Chapter 13

It has been said that “the Nāttukōttai Chettis, in organisation, co-operation, and business methods, are as remarkable as the European merchants. Very few of them have yet received any English education. They regard education as at present given in public schools as worse than useless for professional men, as it makes men theoretical, and scarcely helps in practice. The simple but strict training which they give their boys, the long and tedious apprenticeship which even the sons of the richest among them have to undergo, make them very efficient in their profession, and methodical in whatever they undertake to do.”Concerning the Nāttukōttai Chettis, Mr. P. R. Sundara Aiyar writes as follows.37“The first and chiefest aim of a Nāttukōttai Chetti is to make as much money as possible. He does not regard usury as a sin. As a little boy of ten or twelve, he begins to apply himself to business, learns accounts, and attends the shop of his father. As soon as he marries, his father gives him a separate home, or rather compels him to live separately, though often in the same house as his parents. This makes him self-reliant, and produces in him a desire to save as much money as possible. He is given a certain allowance out of the paternal estate, but, if he spends more, he is debited with the excess amount. Every one consequently tries to increase his stock of individual savings. Even the women earn money in a variety of ways. Every rupee saved is laid out at as high a rate of interest as possible. It is commonly stated that a rupee, laid out at the birth of a child at compound interest at 12 per cent., will amount to a lakh of rupees by the time he attains the age of a hundred. The habits of a Nāttukōttai Chetti are very simple, and his living is very cheap, even when he is rich. So strict are the Chettis in pecuniary matters that, if a relation visits them, he gets only his first meal free, and if he stays longer, is quietly debited with the cost of his stay.”The Nāttukōttai Chettis38are said to employ Kammālans, Valaiyans, Kallans, and Vallambans as their cooks. They are permitted to enter the interior of Hindu temples, and approach near to the innermost doorway of the central shrine. This privilege is doubtless accorded to them owing to the large sums of moneywhich they spend on temples, and in endowing charitable institutions. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that “of the profits of their commercial transactions, a fixed percentage (called magamai) is usually set aside for charity. Some of the money so collected is spent on keeping up Sanskrit schools, but most of it has been laid out in the repair and restoration of the temples of the south, especial attention being paid to those shrines (pādal petta sthalangal, as they are called), which were hymned by the four great poet-saints, Mānikya Vāchakar, Appar, Tirugnāna Sambandhar, and Sundaramūrti.” “The Chettis,” Mr. Sundara Aiyar writes, “are believed to be the most charitable class in Southern India, and undoubtedly they spend the largest amount of money on charity. They set apart a fraction of their profits for charity. They levy rates among themselves for local charities, wherever they go. The income obtained from the rates is generally spent on temples. In new places like Ceylon, Burma, and Singapore, they build new temples, generally dedicated to Subramanya Swāmi. In India itself, they establish festivals in existing temples, and undertake the repair of temples. Immense sums have been spent by them recently in the renovation and restoration of ancient temples. We should not be surprised to be told that the amount spent within the last thirty years alone amounts to a crore of rupees. Being Saivites, they do not generally care for Vaishnava temples. And, even among Saiva temples, only such as have special sanctity, and have been sung about by the Saiva Nainars or Bhaktas, are patronised by them. They have devoted large sums to the establishment of comfortable choultries (rest-houses), feeding houses, Vēdic and recently also Sastraic pāthasālas (schools). They have established schools for the education ofthe Kurukal or the priestly class. And, in fact, every charity of the orthodox Hindu type finds generous support among them.”It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that the gōpurams of the Madura temple “have been repaired of late years at great cost by the Nāttukōttai Chettis. The northern tower used to consist only of the brick and stone-work storeys, and was known in consequence as the mottai (literally bald) gōpuram. Recently, however, a courageous Chetti, who cared nothing for the superstition that it is most unlucky to complete a building left unfinished, placed the usual plaster top upon it.”In recent years, the temple at Chidambaram has been renovated by the Nāttukōttai Chettis, who“have formed for this and similar restorations a fund which is made up of a fee of four annas per cent. levied from their clients on all sums borrowed by the latter. The capital of this is invested, and the interest thereon devoted exclusively to such undertakings.”39In 1906, the purificatory ceremony, or kumbabishēkam, of the Sri Pasupathiswara Swāmi temple at Karūr was performed with great pomp. The old temple had been thoroughly overhauled and repaired by the Nāttukōttai Chettis. The ceremony cost about fifty thousand rupees. Many thousands were fed, and presents of money made to a large number of Vaidiki Brāhmans. In the same year, at a public meeting held in Madras to concert measures for establishing a pinjrapole (hospital for animals), one of the resolutions was that early steps should be taken to collect public subscriptions from the Hindu community generally, and inparticular from the Nāttukōttai Chettis, Gujarātis, and other mercantile classes.Still more recently, the kumbabishēkam festival was celebrated at Tiruvanaikkaval, the seat of a celebrated temple near Trichinopoly, which was repaired by the Nāttukōttai Chettis at a cost of many lakhs of rupees.By a traditional custom, the Nāttukōttai Chettis live largely by money-lending. They never serve under any one outside their own community. They either trade on their own account, or are employed as agents or assistants. The pay of an assistant is always calculated for a period of three years, and a portion thereof is paid in advance after a month’s service. This the assistant invests to the best advantage. At the end of a year, a portion of the balance of the pay is handed over to him, leaving a small sum to be paid at the end of the contract period. His expenses for board and lodging are met by his employer, and he may receive a small share of the profits of the business. A man, on receiving an agency, starts on an auspicious day, and proceeds to a temple of Ganēsa, and to a matam (religious institution) containing figures of Ganēsa and Natēsa. After prostrating himself before the gods, he proceeds on his way. If he encounters an object of evil omen, he will not continue, and, if he has to journey to a distant spot, he will throw up his appointment. The accounts of the Nāttukōttai Chettis are audited triennially, an annual audit being inconvenient, as their business is carried on at various remote spots. The foreign business is said40to “be transacted by agents belonging to the caste, who receive a salary proportioned to the distance of the place, and also, usually, a percentage on the profits. They generally serve for three years, andthen return, and give an account of their stewardship.” The commencement of a fresh period of three years is made on an auspicious day called puthukanakkunāl (fresh account day), which is observed as a holiday. No business is transacted, and customers are invited, and receive presents of fruits, sweets, etc.Nāttukōttai Chetti children.Nāttukōttai Chetti children.In connection with Nāttukōttai agencies, Mr. Hayavadana Rao writes as follows.41“People of moderate means usually elect to go to distant places as agents of the different firms that have their head offices either at Madura or in the Zamindaris of Ramnād and Sivaganga. The pay of a local agent varies directly with the distance of the place to which he is posted. If he is kept at Madura, he gets Rs. 100 per mensem; if sent to Burma, he gets three times as much; and, if to Natal, about twice the latter sum. If an agent proves himself to be an industrious and energetic man, he is usually given a percentage on the profits. The tenure of office is for three years, six months before the expiry of which the next agent is sent over to work conjointly with the existing one, and study the local conditions. On relief, the agent returns directly to his head office, and delivers over his papers, and then goes to his own village. With this, his connection with his firm practically ceases. He enjoys his well-earned rest of three years, at the end of which he seeks re-employment either under his old firm, or under any other. The former he is bound to, if he has taken a percentage on the profits during his previous tenure of office. If the old firm rejects him when he so offers himself, then he is at liberty to enter service under others.” It is said to be very rare for Nāttukōttai women to accompany their husbands to distant places.“In fact, the husbands have to visit their native places at long intervals, and make a felicitous sojourn in the company of their wives.”The houses of the Nāttukōttai Chettis are spacious and substantial buildings all based on the same general plan. The front entrance opens into an oblong courtyard with a verandah all round, and rows of rooms at the two sides. At the farther end of the courtyard is an entrance leading into a backyard or set of apartments. Modern houses have imposing exteriors, and an upper storey. Married sons live in separate quarters, and every couple receive from their fathers a fixed yearly allowance, which may amount to twenty rupees and fifteen kalams of paddy. The sons may, if they choose, spend more, but the excess is debited to their account, and, at the time of partition of the estate, deducted, with interest, from their share.It is noted by Mr. Hayavadana Rao that “the remarkable custom prevails amongst them that obliges all married members to cook separately and eat their meals, though they live in the same house. Even the widowed mother is no exception to this rule. Unmarried members live with their parents until they are married. Allotments of rice and other necessaries are annually made to the several semi-independent members of the household. This custom has given rise to the commodious houses in which members of this caste usually reside.”As concerning the origin of the Nāttukōttai Chettis, the following story is told. In ancient days, the Vaisyas of the lunar race were living in the town of Sānthyapuri in the Naganādu of the Jambudvipa(India). They paid daily visits to the shrine of Vināyaka god made of emerald, and were traders in precious stones. They weremuch respected, and led the life of orthodox Saivites, wore rudrāksha beads, and smeared themselves with sacred ashes. They were, however, much oppressed by a certain ruler, and emigrated in a body to Conjeeveram in the Tondamandalam country in the year 204 of the Kāliyuga. The king of Conjeeveram gave them permission to settle in his territory, and made grants to them of land, temples and matams. They stayed there for a very long time, but, being troubled by heavy taxes and fines, left this part of the country about 2312 Kāliyuga, and settled in the Chōla country. The Chōla king, being much impressed with them, bestowed on them the privilege of placing the crown on the head of a new ruler at his coronation. At this time, the town of Kāveripumpattanam is said to have been in a very flourishing state, and the north street was occupied by Vaisyas from other countries. Being unwilling to disturb them, the king made the new settlers occupy the east, west, and south streets. As a mark of respect, they were allowed to use flags with the figure of a lion on them, and use golden vessels (kalasam) in their houses. They all, at the instigation of the king, became disciples of one Isānya Sivachariar of Patānjalikshetra (Chidambaram). About 3775 Kāliyuga, Pūvandi Chōla Rāja imprisoned several of the Vaisya women, whereon all the eight thousand Vaisya families destroyed themselves, leaving their male children to be taken care of by a religious teacher named Atmanadhachariar. In all 1,502 children were thus brought up, viz., 600 of six ways from the west street, 502 of seven ways from the east street, and 400 of four ways from the south street. Later on, Pūvandi Chōla fell ill, and, knowing his recovery to be impossible, sent for the Vaisya boys, and asked them to look after the coronation of his sonRājabhushana Chōla. But they said that, as they were bachelors, they could not comply with his request. The king accordingly made them marry Vellāla girls. Those of the west street took as wives girls of the Karkaththar section, those of the east street girls of the Sōzhia section, and those of the south street girls of the Kāniyala section. The three groups became disciples of three different matams, viz., Tiruvārur, Kumbakonam, and Vānchium. In the year 3790, a dispute arose in connection with the right of priority in receiving sacred ashes between the Vaisya and true Vellāla women, and the former were made to become the disciples of a new guru (religious preceptor). About 3808, a Pāndya king, named Sundara Pāndya, is said to have asked the Chōla king to induce some of the Vaisyas to settle down in the Pāndya territory. They accordingly once more emigrated in a body, and reached the village of Onkarakudi on a Friday (the constellation Astham being in the ascendant on that day). They were allowed to settle in the tract of country north of the river Vaigai, east of the Piranmalai, and south of Vellar. Those from the east street settled at Ilayaththukudi, those from the west street at Ariyūr, and those from the south street at Sundarapattanam. Thus the Chettis became divided into three endogamous sections, of which the Ilayaththukudi and Sundarapattanam are found at the present day in the Madura district. The members of the Ariyūr section migrated to the west coast on the destruction of their village. The members of the Ilayaththukudi section became the Nāttukōttais. They, not being satisfied with only one place of worship, requested the king to give them more temples. Accordingly, temples were provided for different groups at Māththur, Vairavanpatti, Iraniyūr, Pillayarpatti, Nēmam, Iluppaikudi, Suraikudi, andVelangkudi. At the present day, the Nāttukōttai Chettis are divided into the following divisions (kōvils or temples) and exogamous sub-divisions:—1.Ilayaththūkudi kōvil—Okkurūdaīyar.Pattanasāmiar.Perumaruthurudaiyar.Kazhanivāsakkudaiyar.Kinkinikkudaiyar.Pērasendurudaiyar.Sirusēththurudaiyar.2.Māththūr kōvil—Uraiyūr.Arumbakūr.Manalūr.Mannūr.Kannūr.Karuppūr.Kulaththūr.3.Vairavan kōvil—Sirukulaththūr.Kazhanivāsal.Marudendrapūram.4.Iraniyūr kōvil.5.Pillayarpatti kōvil.6.Nēmam kōvil.7.Iluppaikudi kōvil.8.Suraikudi kōvil.9.Velāngkudi kōvil.When Nāttukōttai Chettis adopt children, they must belong to the same temple division. An adopted son is called Manjanir Puthiran, or turmeric-water son, because, at the ceremony of adoption, the lad has to drink turmeric-water.42In villages where their main temples are situated, the temple manager is obliged togive food to stranger Chettis, and charge for it if they belong to another temple division.According to a variant of the story relating to the origin of the Nāttukōttai Chettis, “they were formerly merchants at the court of the Chōla kings who ruled at Kaveripattanam, at one time a flourishing sea-port at the mouth of the Cauveri, from which they emigrated in a body on being persecuted by one of them, and first settled at Nattarasankottai, about three miles north-east of Sivaganga.”By other castes, the Nāttukōttai Chettis are said to be the descendants of the offspring of unions between a Shānān and a Muhammadan and Uppu Korava women. Some of the peculiarities of the caste are pointed out in support of the story. Thus, Nāttukōttai men shave their heads like Muhammadans, and both men and women have the lobes of their ears dilated like the older Shānāns. Their girls wear necklaces of shell beads like Korava women, and the women delight in making baskets for recreation, as the Korava women do for sale. The caste is sometimes spoken of as Uppu (salt) Maruhira Chetti. The arguments and illustrations are naturally much resented by the Nāttukōttai Chettis, who explain the obnoxious name by the story that they were formerly very poor, and made a living by selling salt.The Nāttukōttai Chettis have recourse to panchāyats (councils) in matters affecting the community. They have, Mr. Sundara Aiyar writes, “been at any rate till recently remarkable for settling their differences out of court. The influence of the elders in preventing litigation is very strong. They conciliate the disputants as far as possible and, after reducing the difference between them to a minimum, they often get theirsignatures to an award, in which a blank is left to decide the still existing point of difference, the disputants agreeing, after putting in their signatures, to the mediators’ filling in the blank, and deciding the dispute as they choose. We are afraid that this spirit of give-and-take is now unfortunately diminishing, and the arbitrament of the courts is more often resorted to than before.” There are, among the Nāttukōttai Chettis, two forms of panchāyat, called madaththuvāsal mariyal (matam panchāyat) and kōvilvāsal mariyal (temple panchāyat), of which, at the present day, only the latter is in vogue. For every temple there is a manager, an assistant, and a servant called Vairāvi, who must be a Melakkāran. The aggrieved party lodges his complaint with the manager, who sends word to the leading men of the temple division concerned. The complainant and defendant are summoned to attend a council meeting, and the evidence is recorded by the temple manager. If the accused falls to put in an appearance, the Vairāvi is sent to his house, to take therefrom adavu (security) in the shape of some article belonging to him. In a recent case, a wealthy Nāttukōttai Chetti promised his brother’s widow that she should be allowed to adopt a boy. But, as the promise was not fulfilled, she complained to the temple; and, as her brother-in-law did not attend the council meeting, the Vairāvi went to his house, and, in his absence, abstracted the adavu. This was regarded as a great insult, and there was some talk of the case going into court. Matters such as the arrangement of marriage contracts, monetary disputes, family discussions, and the like, are referred to the temple council for settlement. Final decisions are never recorded in writing, but delivered by word of mouth. Those who fail to abide by the decision of the council do not receivea garland from the temple for their marriage, and without this garland a marriage cannot take place.It is noted by Mr. Hayavadana Rao that each of the kōvils or temples “is managed by Karyakārans, who are nominated to the place by the local elders. These Karyakārans act as Panchāyatdars, and decide all civil cases referred to them. If a case is first referred to them, it may, if necessary, be carried over again to the established courts of the country. But, if once a case is first taken to the courts, they would not entertain it before themselves. They enforce their decrees (1) by refusing to give the garland of flowers at the marriage time, (2) by exercising the power of excommunication.”Every Nāttukōttai Chetti youth has to perform a ceremony called Sūppidi before marriage. On the Karthika day, when the constellation Krithikai is in the ascendant, he is taken on horseback to a Pillayar (Ganēsa) temple, where he worships, and whirls a bag of burning charcoal tied to a long string round his head. In front of the temple he burns a booth (chokkapane), which has been set up, and with the ashes his forehead is marked. On his return home, and at the entrance of Nāttukōttai houses which he passes, rice lamps are waved before him (alathi). In like manner, every girl has to go through a ceremony, called thiruvādhirai, before marriage. On the day of the Arudrādarsanam festival, she is bathed and decorated. A necklace of gold beads is placed on her neck instead of the necklace of glass beads (pāsimani), which she has hitherto worn. She proceeds, with a silver cup, to the houses where other girls are performing the ceremony, and bawls out:—I have come dancing; give me avarakkai (Dolichos Lablabbeans).I have come singing; give me padavarangkai (Cyamopsisbeans).I have come speaking; give me sorakkai (Lagenariafruit).Various kinds of vegetables are placed on the silver vessel, cooked, and distributed. Cakes, called dosai, are made in the house, and, during their preparation, holes are made in them by married women with an iron style. These cakes are also distributed, and it is taken as an insult if any individual does not receive one.Jewelry of Nāttukōttai Chettis.Jewelry of Nāttukōttai Chettis.Every Nāttukōttai Chetti is said to have the inviolable right to claim the hand of his paternal aunt’s daughter. This being so, ill-assorted marriages are quite common, the putative father being often but a child.43The marriage ceremonies commence with the giving of gold for the bride’s neck. On an auspicious day, the bridegroom’s party give a gold coin to a goldsmith, who beats it into a thin sheet, and goes home after receiving betel, etc. On the first day of the marriage rites, a feast is given to the bridegroom’s family, and female ancestors are worshipped. On the following day, the presentation of the dowry (sireduththal) takes place. The presents, which are often of considerable value, are laid out for inspection, and an inventory of them is made. Perishable articles, such as rice, ghī (clarified butter), dhāl (Cajanus indicus), and fruits are sold. The bride’s presents are taken to the house of the bridegroom, those who carry them being rewarded with betel, a silk fan, scent bottle, silk handkerchief, bottle of chocolate, a tin of biscuits, and a brass vessel. On the third day, garlands are received from the temples to which the