The Tampan and Tirumalppād women, as also those of the Pantalam family, have their tālis (marriage badge) tied by Aryappattars. Remarriage of widows is permitted. Polygamy is rare. Divorce may take place at the will of either party, and prevails largely in practice. The Rājas make a donation of Rs. 50 to 70 as stridhanam, excepting those of Pantalam, who only pay about Rs. 35.
Some time before the auspicious hour for the marriage of a Koil Tampuratti, the Brāhmanipattu, or recitation of certain Purānic songs by a female of the Brāhmani caste, begins. Four lighted lamps are placed in the middle of the hall, with a fifth dedicated to Ganapati in the centre. While these songs are being sung, the bride appears in the tattu dress with a brass minu and a bunch of flowers in her hand, and sits on a wooden seat kept ready for the purpose. The songs generally relate to the conception of Devaki, and the birth of Krishna. Then a Nāyar of the Illam sept waves a pot containing cocoanut, flowers, burning wicks, etc., before the bride, after which she rises to wash her feet. At this point the bridegroom arrives, riding on an elephant, with a sword in his hand, and the procession is conducted with much ceremony and ostentation. He then bathes, and two pieces of cloth, to be worn by him thereafter, are touched by the bride. Wearing them, the bridegroom approaches the bride, and presents her with a suit of clothes known as the mantrakoti. One of the clothes is worn as a tattu, and with the other the whole body is covered. The mother of the bride gives her a brass mirror and a garland, both of which she takes in her hand to the altar where the marriage is to be performed. After the punyaha, accompanied by a few preliminary hōmas or sacrifices to the fire, by the Nambūtiri family priest, the first item in the ceremony, known as mukhadarsana or seeing each other, begins. The bride then removes the cloth covering her body. The next events are udakapurva, panigrahana, and mangalyadharana, which are respectively the presentation by the bride of water to the bridegroom, his taking her hand in token of the union, and tying the tāli round the neck of the bride. The next item is the saptapadi (seven feet), and the last dikshaviruppu, peculiar to the Malayālam Kshatriyas. A particular room is gaily decorated, and a long piece of white cotton cloth is spread on the floor. Upon this a black carpet is spread, and a lighted lamp, which should never be extinguished, placed in the vicinity. The bride has to remain in this room throughout the marriage. On the marriage night commences the aupasana, or joint sacrifice to the fire. On the fourth day are the mangalasnana or auspicious bath, and procession through the town. On that night consummation takes place. The procession of the bridegroom (māppilapurappat) to the house of the bride is a noticeable item. The brother of the bride receives him at the gate, and, after washing his feet, informs him that he may bathe and marry the girl. The uduku-purva rite is performed by the brother himself. When the bridegroom leaves the marriage hall with the bride, an armed Pandala stops them, and a fixed present is given to him. Every rite is performed according to the method prescribed by Bodhayana among the Koil Tampurāns and Rājas, the family at Pantalam alone following the directions of Asvalayana. On the fourth day, the contracting couple bathe, and wear clothes previously dipped in turmeric water. At night, while the Brāhmani song is going on, they sit on a plank, where jasmine flowers are put on, and the goddess Bhagavathi is worshipped. The bride’s maternal uncle ties a sword round her loins, which is immediately untied by the bridegroom in token of the fact that he is her future supporter. Panchamehani is a peculiar rite on the fifth day, when an atti (Ficus, sp.) tree is decorated, and an offering of food made on the grass before it. The couple also make a pretence of catching fish. In modern times, the Pantalam Rājas do not patronise the songs of the Brāhmani, and, among them, the panchamehani is conspicuous by its absence.
Women are in theory the real owners of property, though in practice the eldest male has the management of the whole. There is no division of property, but, in some cases, certain estates are specially allotted for the maintenance of specific members. The authorities of the Malayāla Kshatriyas in all matters of social dispute are the Nambūtiri Vaidikas.
When a girl reaches puberty, she is kept in a room twelve feet apart from the rest for a period of three days. On the fourth day, after a bath, she puts on a new cloth, and walks, with a brass mirror in her hand, to her house. Among the Kolattunad Rājas there are a few additional rites, including the Brāhmani’s song. The pumsavana and simanta are performed by the family priest. On the birth of a child, the jatakarma is performed, when women mix honey and clarified butter with gold, to be given to the child. On the twelfth day, the Nambūtiri priest performs the namakarna, after a purifying ceremony which terminates the birth pollution. The eldest child is generally named Rāja Rāja Varma. Udaya Varma and Martanda Varma are names found among the Rājas, but absent among the Koil Tampurāns. Martanda Varma was once exclusively used only among the members of the Travancore Royal Family. The full style and titles of the present Maharāja of Travancore are His Highness the Maharāja Sir Sri Padmanabha Dasa Vanchi Bala Rāma Varma, Kulasekhara Kiritapati Sultan Manne Maharāja Rāja Rāmarāja Bahadur Samsher Jung, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. Raghava Varma is a name peculiar to the Pantalam Rājas. Women are, as in the case of Tirumalppāds and Tampans, called Amba, Ambika, Ambalika, Mangala, etc.
