Part 1

# Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 6 of 7 ### By Thurston, Edgar

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CASTES AND TRIBES OF SOUTHERN INDIA

By

EDGAR THURSTON, C.I.E.,

Superintendent, Madras Government Museum; Correspondant Étranger, Société d'Anthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa, Romana di Anthropologia.

Assisted by

K. Rangachari, M.A., of the Madras Government Museum.

VOLUME VI--P TO S

GOVERNMENT PRESS, MADRAS

1909.

CASTES AND TRIBES OF SOUTHERN INDIA.

VOLUME VI.

P

Palli or Vanniyan.--Writing concerning this caste the Census Superintendent, 1871, records that "a book has been written by a native to show that the Pallis (Pullies or Vanniar) of the south are descendants of the fire races (Agnikulas) of the Kshatriyas, and that the Tamil Pullies were at one time the shepherd kings of Egypt." At the time of the census, 1871, a petition was submitted to Government by representatives of the caste, praying that they might be classified as Kshatriyas, and twenty years later, in connection with the census, 1891, a book entitled 'Vannikula Vilakkam: a treatise on the Vanniya caste,' was compiled by Mr. T. Aiyakannu Nayakar, in support of the caste claim to be returned as Kshatriyas, for details concerning which claim I must refer the reader to the book itself. In 1907, a book entitled Varuna Darpanam (Mirror of Castes) was published, in which an attempt is made to connect the caste with the Pallavas.

Kulasekhara, one of the early Travancore kings, and one of the most renowned Alwars reverenced by the Sri Vaishnava community in Southern India, is claimed by the Pallis as a king of their caste. Even now, at the Parthasarathi temple in Triplicane (in the city of Madras), which according to inscriptions is a Pallava temple, Pallis celebrate his anniversary with great éclat. The Pallis of Komalesvaranpettah in the city of Madras have a Kulasekhara Perumal Sabha, which manages the celebration of the anniversary. The temple has recently been converted at considerable cost into a temple for the great Alwar. A similar celebration is held at the Chintadripettah Adikesava Perumal temple in Madras. The Pallis have the right to present the most important camphor offering of the Mylapore Siva temple. They allege that the temple was originally theirs, but by degrees they lost their hold over it until this bare right was left to them. Some years ago, there was a dispute concerning the exercise of this right, and the case came before the High Court of Madras, which decided the point at issue in favour of the Pallis. One of the principal gopuras (pyramidal towers) of the Ekamranatha temple at Big Conjeeveram, the ancient capital of the Pallavas, is known as Palligopuram. The Pallis of that town claim it as their own, and repair it from time to time. In like manner, they claim that the founder of the Chidambaram temple, by name Sweta Varman, subsequently known as Hiranya Varman (sixth century A.D.) was a Pallava king. At Pichavaram, four miles east of Chidambaram, lives a Palli family, which claims to be descended from Hiranya Varman. A curious ceremony is even now celebrated at the Chidambaram temple, on the steps leading to the central sanctuary. As soon as the eldest son of this family is married, he and his wife, accompanied by a local Vellala, repair to the sacred shrine, and there, amidst crowds of their castemen and others, a homam (sacrificial fire) is raised, and offerings are made to it. The couple are then anointed with nine different kinds of holy water, and the Vellala places the temple crown on their heads. The Vellala who officiates at this ceremony, assisted by the temple priests, is said to belong to the family of a former minister of a descendant of Hiranya Varman. It is said that, as the ceremony is a costly one, and the expenses have to be paid by the individual who undergoes it, it often happens that the eldest son of the family has to remain a bachelor for half his lifetime. The Pallis who reside at St. Thomé in the city of Madras allege that they became Christians, with their King Kandappa Raja, who, they say, ruled over Mylapore during the time of the visit of St. Thomas. In 1907, Mr. T. Varadappa Nayakar, the only High Court Vakil (pleader) among the Palli community practising in Madras, brought out a Tamil book on the history of the connection of the caste with the ancient Pallava kings.

