Concerning the Shōliars, Mr. C. Ramachendrier writes as follows[102]:—“The Shōliars 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 pūja 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, Shōlia 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 pūjas 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 Dīkshitars 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 Shōlia Brahmans. Those of Avadayarcovil are also engaged in the service of the temple of that name. Shōliars 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 Shōliars,[103] 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 Shōliar does not shake without sufficient reason,” i.e., it is a sign that he is bent upon doing some mischief.

(h) Mukkāni.—The Mukkānis are Smarthas confined to the Cochin and Travancore States.

(i) Kāniyālar.—Concerning the Kāniyālars, Mr. Ramachendrier writes as follows:—“Kaniālars 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) Sankēthi.—The Sankēthis 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 Vēdas, 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.”

(k) Prathamasāki.—These follow the white Yajur Vēda, and are hence called Sukla Yejur Vēdis. The white Yajus forms the first fifteen sākas of the Yejur Vēda, and this is in consequence sometimes called Prathamasāka. The Prathamasākis are sometimes called Kātyayana (followers of Kātyayana Sūtram), Vājusaneya, and Madyandanas. The two last names occur among their Pravara and Gōtra Rishis. The Prathamasākis are found among all the linguistic sections. Among Smarthas, Āndhras, and Vaishnavas, they are regarded as inferior. Carnataka Prathamasākis are, on the other hand, not considered inferior by the other sections of Carnatakas. In the Tanjore district, the Prathamasākis are said to be known as Madyāna Paraiyans. The following quaint legend is recorded in the Gazetteer of that district:—“The god of the Tiruvalur temple was entreated by a pūjāri of this place (Koiltirumūlam) to be present in the village at a sacrifice in his (the god’s) honour. The deity consented at length, but gave warning that he would come in a very unwelcome shape. He appeared as a Paraiyan (Pariah) with beef on his back, and followed by the four Vēdas in the form of dogs, and took his part in the sacrifice thus accoutred and attended. All the Brahmans who were present ran away, and the god was so incensed that he condemned them to be Paraiyans for one hour in the day, from noon till 1 P.M., ever afterwards. There is a class of Brahmans called mid-day Paraiyans, who are found in several districts, and a colony of whom reside at Sedanipuram five miles from Nannilam. It is believed throughout the Tanjore district that the mid-day Paraiyans are the descendants of the Brahmans thus cursed by the god. They are supposed to expiate their defilement by staying outside their houses for an hour and a half every day at mid-day, and to bathe afterwards; and, if they do this, they are much respected. Few of them, however, observe this rule, and orthodox persons will not eat with them, because of their omission to remove the defilement. They call themselves the Prathamasaka.” Several versions of stories accounting for their pollution are extant, and the following is a version given by Mr. Ramachendrier. “Yagnavalkiar, who was the chief disciple of Vysampayanar, having returned with his students from pilgrimage, represented to his priest that Yajur Vēda was unrivalled, and that he and his students alone were qualified for its propagation. Vysampayanar, feeling provoked by this assertion, which, he remarked, implied insult to Brahmans, proposed certain penance for the offence. Yagnavalkiar replied that he and his students had done many good deeds and performed many religious rites, and that they were still to do such, and that the insult imputed to them was worthy of little notice. Vysampayanar required Yagnavalkiar to give back the Vedās which he had taught him, which he threw out at once. The matter thrown out having been like cinders, Vysampayanar’s disciples then present, assuming the shape of thithiri birds (fire-eating birds), swallowed them, and hence the Vēda is called Thithiriya Sāka and Ktishna Yajus. Soon after, Yagnavalkiar, without his priest’s knowledge, went to the Sun, and, offering prayers, entreated him to teach him Vēdas. The Sun, thereupon taking the shape of a horse, taught him the Yajur Vēda, which now forms the first fifteen sākas, and he in turn taught it to his disciples Kanvar, Madhyandanar, Katyayanar, and Vajasaneyar. It is to be gathered from Varāha Purānam that Vysampayanar pronounced a curse that the Rig Vēda taught by the Sun should be considered degraded, and that the Brahmans reading it should become Chandālas (outcastes).” Another version of the legend runs as follows. Vaisampayanar used to visit the king almost every day, and bless him by giving akshatha or sacred rice. One day, as Vaisampayanar could not go, he gave the rice grains to his disciple Yagnavalkiar, and told him to take them to the king. Accordingly, Yagnavalkiar went to the king’s palace, and found the throne empty. Being impatient by nature, he left the rice grains on the throne, and returned to his priest. The king, when he returned home, found his throne changed into gold, and certain plants were growing round his seat. On enquiry, he discovered that this marvellous effect was due to the sacred akshatha. He sent word to Vaisampayanar to send the rice grains by his disciple who had brought them. Yagnavalkiar refused, and was told to vomit the Vēdas. Readily he vomited, and, going to the Sun, learnt the Vēda from him. As the Sun is always in motion sitting in his car, the Vēdas could not be learnt without mistakes and peculiar sounds. When he came to his Guru Vaisampayanar, Yagnavalkiar was cursed to become a Chandāla. The curse was subsequently modified, as the Sun interceded on behalf of Yagnavalkiar.

