Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 5 of 7

by Edgar Thurston

It is stated by Dr. G. Oppert[16] that “at a Pallan wedding, before the wedding is actually performed, the bridegroom suddenly leaves his house and starts for some distant place, as if he had suddenly abandoned his intention of marrying, in spite of the preparations that had been made for the wedding. His intended father-in-law intercepts the young man on his way, and persuades him to return, promising to give his daughter as a wife. To this the bridegroom consents.” I have not met with this custom in the localities in which the Pallans have been examined.

In one form of marriage among the Pallans of the Madura district, the bridegroom’s sister goes to the house of the bride on an auspicious day, taking with her the tāli string, a new cloth, betel, fruits and flowers. She ties the tāli round the neck of the bride, who, if a milk-post has been set up, goes round it. The bride is then conducted to the house of the bridegroom, where the couple sit together on the marriage dais, and coloured water, or coloured rice balls with lighted wicks, are waved round them. They then go, with linked fingers, thrice round the dais. In a more complicated form of marriage ceremonial, the parents and maternal uncle of the bridegroom, proceed, on the occasion of the betrothal, to the bride’s house with rice, fruit, plantains, a cocoanut, sandal paste, and turmeric. These articles are handed over, with the bride’s money, to the Kudumban or Kālādi of her village. Early in the morning of the wedding day, a pandal (booth) is erected, and the milk-post, made of Thespesia populnea or Mimusops hexandra, is set up by the maternal uncles of the contracting couple. The bride and bridegroom bring some earth,with which the marriage dais is made. These preliminaries concluded, they are anointed by their maternal uncles, and, after bathing, the wrist-threads (kankanam) are tied to the bridegroom’s wrist by his brother-in-law, and to that of the bride by her sister-in-law. Four betel leaves and areca nuts are placed at each corner of the dais, and the pair go round it three times, saluting the betel as they pass. They then take their place on the dais, and two men stretch a cloth over their heads. They hold out their hands, into the palms of which the Kudumban or Kālādi pours a little water from a vessel, some of which is sprinkled over their heads. The vessel is then waved before them, and they are garlanded by the maternal uncles, headmen, and others. The bride is taken into the house, and her maternal uncle sits at the entrance, and measures a new cloth, which he gives to her. She clads herself in it, and her uncle, lifting her in his arms, carries her to the dais, where she is placed by the side of the bridegroom. The fingers of the contracting couple are linked together beneath a cloth held by the maternal uncles. The tāli is taken up by the bridegroom, and placed by him round the bride’s neck, to be tightly tied thereon by his sister. Just before the tāli is tied, the headman bawls out “May I look into the bride’s money and presents”? and, on receiving permission to do so, says thrice “Seven bags of nuts, seven bags of rice, etc., have been brought.”

At a marriage among the Konga Pallans of Coimbatore, the bridegroom’s wrist-thread is tied on at his home, after a lamp has been worshipped. He and his party proceed to the house of the bride, taking with them a new cloth, a garland of flowers, and the tāli. The milk-post of the pandal is made of milk-hedge (Euphorbia Tirucalli). The bride and bridegroom sit side by side and close together on planks within the pandal. The bridegroom ties the wrist-thread on the bride’s wrist, and the caste barber receives betel from their mouths in a metal vessel. In front of them are placed a Pillayar (figure of Ganēsa) made of cow-dung, two plantains, seven cocoanuts, a measure of paddy, a stalk of Andropogen Sorghum, with a betel leaf stuck on it, and seven sets of betel leaves and areca nuts. Camphor is burnt, and two cocoanuts are broken, and placed before the Pillayar. The tāli is taken round to be blessed in a piece of one of the cocoanuts. The Mannādi (assistant headman) hands over the tāli to the bridegroom, who ties it round the bride’s neck. Another cocoanut is then broken. Three vessels containing, respectively, raw rice, turmeric water and milk, each with pieces of betel leaf, are brought. The hands of the contracting couple are then linked together beneath a cloth, and the fourth cocoanut is broken. The Mannādi, taking up a little of the rice, turmeric water, milk, and betel leaves, waves them before the bride and bridegroom, and throws them over their heads. This is likewise done by five other individuals, and the fifth cocoanut is broken. The bride and bridegroom go round the plank, and again seat themselves. Their hands are unlinked, the wrist-threads are untied, and thrown into a vessel of milk. The sixth cocoanut is then broken. Cooked rice with plantains and ghī (clarified butter) is offered to Alli Arasani, the wife of Arjuna, who was famed for her virtue. The rice is offered three times to the contracting couple, who do not eat it. The caste barber brings water, with which they cleanse their mouths. They exchange garlands, and the seventh cocoanut is broken. They are then taken within the house, and sit on a new mat. The bridegroom is again conducted to the pandal, where cooked rice and other articles are served to him on a tripod stool. They are handed over to the Ōdumpillai as a perquisite, and all the guests are fed. In the evening a single cloth is tied to the newly married couple, who bathe, and pour water over each other’s heads. The Pillayar, lamp, paddy, Andropogon stalk, and two trays with betel, are placed before the guests. The Mannādi receives four annas from the bridegroom’s father, and, after mentioning the names of the bridegroom, his father and grandfather, places it in one of the trays, which belongs to the bride’s party. He then receives four annas from the bride’s father, and mentions the names of the bride, her father and grandfather, before placing the money in the tray which belongs to the bridegroom’s party. The relations then make presents of money to the bride and bridegroom. When a widow remarries, her new husband gives her a white cloth, and ties a yellow string round her neck in the presence of some of the castemen.

