await the fateful moment. The person who is about to die is laid on the
floor of the middle room, for it is inauspicious to die on a cot. We
will suppose that the dying man is a parent and a landlord. Each of
the sons and daughters gives him a little conjee water, just before
he passes away. At the moment of death, all the women bawl out in
lamentations, giving the alarm of death. The Cheruman serfs in the
fields join in the chorus, and yell out an unintelligible formula of
their own. Absent relations are all formally invited. From the houses
of the son's wife and daughter's husband are sent quantities of jak
fruits, unripe plantains, and cocoanuts, as death gifts. One half of
the husks of the cocoanuts is removed, and the other half left on the
shell. After the cremation or burial, these articles are distributed
among those present by the Tandan, who receives an extra share for
his trouble. When life is extinct, the body is placed with the head
to the south, and the thumbs and big toes are tied together. It is
then taken out into the yard, washed, bathed in oil, dressed in a new
cloth, and brought back to the middle room. A cocoanut is cut in two,
and the two halves, with a lighted wick on each, are placed at the
head and foot. The house-owner spreads a cotton cloth over the corpse,
and all the relations, and friends, do the same. Any one who wishes
to place a silk cloth on the corpse may do so, but he must cover it
with a cotton cloth. The body is then removed for burial or cremation,
and placed near the grave or funeral pyre. It is the rural rule that
elderly persons and karnavans of tarwads are cremated, and others
buried. The barber, whose function it is to perform the purificatory
rites, now removes, and retains as his perquisite, all the cloths,
except the last three covering the corpse. As it is being borne away
to the place of burial or cremation, water mixed with cow-dung is
sprinkled behind it in the yard. The eldest son, who succeeds to the
property and is responsible for the funeral ceremonies, then tears
crosswise a piece of the cloth which has been placed over the corpse
by the people of the house, and ties it round his forehead. He holds
one end of the cloth while the barber holds the other, and tears off
the piece. The barber then cuts three holes in the remainder of this
cloth covering the body, over the mouth, navel, and pubes. A little
water and rice are poured over a gold fanam through the slit over the
mouth. All who observe the death pollution, i.e., sons, grandsons,
nephews, younger brothers and cousins, offer water and rice in the
same manner, and walk three times round the grave or pyre. The barber
then breaks a pot of water over the grave. No other ceremonial is
observed on this day, on which, and during the night, rice must not be
eaten. If the body has been cremated, a watch is kept at the burning
ground for five days by Panans, who beat drums all night to scare away
the evil spirits which haunt such spots. Early on the second day,
all who are under pollution are shaved. The operation is attended
with some ceremonial, and, before it is commenced, a lighted lamp,
a measure of rice and paddy on a plantain leaf must be at hand. The
paddy and rice are a perquisite of the barber. Those who have been
shaved bathe, and then follows the crow-feeding ceremony. Rice is
boiled in a bell-metal vessel over a hearth prepared with three
young cocoanuts. The eldest son, who tore the cloth of succession
from the corpse, makes the rice into two little balls, places them
on a plantain leaf, and offers them to the spirit of the departed by
pouring libations of water on them over a blade of karuka grass. Men
and women who are under pollution then do the same. The rice balls
are eaten by crows. This little ceremony is performed daily until the
eleventh or thirteenth day, when the period of death pollution comes
to an end. If the eleventh day happens to fall on a Tuesday or Friday,
or on any inauspicious day, the period is extended to the thirteenth
day. When the period of death pollution is partly in one month,
and partly in another, another death in the house within the year is
expected. Preceding the sanchayanam, which occupies the fifth day,
there is the lamp-watching on the previous night. In the south-east
corner of the middle room, a little paddy is heaped up, and on it
is placed a bell-metal plate with an iron lamp having five or seven
lighted wicks on it. Under the lamp is a little cow-dung, and close
to it is a bunch of cocoanut flowers. The lamp must be kept burning
until it is extinguished on the following day. In the case of the
death of a male, his niece watches the lamp, and in that of a female
her daughter, lying near it on a grass mat. The sanchayanam is the
first stage in the removal of death pollution, and, until it is over,
all who come to the house suffer from pollution, and cannot enter their
own house or partake of any food without bathing previously. When the
body has been cremated, the fragments of calcined bones are collected
from the ashes, and carried in procession to the sea, or, if this is
