Chapter XVI: Part 16

Yogi Gurukkal.--The Yogi Gurukkals are described in the Madras Census Report, 1891, as "a Malayalam-speaking beggar caste. They are also priests in Kali temples, and pial schoolmasters. They bury their dead in a sitting posture (like Sanyasis)." The pial, it may be noted, is a raised platform under the verandah, or on either side of the door of a house, in which village schools are held.

The Yogi Gurukkals are scattered about Malabar, and their chief occupation seems to be the performance of worship to Kali or Durga. They officiate as priests for Mukkuvans and Tiyans. Among the Mukkuvans, puja (worship) to Kali at the annual festival has to be done by a Yogi Gurukkal, whereas, on ordinary occasions, it may be done by a Mukkuvan, provided that he has been initiated by a Yogi Gurukkal. In their customs, the Yogi Gurukkals closely follow the Nayars.

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that "the Yogi Gurukkals of North Malabar are a caste which, though low in the social scale, is not regarded as conveying distance pollution. They perform sakti puja in their own houses, to which no one outside the caste is allowed to attend; they also perform it for Nayars and Tiyans. They are celebrated sorcerers and exorcists, and are also schoolmasters by profession."

Zonnala (millet: Sorghum vulgare).--Zonnala, or the equivalent Zonnakuti, has been recorded as an exogamous sept of Kapu. The Koyis hold a festival when the zonna crop is ready to be cut, at which a fowl is killed in the field, and its blood sprinkled on a stone set up for the purpose.

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NOTES

[1] Ind. Ant. IV, 1875.

[2] Manners, Customs, and Observances.

[3] Malabar Law and Custom, 1905.

[4] Tarwad: a marumakkathayam family, consisting of all the descendants in the female line of one common female ancestor.

[5] The Todas, 1906.

[6] Malabar Law and Custom.

[7] Madras Census Report, 1891.

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

[9] Gazetteer of Malabar.

[10] Monograph Eth. Survey, Cochin No. 1, 1905.

[11] Ind. Ant., IX, 1880.

[12] Ind. Ant., IX. 1880.

[13] F. S. Mullaly. Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency.

[14] Monograph, Eth. Survey, Bombay, No. 93, Tigala, 1907.

[15] Malabar Law and Custom.

[16] Lieutenant-General E. F. Burton. An Indian Olio.

[17] Monograph Ethnog. Survey of the Cochin State, No. 10, Izhuvas, 1905.

[18] The Tinnevelly Shanars, 1849.

[19] Madras Census Report, 1871.

[20] A fanam is a small gold coin, worth about four annas, which was formerly current in Southern India, but is no longer in circulation.

[21] Other kinds of necklaces are the mullapu (jasmine flower) mala, avil (beaten rice) mala, so called from the shape of the links, mani mala or bead necklace, and pavizham (coral) mala. These are all worn by women.

[22] Ordinarily, paddy is partly boiled before it is pounded to remove the husk. Raw rice is obtained by pounding the paddy, which has not undergone any boiling.

[23] There must in all be five or seven females.

[24] The taboot is a model of a Muhammadan mausoleum, intended to represent the tomb of Husain, which is carried in procession during the Moharram festival.

[25] Manavalan = bridegroom; Manavati = bride.

[26] An Indian Olio.

[27] The washerman of the Nambutiris and Nayars is called Veluthedan.

[28] Nayars are addressed as Kammal by Tiyans and artisans.

[29] The number twelve, so significant in Malabar.

[30] Nasrani (Nazarene) is a term for Christians on the west coast.

[31] Indian Review, Oct. 1906.

[32] The Todas. 1906.

[33] Ney = ghi or clarified butter.

[34] Aboriginal Tribes of the Nilgiri Hills.

[35] Madras Diocesan Magazine, November, 1907.

[36] See Madras Museum Bull., IV, 1896, pl. XII.

[37] Average 73.

[38] Op. cit., Appendix IV, 738.

[39] R. Bache. Royal Magazine, August 1901.

[40] Ind. Ant., III, 1874.

[41] Description of a singular Aboriginal Race inhabiting the summit of the Neilgherry Hills, 1832.

[42] Op. cit.

[43] A Phrenologist among the Todas, 1873.

[44] J. W. Breeks. Account of the Primitive Tribes and Monuments of the Nilgiris, 1873.

[45] Catalogue of the Prehistoric Antiquities, Government Museum, Madras, 1901.

[46] I have seen this plant growing on the grass in front of the Paikara bungalow.

[47] Op. cit.

[48] Ellis. History of Madagascar.

[49] Tribes inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills. By a German missionary, 1856.

[50] Proc. Cambridge Philosoph. Soc., XII, 1904.

