Chapter M (6)

"With regard to marriage, the Malaiyalis of the Trichinopoly district recognise the desirability of a boy's marrying his maternal aunt's daughter. This sometimes results in a young boy marrying a grown-up woman, but the Malaiyalis in this district declare that the boy's father does not then take over the duties of a husband. On the Kollaimalais, a wife may leave her husband for a paramour within the caste, but her husband has a right to the children of such intercourse, and they generally go to him in the end. You may ask a man, without giving offence, if he has lent his wife to anyone. Both sections practice polygamy. A betrothal on the Pachaimalais is effected by the boy's taking an oil bath, followed by a bath in hot water at the bride's house, and watching whether there is any ill omen during the process. On the Kollaimalais, the matter is settled by a simple interview. On both hill ranges, the wedding ceremonies last only one day, and on the Pachaimalais a Thursday is generally selected. The marriage on the latter range consists in all the relatives present dropping castor-oil on to the heads of the pair with a wisp of grass, and then pronouncing a blessing on them. The terms of the blessing are the same as those used by the Konga Vellalas. The bridegroom ties the tali. On the Kollaimalais, the girl is formally invited to come and be married by the other party's taking her a sheep and some rice. On the appointed day, offerings of a cock and a hen are made to the gods in the houses of both. The girl then comes to the other house, and she and the bridegroom are garlanded by the leading persons present. The bridegroom ties the tali, and the couple are then made to walk seven steps, and are blessed. The garlands are then thrown into a well, and, if they float together, it is an omen that the two will love each other.

"Both sections bury their dead. On the Kollaimalais, a gun is fired when the corpse is taken out for burial, and tobacco, cigars, betel and nut, etc., are buried with the body.

"Two curious customs in connection with labour are recognised on both ranges. If a man has a press of work, he can compel the whole village to come and help him, by the simple method of inviting them all to a feast. He need not pay them for their services. A different custom is that, when there is threshing to be done, any labourer of the caste who offers himself has to be taken, whether there is work for him or not, and paid as if he had done a good day's work. This is a very hard rule in times of scarcity, and it is said that sometimes the employer will have not only to pay out the whole of the harvest, but will also have to get something extra from home to satisfy the labourers."

It is noted by Mr. Garstin [173] that "in his time (1878) the Malaialis of the South Arcot district kept the accounts of their payments of revenue by tying knots in a bit of string, and that some of them once lodged a complaint against their village headman for collecting more from them than was due, basing their case on the fact that there were more knots in the current year's string than in that of the year preceding. The poligars, he adds, used to intimate the amount of revenue due by sending each of the cultivators a leaf bearing on it as many thumb-nail marks as there were rupees to be paid."

Malayali.--A territorial name, denoting an inhabitant of the Malayalam country. It is noted, in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that this name came in very handy to class several of the Malabar tribes, who have immigrated to the province, and whose names were unfamiliar to census officials. There is, in the city of Madras, a Malayali club for inhabitants of the Malayalam country, who are there employed in Government services, as lawyers, or in other vocations. I read that, in 1906, the Malabar Onam festival was celebrated at the Victoria Public Hall under the auspices of this club, and a dramatised version of the Malayalam novel Indulekha was performed.

Malayan.--Concerning the Malayans, Mr. A. R. Loftus-Tottenham writes as follows. "The Malayans are a makkathayam caste, observing twelve days' pollution, found in North Malabar. Their name, signifying hill-men, points to their having been at one time a jungle tribe, but they have by no means the dark complexion and debased physiognomy characteristic of the classes which still occupy that position. They are divided into nine exogamous illams, five of which have the names Kotukudi, Velupa, Cheni, Palankudi, and Kalliath. The men do not shave their heads, but allow the hair to grow long, and either part it in the middle, or tie it into a knot behind, like the castes of the east coast, or tie it in a knot in front in the genuine Malayali fashion. The principal occupation of the caste is exorcism, which they perform by various methods.

"If any one is considered to be possessed by demons, it is usual, after consulting the astrologer in order to ascertain what murti (form, i.e., demon) is causing the trouble, to call in the Malayan, who performs a ceremony known as tiyattam, in which they wear masks, and, so disguised, sing, dance, tom-tom, and play on a rude and strident pipe. Another ceremony, known as ucchaveli, has several forms, all of which seem to be either survivals, or at least imitations of human sacrifice. One of these consists of a mock living burial of the principal performer, who is placed in a pit, which is covered with planks, on the top of which a sacrifice is performed, with a fire kindled with jack wood (Artocarpus integrifolia) and a plant called erinna. In another variety, the Malayan cuts his left forearm, and smears his face with the blood thus drawn. Malayans also take part with Peruvannans (big barbers) in various ceremonies at Badrakali and other temples, in which the performer impersonates, in suitable costume, some of the minor deities or demons, fowls are sacrificed, and a Velicchapad pronounces oracular statements."