In reply to one of a series of questions promulgated by the Census Superintendent, it was stated that "the caste is known by the following names:--Agnikulas and Vanniyas. The etymology of these is the same, being derived from the Sanskrit Agni or Vahni, meaning fire. The following, taken from Dr. Oppert's article on the original inhabitants of Bharatavarsa or India, explains the name of the caste with its etymology:--'The word Vanniyan is generally derived from the Sanskrit Vahni, fire. Agni, the god of fire, is connected with regal office, as kings hold in their hands the fire-wheel or Agneya-chakra, and the Vanniyas urge in support of their name the regal descent they claim.' The existence of these fire races, Agnikula or Vahnikula (Vanniya), in North and South India is a remarkable fact. No one can refuse to a scion of the non-Aryan warrior tribe the title of Rajputra, but in so doing we establish at once Aryan and non-Aryan Rajaputras or Rajputs. The Vanniyan of South India may be accepted as a representative of the non-Aryan Rajput element."

The name Vanniyan is, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [1] "derived from the Sanskrit vanhi (fire) in consequence of the following legend. In the olden times, two giants named Vatapi and Mahi, worshipped Brahma with such devotion that they obtained from him immunity from death from every cause save fire, which element they had carelessly omitted to include in their enumeration. Protected thus, they harried the country, and Vatapi went the length of swallowing Vayu, the god of the winds, while Mahi devoured the sun. The earth was therefore enveloped in perpetual darkness and stillness, a condition of affairs which struck terror into the minds of the devatas, and led them to appeal to Brahma. He, recollecting the omission made by the giants, directed his suppliants to desire the rishi Jambava Mahamuni to perform a yagam, or sacrifice by fire. The order having been obeyed, armed horse men sprung from the flames, who undertook twelve expeditions against Vatapi and Mahi, whom they first destroyed, and afterwards released Vayu and the sun from their bodies. Their leader then assumed the government of the country under the name Rudra Vanniya Maharaja, who had five sons, the ancestors of the Vanniya caste. These facts are said to be recorded in the Vaidiswara temple in the Tanjore district."

The Vaidiswara temple here referred to is the Vaidiswara kovil near Shiyali. Mr. Stuart adds that "this tradition alludes to the destruction of the city of Vapi by Narasimha Varma, king of the Pallis or Pallavas." Vapi, or Va-api, was the ancient name of Vatapi or Badami in the Bombay Presidency. It was the capital of the Chalukyas, who, during the seventh century, were at feud with the Pallavas of the south. "The son of Mahendra Varman I," writes Rai Bahadur V. Venkayya, "was Narasimha Varman I, who retrieved the fortunes of the family by repeatedly defeating the Cholas, Keralas, Kalabhras, and Pandyas. He also claims to have written the word victory as on a plate on Pulikesin's [2] back, which was caused to be visible (i.e., which was turned in flight after defeat) at several battles. Narasimha Varman carried the war into Chalukyan territory, and actually captured Vatapi their capital. This claim of his is established by an inscription found at Badami, from which it appears that Narasimha Varman bore the title Mahamalla. In later times, too, this Pallava king was known as Vatapi Konda Narasingapottaraiyan. Dr. Fleet assigns the capture of the Chalukya capital to about A.D. 642. The war of Narasimha Varman with Pulikesin is mentioned in the Sinhalese chronicle Mahavamsa. It is also hinted at in the Tamil Periyapuranam. The well-known saint Siruttonda, who had his only son cut up and cooked in order to satisfy the appetite of the god Siva disguised as a devotee, is said to have reduced to dust the city of Vatapi for his royal master, who could be no other than the Pallava king Narasimha Varman."

I gather, from a note by Mr. F. R. Hemingway, that the Pallis "tell a long story of how they are descendants of one Vira Vanniyan, who was created by a sage named Sambuha when he was destroying the two demons named Vatapi and Enatapi. This Vira Vanniyan married a daughter of the god Indra, and had five sons, named Rudra, Brahma, Krishna, Sambuha, and Kai, whose descendants now live respectively in the country north of the Palar in the Cauvery delta, between the Palar and Pennar. They have written a Puranam and a drama bearing on this tale. They declare that they are superior to Brahmans, since, while the latter must be invested with the sacred thread after birth, they bring their sacred thread with them at birth itself."

