Chapter XVII: Part 17

In a note written in 1817, Mr. T. Turnbull states that the Madura Pulliers "are never seen unless when they come down to travellers to crave a piece of tobacco or a rag of cloth, for which they have a great predilection. The women are said to lay their infants on warm ashes after delivery, as a substitute for warm clothing and beds."

The Palayans, or Pulleer, are described by General Burton [192] as "good trackers, and many of them carried bows and arrows, and a few even possessed matchlocks. I met one of these villagers going out on a sporting excursion. He had on his head a great chatty (earthen pot) full of water, and an old brass-bound matchlock. It was the height of the dry season. He was taking water to a hollow in a rock, which he kept carefully replenished, and then ensconced himself in a clump of bushes hard by, and waited all day, if necessary, with true native patience, for hog, deer, or pea-fowl to approach his ambush."

In the Madura Manual, it is noted that "the Poleiyans have always been the prædial slaves of the Kunuvans. According to the survey account, they are the aborigines of the Palni hills. The marriage ceremony consists merely of a declaration of consent made by both parties at a feast, to which all their relatives are invited. As soon as a case of small-pox occurs in one of their villages, a cordon is drawn round it, and access to other villages is denied to all the inhabitants of the infected locality, who at once desert their homes, and camp out for a sufficiently long period. The individual attacked is left to his fate, and no medicine is exhibited to him, as it is supposed that the malady is brought on solely by the just displeasure of the gods. They bury their dead."

The Paliyans are described, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, as a "very backward caste, who reside in small scattered parties amid the jungles of the Upper Palnis and the Varushanad valley. They speak Tamil with a peculiar intonation, which renders it scarcely intelligible. They are much less civilised than the Pulaiyans, but do not eat beef, and consequently carry no pollution. They sometimes build themselves grass huts, but often they live on platforms up trees, in caves, or under rocks. Their clothes are of the scantiest and dirtiest, and are sometimes eked out with grass or leaves. They live upon roots (yams), leaves, and honey. They cook the roots by putting them into a pit in the ground, heaping wood upon them, and lighting it. The fire is usually kept burning all night as a protection against wild beasts, and it is often the only sign of the presence of the Paliyans in a jungle, for they are shy folk, who avoid other people. They make fire with quartz and steel, using the floss of the silk-cotton tree as tinder. Weddings are conducted without ceremonies, the understanding being that the man shall collect food and the woman cook it. When one of them dies, the rest leave the body as it is, and avoid the spot for some months.

A detailed account of the Paliyans of the Palni hills by the Rev. F. Dahmen has recently been published, [193] to which I am indebted for the following information. "The Paliyans are a nomadic tribe, who for the most part rove in small parties through the jungle-clad gorges that fringe the Upper Palnis plateau. There they maintain themselves mostly on the products of the chase and on roots (yams, etc.), leaves and wild fruits (e.g., of the wild date tree), at times also by hiring their labour to the Kunnuvan or Mannadi villagers. The find of a bee-hive in the hollow of some tree is a veritable feast for them. No sooner have they smoked the bees out than they greedily snatch at the combs, and ravenously devour them on the spot, with wax, grubs, and all. Against ailments the Paliyans have their own remedies: in fact, some Paliyans have made a name for themselves by their knowledge of the medicinal properties of herbs and roots. Thus, for instance, they make from certain roots (periya uri katti ver) a white powder known as a very effective purgative. Against snake-bite they always carry with them certain leaves (naru valli ver), which they hold to be a very efficient antidote. As soon as one of them is bitten, he chews these, and also applies them to the wound. Patience and cunning above all are required in their hunting-methods. One of their devices, used for big game, e.g., against the sambar (deer), or against the boar, consists in digging pitfalls, carefully covered up with twigs and leaves. On the animal being entrapped, it is dispatched with clubs or the aruval (sickle). Another means consists in arranging a heap of big stones on a kind of platform, one end of which is made to rest on higher ground, the other skilfully equipoised by a stick resting on a fork, where it remains fixed by means of strong twine so disposed that the least movement makes the lever-like stick on the fork fly off, while the platform and the stones come rapidly down with a crash. The string which secures the lever is so arranged as to unloose itself at the least touch, and the intended victim can hardly taste the food that serves for bait without bringing the platform with all its weight down upon itself. Similar traps, but on a smaller scale, are used to catch smaller animals: hares, wild fowl, etc. Flying squirrels are smoked out of the hollows of trees, and porcupines out of their burrows, and then captured or clubbed to death on their coming out. The first drops of blood of any animal the Paliyans kill are offered to their god. A good catch is a great boon for the famished Paliyan. The meat obtained therefrom must be divided between all the families of the settlement. The skins, if valuable, are preserved to barter for the little commodities they may stand in need of, or to give as a tribute to their chief. One of their methods for procuring fish consists in throwing the leaves of a creeper called in Tamil karungakodi, after rubbing them, into the water. Soon the fish is seen floating on the surface. Rough fashioned hooks are also used. When not engaged on some expedition, or not working for hire, the Paliyans at times occupy themselves in the fabrication of small bird-cages, or in weaving a rough kind of mat, or in basket-making. The small nicknacks they turn out are made according to rather ingenious patterns, and partly coloured with red and green vegetable dyes. These, with the skins of animals, and the odoriferous resin collected from the dammer tree, are about the only articles which they barter or sell to the inhabitants of the plains, or to the Mannadis."