As the profession of exorcists does not keep the Malayans fully occupied, they go about begging during the harvest season, in various disguises, of which that of a hobby-horse is a very common one. They further add to their income by singing songs, at which they are very expert. Like the Nalkes and Paravas of South Canara, the Malayans exorcise various kinds of devils, with appropriate disguises. For Nenaveli (bloody sacrifice), the performer smears the upper part of his body and face with a paste made of rice-flour reddened with turmeric powder and chunam (lime) to indicate a bloody sacrifice. Before the paste dries, parched paddy (unhusked rice) grains, representing small-pox pustules, are sprinkled over it. Strips of young cocoanut leaves, strung together so as to form a petticoat, are tied round the waist, a ball of sacred ashes (vibhuthi) is fixed on the tip of the nose, and two strips of palmyra palm leaf are stuck in the mouth to represent fangs. If it is thought that a human sacrifice is necessary to propitiate the devil, the man representing Nenaveli puts round his neck a kind of framework made of plantain leaf sheaths; and, after he has danced with it on, it is removed, and placed on the ground in front of him. A number of lighted wicks are stuck in the middle of the framework, which is sprinkled with the blood of a fowl, and then beaten and crushed. Sometimes this is not regarded as sufficient, and the performer is made to lie down in a pit, which is covered over by a plank, and a fire kindled. A Malayan, who acted the part of Nenaveli before me at Tellicherry, danced and gesticulated wildly, while a small boy, concealed behind him, sang songs in praise of the demon whom he represented, to the accompaniment of a drum. At the end of the performance, he feigned extreme exhaustion, and laid on the ground in a state of apparent collapse, while he was drenched with water brought in pots from a neighbouring well.

The disguise of Uchchaveli is also assumed for the propitiation of the demon, when a human sacrifice is considered necessary. The Malayan who is to take the part puts on a cap made of strips of cocoanut leaf, and strips of the same leaves tied to a bent bamboo stick round his waist. His face and chest are daubed with yellow paint, and designs are drawn thereon in red or black. Strings are tied tightly round the left arm near the elbow and wrist, and the swollen area is pierced with a knife. The blood spouts out, and the performer waves the arm, so that his face is covered with the blood. A fowl is waved before him, and decapitated. He puts the neck in his mouth, and sucks the blood.

The disguises are generally assumed at night. The exorcism consists in drawing complicated designs of squares, circles, and triangles, on the ground with white, black, and yellow flour. While the man who has assumed the disguise dances about to the accompaniment of drums, songs are sung by Malayan men and women.

Malayan.--A division of Panikkans in the Tamil country, whose exogamous septs are known by the Malayalam name illam (house).

Maldivi.--A territorial name, meaning a native of the Maldive islands, returned by twenty-two persons in Tanjore at the Census, 1901.

Male Kudiya.--A synonym of Kudiya, denoting those who live in the hills.

Maleru.--It is noted, in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that "in some temples of the Malnad there exists a set of females, who, though not belonging to the Natuva class, are yet temple servants like them, and are known by the name of Maleru. Any woman who eats the sacrificial rice strewn on the balipitam (sacrificial altar) at once loses caste, and becomes a public woman, or Maleru." The children of Malerus by Brahmans are termed Golakas. Any Maleru woman cohabiting with one of a lower caste than her own is degraded into a Gaudi. In the Madras Census Report, 1901, Male or Malera is returned as a sub-caste of Stanika. They are said, however, not to be equal to Stanikas. They are attached to temples, and their ranks are swelled by outcaste Brahman and Konkani women.

Maleyava.--Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a small Canarese-speaking caste of beggars. In the South Canara Manual, it is stated that they are "classed as mendicants, as there is a small body of Malayalam gypsies of that name. But there may have been some confusion with Malava and Male Kudiya."

Mali.--"The Malis," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [174] "are now mostly cultivators, but their traditional occupation (from which the caste name is derived) is making garlands, and providing flowers for the service of Hindu temples. They are especially clever in growing vegetables. Their vernacular is Uriya." It is noted, in the Census Report, 1901, that the temple servants wear the sacred thread, and employ Brahmans as priests. It is further recorded, in the Census Report, 1871, that "the Malis are, as their name denotes, gardeners. They chose for their settlements sites where they were able to turn a stream to irrigate a bit of land near their dwellings. Here they raise fine crops of vegetables, which they carry to the numerous markets throughout the country. Their rights to the lands acquired from the Parjas (Porojas) are of a substantial nature, and the only evidence to show their possessions were formerly Parja bhumi (Poroja lands) is perhaps a row of upright stones erected by the older race to the memory of their village chiefs."

For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The Malis say that their ancestors lived originally at Kasi (Benares), whence they emigrated to serve under the Raja of Jeypore. They are divided into the following sub-divisions:--Bodo, Pondra, Kosalya, Pannara, Sonkuva, and Dongrudiya. The name Pondra is said to be derived from podoro, a dry field. I am informed that, if a Pondra is so prosperous as to possess a garden which requires the employment of a picottah, he is bound to entertain as many men of his caste as choose to go to his house. A man without a picottah may refuse to receive such visits. A picottah is the old-fashioned form of a machine still used for raising water, and consists of a long lever or yard pivotted on an upright post, weighted on the short arm, and bearing a line and bucket on the long arm.

Among the Bodo Malis, a man can claim his paternal aunt's daughter in marriage, which takes place before the girl reaches puberty. A jholla tonka (bride-price) of forty rupees is paid, and the girl is conducted to the house of the bridegroom, in front of which a pandal (booth) has been erected, with nine pots, one above the other, placed at the four corners and in the centre. In the middle of the pandal a mattress is spread, and to the pandal a cloth, with a myrabolam (Terminalia fruit), rice, and money tied up in it, is attached. The contracting couple sit together, and a sacred thread is given to the bridegroom by the officiating priest. The bride is presented with necklaces, nose-screws, and other ornaments by the bridegroom's party. They then repair to the bridegroom's house. The ceremonies are repeated during the next three days, and on the fifth day the pair are bathed with turmeric water, and repair to a stream, in which they bathe. On their return home, the bridegroom is presented with some cheap jewelry.

