Paccha (green).—An exogamous sept of Kamma. The equivalent Pacchai is a sub-division of Tamil Paraiyans, and of Malaiyalis who have settled on the Pacchaimalais (green hills). Pacchi powaku (green tobacco) occurs as an exogamous sept of Devanga. Pacchai Kutti is the name given to Koravas who travel about the country as professional tattooers, the operation of tattooing being known as pricking with green. In like manner, Pacchai Botlu is the name for Oddes, who are itinerant tattooers in the Ganjam, Vizagapatam, and Godavari districts.

Pachilia.—A sub-division of Oriya Gaudos.

Pada (fighting).—A sub-division of Nayar.

Padaharu Madala (sixteen madalas).—The name, indicating the amount of the bride-price, of a section of Upparas. A madala is equal to two rupees. Some say that the name has reference to the modas, or heaps of earth, in which salt was formerly made.

Padaiyachi.—A synonym or title of Palli or Vanniyan, and Savalakkaran.

Padal.—A title of headmen of the Bagatas.

Padam.—Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a sub-division of Nayar. Padamangalum or Padamangalakkar is also recorded as a sub-division of Nayars, who escort processions in temples. Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar writes that “Padamangalam and the Tamil Padam are recorded as a division of Nayars, but they are said to be immigrants to Travancore from the Tamil country.” Padam also occurs as an exogamous sept of Moosu Kamma.

Padarti.—A title of pujaris (priests) in South Canara, and a name by which Stanikas are called.

Padavala (boat).—An exogamous sept of Devanga.

Padiga Raju.—Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, as the same as Bhatrazu. The Padiga Rajulu are, however, beggars attached to the Padma Sales, and apparently distinct from Bhatrazus. The name is probably derived from padiga, a kind of vessel, and may bear reference to the vessel which they carry with them on their begging expeditions.

Padma (lotus).—A sub-division of Velama.

Padma Sale.—The Padma (lotus) Sales are a Telugu-speaking caste of weavers, who are scattered all over the Madras Presidency. The majority are engaged in their hereditary occupation, but only the minority possess looms of their own, and they work, for the most part, for the more prosperous owners of hand-looms. As a class they are poor, being addicted to strong drinks, and in the hands of the money-lenders, who take care that their customers always remain in debt to them. Like the Kaikolans, the Padma Sales weave the coarser kinds of cotton cloths, and cannot compete with the Patnulkarans and Khatres in the manufacture of the finer kinds.

The Padma Sales have only one gotra, Markandeya. But, like other Telugu castes, they have a number of exogamous septs or intiperus, of which the following are examples:—

Bandari, treasurer. Bomma, an idol. Canji, gruel. Chinthaginjala, tamarind seeds. Gorantla, Lawsonia alba. Jinka, gazelle. Kalava, ditch. Kasulu, copper coins. Kongara, crane. Kadavala, pots. Manchi, good. Nili, indigo. Nukalu, flour of grain or pulse. Nyayam, justice. Utla, rope for hanging pots. Pothu, male. Paththi, cotton. Putta, ant-hill. Thelu, scorpion. Tangedla, Cassia auriculata. Tumma, Acacia arabica. Avari, indigo plant. Chinnam, gold? Gurram, horse. Geddam, beard. Kota, fort. Meda, raised mound Middala, storeyed house. Mamidla, mango. Narala, nerves. Pula, flowers. Sadhu, quiet or meek.

The Padma Sales profess to be Vaishnavites, but some are Saivites. All the families of the exogamous sept Sadhu are said to be lingam-wearing Saivites. In addition to their house-god Venkateswara, they worship Pulikondla Rangaswami, Maremma, Durgamma, Narasappa, Sunkalamma, Urukundhi Viranna, Gangamma, Kinkiniamma, Mutyalamma, Kalelamma, Ankamma, and Padvetiamma. Their caste deity is Bhavana Rishi, to whom, in some places, a special temple is dedicated. A festival in honour of this deity is celebrated annually, during which the god and goddess are represented by two decorated pots placed on a model of a tiger (vyagra vahanam), to which, on the last day of the ceremonial, large quantities of rice and vegetables are offered, which are distributed among the loom-owners, pujari, headman, fasting celebrants, etc.

