Talamala.—A sub-division of Kānikar.
Talayāri.—The Talayāri (talai, head) or chief watchman, or Uddāri (saviour of the village), is a kind of undepartmental village policeman, who is generally known as the Talāri. Among other duties, he has to follow on the track of stolen cattle, to act as a guard over persons confined in the village choultry (lock-up), to attend upon the head of the village during the trial of petty cases, to serve processes, and distrain goods. In big villages there are two or three Talayāris, in which case one is a Paraiyan, who officiates in the Paraiya quarter. In parts of the Telugu country, the Mutrāchas, who are the village watchmen, are known as Talārivallu, or watchman people, and, in like manner, the Bēdars are called Talārivāndlu in the Kurnool and Bellary districts.
It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Tanjore district (1906), that “from the earliest years of the British occupation of the country, fees were paid to the talaiyāri or village watchman. He was probably survival of a state of society in which kāvalgars did not exist, and his duties were, it seems, to look after the villagers’ fields and threshing floors. At any rate, he continued in existence even after the abolition of the kāval system (see Maravan), and was declared by the early Police Regulation (XI of 1816) to be part of the regular police establishment. Practically he did little real police duty, and in 1860, when the mufassal police was reorganised, all claims to the services of the talaiyāri as a servant of the State were formally abandoned, the Inspector-General of Police having reported that any attempt to utilise the talaiyāri body would be fruitless and unpopular. Talaiyāris still continue to be employed and paid by the ryots (cultivators) as the private guardians of their crops and harvested grain. Recently, however, the district was brought into line with the rest of the Presidency by the creation of a new force of talaiyāris, who now perform the police duties assigned to such persons elsewhere. They are provided with lathis (sticks) and badges, and are a useful auxiliary to the police.”
Tāli.—“The tāli,” Bishop Caldwell writes,[1] “is the Hindu sign of marriage, answering to the ring of European christendom. I have known a clergyman refuse to perform a marriage with a tāli, and insist upon a ring being used instead. A little consideration will show that the scrupulous conscience can find no rest for itself even in the ring; for, if the ring is more Christian than the tāli, it is only because its use among Christians is more ancient. Every one knows that the ring has a Pagan origin, and that, for this reason, it is rejected by Quakers.” “The custom,” Wagner informs us,[2] “of wearing the wedding ring on the fourth finger of the left hand had unquestionably a Pagan origin. Both the Greeks and the Romans called the fourth left-hand finger the medicated finger, and used it to stir up mixtures and potions, out of the belief that it contained a vein, which communicated directly with the heart, and therefore nothing noxious could come in contact with it, without giving instant warning to that vital organ.”
The marriage badge, as it occurs in Southern India, is, broadly speaking, of two types. The one in use among the Tamil castes is oblong in shape, with a single or double indentation at the base, and rounded at the top. The corresponding bottu or sathamanam of the Telugu and Canarese castes is a flat or cup-shaped disc. The tāli in use among various Malayālam castes at the tāli-kettu ceremony is a long cylinder.
Tāli-kettu kalyānam (tāli-tying marriage).—A ceremony gone through by Nāyar girls, and girls of some other Malayālam castes, in childhood. Of those who gave evidence before the Malabar Marriage Commission, some thought the tāli-kettu was a marriage, some not. Others called it a mock marriage, a formal marriage, a sham marriage, fictitious marriage, a marriage sacrament, the preliminary part of marriage, a meaningless ceremony, an empty form, a ridiculous farce, an incongruous custom, a waste of money, and a device for becoming involved in debt. “While,” the Report states, “a small minority of strict conservatives still maintain that the tāli-kettu is a real marriage intended to confer on the bridegroom a right to cohabit with the bride, an immense majority describe it as a fictitious marriage, the origin of which they are at a loss to explain. And another large section tender the explanation accepted by our President (Sir T. Muttusami Aiyar), that in some way or other it is an essential caste observance preliminary to the formation of sexual relations.” In summing up the evidence collected by him, Mr. Lewis Moore states[3] that it seems to be proved beyond all reasonable doubt that “from the sixteenth century at all events, and up to the early portion of the nineteenth century, the relations between the sexes in families governed by marumakkathāyam (inheritance in the female line) were of as loose a description as it is possible to imagine. The tāli-kettu kalyānam, brought about by the Brāhmans, brought about no improvement, and indeed, in all probability, made matters much worse by giving a quasi-religious sanction to a fictitious marriage, which bears an unpleasant resemblance to the sham marriage ceremonies performed among certain inferior castes elsewhere as a cloak for prostitution (see Dēva-dāsi). As years passed, some time about the opening of the nineteenth century, the Kērala mahatmyam and Kēralolpathi were concocted, probably by Nambūdris, and false and pernicious doctrines as to the obligations laid on the Nāyars by divine law to administer to the lust of the Nambūdris were disseminated abroad. The better classes among the Nāyars revolted against the degrading system thus established, and a custom sprang up, especially in North Malabar, of making sambandham a more or less formal contract, approved and sanctioned by the Karnavan (senior male) of the tarwad[4] to which the lady belonged, and celebrated with elaborate ceremony under the pudamuri (female cloth cutting) form. That there was nothing analogous to the pudamuri prevalent in Malabar from A.D. 1500 to 1800 may, I think, be fairly presumed from the absence of all allusion to it in the works of the various European writers.” According to Act IV, Madras, 1896, sambandham means an alliance between a man and woman, by reason of which they, in accordance with the custom of the community to which they belong, or either of them belongs, cohabit or intend to cohabit as husband and wife.
Tambala.—The Tambalas are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “Telugu-speaking temple priests. Their social position differs in different localities. They are regarded as Brahmans in Godāvari, Kistna and Nellore, and as Sūdras in the other Telugu districts.” It is noted, in the Census Report, that the Tambalas are described by C. P. Brown as a class of beggars, who worship Siva, and who beat drums; secular priests, etc. These men are generally Sūdras, but wear the sacred thread. “It is said that, during his peregrinations in the north, Sankarāchārya appointed Tamil Brāhmans to perform temple services in all the Saiva shrines. Hence the Telugu people, in the midst of whom the Tamilians lived, called them the Tambalas (Tamils). They are not now, however, regarded as Brāhmans, whatever their original position may have been. They will eat only with Brāhmans. Most of them are Saivites, and a few are Lingayats. The Smarta Brāhmans officiate as their priests at birth, marriage, and death ceremonies. They do not eat animal food, and all their religious rites are more or less like those of Brāhmans. Their usual titles are Aiya and Appa.”
Tambān.—One of the divisions of Kshatriyas in Travancore. (See Tirumalpād.)
Tambi (younger brother).—A term of affection in the Tamil country, used especially when a younger person is being addressed. It is also recorded as an honorific title of Nāyars in Travancore, and a suffix to the names of Nāyar sons of Travancore sovereigns.
Tambirān.—The name for Pandāram managers of temples, e.g., at Tiruvādudurai in Tanjore and Mailam in South Arcot.