Among the Pondra Malis, if a girl is not provided with a husband before she reaches puberty, a mock marriage is performed. A pandal (booth) is erected in front of her house, and she enters it, carrying a fan in her right hand, and sits on a mattress. A pot, containing water and mango leaves, is set in front of her, and the females throw turmeric-rice over her. They then mix turmeric powder with castor-oil, and pour it over her from mango leaves. She next goes to the village stream, and bathes. A caste feast follows after this ceremonial has been performed. The girl is permitted to marry in the ordinary way. A Bodo Mali girl, who does not secure a husband before she reaches puberty, is said to be turned out of the caste.

In the regular marriage ceremony among the Pondra Malis, the bridegroom, accompanied by his party, proceeds to the bride's village, where they stay in a house other than that of the bride. They send five rupees, a new cloth for the bride's mother, rice, and other things necessary for a meal, as jholla tonka (present) to the bride's house. Pandals, made of four poles, are erected in front of the houses of the bride and bridegroom. Towards evening, the bridegroom proceeds to the house of the bride, and the couple are blessed by the assembled relations within the pandal. On the following day, the bridegroom conducts the bride to her pandal. They take their seat therein, separated by a screen, with the ends of their cloths tied together. Ornaments, called maguta, corresponding to the bashinga, are tied on their foreheads. At the auspicious moment fixed by the presiding Desari, the bride stretches out her right hand, and the bridegroom places his thereon. On it some rice and myrabolam fruit are laid, and tied up with rolls of cotton thread by the Desari. On the third day, the couple repair to a stream, and bathe. They then bury the magutas. After a feast, the bride accompanies the bridegroom to his village, but, if she has not reached puberty, returns to her parents.

Widow remarriage is permitted, and a younger brother usually marries the widow of his elder brother.

The dead are burnt, and death pollution lasts for ten days, during which those who are polluted refrain from their usual employment. On the ninth day, a hole is dug in the house of the deceased, and a lamp placed in it. The son, or some other close relative, eats a meal by the side of the hole, and, when it is finished, places the platter and the remains of the food in the hole, and buries them with the lamp. On the tenth day, an Oriya Brahman purifies the house by raising the sacred fire (homam). He is, in return for his services, presented with the utensils of the deceased, half a rupee, rice, and other things.

Mali further occurs as the name of an exogamous sept of Holeya. (See also Ravulo.)

Maliah (hill).--A sub-division of Savaras who inhabit the hill-country.

Malighai Chetti.--A synonym of Acharapakam Chettis. In the city of Madras, the Malighai Chettis cannot, like other Beri Chettis, vote or receive votes at elections or meetings of the Kandasami temple.

Malik.--A sect of Muhammadans, who are the followers of the Imam Abu 'Abdi 'llah Malik ibn Anas, the founder of one of the four orthodox sects of Sunnis, who was born at Madinah, A.H. 94 (A.D. 716).

Malle.--Malle, Malli, Mallela, or Mallige, meaning jasmine, has been recorded as an exogamous sept of Bestha, Holeya, Kamma, Korava, Kurni, Kuruba, Madiga, Mala, Odde, and Tsakala. The Tsakalas, I am informed, will not use jasmine flowers, or go near the plant. In like manner, Besthas of the Malle gotra may not touch it.

Malumi.--A class of Muhammadan pilots and sailors in the Laccadive islands. (See Mappilla.)

Mamidla (mango).--An exogamous sept of Padma Sale.

Mana (a measure).--An exogamous sept of Kuruba.

Manavalan (bridegroom).--A sub-division of Nayar.

Manayammamar.--The name for Mussad females. Mana means a Brahman's house.

Mancha.--Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a Musalman tribe in the Laccadive islands.

Manchala (cots).--An exogamous sept of Odde. The equivalent mancham occurs as a sept of Panta Reddis, the members of which avoid sleeping on cots.

Manchi (good).--An exogamous sept of Padma Sale and Yanadi.

Mandadan Chetti.--There are at Gudalur near the boundary between the Nilgiri district and Malabar, and in the Wynad, two classes called respectively Mandadan Chettis and Wynad Chettis (q.v.).