"The Vanniyans," Mr. Nelson states, [3] "are at the present time a small and obscure agricultural caste, but there is reason to believe that they are descendants of ancestors who, in former times, held a good position among the tribes of South India. A manuscript, abstracted at page 90 of the Catalogue raisonné (Mackenzie Manuscripts), states that the Vanniyans belong to the Agnikula, and are descended from the Muni Sambhu; and that they gained victories by means of their skill in archery. And another manuscript, abstracted at page 427, shows that two of their chiefs enjoyed considerable power, and refused to pay the customary tribute to the Rayar, who was for a long time unable to reduce them to submission. Armies of Vanniyans are often mentioned in Ceylon annals. And a Hindu History of Ceylon, translated in the Royal As. Soc. Journal, Vol. XXIV, states that, in the year 3300 of the Kali Yuga, a Pandya princess went over to Ceylon, and married its king, and was accompanied by sixty bands of Vanniyans."

The terms Vanni and Vanniyan are used in Tamil poems to denote king. Thus, in the classical Tamil poem Kalladam, which has been attributed to the time of Tiruvalluvar, the author of the sacred Kural, Vanni is used in the sense of king. Kamban, the author of the Tamil Ramayana, uses it in a similar sense. In an inscription dated 1189 A.D., published by Dr. E. Hultzsch, [4] Vanniya Nayan appears among the titles of the local chief of Tiruchchuram, who made a grant of land to the Vishnu temple at Manimangalam. Tiruchchuram is identical with Tiruvidaichuram about four miles south-east of Chingleput, where there is a ruined fort, and also a Siva temple celebrated in the hymns of Tirugnana Sambandhar, the great Saiva saint who lived in the 9th century. Local tradition, confirmed by one of the Mackenzie manuscripts, [5] says that this place was, during the time of the Vijayanagar King Krishna Raya (1509-30 A.D.), ruled over by two feudal chiefs of the Vanniya caste named Kandavarayan and Sendavarayan. They, it is said, neglected to pay tribute to their sovereign lord, who sent an army to exact it. The brothers proved invincible, but one of their dancing-girls was guilty of treachery. Acting under instructions, she poisoned Kandavarayan. His brother Sendavarayan caught hold of her and her children, and drowned them in the local tank. The tank and the hillock close by still go by the name of Kuppichi kulam and Kuppichi kunru, after Kuppi the dancing-girl. An inscription of the Vijayanagar king Deva Raya II (1419-44 A.D.) gives him the title of the lord who took the heads of the eighteen Vanniyas. [6] This inscription records a grant by one Muttayya Nayakan, son of Mukka Nayakan of Vanniraya gotram. Another inscription, [7] dated 1456 A.D., states that, when one Raja Vallabha ruled at Conjeeveram, a general, named Vanniya Chinna Pillai, obtained a piece of land at Sattankad near Madras. Reference is made by Orme [8] to the assistance which the Vaniah of Sevagherry gave Muhammad Yusuf in his reduction of Tinnevelly in 1757. The Vaniah here referred to is the Zamindar of Sivagiri in the Tinnevelly district, a Vanniya by caste. Vanniyas are mentioned in Ceylon archives. Wanni is the name of a district in Ceylon. It is, Mr. W. Hamilton writes, [9] "situated towards Trincomalee in the north-east quarter. At different periods its Wannies or princes, taking advantage of the wars between the Candian sovereigns and their European enemies, endeavoured to establish an authority independent of both, but they finally, after their country had been much desolated by all parties, submitted to the Dutch." Further, Sir J. E. Tennent writes, [10] that "in modern times, the Wanny was governed by native princes styled Wannyahs, and occasionally by females with the title of Wunniches."

