Part 20

Nattan.--At the Census, 1901, nearly 12,000 individuals returned themselves as Nattan, which is stated by the Census Superintendent to be "a vague term meaning people of the country, reported by some to be a main caste, and by others to be a sub-caste of Vellala. Nearly all of those who returned the name came from Salem and were cultivators, but some of them entered themselves as possessing the title of Servai, which usually denotes an Agamudaiyan" (see Servai, Servaikaran). Nattan also occurs as a title of the Tamil Sembadavan and Pattanavan fishing castes, and of the Vallambans. Portions of the Tamil country are divided into areas known as nadus, in each of which certain castes, known as Nattan or Nattar, are the predominant element. For example, the Vallambans and Kallans are called the Nattars of the Palaya Nadu in the Sivaganga zamindari of the Madura district. In dealing with the tribal affairs of the various castes inhabiting a particular nadu, the lead is taken by the Nattars.

Nattati (the name of a village).--A sub-division of Shanan.

Nattu (sons of the soil).--Recorded as a sub-division of Kallan, and of the Malayans of Cochin.

Nattukattada Nayanmar.--A class of mendicants attached to the Kaikolans (q.v.).

Nattukottai Chetti.--"Of all the Chettis," Mr. Francis writes, [106] "perhaps the most distinctive and interesting are the Nattukottai Chettis, who are wealthy money-lenders with head-quarters in the Tiruppattur and Devakottai divisions of the Sivaganga and Ramnad zamindaris in the Madura district. They are the most go-a-head of all the trading castes in the south, travelling freely to Burma, the Straits Settlements and Ceylon (also Saigon, Mauritius, and South Africa), and having in some cases correspondents in London and on the Continent. As long as their father is alive, the members of a Nattukottai Chetti family usually all live together. The caste is noted in the Madura district for the huge houses, to which this custom has given rise. Married sons have a certain number of rooms set aside for them, and are granted a carefully calculated yearly budget allotment of rice and other necessaries. On the father's death, contrary to all ordinary Hindu usage, the eldest son retains the house, and the youngest his mother's jewels and bed, while the rest of the property is equally divided among all the sons. When a male child is born, a certain sum is usually set aside, and in due time the accumulated interest upon it is spent on the boy's education. As soon as he has picked up business ways sufficiently, he begins life as the agent of some other members of the caste, being perhaps entrusted with a lakh of rupees, often on no better security than an unstamped acknowledgment scratched on a palmyra leaf, and sent off to Burma or Singapore to trade with it, and invest it. A percentage on the profits of this undertaking, and savings from his own salary, form a nucleus which he in turn invests on his own account. His wife will often help pay the house-keeping bills by making baskets and spinning thread, for the women are as thrifty as the men. As a caste they are open-handed and devout. In many houses, one pie in every rupee of profit is regularly set aside for charitable and religious expenditure, and a whip round for a caste-fellow in difficulties is readily responded to. By religion they are fervent Saivites, and many of the men proclaim the fact by wearing a rudraksham (Eleocarpus Ganitrus) fruit, usually set in gold, round their necks. Of late years they have spent very large sums upon several of the famous Saivite shrines in the Madras Presidency, notably those at Chidambaram, [107] Madura, and Tiruvannamalai. Unfortunately, however, much of the work has been executed in the most lamentable modern taste, and it is saddening to contrast the pitiful outcome of their heavy outlay with the results which might have been attained under judicious guidance. The decoration in the new Kaliyana Mahal in the Madura temple is mainly inferior varnished wood-carving, looking-glasses, and coloured glass balls. The same style has been followed at Tiruvannamalai, although lying scattered about in the outer courts of the temple are enough of the old pierced granite pillars to make perhaps the finest mantapam in South India. Owing to their wealth and their money-lending, the Nattukottai Chettis have been called the Jews of South India, but their kindliness and charity deserve more recognition than this description accords."

I am informed that the property of a woman (jewels, vessels, investments, etc.), on her decease, goes to her daughters. As among other Hindu castes, the eldest son may retain the personal effects of his father, and, with the consent of his brothers, may retain his house. But the value thereof is deducted from his share in the property.

It is stated in the Madura Manual that the "Nattukottai Settis in particular are notorious for their greed, and most amusing stories are told about them. However wealthy they may be, they usually live in the most penurious manner, and they will never by any chance show mercy to a debtor, so long as he shall have a penny left, or the chance of earning one. However, to make amends for their rapacity, they are in the habit of spending large sums now and then in works of charity. And, whatever faults there may be, they are most excellent men of business. Indeed, until quite lately, the good faith and honesty of a Nattukottai Setti were proverbial, and are even now conspicuous. The Nattukottai Settis claim to be a good caste, and asserted that they emigrated to this district thousands of years ago from a town called Kaveripattanam, in consequence of an intolerable persecution. But the other Settis will not admit the truth of their story, and affect to despise them greatly, alleging even that they are the bastard descendants of a Muhammadan man and a Kalla woman. The word Nattukottai is said to be a corruption of Nattarasangkottai, the name of a small village near Sivaganga. But this derivation appears to be doubtful." The name is usually said to be derived from Nattukottai, or country fort.