The Padma Sales belong to the right-hand, and the Devangas to the left-hand faction, and the latter aver that the Padma Sales took away the body of the goddess Chaudeswari, leaving them the head.

Three kinds of beggars are attached to the Padma Sales, viz., Sadhana Surulu, Padiga Rajulu or Koonapilli vandlu, and Inaka-mukku Bhatrazus. Concerning the Sadhana Surulu, Buchanan writes as follows.1 “The Vaishnavite section of the Samay Sale is called Padma Sale. The whole Shalay formerly wore the linga, but, a house having been possessed by a devil, and this sect having been called on to cast him out, all their prayers were of no avail. At length ten persons, having thrown aside their linga, and offered up their supplications to Vishnu, they succeeded in expelling the enemy, and ever afterwards they followed the worship of this god, in which they have been initiated by their brethren. The descendants of these men, who are called Sadana Asholu (Sadana Surulu), or the celebrated heroes, never work, and, having dedicated themselves to god, live upon the charity of the industrious part of the caste, with whom they disdain to marry.”

The Padiga Rajulu are supposed to be the descendants of three persons, Adigadu, Padigadu and Baludu, who sprang from the sweat of Bhavana Rishi, and the following legend is current concerning the origin of the Padma Sales and Padiga Rajulu. At the creation of the world, men were naked, and one Markandeya, who was sixteen years old, was asked to weave cloths. To enable him to do so, he did thapas (penance), and from the sacred fire arose Bhavana Rishi, bearing a bundle of thread obtained from the lotus which sprang from Vishnu’s navel. Bhavana Rishi made cloths, and presented them to the Devatas, and offered a cloth to Bhairava also. This he refused to accept, as it was the last, and not the first, which is usually rolled up, and kept on the loom. Finding it unsuitable for wearing, Bhairava uttered a curse that the cloths made should wear out in six months. Accordingly, Siva asked Bhavana to procure him a tiger’s skin for wearing. Narada came to the assistance of Bhavana, and told him to go to Udayagiri, where Bhadravati, the daughter of Surya, was doing penance to secure Bhavana as her husband. She promised to secure a skin, if he would marry her. To this he consented, and, in due course, received the tiger’s skin. Making the tiger his vahanam (vehicle), he proceeded to the abode of Siva (Kailasam), and on his way thither met a Rakshasa, whom he killed in a fight, in the course of which he sweated profusely. From the sweat proceeded Adigadu, Padigadu, and Baludu. When he eventually reached Siva, the tiger, on the sacred ashes being thrown over it, cast its skin, which Siva appropriated. In consequence of this legend, tigers are held in reverence by the Padma Sales, who believe that they will not molest them.

The legendary origin of the Padma Sales is given as follows in the Baramahal Records.2 “In former days, the other sects of weavers used annually to present a piece of cloth to a rishi or saint, named Markandeyulu. One year they omitted to make their offering at the customary period, which neglect enraged the rishi, who performed a yaga or sacrifice of fire, and, by the power of mantras or prayers, he caused a man to spring up out of the fire of the sacrifice, and called him Padma Saliwarlu, and directed him to weave a piece of cloth for his use. This he did, and presented it to the rishi, saying ‘Oh! Swami, who is thy servant to worship, and how is he to obtain moksham or admittance to the presence of the Supreme?’ The rishi answered ‘Pay adoration to me, and thou wilt obtain moksham.’”

The office of headman (Setti or Gaudu) is hereditary. The headman has under him an assistant, called Ummidi Setti or Ganumukhi, who is the caste messenger, and is exempt from the various subscriptions for temple festivals, etc.