brideand bridegroom belong. The bride’s party go to the house of the bridegroom, taking on a tray a silk handkerchief and cloth, and in a silver vessel fifty rupees, betel, etc. These are presented to the bridegroom. This ceremony is called māppillai ariyappōthal, or going to examine the son-in-law. The next item on the programme is nālkuriththal, or fixing the day. The bridegroom’s party proceed to the house of the bride, taking with them two cocoanuts wrapped up in a blanket, betel, turmeric, etc., as a present. The bride is bathed and decorated, and purangkaliththal is proceeded with. She stands by the side of her grandmother, and a Brāhman purōhit, taking up a few leafy margosa (Melia Azadirachta) twigs, touches the girl’s shoulders, head, and knees with them, and throws them away. Her glass bead necklace is then removed. At the uppu-eduththal (salt carrying) ceremony, the bridegroom’s party carry a basket containing salt, a bundle containing nine kinds of grains, and a palmyra scroll for writing the marriage contract on, to the bride’s house. The sacred fire is lighted, and hōmam performed by the Brāhman purōhit. An old man, who has had a number of children, and belongs to a temple other than that of a bride, and the bridegroom’s sister, then tie the tāli string round her neck. This string bears a large tāli, about seven inches long and four inches broad, and seventeen to twenty-three gold ornaments, often of considerable value. Some of them have very sharp points, so that accidents sometimes arise from the points sticking in the eyes of babies carried by women. For every day wear, the massive ornaments are replaced by a smaller set. Immediately after the tāli has been tied, the marriage contract (isagudi mānam) is written. Two copies are made, for the bride and bridegroom respectively.As an example of a marriage contract, the following may be cited: “This is written for the marriage celebrated on ... between Subramanyan, the son of Okkurudaiyan Arunāchelam Chetti Ramanadhan Chetti and Valliammai, the daughter of Arumbākurudaiyan K. Narayana Chetti, both formerly of Ilayaththukudi, at the village of.... The value of jewels given to the girl is ... of gold; his dowry amounts to ...; money for female servant ...; sirattuchukram money ...; free gift of jewels.... This esaikudimanam was written by me at.... Signed Ramanadhan Chetti.” The bridegroom goes on horseback to a Pillayar temple where he worships, and then proceeds in procession through various streets to the bride’s house, accompanied by his sister carrying milk in a vessel, and a cooly bearing a bundle of seed rice. At every Chetti house the procession halts, and coloured rice lights are waved before the bridegroom. At the entrance to the bride’s house, he is met by the bride, whose sister-in-law pushes the couple against each other. Hence the ceremony is called māppillaikuidiththukāttal, or showing the bride to the bridegroom by pushing her. The couple are then conducted to a dais within the house, and wristlets made of cotton cloth are tied on by the purōhit. They exchange cocoanuts and garlands, and, amid the blowing of the conch shell (musical instrument) by women, the bride’s mother touches the couple with turmeric, ashes, sandal, etc. On the fourth day, money called veththilai surul rupaī (betel-roll money) is given to the newly-married couple by Chettis and the maternal uncles. A silver vessel, containing betel and two rupees, is given to the bridegroom by his father-in-law. The bridegroom usually carries on his shoulders a long purse of silkor red cloth, called valluvaippai, into which he puts the betel and other things which are given to him. On the last day of the marriage ceremonies, toe-rings and wristlets are removed, and the bridal pair eat together.In connection with pregnancy, two ceremonies are performed, called respectively marunthidal (medicine giving) and thirthamkudiththal (drinking holy water). The former is celebrated at about the fifth month. On an auspicious day, the sister-in-law of the pregnant woman, amid the blowing of the conch-shell by females, extracts the juice from the leaves of five plants, and gives to the woman to drink. During the seventh month the woman is given consecrated water (thirtham) from the temple. All first-born children, both male and female, have to go through a ceremony called pudhumai (newness). When they are two years old, on an auspicious day, fixed by a Brāhman purōhit, the maternal uncle of the child ties on its neck strings of coral and glass beads, to which ornaments of pearls and precious stones are added in the case of the wealthy. The child is further decorated with other ornaments, and placed in an oval wooden tray, which is held by the mother and her sister-in-law. They go round three times with the tray, and the child’s aunt, taking it up, carries it round to be blessed by those who have assembled. Presents of money are given to the child by relations and friends, and the maternal uncles have to give a larger sum than the others. On the second or third day the coral and bead ornaments are removed, and, on the fourth day, the child, if a male, is shaved, and must thenceforth have the head clean shaved throughout life. “The story goes that, when the Chōla king of Kāveripattanam persecuted them, the members of this caste resolved not to shave their heads until they quitted his territories. Whenthey reached their new settlement they shaved their heads completely as a memorial of their stern resolution.”44When a death occurs among the Nāttukōttai Chettis, news thereof is conveyed by the Thandakāran, or caste messenger. Those who come to condole with the bereaved family are received with outstretched hands (kainīttikolludhal). The head of the corpse is shaved, and it is washed and decorated. In front of the house a pandal (booth), supported by fourThespesia populneaposts, and roofed with twigs ofEugenia Jambolana, is erected. Beneath this the corpse is laid, and all present go round it thrice. While the corpse is being got ready for conveyance to the burning ground, the daughters and sisters of the deceased husk paddy (unhusked rice). On the way to the burning ground, the son carries the fire. If the deceased is a young boy or girl, the pandal is removed after the funeral; otherwise it is removed, on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday, within four days. The Nāttukōttais restrict the name pandal to the funeral booth, the marriage booth being called kāvanam or kottagai. Even an ordinary shed set up in front of a house is not called a pandal, as the name is associated with funerals. On the day following the funeral, the bigger fragments of bones are collected by a barber, and given to the son, who places them in an earthen pot. A Pandāram offers fruit, food, etc., to the deceased. Eight days afterwards, a feast, at which meat is partaken of for the first time since the death, is given to the relations of the dead person, and their pollution is at an end. They may not, however, enter a temple for thirty days. On the sixteenth day after death, the final death ceremonies (karmāndhiram) are performed, and liberal presents ofmoney, religious books, such as the Rāmāyana, Mahābhārata, and Periya Purānam, wooden spoons for domestic use, etc., are given to Brāhmans.There are three matams, whereat the Nāttukōttai Chettis are initiated into their religion, at Pātharakkudi (or Padanakkudi) and Kīla for males, and Tulāvur for females. They are Saivites, but also, more especially the women, worship such minor deities as Aiyanar, Munēswara, and Karuppan. They are also said to worship two village goddesses, called Sellattamman and Kannudayamman, at Nattarasankottai.Nāttukōttai men have the lobes of the ears artificially dilated, but seldom wear ornaments therein. They frequently have a gold chain round the loins, and wear finger rings set with diamonds. The wives even of wealthy men wear a cheap body cloth, and do menial house work, such as cleaning the kitchen utensils. They plait baskets, and, in some houses, wheels for spinning cotton may be seen.Like other trading classes in Southern India, the Nāttukōttai Chettis have a trade language of their own, which varies according to locality. In the city of Madras they have three tables, for annas, rupees, and tens of rupees respectively. Each of these is formed out of the syllables of certain words. Thus, the anna table is composed of the syllables of Tiripurasundari, the goddess at Madura, which is a great centre for Nāttukōttai Chettis. The syllables (in the inverse order), and their money equivalent are as follows:—Ri½ anna.Da¾ anna.Un1 anna.Su2 annas.Ra3 annas.Pu4 annas.Ri8 annas.Ti12 annas.The rupee table is composed of the word Vēdagirīsvararthunai, meaning with the help of Vēdagirīsvarar, the god at Tirukalikundram near Madras:—Vē1 rupee.Da2 rupees.Gi3 rupees.Ri4 rupees.Ī5 rupees.Is6 rupees.Va7 rupees.Ra8 rupees.A9 rupees.Thu10 rupees.Nai11 rupees.The tens-of-rupees table is made up from the word Tirukalikundram:—Ti10 rupees.Ru20 rupees.Ik30 rupees.Ka40 rupees.Li50 rupees.Ik60 rupees.Ku70 rupees.In80 rupees.Ra90 rupees.Im100 rupees.An anna is sometimes called vanakkam; a rupee is known as vellē (white).Nāttupattan.—A section of Ambalavāsis. (SeeUnni.)Nāttusāmbān.—Sāmbān (a name of Siva) is a title of some Tamil Paraiyans. Nāttusāmbān denotes a village Paraiyan.Nattuvan.—Defined in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “an occupational term, meaning a dancing-master, which is applied to males of the dancing-girl castes, who teach dancing.” At nautch parties, when the Dēva-dāsis dance, the Nattuvans play the accompaniment on the drum, bag-pipe, flute, clarionet, cymbals, etc. At the initiation of a Kaikōlan girl as a Dēva-dasi, her dancing-master seats himself behind her, and, grasping her legs, moves them up and down in time with the music. Some Ōcchans in the Tamily country, who teach dancing toDēva-dāsis, are also called Nattuvan.Natuvili(middle).—A sub-division of Paraiyans in Travancore.Navakōti(nine crores).—An exogamous sept of Dēsūr Reddi. A crore is one hundred lakhs, i.e., 10,000,000.Navalipitta(peacock).—A sept of Jātapu.Navāyat.—The Navāyats or Navāyets are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “a Musalman tribe, which appears to have originally settled at Bhatkal in North Canara, and is known on the west coast as Bhatkali. The derivation of the name is much disputed. There are five sub-divisions of the tribe, namely, Kurēshi, Mehkeri, Chīda, Gheas, and Mohāgir. It takes a high place among Musalmans, and does not intermarry with other tribes.”Of the Nevayets, the following account, based on the Saadut Nama, and conversations with members of the community, is given by Colonel Wilks.45“Nevayet is generally supposed to be a corruption of the Hindustanee and Mahratta terms for new-comer. About the end of the first century of the Hejira, or the early part of theeighth century of the Christian era, Hejaj Bin Yusuf, Governor of Irak, on the part of the Khalif Abd-al-Melik-bin-Merwan, a monster abhorred for his cruelties even among Musalmans, drove some respectable and opulent persons of the house of Hâshem to the desperate resolution of abandoning for ever their native country. Aided by the good offices of the inhabitants of Kufa, a town of celebrity in those days, situated near to the tomb of Ali, west of the Euphrates, they departed with their families, dependents, and effects, and embarked on ships prepared for their reception in the Persian Gulf. Some of these landed on that part of the western coast of India called the Concan; the others to the eastward of Cape Comorin; the descendants of the former are the Nevayets; of the latter the Lubbē. The Lubbē pretend to one common origin with the Nevayets, and attribute their black complexion to intermarriage with the natives; but the Nevayets affirm that the Lubbē are the descendants of their domestic slaves; and there is certainly, in the physiognomy of this very numerous class, and in their stature and form, a strong resemblance to the natives of Abyssinia. The Nevayets of the western coast preserved the purity of their original blood by systematically avoiding intermarriage with the Indians, and even with the highest Muhammadan families, for many centuries after the establishment of the Musalman dynasties of the Deckan. Even at this time there are some Nevayets whose complexions approach the European freshness. Their adherence to each other as members of the same family preserved their respectability; and they were famed at the Muhammadan courts of the Deckan for uniting the rare qualities of the soldier, the scholar, and the gentleman.”Nāvutiyan.—A synonym of Velakkattalavan.Nāyādi.—In the Malabar Manual, the Nāyādis are briefly summed up as follows. “Of the Nāyādis, or lowest caste among the Hindus—the dog-eaters—nothing definite is known. They are most persistent in their clamour for charity, and will follow at a respectful distance, for miles together, any person walking, driving, or boating. If anything is given to them, it must be laid down, and, after the person offering it has proceeded a sufficient distance, the recipient comes timidly forward, and removes it.”The subjects, whom I examined and measured at Shoranūr, though living only about three miles off, had, by reason of the pollution which they traditionally carry with them, to avoid walking over the long bridge which spans the river, and follow a circuitous route of many miles. Eventually they had to climb, or be ignominiously hoisted over the wall of the bungalow. Ignorant of the orthodox manner of using a chair, the first victim of the craniometer, who had to sit while his head was under examination, assumed the undignified position with which Eton boys who have been swished are familiar. Measurements concluded, men, women, and children sat down on the grass to an ample feast. And, before they departed homeward, copious blessings were invoked on me, to a chorus composed of the repetition of a single shrill note, not unlike that of the first note of a jackal cry. To quote the newspaper account of my doings, which refers to the ‘monograms’ issued by me on matters ethnological: “In the evening the kind gentleman gave them a sumptuous treat of canji and curry, and gave them also copper coins, toddy, and arrack. The poor people left the place immensely pleased, and were safely escorted to the British side of the river from the Cochin territory.”When travelling on the public roads in Malabar or Cochin, one may observe a few ragged and dirty cloths spread near the road, with one or two copper coins on them; and, at the same time, hear a chorus of monotonous stentorian voices at a distance of a hundred yards or more, emanating from a few miserable specimens of humanity, standing ghost-like with dishevelled hair, and a long strip of leaves tied round the waist, or clad in a dirty loin-cloth. The coins represent the alms given by the charitably disposed traveller, and the persons are Nāyādis. I am told that, near Kollatūr, there is a stone called the Nāyādi pārai, which is believed to be a man who was turned into stone for not giving alms to a Nāyādi.Nāyādis.Nāyādis.The name Nāyādi is equivalent to Nāyattukar,i.e., hunter. The Nāyādis are, in fact, professional hunters, and are excellent shots. The Nāyars and other higher classes, used formerly to take them with them on hunting and shooting expeditions. But, since the Arms Act came into force, the Nāyādis find this occupation gone. They are also good archers, and used to kill deer, pigs, hares, etc., and eat them. These animals are now difficult to get, as the forests are reserved by Government, and private forests are denuded of their trees for use as fuel, and for house-building by a growing population, and for consumption on the railway. The suggestion has been made that the name Nāyādi is derived from the fact of their eating otters, which live in hill streams, and are called nir-nai (water-dog).The approach of a Nāyādi within a distance of three hundred feet is said to contaminate a Brāhman, who has to bathe and put on a new sacred thread, to cleanse himself of the pollution. The Nāyādis, in fact, hold thelowest position in the social scale, and consequently labour under the greatest disadvantage.The Nāyādis live mostly in isolated huts on the tops of hills, and generally select a shōla, or glade, where there is a pond or stream. Some families live on the land of their landlords, whose crops they watch by night, to guard them against the attacks of wild beasts. Sometimes they are engaged in ploughing, sowing, weeding, transplanting, and reaping, the rice crop, or in plantain (banana) gardens. I take exception to the comparison by a recent author of the British Empire to the banana (Musa) throwing out aërial roots. The banyan (Ficus bengalensis) must have been meant.The male members of the community are called Nāyādis, and the females Nāyādichis. The boys are called Molayans, and the young girls Manichis. Succession is in the male line (makkathāyam).A thatched shed with palm-leaf walls, a few earthen pots, and a chopper, constitute the Nāyādi’s property. He occasionally collects honey and bees-wax, and also the gum (matti pasai) from the mattipāl tree (Ailanthus malabarica), which, when burnt, is used as temple incense and for fumigating the bed-chamber. He receives toddy in exchange for the honey and wax, and copper coins for the gum, with which he purchases luxuries in the shape of salt, chillies, dried fish, tobacco, and liquor. He makes rough ropes from the malanar plant, and the bark of the kayyūl tree (Bauhinia). The bark is soaked in water, sun-dried, and the fibre manufactured into rope. He also makes slings of fibre, wherewith he knocks over birds, and mats from a species ofCyperus.According to custom, the Nāyādi has to offer four ropes, each eight yards long, to every Nambūtiri illam,and two ropes to every Nāyar house near his settlement, on the occasion of the Vishu and Ōnam festivals. In return he receives a fixed measure of paddy (rice). The ropes are used for tethering cattle, and for drawing water from the well. By a wise dispensation of the ancient local chieftains, to each Nāyādi is assigned a desom (portion of a parish), within which he enjoys certain privileges. And no Nāyādi has any business to poach on his preserves. The privileges are these. On birthdays, anniversaries, and festive occasions, the Nāyādi receives his share of curry and rice, tied up in an old cloth. When a person is sick, a black country-made kambli (blanket), with gingelly (Sesamum), mustard, turmeric, and cocoanut tied up in the four corners, is passed three times over the patient and presented to a Nāyādi, together with a palm umbrella, a stick, and a cucumber. This is called kala-dhānam, or offering to Yama, the god of death, whose attack has to be warded off by propitiatory offerings. The Nāyādi accepts the gifts, and prays for the long life and prosperity of the giver. Placing them before his own family god, he prays that the life of the sick person may be spared, and that the disease may not be transferred to him.Like the Cherumans, the Nāyādis drink, but they cannot afford to buy as much toddy as the former, for the Cheruman works regularly for a daily wage. Monkeys, which are very troublesome in gardens, are shot down by the higher classes, and given to the Nāyādis to eat. Their dietary includes rats, mungooses, pigs, deer, paraquets, the koel (cuckoo), doves, quails, fowls, paddy-birds, hares, tortoises, Varanus (lizard), crocodiles, and fish. They abstain from eating the flesh of dogs, cats, snakes, land-crabs, shell-fish, and beef. Among vegetables, the tubers of yams (Dioscorea) andColocasiaare included.They produce fire by friction with two sticks ofLitsœa sebifera, in the shorter of which a cavity is scooped out. They do not, like the Todas, put powdered charcoal in the cavity, but ignite the cloth rag by means of the red-hot wood dust produced by the friction.When a woman is pregnant, she craves for the flesh of a monkey or jungle squirrel during the sixth month. During the seventh month, a ceremony is performed, to relieve her of the influence of devils, who may be troubling her. It is called ozhinnukalayuka. Abortion is attributed to the malign influence of evil spirits. To ward off this, they tie round the neck a magic thread, and invoke the aid of their hill gods and the spirits of their ancestors. They erect a special hut for delivery, to which the woman retires. When she is in labour, her husband shampooes his own abdomen, while praying to the gods for her safe delivery—a custom which seems to suggest the couvade. As soon as his wife is delivered, he offers thanks to the gods “for having got the baby out.” The woman observes pollution for ten days, during which her husband avoids seeing her. Any deformity in the child is attributed to the evil influence of the gods. On the twenty-eighth day after birth, the ceremony of naming the child takes place. The name given to the first-born son is that of the paternal grandfather, and to the first-born daughter that of the maternal grandmother. In the fifth year, the ear-boring ceremony takes place, and the operation is performed by the child’s uncle. A piece of brass wire takes the place of ear-rings. Girls wear a plug of wood in the lobes. The Nāyādichis do not, like the Cheruman women, wear bracelets, but have many rows of beads round their necks, and hanging over their bosoms.When a girl reaches puberty, a Nāyādichi leads her to a tank (pond), in which she bathes, after apāndi, composed of several pieces of plantain leaf tied together, has been carried three or four times round her. She must not touch any utensils, and must abstain from touching her head with the hand, and, if the skin itches, the body must be scratched with a small stick.Concerning a very interesting form of marriage, Mr. T. K. Gopal Panikkar writes as follows.46“A large hut is constructed of ‘holly’ and other leaves, inside which the girl is ensconced. Then all the young men and women of the village gather round the hut, and form a ring about it. The girl’s father, or the nearest male relative, sits a short distance from the crowd, with a tom-tom in his hands. Then commences the music, and a chant is sung by the father, which has been freely translated as follows:—