Concerning the religion and superstitions of the Paliyans, the Rev. F. Dahmen writes as follows. "The principal religious ceremony takes place about the beginning of March. Mayandi (the god) is usually represented by a stone, preferably one to which nature has given some curious shape, the serpent form being especially valued. I said 'represented,' for, according to our Paliyans, the stone itself is not the god, who is supposed to live somewhere, they do not exactly know where. The stone that represents him has its shrine at the foot of a tree, or is simply sheltered by a small thatched covering. There, on the appointed day, the Paliyans gather before sunrise. Fire is made in a hole in front of the sacred stone, a fine cock brought in, decapitated amidst the music of horn and drum and the blood made to drip on the fire. The head of the fowl ought to be severed at one blow, as this is a sign of the satisfaction of the god for the past, and of further protection for the future. Should the head still hang, this would be held a bad omen, foreboding calamities for the year ensuing. The instrument used in this sacred operation is the aruval, but the sacrificial aruval cannot be used but for this holy purpose. Powers of witchcraft and magic are attributed to the Paliyans by other castes, and probably believed in by themselves. The following device adopted by them to protect themselves from the attacks of wild animals, the panther in particular, may be given as an illustration. Four jackals' tails are planted in four different spots, chosen so as to include the area within which they wish to be safe from the claws of the brute. This is deemed protection enough: though panthers should enter the magic square, they could do the Paliyans no harm; their mouths are locked." It is noted by the Rev. F. Dahmen that Paliyans sometimes go on a pilgrimage to the Hindu shrine of Subrahmaniyam at Palni.

Writing concerning the Paliyans who live on the Travancore frontier near Shenkotta, Mr. G. F. D'Penha states [194] that they account for their origin by saying that, at some very remote period, an Eluvan took refuge during a famine in the hills, and there took to wife a Palliyar woman, and that the Palliyars are descended from these two. "The Palliyar," he continues, "is just a shade lower than the Eluvan. He is permitted to enter the houses of Eluvans, Elavanians (betel-growers), and even of Maravars, and in the hills, where the rigour of the social code is relaxed to suit circumstances, the higher castes mentioned will even drink water given by Palliyars, and eat roots cooked by them. The Palliyars regard sylvan deities with great veneration. Kurupuswami is the tribe's tutelary god, and, when a great haul of wild honey is made, offerings are given at some shrine. They pretend to be followers of Siva, and always attend the Adi Amavasai ceremonies at Courtallum. The Palliyar cultivates nothing, not even a sweet potato. He keeps no animal, except a stray dog or two. An axe, a knife, and a pot are all the impedimenta he carries. An expert honey-hunter, he will risk his neck climbing lofty precipices or precipitous cliffs. A species of sago-palm furnishes him with a glairy glutinous fluid on which he thrives, and such small animals as the iguana (Varanus), the tortoise, and the larvae of hives are never-failing luxuries."

The Paliyans, whom I investigated in North Tinnevelly, were living in the jungles near the base of the mountains, in small isolated communities separated from each other by a distance of several miles. They speak Tamil with a peculiar intonation, which recalls to mind the Irulas. They are wholly illiterate, and only a few can count up to ten. A woman has been known to forget her own name. At a marriage, the father, taking the hand of the bride, and putting it into that of the bridegroom, says "I give this girl to you. Give her roots and leaves, and protect her." The value of a bride or bridegroom depends very much on the quantity of roots, etc., which he or she can collect. When a widow does not remarry, the males of the community supply her with roots and other products of the jungle. Marriages are, as a rule, contracted within the settlement, and complications occasionally occur owing to the absence of a girl of suitable age for a young man. Indeed, in one settlement I came across two brothers, who had for this reason resorted to the adelphous form of polyandry. It would be interesting to note hereafter if this custom, thus casually introduced, becomes established in the tribe. As an exception to the rule of marriage within the settlement, it was noted that a party of Paliyans had wandered from the Gandamanaikanur forests to the jungle of Ayanarkoil, and there intermarried with the members of the local tribe, with which they became incorporated. The Paliyans admit members of other castes into their ranks. A case was narrated to me, in which a Maravan cohabited for some time with a Paliya woman, who bore children by him. In this way is the purity of type among the jungle tribes lost as the result of civilisation, and their nasal index reduced from platyrhine to mesorhine dimensions.

The Tinnevelly Paliyans say that Valli, the wife of the god Subramaniya, was a Paliyan woman. As they carry no pollution, they are sometimes employed, in return for food, as night watchmen at the Vaishnavite temple known as Azhagar Koil at the base of the hills. They collect for the Forest Department minor produce in the form of root-bark of Ventilago madraspatana and Anisochilus carnosus, the fruit of Terminalia Chebula (myrabolams), honey, bees-wax, etc., which are handed over to a contractor in exchange for rice, tobacco, betel leaves and nuts, chillies, tamarinds and salt. The food thus earned as wages is supplemented by yams (tubers of Dioscorea) and roots, which are dug up with a digging-stick, and forest fruits. They implicitly obey the contractor, and it was mainly through his influence that I was enabled to interview them, and measure their bodies, in return for a banquet, whereof they partook seated on the grass in two semicircles, the men in front and women in the rear, and eating off teak leaf plates piled high with rice and vegetables. Though the prodigious mass of food provided was greedily devoured till considerable abdominal distension was visible, dissatisfaction was expressed because it included no meat (mutton), and I had not brought new loin-cloths for them. They laughed, however, when I expressed a hope that they would abandon their dirty cloths, turkey-red turbans and European bead necklaces, and revert to the primitive leafy garment of their forbears. A struggle ensued for the limited supply of sandal paste, with which a group of men smeared their bodies, in imitation of the higher classes, before they were photographed. A feast given to the Paliyans by some missionaries was marred at the outset by the unfortunate circumstance that betel and tobacco were placed by the side of the food, these articles being of evil omen as they are placed in the grave with the dead. A question whether they eat beef produced marked displeasure, and even roused an apathetic old woman to grunt "Your other questions are fair. You have no right to ask that." If a Paliyan happens to come across the carcase of a cow or buffalo near a stream, it is abandoned, and not approached for a long time. Leather they absolutely refuse to touch, and one of them declined to carry my camera box, because he detected that it had a leather strap.