The annaprasana and nishkramana are performed consecutively on the same day. The mother takes the child to the foot of a jak (Artocarpus integrifolia) tree, and, going thrice round it, touches it with the leg of the child, and then dips a golden ring in the payasa, and applies it to the child’s lips. The same act is then repeated by the maternal uncle, father, and next of kin. The Yatrakali is attended with much éclat during the night. The upanayana, or investiture with the sacred thread, takes place as late as the sixteenth year. As a preliminary rite on the same day, the chaula or tonsure ceremony is performed. It is formally done by the Nambūtiri priest in the capacity of guru or preceptor, and left to be completed by the Mārān. The priest then invests the boy with the thread, and, with the sacrificial fire as lord and witness, initiates him into the Gāyatri prayer. All Kshatriyas are obliged to repeat this prayer ten times morning and evening. On the fourth day, the youth listens to a few Vaidic hymns recited by the priest. There is not the prolonged course of discipline of a Brāhmanical Brāhmachari, such as the Nambūtiris so religiously observe. The samavartana, or completion of the pupilage ceremony, takes place on the fourth day. The ceremony of proceeding to Benares, the pre-eminent seat of learning in ancient days, which is the natural after-event of the Vaidic pupilage, is then gone through, as in the case of Brāhmans. A would-be father-in-law intercedes, and requests the snataka to bless his daughter, and settle in life as a grihastha. The Nambūtiri priest then reminds the boy of his duty as a Kshatriya, and gives him a sword as a symbol of his pre-ordained function in society. He then becomes a grihastha, and may chew betel leaf. The Saivite panchakshara, and the Vaishnavite ashtakshara are also taught, and are invariably recited after the performance of the daily duties. For girls only the chaula is performed, and that along with her marriage. On the occasion of birthdays, the family priest performs the ayushya hōma, and shashtipurti, or celebration of the sixtieth birthday, is also observed as an important religious occasion.
The funeral ceremonies are almost the same as those of Nambūtiris. When a Koil Tampurān dies, he is placed on the bare floor, some hymns being recited in his ears. The corpse is placed on a stretcher made of plantain stems, and the head is touched with a razor in token of shaving. It is bathed, covered with a new cloth, and decorated with flowers and sandal paste. Kūsa grass is received at the hands of a Mārān. The funeral rites are performed by the nephews. Pollution is observed for eleven days and nights. A religious vow is observed for a year. The offering to the spirit of the deceased is not in the form of cooked food, but of presents to Brāhmans. All the Malayāla Kshatriyas are adherents of the Yajur-vēda. The anniversary of maternal grandmothers, and even sisters is punctiliously observed. If a maternal aunt or grandaunt dies without children, their srāddhas must be performed as for the rest.
The Malayāla Kshatriyas hold rank next to the Brāhmans, and above the Ilayatus. They are permitted to take their meal in the same row with the Brāhmans, and receive prasada from the temples directly from the priest, and standing at the right side of the inner gate.
Further information concerning the Malayāla Kshatriyas is contained in an article by Mr. K. Rama Varma Rāja,[27] who concludes as follows:—“The Kshatriya community is an intermediate caste between the Brāhmin (Namburi) and the Sudra (Nair) classes, and has affinities to both; to the former in matters of ablution, ceremonies, food and drink, and to the latter in those of real matrimonial relations and inheritance, i.e., the constitution and propagation of the family.... The intermediate caste must be the Aryans more Dravidianised, or the Dravidians more Aryanised, that is, the Aryans degraded or the Dravidians elevated, more probably the latter.”
It is recorded,[28] in a note on the ancestry of the Rājas of Jeypore, that “the family chronicles ascribe a very ancient origin to the line of the Jeypore Zamindars. Beginning with Kanakasēna of the solar race, a general and feudatory of the king of Kashmir, they trace the pedigree through thirty-two generations down to Vināyaka Deo, a younger son, who left Kashmir rather than hold a subordinate position, went to Benares, did penance to Kāsi Visvēsvarasvāmi there, and was told by the god in a dream to go to the kingdom of Nandapuram belonging to the Silavamsam line, of which he would become king. Vināyaka Deo, continues the legend, proceeded thither, married the king’s daughter, succeeded in 1443 A.D. to the famous throne of thirty-two steps there, and founded the family of Jeypore. Vināyaka Deo and his six successors, say the family papers, had each only one son, and the sixth of them, Vīra Vikrama (1637–69) accordingly resolved to remove his residence elsewhere. The astrologers and wise men reported that the present Jeypore was ‘a place of the Kshatriya class,’ and it was accordingly made the capital, and named after the famous Jeypore of the north.”
The Mahārāja of Mysore belongs to the Arasu caste of Kshatriyas.