[51] "Puzhutkina--Shall I throw earth?" Rivers.

[52] Called by Breeks ilata, which, Dr. Rivers suggests, is a Badaga name.

[53] Journey through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar.

[54] Gazetteer of the Anantapur district.

[55] A. Chatterton. Monograph on Tanning and Working in Leather. Madras, 1904.

[56] Cf. Tanti. Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal.

[57] Madras Mail, 1906.

[58] Mysore and Coorg Gazetteer.

[59] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[60] Manual of the Madura district.

[61] Gazetteer of the Madura district.

[62] Manual of the Madura district.

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

[64] Ibid.

[65] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[66] History of Travancore, 1878.

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

[68] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[69] Manual of the Madura district.

[70] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[71] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[72] Cf. Nayadi.

[73] Native Life in Travancore, 1883.

[74] Monograph, Eth. Survey, Cochin, No. 9, 1906.

[75] Manual of the Malabar district.

[76] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[77] Archæolog. Survey of India. Annual Report, 1902-1903.

[78] Journey through Mysore, Canara and Malabar. Ed., 1807.

[79] On the Weapons, Army Organization, and Political Maxims of the Ancient Hindus, with special reference to gunpowder and fire-arms, Madras, 1880.

[80] Vide F. Hall's edition of H. H. Wilson's Vishnu Purana, 1864. III. 289-303.

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

[82] Native Life in Travancore.

[83] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[84] Madras Census Report, 1901.

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

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

[87] History of Tinnevelly.

[88] Indian Medical Gazette, XLI, 8, 1906.

[89] Cochin Census Report, 1901.

[90] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[91] Mysore Census Report, 1891.

[92] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[93] N. Sankuni Wariar, Ind. Ant. XXI, 1892.

[94] Gazetteer of the Madura district.

[95] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[96] Ibid., 1891.

[97] Gazetteer of the Tanjore district.

[98] Gazetteer of the Madura district.

[99] The land of the Permauls, or Cochin, its past and its present, 1863.

[100] Manual of the Madura district.

[101] Manual of the Madura district.

[102] Madras Census Report, 1891, and Manual of the North Arcot district.

[103] See Divakaram and Chudamani Nikhandu.

[104] See Life of Tiruvalluvar, in Lazarus' edition of the Kural.

[105] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[106] Gazetteer of Malabar.

[107] Manual of the South Canara District.

[108] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[109] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[110] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[111] Manual of the Tanjore district.

[112] Manual of the North Arcot district; Madras Census Report, 1891.

[113] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[114] Malabar and its Folk, 1900.

[115] Madras Dioc: Magazine, 1906.

[116] Manual of Malabar.

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

[118] Manual of the Salem district.

[119] Native Life in Travancore.

[120] Madras Museum, Bull. III, I, 1900.

[121] Crawley. The Mystic Rose. Fide Jagor. Zeitsch: Ethnol. XI, 164.

[122] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[123] Ind. Ant. VIII, 1879.

[124] History of the Military Transactions in Indostan.

[125] Ind. Ant. VIII, 1879.

[126] Ind. Ant. XX, 1891.

[127] Monograph Eth. Survey of Cochin, No. 12, 1907.

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

[129] Rev. J. Cain, Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[130] Madras Census Report, 1891, and Manual of the North Arcot District.

[131] Madras Journal of Literature and Science, 188-788, p. 134, where the etymology of the name Vellala is fully discussed.

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

[133] Thondai-nandalap-paddiyam.

[134] The zamindars of Cheyur, Chunampet, etc., in the Chingleput district.

[135] Manual of the Madura district.

[136] Pen and Ink Sketches of South India.

[137] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[138] M. Paupa Rao Naidu. History of Railway Thieves, 1900.

[139] Ind. Ant. III, 1874.

[140] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[141] Baramahal Records.

[142] Manual of the Madura district.

[143] Manual of the Madura district.

[144] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[145] Manual of the Madura district.

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

[147] Manual of the Salem district, 1883.

[148] A. Chatterton. Monograph on Tanning and Working in Leather, 1904.

[149] Madras Mail, 1907.

[150] Ibid.

[151] Malabar and its Folk, 1900.

[152] Monograph, Ethnological Survey of Cochin, 1905.

[153] Gazetteer of Malabar.

[154] Monograph, Eth. Survey of Cochin.

[155] Ind. Ant., X, 1881, p. 69.

[156] Manual of the Kurnool district.

[157] Catalogue Raisonné of Oriental Manuscripts, III, 1862.

[158] Notes on Criminal Classes of the Madras Presidency, 1892.

[159] This note is based on an article by Mr. Ranga Rao, with additions.

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