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

by Edgar Thurston

“When an unmarried woman becomes pregnant, her parents, as soon as they become aware of the fact, inform their local headman (Kanakkan or Kuruppan), who convenes a meeting of the elderly members of the community for the purpose of summoning the secret lover, and prosecuting the necessary enquiries. In the event of the confession of the charge, he is asked to marry her. The matter does not end there. They go to the local Thandan, and relate to him the incident, who thereupon gives him water in a vessel (kindi vellam). The woman is asked to drink this as well as some cow-dunged water, and is then made to let flow a few drops of blood from the body. After this he says ‘dhosham thirnu’ (free from guilt). Should, however, the lover be unwilling to marry her, he is thrashed and placed under a ban. If they are related to each other, they are both turned out of caste. The woman who is freed from guilt can marry again. The Thandan gets as his perquisite four annas out of the fine imposed, four packets of betel leaf, eight areca nuts, and three tobacco leaves. Their headman also has a share of the fine, etc. The balance which then remains is spent on toddy, and beaten rice for those assembled.

Vēttuvans.

“The Vettuvans profess the lower forms of Hinduism. Their chief gods are Chevva, Chathan, Karinkutti, Parakutti, Kappiri and Kandakaranan, and also Namburi Thamburan. They give regular offerings to them, lest the gods should become angry, and cause serious calamities to the members of their families. Images of gods are made of bell-metal, and worshipped in their huts. The deceased ancestors are also worshipped as gods, to whom are given a different kind of offerings. Toddy is an indispensable item in their offerings to them. In Ooragam and its neighbourhood, when I took my notes on the Vettuvans, I was told that there was no tree-tapping, and that toddy brought to them for sale was largely adulterated with water, and very costly. Their gods were very angry, for they were not satisfied with it. They caused fever, deafness, blindness, and other disorders. They worship Kāli also. Kumbhom Bharani is an important festival to them. On the morning of this day, tunes are played in honour of the goddess. There are special songs called Thottampattu. Sacrifices are offered to the deity very early. A pūja (worship) is also performed for the sword, anklets, and bells worn round the loins, all placed in front of the deity, and songs are again sung. One of them turns a Velichchapād (oracle), who speaks as if by inspiration. Wearing the above ornaments, they go to a temple, in front of which they empty out on a mat a few paras of paddy, and again play and sing.

“The funeral ceremonies of the Vettuvans are somewhat elaborate. When a member of the caste breathes his last, his relations, friends, and other castemen of the kara (settlement) are all informed of the event. They attend, and take part in the obsequies. The dead body is bathed, and dressed in a piece of new cloth. Some gold, rubbed on a stone in water, is poured into his mouth by his sons and daughters. Karuvanguka, or Gurutvam Vanguka, is an important ceremony performed by his sons and daughters. It consists in taking sixteen small bits of plantain leaves, with some rice on each, and placing them on the forehead, neck, chest, loins, thighs, hands, legs, feet, etc., washing the last two, and collecting the water, which is taken in by the members junior to him in the family. After this, the dead body is placed on the bier, which is carried by four persons to the grave. The nearest relatives of the family, four in number, called Bhedakars, with a mundu (cloth) tied round their heads, walk in front of the procession. The grave is dug, and a new cloth is spread, and the corpse laid on it. It is filled in with layers of earth and stones, to prevent dogs and jackals from disturbing the dead body. All those who have accompanied the chief mourner bathe, and return home. The members of the family fast for the night. The eldest son, who is the chief mourner, bathes in the early morning, and offers the pinda bali (offering of rice) to the spirit of the departed for fifteen days. On the seventh day, the chief mourner, and the Enangan, go to the graveyard, and level the slightly raised part of the grave. A piece of stone, kept near the foot, is taken, and placed on a leaf. Some toddy, arrack (alcoholic liquor) and water of the tender cocoanut, are poured over it as offerings. By some magic, the spirit is supposed to be living in it. It is brought home, and placed in a cocoanut shell containing oil mixed with turmeric, and kept outside the hut until the pollution is over. The pollution lasts for fifteen days, and on the night of the fifteenth day they fast. On the morning of the sixteenth day, all the castemen of the kara who are invited bring with them rice, curry-stuffs, and toddy. Rubbing themselves with oil, they all go to bathe, after which the Enangan sprinkles cowdunged water, to show that they are freed from pollution. The stone is also purified by a dip in water, and then brought home. Those who have assembled are fed, and then depart. The chief mourner, who has to perform the diksha, does not shave for a year, bathes in the early morning, and offers the bali before going to work. This he continues for a year, at the end of which he gets himself shaved, and celebrates a feast called masam in honour of the departed. The stone, representing the deceased, is placed on a seat in a conspicuous part of the hut. An image of wood or copper sometimes takes its place. It is thenceforward worshipped, and believed to watch over the welfare of the family. Regular offerings are given to it on Karkadagom and Thulam Sankranthi, Ōnam, Vishu, and the festival day of the local temple.

“The castes below the Vettuvans are Pulayan, Nayādi, and Ullatan. They consider themselves superior to Pulayas, and are careful not to be polluted by them. A Vettuvan who is polluted by a Nayādi or Ulladan fasts for seven days, subsisting on water, tender cocoanuts, and toddy. On the eighth day he bathes, and takes his regular meals. As the Vettuvans are Chandalars, any distance less than sixty-four feet will pollute the higher castes. They stand at a distance of twenty-four feet from Kammālar. Nayādis and Ullatans stand far from them. Owing to their disabilities and low wages, many turn either Christians or Muhammadans, and work for wages of two and a half to three annas a day.”

There is a class of people in Malabar called Vettan or Vettuvan, which must not be confused with the jungle Vēttuvan. These people were, it is said,[69] “once salt-makers, and are now masons, earth-workers, and quarrymen. They are said to be divided into two classes, the marumakkattāyam (with inheritance in the female line) regarded as indigenous to Malabar, and the makkattāyam (with inheritance from father to son), said to be immigrants from the south.”

Vibhāka Gunta.—Recorded in the Madras Census Report as “a low class of wandering beggars; clubbed with Māla.” Some Mālas in the Vizagapatam district possess gunta mānyams, or petty fields, and supplement their income by begging.

Vignēsvara.—A synonym for the elephant god Ganēsa, which occurs as a gōtra of Nagarālu. The equivalent Vināyaka is a gōtra of Mēdara.

Vilkurup.—The Vilkuruppu or Vilkollakuruppu are the priests and barbers of the Malayālam Kammālans, and also makers of umbrellas and bows (vil) and arrows. In former times they supplied the latter articles for the Malabar Infantry. Malabar and Travancore are, par excellence, the home of the palm-leaf umbrella, which still holds its own against umbrellas of European manufacture, which were, in 1904–1905, imported into India to the value of Rs. 18,95,064. A native policeman, protecting himself from the sun with a long-handled palm umbrella, is a common object in towns and villages on the west coast.