far away, into a river. The members of the family under pollution
then rub their bodies all over with oil, and the barber sprinkles
a mixture of cow's milk over their heads, using a blade of karuka
grass as a spout. They then bathe, and the eldest son alone observe
mattu. The crow-feeding ceremony follows, and, when this is over, the
three cocoanuts which were used as a hearth are thrown away. A large
bell-metal vessel filled with water is now placed in the front yard
before the door of the house. The barber carries the still burning
lamp from the middle room, and sets it on the ground near the pot of
water. The women who are under pollution come from the middle room,
each carrying a lighted wick, walk thrice round the pot, and throw the
wicks into the water. The woman who has watched the lamp puts four
annas into the pot, and the others deposit a few pies therein. The
eldest son now lights a wick from the iron lamp which is about to be
extinguished, and with it lights a lamp in the middle room. The barber
then dips the iron lamp in the water, and picks out the money as his
perquisite. The water is poured on the roots of a cocoanut tree. The
bell-metal vessel becomes the property of the woman who watched the
lamp, but she cannot take it away until she leaves the house after the
pula-kuli ceremony. When the lamp has been extinguished, a woman, hired
for the occasion, is seated on a cocoanut leaf in the front yard. The
Tandan pours oil on her head three times, and she receives a little
betel and two annas. She rises, and leaves the place without turning
back, taking the pollution with her. Betel is then distributed. Those
who provided the death gifts on the day of the death must on this day
bring with them a bag of rice, and about four rupees in money. They
have also to give eight annas to the barber. A folded handkerchief is
first presented to the barber, who formally returns it, and receives
instead of it the eight annas. Before the people disperse, the day of
the pula-kuli is settled. Pula-kuli, or washing away the pollution,
is the final ceremony for putting off the unpleasant consequences of
a death in a family. First of all, the members thereof rub themselves
all over with oil, and are sprinkled by the barber with cow's milk
and gingelly oil. They then bathe. The barber outlines the figure
of a man or woman, according to the sex of the deceased, with rice
flour and turmeric powder, the head to the south, in the middle
room of the house. The figure is covered with two plantain leaves,
on each of which a little rice and paddy are heaped. Over all is
spread a new cloth, with a basket containing three measures of paddy
upon it. The eldest son (the heir) sits facing the south, and with a
nazhi measures out the paddy, which he casts to the south, east, and
west--not the north. He repeats the performance, using the fingers
of the left hand closed so as to form a cup as a measure. Then,
closing the first and fourth fingers firmly with the thumb, using
the left hand, he measures some paddy in the same manner with the two
extended fingers. Rice is treated in the same way. A nazhi of paddy,
with a lighted wick over it, is then placed in a basket. The eldest
son takes the nazhi in his left hand, passes it behind his body, and,
receiving it with his right hand, replaces it in the basket. The wick
is extinguished by sprinkling it with water three times. At the head
of the figure on the floor is placed a clean cloth--the washerman's
mattu. It is folded, and within the folds are three nazhis of rice. On
the top of it a cocoanut is placed. In the four corners a piece of
charcoal, a little salt, a few chillies, and a gold fanam are tied. The
eldest son, who is always the protagonist in all the ceremonies after
death, lifts the cloth with all its contents, places it on his head,
and touches with it his forehead, ears, each side and loins, knees and
toes. He does this three times. The plantain leaves are then removed
from the figure. A little turmeric powder is taken from the outline,
and rubbed on the forehead of the eldest son. He then bows thrice to
the figure, crossing his legs and arms so that the right hand holds the
left ear, and the left the right ear, and touches the ground with the
elbow-joints. It is no joke to do this. All this time, the eldest son
wears round his forehead the strip torn from the cloth which covered
the corpse. There is nothing more to be done in the middle room for
the present, and the eldest son goes out into the yard, and cooks
the rice for the final feed to the crows. Three nazhis of this rice
must be pounded and prepared for cooking by the woman who watched
the lamp on the fourth night after death. Having cooked the rice,
the eldest son brings it into the middle room, and mixes it with some
unrefined sugar, plantains and pappadams, making two balls, one large
and one small. Each of these he places on a plantain leaf. Then some
puja is done to them, and offerings of rice are made over a gold
fanam. The balls are given to the crows in the yard, or, in some
cases, taken to the sea or a river, and cast into the water. When
