in cultivation, and this accounts for so many having returned Kapu as their main caste, for Kapu is a common Telugu word for a ryot or cultivator.
After this, the Kapu proceeds to the potter's kiln in the village or town, fetches ashes from it, and makes a figure of a human being.
The following are some of the proverbs relating to the Kapus:-- The Kapuprotects all.
In some Kapu houses, bundles of ears of paddy may be seen hung up as food for sparrows, which are held in esteem.
While the Kapu was sluggishly ploughing, thieves stole the rope collars.
A Kapu, or some say a Besta man, took compassion on her, and to him she bore many children, the ancestors of the Yerlam Kapu caste.
When rain fails, the Kapu females model a figure of a naked human being of small size.
Malas and Madigas freely enter Kapu houses for the purpose of husking paddy, but are not allowed into the kitchen, or room in which the household gods are worshipped.
The representative cultivating caste of the Punjab, corresponding to the Kurmi of Hindustan, the Kunbi of the Deccan, and the Kapu of Telingana.
A great cultivating caste of the Telugu country, where they are known as Kapu or Reddi, and correspond to the Kurmi in Hindustan and the Kunbi in the Maratha Districts.
The term Kapu means a watchman, and Reddi is considered to be a corruption of Rathor or Rashtrakuta, meaning a king, or more properly the headman of a village.
According to local tradition the great wall of Chanda and other buildings, such as the tombs of the Gond kings and the palace at Junona, were built by immigrant Telugu masons of the Kapu or Munurwar castes.
Hoomau aku la no laua i ka hele ana a loaa hou ke kolu o ka pahu kapu e like me na mea mua; no ka mea, ua kukuluia no na pahu kapu e like me ka nui o kona mau kaikuahine.
He mea weliweli ia Mokukelekahiki ka ike ana i ua moo nei, lele aku la oia a hiki iluna o Nuumealani, ilaila o Kaeloikamalama ke kupua nui nana e pani ka puka o ka pea kapu o kukulu o Tahiti, kahi i hunaia'i o Kaonohiokala.
Ia laua i ike mai ai e ku ana ka pahu kapu, ua uhiia i ka oloa, alaila, manao ae la laua ua kapu ke alanui e hiki aku ai i kahi o ke Alii.
A pau keia mau mea i ka hoikeia, i nana aku ka hana o Aiwohikupua, a me na mea e ae, e ku mai ana o Laieikawai maloko o ka puloulou Alii kapu iluna o na waa.
The cloth worn by a Kapu girl at the time of her first menstrual ceremony is the perquisite of the washerwoman.
When Kapuwomen go on a visit to a distant village, they are accompanied by a Tsakala.
A sept of Aiyarakulu, and section of Gazula Kapu and Koppala Velama.
The festival had commenced, and the pujari had tied the kapu (cord dyed with turmeric) on his wrist, when a dispute arose between the trustees of the shrine, which caused the festival to be stopped.
A Kapu is generally content with a Satani or Jangam.
Even now he has a prejudice against ploughing jirayati (ordinarily assessed) lands, which a Kapu has no objection to do.
Kapu women will fetch their own water, and carry meals to the fields for their fathers and husbands.
The equivalent Tota occurs as an exogamous sept of Kapu and Yanadi.
Tangedu or Tangedla (Cassia auriculata) has been recorded as an exogamous sept of Kapuand Padma Sale.
In Madras they are said to be an offshoot of the great cultivating castes of Kamma and Kapu and to be a mixed community recruited from these and other Telugu castes.
There is no reason to doubt that the Munurwars are a branch of the Kapu cultivating caste of the Telugu country.
They are called Kerang Kapu from the circumstance of their women weaving cloths, which they weave from the fibre of a jungle shrub called Kerang (Calotropis gigantea).
All thus engaged in cooking, carrying and offering it should be of theKapu family, by whom it is afterwards eaten.
A synonym for the Kapewar orKapu caste; a subcaste of Kapewar and Gandli.
But it has been changed to Reddi, a more respectable name, as being a synonym for the Kapu cultivating caste.
They are apparently the result of intermarriages between some members of the Reddi or Kapu cultivating caste of Telingana, who came to Sambalpur during the Orissa famine of 1866, with low-class Uriya women.
To the east of Yeni Kapustood the harbour of Kaisarius or the Heptascalon, while to the west of that gate was the harbour which bore the names of Eleutherius and of Theodosiur I.
The sites of the old harbours between Chatladi Kapu and Daud Pasha Kapusi.
When rain fails, the Kapu females model a small figure of a naked human being, which they place in a miniature palanquin, and go from door to door, singing indecent songs, and collecting alms.
In the Bellary district when the rain fails, the Kapu (Telugu cultivator) females catch a frog, and tie it alive to a new winnowing fan made of bamboo.
In some Kapu (Telugu cultivator) houses, bundles of ears of rice may be seen hung up as food for sparrows, which are held in esteem.
Among the Kapu Savaras, the grains of rice are folded up in leaflets of the bael tree (AEgle Marmelos), and placed in a split bamboo.
When the Kapu female sings this song, the woman of the house brings a little water in a vessel, pours it over the frog, which is left on the fan outside the door sill, and gives some alms.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "kapu" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
