Part 27
The following menstrual ceremony has been described [121] as occurring among the Vedans of Travancore. "The wife at menstruation is secluded for five days in a hut a quarter of a mile from her home, which is also used by her at childbirth. The next five days are passed in a second hut, half way between the first and her house. On the ninth day her husband holds a feast, sprinkles his floor with wine, and invites his friends to a spread of rice and palm wine. Until this evening, he has not dared to eat anything but roots, for fear of being killed by the devil. On the tenth day he must leave his house, to which he may not return until the women, his and her sister have bathed his wife, escorted her home, and eaten rice together. For four days after his return, however, he may not eat rice in his own house, or have connection with his wife."
Vedunollu.--A gotra of Ganigas, members of which may not cut Nyctanthes Arbor-tristis. The flowers thereof are much used in Hindu worship, as the plant is supposed to have been brought from heaven by Krishna for his wife Satyabhama.
Veginadu.--A sub-division of Komatis, who belong to the Vegi or Vengi country, the former name of part of the modern Kistna district. The Vegina Komatis are said to have entered the fire-pits with the caste goddess Kanyakamma.
Vekkali Puli (cruel-legged tiger).--An exogamous section of Kallan.
Vel (lance).--A sub-division of Malayalam Paraiyans, and an exogamous sept or sub-division of Kanikars in Travancore. Velanmar (spearmen) occurs as a name for the hill tribes of Travancore.
Velakkattalavan.--Velakkattalavan or Vilakkattalavan is stated in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, to indicate chieftains among barbers, and to be the name for members of families, from which persons are selected to shave kings or nobles. In the Madras Census Report, 1891, Velakkattalavan is said to be "the name in South Malabar of the caste that shaves Nayars and higher castes. The same man is called in North Malabar Valinchiyan, Navidan, or Nasiyan. In dress and habits the caste resembles Nayars, and they call themselves Nayars in the south. Many returned their main caste as Nayar. The females of this caste frequently act as midwives to Nayars. In North Malabar, the Valinchiyan and Nasiyan follow the Nayar system of inheritance, whereas the Navidan has inheritance in the male line; but, even amongst the latter, tali-kettu and sambandham are performed separately by different bridegrooms. In South Malabar the caste generally follows descent in the male line, but in some places the other system is also found." Sudra Kavutiyan is recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a synonym of Velakkatalavan.
Velama.--The Velamas, or, as they are sometimes called, Yelamas, are a caste of agriculturists, who dwell in the Telugu country and Ganjam. Concerning them Mr. H. A. Stuart writes as follows. [122] "Who the Velamas were it seems difficult to decide. Some say they form a sub-division of the Balijas, but this they themselves most vehemently deny, and the Balijas derisively call them Guna Sakala (or Tsakala) vandlu (hunch-backed washermen). The pride and jealousy of Hindu castes was amusingly illustrated by the Velamas of Kalahasti. The Deputy Tahsildar of that town was desired to ascertain the origin of the name Guni Sakalavandlu, but, as soon as he asked the question, a member of the caste lodged a complaint of defamation against him before the District Magistrate. The nickname appears to have been applied to them, because, in the northern districts, some print chintzes, and, carrying their goods in a bundle on their backs, walk stooping like a laden washerman. This derivation is more than doubtful, for, in the Godavari district, the name is Guna Sakalavandlu, guna being the big pot in which they dye the chintzes. Some Velamas say that they belong to the Kammas, but divided from them in consequence of a difference of opinion on the subject of gosha, most Velama females being now kept in seclusion. [In the Kurnool Manual it is noted that the Velama women are supposed to be gosha, but, owing to poverty, the rule is not strictly observed.] Both Kammas and Velamas, before they divided, are said to have adopted gosha from the Muhammadans, but, finding that they were thus handicapped in their competition with other cultivating castes, it was proposed that the original custom of their ancestors should be reverted to. Those who agreed signed a bond, which, being upon palm leaf, was called kamma, and from it they took this name. The dissentients retained gosha, and were therefore called outsiders or Velamas. This does not, however, explain what the original name of the caste was, and the truth of the story is doubtful. Since this dispute, the Velamas have themselves had a split on the subject of gosha, those who have thrown it off being called Adi or original Velamas, and the others Padma Velamas. The Velamas seem to have come south with the Vijayanagara kings, and to have been made Menkavalgars, from which position some rose to be Poligars. Now they are chiefly the hangers-on of poligars or cultivators. To distinguish them from the Vellalas in the southern taluks, they call themselves Telugu Vellalas, but it seems very improbable that the Velamas and Vellalas ever had any connection with one another. They are styled Naidus." [The Velamas style themselves Telugu Vellalas, not because of any connection between the two castes, but because they are at the top of the Telugu castes as the Vellalas are of the Tamil castes. For the same reason, Vellalas are sometimes called Arava (Tamil) Velamalu.]
