In the Manual of the North Arcot district, it is noted that many Besthas "trade, and are in a flourishing condition, being most numerous above the ghats. The name Bestha appears to have no meaning, but they call themselves Sutakulam, and say they are descendants of the rishi Suta Mahamuni. The term Suta also applies to the offspring of a Kshatriya by a Brahman, but it seems more probable that the Besthas gained the name from their superiority in the culinary art, suta also meaning cook. They are divided into Telugu Besthas and Parigirti Besthas, the difference between them being chiefly one of religious observance, the former being in the habit of getting themselves branded on the shoulders with the Vaishnavite emblems--chank and chakram--and the latter never undergoing this ceremony. It is a rule with them to employ Dasaris as the messengers of a death, and Tsakalas, as those of a birth, or of the fact that a girl has reached womanhood. Their chief object of worship is Hanuman, the monkey god, a picture or figure of whom they always have in their houses for domestic worship."
In connection with the names Parigirti or Pakirithi which have been recorded as divisions of the Besthas, it may be observed that, in some parts of the Telugu country, the term Pakirithi is used as a substitute for Vaishnava. This word has become converted into Parigirti or Parikithi, denoting that the Besthas are Vaishnavites, as opposed to Saivites. Some Besthas, when questioned as to the origin of their caste, said that they had no purandam to help them. The word used by them is a corruption of puranam.
The Besthas are summed up, in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, as "fishermen, boatmen, and palanquin-bearers, who are known by different names according to the localities they live in. In the eastern districts they are called Bestha, in the southern Toraya, Ambiga and Parivara (boatmen), while in the western parts their names are Kabyara and Gangemakkalu. The Telugu-speaking population call themselves Boyis. Their chief occupations are fishing, palanquin-bearing, and lime-burning. Some of them are employed by Government as peons (orderlies), etc., while a large number are engaged in agricultural pursuits. The Boyis obey a headman called the Pedda (big) Boyi. The Toraya does not intermarry either with the Kabyara or the Boyi, whom he resembles in every way. The Kabyara or Karnatic Besthas proper never carry the palanquin, but live by either farming or lime-burning. They have a headman known as the Yajaman."