At a wedding among the Malaiālis of the South Arcot district, “after the tāli is tied, the happy couple crook their little fingers together, and a two-anna bit is placed between the fingers, and water is poured over their hands. The priest offers betel and nut to Kari Rāman, and then a gun is fired into the air.”[43]
The father of a would-be bridegroom among the Malaiālis of the Yēlagiris, when he hears of the existence of a suitable bride, repairs to her village, with some of his relations, and seeks out the Ūrgoundan or headman, between whom and the visitors mutual embraces are exchanged. The object of the visit is explained, and the father says that he will abide by the voice of four in the matter. If the match is fixed up, he gives a feast in honour of the event. When the visitors enter the future bride’s house, the eldest daughter-in-law of the house appears on the threshold, and takes charge of the walking-stick of each person who goes in. She then, with some specially prepared sandal-paste, makes a circular mark on the foreheads of the guests, and retires. The feast then takes place, and she again appears before the party retire, and returns the walking-sticks.[44]
At a marriage among the Malai Vellālas of the Coimbatore district, the bride has to cry during the whole ceremony, which lasts three days. Otherwise she is considered an “ill woman.” When she can no longer produce genuine tears, she must bawl out. If she does not do this, the bridegroom will not marry her. In the North Arcot district, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,[45] “a Malaiāli bride is sometimes carried off by force, but this custom is viewed with much disfavour, and the bridegroom who resorts to it must paint his face with black and white dots, and carry an old basket filled with broken pots and other rubbish, holding a torn sieve over him as an umbrella, before the celebration of the marriage. At the wedding, the bridegroom gives the girl’s father a present of money, and a pile of firewood sufficient for the two days’ feast. On the first day the food consists of rice and dhāl (Cajanus indicus), and on the second day pork curry is consumed. At sunrise on the third day the bridegroom produces the tāli. A sword is then laid on the laps of the bridal pair, and the Nāttān (headman), or an elderly man blesses the tāli, and gives it to the bridegroom, who ties it round the bride’s neck. Before marriage, a man has to serve for at least a year in the house of the bride, in order to receive the consent of her parents.”
“The North Arcot Malaiālis,” Mr. Stuart writes, “occupy eighteen nādus or districts. The Nāttān (headman) of Kanamalai nādu is called the Periya (big) Nādan, and is the headman of the caste. He has the power to nominate Nāttāns for other nādus, to call caste panchāyats, to preside over any such meetings, and to impose fines, and excommunicate any Malaiāli. He can inflict corporal punishment, such as whipping with a tamarind switch, on those persons who violate their tribal customs. This power is sometimes delegated by him to the other Nāttāns. Of the fines collected, the Periya Nāttān takes two shares, and the rest is distributed equally among the Ūrāns (village heads). The village precincts are considered sacred, and even Brāhmans are desired to walk barefoot along their alleys. They are both Saivites and Vaishnavites, and worship Kāli and Perumāl, wearing the nāmam and sacred ashes alike. Their worship is somewhat peculiar, and kept more or less a mystery. Its chief object is Kāli, in whose honour they celebrate a feast once a year, lasting for fifteen days. During this time no people of the plains venture near them, believing that no intruder will ever leave the spot alive. Even the Malaiāli women are studiously debarred from witnessing the rites, and those who take part in them are not permitted to speak to a woman, even should she be his wife. The ceremonies take place in the open air, at a particular spot on the hills, where the goddess is to be adored in the shape of a stone called Vellandiswāmi. The nature of the rites it is difficult to learn. In the village they worship, also excluding women, small images of Venkatēswara of Tirupati, which are carefully concealed in caskets, and not allowed to be seen by people of other castes. A few bundles of tobacco are buried with the dead. When any one falls ill, the Malaiālis do not administer medicine, but send for a pūjāri, and ask him which god or goddess the patient had offended. The assessment paid to Government by them is a fixed charge for each plough or hoe possessed, without reference to the extent of land cultivated. They collect jungle produce, particularly the glandular hairs of the fruits of a certain flower (Mallotus philippinensis), which is used by the Rangāris for dyeing silk a rich orange, and the roots of a plant called shenalinsedi, supposed to possess wonderful medicinal virtues, curing, among other things, snake-bite.” The Malaiālis of the Javādi hills in the North Arcot district also earn a living by felling bamboos and sandal trees.
The Malaiālis snare with nets, and shoot big game—deer, tigers, leopards, bears, and pigs—with guns of European manufacture. Mr. Le Fanu narrates that, during the Pongal feast, all the Malaiālis of the Kalrāyans go hunting, or, as they term it, for parvēttai. Should the Pālaiagar fail to bring something down, usage requires that the pūjāri should deprive him of his kudumi or top-knot. He generally begs himself off the personal degradation, and a servant undergoes the operation in his stead. A few years ago, a party of Malaiālis of the Shevaroys went out shooting with blunderbusses and other quaint weapons, and bagged a leopard, which they carried on a frame-work, with jaws wide open and tail erect, round Yercaud, preceded by tom-toms, and with men dancing around.
The Malaiāli men on the Shevaroys wear a turban and brown kumbli (blanket), which does duty as great coat, mackintosh, and umbrella. A bag contains their supply of betel and tobacco, and they carry a bill-hook and gourd water-vessel, and a coffee walking-stick. As ornaments they wear bangles, rings on the fingers and toes, and in the nose and ears. The women are tattooed by Korava women who come round on circuit, on the forehead, outside the orbits, cheeks, arms, and hands. Golden ornaments adorn their ears and nose, and they also wear armlets, toe-rings, and bangles, which are sometimes supplemented by a tooth-pick and ear-scoop pendent from a string round the neck. For dress, a sāri made of florid imported cotton fabric is worn. I have seen women smoking cheroots, made from tobacco locally cultivated, wrapped up in a leaf of Gmelina arborea. Tattooing is said to be forbidden among the Malaiālis of the Javādi hills in North Arcot.
