Part 31

For worship in Vishnu temples, flowers and tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) are used. In Siva temples, bilva (bael: Ægle Marmelos) leaves are substituted for tulsi. At the close of the worship, the Archaka gives to those present thirtham (holy water), tulsi or bilva leaves, and vibhuthi (sacred ashes) according to the nature of the temple. At Vishnu temples, immediately after the giving of thirtham, an inverted bowl, bearing on it the feet of Vishnu (satari or sadagopam), is placed by the Archaka first on the head, and then on the right shoulder, and again on the head, in the case of grown up and married males, and only on the head in the case of females and young people. The bowl is always kept near the mula vigraha, and, on festival days, when the god is taken in procession through the streets, it is carried along with the utsava vigraha. On festival days, such as Dhipavali, Vaikunta Ekadasi, Dwadasi, etc., the god of the temple is taken in procession through the main streets of the town or village. The idol, thus borne in procession, is not the stone figure, but the portable one made of metal (utsava vigraha), which is usually kept in the temple in front of the Mula idol. At almost every important temple, an annual festival called Brahmotsavam, which usually lasts ten days, is celebrated. Every night during this festival, the god is seated on the clay, wooden or metal figure of some animal as a vehicle, e.g., Garuda, horse, elephant, bull, Hanuman, peacock, yali, etc., and taken in procession, accompanied by a crowd of Brahmans chanting the Vedas and Tamil Nalayara Prapandhams, if the temple is an important one. Of the vehicles or vahanams, Hanuman and Garuda are special to Vishnu, and the bull (Nandi) and tiger to Siva. The others are common to both deities. During the month of May, the festival of the god Varadaraja takes place annually. On one of the ten days of this festival, the idol, which has gone through a regular marriage ceremony, is placed on an elaborately decorated car (ratha), and dragged through the main streets. The car frequently bears a number of carved images of a very obscene nature, the object of which, it is said, is to avert the evil eye. Various castes, besides Brahmans, take part in temple worship, at which the saints of both Siva and Vishnu--Nayanmar and Alvars--are worshipped. The Brahmans do not entirely ignore the worship of the lower deities, such as Mariamma, Muneswara, Kodamanitaya, etc. At Udipi in South Canara, the centre of the Madhva cult, where Madhva preached his Dvaitic philosophy, and where there are several mutts presided over by celibate priests, the Brahmans often make a vow to the Bhuthas (devils) of the Paravas and Nalkes. Quite recently, we saw an orthodox Shivalli Brahman, employed under the priest of one of the Udipi mutts, celebrating the nema (festival) of a bhutha named Panjurli, in fulfilment of a vow made when his son was ill. The Nalke devil-dancers were sent for, and the dance took place in the courtyard of the Brahman's house. During the leaf festival at Periyapalayam near Madras, Brahman males and females may be seen wearing leafy twigs of margosa (Melia Azadirachta), and going round the Mariamma shrine.

I pass on to a detailed consideration of the various classes of Brahmans met with in Southern India. Of these, the Tamil Brahmans, or Dravidas proper, are most numerous in the southern districts. They are divided into the following sections:--

I. Smartha.

(a) Vadama. (b) Kesigal. (c) Brahacharnam. (d) Vathima or Madhema. (e) Ashtasahasram. (f) Dikshitar. (g) Sholiar. (h) Mukkani. (i) Kaniyalar. (j) Sankethi. (k) Prathamasaki. (l) Gurukkal.

II. Vaishnava.

A. Vadagalai (northerners).

(a) Sri Vaishnava. (b) Vaikhanasa. (c) Pancharatra. (d) Hebbar.

B. Thengalai (southerners).

(a) Sri Vaishnava. (b) Vaikhanasa. (c) Pancharatra. (d) Hebbar. (e) Mandya.

I. Smartha--(a) Vadama.--The Vadamas claim to be superior to the other classes, but will dine with all the sections, except Gurukkals and Prathamasakis, and, in some places, will even eat with Prathamasakis. The sub-divisions among the Vadamas are:--

1. Choladesa (Chola country). 2. Vadadesa (north country). 3. Savayar or Sabhayar. 4. Inji. 5. Thummagunta Dravida.

All these are Smarthas, who use as their sect mark either the urdhvapundram (straight mark made with sandal paste) or the circular mark, and rarely the cross lines. They worship both Siva and Vishnu, and generally read Puranas about Vishnu. Some Vadamas use the Vaishnava namam as their sect mark, and are called Kiththunamakkarar. They follow the Smartha customs in every way. There is a common saying "Vadamam muththi Vaishnavam," i.e., a Vadama ripens into a Vaishnava. This is literally true. Some Vadama families, who put on the urdhvapundram mark, and follow the Smartha customs, observe pollution whenever a death occurs in certain Sri Vaishnava families. This is because the Sri Vaishnavas are Vadamas recently converted into Vaishnava families.

