Part 15

(1) You must not clean your teeth with sticks. (2) You must not bathe with cloths worn on your person. (3) You must not rub your body with the cloths worn on your person. (4) You must not bathe before sunrise. (5) You must not cook your food before you bathe. (6) Avoid the water kept aside during the night. (7) You must not have one particular object in view while you bathe. (8) The remainder of the water taken for one purpose must not be used for another ceremony. (9) You must bathe if you touch another, i.e., a Sudra. (10) You must bathe if you happen to be near another, i.e., a Chandala. (11) You must bathe if you touch polluted wells or tanks. (12) You must not tread over a place that has been cleaned with a broom, unless it is sprinkled with water. (13) A particular mode of marking the forehead with ashes (otherwise described as putting three horizontal lines on the forehead with pure burnt cow-dung). (14) You must repeat charms yourself. (You must not allow someone else to do it.) (15) You must avoid cold rice, etc. (food cooked on the previous day). (16) You must avoid leavings of meals by children. (17) You must not eat anything that has been offered to Siva. (18) You must not serve out food with your hands. (19) You must not use the ghi of buffalo cows for burnt offerings. (20) You must not use buffalo milk or ghi for funeral offerings. (21) A particular mode of taking food (not to put too much in the mouth, because none must be taken back). (22) You must not chew betel while you are polluted. (23) You must observe the conclusion of the Brahmachari period (the samavarttanam ceremony). This should be done before consorting with Nayar women. (24) You must give presents to your guru or preceptor. (The Brahmachari must do so.) (25) You must not read the Vedas on the road. (26) You must not sell women (receive money for girls given in marriage). (27) You must not fast in order to obtain fulfilment of your desires. (28) Bathing is all that a woman should observe if she touches another in her menses. (A woman touching another who is in this state should, it is said, purify herself by bathing. A man should change his thread, and undergo sacred ablution. Women, during their periods, are not required to keep aloof, as is the custom among non-Malabar Brahmans.) (29) Brahmans should not spin cotton. (30) Brahmans should not wash cloths for themselves. (31) Kshatriyas should avoid worshipping the lingam. (32) Brahmans should not accept funeral gifts from Sudras. (33) Perform the anniversary ceremony of your father (father's father, mother's father and both grandmothers). (34) Anniversary ceremonies should be performed on the day of the new moon (for the gratification of the spirits of the deceased). (35) The death ceremony should be performed at the end of the year, counting from the day of death. (36) The ceremony to be performed till the end of the year after death (Diksha is apparently referred to). (37) Sraddhas should be performed with regard to the stars (according to the astronomical, not the lunar year). (38) The death ceremony should not be performed until after the pollution caused by childbirth has been removed. (39) A particular mode of performing sraddha by an adopted son (who should do the ceremony for his adopted parents as well as for his natural parents. Among non-Malabar Brahmans, an adopted son has nothing to do with the ceremonies for his natural father, from whose family he has become entirely disconnected). (40) The corpse of a man should be burnt in his own compound. (41) Sanyasis should not look at (see) women. (42) Sanyasis should renounce all worldly pleasures. (43) Sraddha should not be performed for deceased Sanyasis. (44) Brahman women must not look at any other persons besides their own husbands. (45) Brahman women must not go out, unless accompanied by women servants. (46) They should wear only white clothing. (47) Noses should not be pierced. (48) Brahmans should be put out of their caste if they drink any liquor. (49) Brahmans should forfeit their caste, if they have intercourse with other Brahman women besides their wives. (50) The consecration of evil spirits should be avoided. (Otherwise said to be that worship of ancestors should not be done in temples.) (51) Sudras and others are not to touch an idol. (52) Anything offered to one god should not be offered to another. (53) Marriage etc., should not be done without a burnt offering (homam). (54) Brahmans should not give blessings to each other. (55) They should not bow down to one another. (Among non-Malabar Brahmans, juniors receive benediction from seniors. The Nambutiris do not allow this.) (56) Cows should not be killed in sacrifice. (57) Do not cause distraction, some by observing the religious rites of Siva, and others those of Vishnu. (58) Brahmans should wear only one sacred thread. (59) The eldest son only is entitled to marriage. (60) The ceremony in honour of a deceased ancestor should be performed with boiled rice. (61) Kshatriyas, and those of other castes, should perform funeral ceremonies to their uncles. (62) The right of inheritance among Kshatriyas, etc., goes towards nephews. (63) Sati should be avoided. (This also includes directions to widows not to shave the head, as is the custom among non-Malabar Brahmans.)