Concerning the Malaiālis of the Trichinopoly district, Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes as follows. “As far as this district is concerned, they are inhabitants of the Pachaimalais and Kollaimalais. The Malaiālis of the two ranges will not intermarry, but have no objection to dining together. For purposes of the caste discipline, the villages of both sub-divisions are grouped into nādus. Each nādu contains some twenty or thirty villages. Each village has a headman called on the Pachaimalais Mūppan, and on the Kollaimalais Ur-Kavundan or Kutti-Māniyam. Again, on the Pachaimalais, every five or ten villages make up a sittambalam, over which is a Kavundan, and each nādu is ruled by a Periya Kavundan. In the Kollaimalais there are no sittambalams, but the nādu there is also presided over by a Periya Kavundan, who is sometimes called a Sādi Kavundan. Again, on the Kollaimalais, the first four nādus are grouped into one pattam under the Pattakāran of Valappūr, and the other three into another under the Pattakāran of Sakkiratti. The nādu headmen on the Pachaimalais also do duty as Pattakārans. All these appointments are hereditary. The permission of the Pattakāran has to be obtained before a marriage can take place, but, on the Kollaimalais, he deputes this power to the Sādi Kavundan. The Pattakārans of both ranges have recognised privileges, such as the right to ride on horseback, and use umbrellas, which are denied to the common folk.
“The Malaiyālis recognise the sanctity of the large Vishnu temple at Srīrangam, and of the Siva temple at Anaplēsvaran Kovil on the Kollaimalais. To the festival of the latter in Adi (July-August) the Malaiyālis of all three divisions flock. In every village is a temple or image of Perumāl. Kali is also commonly worshipped, but the Malaiyālis do not connect her with Siva. Almost every village further contains temples to Māriyayi, the goddess of cholera, and to the village goddess Pidāri. On the Kollaimalais, Kāli is also looked upon as a village goddess, but she has no attendant Karuppans, nor is she worshipped by shedding blood. Pidāri is often called Manu Pidāri on the Pachaimalais, and is represented by a heap of mud. At midnight, a sheep and some cooked rice are taken to this, a man cleaning the pathway to the temple by dragging a bunch of leaves. The sheep is killed, and its lungs are inflated and placed on the heap. On the Kollaimalais two other goddesses, Nāchi and Kongalayi, are commonly worshipped. At the worship of the former, perfect silence must be observed, and women are not allowed to be in the village at the time. It is supposed that, if anyone speaks during the ceremony, he will be stung by bees or other insects. The goddess has no image, but is supposed to appear from the surface of the ground, and to glitter like the comb of a cock. Kongalayi has an image, and her worship is accompanied by music. All these goddesses are worshipped every year before the ground is cultivated. The Malaiyālis, like the people of the plains, worship Pattavans. But, on the Kollaimalais, instead of thinking that these are people who have died a violent death, they say they are virtuous men and good sportsmen, who have lived to a ripe old age. The test of the apotheosis of such a one is that his castemen should have a successful day’s sport on some day that they have set aside in his honour. They sometimes offer regular sacrifices to the Pattavans, but more usually offer the head of any game they shoot. Sometimes a man will dream of some evil spirit turning Pattavan, and then he is taken to a Strychnos Nux-vomica tree, and his hair nailed to the trunk and cut. This is supposed to free the caste from further molestation. The same practice is observed on the Pachaimalais, if the ghost appears in a dream accompanied by a Panchama. On the Kollaimalais, holy bulls, dedicated to the Srīrangam temple, are taken round with drums on their backs by men with feathers stuck in their hair, and alms are collected. When these animals die, they are buried, and an alari tree is planted over the grave. This practice is, however, confined to Vaishnavites, and to a few families. Saivites set free bulls called poli yerudu in honour of the Anaplēsvaram god. These bulls are of good class, and, like the tamatams, are honoured at their death.
“The Malaiyāli houses are built of tattis (mats) of split bamboo, and roofed with jungle grass. The use of tiles or bricks is believed to excite the anger of the gods. The Kollaimalai houses seem always to have a loft inside, approached by a ladder. The eaves project greatly, so as almost to touch the ground. In the pial (platform at the entrance) a hole is made to pen fowls in. On the tops of the houses, tufts of jungle grass and rags are placed, to keep off owls, the ill-omened kōttan birds. The villages are surrounded with a fence, to keep the village pigs from destroying the crops outside. The Pachaimalai women wear the kusavam fold in their cloth on the right side, but do not cover the breasts. The Kollaimalai women do not wear any kusavam, but carefully cover their breasts, especially when at work outside the village site, for fear of displeasing the gods. The Pachaimalai people tattoo, but this custom is anathema on the Kollaimalais, where the Malaiyālis will not allow a tattooed person into their houses for fear of offending their gods.
“All the Malaiyālis are keen sportsmen, and complain that sport is spoilt by the forest rules. The Kollaimalai people have a great beat on the first of Ani (June-July), and another on the day of the first sowing of the year. The date of the latter is settled by the headman of each village, and he alone is allowed to sow seeds on that day, everyone else being debarred on pain of punishment from doing any manner of work, and going out to hunt instead. On the Kollaimalais, bull-baiting is practiced at the time of the Māriyayi festival in Māsi (February-March). A number of bulls are taken in front of the goddess, one after the other, and, while some of the crowd hold the animals with ropes, a man in front, and another behind, urge it on to unavailing efforts to get free. When one bull is tired out, another is brought up to take its place.