The following account of the Mandadan Chettis is given in the Gazetteer of the Nilgiris. "They speak a corrupt Canarese, follow the makkatayam law of inheritance (from father to son), and seem always to have been natives of the Wynaad. Mandadan is supposed to be a corruption of Mahavalinadu, the traditional name still applied to the country between Nellakottai and Tippakadu, in which these Chettis principally reside. These Chettis recognise as many as eight different headmen, who each have names and a definite order of precedence, the latter being accurately marked by the varying lengths of the periods of pollution observed when they die. They are supposed to be the descendants in the nearest direct line of the original ancestors of the caste, and they are shown special respect on public occasions, and settle domestic and caste disputes. Marriages take place after puberty, and are arranged through go-betweens called Madhyastas. When matters have been set in train, the contracting parties meet, and the boy's parents measure out a certain quantity of paddy (unhusked rice), and present it to the bride's people, while the Madhyastas formally solicit the approval to the match of all the nearest relatives. The bride is bathed and dressed in a new cloth, and the couple are then seated under a pandal (booth). The priest of the Nambalakod temple comes with flowers, blesses the tali, and hands it to the bridegroom, who ties it round the bride's neck. Sometimes the young man is made to work for the girl as Jacob did for Rachael, serving her father for a period (generally of from one to four years), the length of which is settled by a panchayat (council). In such cases, the father-in-law pays the expenses of the wedding, and sets up the young couple with a house and some land. Married women are not prohibited from conferring favours on their husbands' brothers, but adultery outside the caste is severely dealt with. Adoption seems to be unknown. A widow may remarry. If she weds her deceased husband's brother, the only ceremony is a dinner, after which the happy pair are formally seated on the same mat; but, if she marries any one else, a pandal and tali are provided. Divorce is allowed to both parties, and divorcées may remarry. In their cases, however, the wedding rites are much curtailed. The dead are usually burnt, but those who have been killed by accidents or epidemics are buried. When any one is at death's door, he or she is made to swallow a little water from a vessel in which some rice and a gold coin have been placed. The body is bathed and dressed in a new cloth, sometimes music is played and a gun fired, and in all cases the deceased's family walk three times round the pyre before it is fired by the chief mourner. When the period of pollution is over, holy water is fetched from the Nambalakod temple, and sprinkled all about the house. These Chettis are Saivites, and worship Betarayasvami of Nambalakod, the Airu Billi of the Kurumbas, and one or two other minor gods, and certain deified ancestors. These minor gods have no regular shrines, but huts provided with platforms for them to sit upon, in which lamps are lit in the evenings, are built for them in the fields and jungles. Chetti women are often handsome. In the house they wear only a waist-cloth, but they put on an upper cloth when they venture abroad. They distend the lobes of their ears, and for the first few years after marriage wear in them circular gold ornaments somewhat resembling those affected by the Nayar ladies. After that period they substitute a strip of rolled-up palm leaf. They have an odd custom of wearing a big chignon made up of plaits of their own hair cut off at intervals in their girlhood."

Mandadi.--A title of Golla.

Mandai.--An exogamous section of Kallan named after Mandai Karuppan, the god of the village common (Mandai).

Mandha.--Mandha or Mandhala, meaning a village common, or herd of cattle collected thereon, has been recorded as an exogamous sept of Bedar, Karna Sale, and Madiga.

Mandi (cow).--A sept of Poroja.

Mandiri.--A sub-division of Domb.

Mandula.--The Mandulas (medicine men) are a wandering class, the members of which go about from village to village in the Telugu country, selling drugs (mandu, medicine) and medicinal powders. Some of their women act as midwives. Of these people an interesting account is given by Bishop Whitehead, [175] who writes as follows. "We found an encampment of five or six dirty-looking huts made of matting, each about five feet high, eight feet long and six feet wide, belonging to a body of Mandalavaru, whose head-quarters are at Masulipatam. They are medicine men by profession, and thieves and beggars by choice. The headman showed us his stock of medicines in a bag, and a quaint stock it was, consisting of a miscellaneous collection of stones and pieces of wood, and the fruits of trees. The stones are ground to powder, and mixed up as a medicine with various ingredients. He had a piece of mica, a stone containing iron, and another which contained some other metal. There was also a peculiar wood used as an antidote against snake-bite, a piece being torn off and eaten by the person bitten. One common treatment for children is to give them tiles, ground to powder, to eat. In the headman's hut was a picturesque-looking woman sitting up with an infant three days old. It had an anklet, made of its mother's hair, tied round the right ankle, to keep off the evil eye. The mother, too, had a similar anklet round her own left ankle, which she put on before her confinement. She asked for some castor-oil to smear over the child. They had a good many donkeys, pigs, and fowls with them, and made, they said, about a rupee a day by begging. Some time ago, they all got drunk, and had a free fight, in which a woman got her head cut open. The police went to enquire into the matter, but the woman declared that she only fell against a bamboo by accident. The whole tribe meet once a year, at Masulipatam, at the Sivaratri festival, and then sacrifice pigs and goats to their various deities. The goddess is represented by a plain uncarved stone, about four-and-a-half or five feet high, daubed with turmeric and kunkuma (red powder). The animals are killed in front of the stone, and the blood is allowed to flow on the ground. They believe that the goddess drinks it. They cook rice on the spot, and present some of it to the goddess. They then have a great feast of the rest of the rice and the flesh of the victims, get very drunk with arrack, and end up with a free fight. We noted that one of the men had on an anklet of hair, like the woman's. He said he had been bitten by a snake some time ago, and had put on the anklet as a charm."

The Mandula is a very imposing person, as he sits in a conspicuous place, surrounded by paper packets piled up all round him. His method of advertising his medicines is to take the packets one by one, and, after opening them and folding them up, to make a fresh pile. As he does so, he may be heard repeating very rapidly, in a sing-song tone, "Medicine for rheumatism," etc. Mandulas are sometimes to be seen close to the Moore Market in the city of Madras, with their heaps of packets containing powders of various colours.

Mangala.--"The Mangalas and Ambattans," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [176] "are the barber castes, and are probably of identical origin, but, like the potters, they have, by difference of locality, separated into Telugus and Tamilians, who do not intermarry. Both are said to be the offspring of a Brahman by a Vaisya woman. The Telugu name is referred to the word mangalam, which means happiness and also cleansing, and is applied to barbers, because they take part in marriage ceremonies, and add to the happiness on the occasion by the melodious sounds of their flutes (nagasaram), while they also contribute to the cleanliness of the people by shaving their bodies. The Telugus are divided into the Reddibhumi, Murikinadu, and Kurichinadu sub-divisions, and are mostly Vaishnavites. They consider the Tamilians as lower than themselves, because they consent to shave the whole body, while the Telugus only shave the upper portions. Besides their ordinary occupation, the members of this caste pretend to some knowledge of surgery and of the properties of herbs and drugs. Their females practice midwifery in a barbarous fashion, not scrupling also to indulge largely in criminal acts connected with their profession. Flesh-eating is allowed, but not widow marriage."

