Part 16

Perike women appear to have frequently committed sati (or suttee) on the death of their husbands in former days, and the names of those who thus sacrificed their lives are still held in reverence. A peculiar custom among the Perikes is the erection of big square structures (brindavanam), in which a tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) is planted, on the spot where the ashes of the dead are buried after cremation. I am informed that a fine series of these structures may be seen at Chipurapalli, close to Vizianagram. As a mark of respect to the dead, passers-by usually place a lac bangle or flowers thereon. The usual titles of the Perikes are Anna and Ayya, but some style themselves Rao (= Raya, king) or Rayadu, in reference to their alleged Kshatriya origin.

For the following note on the Perikes of the Godavari district, I am indebted to Mr. F. R. Hemingway. "Like some of the Kammas, they claim to be of Kshatriya stock, and say they are of the lineage of Parasu Rama, but were driven out by him for kidnapping his sister, while pretending to be gunny-bag weavers. They say that they were brought to this country by king Nala of the Mahabharata, in gratitude for their having taken care of his wife Damayanti when he quitted her during his misfortunes. They support the begging caste of Varugu Bhattas, who, they say, supported them during their exile, and to whom they gave a sanad (deed of grant) authorising them to demand alms. These people go round the Perike houses for their dues every year. The Pisu Perikes, who still weave gunny-bags, are said not to belong to the caste proper, members of which style themselves Racha Perikes.

"The Perikes say that, like the Komatis, they have 101 gotras. Their marriage ceremonies are peculiar. On the day of the wedding, the bride and bridegroom are made to fast, as also are three male relatives, whom they call suribhaktas. At the marriage, the couple sit on a gunny-bag, and another gunny, on which a representation of the god Mailar is drawn or painted, is spread between them. The same god is drawn on two pots, and these, and also a third pot, are filled with rice and dhal (Cajanus indicus), which are cooked by two married women. The food is then offered to Mailar. Next, the three suribhaktas take 101 cotton threads, fasten them together, and tie seven knots in them. The bride and bridegroom are given cloths which have been partly immersed in water coloured with turmeric and chunam (lime), and the suribhaktas are fed with the rice and dhal cooked in the pots. The couple are then taken round the village in procession, and, on their return, the knotted cotton threads are tied round the bride's neck instead of a tali.

Some Perikes style themselves Sathu vandlu, meaning a company of merchants or travellers.

Perike Muggula is the name of a class of Telugu mendicants and exorcists.

Periya (big).--Periya or Periyanan has been recorded as a sub-division of Karalan, Kunnuvan, Occhan, and Pattanavan. The equivalent Peru or Perum occurs as a sub-division of the Malayalam Kollans and Vannans and Perim of Kanikars. Periya illom is the name of an exogamous illom of Kanikars in Travancore.

Perugadannaya (bandicoot rat sept).--An exogamous sept of Bant.

Perum Tali (big tali).--A sub-division of Idaiyan, and of Kaikolans, whose women wear a big tali (marriage badge).

Perumal.--Perumal is a synonym of Vishnu, and the name is taken by some Pallis who are staunch Vaishnavites. A class of mendicants, who travel about exhibiting performing bulls in the southern part of the Madras Presidency, is known as Perumal Madukkaran or Perumal Erudukkaran. Perumalathillom, meaning apparently big mountain house, is an exogamous sept or illom of the Kanikars of Travancore.

Pesala (seeds of Phaseolus Mungo: green gram).--An exogamous sept of Jogi.

Peta (street).--A sub-division of Balija.

Pettigeyavaru (box).--A sub-division of Gangadikara Vakkaliga.

Pichiga (sparrow).--An exogamous sept of Boya and Devanga. The equivalent Pital occurs as a sept of Mala.

Pichigunta.--The name Pichigunta means literally an assembly of beggars, who are described [97] as being, in the Telugu country, a class of mendicants, who are herbalists, and physic people for fever, stomach-ache, and other ailments. They beat the village drums, relate stories and legends, and supply the place of a Herald's Office, as they have a reputation for being learned in family histories, and manufacture pedigrees and gotras (house names) for Kapus, Kammas, Gollas, and others.