The most important sub-divisions returned by the Velamas at the census, 1891, were Kapu, Koppala, Padma, Ponneti, and Yanadi. "It is," the Census Superintendent writes, "curious to find the Yanadi sub-division so strongly represented, for there is at the present day a wide gulf between Velamas and Yanadis" (a Telugu forest tribe). In the Vizagapatam Manual, a class of cultivators called Yanadulu is referred to; and, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, it is recorded that entries under the name Yanati "were clubbed with Yanadi; but it has since been reported that, in Bissam-Acuttack taluk of the Vizagapatam Agency, there is a separate caste called Yanati or Yeneti Dora which is distinct from Yanadi." It would appear that, as in the south, the Velamas call themselves Telugu Vellalas, so in the north they call themselves Yanatis.
Concerning the Guna Velamas, the Rev. J. Cain writes [123] that "in years gone by, members of this class, who were desirous of getting married, had to arrange and pay the expenses of two of the Palli (fisherman) caste, but now it is regarded as sufficient to hang up a net in the house during the time of the marriage ceremony." The custom had its origin in a legend that, generations ago, when all the members of the caste were in danger of being swept off the face of the earth by some of their enemies, the Pallis came to the rescue with their boats, and carried all the Guna Velamas to a place of safety. The Guna Velamas, Mr. Cain continues, were "formerly regarded as quite an inferior caste, but, as many members of it have been educated in Anglo-Vernacular schools, they have found their way into almost every department and risen in the social scale. Their caste occupation is that of dyeing cloth, which they dip into large pots (gunas). The term Guna Tsakala is one of reproach, and they much prefer being called Velamalu to the great disgust of the Raca (Raja) Velamalu." To the Raca Velama section belong, among other wealthy land-owners, the Rajas of Bobbili, Venkatagiri, Pittapur, and Nuzvid. At the annual Samasthanam meeting, in 1906, the Maharaja of Bobbili announced that "none of the Velamavaru were working in any of the offices at the time when I first came to Bobbili. There were then a small number acting as mere supervisors without clerical work. Only from the commencement of my administration these people have been gradually taken into the office, and induced to read at the High School."
For the following note on the Velamas who have settled in the Vizagapatam district, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The following sub-divisions of the caste may be noted:--
(1) Pedda or Padma found chiefly in the Bobbili taluk. Those composing it are said to be the descendants of the military followers and dependents of Pedda Rajudu, the founder of the Bobbili family, who received a territorial grant in 1652 from Sher Muhammad Khan, the Moghul Fauzdar of Chicacole. It is to this sub-division that Orme refers, when he says [124] that they "esteem themselves the highest blood of Native Indians, next to the Brahmans, equal to the Rajpoots, and support their pre-eminence by the haughtiest observances, insomuch that the breath of a different religion, and even of the meaner Indians, requires ablution; their women never transfer themselves to a second, but burn with the husband of their virginity." The remarriage of widows is forbidden, and women remain gosha (in seclusion), and wear gold or silver bangles on both wrists, unlike those of the Koppala section. The title of members of this sub-division is Dora.
(2) Kamma Velama found chiefly in the Kistna district, from which some families are said to have emigrated in company with the early Rajas of Vizianagram. They are met with almost solely in the town of Vizianagram. The remarriage of widows is permitted, but females are gosha. The title is Nayudu.
(3) Koppala, or Toththala, who do not shave their heads, but tie the hair in a knot (koppu) on the top of the head. They are divided into sections, e.g., Naga (cobra), Sankha (chank shell, Turbinella rapa), Tulasi (Ocimum sanctum), and Tabelu (tortoise). These have no significance so far as marriage is concerned. They are further divided into exogamous septs, or intiperulu, of which the following are examples:--Nalla (black), Doddi (court-yard, cattle-pen or sheep-fold), Reddi (synonym of Kapu). The custom of menarikam, by which a man marries his maternal uncle's daughter, is observed. A Brahman officiates at marriages. Widows are permitted to remarry seven times, and, by an unusual custom, an elder brother is allowed to marry the widow of his younger brother. Women wear on the right wrist a solid silver bangle called ghatti kadiyam, and on the left wrist two bangles called sandelu, between which are black glass bangles, which are broken when a woman becomes a widow. The titles of members of this sub-division are Anna, Ayya, and, when they become prosperous, Nayudu.