It has been said that “the Nāttukōttai Chettis, in organisation, co-operation, and business methods, are as remarkable as the European merchants. Very few of them have yet received any English education. They regard education as at present given in public schools as worse than useless for professional men, as it makes men theoretical, and scarcely helps in practice. The simple but strict training which they give their boys, the long and tedious apprenticeship which even the sons of the richest among them have to undergo, make them very efficient in their profession, and methodical in whatever they undertake to do.”Concerning the Nāttukōttai Chettis, Mr. P. R. Sundara Aiyar writes as follows.37“The first and chiefest aim of a Nāttukōttai Chetti is to make as much money as possible. He does not regard usury as a sin. As a little boy of ten or twelve, he begins to apply himself to business, learns accounts, and attends the shop of his father. As soon as he marries, his father gives him a separate home, or rather compels him to live separately, though often in the same house as his parents. This makes him self-reliant, and produces in him a desire to save as much money as possible. He is given a certain allowance out of the paternal estate, but, if he spends more, he is debited with the excess amount. Every one consequently tries to increase his stock of individual savings. Even the women earn money in a variety of ways. Every rupee saved is laid out at as high a rate of interest as possible. It is commonly stated that a rupee, laid out at the birth of a child at compound interest at 12 per cent., will amount to a lakh of rupees by the time he attains the age of a hundred. The habits of a Nāttukōttai Chetti are very simple, and his living is very cheap, even when he is rich. So strict are the Chettis in pecuniary matters that, if a relation visits them, he gets only his first meal free, and if he stays longer, is quietly debited with the cost of his stay.”The Nāttukōttai Chettis38are said to employ Kammālans, Valaiyans, Kallans, and Vallambans as their cooks. They are permitted to enter the interior of Hindu temples, and approach near to the innermost doorway of the central shrine. This privilege is doubtless accorded to them owing to the large sums of moneywhich they spend on temples, and in endowing charitable institutions. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that “of the profits of their commercial transactions, a fixed percentage (called magamai) is usually set aside for charity. Some of the money so collected is spent on keeping up Sanskrit schools, but most of it has been laid out in the repair and restoration of the temples of the south, especial attention being paid to those shrines (pādal petta sthalangal, as they are called), which were hymned by the four great poet-saints, Mānikya Vāchakar, Appar, Tirugnāna Sambandhar, and Sundaramūrti.” “The Chettis,” Mr. Sundara Aiyar writes, “are believed to be the most charitable class in Southern India, and undoubtedly they spend the largest amount of money on charity. They set apart a fraction of their profits for charity. They levy rates among themselves for local charities, wherever they go. The income obtained from the rates is generally spent on temples. In new places like Ceylon, Burma, and Singapore, they build new temples, generally dedicated to Subramanya Swāmi. In India itself, they establish festivals in existing temples, and undertake the repair of temples. Immense sums have been spent by them recently in the renovation and restoration of ancient temples. We should not be surprised to be told that the amount spent within the last thirty years alone amounts to a crore of rupees. Being Saivites, they do not generally care for Vaishnava temples. And, even among Saiva temples, only such as have special sanctity, and have been sung about by the Saiva Nainars or Bhaktas, are patronised by them. They have devoted large sums to the establishment of comfortable choultries (rest-houses), feeding houses, Vēdic and recently also Sastraic pāthasālas (schools). They have established schools for the education ofthe Kurukal or the priestly class. And, in fact, every charity of the orthodox Hindu type finds generous support among them.”It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that the gōpurams of the Madura temple “have been repaired of late years at great cost by the Nāttukōttai Chettis. The northern tower used to consist only of the brick and stone-work storeys, and was known in consequence as the mottai (literally bald) gōpuram. Recently, however, a courageous Chetti, who cared nothing for the superstition that it is most unlucky to complete a building left unfinished, placed the usual plaster top upon it.”In recent years, the temple at Chidambaram has been renovated by the Nāttukōttai Chettis, who“have formed for this and similar restorations a fund which is made up of a fee of four annas per cent. levied from their clients on all sums borrowed by the latter. The capital of this is invested, and the interest thereon devoted exclusively to such undertakings.”39In 1906, the purificatory ceremony, or kumbabishēkam, of the Sri Pasupathiswara Swāmi temple at Karūr was performed with great pomp. The old temple had been thoroughly overhauled and repaired by the Nāttukōttai Chettis. The ceremony cost about fifty thousand rupees. Many thousands were fed, and presents of money made to a large number of Vaidiki Brāhmans. In the same year, at a public meeting held in Madras to concert measures for establishing a pinjrapole (hospital for animals), one of the resolutions was that early steps should be taken to collect public subscriptions from the Hindu community generally, and inparticular from the Nāttukōttai Chettis, Gujarātis, and other mercantile classes.Still more recently, the kumbabishēkam festival was celebrated at Tiruvanaikkaval, the seat of a celebrated temple near Trichinopoly, which was repaired by the Nāttukōttai Chettis at a cost of many lakhs of rupees.By a traditional custom, the Nāttukōttai Chettis live largely by money-lending. They never serve under any one outside their own community. They either trade on their own account, or are employed as agents or assistants. The pay of an assistant is always calculated for a period of three years, and a portion thereof is paid in advance after a month’s service. This the assistant invests to the best advantage. At the end of a year, a portion of the balance of the pay is handed over to him, leaving a small sum to be paid at the end of the contract period. His expenses for board and lodging are met by his employer, and he may receive a small share of the profits of the business. A man, on receiving an agency, starts on an auspicious day, and proceeds to a temple of Ganēsa, and to a matam (religious institution) containing figures of Ganēsa and Natēsa. After prostrating himself before the gods, he proceeds on his way. If he encounters an object of evil omen, he will not continue, and, if he has to journey to a distant spot, he will throw up his appointment. The accounts of the Nāttukōttai Chettis are audited triennially, an annual audit being inconvenient, as their business is carried on at various remote spots. The foreign business is said40to “be transacted by agents belonging to the caste, who receive a salary proportioned to the distance of the place, and also, usually, a percentage on the profits. They generally serve for three years, andthen return, and give an account of their stewardship.” The commencement of a fresh period of three years is made on an auspicious day called puthukanakkunāl (fresh account day), which is observed as a holiday. No business is transacted, and customers are invited, and receive presents of fruits, sweets, etc.Nāttukōttai Chetti children.Nāttukōttai Chetti children.In connection with Nāttukōttai agencies, Mr. Hayavadana Rao writes as follows.41“People of moderate means usually elect to go to distant places as agents of the different firms that have their head offices either at Madura or in the Zamindaris of Ramnād and Sivaganga. The pay of a local agent varies directly with the distance of the place to which he is posted. If he is kept at Madura, he gets Rs. 100 per mensem; if sent to Burma, he gets three times as much; and, if to Natal, about twice the latter sum. If an agent proves himself to be an industrious and energetic man, he is usually given a percentage on the profits. The tenure of office is for three years, six months before the expiry of which the next agent is sent over to work conjointly with the existing one, and study the local conditions. On relief, the agent returns directly to his head office, and delivers over his papers, and then goes to his own village. With this, his connection with his firm practically ceases. He enjoys his well-earned rest of three years, at the end of which he seeks re-employment either under his old firm, or under any other. The former he is bound to, if he has taken a percentage on the profits during his previous tenure of office. If the old firm rejects him when he so offers himself, then he is at liberty to enter service under others.” It is said to be very rare for Nāttukōttai women to accompany their husbands to distant places.“In fact, the husbands have to visit their native places at long intervals, and make a felicitous sojourn in the company of their wives.”The houses of the Nāttukōttai Chettis are spacious and substantial buildings all based on the same general plan. The front entrance opens into an oblong courtyard with a verandah all round, and rows of rooms at the two sides. At the farther end of the courtyard is an entrance leading into a backyard or set of apartments. Modern houses have imposing exteriors, and an upper storey. Married sons live in separate quarters, and every couple receive from their fathers a fixed yearly allowance, which may amount to twenty rupees and fifteen kalams of paddy. The sons may, if they choose, spend more, but the excess is debited to their account, and, at the time of partition of the estate, deducted, with interest, from their share.It is noted by Mr. Hayavadana Rao that “the remarkable custom prevails amongst them that obliges all married members to cook separately and eat their meals, though they live in the same house. Even the widowed mother is no exception to this rule. Unmarried members live with their parents until they are married. Allotments of rice and other necessaries are annually made to the several semi-independent members of the household. This custom has given rise to the commodious houses in which members of this caste usually reside.”As concerning the origin of the Nāttukōttai Chettis, the following story is told. In ancient days, the Vaisyas of the lunar race were living in the town of Sānthyapuri in the Naganādu of the Jambudvipa(India). They paid daily visits to the shrine of Vināyaka god made of emerald, and were traders in precious stones. They weremuch respected, and led the life of orthodox Saivites, wore rudrāksha beads, and smeared themselves with sacred ashes. They were, however, much oppressed by a certain ruler, and emigrated in a body to Conjeeveram in the Tondamandalam country in the year 204 of the Kāliyuga. The king of Conjeeveram gave them permission to settle in his territory, and made grants to them of land, temples and matams. They stayed there for a very long time, but, being troubled by heavy taxes and fines, left this part of the country about 2312 Kāliyuga, and settled in the Chōla country. The Chōla king, being much impressed with them, bestowed on them the privilege of placing the crown on the head of a new ruler at his coronation. At this time, the town of Kāveripumpattanam is said to have been in a very flourishing state, and the north street was occupied by Vaisyas from other countries. Being unwilling to disturb them, the king made the new settlers occupy the east, west, and south streets. As a mark of respect, they were allowed to use flags with the figure of a lion on them, and use golden vessels (kalasam) in their houses. They all, at the instigation of the king, became disciples of one Isānya Sivachariar of Patānjalikshetra (Chidambaram). About 3775 Kāliyuga, Pūvandi Chōla Rāja imprisoned several of the Vaisya women, whereon all the eight thousand Vaisya families destroyed themselves, leaving their male children to be taken care of by a religious teacher named Atmanadhachariar. In all 1,502 children were thus brought up, viz., 600 of six ways from the west street, 502 of seven ways from the east street, and 400 of four ways from the south street. Later on, Pūvandi Chōla fell ill, and, knowing his recovery to be impossible, sent for the Vaisya boys, and asked them to look after the coronation of his sonRājabhushana Chōla. But they said that, as they were bachelors, they could not comply with his request. The king accordingly made them marry Vellāla girls. Those of the west street took as wives girls of the Karkaththar section, those of the east street girls of the Sōzhia section, and those of the south street girls of the Kāniyala section. The three groups became disciples of three different matams, viz., Tiruvārur, Kumbakonam, and Vānchium. In the year 3790, a dispute arose in connection with the right of priority in receiving sacred ashes between the Vaisya and true Vellāla women, and the former were made to become the disciples of a new guru (religious preceptor). About 3808, a Pāndya king, named Sundara Pāndya, is said to have asked the Chōla king to induce some of the Vaisyas to settle down in the Pāndya territory. They accordingly once more emigrated in a body, and reached the village of Onkarakudi on a Friday (the constellation Astham being in the ascendant on that day). They were allowed to settle in the tract of country north of the river Vaigai, east of the Piranmalai, and south of Vellar. Those from the east street settled at Ilayaththukudi, those from the west street at Ariyūr, and those from the south street at Sundarapattanam. Thus the Chettis became divided into three endogamous sections, of which the Ilayaththukudi and Sundarapattanam are found at the present day in the Madura district. The members of the Ariyūr section migrated to the west coast on the destruction of their village. The members of the Ilayaththukudi section became the Nāttukōttais. They, not being satisfied with only one place of worship, requested the king to give them more temples. Accordingly, temples were provided for different groups at Māththur, Vairavanpatti, Iraniyūr, Pillayarpatti, Nēmam, Iluppaikudi, Suraikudi, andVelangkudi. At the present day, the Nāttukōttai Chettis are divided into the following divisions (kōvils or temples) and exogamous sub-divisions:—1.Ilayaththūkudi kōvil—Okkurūdaīyar.Pattanasāmiar.Perumaruthurudaiyar.Kazhanivāsakkudaiyar.Kinkinikkudaiyar.Pērasendurudaiyar.Sirusēththurudaiyar.2.Māththūr kōvil—Uraiyūr.Arumbakūr.Manalūr.Mannūr.Kannūr.Karuppūr.Kulaththūr.3.Vairavan kōvil—Sirukulaththūr.Kazhanivāsal.Marudendrapūram.4.Iraniyūr kōvil.5.Pillayarpatti kōvil.6.Nēmam kōvil.7.Iluppaikudi kōvil.8.Suraikudi kōvil.9.Velāngkudi kōvil.When Nāttukōttai Chettis adopt children, they must belong to the same temple division. An adopted son is called Manjanir Puthiran, or turmeric-water son, because, at the ceremony of adoption, the lad has to drink turmeric-water.42In villages where their main temples are situated, the temple manager is obliged togive food to stranger Chettis, and charge for it if they belong to another temple division.According to a variant of the story relating to the origin of the Nāttukōttai Chettis, “they were formerly merchants at the court of the Chōla kings who ruled at Kaveripattanam, at one time a flourishing sea-port at the mouth of the Cauveri, from which they emigrated in a body on being persecuted by one of them, and first settled at Nattarasankottai, about three miles north-east of Sivaganga.”By other castes, the Nāttukōttai Chettis are said to be the descendants of the offspring of unions between a Shānān and a Muhammadan and Uppu Korava women. Some of the peculiarities of the caste are pointed out in support of the story. Thus, Nāttukōttai men shave their heads like Muhammadans, and both men and women have the lobes of their ears dilated like the older Shānāns. Their girls wear necklaces of shell beads like Korava women, and the women delight in making baskets for recreation, as the Korava women do for sale. The caste is sometimes spoken of as Uppu (salt) Maruhira Chetti. The arguments and illustrations are naturally much resented by the Nāttukōttai Chettis, who explain the obnoxious name by the story that they were formerly very poor, and made a living by selling salt.The Nāttukōttai Chettis have recourse to panchāyats (councils) in matters affecting the community. They have, Mr. Sundara Aiyar writes, “been at any rate till recently remarkable for settling their differences out of court. The influence of the elders in preventing litigation is very strong. They conciliate the disputants as far as possible and, after reducing the difference between them to a minimum, they often get theirsignatures to an award, in which a blank is left to decide the still existing point of difference, the disputants agreeing, after putting in their signatures, to the mediators’ filling in the blank, and deciding the dispute as they choose. We are afraid that this spirit of give-and-take is now unfortunately diminishing, and the arbitrament of the courts is more often resorted to than before.” There are, among the Nāttukōttai Chettis, two forms of panchāyat, called madaththuvāsal mariyal (matam panchāyat) and kōvilvāsal mariyal (temple panchāyat), of which, at the present day, only the latter is in vogue. For every temple there is a manager, an assistant, and a servant called Vairāvi, who must be a Melakkāran. The aggrieved party lodges his complaint with the manager, who sends word to the leading men of the temple division concerned. The complainant and defendant are summoned to attend a council meeting, and the evidence is recorded by the temple manager. If the accused falls to put in an appearance, the Vairāvi is sent to his house, to take therefrom adavu (security) in the shape of some article belonging to him. In a recent case, a wealthy Nāttukōttai Chetti promised his brother’s widow that she should be allowed to adopt a boy. But, as the promise was not fulfilled, she complained to the temple; and, as her brother-in-law did not attend the council meeting, the Vairāvi went to his house, and, in his absence, abstracted the adavu. This was regarded as a great insult, and there was some talk of the case going into court. Matters such as the arrangement of marriage contracts, monetary disputes, family discussions, and the like, are referred to the temple council for settlement. Final decisions are never recorded in writing, but delivered by word of mouth. Those who fail to abide by the decision of the council do not receivea garland from the temple for their marriage, and without this garland a marriage cannot take place.It is noted by Mr. Hayavadana Rao that each of the kōvils or temples “is managed by Karyakārans, who are nominated to the place by the local elders. These Karyakārans act as Panchāyatdars, and decide all civil cases referred to them. If a case is first referred to them, it may, if necessary, be carried over again to the established courts of the country. But, if once a case is first taken to the courts, they would not entertain it before themselves. They enforce their decrees (1) by refusing to give the garland of flowers at the marriage time, (2) by exercising the power of excommunication.”Every Nāttukōttai Chetti youth has to perform a ceremony called Sūppidi before marriage. On the Karthika day, when the constellation Krithikai is in the ascendant, he is taken on horseback to a Pillayar (Ganēsa) temple, where he worships, and whirls a bag of burning charcoal tied to a long string round his head. In front of the temple he burns a booth (chokkapane), which has been set up, and with the ashes his forehead is marked. On his return home, and at the entrance of Nāttukōttai houses which he passes, rice lamps are waved before him (alathi). In like manner, every girl has to go through a ceremony, called thiruvādhirai, before marriage. On the day of the Arudrādarsanam festival, she is bathed and decorated. A necklace of gold beads is placed on her neck instead of the necklace of glass beads (pāsimani), which she has hitherto worn. She proceeds, with a silver cup, to the houses where other girls are performing the ceremony, and bawls out:—I have come dancing; give me avarakkai (Dolichos Lablabbeans).I have come singing; give me padavarangkai (Cyamopsisbeans).I have come speaking; give me sorakkai (Lagenariafruit).Various kinds of vegetables are placed on the silver vessel, cooked, and distributed. Cakes, called dosai, are made in the house, and, during their preparation, holes are made in them by married women with an iron style. These cakes are also distributed, and it is taken as an insult if any individual does not receive one.Jewelry of Nāttukōttai Chettis.Jewelry of Nāttukōttai Chettis.Every Nāttukōttai Chetti is said to have the inviolable right to claim the hand of his paternal aunt’s daughter. This being so, ill-assorted marriages are quite common, the putative father being often but a child.43The marriage ceremonies commence with the giving of gold for the bride’s neck. On an auspicious day, the bridegroom’s party give a gold coin to a goldsmith, who beats it into a thin sheet, and goes home after receiving betel, etc. On the first day of the marriage rites, a feast is given to the bridegroom’s family, and female ancestors are worshipped. On the following day, the presentation of the dowry (sireduththal) takes place. The presents, which are often of considerable value, are laid out for inspection, and an inventory of them is made. Perishable articles, such as rice, ghī (clarified butter), dhāl (Cajanus indicus), and fruits are sold. The bride’s presents are taken to the house of the bridegroom, those who carry them being rewarded with betel, a silk fan, scent bottle, silk handkerchief, bottle of chocolate, a tin of biscuits, and a brass vessel. On the third day, garlands are received from the temples to which the brideand bridegroom belong. The bride’s party go to the house of the bridegroom, taking on a tray a silk handkerchief and cloth, and in a silver vessel fifty rupees, betel, etc. These are presented to the bridegroom. This ceremony is called māppillai ariyappōthal, or going to examine the son-in-law. The next item on the programme is nālkuriththal, or fixing the day. The bridegroom’s party proceed to the house of the bride, taking with them two cocoanuts wrapped up in a blanket, betel, turmeric, etc., as a present. The bride is bathed and decorated, and purangkaliththal is proceeded with. She stands by the side of her grandmother, and a Brāhman purōhit, taking up a few leafy margosa (Melia Azadirachta) twigs, touches the girl’s shoulders, head, and knees with them, and throws them away. Her glass bead necklace is then removed. At the uppu-eduththal (salt carrying) ceremony, the bridegroom’s party carry a basket containing salt, a bundle containing nine kinds of grains, and a palmyra scroll for writing the marriage contract on, to the bride’s house. The sacred fire is lighted, and hōmam performed by the Brāhman purōhit. An old man, who has had a number of children, and belongs to a temple other than that of a bride, and the bridegroom’s sister, then tie the tāli string round her neck. This string bears a large tāli, about seven inches long and four inches broad, and seventeen to twenty-three gold ornaments, often of considerable value. Some of them have very sharp points, so that accidents sometimes arise from the points sticking in the eyes of babies carried by women. For every day wear, the massive ornaments are replaced by a smaller set. Immediately after the tāli has been tied, the marriage contract (isagudi mānam) is written. Two copies are made, for the bride and bridegroom respectively.As an example of a marriage contract, the following may be cited: “This is written for the marriage celebrated on ... between Subramanyan, the son of Okkurudaiyan Arunāchelam Chetti Ramanadhan Chetti and Valliammai, the daughter of Arumbākurudaiyan K. Narayana Chetti, both formerly of Ilayaththukudi, at the village of.... The value of jewels given to the girl is ... of gold; his dowry amounts to ...; money for female servant ...; sirattuchukram money ...; free gift of jewels.... This esaikudimanam was written by me at.... Signed Ramanadhan Chetti.” The bridegroom goes on horseback to a Pillayar temple where he worships, and then proceeds in procession through various streets to the bride’s house, accompanied by his sister carrying milk in a vessel, and a cooly bearing a bundle of seed rice. At every Chetti house the procession halts, and coloured rice lights are waved before the bridegroom. At the entrance to the bride’s house, he is met by the bride, whose sister-in-law pushes the couple against each other. Hence the ceremony is called māppillaikuidiththukāttal, or showing the bride to the bridegroom by pushing her. The couple are then conducted to a dais within the house, and wristlets made of cotton cloth are tied on by the purōhit. They exchange cocoanuts and garlands, and, amid the blowing of the conch shell (musical instrument) by women, the bride’s mother touches the couple with turmeric, ashes, sandal, etc. On the fourth day, money called veththilai surul rupaī (betel-roll money) is given to the newly-married couple by Chettis and the maternal uncles. A silver vessel, containing betel and two rupees, is given to the bridegroom by his father-in-law. The bridegroom usually carries on his shoulders a long purse of silkor red cloth, called valluvaippai, into which he puts the betel and other things which are given to him. On the last day of the marriage ceremonies, toe-rings and wristlets are removed, and the bridal pair eat together.In connection with pregnancy, two ceremonies are performed, called respectively marunthidal (medicine giving) and thirthamkudiththal (drinking holy water). The former is celebrated at about the fifth month. On an auspicious day, the sister-in-law of the pregnant woman, amid the blowing of the conch-shell by females, extracts the juice from the leaves of five plants, and gives to the woman to drink. During the seventh month the woman is given consecrated water (thirtham) from the temple. All first-born children, both male and female, have to go through a ceremony called pudhumai (newness). When they are two years old, on an auspicious day, fixed by a Brāhman purōhit, the maternal uncle of the child ties on its neck strings of coral and glass beads, to which ornaments of pearls and precious stones are added in the case of the wealthy. The child is further decorated with other ornaments, and placed in an oval wooden tray, which is held by the mother and her sister-in-law. They go round three times with the tray, and the child’s aunt, taking it up, carries it round to be blessed by those who have assembled. Presents of money are given to the child by relations and friends, and the maternal uncles have to give a larger sum than the others. On the second or third day the coral and bead ornaments are removed, and, on the fourth day, the child, if a male, is shaved, and must thenceforth have the head clean shaved throughout life. “The story goes that, when the Chōla king of Kāveripattanam persecuted them, the members of this caste resolved not to shave their heads until they quitted his territories. Whenthey reached their new settlement they shaved their heads completely as a memorial of their stern resolution.”44When a death occurs among the Nāttukōttai Chettis, news thereof is conveyed by the Thandakāran, or caste messenger. Those who come to condole with the bereaved family are received with outstretched hands (kainīttikolludhal). The head of the corpse is shaved, and it is washed and decorated. In front of the house a pandal (booth), supported by fourThespesia populneaposts, and roofed with twigs ofEugenia Jambolana, is erected. Beneath this the corpse is laid, and all present go round it thrice. While the corpse is being got ready for conveyance to the burning ground, the daughters and sisters of the deceased husk paddy (unhusked rice). On the way to the burning ground, the son carries the fire. If the deceased is a young boy or girl, the pandal is removed after the funeral; otherwise it is removed, on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday, within four days. The Nāttukōttais restrict the name pandal to the funeral booth, the marriage booth being called kāvanam or kottagai. Even an ordinary shed set up in front of a house is not called a pandal, as the name is associated with funerals. On the day following the funeral, the bigger fragments of bones are collected by a barber, and given to the son, who places them in an earthen pot. A Pandāram offers fruit, food, etc., to the deceased. Eight days afterwards, a feast, at which meat is partaken of for the first time since the death, is given to the relations of the dead person, and their pollution is at an end. They may not, however, enter a temple for thirty days. On the sixteenth day after death, the final death ceremonies (karmāndhiram) are performed, and liberal presents ofmoney, religious books, such as the Rāmāyana, Mahābhārata, and Periya Purānam, wooden spoons for domestic use, etc., are given to Brāhmans.There are three matams, whereat the Nāttukōttai Chettis are initiated into their religion, at Pātharakkudi (or Padanakkudi) and Kīla for males, and Tulāvur for females. They are Saivites, but also, more especially the women, worship such minor deities as Aiyanar, Munēswara, and Karuppan. They are also said to worship two village goddesses, called Sellattamman and Kannudayamman, at Nattarasankottai.Nāttukōttai men have the lobes of the ears artificially dilated, but seldom wear ornaments therein. They frequently have a gold chain round the loins, and wear finger rings set with diamonds. The wives even of wealthy men wear a cheap body cloth, and do menial house work, such as cleaning the kitchen utensils. They plait baskets, and, in some houses, wheels for spinning cotton may be seen.Like other trading classes in Southern India, the Nāttukōttai Chettis have a trade language of their own, which varies according to locality. In the city of Madras they have three tables, for annas, rupees, and tens of rupees respectively. Each of these is formed out of the syllables of certain words. Thus, the anna table is composed of the syllables of Tiripurasundari, the goddess at Madura, which is a great centre for Nāttukōttai Chettis. The syllables (in the inverse order), and their money equivalent are as follows:—Ri½ anna.Da¾ anna.Un1 anna.Su2 annas.Ra3 annas.Pu4 annas.Ri8 annas.Ti12 annas.The rupee table is composed of the word Vēdagirīsvararthunai, meaning with the help of Vēdagirīsvarar, the god at Tirukalikundram near Madras:—Vē1 rupee.Da2 rupees.Gi3 rupees.Ri4 rupees.Ī5 rupees.Is6 rupees.Va7 rupees.Ra8 rupees.A9 rupees.Thu10 rupees.Nai11 rupees.The tens-of-rupees table is made up from the word Tirukalikundram:—Ti10 rupees.Ru20 rupees.Ik30 rupees.Ka40 rupees.Li50 rupees.Ik60 rupees.Ku70 rupees.In80 rupees.Ra90 rupees.Im100 rupees.An anna is sometimes called vanakkam; a rupee is known as vellē (white).Nāttupattan.—A section of Ambalavāsis. (SeeUnni.)Nāttusāmbān.—Sāmbān (a name of Siva) is a title of some Tamil Paraiyans. Nāttusāmbān denotes a village Paraiyan.Nattuvan.—Defined in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “an occupational term, meaning a dancing-master, which is applied to males of the dancing-girl castes, who teach dancing.” At nautch parties, when the Dēva-dāsis dance, the Nattuvans play the accompaniment on the drum, bag-pipe, flute, clarionet, cymbals, etc. At the initiation of a Kaikōlan girl as a Dēva-dasi, her dancing-master seats himself behind her, and, grasping her legs, moves them up and down in time with the music. Some Ōcchans in the Tamily country, who teach dancing toDēva-dāsis, are also called Nattuvan.Natuvili(middle).—A sub-division of Paraiyans in Travancore.Navakōti(nine crores).—An exogamous sept of Dēsūr Reddi. A crore is one hundred lakhs, i.e., 10,000,000.Navalipitta(peacock).—A sept of Jātapu.Navāyat.—The Navāyats or Navāyets are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “a Musalman tribe, which appears to have originally settled at Bhatkal in North Canara, and is known on the west coast as Bhatkali. The derivation of the name is much disputed. There are five sub-divisions of the tribe, namely, Kurēshi, Mehkeri, Chīda, Gheas, and Mohāgir. It takes a high place among Musalmans, and does not intermarry with other tribes.”Of the Nevayets, the following account, based on the Saadut Nama, and conversations with members of the community, is given by Colonel Wilks.45“Nevayet is generally supposed to be a corruption of the Hindustanee and Mahratta terms for new-comer. About the end of the first century of the Hejira, or the early part of theeighth century of the Christian era, Hejaj Bin Yusuf, Governor of Irak, on the part of the Khalif Abd-al-Melik-bin-Merwan, a monster abhorred for his cruelties even among Musalmans, drove some respectable and opulent persons of the house of Hâshem to the desperate resolution of abandoning for ever their native country. Aided by the good offices of the inhabitants of Kufa, a town of celebrity in those days, situated near to the tomb of Ali, west of the Euphrates, they departed with their families, dependents, and effects, and embarked on ships prepared for their reception in the Persian Gulf. Some of these landed on that part of the western coast of India called the Concan; the others to the eastward of Cape Comorin; the descendants of the former are the Nevayets; of the latter the Lubbē. The Lubbē pretend to one common origin with the Nevayets, and attribute their black complexion to intermarriage with the natives; but the Nevayets affirm that the Lubbē are the descendants of their domestic slaves; and there is certainly, in the physiognomy of this very numerous class, and in their stature and form, a strong resemblance to the natives of Abyssinia. The Nevayets of the western coast preserved the purity of their original blood by systematically avoiding intermarriage with the Indians, and even with the highest Muhammadan families, for many centuries after the establishment of the Musalman dynasties of the Deckan. Even at this time there are some Nevayets whose complexions approach the European freshness. Their adherence to each other as members of the same family preserved their respectability; and they were famed at the Muhammadan courts of the Deckan for uniting the rare qualities of the soldier, the scholar, and the gentleman.”Nāvutiyan.—A synonym of Velakkattalavan.Nāyādi.—In the Malabar Manual, the Nāyādis are briefly summed up as follows. “Of the Nāyādis, or lowest caste among the Hindus—the dog-eaters—nothing definite is known. They are most persistent in their clamour for charity, and will follow at a respectful distance, for miles together, any person walking, driving, or boating. If anything is given to them, it must be laid down, and, after the person offering it has proceeded a sufficient distance, the recipient comes timidly forward, and removes it.”The subjects, whom I examined and measured at Shoranūr, though living only about three miles off, had, by reason of the pollution which they traditionally carry with them, to avoid walking over the long bridge which spans the river, and follow a circuitous route of many miles. Eventually they had to climb, or be ignominiously hoisted over the wall of the bungalow. Ignorant of the orthodox manner of using a chair, the first victim of the craniometer, who had to sit while his head was under examination, assumed the undignified position with which Eton boys who have been swished are familiar. Measurements concluded, men, women, and children sat down on the grass to an ample feast. And, before they departed homeward, copious blessings were invoked on me, to a chorus composed of the repetition of a single shrill note, not unlike that of the first note of a jackal cry. To quote the newspaper account of my doings, which refers to the ‘monograms’ issued by me on matters ethnological: “In the evening the kind gentleman gave them a sumptuous treat of canji and curry, and gave them also copper coins, toddy, and arrack. The poor people left the place immensely pleased, and were safely escorted to the British side of the river from the Cochin territory.”When travelling on the public roads in Malabar or Cochin, one may observe a few ragged and dirty cloths spread near the road, with one or two copper coins on them; and, at the same time, hear a chorus of monotonous stentorian voices at a distance of a hundred yards or more, emanating from a few miserable specimens of humanity, standing ghost-like with dishevelled hair, and a long strip of leaves tied round the waist, or clad in a dirty loin-cloth. The coins represent the alms given by the charitably disposed traveller, and the persons are Nāyādis. I am told that, near Kollatūr, there is a stone called the Nāyādi pārai, which is believed to be a man who was turned into stone for not giving alms to a Nāyādi.Nāyādis.Nāyādis.The name Nāyādi is equivalent to Nāyattukar,i.e., hunter. The Nāyādis are, in fact, professional hunters, and are excellent shots. The Nāyars and other higher classes, used formerly to take them with them on hunting and shooting expeditions. But, since the Arms Act came into force, the Nāyādis find this occupation gone. They are also good archers, and used to kill deer, pigs, hares, etc., and eat them. These animals are now difficult to get, as the forests are reserved by Government, and private forests are denuded of their trees for use as fuel, and for house-building by a growing population, and for consumption on the railway. The suggestion has been made that the name Nāyādi is derived from the fact of their eating otters, which live in hill streams, and are called nir-nai (water-dog).The approach of a Nāyādi within a distance of three hundred feet is said to contaminate a Brāhman, who has to bathe and put on a new sacred thread, to cleanse himself of the pollution. The Nāyādis, in fact, hold thelowest position in the social scale, and consequently labour under the greatest disadvantage.The Nāyādis live mostly in isolated huts on the tops of hills, and generally select a shōla, or glade, where there is a pond or stream. Some families live on the land of their landlords, whose crops they watch by night, to guard them against the attacks of wild beasts. Sometimes they are engaged in ploughing, sowing, weeding, transplanting, and reaping, the rice crop, or in plantain (banana) gardens. I take exception to the comparison by a recent author of the British Empire to the banana (Musa) throwing out aërial roots. The banyan (Ficus bengalensis) must have been meant.The male members of the community are called Nāyādis, and the females Nāyādichis. The boys are called Molayans, and the young girls Manichis. Succession is in the male line (makkathāyam).A thatched shed with palm-leaf walls, a few earthen pots, and a chopper, constitute the Nāyādi’s property. He occasionally collects honey and bees-wax, and also the gum (matti pasai) from the mattipāl tree (Ailanthus malabarica), which, when burnt, is used as temple incense and for fumigating the bed-chamber. He receives toddy in exchange for the honey and wax, and copper coins for the gum, with which he purchases luxuries in the shape of salt, chillies, dried fish, tobacco, and liquor. He makes rough ropes from the malanar plant, and the bark of the kayyūl tree (Bauhinia). The bark is soaked in water, sun-dried, and the fibre manufactured into rope. He also makes slings of fibre, wherewith he knocks over birds, and mats from a species ofCyperus.According to custom, the Nāyādi has to offer four ropes, each eight yards long, to every Nambūtiri illam,and two ropes to every Nāyar house near his settlement, on the occasion of the Vishu and Ōnam festivals. In return he receives a fixed measure of paddy (rice). The ropes are used for tethering cattle, and for drawing water from the well. By a wise dispensation of the ancient local chieftains, to each Nāyādi is assigned a desom (portion of a parish), within which he enjoys certain privileges. And no Nāyādi has any business to poach on his preserves. The privileges are these. On birthdays, anniversaries, and festive occasions, the Nāyādi receives his share of curry and rice, tied up in an old cloth. When a person is sick, a black country-made kambli (blanket), with gingelly (Sesamum), mustard, turmeric, and cocoanut tied up in the four corners, is passed three times over the patient and presented to a Nāyādi, together with a palm umbrella, a stick, and a cucumber. This is called kala-dhānam, or offering to Yama, the god of death, whose attack has to be warded off by propitiatory offerings. The Nāyādi accepts the gifts, and prays for the long life and prosperity of the giver. Placing them before his own family god, he prays that the life of the sick person may be spared, and that the disease may not be transferred to him.Like the Cherumans, the Nāyādis drink, but they cannot afford to buy as much toddy as the former, for the Cheruman works regularly for a daily wage. Monkeys, which are very troublesome in gardens, are shot down by the higher classes, and given to the Nāyādis to eat. Their dietary includes rats, mungooses, pigs, deer, paraquets, the koel (cuckoo), doves, quails, fowls, paddy-birds, hares, tortoises, Varanus (lizard), crocodiles, and fish. They abstain from eating the flesh of dogs, cats, snakes, land-crabs, shell-fish, and beef. Among vegetables, the tubers of yams (Dioscorea) andColocasiaare included.They produce fire by friction with two sticks ofLitsœa sebifera, in the shorter of which a cavity is scooped out. They do not, like the Todas, put powdered charcoal in the cavity, but ignite the cloth rag by means of the red-hot wood dust produced by the friction.When a woman is pregnant, she craves for the flesh of a monkey or jungle squirrel during the sixth month. During the seventh month, a ceremony is performed, to relieve her of the influence of devils, who may be troubling her. It is called ozhinnukalayuka. Abortion is attributed to the malign influence of evil spirits. To ward off this, they tie round the neck a magic thread, and invoke the aid of their hill gods and the spirits of their ancestors. They erect a special hut for delivery, to which the woman retires. When she is in labour, her husband shampooes his own abdomen, while praying to the gods for her safe delivery—a custom which seems to suggest the couvade. As soon as his wife is delivered, he offers thanks to the gods “for having got the baby out.” The woman observes pollution for ten days, during which her husband avoids seeing her. Any deformity in the child is attributed to the evil influence of the gods. On the twenty-eighth day after birth, the ceremony of naming the child takes place. The name given to the first-born son is that of the paternal grandfather, and to the first-born daughter that of the maternal grandmother. In the fifth year, the ear-boring ceremony takes place, and the operation is performed by the child’s uncle. A piece of brass wire takes the place of ear-rings. Girls wear a plug of wood in the lobes. The Nāyādichis do not, like the Cheruman women, wear bracelets, but have many rows of beads round their necks, and hanging over their bosoms.When a girl reaches puberty, a Nāyādichi leads her to a tank (pond), in which she bathes, after apāndi, composed of several pieces of plantain leaf tied together, has been carried three or four times round her. She must not touch any utensils, and must abstain from touching her head with the hand, and, if the skin itches, the body must be scratched with a small stick.Concerning a very interesting form of marriage, Mr. T. K. Gopal Panikkar writes as follows.46“A large hut is constructed of ‘holly’ and other leaves, inside which the girl is ensconced. Then all the young men and women of the village gather round the hut, and form a ring about it. The girl’s father, or the nearest male relative, sits a short distance from the crowd, with a tom-tom in his hands. Then commences the music, and a chant is sung by the father, which has been freely translated as follows:—