When a girl reaches puberty, she is forbidden to eat meat or Amarantus during the period of ceremonial pollution. In settling the preliminaries of a marriage, a Brahman purohit takes part. With some Padma Sales it is etiquette not to give direct answers when a marriage is being fixed up. For example, those who have come to seek the hand of a girl say “We have come for a sumptuous meal,” to which the girl’s parents, if consenting to the match, will reply “We are ready to feed you. You are our near relations.” The marriage rites are a blend of the Canarese and Telugu types. In the Ceded districts, the bride is conveyed to the house of the bridegroom, seated on a bull, after worship has been done to Hanuman. As she enters the house, a cocoanut is waved, and thrown on the ground. She then bathes in an enclosure with four posts, round which cotton thread has been wound nine times. Wrist-threads of cotton and wool are tied on the bride and bridegroom. The bottu (marriage badge) is tied round the bride’s neck, and she stands on a pile of cholum (Sorghum vulgare: millet) on the floor or in a basket. The bridegroom stands on a mill-stone. While the bottu is being tied, a screen is interposed between the contracting couple. The bride’s nose-screw ornament is dropped into a plate of milk, from which she has to pick it out five times. Towards evening, the bridal couple go in procession through the streets, and to the temple, if there is one. On their return to the house, the bridegroom picks up the bride, and dances for a short time before entering. This ceremony is called dega-ata, and is performed by several Telugu castes.

Some Padma Sales bury their dead in the usual manner, others, like the Lingayats, in a sitting posture. It is customary, in some places, to offer up a fowl to the corpse before it is removed from the house, and, if a death occurs on a Saturday or Sunday, a fowl is tied to the bier, and burnt with the corpse. This is done in the belief that otherwise another death would very soon take place. The Tamilians, in like manner, have a proverb “A Saturday corpse will not go alone.” On the way to the burial-ground, the corpse is laid down, and water poured into the mouth. The son takes a pot of water round the grave, and holes are made in it by the Ummidi Setti, through which the water trickles out. On the fifth day, a sheep is killed, and eaten. During the evening the Satani comes, and, after doing puja (worship), gives the relatives of the deceased sacred arrack (liquor) in lieu of holy water (thirtham) and meat, for which he receives payment. On the last day of the death ceremonies (karmandiram), the Satani again comes with arrack, and, according to a note before me, all get drunk. (See Sale.)

Pagadala (trader in coral).—A sub-division or exogamous sept of Balija and Kavarai. The Pagadala Balijas of the Vizagapatam district are described as dealing in coral and pearls. Pagada Mukara (coral nose-ring) has been returned as a sub-division of Kamma.

Pagati Vesham.—A class of Telugu beggars, who put on disguises (vesham) while begging.3 At the annual festival at Tirupati in honour of the goddess Gangamma, custom requires the people to appear in a different disguise every morning and evening. These disguises include those of a Bairagi, serpent, etc.4

Paguththan.—A title of Sembadavan.

Paida (gold or money).—An exogamous sept of Mala. The equivalent Paidam occurs as an exogamous sept of Devanga.

Paidi—The Paidis are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, as “a class of agricultural labourers and weavers, found in the Vizagapatam district. Some of them are employed as servants and village watchmen. They are closely akin to the Panos and Dombos of the hills, and Malas of the plains. They speak a corrupt dialect of Uriya.” In the Census Report, 1901, Kangara (servant) is recorded as a synonym for Paidi.

For the following note on the Paidis of the Vizagapatam district, I am mainly indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. There is a great deal of confusion concerning this caste, and the general impression seems to be that it is the same as Domb and Pano. I am informed that the same man would be called Paidi by Telugus, Domb by the Savaras, and Pano by the Konds. In the interior of the Jeypore Agency tracts the Dombs and Paidis both repudiate the suggestion that they are connected with each other. The Paidis, in some places, claim to belong to the Valmiki kulam, and to be descended from Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana. A similar descent, it may be noted, is claimed by the Boyas. In the Vizagapatam Manual, the Paidimalalu or Paidi Malas (hill Malas) are described as cultivating land, serving as servants and village watchmen, and spinning cotton. It is said that they will not eat food, which has been seen by Komatis. The Paidis stoutly deny their connection with the Malas.

When a Paidi girl reaches puberty, she is kept under pollution for a varying number of days, and, on the last day, a Madiga is summoned, who cuts her finger and toe nails, after which she bathes. Girls are married either before or after puberty. The menarikam custom is in force, according to which a man should marry his maternal uncle’s daughter. If he does so, the bride-price (voli) is fixed at five rupees; otherwise it is ten rupees. The marriage ceremonies last over four days, and are of the low-country Telugu type. The remarriage of widows and divorce are permitted.