The terms Sambhu and Sambhava Rayan are connected with the Pallis. The story goes that Agni was the original ancestor of all kings. His son was Sambhu, whose descendants called themselves Sambhukula, or those of the Sambhu family. Some inscriptions [11] of the time of the Chola kings Kulottunga III and Raja Raja III record Sambukula Perumal Sambuvarayan and Alagiya Pallavan Edirili Sola Sambuvarayan as titles of local chiefs. A well-known verse of Irattayar in praise of Conjeeveram Ekamranathaswami refers to the Pallava king as being of the Sambu race. The later descendants of the Pallavas apparently took Sambuvarayar and its allied forms as their titles, as the Pallis in Tanjore and South Arcot still do. At Conjeeveram there lives the family of the Mahanattar of the Vanniyans, which calls itself "of the family of Vira Sambu."

"The name Vanniyan," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [12] seems to have been introduced by the Brahmans, possibly to gratify the desire of the Pallis for genealogical distinction. Padaiyachi means a soldier, and is also of late origin. That the Pallis were once an influential and independent community may be admitted, and in their present desire to be classed as Kshatriyas they are merely giving expression to this belief, but, unless an entirely new meaning is to be given to the term Kshatriya, their claim must be dismissed as absurd. After the fall of the Pallava dynasty, the Pallis became agricultural servants under the Vellalas, and it is only since the advent of British rule that they have begun to assert their claims to a higher position." Further, Mr. W. Francis writes [13] that "this caste has been referred to as being one of those which are claiming for themselves a position higher than that which Hindu society is inclined to accord them. Their ancestors were socially superior to themselves, but they do not content themselves with stating this, but in places are taking to wearing the sacred thread of the twice-born, and claim to be Kshatriyas. They have published pamphlets to prove their descent from that caste, and they returned themselves in thousands, especially in Godavari, as Agnikula Kshatriyas or Vannikula Kshatriyas, meaning Kshatriyas of the fire race." "As a relic," it has been said, [14] "of the origin of the Vannikula Kshatriyas from fire, the fire-pot, which comes in procession on a fixed day during the annual festivities of Draupadi and other goddesses, is borne on the head of a Vanniya. Also, in dramatic plays, the king personæ (sic) has always been taken by a Kshatriya, who is generally a Vanniya. These peculiarities, however, are becoming common now-a-days, when privileges peculiar to one caste are being trenched upon by other caste men. In the Tirupporur temple, the practice of beating the mazhu (red-hot iron) is done by a dancing-girl serving the Vanniya caste. The privilege of treading on the fire is also peculiar to the Vanniyas." It is recorded by Mr. Francis [15] that, in the South Arcot district, "Draupadi's temples are very numerous, and the priest at them is generally a Palli by caste, and Pallis take the leading part in the ceremonies at them. Why this should be so is not clear. The Pallis say it is because both the Pandava brothers and themselves were born of fire, and are therefore related. Festivals to Draupadi always involve two points of ritual--the recital or acting of a part of the Mahabharata and a fire-walking ceremony. The first of these is usually done by the Pallis, who are very fond of the great epic, and many of whom know it uncommonly well. [In the city of Madras there are several Draupadi Amman temples belonging to the Pallis. The fire-walking ceremony cannot be observed thereat without the help of a member of this caste, who is the first to walk over the hot ashes.]

Kuvvakkam is known for its festival to Aravan (more correctly Iravan) or Kuttandar, which is one of the most popular feasts with Sudras in the whole district. Aravan was the son of Arjuna, one of the five Pandava brothers. Local tradition says that, when the great war which is described in the Mahabharata was about to begin, the Kauravas, the opponents of the Pandavas, sacrificed, to bring them success, a white elephant. The Pandavas were in despair of being able to find any such uncommon object with which to propitiate the gods, until Arjuna suggested that they should offer up his son Aravan. Aravan agreed to yield his life for the good of the cause, and, when eventually the Pandavas were victorious, he was deified for the self-abnegation which had thus brought his side success. Since he died in his youth, before he had been married, it is held to please him if men, even though grown up and already wedded, come now and offer to espouse him, and men who are afflicted with serious diseases take a vow to marry him at his annual festival in the hope of thereby being cured. The festival occurs in May, and for eighteen nights the Mahabharata is recited by a Palli, large numbers of people, especially of that caste, assembling to hear it read. On the eighteenth night, a wooden image of Kuttandar is taken to a tope (grove), and seated there. This is the signal for the sacrifice of an enormous number of fowls. Every one who comes brings one or two, and the number killed runs literally into thousands. Such sacrifices are most uncommon in South Arcot, though frequent enough in other parts of the Presidency--the Ceded Districts for example--and this instance is noteworthy. While this is going on, all the men who have taken vows to be married to the deity appear before his image dressed like women, make obeisance, offer to the priest (who is a Palli by caste) a few annas, and give into his hands the talis (marriage badges) which they have brought with them. These the priest, as representing the God, ties round their necks. The God is brought back to his shrine that night, and when in front of the building he is hidden by a cloth being held before him. This symbolises the sacrifice of Aravan, and the men who have just been married to him set up loud lamentations at the death of their husband. Similar vows are taken and ceremonies performed, it is said, at the shrines to Kuttandar at Kottattai (two miles north-west of Porto Novo), and Adivarahanattum (five miles north-west of Chidambaram), and, in recent years, at Tiruvarkkulam (one mile east of the latter place); other cases probably occur."

