Those who agreed to this signed a bond, which was written on a palm-leaf (_kamma_), and hence received their new name.

In the Central Provinces the Kammas are divided into three subcastes, the Illuvellani or those who do not go out of the house, the Tadakchatu or those who live within _tadaks_ or mat screens, and the Polumtir or those who go into the fields.

These names are derived from the degrees in which the different subdivisions seclude their women, the Illuvellani observing strict _purda_ and the Polumtir none whatever, while the Tadakchatu follow a middle course.

On this account some social difference exists between the three subcastes, and when the Illuvellani dine with either of the other two they will not eat from the plates of their hosts, but take their food separately on a leaf.

And the Tadakchatu practise a similar distinction with the Polumtir, but the two latter divisions do not decline to eat from plates or vessels belonging to an Illuvellani.