They make fire with a quartz strike-a-light and steel and the floss of the silk-cotton tree (Bombax malabaricum). They have no means of catching or killing animals, birds, or fish with nets, traps, or weapons, but, if they come across the carcase of a goat or deer in the forest, they will roast and eat it. They catch "vermin" (presumably field rats) by smoking them out of their holes, or digging them out with their digging-sticks. Crabs are caught for eating by children, by letting a string with a piece of cloth tied to the end down the hole, and lifting it out thereof when the crab seizes hold of the cloth with its claws. Of wild beasts they are not afraid, and scare them away by screaming, clapping the hands, and rolling down stones into the valleys. I saw one man, who had been badly mauled by a tiger on the buttock and thigh when he was asleep with his wife and child in a cave. During the dry season they live in natural caves and crevices in rocks, but, if these leak during the rains, they erect a rough shed with the floor raised on poles off the ground, and sloping grass roof, beneath which a fire is kept burning at night, not only for warmth, but also to keep off wild beasts. They are expert at making rapidly improvised shelters at the base of hollow trees by cutting away the wood on one side with a bill-hook. Thus protected, they were quite snug and happy during a heavy shower, while we were miserable amid the drippings from an umbrella and a mango tree.

Savari is a common name among the Tinnevelly Paliyans as among other Tamils. It is said to be a corruption of Xavier, but Savari or Sabari are recognised names of Siva and Parvati. There is a temple called Savarimalayan on the Travancore boundary, whereat the festival takes place at the same time as the festival in honour of St. Xavier among Roman Catholics. The women are very timid in the presence of Europeans, and suffer further from hippophobia; the sight of a horse, which they say is as tall as a mountain, like an elephant, producing a regular stampede into the depths of the jungle. They carry their babies slung in a cloth on the back, and not astride the hips according to the common practice of the plains. The position, in confinement, is to sit on a rock with legs dependent. Many of these Paliyans suffer from jungle fever, as a protection against which they wear a piece of turmeric tied round the neck. The dead are buried, and a stone is placed on the grave, which is never re-visited.

Like other primitive tribes, the Paliyans are short of stature and dolichocephalic, and the archaic type of nose persists in some individuals.

Average height 150.9 cm. Nasal index 83 (max. 100).

Pallan.--The Pallans are "a class of agricultural labourers found chiefly in Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Madura and Tinnevelly. They are also fairly numerous in parts of Salem and Coimbatore, but in the remaining Tamil districts they are found only in very small numbers." [195]

The name is said to be derived from pallam, a pit, as they were standing on low ground when the castes were originally formed. It is further suggested that the name may be connected with the wet cultivation, at which they are experts, and which is always carried out on low ground. In the Manual of the Madura district (1868), the Pallans are described as "a very numerous, but a most abject and despised race, little, if indeed at all, superior to the Paraiyas. Their principal occupation is ploughing the lands of more fortunate Tamils, and, though nominally free, they are usually slaves in almost every sense of the word, earning by the ceaseless sweat of their brow a bare handful of grain to stay the pangs of hunger, and a rag with which to partly cover their nakedness. They are to be found in almost every village, toiling and moiling for the benefit of Vellalans and others, and with the Paraiyas doing patiently nearly all the hard and dirty work that has to be done. Personal contact with them is avoided by all respectable men, and they are never permitted to dwell within the limits of a village nattam. Their huts form a small detached hamlet, the Pallacheri, removed from a considerable distance from the houses of the respectable inhabitants, and barely separated from that of the Paraiyas, the Parei-cheri. The Pallans are said by some to have sprung from the intercourse of a Sudra and a Brahman woman. Others say Devendra created them for the purpose of labouring in behalf of Vellalans. Whatever may have been their origin, it seems to be tolerably certain that in ancient times they were the slaves of the Vellalans, and regarded by them merely as chattels, and that they were brought by the Vellalans into the Pandya-mandala." Some Pallans say that they are, like the Kallans, of the lineage of Indra, and that their brides wear a wreath of flowers in token thereof. They consider themselves superior to Paraiyans and Chakkiliyans, as they do not eat beef.

It is stated in the Manual of Tanjore (1883) that the "Pallan and Paraiya are rival castes, each claiming superiority over the other; and a deadly and never-ending conflict in the matter of caste privileges exists between them. They are prædial labourers, and are employed exclusively in the cultivation of paddy (rice) lands. Their women are considered to be particularly skilled in planting and weeding, and, in most parts of the delta, they alone are employed in those operations. The Palla women expose their body above the waist--a distinctive mark of their primitive condition of slavery, of which, however, no trace now exists." It is noted by Mr. G. T. Mackenzie [196] that "in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the female converts to Christianity in the extreme south ventured, contrary to the old rules for the lower castes, to clothe themselves above the waist. This innovation was made the occasion for threats, violence, and a series of disturbances. Similar disturbances arose from the same cause nearly thirty years later, and, in 1859, Sir Charles Trevelyan, Governor of Madras, interfered, and granted permission to the women of lower caste to wear a cloth over the breasts and shoulders."

In connection with disputes between the right-hand and left-hand factions, it is stated [197] that "whatever the origin of the factions, feeling still runs very high, especially between the Pallans and the Paraiyans. The violent scenes which occurred in days gone by [198] no longer occur, but quarrels occur when questions of precedence arise (as when holy food is distributed at festivals to the village goddesses), or if a man of one faction takes a procession down a street inhabited chiefly by members of the other. In former times, members of the opposite faction would not live in the same street, and traces of this feeling are still observable. Formerly also the members of one faction would not salute those of the other, however much their superiors in station; and the menials employed at funerals (Paraiyans, etc.) would not salute the funeral party if it belonged to the rival faction."