In a note on the Velamas of the Godavari district, Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes that they "admit that they always arrange for a Mala couple to marry, before they have a marriage in their own houses, and that they provide the necessary funds for the Mala marriage. They explain the custom by a story to the effect that a Mala once allowed a Velama to sacrifice him in order to obtain a hidden treasure, and they say that this custom is observed out of gratitude for the discovery of the treasure which resulted. The Rev. J. Cain gives [125] a similar custom among the Velamas of Bhadrachalam in the Godavari district, only in this case it is a Palli (fisherman) who has to be married."
There is, a correspondent informs me, a regular gradation in the social scale among the Velamas, Kammas, and Kapus, as follows:--
Velama Dora = Velama Esquire. Kamma Varu = Mr. Kamma. Kapu.
A complaint was once made on the ground that, in a pattah (title-deed), a man was called Kamma, and not Kamma Varu.
It is noted by Mr. H. G. Prendergast [126] that the custom of sending a sword to represent an unavoidably absent bridegroom at a wedding is not uncommon among the Telugu Razus and Velamas.
Velampan (rope-dancer).--Possibly a name for the Koravas of Malabar, who perform feats on the tight-rope.
Velan.--As a diminutive form of Vellala, Velan occurs as a title assumed by some Kusavans. Velan is also recorded as a title of Paraiyans in Travancore. (See Panan.)
For the following note on the Velans of the Cochin State, I am indebted to Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer. [127]
The Velans, like the Panans, are a caste of devil-dancers, sorcerers and quack doctors, and are, in the northern parts of the State, called Perumannans or Mannans (washermen). My informant, a Perumannan at Trichur, told me that their castemen south of the Karuvannur bridge, about ten miles south of Trichur, are called Velans, and that they neither interdine nor intermarry, because they give mattu (a washed cloth) to carpenters to free them from pollution. The Mannans, who give the mattu to Izhuvans, do not give it to Kammalans (artisan classes), who are superior to them in social status. The Velans at Ernakulam, Cochin, and other places, are said to belong to eight illams. A similar division into illams exists among the Perumannans of the Trichur taluk. The Perumannans of the Chittur taluk have no knowledge of this illam division existing among them.
The following story was given regarding the origin of the Velans and Mannans. Once upon a time, when Parameswara and his wife Parvati were amusing themselves, the latter chanced to make an elephant with earth, which was accidentally trodden on by the former, whence arose a man who stood bowing before them. He was called the Mannan because he came out of man (earth), and to him was assigned his present occupation. This tradition is referred to in the songs which are sung on the fourth day of a girl's first menses, when she takes a ceremonial bath to free her from pollution.
The Velans are found all over the southern parts of the State, as their brethren are in the northern parts. They live in thatched huts in cocoanut gardens, while the Mannans occupy similar dwellings in small compounds either of their own, or of some landlord whose tenant they may be.
When a girl attains puberty, she is at once bathed, and located in a room in the hut. Her period of seclusion is four days. On the morning of the fourth day, she is seated in a pandal (booth) put up in front of the hut, and made to hold in her hand a leafy vessel filled with rice, a few annas and a lighted wick, when a few of the castemen sing songs connected with puberty till so late as one or two o'clock, when the girl is bathed. After this, the castemen and women who are invited are feasted along with the girl, who is neatly dressed and adorned in her best. Again the girl takes her seat in the pandal and the tunes begin, and are continued till seven or eight o'clock next morning, when the ceremony comes to an end. The songsters are remunerated with three paras of paddy (unhusked rice), twenty-eight cocoanuts, thirteen annas and four pies, and two pieces of cloth. The songs are in some families postponed till the sixteenth day, or to the day of the girl's marriage. Very poor people dispense with them altogether. The following is a translation of one of the songs.
One day a girl and her friends were playing merrily on the banks of a river, when one of them noticed some blood on her dress. They took her home, and her parents believed it to have been caused by some wound, but on enquiry knew that their daughter was in her menses. The daughter asked her mother as to what she did with the cloth she wore during her menses, when she was told that she bathed and came home, leaving it on a branch of a mango tree. On further enquiry, she knew that the goddess Ganga purified herself by a bath, leaving her cloth in the river; that the goddess earth buried it in earth; and that Panchali returned home after a bath, leaving her dress on a branch of a banyan tree. Unwilling to lose her dress, the girl went to the god Parameswara, and implored his aid to get somebody to have her cloth washed. When muttering a mantram (prayer), he sprinkled some water, a few drops of which went up and became stars, and from a few more, which fell on the leaves of a banyan tree, there came out a man, to whom was assigned the task of washing the cloths of the women in their courses, wearing which alone the women are purified by a bath.