It has been said that "the Nattukottai Chettis, in organisation, co-operation, and business methods, are as remarkable as the European merchants. Very few of them have yet received any English education. They regard education as at present given in public schools as worse than useless for professional men, as it makes men theoretical, and scarcely helps in practice. The simple but strict training which they give their boys, the long and tedious apprenticeship which even the sons of the richest among them have to undergo, make them very efficient in their profession, and methodical in whatever they undertake to do."

Concerning the Nattukottai Chettis, Mr. P. R. Sundara Aiyar writes as follows. [108] "The first and chiefest aim of a Nattukottai Chetti is to make as much money as possible. He does not regard usury as a sin. As a little boy of ten or twelve, he begins to apply himself to business, learns accounts, and attends the shop of his father. As soon as he marries, his father gives him a separate home, or rather compels him to live separately, though often in the same house as his parents. This makes him self-reliant, and produces in him a desire to save as much money as possible. He is given a certain allowance out of the paternal estate, but, if he spends more, he is debited with the excess amount. Every one consequently tries to increase his stock of individual savings. Even the women earn money in a variety of ways. Every rupee saved is laid out at as high a rate of interest as possible. It is commonly stated that a rupee, laid out at the birth of a child at compound interest at 12 per cent., will amount to a lakh of rupees by the time he attains the age of a hundred. The habits of a Nattukottai Chetti are very simple, and his living is very cheap, even when he is rich. So strict are the Chettis in pecuniary matters that, if a relation visits them, he gets only his first meal free, and if he stays longer, is quietly debited with the cost of his stay."

The Nattukottai Chettis [109] are said to employ Kammalans, Valaiyans, Kallans, and Vallambans as their cooks. They are permitted to enter the interior of Hindu temples, and approach near to the innermost doorway of the central shrine. This privilege is doubtless accorded to them owing to the large sums of money which they spend on temples, and in endowing charitable institutions. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that "of the profits of their commercial transactions, a fixed percentage (called magamai) is usually set aside for charity. Some of the money so collected is spent on keeping up Sanskrit schools, but most of it has been laid out in the repair and restoration of the temples of the south, especial attention being paid to those shrines (padal petta sthalangal, as they are called), which were hymned by the four great poet-saints, Manikya Vachakar, Appar, Tirugnana Sambandhar, and Sundaramurti." "The Chettis," Mr. Sundara Aiyar writes, "are believed to be the most charitable class in Southern India, and undoubtedly they spend the largest amount of money on charity. They set apart a fraction of their profits for charity. They levy rates among themselves for local charities, wherever they go. The income obtained from the rates is generally spent on temples. In new places like Ceylon, Burma, and Singapore, they build new temples, generally dedicated to Subramanya Swami. In India itself, they establish festivals in existing temples, and undertake the repair of temples. Immense sums have been spent by them recently in the renovation and restoration of ancient temples. We should not be surprised to be told that the amount spent within the last thirty years alone amounts to a crore of rupees. Being Saivites, they do not generally care for Vaishnava temples. And, even among Saiva temples, only such as have special sanctity, and have been sung about by the Saiva Nainars or Bhaktas, are patronised by them. They have devoted large sums to the establishment of comfortable choultries (rest-houses), feeding houses, Vedic and recently also Sastraic pathasalas (schools). They have established schools for the education of the Kurukal or the priestly class. And, in fact, every charity of the orthodox Hindu type finds generous support among them."

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that the gopurams of the Madura temple "have been repaired of late years at great cost by the Nattukottai Chettis. The northern tower used to consist only of the brick and stone-work storeys, and was known in consequence as the mottai (literally bald) gopuram. Recently, however, a courageous Chetti, who cared nothing for the superstition that it is most unlucky to complete a building left unfinished, placed the usual plaster top upon it."

In recent years, the temple at Chidambaram has been renovated by the Nattukottai Chettis, who "have formed for this and similar restorations a fund which is made up of a fee of four annas per cent. levied from their clients on all sums borrowed by the latter. The capital of this is invested, and the interest thereon devoted exclusively to such undertakings." [110]

In 1906, the purificatory ceremony, or kumbabishekam, of the Sri Pasupathiswara Swami temple at Karur was performed with great pomp. The old temple had been thoroughly overhauled and repaired by the Nattukottai Chettis. The ceremony cost about fifty thousand rupees. Many thousands were fed, and presents of money made to a large number of Vaidiki Brahmans. In the same year, at a public meeting held in Madras to concert measures for establishing a pinjrapole (hospital for animals), one of the resolutions was that early steps should be taken to collect public subscriptions from the Hindu community generally, and in particular from the Nattukottai Chettis, Gujaratis, and other mercantile classes.