(b) Kesigal.--The Kesigals, or Hiranyakesikal (men of the silvery hair), as they are sometimes called, closely resemble the Vadamas, but are an exclusive endogamous unit, and highly conservative and orthodox. They are called Hiranyakesikal or Hiranyakesis because they follow the Grihya Sutras of Hiranyakesi. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Tanjore district, that they "are peculiar in all having one common Sutram called the Sathyashada after a common ancestor."

(c) Brahacharnam (the great sect).--The Brahacharnams are more Saivite, and more orthodox than the Vadamas. They put on vibhuti (sacred ashes) and sandal paste horizontal lines as their sect mark. The sub division Sathyamangalam Brahacharnam seems, however, to be an exception, as some members thereof put on the Vaishnavite sect mark at all times, or at least during the month of Purattasi, which is considered sacred to the god Venkataramana of Tirupati. The more orthodox Brahacharnams wear a single rudraksha bead, or a necklace of beads, and some make lingams out of these beads, which they put on the head during worship. They generally worship five gods, viz., Siva in the form of a lingam, spatika (crystal) lingam, Vishnu, Ganesa, and Iswara. It is said that Brahacharnam women can be distinguished by the mode of tying the cloth, which is not worn so as to reach to the feet, but reaches only to just below the knees. The Brahacharnams are sub-divided into the following sections:--

1. Kandramanicka. 2. Milaganur. 3. Mangudi. 4. Palavaneri or Pazhamaneri. 5. Musanadu. 6. Kolaththur. 7. Maruthancheri. 8. Sathyamangalam. 9. Puthur Dravida.

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Tanjore district, that "one ceremony peculiar to the Milaganur Brahacharnams is that, before the principal marriage ceremonies of the first day, a feast is given to four married women, a widow, and a bachelor. This is called the adrisya pendugal (invisible women) ceremony. It is intended to propitiate four wives belonging to this sub-division, who are said to have been cruelly treated by their mother-in-law, and cursed the class. They are represented to have feasted a widow, and to have then disappeared."

(d) Vathima.--The Vathimas, or Madhimas, are most numerous in the Tanjore district, and are thus described in the Gazetteer:--"The Vattimas are grouped into three smaller sub-sections, of which one is called 'the eighteen village Vattimas,' from the fact that they profess (apparently with truth) to have lived till recently in only eighteen villages, all of them in this district. They have a marked character of their own, which may be briefly described. They are generally money-lenders, and consequently are unpopular with their neighbours, who are often blind to their virtues and unkind to their failings. [There is a proverb that the Vadamas are always economical, and the Vathimas always unite together.] It is a common reproach against them that they are severe to those who are in their debt, and parsimonious in their household expenditure. To this latter characteristic is attributed their general abstinence from dholl (the usual accompaniment of a Brahman meal), and their preference for a cold supper instead of a hot meal. The women work as hard as the men, making mats, selling buttermilk, and lending money on their own account, and are declared to be as keen in money-making and usury as their brothers. They, however, possess many amiable traits. They are well known for a generous hospitality on all great occasions, and no poor guest or Brahman mendicant has ever had reason to complain in their houses that he is being served worse than his richer or more influential fellows. Indeed, if anything, he fares the better for his poverty. Again, they are unusually lavish in their entertainments at marriages; but their marriage feasts have the peculiarity that, whatever the total amount expended, a fixed proportion is always paid for the various items--so much per cent. for the pandal, so much per cent. for food, and so on. Indeed it is asserted that a beggar who sees the size of the marriage pandal will be able to guess to a nicety the size of the present he will get. Nor, again, at their marriages, do they haggle about the marriage settlement, since they have a scale, more or less fixed and generally recognised, which determines these matters. There is less keen competition for husbands among them, since their young men marry at an earlier age more invariably than among the other sub-divisions. The Vattimas are clannish. If a man fails to pay his dues to one of them, the word is passed round, and no other man of the sub-division will ever lend his money. They sometimes unite to light their villages by private subscription, and to see to its sanitation, and, in a number of ways, they exhibit a corporate unity. Till quite recently they were little touched by English education; but a notable exception to this general statement existed in the late Sir A. Seshayya Sastri, who was of Vattima extraction."

The sub-divisions of the Vattimas are:--

1. Pathinettu Gramaththu (eighteen villages). 2. Udayalur. 3. Nannilam. 4. Rathamangalam. According to some, this is not a separate section, but comes under the eighteen village section.