In connection with the foregoing, Mr. Subramani Aiyar writes that the manners and customs of the Nambutiris differ from those of the other communities in several marked particulars. They go by the specific name of Keralacharas, which, to the casual observer, are so many anacharas or mal-observances, but to the sympathetic student are not more perhaps than unique acharas. A verse runs to the effect that they are anacharas, because they are not acharas (observances) elsewhere. (Anyatracharanabhavat anacharaitismritah.) Of these sixty-four acharas, about sixty will be found to be peculiar to Malabar. These may be grouped into the following six main classes:--

(1) Personal hygiene.--Bathing. (2) Eating.--The rules about food, either regarding the cooking or eating of it are very religiously observed. Absolute fasting is unknown in Malabar. (3) Worship of the Gods and manes.--The anniversary of a person's death is regulated not by the age of the moon at the time, but by the star, unlike on the other coast. Again, a birth pollution has priority over other observances, even death ceremonies. A son who has to perform the funeral ceremonies of his father is rendered unfit for that solemn function by an intervening birth pollution. An adopted son is not, as in other parts of India, relieved of the sraddha obligations to his natural parents. Sectarian controversies in regard to Siva and Vishnu are strictly tabooed. The establishment of Hinduism on a non-sectarian basis was the sacred mission of Sankaracharya's life. A single triple string (sacred thread) is worn irrespective of civil condition. This is contrary to the usage of the other coast, where married Brahmans wear two or three triplets. Sprinkling water is an essential purificatory act after the use of the broom. An isolated rule requires dead bodies to be burnt in private compounds, and not in consecrated communal sites, as among the east coast people. (4) Conduct in society.--Chastity is jealously guarded by the imposition of severe ostracism on adulterers. Formal salutation, and even namaskaras and anugrahas, or prostration before and blessing by seniors, are prescribed. This is a striking point of difference between Malabar and the rest of India, and is probably based on the esoteric teaching of universal oneness. (5) Asramas or stages of life.--It is distinctly prescribed that a Brahman should formally conclude the Brahmachari asrama, and that presents or dakshina to the gurus should be the crowning act. The asura or bride-sale form of marriage is prohibited--a prohibition which, in the case of the Nambutiris, is absolutely unnecessary as matters now stand. An injunction in the reverse direction against the ruinous tyranny of a bride-penalty would be an anxiously sought relief to the strugglings of many an indigent bride's father. The special law of Malabar, under which the eldest son is alone entitled to be married, has already been referred to. The anchorite stage comes in for regulation by the Manu of Kerala. The eyes of a Sanyasin should never rest on a woman even for a second. This rule, which, if it errs at all, only does so on the side of safety, is not observed elsewhere, as the stage of a Sanyasin is expected to be entered only after the complete subjugation of the passions. No aradhana (worship) sraddhas are performed for them, as is done in other parts. The soul of the Sanyasin is freed from the bondage of Karma and the chance of recurring birth, and has only to be remembered and worshipped, unlike the ordinary Jivan or still enslaved soul, whose salvation interests have to be furthered by propitiatory Karmas on the part of its earthly beneficiaries. (6) Regulation of women's conduct.--Women are not to gaze on any face but that of their wedded lord, and never go out unattended. They are to wear only white clothes, and are never to pierce their noses for the wearing of jewelry. Death on the husband's funeral pyre is not to be the sacred duty of the Nambutiri widow, who is advised to seek in the life of a self-sacrificing Sanyasi a sure means of salvation.