It has been said that “the Nāttukōttai Chettis, in organisation, co-operation, and business methods, are as remarkable as the European merchants. Very few of them have yet received any English education. They regard education as at present given in public schools as worse than useless for professional men, as it makes men theoretical, and scarcely helps in practice. The simple but strict training which they give their boys, the long and tedious apprenticeship which even the sons of the richest among them have to undergo, make them very efficient in their profession, and methodical in whatever they undertake to do.”Concerning the Nāttukōttai Chettis, Mr. P. R. Sundara Aiyar writes as follows.37“The first and chiefest aim of a Nāttukōttai Chetti is to make as much money as possible. He does not regard usury as a sin. As a little boy of ten or twelve, he begins to apply himself to business, learns accounts, and attends the shop of his father. As soon as he marries, his father gives him a separate home, or rather compels him to live separately, though often in the same house as his parents. This makes him self-reliant, and produces in him a desire to save as much money as possible. He is given a certain allowance out of the paternal estate, but, if he spends more, he is debited with the excess amount. Every one consequently tries to increase his stock of individual savings. Even the women earn money in a variety of ways. Every rupee saved is laid out at as high a rate of interest as possible. It is commonly stated that a rupee, laid out at the birth of a child at compound interest at 12 per cent., will amount to a lakh of rupees by the time he attains the age of a hundred. The habits of a Nāttukōttai Chetti are very simple, and his living is very cheap, even when he is rich. So strict are the Chettis in pecuniary matters that, if a relation visits them, he gets only his first meal free, and if he stays longer, is quietly debited with the cost of his stay.”The Nāttukōttai Chettis38are said to employ Kammālans, Valaiyans, Kallans, and Vallambans as their cooks. They are permitted to enter the interior of Hindu temples, and approach near to the innermost doorway of the central shrine. This privilege is doubtless accorded to them owing to the large sums of moneywhich they spend on temples, and in endowing charitable institutions. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that “of the profits of their commercial transactions, a fixed percentage (called magamai) is usually set aside for charity. Some of the money so collected is spent on keeping up Sanskrit schools, but most of it has been laid out in the repair and restoration of the temples of the south, especial attention being paid to those shrines (pādal petta sthalangal, as they are called), which were hymned by the four great poet-saints, Mānikya Vāchakar, Appar, Tirugnāna Sambandhar, and Sundaramūrti.” “The Chettis,” Mr. Sundara Aiyar writes, “are believed to be the most charitable class in Southern India, and undoubtedly they spend the largest amount of money on charity. They set apart a fraction of their profits for charity. They levy rates among themselves for local charities, wherever they go. The income obtained from the rates is generally spent on temples. In new places like Ceylon, Burma, and Singapore, they build new temples, generally dedicated to Subramanya Swāmi. In India itself, they establish festivals in existing temples, and undertake the repair of temples. Immense sums have been spent by them recently in the renovation and restoration of ancient temples. We should not be surprised to be told that the amount spent within the last thirty years alone amounts to a crore of rupees. Being Saivites, they do not generally care for Vaishnava temples. And, even among Saiva temples, only such as have special sanctity, and have been sung about by the Saiva Nainars or Bhaktas, are patronised by them. They have devoted large sums to the establishment of comfortable choultries (rest-houses), feeding houses, Vēdic and recently also Sastraic pāthasālas (schools). They have established schools for the education ofthe Kurukal or the priestly class. And, in fact, every charity of the orthodox Hindu type finds generous support among them.”It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that the gōpurams of the Madura temple “have been repaired of late years at great cost by the Nāttukōttai Chettis. The northern tower used to consist only of the brick and stone-work storeys, and was known in consequence as the mottai (literally bald) gōpuram. Recently, however, a courageous Chetti, who cared nothing for the superstition that it is most unlucky to complete a building left unfinished, placed the usual plaster top upon it.”In recent years, the temple at Chidambaram has been renovated by the Nāttukōttai Chettis, who“have formed for this and similar restorations a fund which is made up of a fee of four annas per cent. levied from their clients on all sums borrowed by the latter. The capital of this is invested, and the interest thereon devoted exclusively to such undertakings.”39In 1906, the purificatory ceremony, or kumbabishēkam, of the Sri Pasupathiswara Swāmi temple at Karūr was performed with great pomp. The old temple had been thoroughly overhauled and repaired by the Nāttukōttai Chettis. The ceremony cost about fifty thousand rupees. Many thousands were fed, and presents of money made to a large number of Vaidiki Brāhmans. In the same year, at a public meeting held in Madras to concert measures for establishing a pinjrapole (hospital for animals), one of the resolutions was that early steps should be taken to collect public subscriptions from the Hindu community generally, and inparticular from the Nāttukōttai Chettis, Gujarātis, and other mercantile classes.Still more recently, the kumbabishēkam festival was celebrated at Tiruvanaikkaval, the seat of a celebrated temple near Trichinopoly, which was repaired by the Nāttukōttai Chettis at a cost of many lakhs of rupees.By a traditional custom, the Nāttukōttai Chettis live largely by money-lending. They never serve under any one outside their own community. They either trade on their own account, or are employed as agents or assistants. The pay of an assistant is always calculated for a period of three years, and a portion thereof is paid in advance after a month’s service. This the assistant invests to the best advantage. At the end of a year, a portion of the balance of the pay is handed over to him, leaving a small sum to be paid at the end of the contract period. His expenses for board and lodging are met by his employer, and he may receive a small share of the profits of the business. A man, on receiving an agency, starts on an auspicious day, and proceeds to a temple of Ganēsa, and to a matam (religious institution) containing figures of Ganēsa and Natēsa. After prostrating himself before the gods, he proceeds on his way. If he encounters an object of evil omen, he will not continue, and, if he has to journey to a distant spot, he will throw up his appointment. The accounts of the Nāttukōttai Chettis are audited triennially, an annual audit being inconvenient, as their business is carried on at various remote spots. The foreign business is said40to “be transacted by agents belonging to the caste, who receive a salary proportioned to the distance of the place, and also, usually, a percentage on the profits. They generally serve for three years, andthen return, and give an account of their stewardship.” The commencement of a fresh period of three years is made on an auspicious day called puthukanakkunāl (fresh account day), which is observed as a holiday. No business is transacted, and customers are invited, and receive presents of fruits, sweets, etc.Nāttukōttai Chetti children.Nāttukōttai Chetti children.In connection with Nāttukōttai agencies, Mr. Hayavadana Rao writes as follows.41“People of moderate means usually elect to go to distant places as agents of the different firms that have their head offices either at Madura or in the Zamindaris of Ramnād and Sivaganga. The pay of a local agent varies directly with the distance of the place to which he is posted. If he is kept at Madura, he gets Rs. 100 per mensem; if sent to Burma, he gets three times as much; and, if to Natal, about twice the latter sum. If an agent proves himself to be an industrious and energetic man, he is usually given a percentage on the profits. The tenure of office is for three years, six months before the expiry of which the next agent is sent over to work conjointly with the existing one, and study the local conditions. On relief, the agent returns directly to his head office, and delivers over his papers, and then goes to his own village. With this, his connection with his firm practically ceases. He enjoys his well-earned rest of three years, at the end of which he seeks re-employment either under his old firm, or under any other. The former he is bound to, if he has taken a percentage on the profits during his previous tenure of office. If the old firm rejects him when he so offers himself, then he is at liberty to enter service under others.” It is said to be very rare for Nāttukōttai women to accompany their husbands to distant places.“In fact, the husbands have to visit their native places at long intervals, and make a felicitous sojourn in the company of their wives.”The houses of the Nāttukōttai Chettis are spacious and substantial buildings all based on the same general plan. The front entrance opens into an oblong courtyard with a verandah all round, and rows of rooms at the two sides. At the farther end of the courtyard is an entrance leading into a backyard or set of apartments. Modern houses have imposing exteriors, and an upper storey. Married sons live in separate quarters, and every couple receive from their fathers a fixed yearly allowance, which may amount to twenty rupees and fifteen kalams of paddy. The sons may, if they choose, spend more, but the excess is debited to their account, and, at the time of partition of the estate, deducted, with interest, from their share.It is noted by Mr. Hayavadana Rao that “the remarkable custom prevails amongst them that obliges all married members to cook separately and eat their meals, though they live in the same house. Even the widowed mother is no exception to this rule. Unmarried members live with their parents until they are married. Allotments of rice and other necessaries are annually made to the several semi-independent members of the household. This custom has given rise to the commodious houses in which members of this caste usually reside.”As concerning the origin of the Nāttukōttai Chettis, the following story is told. In ancient days, the Vaisyas of the lunar race were living in the town of Sānthyapuri in the Naganādu of the Jambudvipa(India). They paid daily visits to the shrine of Vināyaka god made of emerald, and were traders in precious stones. They weremuch respected, and led the life of orthodox Saivites, wore rudrāksha beads, and smeared themselves with sacred ashes. They were, however, much oppressed by a certain ruler, and emigrated in a body to Conjeeveram in the Tondamandalam country in the year 204 of the Kāliyuga. The king of Conjeeveram gave them permission to settle in his territory, and made grants to them of land, temples and matams. They stayed there for a very long time, but, being troubled by heavy taxes and fines, left this part of the country about 2312 Kāliyuga, and settled in the Chōla country. The Chōla king, being much impressed with them, bestowed on them the privilege of placing the crown on the head of a new ruler at his coronation. At this time, the town of Kāveripumpattanam is said to have been in a very flourishing state, and the north street was occupied by Vaisyas from other countries. Being unwilling to disturb them, the king made the new settlers occupy the east, west, and south streets. As a mark of respect, they were allowed to use flags with the figure of a lion on them, and use golden vessels (kalasam) in their houses. They all, at the instigation of the king, became disciples of one Isānya Sivachariar of Patānjalikshetra (Chidambaram). About 3775 Kāliyuga, Pūvandi Chōla Rāja imprisoned several of the Vaisya women, whereon all the eight thousand Vaisya families destroyed themselves, leaving their male children to be taken care of by a religious teacher named Atmanadhachariar. In all 1,502 children were thus brought up, viz., 600 of six ways from the west street, 502 of seven ways from the east street, and 400 of four ways from the south street. Later on, Pūvandi Chōla fell ill, and, knowing his recovery to be impossible, sent for the Vaisya boys, and asked them to look after the coronation of his sonRājabhushana Chōla. But they said that, as they were bachelors, they could not comply with his request. The king accordingly made them marry Vellāla girls. Those of the west street took as wives girls of the Karkaththar section, those of the east street girls of the Sōzhia section, and those of the south street girls of the Kāniyala section. The three groups became disciples of three different matams, viz., Tiruvārur, Kumbakonam, and Vānchium. In the year 3790, a dispute arose in connection with the right of priority in receiving sacred ashes between the Vaisya and true Vellāla women, and the former were made to become the disciples of a new guru (religious preceptor). About 3808, a Pāndya king, named Sundara Pāndya, is said to have asked the Chōla king to induce some of the Vaisyas to settle down in the Pāndya territory. They accordingly once more emigrated in a body, and reached the village of Onkarakudi on a Friday (the constellation Astham being in the ascendant on that day). They were allowed to settle in the tract of country north of the river Vaigai, east of the Piranmalai, and south of Vellar. Those from the east street settled at Ilayaththukudi, those from the west street at Ariyūr, and those from the south street at Sundarapattanam. Thus the Chettis became divided into three endogamous sections, of which the Ilayaththukudi and Sundarapattanam are found at the present day in the Madura district. The members of the Ariyūr section migrated to the west coast on the destruction of their village. The members of the Ilayaththukudi section became the Nāttukōttais. They, not being satisfied with only one place of worship, requested the king to give them more temples. Accordingly, temples were provided for different groups at Māththur, Vairavanpatti, Iraniyūr, Pillayarpatti, Nēmam, Iluppaikudi, Suraikudi, andVelangkudi. At the present day, the Nāttukōttai Chettis are divided into the following divisions (kōvils or temples) and exogamous sub-divisions:—1.Ilayaththūkudi kōvil—Okkurūdaīyar.Pattanasāmiar.Perumaruthurudaiyar.Kazhanivāsakkudaiyar.Kinkinikkudaiyar.Pērasendurudaiyar.Sirusēththurudaiyar.2.Māththūr kōvil—Uraiyūr.Arumbakūr.Manalūr.Mannūr.Kannūr.Karuppūr.Kulaththūr.3.Vairavan kōvil—Sirukulaththūr.Kazhanivāsal.Marudendrapūram.4.Iraniyūr kōvil.5.Pillayarpatti kōvil.6.Nēmam kōvil.7.Iluppaikudi kōvil.8.Suraikudi kōvil.9.Velāngkudi kōvil.When Nāttukōttai Chettis adopt children, they must belong to the same temple division. An adopted son is called Manjanir Puthiran, or turmeric-water son, because, at the ceremony of adoption, the lad has to drink turmeric-water.42In villages where their main temples are situated, the temple manager is obliged togive food to stranger Chettis, and charge for it if they belong to another temple division.According to a variant of the story relating to the origin of the Nāttukōttai Chettis, “they were formerly merchants at the court of the Chōla kings who ruled at Kaveripattanam, at one time a flourishing sea-port at the mouth of the Cauveri, from which they emigrated in a body on being persecuted by one of them, and first settled at Nattarasankottai, about three miles north-east of Sivaganga.”By other castes, the Nāttukōttai Chettis are said to be the descendants of the offspring of unions between a Shānān and a Muhammadan and Uppu Korava women. Some of the peculiarities of the caste are pointed out in support of the story. Thus, Nāttukōttai men shave their heads like Muhammadans, and both men and women have the lobes of their ears dilated like the older Shānāns. Their girls wear necklaces of shell beads like Korava women, and the women delight in making baskets for recreation, as the Korava women do for sale. The caste is sometimes spoken of as Uppu (salt) Maruhira Chetti. The arguments and illustrations are naturally much resented by the Nāttukōttai Chettis, who explain the obnoxious name by the story that they were formerly very poor, and made a living by selling salt.The Nāttukōttai Chettis have recourse to panchāyats (councils) in matters affecting the community. They have, Mr. Sundara Aiyar writes, “been at any rate till recently remarkable for settling their differences out of court. The influence of the elders in preventing litigation is very strong. They conciliate the disputants as far as possible and, after reducing the difference between them to a minimum, they often get theirsignatures to an award, in which a blank is left to decide the still existing point of difference, the disputants agreeing, after putting in their signatures, to the mediators’ filling in the blank, and deciding the dispute as they choose. We are afraid that this spirit of give-and-take is now unfortunately diminishing, and the arbitrament of the courts is more often resorted to than before.” There are, among the Nāttukōttai Chettis, two forms of panchāyat, called madaththuvāsal mariyal (matam panchāyat) and kōvilvāsal mariyal (temple panchāyat), of which, at the present day, only the latter is in vogue. For every temple there is a manager, an assistant, and a servant called Vairāvi, who must be a Melakkāran. The aggrieved party lodges his complaint with the manager, who sends word to the leading men of the temple division concerned. The complainant and defendant are summoned to attend a council meeting, and the evidence is recorded by the temple manager. If the accused falls to put in an appearance, the Vairāvi is sent to his house, to take therefrom adavu (security) in the shape of some article belonging to him. In a recent case, a wealthy Nāttukōttai Chetti promised his brother’s widow that she should be allowed to adopt a boy. But, as the promise was not fulfilled, she complained to the temple; and, as her brother-in-law did not attend the council meeting, the Vairāvi went to his house, and, in his absence, abstracted the adavu. This was regarded as a great insult, and there was some talk of the case going into court. Matters such as the arrangement of marriage contracts, monetary disputes, family discussions, and the like, are referred to the temple council for settlement. Final decisions are never recorded in writing, but delivered by word of mouth. Those who fail to abide by the decision of the council do not receivea garland from the temple for their marriage, and without this garland a marriage cannot take place.It is noted by Mr. Hayavadana Rao that each of the kōvils or temples “is managed by Karyakārans, who are nominated to the place by the local elders. These Karyakārans act as Panchāyatdars, and decide all civil cases referred to them. If a case is first referred to them, it may, if necessary, be carried over again to the established courts of the country. But, if once a case is first taken to the courts, they would not entertain it before themselves. They enforce their decrees (1) by refusing to give the garland of flowers at the marriage time, (2) by exercising the power of excommunication.”Every Nāttukōttai Chetti youth has to perform a ceremony called Sūppidi before marriage. On the Karthika day, when the constellation Krithikai is in the ascendant, he is taken on horseback to a Pillayar (Ganēsa) temple, where he worships, and whirls a bag of burning charcoal tied to a long string round his head. In front of the temple he burns a booth (chokkapane), which has been set up, and with the ashes his forehead is marked. On his return home, and at the entrance of Nāttukōttai houses which he passes, rice lamps are waved before him (alathi). In like manner, every girl has to go through a ceremony, called thiruvādhirai, before marriage. On the day of the Arudrādarsanam festival, she is bathed and decorated. A necklace of gold beads is placed on her neck instead of the necklace of glass beads (pāsimani), which she has hitherto worn. She proceeds, with a silver cup, to the houses where other girls are performing the ceremony, and bawls out:—I have come dancing; give me avarakkai (Dolichos Lablabbeans).I have come singing; give me padavarangkai (Cyamopsisbeans).I have come speaking; give me sorakkai (Lagenariafruit).Various kinds of vegetables are placed on the silver vessel, cooked, and distributed. Cakes, called dosai, are made in the house, and, during their preparation, holes are made in them by married women with an iron style. These cakes are also distributed, and it is taken as an insult if any individual does not receive one.Jewelry of Nāttukōttai Chettis.Jewelry of Nāttukōttai Chettis.Every Nāttukōttai Chetti is said to have the inviolable right to claim the hand of his paternal aunt’s daughter. This being so, ill-assorted marriages are quite common, the putative father being often but a child.43The marriage ceremonies commence with the giving of gold for the bride’s neck. On an auspicious day, the bridegroom’s party give a gold coin to a goldsmith, who beats it into a thin sheet, and goes home after receiving betel, etc. On the first day of the marriage rites, a feast is given to the bridegroom’s family, and female ancestors are worshipped. On the following day, the presentation of the dowry (sireduththal) takes place. The presents, which are often of considerable value, are laid out for inspection, and an inventory of them is made. Perishable articles, such as rice, ghī (clarified butter), dhāl (Cajanus indicus), and fruits are sold. The bride’s presents are taken to the house of the bridegroom, those who carry them being rewarded with betel, a silk fan, scent bottle, silk handkerchief, bottle of chocolate, a tin of biscuits, and a brass vessel. On the third day, garlands are received from the temples to which the brideand bridegroom belong. The bride’s party go to the house of the bridegroom, taking on a tray a silk handkerchief and cloth, and in a silver vessel fifty rupees, betel, etc. These are presented to the bridegroom. This ceremony is called māppillai ariyappōthal, or going to examine the son-in-law. The next item on the programme is nālkuriththal, or fixing the day. The bridegroom’s party proceed to the house of the bride, taking with them two cocoanuts wrapped up in a blanket, betel, turmeric, etc., as a present. The bride is bathed and decorated, and purangkaliththal is proceeded with. She stands by the side of her grandmother, and a Brāhman purōhit, taking up a few leafy margosa (Melia Azadirachta) twigs, touches the girl’s shoulders, head, and knees with them, and throws them away. Her glass bead necklace is then removed. At the uppu-eduththal (salt carrying) ceremony, the bridegroom’s party carry a basket containing salt, a bundle containing nine kinds of grains, and a palmyra scroll for writing the marriage contract on, to the bride’s house. The sacred fire is lighted, and hōmam performed by the Brāhman purōhit. An old man, who has had a number of children, and belongs to a temple other than that of a bride, and the bridegroom’s sister, then tie the tāli string round her neck. This string bears a large tāli, about seven inches long and four inches broad, and seventeen to twenty-three gold ornaments, often of considerable value. Some of them have very sharp points, so that accidents sometimes arise from the points sticking in the eyes of babies carried by women. For every day wear, the massive ornaments are replaced by a smaller set. Immediately after the tāli has been tied, the marriage contract (isagudi mānam) is written. Two copies are made, for the bride and bridegroom respectively.As an example of a marriage contract, the following may be cited: “This is written for the marriage celebrated on ... between Subramanyan, the son of Okkurudaiyan Arunāchelam Chetti Ramanadhan Chetti and Valliammai, the daughter of Arumbākurudaiyan K. Narayana Chetti, both formerly of Ilayaththukudi, at the village of.... The value of jewels given to the girl is ... of gold; his dowry amounts to ...; money for female servant ...; sirattuchukram money ...; free gift of jewels.... This esaikudimanam was written by me at.... Signed Ramanadhan Chetti.” The bridegroom goes on horseback to a Pillayar temple where he worships, and then proceeds in procession through various streets to the bride’s house, accompanied by his sister carrying milk in a vessel, and a cooly bearing a bundle of seed rice. At every Chetti house the procession halts, and coloured rice lights are waved before the bridegroom. At the entrance to the bride’s house, he is met by the bride, whose sister-in-law pushes the couple against each other. Hence the ceremony is called māppillaikuidiththukāttal, or showing the bride to the bridegroom by pushing her. The couple are then conducted to a dais within the house, and wristlets made of cotton cloth are tied on by the purōhit. They exchange cocoanuts and garlands, and, amid the blowing of the conch shell (musical instrument) by women, the bride’s mother touches the couple with turmeric, ashes, sandal, etc. On the fourth day, money called veththilai surul rupaī (betel-roll money) is given to the newly-married couple by Chettis and the maternal uncles. A silver vessel, containing betel and two rupees, is given to the bridegroom by his father-in-law. The bridegroom usually carries on his shoulders a long purse of silkor red cloth, called valluvaippai, into which he puts the betel and other things which are given to him. On the last day of the marriage ceremonies, toe-rings and wristlets are removed, and the bridal pair eat together.In connection with pregnancy, two ceremonies are performed, called respectively marunthidal (medicine giving) and thirthamkudiththal (drinking holy water). The former is celebrated at about the fifth month. On an auspicious day, the sister-in-law of the pregnant woman, amid the blowing of the conch-shell by females, extracts the juice from the leaves of five plants, and gives to the woman to drink. During the seventh month the woman is given consecrated water (thirtham) from the temple. All first-born children, both male and female, have to go through a ceremony called pudhumai (newness). When they are two years old, on an auspicious day, fixed by a Brāhman purōhit, the maternal uncle of the child ties on its neck strings of coral and glass beads, to which ornaments of pearls and precious stones are added in the case of the wealthy. The child is further decorated with other ornaments, and placed in an oval wooden tray, which is held by the mother and her sister-in-law. They go round three times with the tray, and the child’s aunt, taking it up, carries it round to be blessed by those who have assembled. Presents of money are given to the child by relations and friends, and the maternal uncles have to give a larger sum than the others. On the second or third day the coral and bead ornaments are removed, and, on the fourth day, the child, if a male, is shaved, and must thenceforth have the head clean shaved throughout life. “The story goes that, when the Chōla king of Kāveripattanam persecuted them, the members of this caste resolved not to shave their heads until they quitted his territories. Whenthey reached their new settlement they shaved their heads completely as a memorial of their stern resolution.”44When a death occurs among the Nāttukōttai Chettis, news thereof is conveyed by the Thandakāran, or caste messenger. Those who come to condole with the bereaved family are received with outstretched hands (kainīttikolludhal). The head of the corpse is shaved, and it is washed and decorated. In front of the house a pandal (booth), supported by fourThespesia populneaposts, and roofed with twigs ofEugenia Jambolana, is erected. Beneath this the corpse is laid, and all present go round it thrice. While the corpse is being got ready for conveyance to the burning ground, the daughters and sisters of the deceased husk paddy (unhusked rice). On the way to the burning ground, the son carries the fire. If the deceased is a young boy or girl, the pandal is removed after the funeral; otherwise it is removed, on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday, within four days. The Nāttukōttais restrict the name pandal to the funeral booth, the marriage booth being called kāvanam or kottagai. Even an ordinary shed set up in front of a house is not called a pandal, as the name is associated with funerals. On the day following the funeral, the bigger fragments of bones are collected by a barber, and given to the son, who places them in an earthen pot. A Pandāram offers fruit, food, etc., to the deceased. Eight days afterwards, a feast, at which meat is partaken of for the first time since the death, is given to the relations of the dead person, and their pollution is at an end. They may not, however, enter a temple for thirty days. On the sixteenth day after death, the final death ceremonies (karmāndhiram) are performed, and liberal presents ofmoney, religious books, such as the Rāmāyana, Mahābhārata, and Periya Purānam, wooden spoons for domestic use, etc., are given to Brāhmans.There are three matams, whereat the Nāttukōttai Chettis are initiated into their religion, at Pātharakkudi (or Padanakkudi) and Kīla for males, and Tulāvur for females. They are Saivites, but also, more especially the women, worship such minor deities as Aiyanar, Munēswara, and Karuppan. They are also said to worship two village goddesses, called Sellattamman and Kannudayamman, at Nattarasankottai.Nāttukōttai men have the lobes of the ears artificially dilated, but seldom wear ornaments therein. They frequently have a gold chain round the loins, and wear finger rings set with diamonds. The wives even of wealthy men wear a cheap body cloth, and do menial house work, such as cleaning the kitchen utensils. They plait baskets, and, in some houses, wheels for spinning cotton may be seen.Like other trading classes in Southern India, the Nāttukōttai Chettis have a trade language of their own, which varies according to locality. In the city of Madras they have three tables, for annas, rupees, and tens of rupees respectively. Each of these is formed out of the syllables of certain words. Thus, the anna table is composed of the syllables of Tiripurasundari, the goddess at Madura, which is a great centre for Nāttukōttai Chettis. The syllables (in the inverse order), and their money equivalent are as follows:—Ri½ anna.Da¾ anna.Un1 anna.Su2 annas.Ra3 annas.Pu4 annas.Ri8 annas.Ti12 annas.The rupee table is composed of the word Vēdagirīsvararthunai, meaning with the help of Vēdagirīsvarar, the god at Tirukalikundram near Madras:—Vē1 rupee.Da2 rupees.Gi3 rupees.Ri4 rupees.Ī5 rupees.Is6 rupees.Va7 rupees.Ra8 rupees.A9 rupees.Thu10 rupees.Nai11 rupees.The tens-of-rupees table is made up from the word Tirukalikundram:—Ti10 rupees.Ru20 rupees.Ik30 rupees.Ka40 rupees.Li50 rupees.Ik60 rupees.Ku70 rupees.In80 rupees.Ra90 rupees.Im100 rupees.An anna is sometimes called vanakkam; a rupee is known as vellē (white).Nāttupattan.—A section of Ambalavāsis. (SeeUnni.)Nāttusāmbān.—Sāmbān (a name of Siva) is a title of some Tamil Paraiyans. Nāttusāmbān denotes a village Paraiyan.Nattuvan.—Defined in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “an occupational term, meaning a dancing-master, which is applied to males of the dancing-girl castes, who teach dancing.” At nautch parties, when the Dēva-dāsis dance, the Nattuvans play the accompaniment on the drum, bag-pipe, flute, clarionet, cymbals, etc. At the initiation of a Kaikōlan girl as a Dēva-dasi, her dancing-master seats himself behind her, and, grasping her legs, moves them up and down in time with the music. Some Ōcchans in the Tamily country, who teach dancing toDēva-dāsis, are also called Nattuvan.Natuvili(middle).—A sub-division of Paraiyans in Travancore.Navakōti(nine crores).—An exogamous sept of Dēsūr Reddi. A crore is one hundred lakhs, i.e., 10,000,000.Navalipitta(peacock).—A sept of Jātapu.Navāyat.—The Navāyats or Navāyets are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “a Musalman tribe, which appears to have originally settled at Bhatkal in North Canara, and is known on the west coast as Bhatkali. The derivation of the name is much disputed. There are five sub-divisions of the tribe, namely, Kurēshi, Mehkeri, Chīda, Gheas, and Mohāgir. It takes a high place among Musalmans, and does not intermarry with other tribes.”Of the Nevayets, the following account, based on the Saadut Nama, and conversations with members of the community, is given by Colonel Wilks.45“Nevayet is generally supposed to be a corruption of the Hindustanee and Mahratta terms for new-comer. About the end of the first century of the Hejira, or the early part of theeighth century of the Christian era, Hejaj Bin Yusuf, Governor of Irak, on the part of the Khalif Abd-al-Melik-bin-Merwan, a monster abhorred for his cruelties even among Musalmans, drove some respectable and opulent persons of the house of Hâshem to the desperate resolution of abandoning for ever their native country. Aided by the good offices of the inhabitants of Kufa, a town of celebrity in those days, situated near to the tomb of Ali, west of the Euphrates, they departed with their families, dependents, and effects, and embarked on ships prepared for their reception in the Persian Gulf. Some of these landed on that part of the western coast of India called the Concan; the others to the eastward of Cape Comorin; the descendants of the former are the Nevayets; of the latter the Lubbē. The Lubbē pretend to one common origin with the Nevayets, and attribute their black complexion to intermarriage with the natives; but the Nevayets affirm that the Lubbē are the descendants of their domestic slaves; and there is certainly, in the physiognomy of this very numerous class, and in their stature and form, a strong resemblance to the natives of Abyssinia. The Nevayets of the western coast preserved the purity of their original blood by systematically avoiding intermarriage with the Indians, and even with the highest Muhammadan families, for many centuries after the establishment of the Musalman dynasties of the Deckan. Even at this time there are some Nevayets whose complexions approach the European freshness. Their adherence to each other as members of the same family preserved their respectability; and they were famed at the Muhammadan courts of the Deckan for uniting the rare qualities of the soldier, the scholar, and the gentleman.”Nāvutiyan.—A synonym of Velakkattalavan.Nāyādi.—In the Malabar Manual, the Nāyādis are briefly summed up as follows. “Of the Nāyādis, or lowest caste among the Hindus—the dog-eaters—nothing definite is known. They are most persistent in their clamour for charity, and will follow at a respectful distance, for miles together, any person walking, driving, or boating. If anything is given to them, it must be laid down, and, after the person offering it has proceeded a sufficient distance, the recipient comes timidly forward, and removes it.”The subjects, whom I examined and measured at Shoranūr, though living only about three miles off, had, by reason of the pollution which they traditionally carry with them, to avoid walking over the long bridge which spans the river, and follow a circuitous route of many miles. Eventually they had to climb, or be ignominiously hoisted over the wall of the bungalow. Ignorant of the orthodox manner of using a chair, the first victim of the craniometer, who had to sit while his head was under examination, assumed the undignified position with which Eton boys who have been swished are familiar. Measurements concluded, men, women, and children sat down on the grass to an ample feast. And, before they departed homeward, copious blessings were invoked on me, to a chorus composed of the repetition of a single shrill note, not unlike that of the first note of a jackal cry. To quote the newspaper account of my doings, which refers to the ‘monograms’ issued by me on matters ethnological: “In the evening the kind gentleman gave them a sumptuous treat of canji and curry, and gave them also copper coins, toddy, and arrack. The poor people left the place immensely pleased, and were safely escorted to the British side of the river from the Cochin territory.”When travelling on the public roads in Malabar or Cochin, one may observe a few ragged and dirty cloths spread near the road, with one or two copper coins on them; and, at the same time, hear a chorus of monotonous stentorian voices at a distance of a hundred yards or more, emanating from a few miserable specimens of humanity, standing ghost-like with dishevelled hair, and a long strip of leaves tied round the waist, or clad in a dirty loin-cloth. The coins represent the alms given by the charitably disposed traveller, and the persons are Nāyādis. I am told that, near Kollatūr, there is a stone called the Nāyādi pārai, which is believed to be a man who was turned into stone for not giving alms to a Nāyādi.Nāyādis.Nāyādis.The name Nāyādi is equivalent to Nāyattukar,i.e., hunter. The Nāyādis are, in fact, professional hunters, and are excellent shots. The Nāyars and other higher classes, used formerly to take them with them on hunting and shooting expeditions. But, since the Arms Act came into force, the Nāyādis find this occupation gone. They are also good archers, and used to kill deer, pigs, hares, etc., and eat them. These animals are now difficult to get, as the forests are reserved by Government, and private forests are denuded of their trees for use as fuel, and for house-building by a growing population, and for consumption on the railway. The suggestion has been made that the name Nāyādi is derived from the fact of their eating otters, which live in hill streams, and are called nir-nai (water-dog).The approach of a Nāyādi within a distance of three hundred feet is said to contaminate a Brāhman, who has to bathe and put on a new sacred thread, to cleanse himself of the pollution. The Nāyādis, in fact, hold thelowest position in the social scale, and consequently labour under the greatest disadvantage.The Nāyādis live mostly in isolated huts on the tops of hills, and generally select a shōla, or glade, where there is a pond or stream. Some families live on the land of their landlords, whose crops they watch by night, to guard them against the attacks of wild beasts. Sometimes they are engaged in ploughing, sowing, weeding, transplanting, and reaping, the rice crop, or in plantain (banana) gardens. I take exception to the comparison by a recent author of the British Empire to the banana (Musa) throwing out aërial roots. The banyan (Ficus bengalensis) must have been meant.The male members of the community are called Nāyādis, and the females Nāyādichis. The boys are called Molayans, and the young girls Manichis. Succession is in the male line (makkathāyam).A thatched shed with palm-leaf walls, a few earthen pots, and a chopper, constitute the Nāyādi’s property. He occasionally collects honey and bees-wax, and also the gum (matti pasai) from the mattipāl tree (Ailanthus malabarica), which, when burnt, is used as temple incense and for fumigating the bed-chamber. He receives toddy in exchange for the honey and wax, and copper coins for the gum, with which he purchases luxuries in the shape of salt, chillies, dried fish, tobacco, and liquor. He makes rough ropes from the malanar plant, and the bark of the kayyūl tree (Bauhinia). The bark is soaked in water, sun-dried, and the fibre manufactured into rope. He also makes slings of fibre, wherewith he knocks over birds, and mats from a species ofCyperus.According to custom, the Nāyādi has to offer four ropes, each eight yards long, to every Nambūtiri illam,and two ropes to every Nāyar house near his settlement, on the occasion of the Vishu and Ōnam festivals. In return he receives a fixed measure of paddy (rice). The ropes are used for tethering cattle, and for drawing water from the well. By a wise dispensation of the ancient local chieftains, to each Nāyādi is assigned a desom (portion of a parish), within which he enjoys certain privileges. And no Nāyādi has any business to poach on his preserves. The privileges are these. On birthdays, anniversaries, and festive occasions, the Nāyādi receives his share of curry and rice, tied up in an old cloth. When a person is sick, a black country-made kambli (blanket), with gingelly (Sesamum), mustard, turmeric, and cocoanut tied up in the four corners, is passed three times over the patient and presented to a Nāyādi, together with a palm umbrella, a stick, and a cucumber. This is called kala-dhānam, or offering to Yama, the god of death, whose attack has to be warded off by propitiatory offerings. The Nāyādi accepts the gifts, and prays for the long life and prosperity of the giver. Placing them before his own family god, he prays that the life of the sick person may be spared, and that the disease may not be transferred to him.Like the Cherumans, the Nāyādis drink, but they cannot afford to buy as much toddy as the former, for the Cheruman works regularly for a daily wage. Monkeys, which are very troublesome in gardens, are shot down by the higher classes, and given to the Nāyādis to eat. Their dietary includes rats, mungooses, pigs, deer, paraquets, the koel (cuckoo), doves, quails, fowls, paddy-birds, hares, tortoises, Varanus (lizard), crocodiles, and fish. They abstain from eating the flesh of dogs, cats, snakes, land-crabs, shell-fish, and beef. Among vegetables, the tubers of yams (Dioscorea) andColocasiaare included.They produce fire by friction with two sticks ofLitsœa sebifera, in the shorter of which a cavity is scooped out. They do not, like the Todas, put powdered charcoal in the cavity, but ignite the cloth rag by means of the red-hot wood dust produced by the friction.When a woman is pregnant, she craves for the flesh of a monkey or jungle squirrel during the sixth month. During the seventh month, a ceremony is performed, to relieve her of the influence of devils, who may be troubling her. It is called ozhinnukalayuka. Abortion is attributed to the malign influence of evil spirits. To ward off this, they tie round the neck a magic thread, and invoke the aid of their hill gods and the spirits of their ancestors. They erect a special hut for delivery, to which the woman retires. When she is in labour, her husband shampooes his own abdomen, while praying to the gods for her safe delivery—a custom which seems to suggest the couvade. As soon as his wife is delivered, he offers thanks to the gods “for having got the baby out.” The woman observes pollution for ten days, during which her husband avoids seeing her. Any deformity in the child is attributed to the evil influence of the gods. On the twenty-eighth day after birth, the ceremony of naming the child takes place. The name given to the first-born son is that of the paternal grandfather, and to the first-born daughter that of the maternal grandmother. In the fifth year, the ear-boring ceremony takes place, and the operation is performed by the child’s uncle. A piece of brass wire takes the place of ear-rings. Girls wear a plug of wood in the lobes. The Nāyādichis do not, like the Cheruman women, wear bracelets, but have many rows of beads round their necks, and hanging over their bosoms.When a girl reaches puberty, a Nāyādichi leads her to a tank (pond), in which she bathes, after apāndi, composed of several pieces of plantain leaf tied together, has been carried three or four times round her. She must not touch any utensils, and must abstain from touching her head with the hand, and, if the skin itches, the body must be scratched with a small stick.Concerning a very interesting form of marriage, Mr. T. K. Gopal Panikkar writes as follows.46“A large hut is constructed of ‘holly’ and other leaves, inside which the girl is ensconced. Then all the young men and women of the village gather round the hut, and form a ring about it. The girl’s father, or the nearest male relative, sits a short distance from the crowd, with a tom-tom in his hands. Then commences the music, and a chant is sung by the father, which has been freely translated as follows:—

