Reference has already been made to certain ceremonies connected with pregnancy, and the early life of a child. There are three further important ceremonies, called Upanāyana, Samāvartana and Upākarma, concerning which Mr. Subramani Aiyar writes as follows. “Upanāyana may be called the Brāhmanising ceremony. An oft-repeated Sanskrit verse runs to the effect that a Brāhman is a Brāhman by virtue of his karmas or actions in this life, or the lives preceding it. The meaning of the term Upanāyana is a ceremony which leads one to god, i.e., to a realisation of the eternal self through the aid of a guru (preceptor). This ceremony takes place in the seventh, eighth, or ninth year of a boy’s life. As ordinarily understood, it is a ceremony for males only, as they alone have to observe the four asramas. But, in ancient days, it seems to have been performed also by females. Marriage was not compulsory, and a girl might take to asceticism at once. Sīta is said to have worn a yāgnopavitam (sacred thread). A Brāhman is not born, but made by the karmas. In other words, a Brāhman boy is, at the time of his birth, only a Sūdra, and it is by the performance of the necessary karmas—not merely the ceremonial rites, but the disciplinary and preparatory process in view to spiritual development—that he becomes a Dviga or twice-born. The word Upanāyana is composed of upa, meaning near, and nayana, leading. What the youth is led to is, according to some, Brāhmaggnana or the realisation of the eternal and universal self, and according to others only the teacher or guru. A Nambūtiri Upanāyana begins with the presentation of a dakshīna (consolidated fee) to the Ezhuttachchan, or the Nāyar or Ambalavāsi teacher, who has been instructing the youth in the vernacular. The boy stands on the western side of the sacrificial fire, facing the east, and the father stands beside him, facing the same way. The second cloth (uttariya) is thrown over the boy’s head, and his right hand being held up, the sacred thread, to which a strap made from the skin of a Krishnamriga (antelope) is attached, is thrown over his shoulders and under his right arm, while he stands reverently with closed eyes. The thread and skin are wrapped up in the cloth, and are not to be seen by the boy. He is then taken to an open place, where the priest introduces the new Brahmachāri to the sun, and invokes him to cover his pupil with his rays. The boy next goes to the sacrificial altar, and himself offers certain sacrifices to the fire. Saluting his preceptor and obtaining his blessing, he requests that he may be initiated into the Sāvitrimantram. After a few preliminary ceremonies, the guru utters in the right ear of his disciple the sacred syllable Ōm, and repeats the Gāyatri mantram nine times. He then instructs him in certain maxims of conduct, which he is to cherish and revere throughout the Brahmachārya stage. Addressing the boy, the guru says, ‘You have become entitled to the study of the Vēdas; perform all the duties which pertain to the āsrama you are about to enter. Never sleep during the day. Study the Vēdas by resigning yourself to the care of your spiritual instructor.’ These exhortations, though made in Sanskrit, are explained in Malayālam, in order that the boy may understand them—a feature unknown to Brāhmans on the other coast. With his words of advice, the preceptor gives the youth a danda or stick made of pīpal (Ficus religiosa) wood, as if to keep him in perpetual memory of what would follow if any of the directions be disregarded. The boy then makes his obeisance to his parents and all his relations, and is given a brass vessel called bhikshāpātra (alms pot), in which he collects, by house-to-house visits, food for his daily sustenance during the Brahmachārya stage. He proceeds to the kitchen of his own house with the vessel in one hand and the stick in the other. Making his obeisance in due form to his mother, who stands facing the east, he says ‘Bhikshām bhavati dadātu’ (May you be pleased to give me alms). The mother places five or seven handfuls of rice in the vessel. After receiving similar contributions from the assembled elders, the boy takes the vessel to his father, who is the first guru, saying ‘Bhaikshmāmidam’ (This is my alms collection). The father blesses it, and says ‘May it be good.’ After the Gayatrijapa, the ceremony of Samidadhana is performed. This is the Brahmachāri’s daily worship of the sacred fire, corresponding to the aupasana of the Grihastha, and has to be performed twice daily. After another hōmam at night, the cloth covering the sacred thread and skin is removed, and the consecration of the food is done for the first time. In addition to the skin strap, the Brahmachāri wears a mekhala or twisted string of kūsa grass. It is doubtless of the youthful Nambūtiri that Barbosa wrote as follows at the beginning of the sixteenth century. ‘And when these are seven years old, they put round their necks a strap two fingers in width of an animal which they call cresnamergan, and they command him not to eat betel for seven years, and all this time he wears that strap round the neck, passing under the arm; and, when he reaches fourteen years of age, they make him a Brāhman, removing from him the leather strap round his neck, and putting on another three-thread, which he wears all his life as a mark of being a Brāhman. The rules which were observed with such strictness centuries ago are still observed, and every Nambūtiri boy goes through his period of Brahmachārya, which lasts at least for full five years. During the whole of this period, no sandal paste, no scents, and no flowers are to be used by him. He is not to take his meals at other houses on festive occasions. He must not sleep during the day. Nor may he wear a loin-cloth in the ordinary fashion. Shoes and umbrella are also prohibited. The completion of the Brahmachāri āsrama, or stage of pupilage, is called Samāvartana. After a few religious ceremonies in the morning, the Brahmachāri shaves for the first time since the Upanāyana ceremonies, casts off the skin strap and mekhala, and bathes. He puts on sandal paste marks, bedecks himself with jasmine flowers, and puts on shoes. He then holds an umbrella, and wears a pearl necklace. After this, he puts on a head-dress, and a few other ceremonials conclude the Samāvartana. For three days subsequent to this, the budding Grihastha is considered ceremonially impure, and the pollution is perhaps based on the death of the old āsrama, and birth of the new. In the Upākarma ceremony, hymns are sung by the preceptor, and the pupil has merely to listen to them.”
In conclusion, something may be said concerning the general beliefs of the Nambūtiris. All objects, animate or inanimate, organic or inorganic, are believed to be permeated by the divine spirit. Animals, trees, plants, and flowers are animate, and therefore venerated. The sun, moon, and stars are revered on account of some inherent quality in each, such as utility or strength, or owing to their connection with some deity. A god can assume any form at any time, such as that of a man, bird, beast, or tree. The various forms in which a god has appeared are ever sacred. Some animals have been used as vehicles by the gods, and are therefore revered. Cows, horses, and snakes are worshipped. The cow is the most sacred of all animals. The Purānas tell of Kāmadhēnu, the cow of plenty, one of the fourteen useful things which turned up out of the ocean of milk when it was churned, and which is supposed to have yielded the gods all they desired. So Kāmadhēnu is one who gives anything which is desired. Every hair of the cow is sacred, its urine is the most holy water, and its dung the most purificatory substance. The horse is the favourite animal of Kubēra, the treasure-god. The Uchchaisravas the high-eared prototype of all horses, also came out of the churned ocean. Horse sacrifice, or Asvamēdha, is the greatest of all sacrifices. Performance of a hundred of them would give the sacrificer power to displace Indra, in order to make room for him. Snakes are the fruitful progeny of the sage Kāsyapa and Kadru. The Mahā Sēsha, their prince, is the couch and canopy of Vishnu, and supports the world on his thousand heads. But attention to snakes is probably more in the light of the harm which they may do, and propitiatory in character.