In affairs of the world, time is reckoned by the ordinary Malabar kollam or solar year, the era beginning from the date of the departure of the last Perumal, a sovereign of the western coast, to Arabia in 825. The months of the kollam year are Mesha (Metam), Vrishabha (Itavam), Mithuna, Karkkataka, Sihma (Chingga), Kanya (Kanni), Tula, Vrischika, Dhanu, Makara, Kumbha, Mina. In affairs of religion, time is reckoned by the salivahana saka, or lunar year, the months of which are Chaitra, Vaisakha, Jeshta, Ashadha, Sravana, Bhadrapata, Asvavuja, Margasirsha, Paushya, Magha, Phalguna. Every three years or thereabouts, there is added another month, called Adhika.

Some of the festivals kept by the Nambutiris are as follows: --

(1) Sivaratri.--Worship of Siva on the last day of Magha. Fast and vigil at night, and puja. (2) Upakarma.--The regular day for putting on a new sacred thread, after having cleansed away the sins of the year through the prayaschittam, in which ceremony the five sacred products of the cow (milk, curds, ghi, urine, and dung) are partaken of. It is done on the 15th of Sravana. (3) Nagara panchimi.--The serpent god is worshipped, and bathed in milk. On the 5th of Sravana. This festival is common in Southern India. (4) Gokulashtami.--Fast and vigil at night, to celebrate the birth of Krishna. Puja at night, on the eighth day of the latter half of Sravana. (5) Navaratri.--The first nine days of Asvayuja are devoted to this festival in honour of Durga. (6) Dipavali.--Observed more particularly in North Malabar on the anniversary of the day on which Krishna slew the rakshasa Naraka. Everyone takes an oil bath. On the last day of Asvayuja. (7) Ashtkalam.--The pitris (ancestors) of the family are propitiated by offerings of pinda (balls of rice) and tarpana (libations of water). On the new moon day of Dhanu. (8) Vinayaka Chaturthi.--The elephant-headed god of learning is worshipped. At the end of the ceremony, the idol is dropped into a well. On the 4th of Bhadrapada. (9) Puram.--The god of love, represented by a clay image, is propitiated by unmarried girls with offerings of flowers seven days successively. The image is finally given, together with some money, to a Brahman, who drops it into a well. The flowers which have been used to decorate the image are placed by the girls at the foot of a jak tree. Contrary to the custom of other Brahmans, Nambutiri girls are under no disgrace, should they attain puberty while unmarried. In the month of Mina. (10) Onam.--The great festival of Malabar, kept by everyone, high and low, with rejoicing. It is the time of general good-will, of games peculiar to the festival, and of distribution of new yellow cloths to relations and dependants. It is supposed to commemorate the descent of Maha Bali, or Mabali, to see his people happy. (11) Tiruvadira.--Fast and vigil in honour of Siva, observed by women only. In the month of Dhanu. (12) Vishu.--The solar new year's day. A very important festival in Malabar. It is the occasion for gifts, chiefly to superiors. The first thing seen by a Nambutiri on this day should be something auspicious. His fate during the year depends on whether the first object seen is auspicious, or the reverse.

