Part 7

Ambattan.--For the following note I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The Ambattans are the Tamil barbers, or barber-surgeons. The word is usually derived from the Sanskrit amba (near) and s'tha (to stand), i.e., he who stands near to shave his clients, or treat his patients. In like manner, the Kavutiyan caste of Malayalam barbers is called Adutton, signifying bystander. The Ambattan corresponds to the Mangala of the Telugu country, the Vilakkatalavan of Malabar, the Kshauraka of the Canarese Brahmans, and the Hajam of Muhammadans. Not improbably the name refers to the original occupation of medicine-man, to which were added later the professions of village barber and musician. This view seems to receive some support from the current tradition that the Ambattans are the descendants of the offspring of a Vaisya woman by a Brahman, to whom the medical profession was allotted as a means of livelihood. In this connection, it may be noted that the Ambattan women are the recognised midwives of the Hindu community in the Tamil country. It is impossible to say how far the above tradition is based on the verse of Manu, the ancient law-giver, who says that "from a Brahmana with the daughter of a Vaisya is born a son called an Ambashtha." In a succeeding verse, he states that as children of a Brahmana by a woman of one of the three lower castes, the Ambashthas are one of the six base-born castes or apasada. He says further that Brahmans may eat of a barber's food--a permission which, it is hardly necessary to say, they do not avail themselves of. A single exception is, however, noteworthy. At the temple of Jugganath, within the temple precincts, neither the barber, nor the food which he prepares, and is partaken of by the higher classes, including Brahmans, conveys pollution. The pujari, or officiating priest, at this famous temple is a barber, and Brahmans, except those of the extreme orthodox section, partake of his preparations of rice, after they have been offered to the presiding deity. This is, apparently, the only case in which the rule laid down by Manu is followed in practice. It is not known how far the text of Manu is answerable for the popular Sanskrit saying, which calls the barber a "good Sudra." There is an opinion entertained in certain quarters that originally the barber's touch did not pollute, but that his shaving did. It is an interesting fact that, though the Ambattans are one of Manu's base-born castes, whose touch causes pollution which requires the pouring of water over the head to remove it, they are one of the most Brahmanised of the lower castes. Nothing, perhaps, shows this so well as their marriage ceremonies, throughout which a Brahman officiates. On the first two days, homam or sacred fire, fed with ghi (clarified butter) is kindled. On the third day, the tali (marriage badge) is placed in a circular silver or brass thattu (dish), and touched with the forefinger of the right hand first by the presiding Brahman, followed by other Brahmans, men of superior castes, and the caste-men headed by the Perithanakkaran or head-man. It is then, amid weird music, tied to the bride's neck before the sacred fire. During this ceremony no widows may be present. The relations of the bride and bridegroom scatter rice on the floor in front of the bridal pair, after the Brahman priest and head-man. This rice, which is called sesham (remainder), is strictly the perquisite of the local washerman. But it is generally purchased by the headman of the family, in which the marriage is taking place, and handed over, not to the washerman, but to the Perithanakkaran. The Brahman receives as his fee money and a pair of silk-bordered cloths; and, till the latter are given to him, he usually refuses to pronounce the necessary mantras (prayers). He also receives the first pan-supari (betel leaves and areca nuts), plantains, and cocoanuts. Each day he has to get rid of the pollution caused by entering a barber's house by bathing. During the fourth and fifth days, homam is burnt, and shadangu, or merry-making between the bride and bridegroom before the assembled spectators, takes place, during which the bride sings songs, in which she has been coached from infancy. On the fifth day the removal of the kankanam, or threads which have been tied round the wrists of the bride and bridegroom, is performed, after the priest's account has been settled.

Among the Konga Vellalas of the Salem district, it is the Ambattan who officiates at the marriage rites, and ties the tali, after formally proclaiming to those present that he is about to do so. Brahmans are invited to the wedding, and are treated with due respect, and presented with money, rice, and betel. It would appear that, in this case, the Brahman has been ousted, in recent times, from his priestly functions by the Ambattan. The barber, when he ties the tali, mutters something about Brahman and Vedas in a respectful manner. The story goes that, during the days of the Chera, Chola, and Pandya Kings, a Brahman and an Ambattan were both invited to a marriage feast. But the Brahman, on his arrival, died, and the folk, believing his death to be an evil omen, ruled that, as the Brahman was missing, they would have an Ambattan; and it has ever since been the custom for the Ambattan to officiate at weddings.

A girl, when she reaches puberty, has to observe pollution for eleven days, during which she bathes daily, and is presented with a new cloth, and adorned by a girl who is said to have "touched" her. This girl has to bathe before she can take her meals, or touch others. Every morning, a dose of pure gingelly (Sesamum indicum) oil, mixed with white of egg, is administered. The dietary must be strictly vegetarian. On the twelfth day, the girl who has been through the ceremonial has a final bath, and enters the house after it has been purified (punyavachanam).