"Mangalas," Mr. Stuart writes further, [177] "are also called Bajantri (in reference to their being musicians), Kalyanakulam (marriage people), and Angarakudu. The word angaramu means fire, charcoal, a live coal, and angarakudu is the planet Mars. Tuesday is Mars day, and one name for it is Angarakavaramu, but the other and more common name is Mangalavaramu. Now mangala is a Sanskrit word, meaning happiness, and mangala, with the soft l, is the Telugu for a barber. Mangalavaramu and Angarakavaramu being synonymous, it is natural that the barbers should have seized upon this, and given themselves importance by claiming to be the caste of the planet Mars. As a matter of fact, this planet is considered to be a star of ill omen, and Tuesday is regarded as an inauspicious day. Barbers are also considered to be of ill omen owing to their connection with deaths, when their services are required to shave the heads of the mourners. On an auspicious occasion, a barber would never be called a Mangala, but a Bajantri, or musician. Their titles are Anna and Gadu." Anna means brother, and Gadu is a common suffix to the names of Telugus, e.g., Ramigadu, Subbigadu. A further title is Ayya (father).

For the following note on the Mangalas, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The caste is divided into two endogamous divisions, Telaga and Kapu, the ancestors of which were half brothers, by different mothers. They will eat together, but will not intermarry, as they regard themselves as cousins. The primary occupation of the caste is shaving the heads of people belonging to the non-polluting castes, and, for a small consideration, razors are lent to Madigas and Malas. A Mangala, in the Vizagapatam district, carries no pollution with him, when he is not actually engaged in his professional duties, and may often be found as storekeeper in Hindu households, and occupying the same position as the Bhondari, or Oriya barber, does in the Oriya country. Unlike the Tamil Ambattan, the Mangala has no objection to shaving Europeans. He is one of the village officials, whose duties are to render assistance to travellers, and massage their limbs, and, in many villages, he is rewarded for his services with a grant of land. He is further the village musician, and an expert at playing on the flute. Boys are taught the art of shaving when they are about eight years old. An old chatty (earthen pot) is turned upside down, and smeared with damp earth. When this is dry, the lad has to scrape it off under the direction of an experienced barber.

Mangala Pujari.--The title of the caste priest of the Mogers.

Mangalyam.--A sub-division of Marans, who, at the tali-kettu ceremony of the Nayars, carry the ashtamangalyam or eight auspicious things. These are rice, paddy (unhusked rice), tender leaves of the cocoanut, a mimic arrow, a metal looking-glass, a well-washed cloth, burning fire, and a small round wooden box called cheppu. Mangalyam occurs as the name for Marans in old Travancore records.

Mangalakkal.--This and Manigramam are recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as sub-divisions of Nayar.

Manikala (a measure).--An exogamous sept of Yanadi.

Manikattal.--A synonym of Deva-dasi applied to dancing-girls in the Tamil country.

Maniyakkaran.--Maniyakkaran or Maniyagaran, meaning an overseer, occurs as a title or synonym of Parivaram and Sembadavan. As a name of a sub-division of the Idaiyan shepherds, the word is said to be derived from mani, a bell, such as is tied round the necks of cattle, sheep, and goats. Maniyakkaran has been corrupted into monegar, the title of the headman of a village in the Tamil country.

Manjaputtur.--A sub-division of Chettis, who are said to have emigrated to the Madura district from Cuddalore (Manjakuppam).

Manla (trees).--An exogamous sept of Chenchu.

Mannadi.--A title of Kunnavans of the Palni hills, often given as the caste name. Also a title of Pallans and Muttans.

Mannadiyar.--A trading sub-division of Nayar.

Mannan.--The Mannans are a hill tribe of Travancore, and are said to have been originally dependents of the kings of Madura, whom they, like the Uralis and Muduvans, accompanied to Neriyamangalam. "Later on, they settled in a portion of the Cardamom Hills called Makara-alum. One of the chiefs of Poonyat nominated three of these Mannans as his agents at three different centres in his dominions, one to live at Tollairamalai with a silver sword as badge and with the title of Varayilkizh Mannan, a second to live at Mannankantam with a bracelet and the title of Gopura Mannan, and a third at Utumpanchola with a silver cane and the title of Talamala Mannan. For these headmen, the other Mannans are expected to do a lot of miscellaneous services. It is only with the consent of the headmen that marriages may be contracted. Persons of both sexes dress themselves like Maravans. Silver and brass ear-rings are worn by the men. Necklets of white and red beads are worn on the neck, and brass bracelets on the wrist. Mannans put up the best huts among the hill-men. Menstrual and puerperal impurity is not so repelling as in the case of the Uralis. About a year after a child is born, the eldest member of the family ties a necklet of beads round its neck, and gives it a name. The Mannans bury their dead. The coffin is made of bamboo and reeds, and the corpse is taken to the grave with music and the beating of drums. The personal ornaments, if any, are not removed. Before filling in the grave, a quantity of rice is put into the mouth of the deceased. A shed is erected over the site of burial. After a year has passed, an offering of food and drink is made to the dead. The language of the Mannans is Tamil. They have neither washermen nor barbers, but wash clothes and shave for one another. The Mannans stand ahead of the other hill-men from their knowledge of medicine, though they resort more to Chattu than to herbs. Drinking is a very common vice. Marumakkathayam is the prevailing form of inheritance (in the female line); but it is customary to give a portion to the sons also. Marriage takes the form of tali-tying. The tali (marriage badge) is removed on the death of the husband. Women generally wait for two years to marry a second husband, after the death of the first. A Mannan claims the hand of his maternal uncle's daughter. The Sasta of Sabarimala and Periyar is devoutly worshipped. The Mannans are experts in collecting honey. They eat the flesh of the monkey, but not that of the crocodile, snake, buffalo or cow. They are fast decreasing in numbers, like the other denizens of the hills." [178]