The Picchai or Pinchikuntar are described in the Salem Manual as "servants to the Kudianavars or cultivators--a name commonly assumed by Vellalas and Pallis. The story goes that a certain Vellala had a hundred and two children, of whom only one was a female. Of the males, one was lame, and his hundred brothers made a rule that one would provide him with one kolagam of grain and one fanam (a coin) each year. They got him married to a Telugu woman of a different caste, and the musicians who attended the ceremony were paid nothing, the brothers alleging that, as the bridegroom was a cripple, the musicians should officiate from charitable motives. The descendants of this married pair, having no caste of their own, became known as Picchi or Pinchikuntars (beggars, or lame). They are treated as kudipinnai (inferior) by Vellalas, and to the present day receive their prescribed miras (fee) from the Vellala descendants of the hundred brothers, to whom, on marriage and other festivals, they do service by relating the genealogies of such Vellalas as they are acquainted with. Some serve the Vellalas in the fields, and others live by begging." [97]

The caste beggars of the Tottiyans are known as Pichiga-vadu.

Pidakala (cow-dung cakes or bratties).--An exogamous sept of Devanga. Dried cow-dung cakes are largely used by natives as fuel, and may be seen stuck on to the walls of houses.

Pidaran.--A section of Ambalavasis, who, according to Mr. Logan [98] "drink liquor, exorcise devils, and are worshippers of Bhadrakali or of Sakti. The name is also applied to snake-catchers, and it was probably conferred on the caste owing to the snake being an emblem of the human passion embodied in the deities they worship."

Pilapalli.--The Pilapallis are a small caste or community in Travancore, concerning which Mr. S. Subramanya Aiyar writes as follows. [99] "The following sketch will show what trifling circumstances are sufficient in this land of Parasurama to call a new caste into existence. The word Pilapally is supposed to be a corruption of Belal Thalli, meaning forcibly ejected. It therefore contains, as though in a nutshell, the history of the origin of this little community, which it is used to designate. In the palmy days of the Chempakasseri Rajas, about the year 858 M.E., there lived at the court of the then ruling Prince at Ambalappuzha a Namburi Brahman who stood high in the Prince's favour, and who therefore became an eye-sore to all his fellow courtiers. The envy and hatred of the latter grew to such a degree that one day they put their heads together to devise a plan which should at once strip him of all influence at court, and humble him in the eyes of the public. The device hit upon was a strange one, and characteristic of that dim and distant past. The Namburi was the custodian of all presents made to the Prince, and as such it was a part of his daily work to arrange the articles presented in their proper places. It was arranged that one day a dead fish, beautifully tied up and covered, should be placed among the presents laid before the Prince. The victim of the plot, little suspecting there was treachery in the air, removed all the presents as usual with his own hand. His enemies at court, who were but waiting for an opportunity of humbling him to the dust, thereupon caused the bundle to be examined before the Prince, when it became evident that it contained a dead fish. Now, for a Namburi to handle a dead fish was, according to custom, sufficient to make him lose caste. On the strength of this argument, the Prince, who was himself a Brahmin, was easily prevailed upon to put the Namburi out of the pale of caste, and the court favourite was immediately excommunicated. There is another and a slightly different version of the story, according to which the Namburi in question was the hereditary priest of the royal house, to whom fell the duty of removing and preserving the gifts. In course of time he grew so arrogant that the Prince himself wanted to get rid of him, but, the office of the priest being hereditary, he did not find an easy way of accomplishing his cherished object, and, after long deliberation with those at court in whom he could confide, came at last to the solution narrated above. It is this forcible ejection that the expression Belal Thalli (afterwards changed into Pilapally) is said to import.... It appears that the unfortunate Namburi had two wives, both of whom elected to share his fate. Accordingly, the family repaired to Paravur, a village near Kallarkode, where their royal patron made them a gift of land. Although they quitted Ambalapuzha for good, they seem to have long owned there a madathummuri (a room in a series, in which Brahmins from abroad once lived and traded), and are said to be still entitled daily to a measure of palpayasom from the temple, a sweet pudding of milk, rice and sugar, celebrated all over Malabar for its excellence. The progeny of the family now count in all about ninety members, who live in eight or nine different houses."

