Part 35

Widow remarriage among the Peria Malaialis is, I am informed, forbidden, though widows are permitted to contract irregular alliances. But, writing concerning the Malaialis of the Dharmapuri taluk of the Salem district, Mr. Le Fanu states that "it is almost imperative on a widow to marry again. Even at eighty years of age, a widow is not exempted from this rule, which nothing but the most persistent obstinacy on her part can evade. It is said that, in case a widow be not remarried at once, the Pattakar sends for her to his own house, to avoid which the women consent to re-enter the state of bondage." Of the marriage customs of the Malaialis of the Javadi hills the same author writes that "these hills are inhabited by Malaialis, who style themselves Vellalars and Pachai Vellalars, the latter being distinguished by the fact that their females are not allowed to tattoo themselves, or tie their hair in the knot called 'kondai.' The two classes do not intermarry. In their marriage ceremonies they dispense with the service of a Brahman. Monday is the day chosen for the commencement of the ceremony, and the tali is tied on the following Friday, the only essential being that the Monday and Friday concerned must not follow new-moon days. They are indifferent about choosing a 'lakkinam' (muhurtham or auspicious day) for the commencement of the marriage, or for tying the tali. Widows are allowed to remarry. When a virgin or a widow has to be married, the selection of a husband is not left to the woman concerned, or to her parents. It is the duty of the Urgoundan to inquire what marriageable women there may be in the village, and then to summon the Pattan, or headman of the caste, to the spot. The latter, on his arrival, convenes a panchayat of the residents, and, with their assistance, selects a bridegroom. The parents of the happy couple then fix the wedding day, and the ceremony is performed accordingly. The marriage of a virgin is called 'kalianam' or 'marriage proper'; that of a widow being styled 'kattigiradu' or 'tying' (cf. Anglice noose, nuptial knot). Adultery is regarded with different degrees of disfavour according to the social position of the co-respondents. If a married woman, virgin or widow, commits adultery with a man of another caste, or if a male Vellalan commits adultery with a woman of another caste, the penalty is expulsion from caste. Where, however, the paramour belongs to the Vellala caste, a caste panchayat is held, and the woman is fined Rs. 3-8-9, and the man Rs. 7. After the imposition of the fine, Brahman supremacy is recognised, the guru having the privilege of administering the tirtam, or holy water, to the culprits for their purification. For the performance of this rite his fee varies from 4 annas to 12 rupees. The tirtam may either be administered by the guru in person, or may be sent by him to the Nattan for the purpose. The fine imposed on the offenders is payable by their relatives, however distant; and, if there be no relatives, then the offenders are transported from their village to a distant place. Where the adulteress is a married woman, she is permitted to return to her husband, taking any issue she may have had by her paramour. In special cases a widow is permitted to marry her deceased husband's brother. Should a widow remarry, her issue by her former husband belong to his relatives, and are not transferable to the second husband. The same rule holds good in successive remarriages. Where there may be no relatives of the deceased husband forthcoming to take charge of the children, the duty of caring for them devolves on the Urgoundan, who is bound to receive and protect them. The Vellalars generally bury their dead, except in cases where a woman quick with child, or a man afflicted with leprosy has died, the bodies in these cases being burnt. No ceremony is performed at child-birth; but the little stranger receives a name on the fifteenth day. When a girl attains puberty, she is relegated to a hut outside the village, where her food is brought to her, and she is forbidden to leave the hut either day or night. The same menstrual and death customs are observed by the Peria Malaialis, who bury their dead in the equivalent of a cemetery, and mark the site by a mound of earth and stones. At the time of the funeral, guns are discharged by a firing party, and, at the grave, handfuls of earth are, as at a Christian burial service, thrown over the corpse."

If a woman among the Malaialis of the Javadi hills commits adultery, the young men of the tribe are said to be let loose on her, to work their wicked way, after which she is put in a pit filled with cow-dung and other filth. An old man naively remarked that adultery was very rare.