The rule, once a widow always a widow, is as true of Ambattans as of high-class Brahmans. And, if asked whether the remarriage of widows is permitted, they promptly reply that they are not washermen.

The dead are cremated, with the exception of young children, who are buried. The death ceremonies are conducted by a Brahman priest, who is remunerated for his services with money and a cloth. Gifts of money and cloths are also made to other Brahmans, when the days of pollution are over. Annual memorial ceremonies (sradh) are performed, as by Brahmans. It is a privilege (they consider it as such) of the Ambattans to cremate the bodies of village paupers other than Brahmans. And, on ordinary occasions of death, they lead the son or person who is entitled to light the funeral pyre, with a brass pot in their hands, round the corpse, and indicate with a burning cinder the place to which the light must be applied.

As a community the Ambattans are divided into Saivites and Vaishnavites. Members of the latter section, who have been branded by their Brahman guru with the chank and chakram, abstain from animal food, and intoxicating drinks. Intermarriage between the two sections is allowed, and commonly practised. They belong to the right-hand faction, and will not eat with Komatis, who belong to the left. They have, however, no objection to shaving Komatis. The Ambattans of the Chingleput district are divided into four sections, each of which is controlled by a Perithanakkaran. One of these resides in Madras, and the other three live respectively at Poonamallee, Chingleput, and Karunguzhi in the Madurantakam taluk of the Chingleput district. Ambattans are now-a-days found over the whole Tamil area of the Madras Presidency. Originally, free movement into the various parts of the Presidency was far from easy, and every Ambattan, wherever he might migrate to, retained his subjection to the chief or headman of his native village. Thus, perhaps, what was at first a tribal division gradually developed into a territorial one. Each Perithanakkaran has under him six hundred, or even a thousand Kudithalakkarans, or heads of families. His office being hereditary, he is, if only a minor, treated with respect and dignity. All the preliminaries of marriage are arranged by him. On important occasions, such as settling disputes, he is assisted by a panchayat, or council of elders. In this way are settled quarrels, questions arising out of adultery, or non-payment of fines, which it is his duty to collect. He is further responsible for the marriage rice-money, which is added to a communal tax of 2 1/2 annas per family, which is imposed annually for charitable purposes. The charities take the form of the maintenance of chattrams, or places where pilgrims are fed free of charge at holy places. Two such institutions are maintained in the Chingleput district, the centre of the Ambattan community, one at Tirupporur, the other at Tirukalikundram. At these places Brahmans are given free meals, and to other caste Hindus sadabath, or things necessary for meals, are presented. Sometimes the money is spent in building adjuncts to holy shrines. At Srirangam, for example, the Ambattans, in days gone by, built a fine stone mantapam for the local temple. If the Perithanakkaran cannot satisfactorily dispose of a case with the assistance of the usual panchayat (council), it is referred to the higher authority of the Kavarai or Desai Setti, or even to British Courts as a last resource.

The barber has been summed up by a district official [58] as "one of the most useful of the village servants. He leads an industrious life, his services being in demand on all occasions of marriages, feasts, and funerals. He often combines in himself the three useful vocations of hair-dresser, surgeon, and musician. In the early hours of the morning, he may be seen going his rounds to his employers' houses in his capacity of shaver and hair-cutter. Later on, he will be leading the village band of musicians before a wedding procession, or playing at a temple ceremony. Yet again he may be observed paying his professional visits as Vythian or physician, with his knapsack of surgical instruments and cutaneous drugs tucked under his arm. By long practice the barber becomes a fairly skilful operator with the knife, which he uses in a rough and ready manner. He lances ulcers and carbuncles, and even essays his hand in affections of the eye, often with the most disastrous results. It is the barber who takes away cricks and sprains, procures leeches for those wishing to be bled, and otherwise relieves the physical ills of his patients. The barber woman, on the other hand, is the accoucheuse and midwife of the village matrons. It may be said without exaggeration that many of the uterine ailments which furnish patients to the maternity wards of the various hospitals in this country are attributable to the rude treatment of the village midwife."