The Pallis, Mr. Francis writes further, [16] "as far back as 1833 tried to procure a decree in Pondicherry, declaring that they were not a low caste, and of late years they have, in this (South Arcot) district, been closely bound together by an organisation managed by one of their caste, who was a prominent person in these parts. In South Arcot they take a somewhat higher social rank than in other places--Tanjore, for example--and their esprit de corps is now surprisingly strong. They are tending gradually to approach the Brahmanical standard of social conduct, discouraging adult marriage, meat-eating, and widow re-marriage, and they also actively repress open immorality or other social sins, which might serve to give the community a bad name. In 1904 a document came before one of the courts, which showed that, in the year previous, the representatives of the caste in thirty-four villages in this district had bound themselves in writing, under penalty of excommunication, to refrain (except with the consent of all parties) from the practices formerly in existence of marrying two wives, and of allowing a woman to marry again during the lifetime of her first husband. Some of the caste have taken to calling themselves Vannikula Kshatriyas or Agnikula Kshatriyas, and others even declare that they are Brahmans. These last always wear the sacred thread, tie their cloths in the Brahman fashion (though their women do not follow the Brahman ladies in this matter), forbid widow remarriage, and are vegetarians."

Some Palli Poligars have very high-sounding names, such as Agni Kudirai Eriya Raya Ravutha Minda Nainar, i.e., Nainar who conquered Raya Ravutha and mounted a fire horse. This name is said to commemorate a contest between a Palli and a Ravutha, at which the former sat on a red-hot metal horse. Further names are Samidurai Surappa Sozhaganar and Anjada Singam (fearless lion). Some Pallis have adopted Gupta as a title.

A few Palli families now maintain a temple of their own, dedicated to Srinivasa, at the village of Kumalam in the South Arcot district, live round the temple, and are largely dependent on it for their livelihood. Most of them dress exactly like the temple Battars, and a stranger would certainly take them for Battar Brahmans. Some of them are well versed in the temple ritual, and their youths are being taught the Sandyavandhana (morning prayer) and Vedas by a Brahman priest. Ordinary Palli girls are taken by them in marriage, but their own girls are not allowed to marry ordinary Pallis; and, as a result of this practice of hypergamy, the Kumalam men sometimes have to take to themselves more than one wife, in order that their young women may be provided with husbands. These Kumalam Pallis are regarded as priests of the Pallis, and style themselves Kovilar, or temple people. But, by other castes, they are nicknamed Kumalam Brahmans. They claim to be Kshatriyas, and have adopted the title Rayar.

Other titles, "indicating authority, bravery, and superiority," assumed by Pallis are Nayakar, Varma, Padaiyachi (head of an army), Kandar, Chera, Chola, Pandya, Nayanar, Udaiyar, Samburayar, etc. [17] Still further titles are Pillai, Reddi, Goundan, and Kavandan. Some say that they belong to the Chola race, and that, as such, they should be called Chembians. [18] Iranya Varma, the name of one of the early Pallava kings, was returned as their caste by certain wealthy Pallis, who also gave themselves the title of Solakanar (descendant of Chola kings) at the census, 1901.