At a wedding among the Malaialis of the South Arcot district, "after the tali is tied, the happy couple crook their little fingers together, and a two-anna bit is placed between the fingers, and water is poured over their hands. The priest offers betel and nut to Kari Raman, and then a gun is fired into the air." [170]

The father of a would-be bridegroom among the Malaialis of the Yelagiris, when he hears of the existence of a suitable bride, repairs to her village, with some of his relations, and seeks out the Urgoundan or headman, between whom and the visitors mutual embraces are exchanged. The object of the visit is explained, and the father says that he will abide by the voice of four in the matter. If the match is fixed up, he gives a feast in honour of the event. When the visitors enter the future bride's house, the eldest daughter-in-law of the house appears on the threshold, and takes charge of the walking-stick of each person who goes in. She then, with some specially prepared sandal-paste, makes a circular mark on the foreheads of the guests, and retires. The feast then takes place, and she again appears before the party retire, and returns the walking-sticks. [171]

At a marriage among the Malai Vellalas of the Coimbatore district, the bride has to cry during the whole ceremony, which lasts three days. Otherwise she is considered an "ill woman." When she can no longer produce genuine tears, she must bawl out. If she does not do this, the bridegroom will not marry her. In the North Arcot district, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [172] "a Malaiali bride is sometimes carried off by force, but this custom is viewed with much disfavour, and the bridegroom who resorts to it must paint his face with black and white dots, and carry an old basket filled with broken pots and other rubbish, holding a torn sieve over him as an umbrella, before the celebration of the marriage. At the wedding, the bridegroom gives the girl's father a present of money, and a pile of firewood sufficient for the two days' feast. On the first day the food consists of rice and dhal (Cajanus indicus), and on the second day pork curry is consumed. At sunrise on the third day the bridegroom produces the tali. A sword is then laid on the laps of the bridal pair, and the Nattan (headman), or an elderly man blesses the tali, and gives it to the bridegroom, who ties it round the bride's neck. Before marriage, a man has to serve for at least a year in the house of the bride, in order to receive the consent of her parents."

"The North Arcot Malaialis," Mr. Stuart writes, "occupy eighteen nadus or districts. The Nattan (headman) of Kanamalai nadu is called the Periya (big) Nadan, and is the headman of the caste. He has the power to nominate Nattans for other nadus, to call caste panchayats, to preside over any such meetings, and to impose fines, and excommunicate any Malaiali. He can inflict corporal punishment, such as whipping with a tamarind switch, on those persons who violate their tribal customs. This power is sometimes delegated by him to the other Nattans. Of the fines collected, the Periya Nattan takes two shares, and the rest is distributed equally among the Urans (village heads). The village precincts are considered sacred, and even Brahmans are desired to walk barefoot along their alleys. They are both Saivites and Vaishnavites, and worship Kali and Perumal, wearing the namam and sacred ashes alike. Their worship is somewhat peculiar, and kept more or less a mystery. Its chief object is Kali, in whose honour they celebrate a feast once a year, lasting for fifteen days. During this time no people of the plains venture near them, believing that no intruder will ever leave the spot alive. Even the Malaiali women are studiously debarred from witnessing the rites, and those who take part in them are not permitted to speak to a woman, even should she be his wife. The ceremonies take place in the open air, at a particular spot on the hills, where the goddess is to be adored in the shape of a stone called Vellandiswami. The nature of the rites it is difficult to learn. In the village they worship, also excluding women, small images of Venkateswara of Tirupati, which are carefully concealed in caskets, and not allowed to be seen by people of other castes. A few bundles of tobacco are buried with the dead. When any one falls ill, the Malaialis do not administer medicine, but send for a pujari, and ask him which god or goddess the patient had offended. The assessment paid to Government by them is a fixed charge for each plough or hoe possessed, without reference to the extent of land cultivated. They collect jungle produce,

## particularly the glandular hairs of the fruits of a certain flower

(Mallotus philippinensis), which is used by the Rangaris for dyeing silk a rich orange, and the roots of a plant called shenalinsedi, supposed to possess wonderful medicinal virtues, curing, among other things, snake-bite." The Malaialis of the Javadi hills in the North Arcot district also earn a living by felling bamboos and sandal trees.

