For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. F. R. Hemingway. The Ambalakkārans or Muttiriyans are more numerous in the Trichinopoly district and Pudukkōttai than in any other part of the Presidency. Though they have been treated as separate castes, they appear to be one and the same in this district, generally calling themselves Muttiriyan in the Trichinopoly tāluk, and Ambalakkāran elsewhere, and having no objection to either name. They admit they are called Valaiyans, but repudiate any connection with the caste of that name, and explain the appellation by a story that, when Siva’s ring was swallowed by a fish in the Ganges, one of their ancestors invented the first net (valai) made in the world. As relics of their former greatness they point to the thousand-pillared mantapam at Srirangam, which is called muttarasan koradu, and a big matam at Palni, both of which, they say, were built by their kings. To the latter every household of the caste subscribes four annas annually. They say that they were born of the sweat (muttu, a pearl or bead of perspiration) of Parama-siva. The caste is divided into a number of nādus, the names and number of which are variously given. Some of these are Ettarai, Kōppu, Adavattūr, Tīrāmpālaiyam, Vīmānayakkanpālaiyam in the Trichinopoly tāluk, and Amūr, Savindippatti, and Karungāli in Musiri tāluk. Widow remarriage is allowed in some of these nādus, and not in others. They use the titles Muttiriyan, Ambalakkāran, Sērvaikāran, and Kāvalkāran. They admit their social inferiority to the Vellālans, Kallans, Nattamāns, and Reddis, from all of whom they will accept meals, but consider themselves superior to Pallis, Urālis, Uppiliyans, and Valaiyans. Their usual occupation is cultivation, but they have also taken to petty trade, and some earn a living as masons and kāvalgars (watchmen). They wear the sacred thread during their marriages and funerals. They have panchāyats for each village and for the nādu, and have also a number of the Patnattu Chettis, who are recognized as elders of the caste, and sit with the head of the nādu to decide cases of adultery, etc.

Ambalavāsi.—This is summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “a generic name applied to all classes of temple servants in Malabar. There are many sub-divisions of the caste, such as Poduvāl, Chākkiyar, Nambiyassan, Pidāran, Pishārodi, Vāriyan, Nambi, Teyyambādi, etc., which are assigned different services in the Hindu temples, such as the preparation of garlands, the sweeping of the floor, the fetching of fire-wood, the carrying of the idols in procession, singing, dancing, and so on. Like most of the temple servant classes, they are inferior to the lower Brāhmans, such as the Mūssads, and food will not be taken from the hands of most of them even by Nāyars.”

In the Travancore Census Report, 1901, it is noted that “the term Ambalavāsi (one who lives in a temple) is a group-name, and is applied to castes, whose occupation is temple service. The Kēralamāhātmya speaks of them as Kshētravāsinah, which means those who live in temples. They are also known as Antarālas, from their occupying an intermediate position between the Brāhmans and the Brāhmanical Kshatriyas of Malabar on the one hand, and the Sūdras on the other. While according to one view they are fallen Brāhmans, others, such as the writer of the Kēralolpatti, would put them down as an advance from the Sūdras. The castes recognised as included in the generic name of Ambalavāsi are:—

Nambiyassan. Pushpakan. Pūppalli. Chākkiyar. Brahmani or Daivampati. Adikal. Nambidi. Pilāppalli. Nambiyar. Pishārati. Vāriyar. Nattupattan. Tīyāttunni. Kurukkal. Poduvāl.

“All these castes are not connected with pagodas, nor do the Muttātus, who are mainly engaged in temple service, come under this group, strictly speaking. The rationale of their occupation seems to be that, in accepting duty in temples and consecrating their lives to the service of God, they hope to be absolved from the sins inherited from their fathers. In the case of ascent from lower castes, the object presumably is the acquisition of additional religious merit.... The delinquent Brāhman cannot be retained in the Brāhmanic function without lowering the standard of his caste. He had, therefore, to be allotted other functions. Temple service of various kinds, such as garland-making for the Pushpakan, Vāriyar and others, and popular recitation of God’s works for the Chākkiyar, were found to hold an intermediate place between the internal functions of the Brāhmans and the external functions of the other castes, in the same sense in which the temples themselves are the exoteric counterparts of an esoteric faith, and represent a position between the inner and the outer economy of nature. Hence arose probably an intermediate status with intermediate functions for the Antarālas, the intermediates of Hindu Society. The Kshatriyas, having commensal privileges with the Brāhmans, come next to them in the order of social precedence. In the matter of pollution periods, which seem to be in inverse ratio to the position of the caste, the Brāhmans observe 10 days, the Kshatriyas 11 days, and the Sūdras of Malabar (Nāyars) 16 days. The Ambalavāsis generally observe pollution for 12 days. In some cases, however, it is as short as 10, and in others as long as 13 and even 14, but never 16 days.”