Pillai.--Pillai, meaning child, is in the Tamil country primarily the title of Vellalas, but has, at recent times of census, been returned as the title of a number of classes, which include Agamudaiyan, Ambalakaran, Golla, Idaiyan, Nayar, Nokkan, Panisavan, Panikkan, Paraiyan, Saiyakkaran, Sembadavan and Senaikkudaiyans. Pilla is further used as the title of the male offspring of Deva-dasis. Many Paraiyan butlers of Europeans have assumed the title Pillai as an honorific suffix to their name. So, too, have some criminal Koravas, who pose as Vellalas.

Pillaikuttam.--Recorded, in the Manual of the North Arcot district, as a bastard branch of Vaniyan.

Pillaiyarpatti (Ganesa village).--An exogamous section or kovil of Nattukottai Chetti.

Pilli (cat).--An exogamous sept of Chembadi, Mala, and Medara.

Pindari.--In the Madras Census Report, 1901, fifty-nine Pindaris are returned as a Bombay caste of personal servants. They are more numerous in the Mysore province, where more than two thousand were returned in the same year as being engaged in agriculture and Government service. The Pindaris were formerly celebrated as a notorious class of freebooters, who, in the seventeenth century, attached themselves to the Marathas in their revolt against Aurangzib, and for a long time afterwards, committed raids in all directions, extending their operations to Southern India. It is on record that "in a raid made upon the coast extending from Masulipatam northward, the Pindaris in ten days plundered 339 villages, burning many, killing and wounding 682 persons, torturing 3,600, and carrying off or destroying property to the amount of £250,000." [100] They were finally suppressed, in Central India, during the Viceroyalty of the Marquis of Hastings, in 1817.

Pindi (flour).--An exogamous sept of Mala.

Pinjari (cotton-cleaner).--A synonym for Dudekula. Pinjala (cotton) occurs as an exogamous sept of Devanga.

Pippala (pepper: Piper longum).--An exogamous sept or gotra of Gamalla and Komati.

Pisharati.--The Pisharatis or Pisharodis are summed up in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as being a sub-caste of Ambalavasis, which makes flower garlands, and does menial service in the temples. As regards their origin, the legend runs to the effect that a Swamiyar, or Brahman ascetic, once had a disciple of the same caste, who wished to become a Sanyasi or anchorite. All the ceremonies prior to shaving the head of the novice were completed, when, alarmed at the prospect of a cheerless life and the severe austerities incidental thereto, he made himself scarce. Pishara denotes a Sanyasi's pupil, and as he, after running away, was called Pisharodi, the children born to him of a Parasava woman by a subsequent marriage were called Pisharatis. In his 'Early Sovereigns of Travancore,' Mr. Sundaram Pillay says that the Pisharati's "puzzling position among the Malabar castes, half monk and half layman, is far from being accounted for by the silly and fanciful modern derivation of Pisharakal plus Odi, Pisharakal being more mysterious than Pisharati itself." It is suggested by him that Pisharati is a corruption of Bhattaraka-tiruvadi. According to the Jati-nirnaya, the Bhattarakas are a community degraded from the Brahmans during the Treta Yuga. As far as we are able to gather from mediæval Travancore inscriptions, an officer known as Pidara-tiruvadi was attached to every temple. It is known that he used to receive large perquisites for temple service, and that extensive rice-lands were given to the Bhattakara of Nelliyur. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that "the traditional etymology of the name Pisharodi refers it to a Sanyasi novice, who, deterred by the prospects of the hardship of life on which he was about to enter, ran away (odi) at the last moment, after he had been divested of the punul (thread), but before he had performed the final ceremony of plunging thrice in a tank (pond), and of plucking out, one at each plunge, the last three hairs of his kudumi (the rest of which had been shaved off). But the termination 'Odi' is found in other caste titles such as Adiyodi and Vallodi, and the definition is obviously fanciful, while it does not explain the meaning of Pishar."