It has been said that “the Nāttukōttai Chettis, in organisation, co-operation, and business methods, are as remarkable as the European merchants. Very few of them have yet received any English education. They regard education as at present given in public schools as worse than useless for professional men, as it makes men theoretical, and scarcely helps in practice. The simple but strict training which they give their boys, the long and tedious apprenticeship which even the sons of the richest among them have to undergo, make them very efficient in their profession, and methodical in whatever they undertake to do.”Concerning the Nāttukōttai Chettis, Mr. P. R. Sundara Aiyar writes as follows.37“The first and chiefest aim of a Nāttukōttai Chetti is to make as much money as possible. He does not regard usury as a sin. As a little boy of ten or twelve, he begins to apply himself to business, learns accounts, and attends the shop of his father. As soon as he marries, his father gives him a separate home, or rather compels him to live separately, though often in the same house as his parents. This makes him self-reliant, and produces in him a desire to save as much money as possible. He is given a certain allowance out of the paternal estate, but, if he spends more, he is debited with the excess amount. Every one consequently tries to increase his stock of individual savings. Even the women earn money in a variety of ways. Every rupee saved is laid out at as high a rate of interest as possible. It is commonly stated that a rupee, laid out at the birth of a child at compound interest at 12 per cent., will amount to a lakh of rupees by the time he attains the age of a hundred. The habits of a Nāttukōttai Chetti are very simple, and his living is very cheap, even when he is rich. So strict are the Chettis in pecuniary matters that, if a relation visits them, he gets only his first meal free, and if he stays longer, is quietly debited with the cost of his stay.”The Nāttukōttai Chettis38are said to employ Kammālans, Valaiyans, Kallans, and Vallambans as their cooks. They are permitted to enter the interior of Hindu temples, and approach near to the innermost doorway of the central shrine. This privilege is doubtless accorded to them owing to the large sums of moneywhich they spend on temples, and in endowing charitable institutions. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that “of the profits of their commercial transactions, a fixed percentage (called magamai) is usually set aside for charity. Some of the money so collected is spent on keeping up Sanskrit schools, but most of it has been laid out in the repair and restoration of the temples of the south, especial attention being paid to those shrines (pādal petta sthalangal, as they are called), which were hymned by the four great poet-saints, Mānikya Vāchakar, Appar, Tirugnāna Sambandhar, and Sundaramūrti.” “The Chettis,” Mr. Sundara Aiyar writes, “are believed to be the most charitable class in Southern India, and undoubtedly they spend the largest amount of money on charity. They set apart a fraction of their profits for charity. They levy rates among themselves for local charities, wherever they go. The income obtained from the rates is generally spent on temples. In new places like Ceylon, Burma, and Singapore, they build new temples, generally dedicated to Subramanya Swāmi. In India itself, they establish festivals in existing temples, and undertake the repair of temples. Immense sums have been spent by them recently in the renovation and restoration of ancient temples. We should not be surprised to be told that the amount spent within the last thirty years alone amounts to a crore of rupees. Being Saivites, they do not generally care for Vaishnava temples. And, even among Saiva temples, only such as have special sanctity, and have been sung about by the Saiva Nainars or Bhaktas, are patronised by them. They have devoted large sums to the establishment of comfortable choultries (rest-houses), feeding houses, Vēdic and recently also Sastraic pāthasālas (schools). They have established schools for the education ofthe Kurukal or the priestly class. And, in fact, every charity of the orthodox Hindu type finds generous support among them.”It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that the gōpurams of the Madura temple “have been repaired of late years at great cost by the Nāttukōttai Chettis. The northern tower used to consist only of the brick and stone-work storeys, and was known in consequence as the mottai (literally bald) gōpuram. Recently, however, a courageous Chetti, who cared nothing for the superstition that it is most unlucky to complete a building left unfinished, placed the usual plaster top upon it.”In recent years, the temple at Chidambaram has been renovated by the Nāttukōttai Chettis, who“have formed for this and similar restorations a fund which is made up of a fee of four annas per cent. levied from their clients on all sums borrowed by the latter. The capital of this is invested, and the interest thereon devoted exclusively to such undertakings.”39In 1906, the purificatory ceremony, or kumbabishēkam, of the Sri Pasupathiswara Swāmi temple at Karūr was performed with great pomp. The old temple had been thoroughly overhauled and repaired by the Nāttukōttai Chettis. The ceremony cost about fifty thousand rupees. Many thousands were fed, and presents of money made to a large number of Vaidiki Brāhmans. In the same year, at a public meeting held in Madras to concert measures for establishing a pinjrapole (hospital for animals), one of the resolutions was that early steps should be taken to collect public subscriptions from the Hindu community generally, and inparticular from the Nāttukōttai Chettis, Gujarātis, and other mercantile classes.Still more recently, the kumbabishēkam festival was celebrated at Tiruvanaikkaval, the seat of a celebrated temple near Trichinopoly, which was repaired by the Nāttukōttai Chettis at a cost of many lakhs of rupees.By a traditional custom, the Nāttukōttai Chettis live largely by money-lending. They never serve under any one outside their own community. They either trade on their own account, or are employed as agents or assistants. The pay of an assistant is always calculated for a period of three years, and a portion thereof is paid in advance after a month’s service. This the assistant invests to the best advantage. At the end of a year, a portion of the balance of the pay is handed over to him, leaving a small sum to be paid at the end of the contract period. His expenses for board and lodging are met by his employer, and he may receive a small share of the profits of the business. A man, on receiving an agency, starts on an auspicious day, and proceeds to a temple of Ganēsa, and to a matam (religious institution) containing figures of Ganēsa and Natēsa. After prostrating himself before the gods, he proceeds on his way. If he encounters an object of evil omen, he will not continue, and, if he has to journey to a distant spot, he will throw up his appointment. The accounts of the Nāttukōttai Chettis are audited triennially, an annual audit being inconvenient, as their business is carried on at various remote spots. The foreign business is said40to “be transacted by agents belonging to the caste, who receive a salary proportioned to the distance of the place, and also, usually, a percentage on the profits. They generally serve for three years, andthen return, and give an account of their stewardship.” The commencement of a fresh period of three years is made on an auspicious day called puthukanakkunāl (fresh account day), which is observed as a holiday. No business is transacted, and customers are invited, and receive presents of fruits, sweets, etc.Nāttukōttai Chetti children.Nāttukōttai Chetti children.In connection with Nāttukōttai agencies, Mr. Hayavadana Rao writes as follows.41“People of moderate means usually elect to go to distant places as agents of the different firms that have their head offices either at Madura or in the Zamindaris of Ramnād and Sivaganga. The pay of a local agent varies directly with the distance of the place to which he is posted. If he is kept at Madura, he gets Rs. 100 per mensem; if sent to Burma, he gets three times as much; and, if to Natal, about twice the latter sum. If an agent proves himself to be an industrious and energetic man, he is usually given a percentage on the profits. The tenure of office is for three years, six months before the expiry of which the next agent is sent over to work conjointly with the existing one, and study the local conditions. On relief, the agent returns directly to his head office, and delivers over his papers, and then goes to his own village. With this, his connection with his firm practically ceases. He enjoys his well-earned rest of three years, at the end of which he seeks re-employment either under his old firm, or under any other. The former he is bound to, if he has taken a percentage on the profits during his previous tenure of office. If the old firm rejects him when he so offers himself, then he is at liberty to enter service under others.” It is said to be very rare for Nāttukōttai women to accompany their husbands to distant places.“In fact, the husbands have to visit their native places at long intervals, and make a felicitous sojourn in the company of their wives.”The houses of the Nāttukōttai Chettis are spacious and substantial buildings all based on the same general plan. The front entrance opens into an oblong courtyard with a verandah all round, and rows of rooms at the two sides. At the farther end of the courtyard is an entrance leading into a backyard or set of apartments. Modern houses have imposing exteriors, and an upper storey. Married sons live in separate quarters, and every couple receive from their fathers a fixed yearly allowance, which may amount to twenty rupees and fifteen kalams of paddy. The sons may, if they choose, spend more, but the excess is debited to their account, and, at the time of partition of the estate, deducted, with interest, from their share.It is noted by Mr. Hayavadana Rao that “the remarkable custom prevails amongst them that obliges all married members to cook separately and eat their meals, though they live in the same house. Even the widowed mother is no exception to this rule. Unmarried members live with their parents until they are married. Allotments of rice and other necessaries are annually made to the several semi-independent members of the household. This custom has given rise to the commodious houses in which members of this caste usually reside.”As concerning the origin of the Nāttukōttai Chettis, the following story is told. In ancient days, the Vaisyas of the lunar race were living in the town of Sānthyapuri in the Naganādu of the Jambudvipa(India). They paid daily visits to the shrine of Vināyaka god made of emerald, and were traders in precious stones. They weremuch respected, and led the life of orthodox Saivites, wore rudrāksha beads, and smeared themselves with sacred ashes. They were, however, much oppressed by a certain ruler, and emigrated in a body to Conjeeveram in the Tondamandalam country in the year 204 of the Kāliyuga. The king of Conjeeveram gave them permission to settle in his territory, and made grants to them of land, temples and matams. They stayed there for a very long time, but, being troubled by heavy taxes and fines, left this part of the country about 2312 Kāliyuga, and settled in the Chōla country. The Chōla king, being much impressed with them, bestowed on them the privilege of placing the crown on the head of a new ruler at his coronation. At this time, the town of Kāveripumpattanam is said to have been in a very flourishing state, and the north street was occupied by Vaisyas from other countries. Being unwilling to disturb them, the king made the new settlers occupy the east, west, and south streets. As a mark of respect, they were allowed to use flags with the figure of a lion on them, and use golden vessels (kalasam) in their houses. They all, at the instigation of the king, became disciples of one Isānya Sivachariar of Patānjalikshetra (Chidambaram). About 3775 Kāliyuga, Pūvandi Chōla Rāja imprisoned several of the Vaisya women, whereon all the eight thousand Vaisya families destroyed themselves, leaving their male children to be taken care of by a religious teacher named Atmanadhachariar. In all 1,502 children were thus brought up, viz., 600 of six ways from the west street, 502 of seven ways from the east street, and 400 of four ways from the south street. Later on, Pūvandi Chōla fell ill, and, knowing his recovery to be impossible, sent for the Vaisya boys, and asked them to look after the coronation of his sonRājabhushana Chōla. But they said that, as they were bachelors, they could not comply with his request. The king accordingly made them marry Vellāla girls. Those of the west street took as wives girls of the Karkaththar section, those of the east street girls of the Sōzhia section, and those of the south street girls of the Kāniyala section. The three groups became disciples of three different matams, viz., Tiruvārur, Kumbakonam, and Vānchium. In the year 3790, a dispute arose in connection with the right of priority in receiving sacred ashes between the Vaisya and true Vellāla women, and the former were made to become the disciples of a new guru (religious preceptor). About 3808, a Pāndya king, named Sundara Pāndya, is said to have asked the Chōla king to induce some of the Vaisyas to settle down in the Pāndya territory. They accordingly once more emigrated in a body, and reached the village of Onkarakudi on a Friday (the constellation Astham being in the ascendant on that day). They were allowed to settle in the tract of country north of the river Vaigai, east of the Piranmalai, and south of Vellar. Those from the east street settled at Ilayaththukudi, those from the west street at Ariyūr, and those from the south street at Sundarapattanam. Thus the Chettis became divided into three endogamous sections, of which the Ilayaththukudi and Sundarapattanam are found at the present day in the Madura district. The members of the Ariyūr section migrated to the west coast on the destruction of their village. The members of the Ilayaththukudi section became the Nāttukōttais. They, not being satisfied with only one place of worship, requested the king to give them more temples. Accordingly, temples were provided for different groups at Māththur, Vairavanpatti, Iraniyūr, Pillayarpatti, Nēmam, Iluppaikudi, Suraikudi, andVelangkudi. At the present day, the Nāttukōttai Chettis are divided into the following divisions (kōvils or temples) and exogamous sub-divisions:—1.Ilayaththūkudi kōvil—Okkurūdaīyar.Pattanasāmiar.Perumaruthurudaiyar.Kazhanivāsakkudaiyar.Kinkinikkudaiyar.Pērasendurudaiyar.Sirusēththurudaiyar.2.Māththūr kōvil—Uraiyūr.Arumbakūr.Manalūr.Mannūr.Kannūr.Karuppūr.Kulaththūr.3.Vairavan kōvil—Sirukulaththūr.Kazhanivāsal.Marudendrapūram.4.Iraniyūr kōvil.5.Pillayarpatti kōvil.6.Nēmam kōvil.7.Iluppaikudi kōvil.8.Suraikudi kōvil.9.Velāngkudi kōvil.When Nāttukōttai Chettis adopt children, they must belong to the same temple division. An adopted son is called Manjanir Puthiran, or turmeric-water son, because, at the ceremony of adoption, the lad has to drink turmeric-water.42In villages where their main temples are situated, the temple manager is obliged togive food to stranger Chettis, and charge for it if they belong to another temple division.According to a variant of the story relating to the origin of the Nāttukōttai Chettis, “they were formerly merchants at the court of the Chōla kings who ruled at Kaveripattanam, at one time a flourishing sea-port at the mouth of the Cauveri, from which they emigrated in a body on being persecuted by one of them, and first settled at Nattarasankottai, about three miles north-east of Sivaganga.”By other castes, the Nāttukōttai Chettis are said to be the descendants of the offspring of unions between a Shānān and a Muhammadan and Uppu Korava women. Some of the peculiarities of the caste are pointed out in support of the story. Thus, Nāttukōttai men shave their heads like Muhammadans, and both men and women have the lobes of their ears dilated like the older Shānāns. Their girls wear necklaces of shell beads like Korava women, and the women delight in making baskets for recreation, as the Korava women do for sale. The caste is sometimes spoken of as Uppu (salt) Maruhira Chetti. The arguments and illustrations are naturally much resented by the Nāttukōttai Chettis, who explain the obnoxious name by the story that they were formerly very poor, and made a living by selling salt.The Nāttukōttai Chettis have recourse to panchāyats (councils) in matters affecting the community. They have, Mr. Sundara Aiyar writes, “been at any rate till recently remarkable for settling their differences out of court. The influence of the elders in preventing litigation is very strong. They conciliate the disputants as far as possible and, after reducing the difference between them to a minimum, they often get theirsignatures to an award, in which a blank is left to decide the still existing point of difference, the disputants agreeing, after putting in their signatures, to the mediators’ filling in the blank, and deciding the dispute as they choose. We are afraid that this spirit of give-and-take is now unfortunately diminishing, and the arbitrament of the courts is more often resorted to than before.” There are, among the Nāttukōttai Chettis, two forms of panchāyat, called madaththuvāsal mariyal (matam panchāyat) and kōvilvāsal mariyal (temple panchāyat), of which, at the present day, only the latter is in vogue. For every temple there is a manager, an assistant, and a servant called Vairāvi, who must be a Melakkāran. The aggrieved party lodges his complaint with the manager, who sends word to the leading men of the temple division concerned. The complainant and defendant are summoned to attend a council meeting, and the evidence is recorded by the temple manager. If the accused falls to put in an appearance, the Vairāvi is sent to his house, to take therefrom adavu (security) in the shape of some article belonging to him. In a recent case, a wealthy Nāttukōttai Chetti promised his brother’s widow that she should be allowed to adopt a boy. But, as the promise was not fulfilled, she complained to the temple; and, as her brother-in-law did not attend the council meeting, the Vairāvi went to his house, and, in his absence, abstracted the adavu. This was regarded as a great insult, and there was some talk of the case going into court. Matters such as the arrangement of marriage contracts, monetary disputes, family discussions, and the like, are referred to the temple council for settlement. Final decisions are never recorded in writing, but delivered by word of mouth. Those who fail to abide by the decision of the council do not receivea garland from the temple for their marriage, and without this garland a marriage cannot take place.It is noted by Mr. Hayavadana Rao that each of the kōvils or temples “is managed by Karyakārans, who are nominated to the place by the local elders. These Karyakārans act as Panchāyatdars, and decide all civil cases referred to them. If a case is first referred to them, it may, if necessary, be carried over again to the established courts of the country. But, if once a case is first taken to the courts, they would not entertain it before themselves. They enforce their decrees (1) by refusing to give the garland of flowers at the marriage time, (2) by exercising the power of excommunication.”Every Nāttukōttai Chetti youth has to perform a ceremony called Sūppidi before marriage. On the Karthika day, when the constellation Krithikai is in the ascendant, he is taken on horseback to a Pillayar (Ganēsa) temple, where he worships, and whirls a bag of burning charcoal tied to a long string round his head. In front of the temple he burns a booth (chokkapane), which has been set up, and with the ashes his forehead is marked. On his return home, and at the entrance of Nāttukōttai houses which he passes, rice lamps are waved before him (alathi). In like manner, every girl has to go through a ceremony, called thiruvādhirai, before marriage. On the day of the Arudrādarsanam festival, she is bathed and decorated. A necklace of gold beads is placed on her neck instead of the necklace of glass beads (pāsimani), which she has hitherto worn. She proceeds, with a silver cup, to the houses where other girls are performing the ceremony, and bawls out:—I have come dancing; give me avarakkai (Dolichos Lablabbeans).I have come singing; give me padavarangkai (Cyamopsisbeans).I have come speaking; give me sorakkai (Lagenariafruit).Various kinds of vegetables are placed on the silver vessel, cooked, and distributed. Cakes, called dosai, are made in the house, and, during their preparation, holes are made in them by married women with an iron style. These cakes are also distributed, and it is taken as an insult if any individual does not receive one.Jewelry of Nāttukōttai Chettis.Jewelry of Nāttukōttai Chettis.Every Nāttukōttai Chetti is said to have the inviolable right to claim the hand of his paternal aunt’s daughter. This being so, ill-assorted marriages are quite common, the putative father being often but a child.43The marriage ceremonies commence with the giving of gold for the bride’s neck. On an auspicious day, the bridegroom’s party give a gold coin to a goldsmith, who beats it into a thin sheet, and goes home after receiving betel, etc. On the first day of the marriage rites, a feast is given to the bridegroom’s family, and female ancestors are worshipped. On the following day, the presentation of the dowry (sireduththal) takes place. The presents, which are often of considerable value, are laid out for inspection, and an inventory of them is made. Perishable articles, such as rice, ghī (clarified butter), dhāl (Cajanus indicus), and fruits are sold. The bride’s presents are taken to the house of the bridegroom, those who carry them being rewarded with betel, a silk fan, scent bottle, silk handkerchief, bottle of chocolate, a tin of biscuits, and a brass vessel. On the third day, garlands are received from the temples to which the brideand bridegroom belong. The bride’s party go to the house of the bridegroom, taking on a tray a silk handkerchief and cloth, and in a silver vessel fifty rupees, betel, etc. These are presented to the bridegroom. This ceremony is called māppillai ariyappōthal, or going to examine the son-in-law. The next item on the programme is nālkuriththal, or fixing the day. The bridegroom’s party proceed to the house of the bride, taking with them two cocoanuts wrapped up in a blanket, betel, turmeric, etc., as a present. The bride is bathed and decorated, and purangkaliththal is proceeded with. She stands by the side of her grandmother, and a Brāhman purōhit, taking up a few leafy margosa (Melia Azadirachta) twigs, touches the girl’s shoulders, head, and knees with them, and throws them away. Her glass bead necklace is then removed. At the uppu-eduththal (salt carrying) ceremony, the bridegroom’s party carry a basket containing salt, a bundle containing nine kinds of grains, and a palmyra scroll for writing the marriage contract on, to the bride’s house. The sacred fire is lighted, and hōmam performed by the Brāhman purōhit. An old man, who has had a number of children, and belongs to a temple other than that of a bride, and the bridegroom’s sister, then tie the tāli string round her neck. This string bears a large tāli, about seven inches long and four inches broad, and seventeen to twenty-three gold ornaments, often of considerable value. Some of them have very sharp points, so that accidents sometimes arise from the points sticking in the eyes of babies carried by women. For every day wear, the massive ornaments are replaced by a smaller set. Immediately after the tāli has been tied, the marriage contract (isagudi mānam) is written. Two copies are made, for the bride and bridegroom respectively.As an example of a marriage contract, the following may be cited: “This is written for the marriage celebrated on ... between Subramanyan, the son of Okkurudaiyan Arunāchelam Chetti Ramanadhan Chetti and Valliammai, the daughter of Arumbākurudaiyan K. Narayana Chetti, both formerly of Ilayaththukudi, at the village of.... The value of jewels given to the girl is ... of gold; his dowry amounts to ...; money for female servant ...; sirattuchukram money ...; free gift of jewels.... This esaikudimanam was written by me at.... Signed Ramanadhan Chetti.” The bridegroom goes on horseback to a Pillayar temple where he worships, and then proceeds in procession through various streets to the bride’s house, accompanied by his sister carrying milk in a vessel, and a cooly bearing a bundle of seed rice. At every Chetti house the procession halts, and coloured rice lights are waved before the bridegroom. At the entrance to the bride’s house, he is met by the bride, whose sister-in-law pushes the couple against each other. Hence the ceremony is called māppillaikuidiththukāttal, or showing the bride to the bridegroom by pushing her. The couple are then conducted to a dais within the house, and wristlets made of cotton cloth are tied on by the purōhit. They exchange cocoanuts and garlands, and, amid the blowing of the conch shell (musical instrument) by women, the bride’s mother touches the couple with turmeric, ashes, sandal, etc. On the fourth day, money called veththilai surul rupaī (betel-roll money) is given to the newly-married couple by Chettis and the maternal uncles. A silver vessel, containing betel and two rupees, is given to the bridegroom by his father-in-law. The bridegroom usually carries on his shoulders a long purse of silkor red cloth, called valluvaippai, into which he puts the betel and other things which are given to him. On the last day of the marriage ceremonies, toe-rings and wristlets are removed, and the bridal pair eat together.In connection with pregnancy, two ceremonies are performed, called respectively marunthidal (medicine giving) and thirthamkudiththal (drinking holy water). The former is celebrated at about the fifth month. On an auspicious day, the sister-in-law of the pregnant woman, amid the blowing of the conch-shell by females, extracts the juice from the leaves of five plants, and gives to the woman to drink. During the seventh month the woman is given consecrated water (thirtham) from the temple. All first-born children, both male and female, have to go through a ceremony called pudhumai (newness). When they are two years old, on an auspicious day, fixed by a Brāhman purōhit, the maternal uncle of the child ties on its neck strings of coral and glass beads, to which ornaments of pearls and precious stones are added in the case of the wealthy. The child is further decorated with other ornaments, and placed in an oval wooden tray, which is held by the mother and her sister-in-law. They go round three times with the tray, and the child’s aunt, taking it up, carries it round to be blessed by those who have assembled. Presents of money are given to the child by relations and friends, and the maternal uncles have to give a larger sum than the others. On the second or third day the coral and bead ornaments are removed, and, on the fourth day, the child, if a male, is shaved, and must thenceforth have the head clean shaved throughout life. “The story goes that, when the Chōla king of Kāveripattanam persecuted them, the members of this caste resolved not to shave their heads until they quitted his territories. Whenthey reached their new settlement they shaved their heads completely as a memorial of their stern resolution.”44When a death occurs among the Nāttukōttai Chettis, news thereof is conveyed by the Thandakāran, or caste messenger. Those who come to condole with the bereaved family are received with outstretched hands (kainīttikolludhal). The head of the corpse is shaved, and it is washed and decorated. In front of the house a pandal (booth), supported by fourThespesia populneaposts, and roofed with twigs ofEugenia Jambolana, is erected. Beneath this the corpse is laid, and all present go round it thrice. While the corpse is being got ready for conveyance to the burning ground, the daughters and sisters of the deceased husk paddy (unhusked rice). On the way to the burning ground, the son carries the fire. If the deceased is a young boy or girl, the pandal is removed after the funeral; otherwise it is removed, on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday, within four days. The Nāttukōttais restrict the name pandal to the funeral booth, the marriage booth being called kāvanam or kottagai. Even an ordinary shed set up in front of a house is not called a pandal, as the name is associated with funerals. On the day following the funeral, the bigger fragments of bones are collected by a barber, and given to the son, who places them in an earthen pot. A Pandāram offers fruit, food, etc., to the deceased. Eight days afterwards, a feast, at which meat is partaken of for the first time since the death, is given to the relations of the dead person, and their pollution is at an end. They may not, however, enter a temple for thirty days. On the sixteenth day after death, the final death ceremonies (karmāndhiram) are performed, and liberal presents ofmoney, religious books, such as the Rāmāyana, Mahābhārata, and Periya Purānam, wooden spoons for domestic use, etc., are given to Brāhmans.There are three matams, whereat the Nāttukōttai Chettis are initiated into their religion, at Pātharakkudi (or Padanakkudi) and Kīla for males, and Tulāvur for females. They are Saivites, but also, more especially the women, worship such minor deities as Aiyanar, Munēswara, and Karuppan. They are also said to worship two village goddesses, called Sellattamman and Kannudayamman, at Nattarasankottai.Nāttukōttai men have the lobes of the ears artificially dilated, but seldom wear ornaments therein. They frequently have a gold chain round the loins, and wear finger rings set with diamonds. The wives even of wealthy men wear a cheap body cloth, and do menial house work, such as cleaning the kitchen utensils. They plait baskets, and, in some houses, wheels for spinning cotton may be seen.Like other trading classes in Southern India, the Nāttukōttai Chettis have a trade language of their own, which varies according to locality. In the city of Madras they have three tables, for annas, rupees, and tens of rupees respectively. Each of these is formed out of the syllables of certain words. Thus, the anna table is composed of the syllables of Tiripurasundari, the goddess at Madura, which is a great centre for Nāttukōttai Chettis. The syllables (in the inverse order), and their money equivalent are as follows:—Ri½ anna.Da¾ anna.Un1 anna.Su2 annas.Ra3 annas.Pu4 annas.Ri8 annas.Ti12 annas.The rupee table is composed of the word Vēdagirīsvararthunai, meaning with the help of Vēdagirīsvarar, the god at Tirukalikundram near Madras:—Vē1 rupee.Da2 rupees.Gi3 rupees.Ri4 rupees.Ī5 rupees.Is6 rupees.Va7 rupees.Ra8 rupees.A9 rupees.Thu10 rupees.Nai11 rupees.The tens-of-rupees table is made up from the word Tirukalikundram:—Ti10 rupees.Ru20 rupees.Ik30 rupees.Ka40 rupees.Li50 rupees.Ik60 rupees.Ku70 rupees.In80 rupees.Ra90 rupees.Im100 rupees.An anna is sometimes called vanakkam; a rupee is known as vellē (white).Nāttupattan.—A section of Ambalavāsis. (SeeUnni.)Nāttusāmbān.—Sāmbān (a name of Siva) is a title of some Tamil Paraiyans. Nāttusāmbān denotes a village Paraiyan.Nattuvan.—Defined in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “an occupational term, meaning a dancing-master, which is applied to males of the dancing-girl castes, who teach dancing.” At nautch parties, when the Dēva-dāsis dance, the Nattuvans play the accompaniment on the drum, bag-pipe, flute, clarionet, cymbals, etc. At the initiation of a Kaikōlan girl as a Dēva-dasi, her dancing-master seats himself behind her, and, grasping her legs, moves them up and down in time with the music. Some Ōcchans in the Tamily country, who teach dancing toDēva-dāsis, are also called Nattuvan.Natuvili(middle).—A sub-division of Paraiyans in Travancore.Navakōti(nine crores).—An exogamous sept of Dēsūr Reddi. A crore is one hundred lakhs, i.e., 10,000,000.Navalipitta(peacock).—A sept of Jātapu.Navāyat.—The Navāyats or Navāyets are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “a Musalman tribe, which appears to have originally settled at Bhatkal in North Canara, and is known on the west coast as Bhatkali. The derivation of the name is much disputed. There are five sub-divisions of the tribe, namely, Kurēshi, Mehkeri, Chīda, Gheas, and Mohāgir. It takes a high place among Musalmans, and does not intermarry with other tribes.”Of the Nevayets, the following account, based on the Saadut Nama, and conversations with members of the community, is given by Colonel Wilks.45“Nevayet is generally supposed to be a corruption of the Hindustanee and Mahratta terms for new-comer. About the end of the first century of the Hejira, or the early part of theeighth century of the Christian era, Hejaj Bin Yusuf, Governor of Irak, on the part of the Khalif Abd-al-Melik-bin-Merwan, a monster abhorred for his cruelties even among Musalmans, drove some respectable and opulent persons of the house of Hâshem to the desperate resolution of abandoning for ever their native country. Aided by the good offices of the inhabitants of Kufa, a town of celebrity in those days, situated near to the tomb of Ali, west of the Euphrates, they departed with their families, dependents, and effects, and embarked on ships prepared for their reception in the Persian Gulf. Some of these landed on that part of the western coast of India called the Concan; the others to the eastward of Cape Comorin; the descendants of the former are the Nevayets; of the latter the Lubbē. The Lubbē pretend to one common origin with the Nevayets, and attribute their black complexion to intermarriage with the natives; but the Nevayets affirm that the Lubbē are the descendants of their domestic slaves; and there is certainly, in the physiognomy of this very numerous class, and in their stature and form, a strong resemblance to the natives of Abyssinia. The Nevayets of the western coast preserved the purity of their original blood by systematically avoiding intermarriage with the Indians, and even with the highest Muhammadan families, for many centuries after the establishment of the Musalman dynasties of the Deckan. Even at this time there are some Nevayets whose complexions approach the European freshness. Their adherence to each other as members of the same family preserved their respectability; and they were famed at the Muhammadan courts of the Deckan for uniting the rare qualities of the soldier, the scholar, and the gentleman.”Nāvutiyan.—A synonym of Velakkattalavan.Nāyādi.—In the Malabar Manual, the Nāyādis are briefly summed up as follows. “Of the Nāyādis, or lowest caste among the Hindus—the dog-eaters—nothing definite is known. They are most persistent in their clamour for charity, and will follow at a respectful distance, for miles together, any person walking, driving, or boating. If anything is given to them, it must be laid down, and, after the person offering it has proceeded a sufficient distance, the recipient comes timidly forward, and removes it.”The subjects, whom I examined and measured at Shoranūr, though living only about three miles off, had, by reason of the pollution which they traditionally carry with them, to avoid walking over the long bridge which spans the river, and follow a circuitous route of many miles. Eventually they had to climb, or be ignominiously hoisted over the wall of the bungalow. Ignorant of the orthodox manner of using a chair, the first victim of the craniometer, who had to sit while his head was under examination, assumed the undignified position with which Eton boys who have been swished are familiar. Measurements concluded, men, women, and children sat down on the grass to an ample feast. And, before they departed homeward, copious blessings were invoked on me, to a chorus composed of the repetition of a single shrill note, not unlike that of the first note of a jackal cry. To quote the newspaper account of my doings, which refers to the ‘monograms’ issued by me on matters ethnological: “In the evening the kind gentleman gave them a sumptuous treat of canji and curry, and gave them also copper coins, toddy, and arrack. The poor people left the place immensely pleased, and were safely escorted to the British side of the river from the Cochin territory.”When travelling on the public roads in Malabar or Cochin, one may observe a few ragged and dirty cloths spread near the road, with one or two copper coins on them; and, at the same time, hear a chorus of monotonous stentorian voices at a distance of a hundred yards or more, emanating from a few miserable specimens of humanity, standing ghost-like with dishevelled hair, and a long strip of leaves tied round the waist, or clad in a dirty loin-cloth. The coins represent the alms given by the charitably disposed traveller, and the persons are Nāyādis. I am told that, near Kollatūr, there is a stone called the Nāyādi pārai, which is believed to be a man who was turned into stone for not giving alms to a Nāyādi.Nāyādis.Nāyādis.The name Nāyādi is equivalent to Nāyattukar,i.e., hunter. The Nāyādis are, in fact, professional hunters, and are excellent shots. The Nāyars and other higher classes, used formerly to take them with them on hunting and shooting expeditions. But, since the Arms Act came into force, the Nāyādis find this occupation gone. They are also good archers, and used to kill deer, pigs, hares, etc., and eat them. These animals are now difficult to get, as the forests are reserved by Government, and private forests are denuded of their trees for use as fuel, and for house-building by a growing population, and for consumption on the railway. The suggestion has been made that the name Nāyādi is derived from the fact of their eating otters, which live in hill streams, and are called nir-nai (water-dog).The approach of a Nāyādi within a distance of three hundred feet is said to contaminate a Brāhman, who has to bathe and put on a new sacred thread, to cleanse himself of the pollution. The Nāyādis, in fact, hold thelowest position in the social scale, and consequently labour under the greatest disadvantage.The Nāyādis live mostly in isolated huts on the tops of hills, and generally select a shōla, or glade, where there is a pond or stream. Some families live on the land of their landlords, whose crops they watch by night, to guard them against the attacks of wild beasts. Sometimes they are engaged in ploughing, sowing, weeding, transplanting, and reaping, the rice crop, or in plantain (banana) gardens. I take exception to the comparison by a recent author of the British Empire to the banana (Musa) throwing out aërial roots. The banyan (Ficus bengalensis) must have been meant.The male members of the community are called Nāyādis, and the females Nāyādichis. The boys are called Molayans, and the young girls Manichis. Succession is in the male line (makkathāyam).A thatched shed with palm-leaf walls, a few earthen pots, and a chopper, constitute the Nāyādi’s property. He occasionally collects honey and bees-wax, and also the gum (matti pasai) from the mattipāl tree (Ailanthus malabarica), which, when burnt, is used as temple incense and for fumigating the bed-chamber. He receives toddy in exchange for the honey and wax, and copper coins for the gum, with which he purchases luxuries in the shape of salt, chillies, dried fish, tobacco, and liquor. He makes rough ropes from the malanar plant, and the bark of the kayyūl tree (Bauhinia). The bark is soaked in water, sun-dried, and the fibre manufactured into rope. He also makes slings of fibre, wherewith he knocks over birds, and mats from a species ofCyperus.According to custom, the Nāyādi has to offer four ropes, each eight yards long, to every Nambūtiri illam,and two ropes to every Nāyar house near his settlement, on the occasion of the Vishu and Ōnam festivals. In return he receives a fixed measure of paddy (rice). The ropes are used for tethering cattle, and for drawing water from the well. By a wise dispensation of the ancient local chieftains, to each Nāyādi is assigned a desom (portion of a parish), within which he enjoys certain privileges. And no Nāyādi has any business to poach on his preserves. The privileges are these. On birthdays, anniversaries, and festive occasions, the Nāyādi receives his share of curry and rice, tied up in an old cloth. When a person is sick, a black country-made kambli (blanket), with gingelly (Sesamum), mustard, turmeric, and cocoanut tied up in the four corners, is passed three times over the patient and presented to a Nāyādi, together with a palm umbrella, a stick, and a cucumber. This is called kala-dhānam, or offering to Yama, the god of death, whose attack has to be warded off by propitiatory offerings. The Nāyādi accepts the gifts, and prays for the long life and prosperity of the giver. Placing them before his own family god, he prays that the life of the sick person may be spared, and that the disease may not be transferred to him.Like the Cherumans, the Nāyādis drink, but they cannot afford to buy as much toddy as the former, for the Cheruman works regularly for a daily wage. Monkeys, which are very troublesome in gardens, are shot down by the higher classes, and given to the Nāyādis to eat. Their dietary includes rats, mungooses, pigs, deer, paraquets, the koel (cuckoo), doves, quails, fowls, paddy-birds, hares, tortoises, Varanus (lizard), crocodiles, and fish. They abstain from eating the flesh of dogs, cats, snakes, land-crabs, shell-fish, and beef. Among vegetables, the tubers of yams (Dioscorea) andColocasiaare included.They produce fire by friction with two sticks ofLitsœa sebifera, in the shorter of which a cavity is scooped out. They do not, like the Todas, put powdered charcoal in the cavity, but ignite the cloth rag by means of the red-hot wood dust produced by the friction.When a woman is pregnant, she craves for the flesh of a monkey or jungle squirrel during the sixth month. During the seventh month, a ceremony is performed, to relieve her of the influence of devils, who may be troubling her. It is called ozhinnukalayuka. Abortion is attributed to the malign influence of evil spirits. To ward off this, they tie round the neck a magic thread, and invoke the aid of their hill gods and the spirits of their ancestors. They erect a special hut for delivery, to which the woman retires. When she is in labour, her husband shampooes his own abdomen, while praying to the gods for her safe delivery—a custom which seems to suggest the couvade. As soon as his wife is delivered, he offers thanks to the gods “for having got the baby out.” The woman observes pollution for ten days, during which her husband avoids seeing her. Any deformity in the child is attributed to the evil influence of the gods. On the twenty-eighth day after birth, the ceremony of naming the child takes place. The name given to the first-born son is that of the paternal grandfather, and to the first-born daughter that of the maternal grandmother. In the fifth year, the ear-boring ceremony takes place, and the operation is performed by the child’s uncle. A piece of brass wire takes the place of ear-rings. Girls wear a plug of wood in the lobes. The Nāyādichis do not, like the Cheruman women, wear bracelets, but have many rows of beads round their necks, and hanging over their bosoms.When a girl reaches puberty, a Nāyādichi leads her to a tank (pond), in which she bathes, after apāndi, composed of several pieces of plantain leaf tied together, has been carried three or four times round her. She must not touch any utensils, and must abstain from touching her head with the hand, and, if the skin itches, the body must be scratched with a small stick.Concerning a very interesting form of marriage, Mr. T. K. Gopal Panikkar writes as follows.46“A large hut is constructed of ‘holly’ and other leaves, inside which the girl is ensconced. Then all the young men and women of the village gather round the hut, and form a ring about it. The girl’s father, or the nearest male relative, sits a short distance from the crowd, with a tom-tom in his hands. Then commences the music, and a chant is sung by the father, which has been freely translated as follows:—