(l) Gurukkal.—The Gurukkals are all followers of the Bodhayana Sūtras. They are temple priests, and other Brāhmans regard them as inferior, and will not eat with them. Even in temples, the Gurukkals sprinkle water over the food when it is offered to the god, but do not touch the food. They may not live in the same quarters with other Brāhmans. No agrahāram (Brāhman quarter) will ever contain a Gurukkal’s house. There should, strictly speaking, be at least a lane separating the houses of the Gurukkals from those of other Brāhmans. This is, however, not rigidly observed at the present day. For example, at Shiyali, Gurukkals and other Brāhmans live in the same street. There are among the Gurukkals the following sub-divisions:—

The Tiruvālangad Gurukkals mark their bodies with vibhūti (sacred ashes) in sixteen places, viz., head, face, neck, chest, navel, knees, two sides of the abdomen, back and hands (three places on each hand). The other two sub-divisions mark themselves in eight places, viz., head, face, neck, chest, knees and hands. Gurukkals who wish to become priests have to go through several stages of initiation called Dīkshai (see Pandāram). Gurukkals are Saivites to a greater extent than the Smarthas, and do not regard themselves as disciples of Sankaracharya. Those who are orthodox, and are temple priests, should not see the corpses of Pandārams and other non-Brāhman castes. The sight of such a corpse is supposed to heap sin on them, and pollute them, so that they are unfit for temple worship.

II. Vaishnava.—The Vaishnavas, or Sri Vaishnavas, as they are sometimes called to distinguish them from the Mādhvas, who are also called Vaishnavas, are all converts from Smarthas, though they profess to constitute a distinct section. Some are converts from Telugu Smarthas, and are called Āndhra Vaishnavas. These do not mix with other Tamil-speaking Vaishnavas, and retain some of the Telugu customs. There are two distinct groups of Sri Vaishnavas—the Vadagalais (northerners) and Thengalais (southerners), who are easily distinguished by the marks on their foreheads. The Vadagalais put on a U-shaped mark, and the Thengalais a Y-shaped mark. The white mark is made with a kind of kaolin called tiruman, and turmeric rendered red by means of alkali is used for the central streak. The turmeric, as applied by the more orthodox, is of a yellow instead of red colour. Orthodox Sri Vaishnavas are very exclusive, and hold that they co-existed as a separate caste of Brāhmans with the Smarthas. But it was only after Rāmānuja’s teaching that the Vaishnavas seceded from the Smarthas, and the ranks were swollen by frequent additions from amongst the Vadamas. There are some families of Vaishnavas which observe pollution when there is a death in certain Smartha families, which belong to the same gōtra. Vaishnavas of some places, e.g., Valavanur, Savalai, and Perangiyur, in the South Arcot district, are considered low by the orthodox sections of Vaishnavas, because they are recent converts to Vaishnavism. A good example of Smarthas becoming Vaishnavas is afforded by the Thummagunta Drāvidas, some of whom have become Vaishnavas, but still take girls in marriage from Smartha families, but do not give their daughters in marriage to Smarthas. All Vaishnavas are expected to undergo a ceremony of initiation into Vaishnavism after the Upanayanam ceremony. At the time of initiation, they are branded with the marks of the chakram and sankha (chank) on the right and left shoulders respectively. The Vaikhānasas and Pāncharatras regard the branding as unnecessary. The ceremony of initiation (samāsrayanam) is usually performed by the head of a mutt. Sometimes, however, it is carried out by an elderly member of the family of the candidate. Such families go by the name of Swayam Ācharya Purushas (those who have their own men as Ācharyas).