(e) Ashtasahasram (eight thousand).--This class is considered to be inferior to the Brahacharnams and Vadamas. The members thereof are, like the Brahacharnams, more Saivite than the Vadamas. The females are said to wear their cloth very elegantly, and with the lower border reaching so low as to cover the ankles. The sub-divisions of the Ashtasahasrams are:--

1. Aththiyur. 2. Arivarpade. 3. Nandivadi. 4. Shatkulam (six families).

As their numbers are few, though the sub-divisions are endogamous, intermarriage is not entirely prohibited.

(f) Dikshitar.--Another name for this section is Thillai Muvayiravar, i.e., the three thousand of Thillai (now Chidambaram). There is a tradition that three thousand people started from Benares, and, when they reached Chidambaram, they were one short. This confused them, but they were pacified when Siva explained that he was the missing individual. The Dikshitars form a limited community of only several hundred families. The men, like Nayars and Nambutiri Brahmans of the west coast, wear the hair tuft on the front of the head. They do not give their girls in marriage to other sections of Brahmans, and they do not allow their women to leave Chidambaram. Hence arises the proverb "A Thillai girl never crosses the boundary line." The Dikshitars are priests of the temple of Nataraja at Chidambaram, whereat they serve by turns. Males marry very early in life, and it is very difficult to secure a girl for marriage above the age of five. The tendency to marry when very young is due to the fact that only married persons have a voice in the management of the affairs of the temple, and an individual must be married before he can get a share of the temple income. The chief sources of income are the pavadam and kattalai (heaps of cooked rice piled up or spread on a board), which are offered to the god. Every Dikshitar will do his best to secure clients, of whom the best are Nattukottai Chettis. The clients are housed and looked after by the Dikshitars. Concerning the Dikshitars, Mr. W. Francis writes as follows [170]:--"An interesting feature about the Chidambaram temple is its system of management. It has no landed or other endowments, nor any tasdik allowance, and is the property of a class of Brahmans peculiar to the town, who are held in far more respect than the generality of the temple-priest Brahmans, are called Dikshitars (those who make oblations), marry only among themselves, and in appearance somewhat resemble the Nayars or Tiyans of Malabar, bringing their topknot round to the front of their foreheads. Their ritual in the temple more resembles that of a domestic worship than the forms commonly followed in other large shrines. Theoretically, all the married males of the Dikshitars have a voice in the management of the temple, and a share in its perquisites; and at present there are some 250 of such shares. They go round the southern districts soliciting alms and offerings for themselves. Each one has his own

## particular clientèle, and, in return for the alms received, he makes,

on his return, offerings at the shrine in the name of his benefactors, and sends them now and again some holy ashes, or an invitation to a festival. Twenty of the Dikshitars are always on duty in the temple, all the males of the community (except boys and widowers) doing the work by turns lasting twenty days each, until each one has been the round of all the different shrines. The twenty divide themselves into five parties of four each, each of which is on duty for four days at one of the five shrines at which daily puja is made, sleeps there at night, and becomes the owner of the routine offerings of food made at it. Large presents of food made to the temple as a whole are divided among all the Dikshitars. The right to the other oblations is sold by auction every twenty days to one of the Dikshitars at a meeting of the community. These periodical meetings take place in the Deva Sabha. A lamp from Nataraja's shrine is brought, and placed there by a Pandaram, and (to avoid even the appearance of any deviation from the principle of the absolute equality of all Dikshitars in the management of the temple) this man acts as president of the meeting, and proposals are made impersonally through him." As a class the Dikshitars are haughty, and refuse to acknowledge any of the Sankarachariars as their priests, because they are almost equal to the god Siva, who is one of them. If a Sankarachariar comes to the temple, he is not allowed to take sacred ashes direct from the cup, as is done at other temples to show respect to the Sanyasi. The Dikshitars are mostly Yejur Vedis, though a few are followers of the Rig Veda. When a girl attains puberty, she goes in procession, after the purificatory bath, to every Dikshitar's house, and receives presents.

(g) Sholiar.--The Sholiars are divided into the following sections:--

(1) Thirukattiur. (2) Madalur. (3) Visalur. (4) Puthalur. (5) Senganur. (6) Avadayar Kovil.