It has been said that “the Nāttukōttai Chettis, in organisation, co-operation, and business methods, are as remarkable as the European merchants. Very few of them have yet received any English education. They regard education as at present given in public schools as worse than useless for professional men, as it makes men theoretical, and scarcely helps in practice. The simple but strict training which they give their boys, the long and tedious apprenticeship which even the sons of the richest among them have to undergo, make them very efficient in their profession, and methodical in whatever they undertake to do.”

Concerning the Nāttukōttai Chettis, Mr. P. R. Sundara Aiyar writes as follows.37“The first and chiefest aim of a Nāttukōttai Chetti is to make as much money as possible. He does not regard usury as a sin. As a little boy of ten or twelve, he begins to apply himself to business, learns accounts, and attends the shop of his father. As soon as he marries, his father gives him a separate home, or rather compels him to live separately, though often in the same house as his parents. This makes him self-reliant, and produces in him a desire to save as much money as possible. He is given a certain allowance out of the paternal estate, but, if he spends more, he is debited with the excess amount. Every one consequently tries to increase his stock of individual savings. Even the women earn money in a variety of ways. Every rupee saved is laid out at as high a rate of interest as possible. It is commonly stated that a rupee, laid out at the birth of a child at compound interest at 12 per cent., will amount to a lakh of rupees by the time he attains the age of a hundred. The habits of a Nāttukōttai Chetti are very simple, and his living is very cheap, even when he is rich. So strict are the Chettis in pecuniary matters that, if a relation visits them, he gets only his first meal free, and if he stays longer, is quietly debited with the cost of his stay.”

