Other titles, “indicating authority, bravery, and superiority,” assumed by Pallis are Nāyakar, Varma, Padaiyāchi (head of an army), Kandar, Chēra, Chōla, Pāndya, Nayanar, Udaiyar, Samburāyar, etc.[17] Still further titles are Pillai, Reddi, Goundan, and Kavandan. Some say that they belong to the Chōla race, and that, as such, they should be called Chembians.[18] Iranya Varma, the name of one of the early Pallava kings, was returned as their caste by certain wealthy Pallis, who also gave themselves the title of Sōlakanar (descendant of Chōla kings) at the census, 1901.
In reply to a question by the Census Superintendent, 1891, as to the names of the sub-divisions of the caste, it was stated that “the Vanniyans are either of the solar and lunar or Agnikula race, or Ruthra Vanniyar, Krishna Vanniyar, Samboo Vanniyar, Brahma Vanniyar, and Indra Vanniyar.” The most important of the sub-divisions returned at the census were Agamudaiyan, Agni, Arasu (Rāja), Kshatriya, Nāgavadam (cobra’s hood, or ear ornament of that shape), Nattamān, Ōlai (palm leaf), Pandamuttu, and Perumāl gōtra. Pandamuttu is made by Winslow to mean torches arranged so as to represent an elephant. But the Pallis derive the name from panda muttu, or touching the pandal, in reference to the pile of marriage pots reaching to the top of the pandal. The lowest pot is decorated with figures of elephants and horses. At a marriage among the Pandamuttu Pallis, the bride and bridegroom, in token of their Kshatriya descent, are seated on a raised dais, which represents a simhāsanam or throne. The bride wears a necklace of glass beads with the tāli, and the officiating priest is a Telugu Brāhman. Other sub-castes of the Pallis, recorded in the Census Report, 1901, are Kallangi in Chingleput, bearing the title Reddi, and Kallavēli, or Kallan’s fence, in the Madura district. The occupational title Kottan (bricklayer) was returned by some Pallis in Coimbatore. In the Salem district some Pallis are divided into Anju-nāl (five days) and Pannendū-nāl (twelve days), according as they perform the final death ceremonies on the fifth or twelfth day after death, to distinguish them from those who perform them on the sixteenth day.[19] Another division of Pallis in the Salem district is based on the kind of ear ornament which is worn. The Ōlai Pallis wear a circular ornament (ōlai), and the Nāgavadam Pallis wear an ornament in shape like a cobra and called nāgavadam.
Mannarswāmi in front of shrine.
The Pallis are classed with the left-hand section. But the Census Superintendent, 1871, records that “the wives of the agricultural labourers (Pallis) side with the left hand, while the husbands help in fighting the battles of the right; and the shoe-makers’ (Chakkiliyan) wives also take the side opposed to their husbands. During these factional disturbances, the ladies deny to their husbands all the privileges of the connubial state.” This has not, however, been confirmed in recent investigations into the customs of the caste.
The Pallis are Saivites or Vaishnavites, but are also demonolaters, and worship Mutyālamma, Māriamma, Ayanar, Munēswara, Ankālamma, and other minor deities. Writing nearly a century ago concerning the Vana Pallis settled at Kolar in Mysore, Buchanan states[20] that “they are much addicted to the worship of the saktis, or destructive powers, and endeavour to avert their wrath by bloody sacrifices. These are performed by cutting off the animal’s head before the door of the temple, and invoking the deity to partake of the sacrifice. There is no altar, nor is the blood sprinkled on the image, and the body serves the votaries for a feast. The Pallivānlu have temples dedicated to a female spirit of this kind named Mutialamma, and served by pūjāris (priests) of their own caste. They also offer sacrifices to Māriamma, whose pūjāris are Kurubaru.”
Palli pū karagam.
Huge human figures, representing Mannarswāmi in a sitting posture, constructed of bricks and mortar, and painted, are conspicuous objects in the vicinity of the Lawrence Asylum Press, Mount Road, and in the Kottawāl bazar, Madras. At the village of Tirumalavāyal near Āvadi, there is a similar figure as tall as a palmyra palm, with a shrine of Pachaiamman close by. Mannarswāmi is worshipped mainly by Pallis and Bēri Chettis. An annual festival is held in honour of Pachaiamman and Mannarswāmi, in which the Bēri Chettis take a prominent part.
During the festivals of village deities, the goddess is frequently represented by a pile of seven pots, called karagam, decorated with garlands and flowers. Even when there is an idol in the temple, the karagam is set up in a corner thereof, and taken daily, morning and evening, in procession, carried on the head of a pūjāri or other person. On the last day of the festival, the karagam is elaborately decorated with parrots, dolls, flowers, etc., made of pith (Æschynomene aspera), and called pu karagam (flower pot).