Still more recently, the kumbabishekam festival was celebrated at Tiruvanaikkaval, the seat of a celebrated temple near Trichinopoly, which was repaired by the Nattukottai Chettis at a cost of many lakhs of rupees.

By a traditional custom, the Nattukottai Chettis live largely by money-lending. They never serve under any one outside their own community. They either trade on their own account, or are employed as agents or assistants. The pay of an assistant is always calculated for a period of three years, and a portion thereof is paid in advance after a month's service. This the assistant invests to the best advantage. At the end of a year, a portion of the balance of the pay is handed over to him, leaving a small sum to be paid at the end of the contract period. His expenses for board and lodging are met by his employer, and he may receive a small share of the profits of the business. A man, on receiving an agency, starts on an auspicious day, and proceeds to a temple of Ganesa, and to a matam (religious institution) containing figures of Ganesa and Natesa. After prostrating himself before the gods, he proceeds on his way. If he encounters an object of evil omen, he will not continue, and, if he has to journey to a distant spot, he will throw up his appointment. The accounts of the Nattukottai Chettis are audited triennially, an annual audit being inconvenient, as their business is carried on at various remote spots. The foreign business is said [111] to "be transacted by agents belonging to the caste, who receive a salary proportioned to the distance of the place, and also, usually, a percentage on the profits. They generally serve for three years, and then return, and give an account of their stewardship." The commencement of a fresh period of three years is made on an auspicious day called puthukanakkunal (fresh account day), which is observed as a holiday. No business is transacted, and customers are invited, and receive presents of fruits, sweets, etc.

In connection with Nattukottai agencies, Mr. Hayavadana Rao writes as follows. [112] "People of moderate means usually elect to go to distant places as agents of the different firms that have their head offices either at Madura or in the Zamindaris of Ramnad and Sivaganga. The pay of a local agent varies directly with the distance of the place to which he is posted. If he is kept at Madura, he gets Rs. 100 per mensem; if sent to Burma, he gets three times as much; and, if to Natal, about twice the latter sum. If an agent proves himself to be an industrious and energetic man, he is usually given a percentage on the profits. The tenure of office is for three years, six months before the expiry of which the next agent is sent over to work conjointly with the existing one, and study the local conditions. On relief, the agent returns directly to his head office, and delivers over his papers, and then goes to his own village. With this, his connection with his firm practically ceases. He enjoys his well-earned rest of three years, at the end of which he seeks re-employment either under his old firm, or under any other. The former he is bound to, if he has taken a percentage on the profits during his previous tenure of office. If the old firm rejects him when he so offers himself, then he is at liberty to enter service under others." It is said to be very rare for Nattukottai women to accompany their husbands to distant places. "In fact, the husbands have to visit their native places at long intervals, and make a felicitous sojourn in the company of their wives."

The houses of the Nattukottai Chettis are spacious and substantial buildings all based on the same general plan. The front entrance opens into an oblong courtyard with a verandah all round, and rows of rooms at the two sides. At the farther end of the courtyard is an entrance leading into a backyard or set of apartments. Modern houses have imposing exteriors, and an upper storey. Married sons live in separate quarters, and every couple receive from their fathers a fixed yearly allowance, which may amount to twenty rupees and fifteen kalams of paddy. The sons may, if they choose, spend more, but the excess is debited to their account, and, at the time of partition of the estate, deducted, with interest, from their share.

It is noted by Mr. Hayavadana Rao that "the remarkable custom prevails amongst them that obliges all married members to cook separately and eat their meals, though they live in the same house. Even the widowed mother is no exception to this rule. Unmarried members live with their parents until they are married. Allotments of rice and other necessaries are annually made to the several semi-independent members of the household. This custom has given rise to the commodious houses in which members of this caste usually reside."