The following festivals are referred to by Mr. Subramani Aiyar:--

(1) Trikkatta or Jyeshta star.--In the month of Chingam. Food is cooked, and eaten before sunrise by all the married male members, as well as by every female member of a family. Though not of the previous day, the food goes by the name of Trikkatta pazhayatu, or the old food of the Trikkatta day. The import of this festival, when the specific ordinance of Sankara against food cooked before sunrise is contravened, is not known. (2) Makam or Magha star.--In the month of Kanni. On this day, the cows of the house are decorated with sandal paste and flowers, and given various kinds of sweetmeats. The ladies of the house take ten or twelve grains of paddy (rice), anoint them with oil, and, after bathing in turmeric-water, consecrate the grains by the recitation of certain hymns, and deposit them in the ara or safe room of the house. If there are in the house any female members born under the Makam star, the duty of performing the ceremony devolves on them in particular. This is really a harvest festival, and has the securing of food-grains in abundance (dhanyasamriddhi) for its temporal object. (3) All the days in the month of Thulam.--In this month, young unmarried girls bathe every day before 4 A.M., and worship Ganapathi (Vignesvara), the elephant god. (4) Gauri puja.--In the month of Vrischigam. This is done on any selected Monday in the month. The ceremony is known as ammiyum vilakkaum toduka, or touching the grinding-stone and lamp. The married women of the house clean the grinder and the grinding-stone, and place a bronze mirror by its side. They then proceed to worship Gauri, whose relation to Siva represents to the Hindu the ideal sweetness of wedded life. (5) Tiruvatira or Ardra star.--In the month of Dhanu. This is a day of universal festivity and rejoicing. For seven days previous to it, all the members of the house bathe in the early morning, and worship Siva. This bathing is generally called tutichchukuli or shivering bath, as the mornings are usually cold and intensely dewy. On the day previous to Tiruvatira, ettangnati, or eight articles of food purchased in the bazar, are partaken of. Such a repast is never indulged in on any other day. The Tiruvatira day is spent in the adoration of Siva, and the votaries take only a single meal (orikkal). Night vigils are kept both by the wife and husband seated before a lighted fire, which represents the sakshi (witness) of Karmas and contracts. (Hence the common term agnisakshi.) They then chew a bundle of betel leaves, not less than a hundred in number. This is called kettuvettila tinnuka. As the chewing of betel is taboo except in the married state, this function is believed to attest and seal their irrefragable mutual fidelity. (6) The new moon day in the month of Karkatakam.--On the evening of this day, various kinds of sweetmeats are cooked, and, before the family partakes of them, a portion of each is placed in the upper storey as an offering to rats, by which their divine master, Ganapathi, is believed to be propitiated.

The Nambutiri's business, which he has in hand, will be concluded to his satisfaction, should he on starting hear or see vocal or instrumental music, a harlot, a dancing-girl, a virgin, a litter, an elephant, a horse, a bull or cow tethered, curds, raw rice of a reddish colour, sugar-cane, a water-pot, flowers, fruits, honey, or two Brahmans. Bad omens, which, if seen by a householder the first thing in the morning, mean trouble of some kind for the rest of the day, are a crow seen on the left hand, a kite on the right, a snake, a cat, a jackal, a hare, an empty vessel, a smoky fire, a bundle of sticks, a widow, a man with one eye, or a man with a big nose. A Nambutiri, seeing any of these things, when setting out on a journey, will turn back. Should he, however, at once see a lizard on the eastern wall of a house, he may proceed. To sneeze once is a good omen for the day; to sneeze twice is a bad one. An evil spirit may enter the mouth while one is yawning, so, to avert such a catastrophe, the fingers are snapped, and kept snapping until the yawn is over, or the hand is held in front of the mouth. But this idea, and the custom of snapping the fingers, are by no means peculiar to the Nambutiris.

The Nambutiris look on a voyage across the sea with horror, and no Nambutiri has ever yet visited England.

A Nayar should not come nearer than six paces to a Nambutiri, a man of the barber caste nearer than twelve paces, a Tiyan than thirty-six, a Malayan than sixty-four, and a Pulaiyan than ninety-six. Malabar is, indeed, the most conservative part of Southern India. The man of high caste shouts occasionally as he goes along, so that the low caste man may go off the road, and allow him to pass unpolluted. And those of the lowest castes shout as they go, to give notice of their pollution-bearing presence, and, learning the command of the man of high caste, move away from the road. It is common to see people of the inferior castes travelling parallel to the road, but not daring to go along it. They do not want to. It is not because they are forced off the road. Custom clings to them as to the Nayar or to the Nambutiri. But even this is undergoing modification.