The Nāttukōttai Chettis38are said to employ Kammālans, Valaiyans, Kallans, and Vallambans as their cooks. They are permitted to enter the interior of Hindu temples, and approach near to the innermost doorway of the central shrine. This privilege is doubtless accorded to them owing to the large sums of moneywhich they spend on temples, and in endowing charitable institutions. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that “of the profits of their commercial transactions, a fixed percentage (called magamai) is usually set aside for charity. Some of the money so collected is spent on keeping up Sanskrit schools, but most of it has been laid out in the repair and restoration of the temples of the south, especial attention being paid to those shrines (pādal petta sthalangal, as they are called), which were hymned by the four great poet-saints, Mānikya Vāchakar, Appar, Tirugnāna Sambandhar, and Sundaramūrti.” “The Chettis,” Mr. Sundara Aiyar writes, “are believed to be the most charitable class in Southern India, and undoubtedly they spend the largest amount of money on charity. They set apart a fraction of their profits for charity. They levy rates among themselves for local charities, wherever they go. The income obtained from the rates is generally spent on temples. In new places like Ceylon, Burma, and Singapore, they build new temples, generally dedicated to Subramanya Swāmi. In India itself, they establish festivals in existing temples, and undertake the repair of temples. Immense sums have been spent by them recently in the renovation and restoration of ancient temples. We should not be surprised to be told that the amount spent within the last thirty years alone amounts to a crore of rupees. Being Saivites, they do not generally care for Vaishnava temples. And, even among Saiva temples, only such as have special sanctity, and have been sung about by the Saiva Nainars or Bhaktas, are patronised by them. They have devoted large sums to the establishment of comfortable choultries (rest-houses), feeding houses, Vēdic and recently also Sastraic pāthasālas (schools). They have established schools for the education ofthe Kurukal or the priestly class. And, in fact, every charity of the orthodox Hindu type finds generous support among them.”

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that the gōpurams of the Madura temple “have been repaired of late years at great cost by the Nāttukōttai Chettis. The northern tower used to consist only of the brick and stone-work storeys, and was known in consequence as the mottai (literally bald) gōpuram. Recently, however, a courageous Chetti, who cared nothing for the superstition that it is most unlucky to complete a building left unfinished, placed the usual plaster top upon it.”

In recent years, the temple at Chidambaram has been renovated by the Nāttukōttai Chettis, who“have formed for this and similar restorations a fund which is made up of a fee of four annas per cent. levied from their clients on all sums borrowed by the latter. The capital of this is invested, and the interest thereon devoted exclusively to such undertakings.”39

In 1906, the purificatory ceremony, or kumbabishēkam, of the Sri Pasupathiswara Swāmi temple at Karūr was performed with great pomp. The old temple had been thoroughly overhauled and repaired by the Nāttukōttai Chettis. The ceremony cost about fifty thousand rupees. Many thousands were fed, and presents of money made to a large number of Vaidiki Brāhmans. In the same year, at a public meeting held in Madras to concert measures for establishing a pinjrapole (hospital for animals), one of the resolutions was that early steps should be taken to collect public subscriptions from the Hindu community generally, and inparticular from the Nāttukōttai Chettis, Gujarātis, and other mercantile classes.

Still more recently, the kumbabishēkam festival was celebrated at Tiruvanaikkaval, the seat of a celebrated temple near Trichinopoly, which was repaired by the Nāttukōttai Chettis at a cost of many lakhs of rupees.

By a traditional custom, the Nāttukōttai Chettis live largely by money-lending. They never serve under any one outside their own community. They either trade on their own account, or are employed as agents or assistants. The pay of an assistant is always calculated for a period of three years, and a portion thereof is paid in advance after a month’s service. This the assistant invests to the best advantage. At the end of a year, a portion of the balance of the pay is handed over to him, leaving a small sum to be paid at the end of the contract period. His expenses for board and lodging are met by his employer, and he may receive a small share of the profits of the business. A man, on receiving an agency, starts on an auspicious day, and proceeds to a temple of Ganēsa, and to a matam (religious institution) containing figures of Ganēsa and Natēsa. After prostrating himself before the gods, he proceeds on his way. If he encounters an object of evil omen, he will not continue, and, if he has to journey to a distant spot, he will throw up his appointment. The accounts of the Nāttukōttai Chettis are audited triennially, an annual audit being inconvenient, as their business is carried on at various remote spots. The foreign business is said40to “be transacted by agents belonging to the caste, who receive a salary proportioned to the distance of the place, and also, usually, a percentage on the profits. They generally serve for three years, andthen return, and give an account of their stewardship.” The commencement of a fresh period of three years is made on an auspicious day called puthukanakkunāl (fresh account day), which is observed as a holiday. No business is transacted, and customers are invited, and receive presents of fruits, sweets, etc.

Nāttukōttai Chetti children.Nāttukōttai Chetti children.

Nāttukōttai Chetti children.

In connection with Nāttukōttai agencies, Mr. Hayavadana Rao writes as follows.41“People of moderate means usually elect to go to distant places as agents of the different firms that have their head offices either at Madura or in the Zamindaris of Ramnād and Sivaganga. The pay of a local agent varies directly with the distance of the place to which he is posted. If he is kept at Madura, he gets Rs. 100 per mensem; if sent to Burma, he gets three times as much; and, if to Natal, about twice the latter sum. If an agent proves himself to be an industrious and energetic man, he is usually given a percentage on the profits. The tenure of office is for three years, six months before the expiry of which the next agent is sent over to work conjointly with the existing one, and study the local conditions. On relief, the agent returns directly to his head office, and delivers over his papers, and then goes to his own village. With this, his connection with his firm practically ceases. He enjoys his well-earned rest of three years, at the end of which he seeks re-employment either under his old firm, or under any other. The former he is bound to, if he has taken a percentage on the profits during his previous tenure of office. If the old firm rejects him when he so offers himself, then he is at liberty to enter service under others.” It is said to be very rare for Nāttukōttai women to accompany their husbands to distant places.“In fact, the husbands have to visit their native places at long intervals, and make a felicitous sojourn in the company of their wives.”

The houses of the Nāttukōttai Chettis are spacious and substantial buildings all based on the same general plan. The front entrance opens into an oblong courtyard with a verandah all round, and rows of rooms at the two sides. At the farther end of the courtyard is an entrance leading into a backyard or set of apartments. Modern houses have imposing exteriors, and an upper storey. Married sons live in separate quarters, and every couple receive from their fathers a fixed yearly allowance, which may amount to twenty rupees and fifteen kalams of paddy. The sons may, if they choose, spend more, but the excess is debited to their account, and, at the time of partition of the estate, deducted, with interest, from their share.

It is noted by Mr. Hayavadana Rao that “the remarkable custom prevails amongst them that obliges all married members to cook separately and eat their meals, though they live in the same house. Even the widowed mother is no exception to this rule. Unmarried members live with their parents until they are married. Allotments of rice and other necessaries are annually made to the several semi-independent members of the household. This custom has given rise to the commodious houses in which members of this caste usually reside.”

As concerning the origin of the Nāttukōttai Chettis, the following story is told. In ancient days, the Vaisyas of the lunar race were living in the town of Sānthyapuri in the Naganādu of the Jambudvipa(India). They paid daily visits to the shrine of Vināyaka god made of emerald, and were traders in precious stones. They weremuch respected, and led the life of orthodox Saivites, wore rudrāksha beads, and smeared themselves with sacred ashes. They were, however, much oppressed by a certain ruler, and emigrated in a body to Conjeeveram in the Tondamandalam country in the year 204 of the Kāliyuga. The king of Conjeeveram gave them permission to settle in his territory, and made grants to them of land, temples and matams. They stayed there for a very long time, but, being troubled by heavy taxes and fines, left this part of the country about 2312 Kāliyuga, and settled in the Chōla country. The Chōla king, being much impressed with them, bestowed on them the privilege of placing the crown on the head of a new ruler at his coronation. At this time, the town of Kāveripumpattanam is said to have been in a very flourishing state, and the north street was occupied by Vaisyas from other countries. Being unwilling to disturb them, the king made the new settlers occupy the east, west, and south streets. As a mark of respect, they were allowed to use flags with the figure of a lion on them, and use golden vessels (kalasam) in their houses. They all, at the instigation of the king, became disciples of one Isānya Sivachariar of Patānjalikshetra (Chidambaram). About 3775 Kāliyuga, Pūvandi Chōla Rāja imprisoned several of the Vaisya women, whereon all the eight thousand Vaisya families destroyed themselves, leaving their male children to be taken care of by a religious teacher named Atmanadhachariar. In all 1,502 children were thus brought up, viz., 600 of six ways from the west street, 502 of seven ways from the east street, and 400 of four ways from the south street. Later on, Pūvandi Chōla fell ill, and, knowing his recovery to be impossible, sent for the Vaisya boys, and asked them to look after the coronation of his sonRājabhushana Chōla. But they said that, as they were bachelors, they could not comply with his request. The king accordingly made them marry Vellāla girls. Those of the west street took as wives girls of the Karkaththar section, those of the east street girls of the Sōzhia section, and those of the south street girls of the Kāniyala section. The three groups became disciples of three different matams, viz., Tiruvārur, Kumbakonam, and Vānchium. In the year 3790, a dispute arose in connection with the right of priority in receiving sacred ashes between the Vaisya and true Vellāla women, and the former were made to become the disciples of a new guru (religious preceptor). About 3808, a Pāndya king, named Sundara Pāndya, is said to have asked the Chōla king to induce some of the Vaisyas to settle down in the Pāndya territory. They accordingly once more emigrated in a body, and reached the village of Onkarakudi on a Friday (the constellation Astham being in the ascendant on that day). They were allowed to settle in the tract of country north of the river Vaigai, east of the Piranmalai, and south of Vellar. Those from the east street settled at Ilayaththukudi, those from the west street at Ariyūr, and those from the south street at Sundarapattanam. Thus the Chettis became divided into three endogamous sections, of which the Ilayaththukudi and Sundarapattanam are found at the present day in the Madura district. The members of the Ariyūr section migrated to the west coast on the destruction of their village. The members of the Ilayaththukudi section became the Nāttukōttais. They, not being satisfied with only one place of worship, requested the king to give them more temples. Accordingly, temples were provided for different groups at Māththur, Vairavanpatti, Iraniyūr, Pillayarpatti, Nēmam, Iluppaikudi, Suraikudi, andVelangkudi. At the present day, the Nāttukōttai Chettis are divided into the following divisions (kōvils or temples) and exogamous sub-divisions:—

When Nāttukōttai Chettis adopt children, they must belong to the same temple division. An adopted son is called Manjanir Puthiran, or turmeric-water son, because, at the ceremony of adoption, the lad has to drink turmeric-water.42In villages where their main temples are situated, the temple manager is obliged togive food to stranger Chettis, and charge for it if they belong to another temple division.

According to a variant of the story relating to the origin of the Nāttukōttai Chettis, “they were formerly merchants at the court of the Chōla kings who ruled at Kaveripattanam, at one time a flourishing sea-port at the mouth of the Cauveri, from which they emigrated in a body on being persecuted by one of them, and first settled at Nattarasankottai, about three miles north-east of Sivaganga.”

By other castes, the Nāttukōttai Chettis are said to be the descendants of the offspring of unions between a Shānān and a Muhammadan and Uppu Korava women. Some of the peculiarities of the caste are pointed out in support of the story. Thus, Nāttukōttai men shave their heads like Muhammadans, and both men and women have the lobes of their ears dilated like the older Shānāns. Their girls wear necklaces of shell beads like Korava women, and the women delight in making baskets for recreation, as the Korava women do for sale. The caste is sometimes spoken of as Uppu (salt) Maruhira Chetti. The arguments and illustrations are naturally much resented by the Nāttukōttai Chettis, who explain the obnoxious name by the story that they were formerly very poor, and made a living by selling salt.