Concerning the Sholiars, Mr. C. Ramachendrier writes as follows [171]:--"The Sholiars of Thiruvanakaval (in the Tanjore district) belong to the first sub-division, and they form a separate community, devoting their time to service in the temple. Those who make puja to the idol are Pradhamasakis, and are called Archakas. Those who serve as cooks, and attend to other inferior services, are called Arya Nambi, and those who decorate the idols taken in procession on festive occasions are termed Therunabuttan. Archakas alone are entitled to decorate stone images in the chief shrines of the temple, and they are also called Pandits. According to custom, Sholia Brahmans should wear front locks, but some of them have adopted the custom of other Brahmans, while the orthodox section of the community, and the Archakas of Thiruvanakaval, speak a very low Tamil with a peculiar intonation, and they do not send their children to English schools. Young boys are trained by their parents in the temple service, which entitles them, even when young, to some emoluments. There are amongst them none who have received either Sanskrit or Tamil education. The Archakas perform pujas by turn, and, as the Archakaship is to be conferred at a certain age by anointment by a guru, infant marriage does not obtain among them to such an extent as among the Dikshitars of Chidambaram. They eat with the other Smartha Brahmans, but do not intermarry. They count about 300 in number, including women and children. There is no intermarriage between them and the other Sholia Brahmans. Those of Avadayarcovil are also engaged in the service of the temple of that name. Sholiars of other classes are to be found in Vasishtakudy in the taluk of Vriddachallam, Vemmaniathur in the taluk of Villupuram, and Visalur in the taluk of Kumbaconam." In an article on the Sholiars, [172] it is recorded that "they are a very intelligent people, and at the same time very vindictive if disturbed. Chanakya, the Indian Machiavelli and the Minister of Chandragupta, is supposed to have belonged to this caste. His hatred of the Nanda family, and the way in which he uprooted each and every member of that race, has been depicted in the famous Sanskrit drama Mudrarakshasa, which belongs to the 7th century A.D. Whether on account of his character, and under the belief that he originated from this caste, or for some reason which is unaccountable, the Soliyas of modern days are held as very vindictive people, as the following proverb will show:--'We do not want to meet with a Soliya even in a picture.'" Another proverb is to the effect that "the kudumi (hair tuft) on the head of a Sholiar does not shake without sufficient reason," i.e., it is a sign that he is bent upon doing some mischief.

(h) Mukkani.--The Mukkanis are Smarthas confined to the Cochin and Travancore States.

(i) Kaniyalar.--Concerning the Kaniyalars, Mr. Ramachendrier writes as follows:--"Kanialars form a separate class of Smartha Brahmins, and they live in the district of Tinnevelly and some parts of Trichinopoly. They do not intermarry with any other class of Smartha Brahmins, but eat with them. A large number of them, though Smarthas by birth, wear a mark on their forehead like Vyshnava Brahmins, and serve as cooks and menial servants in the big temple at Srirangam. Their women adopt the Vyshnava women's style of wearing cloths, and to all appearance they would pass for Vyshnava women. The Vyshnava Brahmins would not allow them to mess in their houses, though they treat rice and cakes prepared by them in temples and offered to god as pure and holy, and partake of them."

(j) Sankethi.--The Sankethis are confined to the Mysore Province. They speak a very corrupt form of Tamil, mixed with Canarese. The following account of them is given in the Mysore Census Report, 1891. "They are found chiefly in the Mysore and Hassan districts. Their colonies are also found in Kadur and Shimoga. Their number seems to have been somewhat understated; many of them have probably returned themselves as Dravidas. So far as language is an indication of race, the Sanketis are Tamilians, although their dialect is more diluted with Kanarese than that of any other Kannada ridden Tamil body. Theirs seems to have been among the earliest immigrations into Mysore from the neighbouring Tamil country. It is said that some 700 years ago, about 1,000 families of Smartha Brahmans emigrated from the vicinity of Kanchi (Conjeeveram), induced doubtless by contemporary politics. They set out in two batches towards Mysore. They were attacked by robbers on the road, but the larger party of about 700 families persevered in the march notwithstanding, and settled near the village of Kausika near Hassan, whence they are distinguished as Kausika Sanketis. Some twelve years afterwards, the other party of 300 families found a resting place at Bettadapura in the Hunsur taluk. This branch has been called Bettadapura Sanketi. Their religious and social customs are the same. The Kausika Sanketis occasionally take wives from the Bettadapura section, but, when the married girl joins her husband, her connection with her parents and relatives ceases altogether even in regard to meals. During the Coorg disturbances about the end of the last (eighteenth) century, many young women of the Sanketis were captured by the Kodagas (Coorgs), and some of the captives were subsequently recovered. Their descendants are to this day known as Sanketis of the West, or Hiriangalas. But they, and another sub-class called Patnagere Sanketis, do not in all exceed twenty families. The Sanketis are proverbially a hardy, intensely conservative and industrious Brahman community. They are referred to as models for simultaneously securing the twofold object of preserving the study of the Vedas, while securing a worldly competence by cultivating their gardens; and, short of actually ploughing the land, they are pre-eminently the only fraction of the Brahman brotherhood who turn their hands to the best advantage."