The Paidis are Vaishnavites, and sing songs in praise of Rama during the month Karthika (November-December). Each family feeds a few of the castemen at least once during that month. They also observe the Sankramanam festival, at which they usually wear new clothes. The dead are either burnt or buried, and the chinna (small) and pedda rozu (big day) death ceremonies are observed.

Some Paidis are cultivators, but a large number are prosperous traders, buying up the hill produce, and bringing it to the low-country, where it is sold at markets. Their children study English in the hill schools. The caste titles are Anna and Ayya.

Some time ago some prisoners, who called themselves Billaikavu (cat-eaters), were confined in the Vizagapatam jail. I am informed that these people are Mala Paidis, who eat cat flesh.

The following note refers to the Paidis who live in the southern part of Ganjam. Some have settled as watchmen, or in other capacities, among the Savaras, whose language they speak in addition to their own. In their marriage ceremonies, they conform to the Telugu type, with certain variations adopted from the Oriya ceremonial. On the first day, a pandal (booth) is set up, and supported on twelve posts. A feast is given to males during the day, and to females at night. Like the Oriya Dandasis, they bring water from seven houses of members of castes superior to their own. The auspicious time for tying the pushte (gold marriage badge) on the following day is fixed so as to fall during the night. At the appointed time, the bridegroom rushes into the house of the bride, and the contracting couple throw rice over each other. Taking the bride by the hand, the bridegroom conducts her to the pandal, wherein they take their seats on the dais. The bride should be seated before the bridegroom, and there is a mock struggle to prevent this, and to secure first place for the bridegroom. He then ties a mokkuto (chaplet) on the bride’s forehead, a thread on her wrist, and the pushte on her neck. After this has been done, the couple bathe with the water already referred to, and once more come to the dais, where a small quantity of rice, sufficient to fill a measure called adda, is placed before them. Some amusement is derived from the bride abstracting a portion of the rice, so that, when the bridegroom measures it, there is less than there should be. The marriage ceremonies conclude on the third day with offerings to ancestors, and distribution of presents to the newly married couple.

The death ceremonies are based on the Oriya type. On the day after death, the funeral pyre is extinguished, and the ashes are thrown on to a tree or an ant-hill. As they are being borne thither, the priest asks the man who carries them what has become of the dead person, and he is expected to reply that he has gone to Kasi (Benares) or Jagannatham. A cloth is spread on the spot where the corpse was burnt, and offerings of food are placed on it. On the fourth day, a pig is killed and cooked. Before being cooked, one of the legs is hung up near the spot where the deceased breathed his last. Death pollution is got rid of by touching oil and turmeric, and the ceremonies conclude with a feast. An annual offering of food is made, in the month of November, to ancestors, unless a death takes place in the family during this month.

The Ganjam Paidis worship the Takuranis (village deities), and sacrifice goats and sheep at local temples. As they are a polluting caste, they stand at a distance opposite the entrance to the temple, and, before they retire, take a pinch or two of earth. This, on their return home, they place on a cloth spread on a spot which has been cleansed, and set before it the various articles which have been prepared as offerings to the Takurani. When a Paidi is seriously ill, a male or female sorcerer (Bejjo or Bejjano) is consulted. A square, divided into sixteen compartments, is drawn on the floor with rice-flour. In each compartment are placed a leaf, cup of Butea frondosa, a quarter-anna piece, and some food. Seven small bows and arrows are set up in front thereof in two lines. On one side of the square a big cup, filled with food, is placed. A fowl is sacrificed, and its blood poured thrice round this cup. Then, placing water in a vessel near the cup, the sorcerer or sorceress throws into it a grain of rice, giving out at the same time the name of some god or goddess. If the rice sinks, it is believed that the illness is caused by the anger of the deity, whose name has been mentioned. If the rice floats, the names of various deities are called out, until a grain sinks.