The Ambattan will cut the nails, and shave not only the head and face, but other parts of the body, whereas the Telugu barber will shave only down to the waist. The depilatory operations on women are performed by female hair-dressers. Barbers' sons are taught to shave by taking the bottom of an old well-burnt clay cooking-pot, and, with a blunt knife, scraping off the collected carbon. They then commence to operate on pubescent youths. The barber who shaves Europeans must not be a caste barber, but is either a Muhammadan or a non-caste man. Quite recently, a youthful Ambattan had to undergo ceremonial purification for having unconsciously shaved a Paraiyan. Paraiyans, Malas, and other classes of the lower orders, have their own barbers and washermen. Razors are, however, sometime lent to them by the Ambattans for a small consideration, and cleansed in water when they are returned. Parasitic skin diseases are said to originate from the application of a razor, which has been used on a number of miscellaneous individuals. And well-to-do Hindus now keep their own razor, which the barber uses when he comes to shave them. In the southern districts, it is not usual for the Ambattans to go to the houses of their customers, but they have sheds at the backs of their own houses, where they attend to them from daybreak till about mid-day. Occasionally, when sent for, they will wait on Brahmans and high-class non-Brahmans at their houses. Numbers of them, besides, wait for customers near the riverside. Like the English hair-cutter, the Ambattan is a chatter-box, retails the petty gossip of the station, and is always posted in the latest local news and scandal. The barbers attached to British regiments are migratory, and, it is said, have friends and connections in all military cantonments, with whom they exchange news, and hold social intercourse. The Ambattan fills the rôle of negotiator and go-between in the arrangement of marriages, feasts, and funeral. He is, moreover, the village physician and surgeon, and, in the days when blood-letting was still in vogue, the operation of phlebotomy was part of his business. In modern times, his nose has, like that of the village potter, been put out of joint by civil hospitals and dispensaries. His medicines consist of pills made from indigenous drugs, the nature of which he does not reveal. His surgical instrument is the razor which he uses for shaving, and he does not resort to it until local applications, e.g., in a case of carbuncle, have failed.

In return for his multifarious services to the villagers, the Ambattan was given a free grant of land, for which he has even now to pay only a nominal tax. But, in the days when there was no survey or settlement, if the barber neglected his duties, he was threatened with confiscation of his lands. At the present day, however, he can sell, mortgage, or make a gift thereof. As the Ambattans became divided up into a number of families, their duties in the village were parcelled out among them, so that each barber family became attached to certain families of other castes, and was entitled to certain rights from them. Among other claims, each barber family became entitled to three or four marakkals of paddy (unhusked rice), which is the perquisite of the married members thereof. It may be noted that, in village communities, lands were granted not only to the barber, but also to village officials such as the blacksmith, carpenter, washerman, astrologer, priest, dancing-girl, etc.

In his capacity of barber, the Ambattan is called Nasivan (unholy man), or, according to the Census Reports, Nasuvan (sprung from the nose), or Navidan. He is also known as Panditan or Pariyari (doctor), and Kudimaghan (son of the ryot). The last of these names is applied to him especially on occasions of marriage, when to call him Nasivan would be inauspicious. The recognised insigne of his calling is the small looking-glass, which he carries with him, together with the razor, and sometimes tweezers and ear-pick. He must salute his superiors by prostrating himself on his stomach, folding his arms, and standing at a respectful distance. He may not attend at Brahman houses on new or full-moon days, Tuesday, Saturday, and special days such as Ekadasi and Dwadasi. The most proper days are Sunday and Monday. The quality of the shave varies with the skill of the individual, and there is a Tamil proverb "Go to an old barber and a new washerman." Stories are extant of barbers shaving kings while they were asleep without waking them, and it is said that the last Raja of Tanjore used to be thus entertained with exhibitions of their skill. The old legend of the barber who, in return for shaving a Raja without awakening him, requested that he might be made a Brahman, and how the Court jester Tennali Raman got the Raja to cancel his agreement, has recently been re-told in rhyme. [59] It is there described how the barber lathered the head "with water alone, for soap he had none." The modern barber, however, uses soap, either a cheap quality purchased in the bazar, or a more expensive brand supplied by his client.

By a curious corruption, Hamilton's bridge, which connects the Triplicane and Mylapore divisions of the city of Madras, has become converted into Ambattan, or barber's bridge. And the barber, as he shaves you, will tell how, in days before the bridge was built, the channel became unfordable during a north-east monsoon flood. A barber, who lived on the Triplicane side, had to shave an engineer, whose house was on the Mylapore side. With difficulty he swam across, and shaved the sahib while he was asleep without waking him, and, in return, asked that, in the public interests, a bridge should be built over the channel.

Ambattans of Travancore.--For the following note I am indebted to Mr. N. Subramani Aiyer. The barbers of Travancore are called by various designations, those in Central and South Travancore preferring to be known by the name of Kshaurakan or Kshaurakkaran, a corruption of the Sanskrit kshuraka, while Ambattan seems to find general favour in the south. A curious name given to the caste throughout Travancore is Pranopakari, or one who helps the souls, indicating their priestly functions in the ceremonials of various castes. A contraction of this name found in the early settlement records is Pranu. The members of those families from which kings and noblemen have at any time selected their barbers are called Vilakkittalavan, or more properly Vilakkuttalayan, meaning literally those who shave heads. In North Travancore many families are in possession of royal edicts conferring upon them the title of Panikkar, and along with it the headmanship of the barber families of the village in which they reside. Others have the title of Vaidyan or doctor, from the secondary occupation of the caste.