this course is adopted, various articles must be kept ready ere
the return of the party. These comprise a new pot containing water,
a branch of areca blossoms, mango leaves, a kindi containing a gold
fanam or gold ring, a little salt and rice, each tied up in a piece
of cloth, and a few chillies. The mouth of the pot is covered with a
plantain leaf, and secured. There are also two stools, made of pala
and mango wood. The eldest son sits on one of these, and places his
feet on the other, so that he does not touch the ground. The water in
the pot is sprinkled with mango leaves by the barber to the north,
south, east and west, and on the head of the son. The remainder of
the water is then poured over his head. The barber then sprinkles him
with cocoanut water, this time using areca blossoms, and makes him
sip a little thereof. The barber makes a hole in the plantain leaf,
and picks out the contents. The eldest son bathes, and after the bath
there is a presentation of gifts. The barber, sitting in the verandah
beside the son, first gives to each person under pollution a little
salt and raw rice, which they eat. He then gives them a little betel
leaf and a small piece of areca nut, and receives in return a quarter
of an anna. The eldest son chews the betel which he has received,
and spits into a spittoon held by the barber, whose property it
becomes. Then to the barber, who has been presented with a new mat to
sit on and new cloth to wear before he seats himself in the verandah,
are given an ear-ring such as is worn by Tiyan women, a silk cloth, a
white cotton cloth, and a few annas. If the deceased has been cremated
he is given six fanams, and, if buried, five fanams as the fee for
his priestly offices. On an occasion of this kind, several barbers,
male and female, turn up in the hope of receiving presents. All who
help during the various stages of the ceremonial are treated in much
the same way, but the senior barber alone receives the officiating
fee. It is odd that the barbers of the four surrounding villages are
entitled to receive gifts of new cloths and money. Those under death
pollution are forbidden to eat fish or flesh, chew betel, or partake
of jaggery. The restriction is removed on the pula-kuli day. The last
act for their removal is as follows. The barber is required to eat some
jaggery, and drink some conjee. After this, the eldest son, the Tandan,
and a neighbour, sit on a mat spread in the middle of the house,
and formally partake of conjee and jaggery. The pula-kuli is then over.
It is a sacred duty to a deceased person who was one of importance,
for example the head of a family, to have a silver image of him
made, and arrange for it being deposited in some temple, where it
will receive its share of puja (worship), and offerings of food and
water. The new-moon day of the months Karkitakam (July-August), Tulam
(October-November), and Kumbham (February-March) is generally selected
for doing this. The temples at Tirunelli in Wynad and Tirunavayi, which
are among the oldest in Malabar, were generally the resting-places of
these images, but now some of the well-to-do deposit them much further
afield, even at Benares and Ramesvaram. A silver image is presented
to the local Siva temple, where, for a consideration, puja is done
every new-moon day. On each of these days, mantrams are supposed to
be repeated a thousand times. When the image has been the object of
these mantrams sixteen thousand times, it is supposed to have become
eligible for final deposit in a temple. It is this image which rests
in the temple at Tirunavayi, or elsewhere.
An annual sradh ceremony is performed for the sake of the spirit
of the deceased, at which crows are fed in the manner already
described, and relations are fed. On the night of this day, some
sweetmeats or cakes, such as the deceased was fond of during life,
are offered to the spirit. A lamp is placed on a stool, and lighted
in the middle room of the house, with a kindi of water and a young
cocoanut near it. The cakes or sweetmeats are placed in front of the
stool. Children sprinkle rice over it, and the door is shut for a
quarter of an hour. The individual who feeds the crows should partake
of only one meal, without fish or flesh, on the previous day. Another
ceremony, which is necessary for the repose of the dead, is called
badha-velichatu-variethal, or bringing out the spirit. It cannot be
performed until at least a year after death, for during that period
the spirit is in a sort of purgatory. After that, it may be invoked,
and it will answer questions. The ceremony resembles the nelikala
pregnancy ceremony. The performers are Panans or washermen. Some little
girls are seated in front of a booth in the yard. The celebrant of
the rite sings, invoking the spirit of the deceased. Late at night,
one of the girls becomes possessed by the spirit, and, it is said,
talks and acts just like the deceased, calling the children, relations
and friends by name, talking of the past, and giving commands for the
future conduct of the living members of the family. After this, the
spirit is severed from earthly trammels, and attains heavenly bliss.