It is recorded5 that, in the Parvatipur country of the Vizagapatam district, “the Paidis (Paidi Malas) do most of the crime, and often commit dacoities on the roads. Like the Konda Doras, they have induced some of the people to employ watchmen of their caste as the price of immunity from theft. They are connected with the Dombus of the Rayagada and Gunupur taluks, who are even worse.”

Paik.—It is noted by Yule and Burnell,6 under the heading Pyke or Paik, that “Wilson gives only one original of the term so expressed in Anglo-Indian speech. He writes ‘Paik or Payik, corruptly Pyke, Hind., etc. (from S. padatika), Paik or Payak, Mar., a footman, an armed attendant, an inferior police and revenue officer, a messenger, a courier, a village watchman. In Cuttack the Paiks formerly constituted a local militia, holding land of the Zamindars or Rajas by the tenure of military service.’ But it seems clear to us that there are here two terms rolled together: (a) Pers. Paik, a foot-runner or courier; (b) Hind. paik and payik (also Mahr.) from Skt. padatika, and padika, a foot-soldier.”

In the Madras Census Report, 1891, Paiko is defined as “rather an occupational than a caste name. It means a foot-soldier, and is used to denote the retainers of the Uriya Chiefs of Ganjam and Vizagapatam. These men were granted lands on feudal tenure, and belonged to various castes. They are now ordinary agriculturists. Some are employed in the police, and as peons in the various public departments.” In the records relating to human sacrifice and infanticide, 1854, the Paiks are referred to as matchlock men, by whom the Konds and Gonds are kept in abject servitude. In the Vizagapatam Manual, 1869, various castes are referred to as being “all paiks or fighting men. Formerly they were a very numerous body, but their numbers are much diminished now, that is as fighting men, for the old army used to be paid, some in money, and some in grants of land. Now there are very few paiks kept up as fighting men; those discharged from service have taken to trading with the coast, and to cultivating their pieces of land. The fort at Kotapad on the Bustar frontier always had a standing garrison of several hundred paiks. They are gradually being disbanded since we have put police there. The men are a fine race, brave, and capital shots with the matchlock.” Paiko has been recorded, at times of census, as a synonym or sub-division of Rona. And Paikarayi occurs as a title of Badhoyis.

Paiki.—A division of Toda.

Pailman.—Pailman or Pailwan has been described7 as “an occupational term meaning a wrestler, used by all classes following the occupation, whether they are Hindus or Musalmans. The Hindus among them are usually Gollas or Jettis.” In the Telugu country, the Pailmans wrestle, and perform various mountebank, conjuring, and juggling feats. A wandering troupe of Maratha Pailwans performed before me various stick-exercises, acrobatic and contortionist feats, and balancing feats on a bamboo pole supported in the kamerband (belly-band) of a veteran member of the troupe. The performance wound up with gymnastics on a lofty pole kept erect by means of ropes tied to casual trees and tent-pegs, and surmounted by a pliant bamboo, on which the performer swung and balanced himself while playing a drum, or supporting a pile of earthen pots surmounted by a brass vessel on his head. The entertainment took place amid the music of drum and clarionet, and the patter of one of the troupe, the performers playing the drum in the waits between their turns.

Painda.—A synonym of Paidi.

Pakanati (eastern territory).—A sub-division of various Telugu classes, e.g., Balija, Golla, Kamsala, Kapu, Mala, and Tsakala.

Paki.—Recorded by the Rev. J. Cain8 as a sweeper caste in the Godavari district, members of which have come from the neighbourhood of Vizagapatam, and are great sticklers for their caste rules.

Pakinadu.—A territorial sub-division of Kamsalas and other Telugu castes, corresponding to Pakanati.

Pakirithi.—Pakirithi or Parigiri, meaning Vaishnavite, is a sub-division of Besthas, who, on ceremonial occasions, wear the Vaishnava sect mark.

Pal (milk).—Pal or Pala has been recorded as a sub-division of Idaiyan and Kurumba, and an exogamous sept of Mala. (See Halu.)

Palakala (planks).—An exogamous sept of Kamma.

Palamala.—Palama is recorded as a sub-division of the Kanikars of Travancore and Palamalathillom, said to denote the mountain with trees with milky juice, as an exogamous sept of the same tribe.