Among plants, the tulasi or sacred basil (Ocimum sanctum) is the most sacred of all. It is supposed to be pervaded by the essence of both Vishnu and Lakshmi: according to some legends, it is a metamorphosis of Sīta and Rukmini. The daily prayer offered to the tulasi is thus rendered by Monier Williams. “I adore that tulasi in whose roots are all the sacred places of pilgrimage, in whose centre are all the deities, and in whose upper branches are all the Vēdas.” The udumbara (Ficus glomerata) is also sacred. Under this tree Dattatreya, the incarnation of the Trinity, performed his ascetic austerities. The Nambūtiri says that, according to the sāstras, there must be one of these trees in his compound, and, if it is not there, he imagines it is. The bilva (Ægle Marmelos) is specially sacred to Siva all over Southern India. To the Nambūtiri it is very sacred. Its leaves are supposed to represent the three attributes of Siva—Satva, Rāja, and Tama—and also his three eyes and his trisūlam (trident). They are used by the Nambūtiri in propitiatory ceremonies to that god. An offering of a single leaf of this tree is believed to annihilate the sins done three births or existence. Kūsa grass (Eragrostis cynosuroides) is very sacred, and used in many ceremonies. At the churning of the ocean, the snakes are said to have been greedy enough to lick the nectar off the kūsa grass, and got their tongues split in consequence. The asvaththa (Ficus religiosa) is also very sacred to the Nambūtiris. It is supposed to be pervaded by the spirit of Brahma the Creator.
From the sun (Sūrya, the sun-god) emanate light and heat, and to its powers all vegetation is due, so the Nambūtiri worships it daily. He also offers pūja to the sun and moon as belonging to the nine navagrāhas (planets). The planets are the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Rāhu and Kētu. They influence the destinies of men, and therefore come in for some worship. The three last are sinister in their effects, and must be propitiated.
Nāmdēv.—A synonym of Rangāri.
Nanchi Kuruva.—A name for Kuruvas, who inhabit Nanchinād in Travancore.
Nanchinād Vellāla.—The Nanchinād Vellālas, to the number of 18,000, are found scattered all over Travancore, though their chief centre is Nanchinād, composed of the tāluks of Tovala and Agastisvaram. Their manners and customs at the present day are so different to those of the Tamil Vellālas that they may be regarded as a separate caste indigenous to Travancore and Cochin. Like other Sūdras of Travancore, they add the title Pillai to their name, which is often preceded by the title Kannaku.
From a copper-plate grant in the possession of the Syrian Christians, dated A.D. 824, we learn that one family of carpenters, and four families of Vellālas, were entrusted with the growing of plants on the sea-coast, the latter being the Karalars or trustees. From this it appears that the Vellālas must have settled on the west coast in the ninth century at the latest. The Nanchinād Vellālas were not originally different from their Pāndyan analogues, but settled in the tāluks above mentioned, over which the Pāndyans held sway during several periods in mediæval times. On one occasion, when there was a dispute about the territorial jurisdiction of Nanchinād between the Mahārāja of Travancore and the Pāndyan ruler, the leading Vellālas of these tāluks went over in a body to the Travancore camp, and swore allegiance to the Travancore throne. They gradually renounced even the law of inheritance, which their brethren of the Tamil country followed, and adopted many novel customs, which they found prevalent in Kērala. From Nanchinād the caste spread in all directions, and, as most of them were respectable men with good education and mathematical training, their services were utilised for account-keeping in the civil and military departments of the State. They must, of course, be clearly distinguished from the Tamil makkathāyam Vellālas of Kuttamperūr in Tiruvella, who have also become naturalised in Travancore,
For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar.
Like the Tamil Vellālas, the Nanchinād Vellālas are divided into two classes, Saiva and Asaiva, of which the former abstain from flesh and fish, while the latter have no such scruple. Asaivas will take food in the houses of Saivas, but the Saivas cook their own food when they go to an Asaiva house. Again, though the Saivas marry girls from Asaiva families, they are taught the Saiva hymn by the Gurukal immediately afterwards, and prohibited from dining with their former relatives. This custom is, however, only known to prevail in the south. While the Vellālas in the south reside in streets, their brethren in the north live, like Nāyars, in isolated houses. In their dress and ornaments, too, the Nanchinād Vellālas living in North Travancore differ from those of the south, inasmuch as they adopt the practice of the Nāyars, while the latter are conservative, and true to their old traditions.