In the Coimbatore Manual it is noted that "the Pallan has in all times been a serf, labouring in the low wet lands (pallam) for his masters, the Brahmans and Goundans. The Pallan is a stout, shortish black man, sturdy, a meat-eater, and not over clean in person or habit; very industrious in his favourite wet lands. He is no longer a serf." The occupations of the Pallans, whom I examined at Coimbatore, were cultivator, gardener, cooly, blacksmith, railway porter, tandal (tax-collector, etc.), and masalchi (office peon, who looks after lamps, ink-bottles, etc.). Some Pallans are maniyagarans (village munsifs or magistrates).

In some places a Pallan family is attached to a land-holder, for whom they work, and, under ordinary conditions, they do not change masters. The attachment of the Pallan to a particular individual is maintained by the master paying a sum of money as an advance, which the Pallan is unable to repay.

The Pallans are the Jati Pillais of the Pandya Kammalans, or Kammalans of the Madura country. The story goes that a long while ago the headman of the Pallans came begging to the Kollan section of the Pandya Kammalans, which was employed in the manufacture of ploughs and other agricultural implements, and said "Worshipful sirs, we are destitute to the last degree. If you would but take pity on us, we would become your slaves. Give us ploughs and other implements, and we shall ever afterwards obey you." The Kollans, taking pity on them, gave them the implements and they commenced an agricultural life. When the harvest was over, they brought the best portion of the crop, and gave it to the Kollans. From that time, the Pallans became the "sons" of the Pandya Kammalans, to whom even now they make offerings in gratitude for a bumper crop.

At times of census the Pallans return a number of sub-divisions, and there is a proverb that one can count the number of varieties of rice, but it is impossible to count the divisions of the Pallans. As examples of the sub-divisions, the following may be quoted:--

Aiya, father.
Amma, mother.
Anja, father.
Atta, mother.
Devendra.--The sweat of Devendra, the king of gods, is said to
have fallen on a plant growing in water from which arose a child,
who is said to have been the original ancestor of the Pallans.
Kadaiyan, lowest or last.
Konga.--The Kongas of Coimbatore wear a big marriage tali, said to
be the emblem of Sakti, while the other sections wear a small tali.
Manganadu, territorial.
Sozhia, territorial.
Tondaman, territorial.

These sub-divisions are endogamous, and Aiya and Amma Pallans of the Sivaganga zemindari and adjacent parts of the Madura district possess exogamous septs or kilais, which, like those of the Maravans, Kallans, and some other castes, run in the female line. Children belong to the same kilai as that of their mother and maternal uncle, and not of their father.

The headman of the Pallans is, in the Madura country, called Kudumban, and he is assisted by a Kaladi, and, in large settlements, by a caste messenger entitled Variyan, who summons people to attend council-meetings, festivals, marriages and funerals. The offices of Kudumban and Kaladi are hereditary. When a family is under a ban of excommunication, pending enquiry, the caste people refuse to give them fire, and otherwise help them, and even the barber and washerman are not permitted to work for them. As a sign of excommunication, a bunch of leafy twigs of margosa (Melia Azadirachta) is stuck in the roof over the entrance to the house. Restoration to caste necessitates a purificatory ceremony, in which cow's urine is sprinkled by the Variyan. When a woman is charged with adultery, the offending man is brought into the midst of the assembly, and tied to a harrow or hoeing plank. The woman has to carry a basket of earth or rubbish, with her cloth tied so as to reach above her knees. She is sometimes, in addition, beaten on the back with tamarind switches. If she confesses her guilt, and promises not to misconduct herself again, the Variyan cuts the waist-thread of her paramour, who ties it round her neck as if it was a tali (marriage badge). On the following day, the man and woman are taken early in the morning to a tank (pond) or well, near which seven small pits are made, and filled with water. The Variyan sprinkles some of the water over their heads, and has subsequently to be fed at their expense. If the pair are in prosperous circumstances, a general feast is insisted on.

At Coimbatore, the headman is called Pattakaran, and he is assisted by various subordinate officers and a caste messenger called Odumpillai. In cases of theft, the guilty person has to carry a man on his back round the assembly, while two persons hang on to his back-hair. He is beaten on the cheeks, and the Odumpillai may be ordered to spit in his face. A somewhat similar form of punishment is inflicted on a man proved guilty of having intercourse with a married woman.

In connection with the caste organisation of the Pallans in the Trichinopoly district, Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes as follows. "They generally have three or more headmen for each village, over whom is the Nattu Muppan. Each village also has a peon called Odumpillai (the runner). The main body of the caste, when attending council-meetings, is called ilam katchi (the inexperienced). The village councils are attended by the Muppans and the Nattu Muppan. Between the Nattu Muppan and the ordinary Muppans, there is, in the Karur taluk, a Pulli Muppan. All these offices are hereditary. In this taluk a rather different organisation is in force, to regulate the supply of labour to the landholders. Each of the village Muppans has a number of karais or sections of the wet-land of the village under him, and he is bound to supply labourers for all the land in his karai, and is remunerated by the landowner with 1 1/4 marakkals of grain for every 20 kalams harvested. The Muppans do not work themselves, but maintain discipline among their men by flogging or expulsion from the caste. In the Karur taluk, the ordinary Pallans are called Manvettaikarans (mamoty or digging-tool men)."

The Pallans have their own washermen and barbers, who are said to be mainly recruited from the Sozhia section, which, in consequence, holds an inferior position; and a Pallan belonging to another section would feel insulted if he was called a Sozhian.