As concerning the origin of the Nattukottai Chettis, the following story is told. In ancient days, the Vaisyas of the lunar race were living in the town of Santhyapuri in the Naganadu of the Jambudvipa(India). They paid daily visits to the shrine of Vinayaka god made of emerald, and were traders in precious stones. They were much respected, and led the life of orthodox Saivites, wore rudraksha beads, and smeared themselves with sacred ashes. They were, however, much oppressed by a certain ruler, and emigrated in a body to Conjeeveram in the Tondamandalam country in the year 204 of the Kaliyuga. The king of Conjeeveram gave them permission to settle in his territory, and made grants to them of land, temples and matams. They stayed there for a very long time, but, being troubled by heavy taxes and fines, left this part of the country about 2312 Kaliyuga, and settled in the Chola country. The Chola king, being much impressed with them, bestowed on them the privilege of placing the crown on the head of a new ruler at his coronation. At this time, the town of Kaveripumpattanam is said to have been in a very flourishing state, and the north street was occupied by Vaisyas from other countries. Being unwilling to disturb them, the king made the new settlers occupy the east, west, and south streets. As a mark of respect, they were allowed to use flags with the figure of a lion on them, and use golden vessels (kalasam) in their houses. They all, at the instigation of the king, became disciples of one Isanya Sivachariar of Patanjalikshetra (Chidambaram). About 3775 Kaliyuga, Puvandi Chola Raja imprisoned several of the Vaisya women, whereon all the eight thousand Vaisya families destroyed themselves, leaving their male children to be taken care of by a religious teacher named Atmanadhachariar. In all 1,502 children were thus brought up, viz., 600 of six ways from the west street, 502 of seven ways from the east street, and 400 of four ways from the south street. Later on, Puvandi Chola fell ill, and, knowing his recovery to be impossible, sent for the Vaisya boys, and asked them to look after the coronation of his son Rajabhushana Chola. But they said that, as they were bachelors, they could not comply with his request. The king accordingly made them marry Vellala girls. Those of the west street took as wives girls of the Karkaththar section, those of the east street girls of the Sozhia section, and those of the south street girls of the Kaniyala section. The three groups became disciples of three different matams, viz., Tiruvarur, Kumbakonam, and Vanchium. In the year 3790, a dispute arose in connection with the right of priority in receiving sacred ashes between the Vaisya and true Vellala women, and the former were made to become the disciples of a new guru (religious preceptor). About 3808, a Pandya king, named Sundara Pandya, is said to have asked the Chola king to induce some of the Vaisyas to settle down in the Pandya territory. They accordingly once more emigrated in a body, and reached the village of Onkarakudi on a Friday (the constellation Astham being in the ascendant on that day). They were allowed to settle in the tract of country north of the river Vaigai, east of the Piranmalai, and south of Vellar. Those from the east street settled at Ilayaththukudi, those from the west street at Ariyur, and those from the south street at Sundarapattanam. Thus the Chettis became divided into three endogamous sections, of which the Ilayaththukudi and Sundarapattanam are found at the present day in the Madura district. The members of the Ariyur section migrated to the west coast on the destruction of their village. The members of the Ilayaththukudi section became the Nattukottais. They, not being satisfied with only one place of worship, requested the king to give them more temples. Accordingly, temples were provided for different groups at Maththur, Vairavanpatti, Iraniyur, Pillayarpatti, Nemam, Iluppaikudi, Suraikudi, and Velangkudi. At the present day, the Nattukottai Chettis are divided into the following divisions (kovils or temples) and exogamous sub-divisions:--

1. Ilayaththukudi kovil-- Okkurudaiyar. Pattanasamiar. Perumaruthurudaiyar. Kazhanivasakkudaiyar. Kinkinikkudaiyar. Perasendurudaiyar. Siruseththurudaiyar. 2. Maththur kovil-- Uraiyur. Arumbakur. Manalur. Mannur. Kannur. Karuppur. Kulaththur. 3. Vairavan kovil-- Sirukulaththur. Kazhanivasal. Marudendrapuram. 4. Iraniyur kovil. 5. Pillayarpatti kovil. 6. Nemam kovil. 7. Iluppaikudi kovil. 8. Suraikudi kovil. 9. Velangkudi kovil.

When Nattukottai Chettis adopt children, they must belong to the same temple division. An adopted son is called Manjanir Puthiran, or turmeric-water son, because, at the ceremony of adoption, the lad has to drink turmeric-water. [113] In villages where their main temples are situated, the temple manager is obliged to give food to stranger Chettis, and charge for it if they belong to another temple division.

According to a variant of the story relating to the origin of the Nattukottai Chettis, "they were formerly merchants at the court of the Chola kings who ruled at Kaveripattanam, at one time a flourishing sea-port at the mouth of the Cauveri, from which they emigrated in a body on being persecuted by one of them, and first settled at Nattarasankottai, about three miles north-east of Sivaganga."

By other castes, the Nattukottai Chettis are said to be the descendants of the offspring of unions between a Shanan and a Muhammadan and Uppu Korava women. Some of the peculiarities of the caste are pointed out in support of the story. Thus, Nattukottai men shave their heads like Muhammadans, and both men and women have the lobes of their ears dilated like the older Shanans. Their girls wear necklaces of shell beads like Korava women, and the women delight in making baskets for recreation, as the Korava women do for sale. The caste is sometimes spoken of as Uppu (salt) Maruhira Chetti. The arguments and illustrations are naturally much resented by the Nattukottai Chettis, who explain the obnoxious name by the story that they were formerly very poor, and made a living by selling salt.