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

by Edgar Thurston

Vallamban.—The Vallambans are a small Tamil cultivating class living in the Tanjore, Trichinopoly, and Madura districts. They are said[16] to be “the offspring of a Vellālan and a Valaiya woman, now a small and insignificant caste of cultivators. Some of them assert that their ancestors were the lords of the soil, for whose sole benefit the Vellālans used to carry on cultivation. Tradition makes the Vellambans to have joined the Kallans in attacking and driving away the Vellālans. It is customary among the Vallambans, when demising land, to refer to the fact of their being descendants of the Vallambans who lost Vallam, i.e., the Vallama nādu in Tanjore, their proper country.” Some Vallambans claim to be flesh-eating Vellālas, or to be superior to Kallans and Maravans by reason of their Vellāla ancestry. They call themselves Vallamtōtta Vellālas, or the Vellālas who lost Vallam, and say that they were Vellālas of Vallam in the Tanjore district, who left their native place in a time of famine.

Portions of the Madura and Tanjore districts are divided into areas known as nādus, in each of which a certain caste, called the Nāttar, is the predominant factor. For example, the Vallambans and Kallans are called the Nāttars of the Pālaya nādu in the Sivaganga zemindari of the Madura district. In dealing with the tribal affairs of the various castes inhabiting a particular nādu, the lead is taken by the Nāttars, by whom certain privileges are enjoyed, as for example in the distribution to them, after the Brāhman and zamindar, of the flowers and sacred ashes used in temple worship. For the purposes of caste council meetings the Vallambans collect together representatives from fourteen nādus, as they consider that the council should be composed of delegates from a head village and its branches, generally thirteen in number.

It is noted by Mr. F. R. Hemingway that the Vallambans “speak of five sub-divisions, namely, Chenjinādu, Amaravatinādu, Palayanādu, Mēlnādu, and Kilnādu. The Mēl and Kilnādu people intermarry, but are distinguishable by the fact that the former have moustaches, and the latter have not. The women dress like the Nāttukōttai Chettis. Tattooing is not allowed, and those who practice it are expelled from the caste. The men generally have no title, but some who enjoy State service inams call themselves Ambalakāran. The Mēlnādu people have no exogamous divisions, though they observe the rule about Kōvil Pangōlis. The Kilnādus have exogamous kilais, karais, and pattams.” As examples of exogamous septs, the following may be cited:—Sōlangal (Chōla), Pāndiangal (Pāndyan), Nariangal (jackal), and Piliyangal (tiger).

The headman of the Vallambans is referred to generally as the Servaikāran. The headman of a group of nādus is entitled Nāttuservai, while the headman of a village is known as Ūr Servai, or simply Servai.

Marriage is celebrated between adults, and the remarriage of widows is not objected to. It is stated[17] that “the maternal uncle’s or paternal aunt’s daughter is claimed as a matter of right by a boy, so that a boy of ten may be wedded to a mature woman of twenty or twenty-five years, if she happens to be unmarried and without issue. Any elderly male member of the boy’s family—his elder brother, uncle, or even his father—will have intercourse with her, and beget children, which the boy, when he comes of age, will accept as his own, and legitimatise.” This system of marriage, in which there is a marked disparity in the ages of the contracting couple, is referred to in the proverb: “The tāli should be tied at least by a log of wood.” The marriage rites are as a rule non-Brāhmanical, but in some well-to-do families the services of a Brāhman purōhit are enlisted. The presence of the Umbalakāran or caste headman at a marriage is essential. On the wedding day the contracting couple offer, at their homes, manaipongal (boiled rice), and the alangu ceremony is performed by waving coloured rice round them, or touching the knees, shoulders, and head with cakes, and throwing them over the head. The wrist-threads, consisting of a piece of old cloth dyed with turmeric, are tied on by the maternal uncle. Cooked rice and vegetables are placed in front of the marriage dais, and offered to the gods. Four betel leaves are given to the bridegroom, who goes round the dais, and salutes the four cardinal points of the compass by pouring water from a leaf. He then sits down on a plank on the dais, and hands the tāli (marriage badge) to his sister. Taking the tāli, she proceeds to the bride’s house, where the bride, after performing the alangu ceremony, is awaiting her arrival. On reaching the house, she asks for the bride’s presents, and one of her brothers replies that such a piece of land, naming one, is given as a dowry. The bridegroom’s sister then removes the string of black and gold beads, such as is worn before marriage, from the bride’s neck, and replaces it by the tāli. The conch shell should be blown by women or children during the performance of manaipongal, and when the tāli is tied. The bride is conveyed to the house of the bridegroom, and sits with him on the dais while the relations make presents to them.

