Indian Antiquary Vol 31

SR No.: 032523
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 556
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 395

SEPTEMBER, 1902.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
Collery-stick; ann. 1801: s. v. Collery-Stick, Collyrium; 8. v. Tobacco, 706, i.. 182, ii. Colobi; ann. 1430: s. v. Quilon, 570, i. Colocut; ann. 1505: s. v. