Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 5 of 7

Castes and Tribes of Southern India
Castes and Tribes of Southern India
By Edgar Thurston, C.I.E. , Superintendent, Madras Government Museum; Correspondant Étranger, Société d’Anthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa, Romana di Anthropologia. Assisted by K. Rangachari, M.A. , of the Madras Government Museum.
Volume V—M to P Government Press, Madras 1909.

In the Madras Census Report, 1901, the Jōnagans are separated from the Marakkāyars, and are described as Musalman traders of partly Hindu parentage. And, in the Gazetteer of South Arcot, Mr. Francis says that “the term Jōnagan or Sōnagan, meaning a native of Sōnagan or Arabia, is applied by Hindus to both Labbais and Marakkāyars, but it is usually held to have a contemptuous flavour about it.” There is some little confusion concerning the exact application of the name Jōnagan, but I gather that it is applied to sea-fishermen and boatmen, while the more prosperous traders are called Marakkāyars. A point, in which the Labbais are said to differ from the Marakkāyars, is that the former are Hanafis, and the latter Shāfis.
The Marakkāyars are said to admit converts from various Hindu classes, who are called Pulukkais, and may not intermarry with the Marakkāyars for several generations, or until they have become prosperous.
In one form of the marriage rites, the ceremonial extends over four days. The most important items on the first day are fixing the mehr (bride-price) in the presence of the vakils (representatives), and the performance of the nikka rite by the Kāzi. The nikka kudbha is read, and the hands of the contracting couple are united by male elders, the bride standing within a screen. During the reading of the kudbha, a sister of the bridegroom ties a string of black beads round the bride’s neck. All the women present set up a roar, called kulavi-idal. On the following day, the couple sit among women, and the bridegroom ties a golden tāli on the bride’s neck. On the third or fourth day a ceremony called pāpārakkolam, or Brāhman disguise, is performed. The bride is dressed like a Brāhman woman, and holds a brass vessel in one hand, and a stick in the other. Approaching the bridegroom, she strikes him gently, and says “Did not I give you buttermilk and curds? Pay me for them.” The bridegroom then places a few tamarind seeds in the brass vessel, but the bride objects to this, and demands money, accompanying the demand with strokes of the stick. The man then places copper, silver, and gold coins in the vessel, and the bride retires in triumph to her chamber.