It is further recorded, in the Cochin Census Report, 1901, that “Ambalavāsis (literally temple residents) are persons who have the privilege of doing service in temples. Most of the castes have grown out of sexual relations between members of the higher and lower classes, and are therefore Anulomajas and Pratilomajas.[15] They may be broadly divided into two classes, (1) those that wear the sacred thread, and (2) those that do not wear the same. Adikal, Chākkiyar, Nambiyar or Pushpakan, and Tiyyāttu Nambiyar belong to the threaded class, while Chākkiyar, Nambiyar, Pishāroti, Vāriyar, Puthuvāl, and Mārar are non-threaded. Though all Ambalavāsis have to do service in temples, they have many of them sufficiently distinct functions to perform. They are all governed by the marumakkathāyam law of inheritance (through the female line); some castes among them, however, follow the makkathāyam system (from father to son). A Nambiyar, Pishāroti, or Vāriyar marries under special circumstances a woman of his own caste, and brings home his wife into the family, and their issue thus become members of the father’s family, with the right of inheriting the family property, and form themselves into a fresh marumakkathāyam stock. In the matter of tāli-kettu (tāli-tying) marriage, and marriage by union in sambandham (alliance), they follow customs similar to those of Nāyars. So far as the employment of Brāhman as priests, and the period of birth and death pollution are concerned, there are slight differences. The threaded classes have Gāyatri (hymn). The purificatory ceremony after birth or death pollution is performed by Nambūdris, but at all funeral ceremonies, such as pinda, srādha, etc., their own caste men officiate as priests. The Nambūdris can take meals cooked by a Brāhman in the house of any of the Ambalavāsis except Mārars. In fact, if the Nambūdris have the right of purification, they do not then impose any restrictions in regard to this. All Ambalavāsis are strict vegetarians at public feasts. The Ambalavāsis sit together at short distances from one another, and take their meals. Their females unite themselves in sambandham with their own caste males, or with Brāhmans or Kshatriyas. Brāhmans, Kshatriyas, or Nambidis cannot take water from them. Though a great majority of the Ambalavāsis still follow their traditional occupations, many of them have entered the public service, and taken to more lucrative pursuits.”

The more important sections of the Ambalavāsis are dealt with in special articles.

Ambattan.—For the following note I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The Ambattans are the Tamil barbers, or barber-surgeons. The word is usually derived from the Sanskrit amba (near) and s’tha (to stand), i.e., he who stands near to shave his clients, or treat his patients. In like manner, the Kāvutiyan caste of Malayālam barbers is called Aduttōn, signifying bystander. The Ambattan corresponds to the Mangala of the Telugu country, the Vilakkatālavan of Malabar, the Kshauraka of the Canarese Brāhmans, and the Hajām of Muhammadans. Not improbably the name refers to the original occupation of medicine-man, to which were added later the professions of village barber and musician. This view seems to receive some support from the current tradition that the Ambattans are the descendants of the offspring of a Vaisya woman by a Brāhman, to whom the medical profession was allotted as a means of livelihood. In this connection, it may be noted that the Ambattan women are the recognised midwives of the Hindu community in the Tamil country. It is impossible to say how far the above tradition is based on the verse of Manu, the ancient law-giver, who says that “from a Brāhmana with the daughter of a Vaisya is born a son called an Ambashtha.” In a succeeding verse, he states that as children of a Brāhmana by a woman of one of the three lower castes, the Ambashthas are one of the six base-born castes or apasada. He says further that Brāhmans may eat of a barber’s food—a permission which, it is hardly necessary to say, they do not avail themselves of. A single exception is, however, noteworthy. At the temple of Jugganath, within the temple precincts, neither the barber, nor the food which he prepares, and is partaken of by the higher classes, including Brāhmans, conveys pollution. The pūjāri, or officiating priest, at this famous temple is a barber, and Brāhmans, except those of the extreme orthodox section, partake of his preparations of rice, after they have been offered to the presiding deity. This is, apparently, the only case in which the rule laid down by Manu is followed in practice. It is not known how far the text of Manu is answerable for the popular Sanskrit saying, which calls the barber a “good Sūdra.” There is an opinion entertained in certain quarters that originally the barber’s touch did not pollute, but that his shaving did. It is an interesting fact that, though the Ambattans are one of Manu’s base-born castes, whose touch causes pollution which requires the pouring of water over the head to remove it, they are one of the most Brahmanised of the lower castes. Nothing, perhaps, shows this so well as their marriage ceremonies, throughout which a Brāhman officiates. On the first two days, hōmam or sacred fire, fed with ghī (clarified butter) is kindled. On the third day, the tāli (marriage badge) is placed in a circular silver or brass thattu (dish), and touched with the forefinger of the right hand first by the presiding Brāhman, followed by other Brāhmans, men of superior castes, and the caste-men headed by the Perithanakkāran or head-man. It is then, amid weird music, tied to the bride’s neck before the sacred fire. During this ceremony no widows may be present. The relations of the bride and bridegroom scatter rice on the floor in front of the bridal pair, after the Brāhman priest and head-man. This rice, which is called sēsham (remainder), is strictly the perquisite of the local washerman. But it is generally purchased by the headman of the family, in which the marriage is taking place, and handed over, not to the washerman, but to the Perithanakkāran. The Brāhman receives as his fee money and a pair of silk-bordered cloths; and, till the latter are given to him, he usually refuses to pronounce the necessary mantras (prayers). He also receives the first pān-supāri (betel leaves and areca nuts), plantains, and cocoanuts. Each day he has to get rid of the pollution caused by entering a barber’s house by bathing. During the fourth and fifth days, hōmam is burnt, and shadangu, or merry-making between the bride and bridegroom before the assembled spectators, takes place, during which the bride sings songs, in which she has been coached from infancy. On the fifth day the removal of the kankanam, or threads which have been tied round the wrists of the bride and bridegroom, is performed, after the priest’s account has been settled.