Concerning the Mannans, Mr. O. H. Bensley writes as follows. [179] "I enjoy many pleasant reminiscences of my intercourse with these people. Their cheery and sociable disposition, and enjoyment of camp life, make it quite a pleasure to be thrown into contact with them. Short, sturdy, and hairless, the Mannans have all the appearances of an 'aboriginal' race. The Mannan country extends southward from the limit occupied by the Muduvans on the Cardamom Hills to a point south of the territory now submerged by the Periyar works. [180] They have, moreover, to keep to the east of the Periyar river. Smallpox ravages their villages, and fever lives in the air they breathe. Within the present generation, three of their settlements were at the point of extinction, but were recruited from other more fortunate bands. Very few attain to old age, but there were until lately three old patriarchs among them, who were the headmen of three of the most important sections of the tribe. The Muduvans and Mannans pursue the same destructive method of cultivation, but, as the latter are much fewer in numbers, their depredations are not so serious. None of the tribes east of the Periyar pay any tax to the Government, but are expected, in return for their holdings, to perform certain services in the way of building huts and clearing paths, for which they receive fixed payment. They have also to collect forest produce, and for this, too, they obtain fixed rates, so that their treatment by the Government is in reality of the most liberal kind. Mannans do not always look at things in quite the light one would expect. For example, the heir to an English Earldom, after a pleasant shooting trip in Travancore, bestowed upon a Mannan who had been with him a handsome knife as a memento. Next day, the knife was seen in the possession of a cooly on a coffee estate, and it transpired that the Mannan had sold it to him for three rupees, instead of keeping it as an heirloom. A remarkable trait in the character of the Mannans is the readiness with which they fraternise with Europeans. Most of the other tribes approach with reluctance, which requires considerable diplomacy to overcome. Not so the Mannan. He willingly initiates a tyro and a stranger into the mysteries of the chase. Though their language is Tamil, and the only communication they hold with the low country is on the Madura side, they have this custom in common with the Malayalis, that the chieftainship of their villages goes to the nephew, and not to the son. One does not expect to find heroic actions among these simple people. But how else could one describe the following incident? A Mannan, walking with his son, a lad about twelve years old, came suddenly upon a rogue elephant. His first act was to place his son in a position of safety by lifting him up till he could reach the branch of a tree, and only then he began to think of himself. But it was too late. The elephant charged down upon him, and in a few seconds he was a shapeless mass."

Mannan (Washerman caste).--See Vannan and Velan.

Mannedora (lord of the hills).--A title assumed by Konda Doras. Manne Sultan is a title of the Maharaja of Travancore and the Raja of Vizianagram. The Konda Doras also style themselves Mannelu, or those of the hills.

Mannepu-vandlu.--Said [181] to be the name, derived from mannemu, highland, for Malas in parts of the Godavari district.

Mannu (earth).--A sub-division of Oddes, who are earth-workers. Manti, which has also been returned by them at times of census, has a similar significance (earthen). Man Udaiyan occurs as a synonym of Kusavan, and Manal (sand) as an exogamous sept of Kappiliyan. Man Kavarai is recorded in the Salem Manual as the name of a class of salt makers from salt-earth.

Mantalayi.--Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a sub-division of Nayar.