When a young man of the Velan caste has attained the marriageable age, his father and maternal uncle select a suitable girl as a wife, after a proper examination and agreement of their horoscopes. The preliminaries are arranged in the hut of the girl, and a portion of the bride's price, fifteen fanams, is paid. The auspicious day for the wedding is fixed, and the number of guests that should attend it is determined. The wedding is celebrated at the girl's hut, in front of which a shed is put up. The ceremony generally takes place at night. A few hours before it, the bridegroom and his party arrive at the bride's hut, where they are welcomed, and seated on mats spread on the floor in the pandal (shed). At the auspicious hour, when the relatives on both sides and the castemen are assembled, the bridegroom's enangan (relation by marriage) hands over a metal plate containing the wedding suit, the bride's price, and a few packets of betel leaves and nuts to the bride's enangan, who takes everything except the cloth to be given to the bride's mother, and returns the plate to the same man. The bridegroom's sister dresses the bride in the new cloth, and takes her to the pandal, to seat her along with the bridegroom, and to serve one or two spoonfuls of milk and a few pieces of plantain fruit, when the bride is formally declared to be the wife of the young man and a member of his family. The guests assembled are treated to a feast, after which they are served with betel leaves, nuts, and tobacco. The rest of the night is spent in merry songs and dancing. The songs refer to the marriage of Sita, the wife of Rama, of Subhadra, wife of Arjuna, and of Panchali, wife of the Pandavas. Next morning, the bride's party is treated to rice kanji (gruel) at eight o'clock, and to a sumptuous meal at twelve o'clock, after which they repair to the bridegroom's hut, accompanied by the bride, her parents and relations, all of whom receive a welcome. The formalities are gone through here also, and the bride's party is feasted. On the fourth morning, the newly married couple bathe and dress themselves neatly, to worship the deity at the local temple. After dinner they go to the bride's hut, where they spend a week or two, after which the bridegroom returns to his hut with his wife. It is now that the bride receives a few ornaments, a metal dish for taking meals, a lamp, and a few metal utensils, which vary according to the circumstances of her parents. Henceforward, the husband and wife live with the parents of the former in their family.
Among the Mannans of the northern parts of the State, the following marriage customs are found to prevail. The bridegroom's father, his maternal uncle, enangan, and the third or middle man, conjointly select the girl after due examination and agreement of horoscopes. The preliminaries are arranged as before, and the day for the wedding is determined. At the auspicious moment on the wedding day, when the relatives on both sides and the castemen are assembled at the shed in front of the bride's hut, the bridegroom's father takes up a metal plate containing the wedding dress, the bride's price (twelve fanams), and a few bundles of betel leaves, nuts and tobacco, and repeats a formula, of which the substance runs thus. "A lighted lamp is placed in the shed. Four mats are spread round it in the direction of east, west, north and south. A metal plate, containing rice, flowers and betel leaves, is placed in front of the lamp, and the elderly members of the caste and the relatives on both sides are assembled. According to the traditional custom of the caste, the young man's father, maternal uncle, enangan, and the middle man conjointly selected the girl after satisfying themselves with due agreement of horoscopes, and ascertaining the illams and kriyams on both sides. They have negotiated for the girl, and settled the day on which the marriage is to take place. In token of this, they have taken meals in the bride's family. The claims of the girl for two pieces of cloth for the Onam festival, two fanams or nine annas for Thiruwatira (a festival in Dhanu, i.e., December-January), and Vishu, are satisfied, and she is by the young man taken to the village festival. They have now come for the celebration of the wedding. There have been times when he has heard of 101 fanams as the price of the bride, and has seen 51 fanams as the price of the same, but it is now 21 fanams. It thus varies, and may be increased or diminished according to the will, pleasure, and means of the parties. With four fanams as the price of the bride and eight fanams for ornaments, and with the bundles of betel leaves, nuts, and the wedding dress in a metal plate, may I, ye elderly members, give it to the girl's parents?" "Shall I," answers the girl's father, "accept it?" Receiving it, he gives it to his brother-in-law, who gives it to the enangan, and he takes everything in it except the wedding suit, which he hands over to the bridegroom's enangan, who gives it to the bridegroom's sister, to have the bride dressed in it. The other portions of the ceremony are the same as those described above. In Palghat and the Chittur taluk, the following declaration is made. "According to the customary traditions of the caste, when a young man of one locality comes to tame a girl of another locality, and takes her as his wife, ye elderly members assembled here, may these four bundles of betel leaves, four measures of rice, two pieces of cloth, and ten fanams be given to the bride's parents?" "Shall these be accepted?" says the bride's enangan. When the bride accompanies the bridegroom to his hut, the following formal statement is made. "Thrash thou mayst, but not with a stick. Thou mayst not accuse her of bad conduct. Thou mayst not cut off her ears, breasts, nose and tufts of hair. Thou mayst not take her to a tank (to bathe), or to a temple (for swearing). Thou mayst keep and protect her as long as thou wantest. When thou dost not want her, give her maintenance, and take back the children, for they are thine own."