CASTES AND TRIBES OF SOUTHERN INDIA
EDGAR THURSTON, C.I.E.,
Superintendent, Madras Government Museum ; Correspondant Etranger,
Soci6t d'Anthropologie de Paris ; Socio Corrispondante,
Societa Romana di Anthropologia.
ASSISTED BY
K. RANGACHARI, M.A.,
of the Madras Government Museum.
VOLUME V M TO P
GOVERNMENT PRESS, MADRAS
1909.
Nangudi Vellala. The so-called Nangudi Vellalas, or Sevalai Pillais, are found inhabiting several villages in the Tinnevelly district, and differ from other Vellalas in several important points. They say that they are Kottai (fort) Vellalas, who have given up the custom of living within a fort. Nangudi women are not allowed to enter the fort at Srivaiguntam, wherein the Kottai Vellalas live. Within the last few years, marriages are said to have taken place between members of the two communities.
The Nangudis have exogamous septs or kilais, named for the most part after persons or deities, which, like the septs of the Maravans, run in the female line. The hereditary caste headman is called Pattaththu Pillai. In olden times, members who disobeyed him were made to run through the streets with a rotten tender cocoanut tied to the kudumi (hair knot), while a man ran behind, applying a tamarind switch to the back.
The consent of a girl's maternal uncle and his wife is necessary, before she can marry. The aunt's consent is signified by touching the tali (marriage badge) on the wedding day. The uncle keeps a light, called ayira panthi, burning until the time for tying the tali. A quarter measure of rice is tied up in a cloth, and the knot converted into a wick, which is fed with ghi (clarified butter).
The news of a death in the community is conveyed by the barber. Before the removal of the corpse, all close relations, and at least one pair of Nangudis from every village, must come to the house. Absence on this occasion is considered as a very grave insult. On the second day after death, an Amarantus, called arakkirai, must be cooked.
A special feature in connection with inheritance is that a man should give his daughters some property, and every daughter must be given a house. The husbands have to live in their wives' houses. The property which a woman receives from her father becomes eventually the property of her daughters, and her sons have no claim to it. Sons inherit the property of the father in the usual manner.
Like the Kondaikatti Vellalas, the Nangudis claim that they had the right of placing the crown on the head of the Pandyan kings. In the village of Korkai, there is a tank (pond) called Kannimar Jonai, because celestial maidens used to bathe there. When one Agni Maha Rishi was doing penance, three of the celestial maidens are said to have come to bathe. The Rishi fell in love with them, and eventually three sons were born. These children were brought up by the Vellalas of Korkai at the request of the Rishi, who represented that they were likely to become kings. According to the legend, they became Chera, Chola, and Pandya kings.
