Enangan.—Enangan or Inangan is defined by Mr. K. Kannan Nayar[4] as “a member of an Inangu, this being a community of a number of tarwads, the members of which may interdine or intermarry, and are bound to assist one another, if required, in the performance of certain social and religious rites.” It is noted, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that “an Enangan or Inangan is a man of the same caste and sub-division or marriage groups. It is usually translated kinsman, but is at once wider and narrower in its connotation. My Enangans are all who can marry the same people that I can. An Enangatti is a female member of an Enangan’s family.”
Ēnēti.—Said to be mendicants, who beg from Gamallas. (See Yānāti.)
Entamara.—See Yānāti.
Era.—Era Cheruman, or Erālan, is a sub-division of Cheruman.
Erādi.—Erādi has been defined[5] as meaning “a cow-herd. A sub-division of the Nāyar caste, which formerly ruled in what is now the Ernād tāluk” of Malabar. In the Malabar Manual, Ernād is said to be derived from Erādu, the bullock country. Erādi denotes, according to the Census Report, 1891, “a settlement in Ernād. The caste of Sāmantas, to which the Zamorin of Calicut belongs.”
Eravallar.—The Eravallars are a small forest tribe inhabiting the Coimbatore district and Malabar. For the following note on the Eravallars of Cochin, I am indebted to Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer.[6]
Eravallars are a wild tribe of inoffensive hill-men found in the forests of the Cochin State, especially in the Chittūr tāluk. They are also called Villu Vēdans (hunters using bows). Their language is Tamil, though some speak Malayālam. In addressing the elderly members of the caste, they use the titles Muthan (elder) and Pattan (grandfather). Names in use for males are Kannan (Krishna), Otukan, Kothandan, Kecharan, and Attukaran, while females are called Kanni, Keyi, Kaikayi, Otuka, and Rāmayi. These Hindu divine names are recent innovations after the names of members of the higher castes, with whom they frequently come in contact.
The Eravallars have no knowledge of the origin of their caste. They appear to be a rude and primitive people, like the other jungle tribes of the State, but are somewhat improving their status under their masters. Their habits are less migratory than those of the Malayars and Kādars. They live in villages called pathis, situated in the forests. Their huts are similar to those of the Malayars and Kādars. They propitiate their sylvan deities before the construction of their huts, and also before their occupation. Some days are believed to be lucky, as Mondays for sowing and weddings, Wednesdays for building, and Fridays for reaping.
Eravallars do not live as small independent communities, but are mostly attached to farmers, under whom they work for a daily wage of two edangazhis and a half of paddy (unhusked rice). The women also work for the same wage, but never agree to serve in a state of bondage. During the festival kathira in the village temple of their landlords, when sheaves of corn are brought, every male member gets from his landlord two veshtis (a cloth with a coloured border 3 yards in length), and every woman a potava (coloured cloth 8 yards in length). During the Ōnam and Vishu festivals, one para of paddy, two cocoanuts, a small quantity of gingelly (Sesamum) and cocoanut oil are also given. The landlords partly defray their marriage and funeral expenses by a grant of a few paras of paddy, some salt and chillies. Sometimes they agree to work for twenty valloms (a large corn measure) a year. To improve their condition, they borrow money from their landlords, and purchase a bullock or buffalo or two, to cultivate a plot of land, after clearing a portion of the forest belonging to their master. They raise some crops, and make some saving to pay off the debt. Should they be so unfortunate as to fail in the undertaking, they willingly mortgage themselves to their master, or to some other, for the wages above mentioned, and wait for some favourable opportunity to pay off the debt. Women never surrender themselves to work in a state of bondage, but are independent day-labourers. The Eravallars are, as certified by their masters, always truthful, honest, faithful and god-fearing, and never, like the Pulayas of the northern parts of the State, ungratefully run away from their masters.
A girl, when she comes of age, is lodged in a separate hut (muttuchāla) erected at a distance of a furlong from the main hut. Only a few girl friends are allowed to be in company with her during the period of her seclusion, which is generally seven days, during which food is served to her at a distance, when she comes to take it. No grown-up member approaches her, for fear of pollution. She bathes on the morning of the seventh day, and is then allowed to enter the hut. The day is one of festivity to her friends and relations. If a girl is married before she attains puberty, her husband contributes something for the expenses of the ceremony. Should a woman cohabit with a man before marriage and become pregnant, she used, in former times, to be put to death, but is now turned out of caste. Instances of the kind are, they say, extremely rare.