Patnūkāran marriage procession.
“On entering a Patnūlkāran’s house, we are led to a courtyard, spacious and neat, where all the necessary arrangements are made for weaving purposes. The Patnūlkārans live in streets. A male Patnūlkāran resembles a Tamil Vaishnava Brāhman in outward appearance, but the women follow the custom of the Telugu Brāhmans alike in their costume and ornaments. Their jewels exactly resemble those of the Telugu Brāhman women, and indicate a temporary residence of the caste in the Telugu country on the way from Gujarat to Madura. There is a Tamil proverb to the effect that, if a male Patnūlkāran is seen without his wife, he will be taken for a Vaishnava Brāhman, whereas, in the case of the Tātan caste, a woman without her husband will be taken for an Aiyangar. Children wear the kārai round the neck. Tattooing prevails on a very large scale.
“The Patnūlkārans may be divided into three classes on a religious basis, viz., (1) pure Vaishnavites, who wear the vertical Vaishnavite mark, and call themselves Vadakalas or northerners; (2) those who are mainly Smartas; (3) Sankara Vaishnavas, who wear gōpi (sandal paste) as their sect-mark. It is to the last of these religious sects that the Travancore Patnūlkārans belong, though, in recent times, a few Smartas have settled at Kottar. All these intermarry and interdine, and the religious difference does not create a distinction in the caste. The chief divinity of the Patnūlkārans is Venkatāchalapati of Tirupati. The month in which he is most worshipped is Kanni (September-October), and all the Saturdays and the Tiruvonam star of the month are particularly devoted to his adoration. One of their men becomes possessed on any of these days, and, holding a burning torch-light in his hand, touches the foreheads of the assembled devotees therewith. The Patnūlkārans fast on those days, and take an image of Garuda in procession through the street. The Dīpāvali, Pannamasi in Chittiray, and the Vaikuntha Ēkādasi are other important religious days. The Dusserah is observed, as also are the festivals of Srī Rāma Navami, Ashtami, Rohini, Avani Avittam, and Vara Lakshmivratam. Formal worship of deities is done by those who have obtained the requisite initiation from a spiritual preceptor. Women who have husbands fast on full-moon days, Mondays, and Fridays. The serpent and the banyan tree are specially worshipped. Women sing songs in praise of Lakshmi, and offer fruits and cocoanuts to her. The Patnūlkārans have a temple dedicated to Srī Rāma at Kottar. This temple is visited even by Brāhmans, and the priests are Aiyangars. The Achārya, or supreme religious authority of the Patnūlkārans, in Travancore is a Vaishnava Brāhman known as Ubhaya Vēdānta Kōti Kanyakādāna Tātāchāriyar, who lives at Aravankulam near Tinnevelly, and possesses a large number of disciples. Once a year he visits his flock in Travancore, and is highly respected by them, as also by the Mahārajā, who makes a donation of money to him. Elders are appointed to decide social disputes, and manage the common property of the caste. In Travancore there are said to be only three families of Patnūlkāran priests. For the higher ceremonies, Brāhman priests are employed.
“A girl’s marriage is usually celebrated before puberty, and sometimes when she is a mere child of four or five. Great importance is attached to gōtras or exogamous septs, and it is said that the septs of the bride and bridegroom are conspicuously inscribed on the walls of a marriage house. In the selection of an auspicious hour (muhurtam) for a marriage, two favourable planetary situations, one closely following the other, are necessary; and, as such occasions are rare, a number of marriages take place at one time. A man may claim his maternal uncle’s daughter as his wife, and polygamy is permitted. The marriage ceremonial resembles the Brāhmanical rites in many points. On the fourth day, a ceremonial observed by Telugu Brāhmans, called Nāgabali, is performed. The marriage badge, which is tied on the bride’s neck, is called bottu. [From a note on the marriage ceremonies among the Patnūlkārans of Madura, I gather that, as among Telugu and Canarese castes, a number of pots are arranged, and worshipped. These pots are smaller and fewer in number than at a Telugu or Canarese wedding. A figure of a car is drawn on the wall of the house with red earth or laterite.[88] On it the name of the gōtra of the bridegroom is written. On the fourth day, the nāgavali (or offering to Dēvas) is performed. The contracting couple sit near the pots, and a number of lights are arranged on the floor. The pots, which represent the Dēvas, are worshipped.]
“The nāmakarana, or name-giving ceremony, is performed on the eleventh day after birth. An eighth child, whether male or female, is called Krishna, owing to the tradition that Krishna was born as the eighth child of Vasudēva. Babies are affectionately called Duddu (milk) or Pilla (child). The annaprāsana, or first feeding of the child, is sometimes celebrated at the end of the first year, but usually as a preliminary to some subsequent ceremony. Sometimes, in performance of a vow, boys are taken to the shrine at Tirupati for the tonsure ceremony. The upanayana is performed between the seventh and twelfth years, but neither brāhmacharya nor samāvartana is observed.
“The dead are burnt, and the remains of the bones are collected and deposited under water. Death pollution lasts only for ten days. The srādh, or annual ceremony, when oblations are offered to ancestors, is observed. Widows are allowed to retain their hair, but remove the bottu. Unlike Brāhman women, they chew betel, and wear coloured cloths, even in old age.”
The Patnūlkārans have a secret trade language, concerning which Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao writes as follows. “The most remarkable feature about it is the number of terms and phrases borrowed from the craft, to which special meanings are given. Thus a man of no status is stigmatised as a rikhta khandu, i.e., a spindle without the yarn. Similarly, a man of little sense is called a mhudha, the name of a thick peg which holds one side of the roller. Likewise, a talkative person is referred to as a rhetta, or roller used for winding the thread upon spindles, which makes a most unpleasant creaking noise. Kapinikēr, from kapini, a technical term used for cutting the loom off, means to make short work of an undesirable person. A man who is past middle age is called porkut phillias, which, in weavers’ parlance, means that half the loom is turned.”
Patnūkāran marriage wall design.