The Malaialis snare with nets, and shoot big game--deer, tigers, leopards, bears, and pigs--with guns of European manufacture. Mr. Le Fanu narrates that, during the Pongal feast, all the Malaialis of the Kalrayans go hunting, or, as they term it, for parvettai. Should the Palaiagar fail to bring something down, usage requires that the pujari should deprive him of his kudumi or top-knot. He generally begs himself off the personal degradation, and a servant undergoes the operation in his stead. A few years ago, a party of Malaialis of the Shevaroys went out shooting with blunderbusses and other quaint weapons, and bagged a leopard, which they carried on a frame-work, with jaws wide open and tail erect, round Yercaud, preceded by tom-toms, and with men dancing around.

The Malaiali men on the Shevaroys wear a turban and brown kumbli (blanket), which does duty as great coat, mackintosh, and umbrella. A bag contains their supply of betel and tobacco, and they carry a bill-hook and gourd water-vessel, and a coffee walking-stick. As ornaments they wear bangles, rings on the fingers and toes, and in the nose and ears. The women are tattooed by Korava women who come round on circuit, on the forehead, outside the orbits, cheeks, arms, and hands. Golden ornaments adorn their ears and nose, and they also wear armlets, toe-rings, and bangles, which are sometimes supplemented by a tooth-pick and ear-scoop pendent from a string round the neck. For dress, a sari made of florid imported cotton fabric is worn. I have seen women smoking cheroots, made from tobacco locally cultivated, wrapped up in a leaf of Gmelina arborea. Tattooing is said to be forbidden among the Malaialis of the Javadi hills in North Arcot.

Concerning the Malaialis of the Trichinopoly district, Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes as follows. "As far as this district is concerned, they are inhabitants of the Pachaimalais and Kollaimalais. The Malaialis of the two ranges will not intermarry, but have no objection to dining together. For purposes of the caste discipline, the villages of both sub-divisions are grouped into nadus. Each nadu contains some twenty or thirty villages. Each village has a headman called on the Pachaimalais Muppan, and on the Kollaimalais Ur-Kavundan or Kutti-Maniyam. Again, on the Pachaimalais, every five or ten villages make up a sittambalam, over which is a Kavundan, and each nadu is ruled by a Periya Kavundan. In the Kollaimalais there are no sittambalams, but the nadu there is also presided over by a Periya Kavundan, who is sometimes called a Sadi Kavundan. Again, on the Kollaimalais, the first four nadus are grouped into one pattam under the Pattakaran of Valappur, and the other three into another under the Pattakaran of Sakkiratti. The nadu headmen on the Pachaimalais also do duty as Pattakarans. All these appointments are hereditary. The permission of the Pattakaran has to be obtained before a marriage can take place, but, on the Kollaimalais, he deputes this power to the Sadi Kavundan. The Pattakarans of both ranges have recognised privileges, such as the right to ride on horseback, and use umbrellas, which are denied to the common folk.