In connection with marriage, three chief rules are observed. The contracting parties must not be of the same gotra; they must not be related to each other through father or mother; and the bridegroom must be the eldest son of the family. It is said that there are seven original gotras, called after the sages Kamsha, Kasyapa, Bharadvaja, Vatsya, Kaundinya, Atri, and Tatri; and that other gotras have grown out of these. Relationship is said by some to cease after the fourth generation, but this is disputed. The bride's dowry is always heavy. The wife joins her husband's gotra, forsaking her own altogether. Women may remain unmarried without prejudice. Needless to say, this has the reverse of favour with Brahmans outside Malabar. But the Nambutiri girl or woman, who has not been married, is not allowed to disappear altogether from the world without at least the semblance of marriage, for, at her death, some part of the marriage ceremony is performed on her person. The tali is tied. In like manner, a dead Toda girl is not allowed to go to her last rest unmarried. Infant marriage, which is the rule with other Brahmans, is said to be unknown among the Nambutiris. Mr. Justice K. Narayana Marar, however, writes [95] that he is "not prepared to assert that infant marriage is unknown among Nambudris, and that marriages are always celebrated before puberty. There are instances, though rare, of infant marriages among them." When a girl is ten years old, or a little more, her father thinks of finding a husband for her. Property alone is the real thing to be considered. Every detail bearing on advantage to the family through the alliance is carefully thought out. Among the Malayalis generally, the young man with University degrees has command of the marriage market, but to the Nambutiri these are of no account. When the girl's father has fixed on a likely young man, he gets his horoscope, and confers with a Vadhyar concerning the suitability or agreement of the young man's horoscope with that of his daughter. Should the decision of the Vadhyar be favourable, the young man's father is invited to the house on an auspicious day, and the two fathers, together with some friends, talk the matter over. In the presence of all, the Vadhyar announces the agreement of the horoscopes of the pair whose marriage is in prospect. The dowry of the bride is then fixed. Probably many days have been occupied already, before the fathers can agree as to the settlement of the dowry. When this has been done, the Vadhyar consults the heavenly bodies, and appoints the day on which the marriage ceremonies should be begun. There is then a feast for all present. A Nambutiri would be in very bad circumstances if he did not give at least a thousand rupees with his daughter. He should give much more, and does, if he possibly can. The ceremonies connected with marriage are supposed to occupy a year, but they are practically completed within ten days. They open with a party leaving the bride's illam, to invite the bridegroom and his party to the wedding. At the house of the bridegroom, the Vadhyar is given about eight fanams [96] (money) by both parties. The return to the bride's illam is a sort of noisy procession composed of the bridegroom with his friends, Nayar women under big cadjan (palm leaf) umbrellas, a number of Nayars, some of whom indulge in sword play with swords and shields, and Nambutiris versed in the Sastras. The bridegroom, who is the chief figure in the crowd, has a string (the usual kankanam) tied round his right wrist to protect him from evil spirits, and carries a bamboo with sixteen joints symbolic of the married state, a mirror for good luck, an arrow to guard the bride against evil spirits, four cloths, and a tali. At the gate of the bride's illam, the procession is met by some Nayar women dressed as Nambutiri women, who, being unable to come out and welcome the bridegroom, do so by proxy. These women wave a light in front of his face, and offer ashtamangalyam--a plate on which are plantain, betel leaves, a cocoanut, and other articles. On this day, the aupasana agni, or sacred fire, is prepared in the courtyard of the bride's illam. A square pit is made, and fire is made with a piece of wood of the jak tree and of the pipal. This fire is rendered sacred by some mystic rites. It is kept burning throughout the marriage, and is preserved until the death of the future husband and wife in one of two ways:--

(1) keeping a lamp lighted at the fire burning perpetually; (2) heating in the fire a piece of wood (plasa or palasa) or dharba grass. The wood or grass is put away, and, when the aupasana agni is to be revived, is lighted in a fire of jak and pipal wood, while certain mantrams (consecrated formulæ) are repeated.