When a Pallan girl, at Coimbatore, attains puberty, she is bathed, dressed in a cloth brought by a washerwoman, and presented with flowers and fruits by her relations. She occupies a hut constructed of cocoanut leaves, branches of Pongamia glabra, and wild sugarcane (Saccharum arundinaceum). Her dietary includes jaggery (crude sugar) and milk and plantains. On the seventh day she is again bathed, and presented with another cloth. The hut is burnt down, and for three days she occupies a corner of the pial of her home. On the eleventh day she is once more bathed, presented with new cloths by her relations, and permitted to enter the house.

It is stated by Dr. G. Oppert [199] that "at a Pallan wedding, before the wedding is actually performed, the bridegroom suddenly leaves his house and starts for some distant place, as if he had suddenly abandoned his intention of marrying, in spite of the preparations that had been made for the wedding. His intended father-in-law intercepts the young man on his way, and persuades him to return, promising to give his daughter as a wife. To this the bridegroom consents." I have not met with this custom in the localities in which the Pallans have been examined.

In one form of marriage among the Pallans of the Madura district, the bridegroom's sister goes to the house of the bride on an auspicious day, taking with her the tali string, a new cloth, betel, fruits and flowers. She ties the tali round the neck of the bride, who, if a milk-post has been set up, goes round it. The bride is then conducted to the house of the bridegroom, where the couple sit together on the marriage dais, and coloured water, or coloured rice balls with lighted wicks, are waved round them. They then go, with linked fingers, thrice round the dais. In a more complicated form of marriage ceremonial, the parents and maternal uncle of the bridegroom, proceed, on the occasion of the betrothal, to the bride's house with rice, fruit, plantains, a cocoanut, sandal paste, and turmeric. These articles are handed over, with the bride's money, to the Kudumban or Kaladi of her village. Early in the morning of the wedding day, a pandal (booth) is erected, and the milk-post, made of Thespesia populnea or Mimusops hexandra, is set up by the maternal uncles of the contracting couple. The bride and bridegroom bring some earth,with which the marriage dais is made. These preliminaries concluded, they are anointed by their maternal uncles, and, after bathing, the wrist-threads (kankanam) are tied to the bridegroom's wrist by his brother-in-law, and to that of the bride by her sister-in-law. Four betel leaves and areca nuts are placed at each corner of the dais, and the pair go round it three times, saluting the betel as they pass. They then take their place on the dais, and two men stretch a cloth over their heads. They hold out their hands, into the palms of which the Kudumban or Kaladi pours a little water from a vessel, some of which is sprinkled over their heads. The vessel is then waved before them, and they are garlanded by the maternal uncles, headmen, and others. The bride is taken into the house, and her maternal uncle sits at the entrance, and measures a new cloth, which he gives to her. She clads herself in it, and her uncle, lifting her in his arms, carries her to the dais, where she is placed by the side of the bridegroom. The fingers of the contracting couple are linked together beneath a cloth held by the maternal uncles. The tali is taken up by the bridegroom, and placed by him round the bride's neck, to be tightly tied thereon by his sister. Just before the tali is tied, the headman bawls out "May I look into the bride's money and presents"? and, on receiving permission to do so, says thrice "Seven bags of nuts, seven bags of rice, etc., have been brought."

At a marriage among the Konga Pallans of Coimbatore, the bridegroom's wrist-thread is tied on at his home, after a lamp has been worshipped. He and his party proceed to the house of the bride, taking with them a new cloth, a garland of flowers, and the tali. The milk-post of the pandal is made of milk-hedge (Euphorbia Tirucalli). The bride and bridegroom sit side by side and close together on planks within the pandal. The bridegroom ties the wrist-thread on the bride's wrist, and the caste barber receives betel from their mouths in a metal vessel. In front of them are placed a Pillayar (figure of Ganesa) made of cow-dung, two plantains, seven cocoanuts, a measure of paddy, a stalk of Andropogen Sorghum, with a betel leaf stuck on it, and seven sets of betel leaves and areca nuts. Camphor is burnt, and two cocoanuts are broken, and placed before the Pillayar. The tali is taken round to be blessed in a piece of one of the cocoanuts. The Mannadi (assistant headman) hands over the tali to the bridegroom, who ties it round the bride's neck. Another cocoanut is then broken. Three vessels containing, respectively, raw rice, turmeric water and milk, each with pieces of betel leaf, are brought. The hands of the contracting couple are then linked together beneath a cloth, and the fourth cocoanut is broken. The Mannadi, taking up a little of the rice, turmeric water, milk, and betel leaves, waves them before the bride and bridegroom, and throws them over their heads. This is likewise done by five other individuals, and the fifth cocoanut is broken. The bride and bridegroom go round the plank, and again seat themselves. Their hands are unlinked, the wrist-threads are untied, and thrown into a vessel of milk. The sixth cocoanut is then broken. Cooked rice with plantains and ghi (clarified butter) is offered to Alli Arasani, the wife of Arjuna, who was famed for her virtue. The rice is offered three times to the contracting couple, who do not eat it. The caste barber brings water, with which they cleanse their mouths. They exchange garlands, and the seventh cocoanut is broken. They are then taken within the house, and sit on a new mat. The bridegroom is again conducted to the pandal, where cooked rice and other articles are served to him on a tripod stool. They are handed over to the Odumpillai as a perquisite, and all the guests are fed. In the evening a single cloth is tied to the newly married couple, who bathe, and pour water over each other's heads. The Pillayar, lamp, paddy, Andropogon stalk, and two trays with betel, are placed before the guests. The Mannadi receives four annas from the bridegroom's father, and, after mentioning the names of the bridegroom, his father and grandfather, places it in one of the trays, which belongs to the bride's party. He then receives four annas from the bride's father, and mentions the names of the bride, her father and grandfather, before placing the money in the tray which belongs to the bridegroom's party. The relations then make presents of money to the bride and bridegroom. When a widow remarries, her new husband gives her a white cloth, and ties a yellow string round her neck in the presence of some of the castemen.