Mappilla.--The Mappillas, or Moplahs, are defined in the Census Report, 1871, as the hybrid Mahomedan race of the western coast, whose numbers are constantly being added to by conversion of the slave castes of Malabar. In 1881, the Census Superintendent wrote that "among some of them there may be a strain of Arab blood from some early generation, but the mothers throughout have been Dravidian, and the class has been maintained in number by wholesale adult conversion." Concerning the origin of the Mappillas, Mr. Lewis Moore states [182] that "originally the descendants of Arab traders by the women of the country, they now form a powerful community. There appears to have been a large influx of Arab settlers into Malabar in the ninth century A.D. and the numbers have been constantly increased by proselytism. The Mappillas came prominently forward at the time of the Portuguese invasion at the end of the fifteenth century A.D." "The Muhammadan Arabs," Dr. Burnell writes, [183] "appear to have settled first in Malabar about the beginning of the ninth century; there were heathen Arabs there long before that in consequence of the immense trade conducted by the Sabeans with India." "There are," Mr. B. Govinda Nambiar writes, [184] "many accounts extant in Malabar concerning the introduction of the faith of Islam into this district. Tradition says that, in the ninth century of the Christian era, a party of Moslem pilgrims, on their way to a sacred shrine in Ceylon, chanced to visit the capital of the Perumal or king of Malabar, that they were most hospitably entertained by that prince, and that he, becoming a convert to their faith, subsequently accompanied them to Arabia (where he died). It is further stated that the Perumal, becoming anxious of establishing his new faith in Malabar, with suitable places of worship, sent his followers with letters to all the chieftains whom he had appointed in his stead, requiring them to give land for mosques, and to endow them. The Perumal's instructions were carried out, and nine mosques were founded and endowed in various parts of Malabar. Whatever truth there may be in these accounts, it is certain that, at a very early period, the Arabs had settled for commercial purposes on the Malabar coast, had contracted alliances with the women of the country, and that the mixed race thus formed had begun to be known as the Mappillas. These Mappillas had, in the days of the Zamorin, played an important part in the political history of Malabar, and had in consequence obtained many valuable privileges. When Vasco da Gama visited Calicut during the closing years of the fifteenth century, we find their influence at court so powerful that the Portuguese could not obtain a commercial footing there. The numerical strength of the Mappillas was greatly increased by forcible conversions during the period when Tippu Sultan held sway over Malabar." [At the installation of the Zamorin, some Mappilla families at Calicut have certain privileges; and a Mappilla woman, belonging to a certain family, presents the Zamorin with betel nuts near the Kallai bridge, on his return from a procession through the town.] According to one version of the story of the Perumal, Cheraman Perumal dreamt that the full moon appeared at Mecca on the night of the new moon, and that, when on the meridian, it split into two, one half remaining in the air, and the other half descending to the foot of a hill called Abu Kubais, where the two halves joined together. Shortly afterwards, a party of pilgrims, on their way to the foot-print shrine at Adam's peak in Ceylon, landed in Cheraman Perumal's capital at Kodungallur, and reported that by the same miracle, Muhammad had converted a number of unbelievers to his religion.

The cephalic index of the Mappillas is lower than that of the other Muhammadan classes in South India which I have examined, and this may probably be explained by their admixture with dolichocephalic Dravidians. The figures are as follows:--

Number examined. Cephalic index.

Mappilla 40 72.8
Sheik Muhammadan 40 75.6
Saiyad Muhammadan 40 75.6
Daira Muhammadan 50 75.6
Pathan Muhammadan 40 76.2

From the measurement of a very few Mappillas, members of the Hyderabad Contingent, and Marathas, who went to England for the Coronation in 1902, Mr. J. Gray arrived at the conclusion that "the people on the west coast and in the centre of the Deccan, namely the Moplas, Maharattas, and Hyderabad Contingent, differ considerably from the Tamils of the east coast. Their heads are considerably shorter. This points to admixture of the Dravidians with some Mongolian element. There is a tradition that the Moplas are descended from Arab traders, but the measurements indicate that the immigrants were Turkish, or of some other Mongolian element, probably from Persia or Baluchistan." [185]

The cephalic indices, as recorded by Mr. Gray, were:--

Number examined. Cephalic index.

Tamils 6 75.4
Moplas 6 77.5
Hyderabad Contingent 6 75
Maharattas 7 79

The number of individuals examined is, however, too small for the purpose of generalisation.

In the Census Report, 1891, it is noted that some Mappillas have returned "Putiya Islam," meaning new converts to Islam. These are mostly converts from the Mukkuvan or fisherman caste, and this process of conversion is still going on. Most of the fishermen of Tanur, where there is an important fish-curing yard, are Mukkuvan converts. They are sleek and well-nourished, and, to judge from the swarm of children who followed me during my inspection of the yard, eminently fertile. One of them, indeed, was polygynous to the extent of seven wives, each of whom had presented him with seven sons, not to mention a large consignment of daughters. On the east coast the occurrence of twins is attributed by the fishermen to the stimulating properties of fish diet. In Malabar, great virtue is attributed to the sardine or nalla mathi (good fish, Clupea longiceps), as an article of dietary.

"Conversion to Muhammadanism," Mr. Logan writes, [186] "has had a marked effect in freeing the slave caste in Malabar from their former burthens. By conversion a Cheruman obtains a distinct rise in the social scale, and, if he is in consequence bullied or beaten, the influence of the whole Muhammadan community comes to his aid." The same applies to the Nayadis, of whom some have escaped from their degraded position by conversion to Islam. In the scale of pollution, the Nayadi holds the lowest place, and consequently labours under the greatest disadvantage, which is removed with his change of religion.