The wood used for the purpose of cremation is that of a mango tree,
which must be cut down after the death. A little sandalwood and
cuscus (grass) roots are sometimes added to the pyre. In these days,
when the important and interesting features of ceremonial are fast
disappearing, it is not surprising that dried cakes of cow-dung are
superseding the mango wood.
Among other ceremonies, there is one called kutti puja, which is
performed when a newly built house is taken charge of. Vastu Purusha
is the name of the supreme being which, lying on its back with
its head to the north-east and legs to the south-west, supports
the earth. Or rather the earth is but a small portion of this
vast body. Forests are its tiny hairs, oceans its blood-vessels,
and the wind its breath. In this body are fifty-three deities,
who are liable to disturbance when the surface of the earth is dug,
when trees are felled, foundations laid, and a house built. These
angry beings must be propitiated, or there will be untimely deaths,
poverty, and sickness among the inmates. The ceremony is performed in
the following manner. A square with fifty-three columns is made with
rice flour in the middle room of the house, and each column is filled
with yellow, red, and black powder. A plantain leaf is placed over
it, and a few measures of paddy are set on the top of the leaf. On
this is placed another leaf, with various kinds of grain, plantains,
cocoanuts, and jaggery on it. The carpenter, who is the architect
and builder of the house, then performs puja with flowers, incense
and lights, and the troublesome imp-spirit Gulikan is propitiated
with toddy and arrack, and a fowl which is decapitated for him. Then
all the workmen--carpenters, masons, and coolies--walk thrice round
the house, breaking cocoanuts on the walls and doors, and howling in
order to drive away all evil spirits which may by chance be lurking
about the place. After this, they are all fed until they cry out "We
are satisfied, and want no more." They are given cloths and other
presents, and the chief feature of the ceremony takes place. This
is the formal handing over of the house by the carpenter. He hands
it over to a third person, and never directly to the owner. It is
not always easy to find a third person who is willing to undertake
the responsibility, and who is at the same time suitable for the
Gulikan who is dispossessed of the house, and pursues him henceforth,
following him who first receives charge of the house. He should
be a man who brings luck, cheerful and contented, having a family,
and not labouring under any disorder or sickness of body. There is,
or was a few years ago, an old Nayar living not far from Calicut, who
was much sought after to fulfil the functions of third person on these
occasions, and all the houses he received prospered. The third person
is generally a poor man, who is bribed with presents of cloths, money
and rice, to undertake the job. He wears one of the new cloths during
the ceremony. When the carpenter's ceremonies have been completed,
this man is taken to the middle room of the house, and made to stand
facing the door, with each foot on a plantain leaf. Pieces of the
thatch are tied to the four corners of his cloth. He shuts the door,
opens it, and shuts it again. The carpenter calls from without, asking
him whether he has taken charge of the house. He replies evasively
"Have the carpenters and workmen received all their wages? If they
have, I take charge of the house." The carpenter does not answer the
question, for, if he did so, the mischief would be transferred to
him through the house-owner. So he says "I did not ask you about my
wages. Have you taken charge of the house?" The man inside answers
as before, adding "otherwise not." The carpenter again says "I did
not ask you about my wages. Answer me straight. Have you, or have
you not taken charge of the house?" The man inside replies "I have
taken charge of the house," and opens the door. Taking in his hands
the plantain leaves on which he stood, he runs away as fast as he can
without looking back. This he must not do on any account. The people
pelt him with plantains, and hoot at him as he runs, and water mingled
with cow-dung is sprinkled in his path. After all this, cow's milk is
boiled with a little rice in the house, of which every one partakes,
and the owner assumes charge of his house.