At a marriage among the Kadaiya Pallans of Coimbatore, the wrist-thread of the bride is tied on by the Mannadi. She goes to a Pillayar shrine, and brings back three trays full of sand from the courtyard thereof, which is heaped up in the marriage pandal. Three painted earthen pots, and seven small earthen trays, are brought in procession from the Mannadi's house by the bridegroom, and placed in the pandal. To each of the two larger pots a piece of turmeric and betel leaf are tied, and nine kinds of grain are placed in them. The bridegroom has brought with him the tali tied to a cocoanut, seven rolls of betel, seven plantains, seven pieces of turmeric, a garland, a new cloth for the bride, etc. The linked fingers of the contracting couple are placed on a tray containing salt and a ring. They go thrice round a lamp and the plank within the pandal, and retire within the house where the bridegroom is served with food on a leaf. What remains after he has partaken thereof is given to the bride on the same leaf. The wrist-threads are untied on the third day, and a Pillayar made of cow-dung is carried to a river, whence the bride brings back a pot of water.

In some places, the bridegroom is required to steal something from the bride's house when they return home after the marriage, and the other party has to repay the compliment on some future occasion.

When a death occurs among the Konga Pallans of Coimbatore, the big toes and thumbs of the corpse are tied together. A lighted lamp, a metal vessel with raw rice, jaggery, and a broken cocoanut are placed near its head. Three pieces of firewood, arranged in the form of a triangle, are lighted, and a small pot is placed on them, wherein some rice is cooked in turmeric water. The corpse is bathed, and placed in a pandal made of four plantain trees, and four green leafy branches. The nearest relations place a new cloth over it. If the deceased has left a widow, she is presented with a new cloth by her brother. The corpse is laid on a bier, the widow washes its feet, and drinks some of the water. She then throws her tali-string on the corpse. Her face is covered with a cloth, and she is taken into the house. The corpse is then removed to the burial-ground, where the son is shaved, and the relations place rice and water in the mouth of the corpse. It is then laid in the grave, which is filled in, and a stone and some thorny twigs are placed over it. An earthen pot full of water is placed on the right shoulder of the son, who carries it three times round the grave. Each time that he reaches the head end thereof, a hole is made in the pot with a knife by one of the elders. The pot is then thrown down, and broken near the spot beneath which the head lies. Near this spot the son places a lighted firebrand, and goes away without looking back. He bathes and returns to the house, where he touches a little cow-dung placed at the entrance with his right foot, and worships a lamp. On the third day, three handfuls of rice, a brinjal (Solanum Melongena) fruit cut into three pieces, and leaves of Sesbania grandiflora are cooked in a pot, and carried to the grave together with a tender cocoanut, cigar, betel, and other things. The son places three leaves on the grave, and spreads the various articles thereon. Crows are attracted by clapping the hands, and it is considered a good omen if they come and eat. On the fourth day the son bathes, and sits on a mat. He then bites, and spits out some roasted salt fish three times into a pot of water. This is supposed to show that mourning has been cast away, or at the end. He is then presented with new cloths by his uncle and other relations. On the ninth or eleventh day, cooked rice, betel, etc., are placed near a babul (Acacia arabica) or other thorny tree, which is made to represent the deceased. Seven small stones, representing the seven Hindu sages, are set up. A cocoanut is broken, and puja performed. The rice is served on a leaf, and eaten by the son and other near relations.

The Pallans are nominally Saivites, but in reality devil worshippers, and do puja to the Grama Devata (village deities), especially those whose worship requires the consumption of flesh and liquor.

It is recorded, [200] in connection with a biennial festival in honour of the local goddess at Attur in the Madura district, that "some time before the feast begins, the Pallans of the place go round to the adjoining villages, and collect the many buffaloes, which have been dedicated to the goddess during the last two years, and have been allowed to graze unmolested, and where they willed, in the fields. These are brought in to Attur, and one of them is selected, garlanded, and placed in the temple. On the day of the festival, this animal is brought out, led round the village in state, and then, in front of the temple, is given three cuts with a knife by a Chakkiliyan, who has fasted that day, to purify himself for the rite. The privilege of actually killing the animal belongs by immemorial usage to the head of the family of the former poligar of Nilakkottai, but he deputes certain Pallans to take his place, and they fall upon the animal and slay it."

It is noted by Mr. Hemingway [201] that the Valaiyans and the class of Pallans known as Kaladis who live in the south-western portion of the Pudukkottai State are professional cattle-lifters. They occasionally take to burglary for a change.

The common titles of the Pallans are said [202] to be "Muppan and Kudumban, and some style themselves Mannadi. Kudumban is probably a form of Kurumban, and Mannadi is a corruption of Manradi, a title borne by the Pallava (Kurumban) people. It thus seems not improbable that the Pallas are representatives of the old Pallavas or Kurumbas."

Pallavarayan.--The title, meaning chief of the Pallavas, of the leader of the Krishnavakakkar in Travancore. Also a sub-division of Occhans.

Palle.--In the Telugu country, there are two classes of Palles, which are employed respectively in sea-fishing and agriculture. The former, who are the Min (fish) Palles of previous writers, are also known as Palle Kariyalu, and do not mingle or intermarry with the latter. They claim for themselves a higher position than that which is accorded to them by other castes, and call themselves Agnikula Kshatriyas. Their title is, in some places, Reddi. All belong to one gotra called Ravikula.

The caste headman is entitled Pedda Kapu,' and he is assisted by an Oomadi.

