Poladava.—A synonym of Gatti.
Poligar (feudal chief).—A synonym of Pālayakkāran. According to Yule and Burnell,[105] the Poligars “were properly subordinate feudal chiefs, occupying tracts more or less wild, and generally of predatory habits in former days. They are now much the same as Zemindars (land-owners) in the highest use of that term. The Southern Poligars gave much trouble about a hundred years ago, and the ‘Poligar wars’ were somewhat serious affairs. In various assaults on Pānjālamkurichi, one of their forts in Tinnevelly, between 1799 and 1801, there fell fifteen British officers.” The name Poligar was further used for the predatory classes, which served under the chiefs. Thus, in Munro’s ‘Narrative of Military Operations’ (1780–84), it is stated that “the matchlock men are generally accompanied by Poligars, a set of fellows that are almost savages, and make use of no other weapon than a pointed bamboo spear, 18 or 20 feet long.”
The name Poligar is given to a South Indian breed of greyhound-like dogs in the Tinnevelly district.
Pombada.—A small class of Canarese devil-dancers, who are said,[106] in South Canara, to resemble the Nalkes, but hold a somewhat higher position, and in devil-dances to represent a better class of demons. Unlike the Nalkes and Paravas, they follow the aliya santāna system of inheritance. They speak Tulu, and, in their customs, follow those of the Billavas. There are two sections among the Pombadas, viz., Bailu, who are mainly cultivators, and Padarti, who are chiefly engaged in devil-dancing. The Pombadas are not, like the Nalkes and Paravas, a polluting class, and are socially a little inferior to the Billavas. They do not wear the disguises of the bhūthas (devils) Nicha, Varte, and Kamberlu, who are considered low, but wear those of Jumadi, Panjurli, Jarandaya, Mahisandeya, and Kodamanithaya. Ullaya or Dharmadēvata is regarded as a superior bhūtha, and the special bhūtha of the Pombadas, who do not allow Nalkes or Paravas to assume his disguise. During the Jumadi Kōla (festival), the Pombada who represents the bhūtha Jumadi is seated on a cart, and dragged in procession through the streets. (See Nalke.)
Pon Chetti (gold merchant).—A synonym of Malayālam Kammālan goldsmiths.
Pon (gold) Illam.—A section of Mukkuvans.
Pōndan.—“There are,” Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,[107] “only twenty-eight persons of this caste in Malabar, and they are all in Calicut. These are the palanquin-bearers of the Zamorin. They are in dress, manners, customs, and language entirely Tamilians, and, while the Zamorin is polluted by the touch of any ordinary Tamilian, these Pōndans enjoy the privilege of bearing him in a palanquin to and from the temple every day. Now there is a sub-division of the Tamil Idaiyans by name Pogondan, and I understand that these Pogondans are the palanquin-bearers of the Idaiyan caste. It seems probable that the founder, or some early member of the Zamorin, obtained palanquin-bearers of his own (cowherd) caste and granted them privileges which no other Tamilians now enjoy.”
Pondra.—Pondra, or Ponara, is a sub-division of Māli.
Ponganādu.—Ponganādu and Ponguvān have been recorded, at times of census, as a sub-division of Kāpu. A corrupt form of Pakanāti.
Ponnambalaththar.—A class of mendicants, who have attached themselves to the Kaikōlans.