In the pre-British days, a few of the well-to-do families of
Tiyans lived in houses of the kind called nalapura (four houses),
having an open quadrangle in the centre. But, for the most part, the
Tiyans--slaves of the Nayars and Nambutiris--lived in a one-roomed
thatched hut. Nowadays, the kala pura usually consists of two rooms,
east and west.
Toddy-drawing, and every thing connected with the manufacture and
sale of arrack (country liquor) and unrefined sugar, form the orthodox
occupation of the Tiyan. But members of the community are to be found
in all classes of society, and in practically all professions and
walks of life. It is interesting to find that the head of a Tiyan
family in North Malabar bears the title Cherayi Panikar, conferred
on the family in the old days by a former Zamorin. A title of this
kind was given only to one specially proficient in arms. Even in
those days there were Tiyan physicians, bone-setters, astrologers,
diviners, and sorcerers.
It is easy to identify the toddy-tapper by the indurated skin of
the palms, fingers, inner side of the forearms, and the instep. The
business of toddy-tapping involves expert climbing, while carrying
a considerable paraphernalia, with no adventitious aid other than
can be got out of a soft grummet of coir to keep the feet near
together, while the hands, with the arms extended, grasp the palm
tree. The profession is rarely adopted before the age of eighteen,
but I have seen a man who said he began when he was twelve years
old. It is very hard work. A tapper can work about fifteen trees,
each of which he has to climb three times a day. In the northern
districts of the Madras Presidency, among the Telugu population,
the toddy-drawers use a ladder about eight or nine feet in length,
which is placed against the tree, to avoid climbing a third or a
fourth of it. While in the act of climbing up or down, they make use
of a wide band, which is passed round the body at the small of the
back, and round the tree. This band is easily fastened with a toggle
and eye. The back is protected by a piece of thick soft leather. It
gives great assistance in climbing, which it makes easy. All over the
southernmost portion of the peninsula, among the Shanans and Tiyans,
the ladder and waist-band are unknown. They climb up and down with
their hands and arms, using only the grummet on the feet. The Tiyan
toddy-tapper's equipment consists of a short-handled hatchet, about
seven inches square, of thin iron, sheathed in a wooden case, and
fastened to a waist-belt composed of several strings of coir yarn,
to which is hung a small pot of gummy substance obtained by bruising
the leaves of the aichil plant. A vessel holding a couple of gallons,
made out of the spathe of the areca palm, is used for bringing down the
toddy. Tucked into the waist-belt is a bone loaded with lead at either
end, which is used for tapping the palm to bring out the juice. A man
once refused to sell at any price one of these bones--the femur of a
sambar (Cervus unicolor), which had such virtue that, according to
its owner, it would fetch palm juice out of any tree. The garb of
the tapper at work consists of a short cloth round the loins, and
(always during the rains, and often at other times) a head-covering
somewhat pointed in shape, made of the leaves of the cocoanut palm
placed together as in a clinker-built boat, or of a rounded shape,
made out of the spathe of the areca palm. The toddy-tapper should go
through the show of reverence by touching the cocoanut tree with the
right hand, and then applying his hand to the forehead, every time
he prepares to climb a tree.
In connection with toddy-drawing, the following note occurs in
the Gazetteer of Malabar. "The tapper and the toddy shopkeeper are
generally partners, the former renting the trees, paying the tree-tax,
and selling the toddy at fixed prices to the latter. Sometimes the
shopkeeper pays both rent and tax, and the tapper is his servant paid
by the bottle. The trees are rented half yearly, and the rent varies
between Re. 1 and Re. 1-8-0 per tree. They are fit for tapping as soon
as they come into bearing, but four years later and in the succeeding
decade are most productive. They are seldom tapped for more than six
months in the year, and the process, though it shortens the life of the
tree, improves the yield of nuts in the rest of the year. The tapper's
outfit is neither costly nor elaborate. A knife in a wooden case,
a bone weighted with lead (the leg bone of a sambhur for choice),
a few pots, and two small rings of rope with which to climb complete
the tale. Operations begin when the spathe is still enclosed by its
sheath. Once a day the spathe is gently bruised on either side with
the bone, and on the third and following days a thin slice is cut
off the end twice a day. On the fifteenth day drawing begins, and the
bruising ceases. Sheath and spathe are swathed for the greater part
of their length in a thick covering of leaves or fibre; the ends are
still cut off twice or three times a day, but, after each operation,
are smeared with a paste made of leaves and water with the object, it
is said, of keeping the sap from oozing through the wound and rotting
the spathe. The leaves used for this purpose are those of the éechal or
vetti tree, which are said to be one and the same (Aporosa Lindleyana);
but in British Cochin, where the tree does not grow, backwater mud
is utilised. Round the space between the end of the sheath and the
thick covering of leaves a single leaf is bound, and through this
the sap bleeds into a pot fastened below. The pot is emptied once a
day in the morning. The yield of sap varies with the quality of the
tree and the season of the year. In the hot months the trees give
on an average about a bottle a day, in the monsoon and succeeding
months as much as three bottles. In the gardens along the backwaters,
south of Chettuvayi, Messrs. Parry & Co. consider that in a good year
they should get a daily average of three bottles or half a gallon of
toddy per tree. A bottle of toddy sells for three or four pies."