The Nāttukōttai Chettis have recourse to panchāyats (councils) in matters affecting the community. They have, Mr. Sundara Aiyar writes, “been at any rate till recently remarkable for settling their differences out of court. The influence of the elders in preventing litigation is very strong. They conciliate the disputants as far as possible and, after reducing the difference between them to a minimum, they often get theirsignatures to an award, in which a blank is left to decide the still existing point of difference, the disputants agreeing, after putting in their signatures, to the mediators’ filling in the blank, and deciding the dispute as they choose. We are afraid that this spirit of give-and-take is now unfortunately diminishing, and the arbitrament of the courts is more often resorted to than before.” There are, among the Nāttukōttai Chettis, two forms of panchāyat, called madaththuvāsal mariyal (matam panchāyat) and kōvilvāsal mariyal (temple panchāyat), of which, at the present day, only the latter is in vogue. For every temple there is a manager, an assistant, and a servant called Vairāvi, who must be a Melakkāran. The aggrieved party lodges his complaint with the manager, who sends word to the leading men of the temple division concerned. The complainant and defendant are summoned to attend a council meeting, and the evidence is recorded by the temple manager. If the accused falls to put in an appearance, the Vairāvi is sent to his house, to take therefrom adavu (security) in the shape of some article belonging to him. In a recent case, a wealthy Nāttukōttai Chetti promised his brother’s widow that she should be allowed to adopt a boy. But, as the promise was not fulfilled, she complained to the temple; and, as her brother-in-law did not attend the council meeting, the Vairāvi went to his house, and, in his absence, abstracted the adavu. This was regarded as a great insult, and there was some talk of the case going into court. Matters such as the arrangement of marriage contracts, monetary disputes, family discussions, and the like, are referred to the temple council for settlement. Final decisions are never recorded in writing, but delivered by word of mouth. Those who fail to abide by the decision of the council do not receivea garland from the temple for their marriage, and without this garland a marriage cannot take place.

It is noted by Mr. Hayavadana Rao that each of the kōvils or temples “is managed by Karyakārans, who are nominated to the place by the local elders. These Karyakārans act as Panchāyatdars, and decide all civil cases referred to them. If a case is first referred to them, it may, if necessary, be carried over again to the established courts of the country. But, if once a case is first taken to the courts, they would not entertain it before themselves. They enforce their decrees (1) by refusing to give the garland of flowers at the marriage time, (2) by exercising the power of excommunication.”

Every Nāttukōttai Chetti youth has to perform a ceremony called Sūppidi before marriage. On the Karthika day, when the constellation Krithikai is in the ascendant, he is taken on horseback to a Pillayar (Ganēsa) temple, where he worships, and whirls a bag of burning charcoal tied to a long string round his head. In front of the temple he burns a booth (chokkapane), which has been set up, and with the ashes his forehead is marked. On his return home, and at the entrance of Nāttukōttai houses which he passes, rice lamps are waved before him (alathi). In like manner, every girl has to go through a ceremony, called thiruvādhirai, before marriage. On the day of the Arudrādarsanam festival, she is bathed and decorated. A necklace of gold beads is placed on her neck instead of the necklace of glass beads (pāsimani), which she has hitherto worn. She proceeds, with a silver cup, to the houses where other girls are performing the ceremony, and bawls out:—

I have come dancing; give me avarakkai (Dolichos Lablabbeans).

I have come singing; give me padavarangkai (Cyamopsisbeans).

I have come speaking; give me sorakkai (Lagenariafruit).

Various kinds of vegetables are placed on the silver vessel, cooked, and distributed. Cakes, called dosai, are made in the house, and, during their preparation, holes are made in them by married women with an iron style. These cakes are also distributed, and it is taken as an insult if any individual does not receive one.

Jewelry of Nāttukōttai Chettis.Jewelry of Nāttukōttai Chettis.

Jewelry of Nāttukōttai Chettis.

Every Nāttukōttai Chetti is said to have the inviolable right to claim the hand of his paternal aunt’s daughter. This being so, ill-assorted marriages are quite common, the putative father being often but a child.43The marriage ceremonies commence with the giving of gold for the bride’s neck. On an auspicious day, the bridegroom’s party give a gold coin to a goldsmith, who beats it into a thin sheet, and goes home after receiving betel, etc. On the first day of the marriage rites, a feast is given to the bridegroom’s family, and female ancestors are worshipped. On the following day, the presentation of the dowry (sireduththal) takes place. The presents, which are often of considerable value, are laid out for inspection, and an inventory of them is made. Perishable articles, such as rice, ghī (clarified butter), dhāl (Cajanus indicus), and fruits are sold. The bride’s presents are taken to the house of the bridegroom, those who carry them being rewarded with betel, a silk fan, scent bottle, silk handkerchief, bottle of chocolate, a tin of biscuits, and a brass vessel. On the third day, garlands are received from the temples to which the brideand bridegroom belong. The bride’s party go to the house of the bridegroom, taking on a tray a silk handkerchief and cloth, and in a silver vessel fifty rupees, betel, etc. These are presented to the bridegroom. This ceremony is called māppillai ariyappōthal, or going to examine the son-in-law. The next item on the programme is nālkuriththal, or fixing the day. The bridegroom’s party proceed to the house of the bride, taking with them two cocoanuts wrapped up in a blanket, betel, turmeric, etc., as a present. The bride is bathed and decorated, and purangkaliththal is proceeded with. She stands by the side of her grandmother, and a Brāhman purōhit, taking up a few leafy margosa (Melia Azadirachta) twigs, touches the girl’s shoulders, head, and knees with them, and throws them away. Her glass bead necklace is then removed. At the uppu-eduththal (salt carrying) ceremony, the bridegroom’s party carry a basket containing salt, a bundle containing nine kinds of grains, and a palmyra scroll for writing the marriage contract on, to the bride’s house. The sacred fire is lighted, and hōmam performed by the Brāhman purōhit. An old man, who has had a number of children, and belongs to a temple other than that of a bride, and the bridegroom’s sister, then tie the tāli string round her neck. This string bears a large tāli, about seven inches long and four inches broad, and seventeen to twenty-three gold ornaments, often of considerable value. Some of them have very sharp points, so that accidents sometimes arise from the points sticking in the eyes of babies carried by women. For every day wear, the massive ornaments are replaced by a smaller set. Immediately after the tāli has been tied, the marriage contract (isagudi mānam) is written. Two copies are made, for the bride and bridegroom respectively.As an example of a marriage contract, the following may be cited: “This is written for the marriage celebrated on ... between Subramanyan, the son of Okkurudaiyan Arunāchelam Chetti Ramanadhan Chetti and Valliammai, the daughter of Arumbākurudaiyan K. Narayana Chetti, both formerly of Ilayaththukudi, at the village of.... The value of jewels given to the girl is ... of gold; his dowry amounts to ...; money for female servant ...; sirattuchukram money ...; free gift of jewels.... This esaikudimanam was written by me at.... Signed Ramanadhan Chetti.” The bridegroom goes on horseback to a Pillayar temple where he worships, and then proceeds in procession through various streets to the bride’s house, accompanied by his sister carrying milk in a vessel, and a cooly bearing a bundle of seed rice. At every Chetti house the procession halts, and coloured rice lights are waved before the bridegroom. At the entrance to the bride’s house, he is met by the bride, whose sister-in-law pushes the couple against each other. Hence the ceremony is called māppillaikuidiththukāttal, or showing the bride to the bridegroom by pushing her. The couple are then conducted to a dais within the house, and wristlets made of cotton cloth are tied on by the purōhit. They exchange cocoanuts and garlands, and, amid the blowing of the conch shell (musical instrument) by women, the bride’s mother touches the couple with turmeric, ashes, sandal, etc. On the fourth day, money called veththilai surul rupaī (betel-roll money) is given to the newly-married couple by Chettis and the maternal uncles. A silver vessel, containing betel and two rupees, is given to the bridegroom by his father-in-law. The bridegroom usually carries on his shoulders a long purse of silkor red cloth, called valluvaippai, into which he puts the betel and other things which are given to him. On the last day of the marriage ceremonies, toe-rings and wristlets are removed, and the bridal pair eat together.

In connection with pregnancy, two ceremonies are performed, called respectively marunthidal (medicine giving) and thirthamkudiththal (drinking holy water). The former is celebrated at about the fifth month. On an auspicious day, the sister-in-law of the pregnant woman, amid the blowing of the conch-shell by females, extracts the juice from the leaves of five plants, and gives to the woman to drink. During the seventh month the woman is given consecrated water (thirtham) from the temple. All first-born children, both male and female, have to go through a ceremony called pudhumai (newness). When they are two years old, on an auspicious day, fixed by a Brāhman purōhit, the maternal uncle of the child ties on its neck strings of coral and glass beads, to which ornaments of pearls and precious stones are added in the case of the wealthy. The child is further decorated with other ornaments, and placed in an oval wooden tray, which is held by the mother and her sister-in-law. They go round three times with the tray, and the child’s aunt, taking it up, carries it round to be blessed by those who have assembled. Presents of money are given to the child by relations and friends, and the maternal uncles have to give a larger sum than the others. On the second or third day the coral and bead ornaments are removed, and, on the fourth day, the child, if a male, is shaved, and must thenceforth have the head clean shaved throughout life. “The story goes that, when the Chōla king of Kāveripattanam persecuted them, the members of this caste resolved not to shave their heads until they quitted his territories. Whenthey reached their new settlement they shaved their heads completely as a memorial of their stern resolution.”44When a death occurs among the Nāttukōttai Chettis, news thereof is conveyed by the Thandakāran, or caste messenger. Those who come to condole with the bereaved family are received with outstretched hands (kainīttikolludhal). The head of the corpse is shaved, and it is washed and decorated. In front of the house a pandal (booth), supported by fourThespesia populneaposts, and roofed with twigs ofEugenia Jambolana, is erected. Beneath this the corpse is laid, and all present go round it thrice. While the corpse is being got ready for conveyance to the burning ground, the daughters and sisters of the deceased husk paddy (unhusked rice). On the way to the burning ground, the son carries the fire. If the deceased is a young boy or girl, the pandal is removed after the funeral; otherwise it is removed, on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday, within four days. The Nāttukōttais restrict the name pandal to the funeral booth, the marriage booth being called kāvanam or kottagai. Even an ordinary shed set up in front of a house is not called a pandal, as the name is associated with funerals. On the day following the funeral, the bigger fragments of bones are collected by a barber, and given to the son, who places them in an earthen pot. A Pandāram offers fruit, food, etc., to the deceased. Eight days afterwards, a feast, at which meat is partaken of for the first time since the death, is given to the relations of the dead person, and their pollution is at an end. They may not, however, enter a temple for thirty days. On the sixteenth day after death, the final death ceremonies (karmāndhiram) are performed, and liberal presents ofmoney, religious books, such as the Rāmāyana, Mahābhārata, and Periya Purānam, wooden spoons for domestic use, etc., are given to Brāhmans.

There are three matams, whereat the Nāttukōttai Chettis are initiated into their religion, at Pātharakkudi (or Padanakkudi) and Kīla for males, and Tulāvur for females. They are Saivites, but also, more especially the women, worship such minor deities as Aiyanar, Munēswara, and Karuppan. They are also said to worship two village goddesses, called Sellattamman and Kannudayamman, at Nattarasankottai.

Nāttukōttai men have the lobes of the ears artificially dilated, but seldom wear ornaments therein. They frequently have a gold chain round the loins, and wear finger rings set with diamonds. The wives even of wealthy men wear a cheap body cloth, and do menial house work, such as cleaning the kitchen utensils. They plait baskets, and, in some houses, wheels for spinning cotton may be seen.

Like other trading classes in Southern India, the Nāttukōttai Chettis have a trade language of their own, which varies according to locality. In the city of Madras they have three tables, for annas, rupees, and tens of rupees respectively. Each of these is formed out of the syllables of certain words. Thus, the anna table is composed of the syllables of Tiripurasundari, the goddess at Madura, which is a great centre for Nāttukōttai Chettis. The syllables (in the inverse order), and their money equivalent are as follows:—

Ri½ anna.Da¾ anna.Un1 anna.Su2 annas.Ra3 annas.Pu4 annas.Ri8 annas.Ti12 annas.

The rupee table is composed of the word Vēdagirīsvararthunai, meaning with the help of Vēdagirīsvarar, the god at Tirukalikundram near Madras:—

Vē1 rupee.Da2 rupees.Gi3 rupees.Ri4 rupees.Ī5 rupees.Is6 rupees.Va7 rupees.Ra8 rupees.A9 rupees.Thu10 rupees.Nai11 rupees.

The tens-of-rupees table is made up from the word Tirukalikundram:—

Ti10 rupees.Ru20 rupees.Ik30 rupees.Ka40 rupees.Li50 rupees.Ik60 rupees.Ku70 rupees.In80 rupees.Ra90 rupees.Im100 rupees.

An anna is sometimes called vanakkam; a rupee is known as vellē (white).

Nāttupattan.—A section of Ambalavāsis. (SeeUnni.)

Nāttusāmbān.—Sāmbān (a name of Siva) is a title of some Tamil Paraiyans. Nāttusāmbān denotes a village Paraiyan.

Nattuvan.—Defined in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “an occupational term, meaning a dancing-master, which is applied to males of the dancing-girl castes, who teach dancing.” At nautch parties, when the Dēva-dāsis dance, the Nattuvans play the accompaniment on the drum, bag-pipe, flute, clarionet, cymbals, etc. At the initiation of a Kaikōlan girl as a Dēva-dasi, her dancing-master seats himself behind her, and, grasping her legs, moves them up and down in time with the music. Some Ōcchans in the Tamily country, who teach dancing toDēva-dāsis, are also called Nattuvan.

Natuvili(middle).—A sub-division of Paraiyans in Travancore.

Navakōti(nine crores).—An exogamous sept of Dēsūr Reddi. A crore is one hundred lakhs, i.e., 10,000,000.

Navalipitta(peacock).—A sept of Jātapu.

Navāyat.—The Navāyats or Navāyets are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as “a Musalman tribe, which appears to have originally settled at Bhatkal in North Canara, and is known on the west coast as Bhatkali. The derivation of the name is much disputed. There are five sub-divisions of the tribe, namely, Kurēshi, Mehkeri, Chīda, Gheas, and Mohāgir. It takes a high place among Musalmans, and does not intermarry with other tribes.”

Of the Nevayets, the following account, based on the Saadut Nama, and conversations with members of the community, is given by Colonel Wilks.45“Nevayet is generally supposed to be a corruption of the Hindustanee and Mahratta terms for new-comer. About the end of the first century of the Hejira, or the early part of theeighth century of the Christian era, Hejaj Bin Yusuf, Governor of Irak, on the part of the Khalif Abd-al-Melik-bin-Merwan, a monster abhorred for his cruelties even among Musalmans, drove some respectable and opulent persons of the house of Hâshem to the desperate resolution of abandoning for ever their native country. Aided by the good offices of the inhabitants of Kufa, a town of celebrity in those days, situated near to the tomb of Ali, west of the Euphrates, they departed with their families, dependents, and effects, and embarked on ships prepared for their reception in the Persian Gulf. Some of these landed on that part of the western coast of India called the Concan; the others to the eastward of Cape Comorin; the descendants of the former are the Nevayets; of the latter the Lubbē. The Lubbē pretend to one common origin with the Nevayets, and attribute their black complexion to intermarriage with the natives; but the Nevayets affirm that the Lubbē are the descendants of their domestic slaves; and there is certainly, in the physiognomy of this very numerous class, and in their stature and form, a strong resemblance to the natives of Abyssinia. The Nevayets of the western coast preserved the purity of their original blood by systematically avoiding intermarriage with the Indians, and even with the highest Muhammadan families, for many centuries after the establishment of the Musalman dynasties of the Deckan. Even at this time there are some Nevayets whose complexions approach the European freshness. Their adherence to each other as members of the same family preserved their respectability; and they were famed at the Muhammadan courts of the Deckan for uniting the rare qualities of the soldier, the scholar, and the gentleman.”

Nāvutiyan.—A synonym of Velakkattalavan.

Nāyādi.—In the Malabar Manual, the Nāyādis are briefly summed up as follows. “Of the Nāyādis, or lowest caste among the Hindus—the dog-eaters—nothing definite is known. They are most persistent in their clamour for charity, and will follow at a respectful distance, for miles together, any person walking, driving, or boating. If anything is given to them, it must be laid down, and, after the person offering it has proceeded a sufficient distance, the recipient comes timidly forward, and removes it.”

The subjects, whom I examined and measured at Shoranūr, though living only about three miles off, had, by reason of the pollution which they traditionally carry with them, to avoid walking over the long bridge which spans the river, and follow a circuitous route of many miles. Eventually they had to climb, or be ignominiously hoisted over the wall of the bungalow. Ignorant of the orthodox manner of using a chair, the first victim of the craniometer, who had to sit while his head was under examination, assumed the undignified position with which Eton boys who have been swished are familiar. Measurements concluded, men, women, and children sat down on the grass to an ample feast. And, before they departed homeward, copious blessings were invoked on me, to a chorus composed of the repetition of a single shrill note, not unlike that of the first note of a jackal cry. To quote the newspaper account of my doings, which refers to the ‘monograms’ issued by me on matters ethnological: “In the evening the kind gentleman gave them a sumptuous treat of canji and curry, and gave them also copper coins, toddy, and arrack. The poor people left the place immensely pleased, and were safely escorted to the British side of the river from the Cochin territory.”

When travelling on the public roads in Malabar or Cochin, one may observe a few ragged and dirty cloths spread near the road, with one or two copper coins on them; and, at the same time, hear a chorus of monotonous stentorian voices at a distance of a hundred yards or more, emanating from a few miserable specimens of humanity, standing ghost-like with dishevelled hair, and a long strip of leaves tied round the waist, or clad in a dirty loin-cloth. The coins represent the alms given by the charitably disposed traveller, and the persons are Nāyādis. I am told that, near Kollatūr, there is a stone called the Nāyādi pārai, which is believed to be a man who was turned into stone for not giving alms to a Nāyādi.

Nāyādis.Nāyādis.

Nāyādis.

The name Nāyādi is equivalent to Nāyattukar,i.e., hunter. The Nāyādis are, in fact, professional hunters, and are excellent shots. The Nāyars and other higher classes, used formerly to take them with them on hunting and shooting expeditions. But, since the Arms Act came into force, the Nāyādis find this occupation gone. They are also good archers, and used to kill deer, pigs, hares, etc., and eat them. These animals are now difficult to get, as the forests are reserved by Government, and private forests are denuded of their trees for use as fuel, and for house-building by a growing population, and for consumption on the railway. The suggestion has been made that the name Nāyādi is derived from the fact of their eating otters, which live in hill streams, and are called nir-nai (water-dog).

The approach of a Nāyādi within a distance of three hundred feet is said to contaminate a Brāhman, who has to bathe and put on a new sacred thread, to cleanse himself of the pollution. The Nāyādis, in fact, hold thelowest position in the social scale, and consequently labour under the greatest disadvantage.

The Nāyādis live mostly in isolated huts on the tops of hills, and generally select a shōla, or glade, where there is a pond or stream. Some families live on the land of their landlords, whose crops they watch by night, to guard them against the attacks of wild beasts. Sometimes they are engaged in ploughing, sowing, weeding, transplanting, and reaping, the rice crop, or in plantain (banana) gardens. I take exception to the comparison by a recent author of the British Empire to the banana (Musa) throwing out aërial roots. The banyan (Ficus bengalensis) must have been meant.

The male members of the community are called Nāyādis, and the females Nāyādichis. The boys are called Molayans, and the young girls Manichis. Succession is in the male line (makkathāyam).

A thatched shed with palm-leaf walls, a few earthen pots, and a chopper, constitute the Nāyādi’s property. He occasionally collects honey and bees-wax, and also the gum (matti pasai) from the mattipāl tree (Ailanthus malabarica), which, when burnt, is used as temple incense and for fumigating the bed-chamber. He receives toddy in exchange for the honey and wax, and copper coins for the gum, with which he purchases luxuries in the shape of salt, chillies, dried fish, tobacco, and liquor. He makes rough ropes from the malanar plant, and the bark of the kayyūl tree (Bauhinia). The bark is soaked in water, sun-dried, and the fibre manufactured into rope. He also makes slings of fibre, wherewith he knocks over birds, and mats from a species ofCyperus.

According to custom, the Nāyādi has to offer four ropes, each eight yards long, to every Nambūtiri illam,and two ropes to every Nāyar house near his settlement, on the occasion of the Vishu and Ōnam festivals. In return he receives a fixed measure of paddy (rice). The ropes are used for tethering cattle, and for drawing water from the well. By a wise dispensation of the ancient local chieftains, to each Nāyādi is assigned a desom (portion of a parish), within which he enjoys certain privileges. And no Nāyādi has any business to poach on his preserves. The privileges are these. On birthdays, anniversaries, and festive occasions, the Nāyādi receives his share of curry and rice, tied up in an old cloth. When a person is sick, a black country-made kambli (blanket), with gingelly (Sesamum), mustard, turmeric, and cocoanut tied up in the four corners, is passed three times over the patient and presented to a Nāyādi, together with a palm umbrella, a stick, and a cucumber. This is called kala-dhānam, or offering to Yama, the god of death, whose attack has to be warded off by propitiatory offerings. The Nāyādi accepts the gifts, and prays for the long life and prosperity of the giver. Placing them before his own family god, he prays that the life of the sick person may be spared, and that the disease may not be transferred to him.

Like the Cherumans, the Nāyādis drink, but they cannot afford to buy as much toddy as the former, for the Cheruman works regularly for a daily wage. Monkeys, which are very troublesome in gardens, are shot down by the higher classes, and given to the Nāyādis to eat. Their dietary includes rats, mungooses, pigs, deer, paraquets, the koel (cuckoo), doves, quails, fowls, paddy-birds, hares, tortoises, Varanus (lizard), crocodiles, and fish. They abstain from eating the flesh of dogs, cats, snakes, land-crabs, shell-fish, and beef. Among vegetables, the tubers of yams (Dioscorea) andColocasiaare included.They produce fire by friction with two sticks ofLitsœa sebifera, in the shorter of which a cavity is scooped out. They do not, like the Todas, put powdered charcoal in the cavity, but ignite the cloth rag by means of the red-hot wood dust produced by the friction.

When a woman is pregnant, she craves for the flesh of a monkey or jungle squirrel during the sixth month. During the seventh month, a ceremony is performed, to relieve her of the influence of devils, who may be troubling her. It is called ozhinnukalayuka. Abortion is attributed to the malign influence of evil spirits. To ward off this, they tie round the neck a magic thread, and invoke the aid of their hill gods and the spirits of their ancestors. They erect a special hut for delivery, to which the woman retires. When she is in labour, her husband shampooes his own abdomen, while praying to the gods for her safe delivery—a custom which seems to suggest the couvade. As soon as his wife is delivered, he offers thanks to the gods “for having got the baby out.” The woman observes pollution for ten days, during which her husband avoids seeing her. Any deformity in the child is attributed to the evil influence of the gods. On the twenty-eighth day after birth, the ceremony of naming the child takes place. The name given to the first-born son is that of the paternal grandfather, and to the first-born daughter that of the maternal grandmother. In the fifth year, the ear-boring ceremony takes place, and the operation is performed by the child’s uncle. A piece of brass wire takes the place of ear-rings. Girls wear a plug of wood in the lobes. The Nāyādichis do not, like the Cheruman women, wear bracelets, but have many rows of beads round their necks, and hanging over their bosoms.

When a girl reaches puberty, a Nāyādichi leads her to a tank (pond), in which she bathes, after apāndi, composed of several pieces of plantain leaf tied together, has been carried three or four times round her. She must not touch any utensils, and must abstain from touching her head with the hand, and, if the skin itches, the body must be scratched with a small stick.

Concerning a very interesting form of marriage, Mr. T. K. Gopal Panikkar writes as follows.46“A large hut is constructed of ‘holly’ and other leaves, inside which the girl is ensconced. Then all the young men and women of the village gather round the hut, and form a ring about it. The girl’s father, or the nearest male relative, sits a short distance from the crowd, with a tom-tom in his hands. Then commences the music, and a chant is sung by the father, which has been freely translated as follows:—

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