At a marriage among the Kadaiya Pallans of Coimbatore, the wrist-thread of the bride is tied on by the Mannādi. She goes to a Pillayar shrine, and brings back three trays full of sand from the courtyard thereof, which is heaped up in the marriage pandal. Three painted earthen pots, and seven small earthen trays, are brought in procession from the Mannādi’s house by the bridegroom, and placed in the pandal. To each of the two larger pots a piece of turmeric and betel leaf are tied, and nine kinds of grain are placed in them. The bridegroom has brought with him the tāli tied to a cocoanut, seven rolls of betel, seven plantains, seven pieces of turmeric, a garland, a new cloth for the bride, etc. The linked fingers of the contracting couple are placed on a tray containing salt and a ring. They go thrice round a lamp and the plank within the pandal, and retire within the house where the bridegroom is served with food on a leaf. What remains after he has partaken thereof is given to the bride on the same leaf. The wrist-threads are untied on the third day, and a Pillayar made of cow-dung is carried to a river, whence the bride brings back a pot of water.

In some places, the bridegroom is required to steal something from the bride’s house when they return home after the marriage, and the other party has to repay the compliment on some future occasion.

When a death occurs among the Konga Pallans of Coimbatore, the big toes and thumbs of the corpse are tied together. A lighted lamp, a metal vessel with raw rice, jaggery, and a broken cocoanut are placed near its head. Three pieces of firewood, arranged in the form of a triangle, are lighted, and a small pot is placed on them, wherein some rice is cooked in turmeric water. The corpse is bathed, and placed in a pandal made of four plantain trees, and four green leafy branches. The nearest relations place a new cloth over it. If the deceased has left a widow, she is presented with a new cloth by her brother. The corpse is laid on a bier, the widow washes its feet, and drinks some of the water. She then throws her tāli-string on the corpse. Her face is covered with a cloth, and she is taken into the house. The corpse is then removed to the burial-ground, where the son is shaved, and the relations place rice and water in the mouth of the corpse. It is then laid in the grave, which is filled in, and a stone and some thorny twigs are placed over it. An earthen pot full of water is placed on the right shoulder of the son, who carries it three times round the grave. Each time that he reaches the head end thereof, a hole is made in the pot with a knife by one of the elders. The pot is then thrown down, and broken near the spot beneath which the head lies. Near this spot the son places a lighted firebrand, and goes away without looking back. He bathes and returns to the house, where he touches a little cow-dung placed at the entrance with his right foot, and worships a lamp. On the third day, three handfuls of rice, a brinjal (Solanum Melongena) fruit cut into three pieces, and leaves of Sesbania grandiflora are cooked in a pot, and carried to the grave together with a tender cocoanut, cigar, betel, and other things. The son places three leaves on the grave, and spreads the various articles thereon. Crows are attracted by clapping the hands, and it is considered a good omen if they come and eat. On the fourth day the son bathes, and sits on a mat. He then bites, and spits out some roasted salt fish three times into a pot of water. This is supposed to show that mourning has been cast away, or at the end. He is then presented with new cloths by his uncle and other relations. On the ninth or eleventh day, cooked rice, betel, etc., are placed near a bābūl (Acacia arabica) or other thorny tree, which is made to represent the deceased. Seven small stones, representing the seven Hindu sages, are set up. A cocoanut is broken, and pūja performed. The rice is served on a leaf, and eaten by the son and other near relations.

The Pallans are nominally Saivites, but in reality devil worshippers, and do pūja to the Grāma Dēvāta (village deities), especially those whose worship requires the consumption of flesh and liquor.

It is recorded,[17] in connection with a biennial festival in honour of the local goddess at Āttūr in the Madura district, that “some time before the feast begins, the Pallans of the place go round to the adjoining villages, and collect the many buffaloes, which have been dedicated to the goddess during the last two years, and have been allowed to graze unmolested, and where they willed, in the fields. These are brought in to Āttur, and one of them is selected, garlanded, and placed in the temple. On the day of the festival, this animal is brought out, led round the village in state, and then, in front of the temple, is given three cuts with a knife by a Chakkiliyan, who has fasted that day, to purify himself for the rite. The privilege of actually killing the animal belongs by immemorial usage to the head of the family of the former poligar of Nilakkōttai, but he deputes certain Pallans to take his place, and they fall upon the animal and slay it.”

It is noted by Mr. Hemingway[18] that the Valaiyans and the class of Pallans known as Kālādis who live in the south-western portion of the Pudukkōttai State are professional cattle-lifters. They occasionally take to burglary for a change.

The common titles of the Pallans are said[19] to be “Mūppan and Kudumban, and some style themselves Mannādi. Kudumban is probably a form of Kurumban, and Mannādi is a corruption of Manrādi, a title borne by the Pallava (Kurumban) people. It thus seems not improbable that the Pallas are representatives of the old Pallavas or Kurumbas.”