In connection with the coir industry, it is noted, in the Gazetteer of
Malabar, that "the husks of the cocoanuts are buried in pits as near
as possible to the waterline of rivers, backwaters and creeks, and
are left to soak for six months, a year, or even eighteen months--the
longer the better. The colour of the yarn, and thereby the quality,
depends very much on the water in which the husks are steeped. It
should be running water, and, if possible, fresh water. If the water
be salt, the yarn may at first be almost white, but in a damp climate
it soon becomes discoloured and blotchy. As soon as the husks are taken
out of the pits, the fibre is beaten out with short sticks by Tiyattis
(Tiyan females) and women of the Vettuvan caste. It is dried in the
sun for twelve hours, and is then ready for sale to native merchants
at Calicut and Cochin, who in their turn deal with the European
firms. The fibre is twisted into yarn by Tiyattis and other women,
and in that form the greater part of the coir made in Malabar is
exported from Cochin to all parts of the world, but chiefly to the
United Kingdom and Germany."
It has been said that "in North Malabar the preparation of coir is
a regular cottage industry of the most typical kind. Throughout the
year, wherever one goes, one hears the noise of the women hammering
out the fibre, and sees them taking, in the evening, that part of it
which they have rolled into yarn to the nearest little wayside shop,
to be exchanged for salt, chillies, paddy, etc. But, in the north of
the district, nothing of the kind goes on, and the coir is commonly
used as fuel."
It has been already stated that marumakkatayam, or inheritance through
nephews, is the invariable rule in North Malabar, being followed even
by the Muhammadan Mappillas. In South Malabar, where the Tiyans do not
observe marumakkatayam, the property devolves through the sons. All
sons share alike. Daughters have no share. The practice of polyandry,
which still exists in Malabar among the Tiyans (and other classes),
and which was probably once general, tends to prevent dispersion of the
family property. Although theoretically all sons share the property
of their father, it is the eldest son who succeeds to possession
and management of the tarwad property. The others are entitled to
maintenance only, so long as they remain in the same tarwad house. It
is the same among the Izhuvans.
Beef, as in the case of all Hindus, is forbidden as an article of
diet. The staple food is rice with fish curry. The common beverage
is conjee, but this is being supplanted by tea, coffee, lemonade,
and soda-water.
A loin-cloth, which should not reach to the knees, with a Madras
handkerchief on the shoulders, is the orthodox dress of the males,
and a double loin-cloth that of females. Women were not allowed to wear
anything above the waist, except when under death pollution. Any colour
might be worn, but white and blue are most common. A ring, composed
of hollow gold beads, called mani-kathila, is the proper ornament for
a Tiyan woman's ear. Twenty or thirty, with a pendant in the middle,
might be worn. Gold or silver bracelets could be worn. Hollow silver
bracelets were worn by girls until the birth of their first child. But
times have changed, and nowadays Tiyan women wear the ornaments which,
strictly speaking, appertain to Nayar and Brahman women. Their mode of
tying the hair, and even their dress, which is inclined to follow the
fashion of the Christians, has changed. In olden days, a Tiyan woman
could wear an ornament appropriate for a Nayar on a special occasion,
but only with the permission of the Nayar landlord, obtained through
the Tandan, on payment of a fee.