In puberty, marriage, and death ceremonies, the Palles follow the Telugu form of ceremonial. There is, however, one rite in the marriage ceremonies, which is said to be peculiar to the fishing section. On the fifth day after marriage, a Golla perantalu (married woman) is brought to the house in procession, walking on cloths spread on the ground (nadapavada). She anoints the bridal couple with ghi (clarified butter), and after receiving a cloth as a present, goes away.

The fishing class worship the Akka Devatalu (sister gods) periodically by floating on the surface of the water a flat framework made of sticks tied together, on which the various articles used in the worship are placed.

NOTES

[1] Gazetteer of the South Arcot District.

[2] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[3] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[4] The Rangaris are Maratha dyers and tailors.

[5] Ind. Ant., VII, 1878.

[6] Our Viceregal Life in India, 1884-88.

[7] Loc. cit.

[8] Ind. Ant., II, 1874.

[9] The word Genoa occurs on several blades in the Madras Museum collection.

[10] The bas-relief of the statue of Lord Cornwallis in the Connemara Public library, Madras, represents him receiving Tipu's two youthful sons as hostages.

[11] Brahmanism and Hinduism.

[12] Gazetteer of the Bellary district.

[13] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[14] Madras Review, 1899.

[15] F. Fawcett. Journ. Anthrop. Inst., XXXIII, 1903.

[16] F. Fawcett, loc. cit.

[17] Madras Journ. Lit. Science, 1890.

[18] Sketch of the Dynasties of South India.

[19] Numismata Orient. Ancient Coins and Measures of Ceylon.

[20] Kalith-thokai.

[21] Kanakasabhai Pillai. The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years ago. 1904.

[22] Manual of the Tinnevelly district, 1879.

[23] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[24] Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.

[25] Tinnevelly, being an account of the district, the people, and the missions. Mission Field, 1897.

[26] Madras Journ. Lit. Science, IV, 1836.

[27] Journ. Anthrop. Inst., XXXIII, 1903.

[28] F. Fawcett, loc. cit.

[29] Madras Journ. Lit. Science, IV, 1836.

[30] Madras Journ. Lit. Science, IV, 1836.

[31] Manual of the Madura district.

[32] Madras Journ. Lit, Science, XXV.

[33] Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[34] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[35] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[36] G. Richter. Manual of Coorg.

[37] Madras Museum Bull., V, 3, 1907.

[38] For portions of this article I am indebted to a note by Mr. J. D. Samuel.

[39] Hobson-Jobson.

[40] Gazetteer of the Tanjore district.

[41] Malabar Law and Custom.

[42] Madras Museum Bull. III, 3, 1901.

[43] Hobson-Jobson.

[44] Sea Fisheries of India.

[45] Journey from Madras through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, 1807.

[46] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[47] Section III, Inhabitants, Government Press, Madras, 1907.

[48] East India Gazette.

[49] Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies Ed., 1897.

[50] History of Mysore.

[51] Ind. Antiquary, II, 1873.

[52] Mysore.

[53] Manual of the South Canara district.

[54] Journey through Mysore, etc.

[55] Monograph of Tanning and Working in Leather, Madras, 1904.

[56] G. D. Iyah Pillay, Madras, 1878.

[57] Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.

[58] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[59] Manual of the Coimbatore district.

[60] Madras Journ. Lit. Science, I, 1833.

[61] Agricult: Ledger Series, Calcutta, No. 7, 1904.

[62] Journey through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, 1807.

[63] A New Account of the East Indies, 1744.

[64] I am informed that the Mukkuvans claim to be a caste distinct from the Arayans.

[65] For further details concerning the fisheries and fish-curing operations of the West Coast, see Thurston, Madras Museum Bull. III, 2, 1900.

[66] Spelt Pusler in a recent educational report.

[67] Madras Museum Bull., III, 3, 1901.

[68] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[69] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[70] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[71] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[72] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[73] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[74] Mysore Census Reports, 1891, 1901.

[75] Mysore and Coorg Gazetteer.

[76] Hobson-Jobson.

[77] Wigram : Malabar Law and Customs.

[78] Ibid., 3rd ed., 1905.

[79] A Forgotten Empire, Vijayanagar.

[80] Fifth Report of the Committee on the affairs of the East India Company. Reprint, Higginbotham, Madras.

[81] College History of India, 1888.

[82] Manual of the South Canara district.

[83] Ibid.

[84] M.J. Walhouse. Journ. Anthrop. Inst., V, 1876.

[85] Devil Worship of the Tuluvas, Ind. Ant., XXIII, 1894.

[86] Devil Worship of the Tuluvas. Ind. Ant., XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXVI, 1894-7.

[87] With the exception of the notes by Mr. Subramani Aiyar, this article is a reproduction, with very slight changes, of an account of the Nambutiris by Mr. F. Fawcett, which has already been published in the Madras Bulletin Series (III, I, 1900).

[88] N. Subramani Aiyar, Malabar Quart. Review, VII, I, 1908.

[89] A New Account of the East Indies, 1744.

[90] The Nambutiris everywhere believe that Europeans have tails.

[91] The Todas, 1906.

[92] Taravad or tarwad: a marumakkatayam family, consisting of all the descendants in the female line of one common female ancestor.

[93] The Lusiad.

[94] Chela, the cloth worn by Muppillas (Muhammadans in Malabar). There are also Chela Nayars. The word is said to mean the rite of circumcision.

[95] Malabar Quart. Review, I, 1, 1902.

[96] In all ceremonies, and indeed in all arrangements connected with labour in rural Malabar, it is the rule to reckon in the old, and not in the existing, currency.

[97] Brahmanism and Hinduism.

[98] Op. cit.

[99] Ibid.