The messenger who conveys the news of a death in the community is a Paraiyan. The corpse is placed within a pandal (booth) supported on four posts, which is erected in front of the house. Some paddy (unhusked rice) is poured from a winnow on to the ground, and rice is thrown over the face of the corpse. On the second day rice, and other articles of food, are carried by a barber to the spot where the corpse has been buried or burnt. If the latter course has been adopted, the barber picks out some of the remains of the bones, and hands them to the son of the deceased. On the third day, the widow goes round the pandal three times, and, entering within it, removes her tāli string, and new clothes are thrown over her neck. On the sixteenth day the final death ceremonies (karmāndhiram) are performed. A feast is given, and new cloths are tied on the heads of those under pollution. Pollution lasts for thirty days.

The Vallambans profess to be Saivaites, but they consider Periya Nāyaki of Vēlangkudi as their tribal goddess, and each nādu has its own special deity, such as Vēmbu Aiyanar, Nelliyandi Aiyanar, etc. In some places the tribal deity is worshipped on a Tuesday at a festival called Sevvai (Tuesday). On this day pots containing fermented rice liquor, which must have been made by the caste people and not purchased, are taken to the place of worship. On a Friday, those families which are to take part in the festival allow a quantity of paddy (rice) to germinate by soaking it in water, and on the following Tuesday flower spikes of the palmyra palm are added to the malted rice liquor in the pots. The pots of ordinary families may be placed in their houses, but those of the Umbalakārans and Servaikārans must be taken to the temple as representing the deity. Into these pots the flower spikes should be placed by some respected elder of the community. A week later, a small quantity of rice liquor is poured into other pots, which are carried by women to the temple car, round which they go three times. They then throw the liquor into a tank or pond. The pots of the Umbalakāran and Servaikāran must be carried by young virgins, or grown-up women who are not under menstrual pollution. One of the women who carries these pots usually becomes possessed by the village deity. At the time of the festival, cradles, horses, human figures, elephants, etc., made by the potter, are brought to the temple as votive offerings to the god.

Valli Ammai Kuttam.—A synonym of the Koravas, meaning followers of Valli Ammai, the wife of the God Subrahmanya, whom they claim to have been a Korava woman.

Vallōdi.—The name denotes a settlement in the Valluvanād tāluk of Malabar, and has been returned as a sub-division of Nāyar and Sāmantan, to which the Rāja of Valluvanād belongs.

Valluvan.—The Valluvans are summed up by Mr. H. A. Stuart[18] as being “the priests of the Paraiyans and Pallans. Tiruvalluvar, the famous Tamil poet, author of the Kurāl, belonged to this caste, which is usually regarded as a sub-division of Paraiyans. It appears that the Valluvans were priests to the Pallava kings before the introduction of the Brāhmans, and even for some time after it.[19] In an unpublished Vatteluttu inscription, believed to be of the ninth century, the following sentence occurs ‘Sri Velluvam Pūvanavan, the Uvac’chan (Ōc’chan) of this temple, will employ daily six men for doing the temple service.’ Again, the Valluvans must have formerly held a position at least equal to that of the Vellālas, if the story that Tiruvalluva Nāyanar married a Vellāla girl is true.[20] He is said to have “refused to acknowledge the distinctions of caste, and succeeded in obtaining a Vellāla woman as his wife, from whom a section of the Valluvans say it has its descent. As their ancestor amused himself in the intervals between his studies by weaving, they employ themselves in mending torn linen, but chiefly live by astrology, and by acting as priests of Paraiyans, and officiating at their funerals and marriages, though some refuse to take part in the former inauspicious ceremony, and leave the duty to those whom they consider impure Valluvans called Paraiya Tādas. Another section of the Valluvans is called Ālvar Dāsari or Tāvadadhāri (those who wear the necklace of tulsi beads). Both Saivites and Vaishnavites eat together, but do not intermarry. Unlike Paraiyans, they forbid remarriage of widows and even polygamy, and all males above twelve wear the sacred thread.” According to one account, the Valluvans are the descendants of an alliance between a Brāhman sage and a Paraiyan woman, whose children complained to their father of their lowly position. He blessed them, and told them that they would become very clever astrologers, and, in consequence, much respected. At the Travancore census, 1901, the Valluvans were defined as a sub-division of the Pulayas, for whom they perform priestly functions.