The houses of Pisharatis are called pisharam. Their primary occupation is to prepare garlands of flowers for Vaishnava temples, but they frequently undertake the talikazhakam or sweeping service in temples. Being learned men, and good Sanskrit scholars, they are employed as Sanskrit and Malayalam tutors in the families of those of high rank, and, in consequence, make free use of the title Asan. They are strict Vaishnavites, and the ashtakshara, or eight letters relating to Vishnu, as opposed to the panchakshara or five letters relating to Siva, forms their daily hymn of prayer. They act as their own caste priests, but for the punyaha or purificatory ceremony and the initiation into the ashtakshara, which are necessary on special occasions, the services of Brahmans are engaged.

The Pisharatis celebrate the tali-kettu ceremony before the girl reaches puberty. The most important item therein is the joining of the hands of the bride and bridegroom. The planting of a jasmine shoot is observed as an indispensable preliminary rite. The events between this and the joining of hands are the same as with other Ambalavasis. The bride and bridegroom bathe, and wear clothes touched by each other. The girl's mother then gives her a wedding garland and a mirror, with which she sits, her face covered with a cloth. The cherutali, or marriage ornament, is tied by the bridegroom round the girl's neck. If this husband dies, the tali has to be removed, and the widow observes pollution. Her sons have to make oblations of cooked rice, and, for all social and religious purposes, the woman is regarded as a widow, though she is not debarred from contracting a sambandham (alliance) with a man of her own caste, or a Brahman. If the wife dies, the husband has, in like manner, to observe pollution, and make oblations of cooked rice. There are cases in which the tali-kettu is performed by a Pisharati, and sambandham contracted with a Brahman. If the tali-tier becomes the husband, no separate cloth-giving ceremony need be gone through by him after the girl has reached puberty.

Inheritance is in the female line, so much so that a wife and children are not entitled to compensation for the performance of a man's funeral rites.

No particular month is fixed for the name-giving rite, as it suffices if this is performed before the annaprasana ceremony. The maternal uncle first names the child. When it is four or six months old, it is taken out to see the sun. On the occasion of the annaprasana, which usually takes place in the sixth month, the maternal uncle gives the first mouthful of cooked rice to the child by means of a golden ring. The Yatrakali serves as the night's entertainment for the assembled guests. Nambutiris are invited to perform the purificatory ceremony known as punyaha, but the consecrated water is only sprinkled over the roof of the house. The inmates thereof protrude their heads beneath the eaves so as to get purified, as the Brahmans do not pour the water over them. The chaula or tonsure takes place at the third year of a child's life. The maternal uncle first touches the boy's head with a razor, and afterwards the Maran and barber do the same. The initiation into the ashtakshara takes place at the age of sixteen. On an auspicious day, a Brahman brings a pot of water, consecrated in a temple, to the pisharam, and pours its contents on the head of the lad who is to be initiated. The ceremony is called kalasam-ozhuk-kua, or letting a pot of water flow. After the teaching of the ashtakshara, the youth, dressed in religious garb, makes a ceremonial pretence of proceeding on a pilgrimage to Benares, as a Brahman does at the termination of the Brahmacharya stage of life. It is only after this that a Pisharati is allowed to chew betel leaf, and perform other acts, which constitute the privileges of a Grihastha.

The funeral rites of the Pisharatis are very peculiar. The corpse is seated on the ground, and a nephew recites the ashtakshara, and prostrates himself before it. The body is bathed, and dressed. A grave, nine feet deep and three feet square, is dug in a corner of the grounds, and salt and ashes, representing all the Panchabhutas, are spread. The corpse is placed in the grave in a sitting posture. As in the case of a Sanyasi, who is a Jivanmukta, or one liberated from the bondage of the flesh though alive in body, so a dead Pisharati is believed to have no suitable body requiring to be entertained with any post-mortem offerings. A few memorial rites are, however, performed. On the eleventh day, a ceremony corresponding to the ekoddishta sradh of the Brahman is carried out. A knotted piece of kusa grass, representing the soul of the deceased, is taken to a neighbouring temple, where a lighted lamp, symbolical of Maha Vishnu is worshipped, and prayers are offered. This ceremony is repeated at the end of the first year. [101]

Some Pisharatis are large land-owners of considerable wealth and influence. [102]

Pisu Perike.--Perikes who weave gunny-bags.