[100] The Nambutiris take objection to a statement of Mr. Logan, in the Manual of Malabar, that the Vadhyar shuts the door, and locks it.

[101] Orissa. Annals of Rural Bengal.

[102] By keeping a lamp lighted at the fire perpetually alight, or by heating a piece of plasu or darbha grass in the fire, and putting it away carefully.

[103] An amana palaga or ama palaga, literally tortoise plank, is a low wooden seat of chamatha wood, supposed to be shaped like a tortoise in outline.

[104] The accounts of marriage and death ceremonies in the Gazetteer of Malabar are from a grandhavari.

[105] Ind. Law Reports, Madras Series, XII, 1889.

[106] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[107] The proverb Chetti Chidambaram is well known.

[108] Malabar Quart: Review, 1905.

[109] C. Hayavadana Rao, Indian Review, VIII, 8, 1907.

[110] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[111] Gazetteer of the Madura district.

[112] Indian Review, VIII, 8, 1907.

[113] Indian Law Reports, Madras Series, XXIX, 1906.

[114] C. Hayavadana Rao, Loc. cit.

[115] C. Hayavadana Rao. Loc. cit.

[116] Historical Sketches of the South of India, 1810.

[117] Malabar and its Folk.

[118] Malabar and its Folk.

[119] This note is based mainly on articles by Mr. S. Appadorai Aiyar and Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Aiyar.

[120] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[121] Gazetteer of the Malabar district.

[122] Manual of the Malabar district.

[123] The author of Tahafat-ul-Mujahidin or hints for persons seeking the way to God, as it is frequently translated, or more literally an offering to warriors who shall fight in defence of religion against infidels. Translated by Rowlandson. London, 1833.

[124] See Manual of the Malabar district, 164, sq., and Fawcett, Madras Museum Bull., III, 3, 1901.

[125] E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, III, 2, 1203.

[126] Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar. Translation. Hakluyt Society, 1866.

[127] New Account of the East Indies, 1744.

[128] Voyage to the East Indies, 1774 and 1781.

[129] Journey through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, 1807.

[130] Malabar Law and Custom, 3rd ed., 1905.

[131] Vide R. Sewell. A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar), 1900.

[132] Father Coleridge's Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier.

[133] History of Tinnevelly.

[134] Coleridge's Xavier.

[135] Burnell. Translation of the Daya Vibhaga, Introduction. Vide also Elements of South Indian Palæography (2nd ed., p. 109), where Dr. Burnell says that it is certain that the Vijayanagar kings were men of low caste.

[136] Vide Glossary, Report of the Malabar Marriage Commission, p. 2, and Day's Land of the Permauls, p. 44.

[137] Fifth Report of the Committee on the affairs of the East India Company, II, 499, 530. Reprint by Higginbotham, Madras.

[138] Lives of the Lindsays. By Lord Lindsay, 1849.

[139] Madras Museum Bull., III, 3, 1901.

[140] A manchil is a conveyance carried on men's shoulders, and more like a hammock slung on a pole, with a flat covering over it, than a palanquin.

[141] Tarwad or taravad, a marumakkathayam family, consisting of all the descendants in the female line of one common female ancestor.

[142] The Voyage and Travell of M. Cæsar Fredericke, Merchant of Venice, into the East Indies and beyond the Indies (1563). Translation. Hakluyt Voyages, V, 394.

[143] Travels to the East Indies.

[144] Voyage to the East Indies, 1774 and 1781.

[145] R. Kerr. General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1811, History of the Discovery and Conquest of India by the Portuguese between the years 1497 and 1525, from the original Portuguese of Herman Lopes de Castaneda.

[146] Wigram, Malabar Law and Custom, Ed. 1900.

[147] T. A. Kalyanakrishna Aiyar, Malabar Quart. Review, II, 1903.

[148] Op cit.

[149] Malabar and its Folk, 1900.

[150] Malabar Law and Custom, 1882.

[151] Report of the Malabar Marriage Commission, 1894.

[152] The rights and obligations of Karanavans are fully dealt with by Moore, Malabar Law and Custom, 3rd edition, 1905.

[153] Journ. Anthrop. Inst., XII, 1883.

[154] Op. cit.

[155] Malabar Quart. Review, VII, 3, 1908.

[156] Op. cit.

[157] Gazetteer of Malabar.

[158] An Enangan or Inangan is a man of the same caste and sub-division or marriage group. It is usually translated "kinsman," but is at once wider and narrower in its connotation. My Enangans are all who can marry the same people that I can. An Enangatti is a female member of an Enangan's family.

[159] The aimpuli or "five tamarinds" are Tamarindus indica, Garcinia Cambogia, Spondias mangifera, Bauhinia racemosa, and Hibiscus hirtus.

[160] The eldest male member of the taravad is called the Karanavan. All male members, brothers, nephews, and so on, who are junior to him, are called Anandravans of the taravad.

[161] All caste Hindus who perform the sradh ceremonies calculate the day of death, not by the day of the month, but by the thithis (day after full or new moon).

[162] Nineteenth Century, 1904.

[163] L'Inde (sans les Anglais).

[164] Letters from Malabar.

[165] January, 1899.

[166] See Thurston. Catalogue of Roman, etc., Coins, Madras Government Museum, 2nd ed., 1894.

[167] Malabar and its Folk, 1900.

[168] The Vettuvans were once salt-makers.

[169] Malabar and its Folk, Madras, 1900.

[170] Buchanan, Mysore, Canara and Malabar.

[171] Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[172] E. Hultzsch. South Indian Inscriptions, I. 82, 108, 1890.

[173] Comprehensive Tamil and English Dictionary.

[174] Travancore Census Report, 1901.

[175] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[176] Madras Dioc. Magazine, April, 1908.

[177] Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[178] Ind. Ant., V, 1876.