"The Malaiyalis recognise the sanctity of the large Vishnu temple at Srirangam, and of the Siva temple at Anaplesvaran Kovil on the Kollaimalais. To the festival of the latter in Adi (July-August) the Malaiyalis of all three divisions flock. In every village is a temple or image of Perumal. Kali is also commonly worshipped, but the Malaiyalis do not connect her with Siva. Almost every village further contains temples to Mariyayi, the goddess of cholera, and to the village goddess Pidari. On the Kollaimalais, Kali is also looked upon as a village goddess, but she has no attendant Karuppans, nor is she worshipped by shedding blood. Pidari is often called Manu Pidari on the Pachaimalais, and is represented by a heap of mud. At midnight, a sheep and some cooked rice are taken to this, a man cleaning the pathway to the temple by dragging a bunch of leaves. The sheep is killed, and its lungs are inflated and placed on the heap. On the Kollaimalais two other goddesses, Nachi and Kongalayi, are commonly worshipped. At the worship of the former, perfect silence must be observed, and women are not allowed to be in the village at the time. It is supposed that, if anyone speaks during the ceremony, he will be stung by bees or other insects. The goddess has no image, but is supposed to appear from the surface of the ground, and to glitter like the comb of a cock. Kongalayi has an image, and her worship is accompanied by music. All these goddesses are worshipped every year before the ground is cultivated. The Malaiyalis, like the people of the plains, worship Pattavans. But, on the Kollaimalais, instead of thinking that these are people who have died a violent death, they say they are virtuous men and good sportsmen, who have lived to a ripe old age. The test of the apotheosis of such a one is that his castemen should have a successful day's sport on some day that they have set aside in his honour. They sometimes offer regular sacrifices to the Pattavans, but more usually offer the head of any game they shoot. Sometimes a man will dream of some evil spirit turning Pattavan, and then he is taken to a Strychnos Nux-vomica tree, and his hair nailed to the trunk and cut. This is supposed to free the caste from further molestation. The same practice is observed on the Pachaimalais, if the ghost appears in a dream accompanied by a Panchama. On the Kollaimalais, holy bulls, dedicated to the Srirangam temple, are taken round with drums on their backs by men with feathers stuck in their hair, and alms are collected. When these animals die, they are buried, and an alari tree is planted over the grave. This practice is, however, confined to Vaishnavites, and to a few families. Saivites set free bulls called poli yerudu in honour of the Anaplesvaram god. These bulls are of good class, and, like the tamatams, are honoured at their death.

"The Malaiyali houses are built of tattis (mats) of split bamboo, and roofed with jungle grass. The use of tiles or bricks is believed to excite the anger of the gods. The Kollaimalai houses seem always to have a loft inside, approached by a ladder. The eaves project greatly, so as almost to touch the ground. In the pial (platform at the entrance) a hole is made to pen fowls in. On the tops of the houses, tufts of jungle grass and rags are placed, to keep off owls, the ill-omened kottan birds. The villages are surrounded with a fence, to keep the village pigs from destroying the crops outside. The Pachaimalai women wear the kusavam fold in their cloth on the right side, but do not cover the breasts. The Kollaimalai women do not wear any kusavam, but carefully cover their breasts, especially when at work outside the village site, for fear of displeasing the gods. The Pachaimalai people tattoo, but this custom is anathema on the Kollaimalais, where the Malaiyalis will not allow a tattooed person into their houses for fear of offending their gods.

"All the Malaiyalis are keen sportsmen, and complain that sport is spoilt by the forest rules. The Kollaimalai people have a great beat on the first of Ani (June-July), and another on the day of the first sowing of the year. The date of the latter is settled by the headman of each village, and he alone is allowed to sow seeds on that day, everyone else being debarred on pain of punishment from doing any manner of work, and going out to hunt instead. On the Kollaimalais, bull-baiting is practiced at the time of the Mariyayi festival in Masi (February-March). A number of bulls are taken in front of the goddess, one after the other, and, while some of the crowd hold the animals with ropes, a man in front, and another behind, urge it on to unavailing efforts to get free. When one bull is tired out, another is brought up to take its place.

"The Malaiyalis have a good many superstitions of their own, which are apparently different from those of the plains. If they want rain, they pelt each other with balls of cow-dung, an image of Pillaiyar (Ganesa) is buried in a manure pit, and a pig is killed with a kind of spear. When the rain comes, the Pillaiyar is dug up. If a man suffers from hemicrania, he sets free a red cock in honour of the sun on a Tuesday. A man who grinds his teeth in his sleep may be broken off the habit by eating some of the food offered to the village goddess, brought by stealth from her altar. People suffering from small-pox are taken down to the plains, and left in some village. Cholera patients are abandoned, and left to die. Lepers are driven out without the slightest mercy, to shift for themselves.

"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.