Pitakalu (dais, on which a priest sits).--An exogamous sept of Odde.

Pittalavadu.--A Telugu name for Kuruvikkarans.

Podapotula.--A class of mendicants, who beg from Gollas.

Podara Vannan.--The Podara, Podarayan or Pothora Vannans are washermen of inferior social status, who wash clothes for Pallans, Paraiyans, and other low classes.

Podhano.--Recorded, at times of census, as a title of Bolasi, Gaudo, Kalingi, Kudumo, and Samantiya. The Samantiyas also frequently give it as the name of their caste.

Poduval.--Defined by Mr. Wigram [103] as one of the Ambalavasi castes, the members of which are as a rule employed as temple watchmen. Writing concerning the Mussads or Muttatus, Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar states that they are known as Muttatus or Mussatus in Travancore and Cochin, and Potuvals (or Poduvals) or Akapotuvals in North Malabar. Potuval means a common person, i.e., the representative of a committee, and a Muttatu's right to this name accrues from the fact that, in the absence of the Nambutiri managers of a temple, he becomes their agent, and is invested with authority to exercise all their functions. The work of an Akapotuval always lies within the inner wall of the shrine, while that of the Purappotuval, or Potuval proper, lies outside. From Travancore, Poduvan or Potuvan is recorded as a synonym or sub-division of Marans, who are employed at funerals by various castes.

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that "Pura Pothuvals are of two classes, Chenda Pothuvals or drum Pothuvals, and Mala Pothuvals or garland Pothuvals, the names of course referring to the nature of the service which they have to render in the temple. The Chenda Pothuvals would appear to be closely connected with the Marars or Marayars, who are also drummers. Mala Pothuvals follow marumakkattayam (inheritance in the female line), their women having sambandham (alliance) with men of their own caste or with Brahmans, while the men can have sambandham in their own caste, or with Nayar women of any of the sub-divisions below Kiriyattil. Their women are called Pothuvarassiar or Pothuvattimar." It is further recorded [104] that, in some cases, for instance among Mala Pothuvals and Marars in South Malabar, a fictitious consummation is an incident of the tali-kettu ; the girl and manavalan (bridegroom) being made to lie on a bed together, and left there alone for a few moments. Amongst the Mala Pothuvals this is done twice, once on the first and once on the last day, and they apparently also spend the three nights of the ceremony in the same bed-chamber, but not alone, an Enangatti sleeping there as chaperone. In these two castes, as in most if not all others, the ceremony also entails the pollution of the girl and her bridegroom. Amongst the Marars, they are purified by a Nambudiri after they leave their quasi-nuptial couch. Amongst the Mala Pothuvals, they are not allowed to bathe or to touch others during the wedding till the fourth day, when they are given mattu (change of cloths) by the Veluttedan."

Podala occurs as a Canarese form of Poduval.

Pogandan.--A synonym of Pondan.

Pokanati.--Pokanati or Pakanati is a sub-division of Kapu.

Poladava.--A synonym of Gatti.

Poligar (feudal chief).--A synonym of Palayakkaran. According to Yule and Burnell, [105] the Poligars "were properly subordinate feudal chiefs, occupying tracts more or less wild, and generally of predatory habits in former days. They are now much the same as Zemindars (land-owners) in the highest use of that term. The Southern Poligars gave much trouble about a hundred years ago, and the 'Poligar wars' were somewhat serious affairs. In various assaults on Panjalamkurichi, one of their forts in Tinnevelly, between 1799 and 1801, there fell fifteen British officers." The name Poligar was further used for the predatory classes, which served under the chiefs. Thus, in Munro's 'Narrative of Military Operations' (1780-84), it is stated that "the matchlock men are generally accompanied by Poligars, a set of fellows that are almost savages, and make use of no other weapon than a pointed bamboo spear, 18 or 20 feet long."

The name Poligar is given to a South Indian breed of greyhound-like dogs in the Tinnevelly district.