As regards the origin and significance of the word Mappilla, according to Mr. Lewis Moore, it means, "(1) a bridegroom or son-in-law; (2) the name given to Muhammadan, Christian, or Jewish colonists in Malabar, who have intermarried with the natives of the country. The name is now confined to Muhammadans." It is noted by Mr. Nelson [187] that "the Kallans alone of all the castes of Madura call the Muhammadans Mappilleis, or bridegrooms." In criticising this statement, Yule and Burnell [188] state that "Nelson interprets the word as bridegroom. It should, however, rather be son-in-law. The husband of the existing Princess of Tanjore is habitually styled by the natives Mappillai Sahib, as the son-in-law of the late Raja." "Some," Mr. Padmanabha Menon writes, [189] "think that the word Mappila is a contracted form of maha (great) and pilla (child), an honorary title as among Nairs in Travancore (pilla or pillay). Mr. Logan surmises that maha pilla was probably a title of honour conferred on the early Muhammadans, or possibly on the still earlier Christian immigrants, who are also down to the present day called Mappilas. The Muhammadans generally go by the name of Jonaga Mappilas. Jonaka is believed to stand for Yavanaka, i.e., Greek!" [190] [In the Gazetteer of the Tanjore district, Yavana is recorded as meaning Ionia.] It is, indeed, remarkable that in the Payyanorepat, perhaps the earliest Malayalam poem extant, some of the sailors mentioned in it are called Chonavans. (The Jews are known as Juda Mappila.) Dr. Day derives the word Mapilla from Ma (mother) and pilla (child). [Wilson gives Mapilla, mother's son, as being sprung from the intercourse of foreign colonists, who were persons unknown, with Malabar women.] Duncan says that a Qazi derived the name from Ma (mother) and pilla a (puppy) as a term of reproach! Maclean, in the Asiatic Researches, considered that the word came from maha or mohai (mocha) and pilla (child), and therefore translated it into children or natives (perhaps outcasts) of Mohai or Mocha. A more likely, and perhaps more correct derivation is given by Mr. Percy Badger in a note to his edition of the Varthema. "I am inclined to think," he says, "that the name is either a corruption of the Arabic muflih (from the root fallah, to till the soil), meaning prosperous or victorious, in which sense it would apply to the successful establishment of those foreign Mussalmans on the western coast of India; or that it is a similar corruption of maflih (the active participial form of the same verb), an agriculturist--a still more appropriate designation of Moplahs, who, according to Buchanan, are both traders and farmers. In the latter sense, the term, though not usually so applied among the Arabs, would be identical with fella'h." By Mr. C. P. Brown the conviction was expressed that Mappilla is a Tamil mispronunciation of the Arabic mu'abbar, from over the water.

"The chief characteristic of the Mappillas," Mr. Govinda Nambiar writes, "as of all Mussalmans, is enthusiasm for religious practices. They are either Sunnis or Shiahs. The Sunnis are the followers of the Ponnani Tangal, the chief priest of the orthodox party, while the Shiahs acknowledge the Kondotti Tangal as their religious head. There are always religious disputes between these sects, and the criminal courts are not seldom called in to settle them." In an account of the Mappillas, [191] Mr. P. Kunjain, a Mappilla Government official (the first Mappilla Deputy Collector), states that "there are a few Moplahs in the Ernad and Waluwanad taluks who are the followers of the Kondotti Tangal, and are, therefore, believed to be heretics (Shias). The number of these is dwindling. The reason why they are believed to be heretics, and as such outcasted, is that they are enjoined by their preceptor (the Tangal) to prostrate before him. Prostration (sujud), according to strict doctrines, is due to God alone." At Mulliakurichi in the Walluwanad taluk there are two mosques. One, the Pazhaya Palli, or old mosque, belongs to, or is regarded as belonging to the Kondotti sect of Mappillas. The other is called Puthan Palli, or new mosque. This mosque is asserted by the Ponnani sect of Mappillas to have been erected for their exclusive use. The Kondotti sect, on the other hand, claim that it was erected by them, as the old mosque was not large enough for the growing congregation. They do not claim exclusive use of the new mosque, but a right to worship there, just like any other Muhammadan. The Ponnani sect, however, claim a right to exclude the Kondotti people from the new mosque altogether. In September, 1901, there was a riot at the mosque between members of the rival sects. The Mappillas have a college at Ponnani, the chief seat of their religious organisation, where men are trained in religious offices. This institution, called the Jammat mosque, was, it is said, founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century A.D. by an Arab divine for the purpose of imparting religious instruction to youths of the Muhammadan community. The head of the institution selects the ablest and most diligent from among the students, and confers on him the title of Musaliar. He is then appointed to preach in mosques, and to explain the meaning of the Koran and other sacred writings. There are other religious offices, as those of the Kazi, Katib, and Mulla. The highest personages of divinity among them are known as Tangals. In the middle of the last century there was a very influential Tangal (Mambram Tangal), who was suspected of fomenting outbreaks, and who conferred his blessing on the murderous projects of his disciples. Of him it is stated that he was regarded as imbued with a portion of divinity, and that the Mappillas swore by his foot as their most solemn oath. Earth on which he had spat or walked was treasured up, and his blessing was supremely prized. Even among the higher class of Mappillas, his wish was regarded as a command.

Mr. A. R. Loftus-Tottenham informs me that "it is quite common now for Mappillas to invoke Mambram Tangal when in difficulties. I have heard a little Mappilla, who was frightened at my appearance, and ran away across a field, calling out 'Mambram Tangal, Mambram Tangal.' The Tangal, who had to be induced to leave Malabar, went off to Constantinople, and gained great influence with the Sultan."

In 1822 it was recorded [192] by Mr. Baber, in a circuit report, that the Tarramal and Condotty Tangals "pretend to an extraordinary sanctity, and such is the character they have established, that the people believe it is in their power to carry them harmless through the most hazardous undertakings, and even to absolve them of the most atrocious crimes. To propitiate them, their votaries are lavish in their presents, and there are no description of delinquents who do not find an asylum in the mosques wherein these Tangals take up their abode, whether pursued by the Police, or by their own evil consciences." There is a legend current on the Kavarathi island of the Laccadives that a Tangal of that island once cursed the crows for dropping their excrement on his person, and now there is not a crow on the island. On another occasion, hearing the cries of a woman in labour, the Tangal prayed to God that the women of the island might suffer from no such pains in future. So strong is the belief in the immunity from the pangs of child-birth which was thus obtained, that the women of the neighbouring islands go over to Kavarathi for delivery, in order to have an easy confinement. [193]