Endless endogamous septs occur among the barbers, and, at Trivandrum, there are said to be four varieties called Chala Vazhi, Pandi Vazhi, Attungal Vazhi, and Peruntanni Vazhi. But it is possible to divide all the Kshaurakans of Travancore into three classes, viz., Malayalam-speaking Ambattans, who follow the makkathayam law of inheritance; (2) Malayalam-speaking Ambattans who follow the marumakkathayam law of inheritance; (3) Tamil-speaking barbers, who have in many localities adopted Malayalam as their mother-tongue, and indicate their recent conversion in this direction by preserving unchanged the dress and ornaments of their womenkind. In Pattanapuram, for example, there is a class of Malayalam-speaking barbers known as Pulans who immigrated into that taluk from the Tamil country about two hundred years ago, and reveal their kinship with the Tamil-speaking barbers in various ways. In Kottayam and some other North Travancore taluks, a large number of barbers may be described as recent converts of this character. In theory at least, the makkathayam and marumakkathayam Ambattans may be said to form two distinct endogamous groups, of which the former regard themselves as far superior to the latter in social position. Sometimes the makkathayam Ambattans give their girls in marriage to the marumakkathayam Ambattans, though the converse can never hold good. But, in these cases, the girl is not permitted to re-enter the paternal home, and associate with the people therein.

A local tradition describes the Travancore Kshaurakans as pursuing their present occupation owing to the curse of Surabhi, the divine calf. Whatever their origin, they have faithfully followed their traditional occupation, and, in addition, many study medicine in their youth, and attend to the ailments of the villagers, while the women act as midwives. When a high-caste Hindu dies, the duty of supplying the fuel for the funeral pyre, and watching the burning ground, devolves on the barber.

In their dress and ornaments the Travancore barbers closely resemble the Nayars, but some wear round gold beads and a conch-shaped marriage jewel round the neck, to distinguish their women from those of the Nayars. This, however, does not hold good in South Travancore, where the women have entirely adopted the Nayar type of jewelry. Tattooing prevails to a greater extent among the barbers than among other classes, but has begun to lose its popularity.

The barbers not only worship the ordinary Hindu deities, but also adore such divinities as Murti, Maden, and Yakshi. The corpses of those who die as the result of accident or contagious disease, are buried, not burnt. A sorcerer is called on to raise the dead from the grave, and, at his instance, a kuryala or small thatched shed is erected, to provide a sanctum for the resurrected spirit. Every year, in the month of Makaram (January-February), the day on which the Utradam star falls is taken as the occasion for making offerings to these spirits.

In every village certain families had bestowed on them by the chieftains of Kerala the right of deciding all questions affecting the caste. All social offences are tried by them, and the decision takes the form of an order to celebrate iananguttu or feast of the equals, at which the first article served on the leaf placed before the assembled guests is not food, but a sum of money.

The tali-kettu and sambandham ceremonies are celebrated, the former before, and the latter after the girl has reached puberty. The preliminary rites of betrothal and kapu-kettu (tying the string round the wrist) over, the bridegroom enters the marriage hall in procession. There are no Vedic rites; nor is there any definite priest for the marriage ceremony. The conch-shell is blown at odd intervals, this being considered indispensable. The festivities last for four days. A niece and nephew are regarded as the most legitimate spouses of a son and daughter respectively.

After the cremation or burial of a corpse, a rope is held by two of the relations between the dead person's remains and the karta (chief mourner), and cut in two, as if to indicate that all connection between the karta and the deceased has ceased. This is called bandham aruppu, or severing of connection. Pollution lasts for sixteen days among all sections of the barbers, except the Tamils, who regain their purity after a death in the family on the eleventh day.

Ambiga.--A synonym of Kabbera.

Ambojala (lotus: Nelumbium).--A house-name of Korava.

Amma (mother).--A sub-division of Pallan and Paraiyan. It is also the title of the various goddesses, or mothers, such as Ellamma, Mariamma, etc., which are worshipped as Grama Devatas (village deities) at the temples known as Amman-koil.

Ammukkuvan.--A sub-division of Katalarayan. [60] (See Valan.)

Anapa (Dolichos Lablab).--A gotra of Komati.

Anasa (ferrule).--A gotra of Kurni.

Anchu (edge or border).--A gotra of Kurni.

Andara (pandal or booth).--A sept of Kuruba.

Ande.--Ande (a pot) as a division of the Kurubas refers to the small bamboo or wooden vessel used when milking goats. It further denotes a division of the Koragas, who used to wear a pot suspended from their necks, into which they were compelled to spit, so as not to defile the highway.

Anderaut.--Recorded, in the Census Report, 1901, as a sub-division of Kurumba. Probably a form of Ande Kuruba. Raut is frequently a title of headmen among Lingayats.