Palavili.—A gotra of Gollas, who are not allowed to erect palavili, or small booths inside the house for the purpose of worship.

Palayakkaran.—See Mutracha.

Paligiri.—A sub-division of Mutracha.

Palissa (shield) Kollan.—A class of Kollans in Malabar, who make leather shields. It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that, at the tali-kettu ceremony, “the girl and manavalan (bridegroom) go to the tank on the last day of the ceremony. The girl, standing in the tank, ducks her whole body under water thrice. As she does so for the third time, a pandibali or triangular platter made of cocoanut fronds and pieces of plantain stem and leaf plaited together and adorned with five lighted wicks, is thrown over her into the water, and cut in half as it floats by an enangan, who sings a song called Kalikkakam. Lastly, the girl chops in two a cocoanut placed on the bank. She aims two blows at it, and failure to sever it with a third is considered inauspicious. Among Palissa Kollans and some other castes, the lucky dip ceremony is performed on the last day (called nalam kalyanam or fourth marriage). An enangan, drawing out the packets at random, distributes them to the manavalan, the girl, and himself in turn. It is lucky for the manavalan to get the gold, and the girl the silver. A significant finish to the ceremony in the form of a symbolical divorce is not infrequent in South Malabar at all events. Thus, among the Palissa Kollans the manavalan takes a piece of thread from his mundu (cloth), and gives it, saying ‘Here is your sister’s accharam’ to the girl’s brother, who breaks it in two and puffs it towards him. In other cases, the manavalan gives the girl a cloth on the first day, and cuts it in two, giving her one half on the last; or the manavalan and an enangan of the girl hold opposite ends of a cloth, which the manavalan cuts and tears in two, and then gives both pieces to the girl.”

Paliyans of Madura and Tinnevelly. In a note on the Malai (hill) Paliyans of the Madura district, the Rev. J. E. Tracy writes as follows. “I went to their village at the foot of the Periyar hills, and can testify to their being the most abject, hopeless, and unpromising specimens of humanity that I have ever seen. There were about forty of them in the little settlement, which was situated in a lovely spot. A stream of pure water was flowing within a few feet of their huts, and yet they were as foul and filthy in their personal appearance as if they were mere animals, and very unclean ones. Rich land that produced a luxuriant crop of rank reeds was all around them, and, with a little exertion on their part, might have been abundantly irrigated, and produced continuous crops of grain. Yet they lived entirely on nuts and roots, and various kinds of gum that they gathered in the forest on the slopes of the hills above their settlement. Only two of the community had ever been more than seven miles away from their village into the open country below them. Their huts were built entirely of grass, and consisted of only one room each, and that open at the ends. The chief man of the community was an old man with white hair. His distinctive privilege was that he was allowed to sleep between two fires at night, while no one else was allowed to have but one—a distinction that they were very complaisant about, perhaps because with the distinction was the accompanying obligation to see that the community’s fire never went out. As he was also the only man in the community who was allowed to have two wives, I inferred that he delegated to them the privilege of looking after the fires, while he did the sleeping, whereas, in other families, the man and wife had to take turn and turn about to see that the fire had not to be re-lighted in the morning. They were as ignorant as they were filthy. They had no place of worship, but seemed to agree that the demons of the forest around them were the only beings that they had to fear besides the Forest Department. They were barely clothed, their rags being held about them, in one or two cases, with girdles of twisted grass. They had much the same appearance that many a famine subject presented in the famine of 1877, but they seemed to have had no better times to look back upon, and hence took their condition as a matter of course. The forest had been their home from time immemorial. Yet the forest seemed to have taught them nothing more than it might have been supposed to have taught the prowling jackal or the laughing hyÆna. There were no domesticated animals about their place: strange to say, not even a pariah dog. They appeared to have no idea of hunting, any more than they had of agriculture. And, as for any ideas of the beauty or solemnity of the place that they had selected as their village site, they were as innocent of such things as they were of the beauties of Robert Browning’s verse.”

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 Burton9 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,10 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 states11 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.”12

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. Mackenzie13 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 stated14 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 by15 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 1¼ 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. Oppert16 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,17 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. Hemingway18 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 said19 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.