“The monkey and its cub. As the cub clings to its mother, so man seeks divine aid, and clings to his God. The doctrine of the Vadakalais.
“Like the cat and her kitten. The stronger carrying and protecting the weaker; used to illustrate the free grace of God. The doctrine of the Tenkalais.
“Leaving the speculative differences between these two sects, I have now to mention the practical one which divides them, and which has been, and continues to be, the principal cause of the fierce contentions and long-drawn law suits between them. And this relates to the exact mode of making the sectarian mark on the forehead. While both sects wear a representation of Vishnu’s trident, composed of red or yellow for the middle line or prong of the trident, and of white earth for those on each side, the followers of the Vadakalai draw the middle line only down to the bridge of the nose, but those of the Tenkalai draw it over the bridge a little way down the nose itself. Each party maintain that their mode of making the mark is the right one, and the only means of effecting a settlement of the dispute is to ascertain how the idol itself is marked, whether as favouring the Vadakalai or Tenkalai. But this has been found hitherto impossible, I am told, for instance at Conjeveram itself, the head-quarters of these disputes, owing to the unreliable and contradictory character of the evidence produced in the Courts.”
The Hebbar and Mandya sections belong to the Mysore Province, in which the former are very numerous. The latter are few in number, and confined to Mandya and Melkōte. Some families have settled in the city of Madras, where they are employed as merchants, bank clerks, attorneys, etc.
The Mandyas say that they migrated to Mysore from some place near Tirupati. Though both the Hebbar and Mandya Brāhmans speak Tamil, some details peculiar to Carnatakas are included in the marriage ceremonial.
The Vaishnava Shōliars are considered somewhat low in the social scale. Intermarriage takes place between Smartha and Vaishnavite Shōliars. The Vaikhānasas and Pāncharatras are temple priests (archakas). Both use as their title Dīkshitar. Sometimes they are called Nambi, but this term is more used to denote Sātāni temple servants.
Reference may here be made to the Pattar Brāhmans, who are Tamil Brāhmans, who have settled in Malabar. The name is said to be derived from the Sanskrit bhatta. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that “the Pattars present no peculiarities distinguishing them from the ordinary East Coast Brahmans. Like the latter, they engage in trade and business, and form a large proportion of the official, legal, and scholastic classes. With the exception of one class known as Chōzhiya or Ārya Pattars, they wear their kudumi (top-knot) on the back of the head in the east coast fashion, and not on the top and hanging over the forehead, as is done by the genuine Malayāli castes. They also live as a general rule in regular streets or grāmams on the east coast plan. Few Pattars, except in the Palghat taluk, are large land-owners. As a class, they have embraced modern educational facilities eagerly, so far as they subserve their material prospects. Both Pattars and Embrāndiris, but especially the latter, have adopted the custom of contracting sambandham (alliance) with Nāyar women, but sambandham with the foreign Brahmans is not considered to be so respectable as with Nambūdiris, and, except in the Palghat taluk (where the Nambūdiri is rare), they are not allowed to consort with the women of aristocratic families.”
In connection with the Ārya Pattars, it is recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, that “the term Aryapattar means superior Brahmins. But the actual position in society is not quite that. At Rāmēsvaram, which may be considered the seat of Aryapattars, their present status seems to be actually inferior, due probably, it is believed, to their unhesitating acceptance of gifts from Sudras, and to their open assumption of their priestly charge. Though at present a small body in Malabar, they seem to have once flourished in considerable numbers. In the case of large exogamous but high-caste communities like the Kshatriyas of Malabar, Brahmin husbands were naturally in great requisition, and when, owing to their high spiritual ideals, the Brahmins of Malabar were either Grihasthas or Snātakas (bachelor Sanyāsins dedicating their life to study, and to the performance of orthodox rites), the supply was probably unequal to the demand. The scarcity was presumably added to when the differences between the Kōlattunāt Royal Family and the Brahmins of the Perinchellūr grāmam became so pronounced as to necessitate the importing of Canarese and Tulu Brahmins for priestly services at their homes and temples. The first immigration of Brahmins from the east coast, called Aryapattars, into Malabar appears to have been under the circumstances above detailed, and at the instance of the Rajas of Cranganore. With the gradual lowering of the Brahminical ideal throughout the Indian Peninsula, and with the increasing struggle for physical existence, the Nambūtiris entered or re-entered the field, and ousted the Aryapattars first from consortship, and latterly even from the ceremony of tāli-tying in families that could pay a Nambūtiri. The Aryapattar has, in his turn, trespassed into the ranks of the Nāyars, and has begun to undertake the religious rite of marriage, i.e., tāli-tying, in aristocratic families among them. There are only two families now in all Travancore, and they live in the Karunagapalli taluk. Malayālam is their household tongue; in dress and personal habits, they are indistinguishable from Malayāla Brahmins. The males marry into as high a class of Brahmins as they could get in Malabar, which is not generally higher than that of the Pōtti. The Pōtti woman thus married gets rather low in rank on account of this alliance. The daughter of an Aryapattar cannot be disposed of to a Brahminical caste in Malabar. She is taken to the Tinnevelly or Madura district, and married into the regular Aryapattar family according to the rites of the latter. The girl’s dress is changed into the Tamil form on the eve of her marriage.”
III. Āndhra.—The Telugu-speaking Brāhmans are all Āndhras, who differ from Tamil Brāhmans in some of their marriage and death ceremonies, female attire, and sectarian marks. Telugu Brāhman women wear their cloth without passing it between the legs, and the free end of the skirt is brought over the left shoulder. The sect mark consists of three horizontal streaks of sacred ashes on the forehead, or a single streak of sandal paste (gandham). In the middle of the streak is a circular black spot (akshintalu or akshintalu bottu). The marriage badge is a circular plate of gold, called bottu, attached to a thread, on which black glass beads are frequently strung. A second bottu, called nāgavali bottu, is tied on the bride’s neck on the nāgavali day. During the time when the bridegroom is performing the vrata ceremony, the bride is engaged in the worship of Gauri. She sits in a new basket filled with paddy (unhusked rice) or cholam (Andropogon Sorghum). On the return from the mock pilgrimage (kāsiyātra), the bride and bridegroom sit facing each other on the dais, with a screen interposed between them. Just before the bottu is tied on the bride’s neck by the bridegroom, the screen is lowered. During the marriage ceremony, both the bride and bridegroom wear clothes dyed with turmeric, until the nāgavali day. Among Tamil Brāhmans, the bridegroom wears a turmeric-dyed cloth, and the bride may wear a silk cloth. Immediately after the tying of the bottu, the contracting couple throw rice over each other, and those assembled pour rice over their heads. This is called Talambralu.
Taken as a class, the Telugu Brāhmans are very superstitious, and the females perform a very large number of vratams. Of the vratams performed by Telugu and Canarese females, both Brāhman and non-Brāhman, the following account is given in the Manual of the Nellore district. A very favourite deity is Gauri, in honour of whom many of the rites hereafter noticed are performed. These ceremonies give a vivid idea of the hopes and fears, the aspirations, and the forebodings of Hindu womanhood. The following ceremonies are practised by girls after betrothal, and before union with their husbands:—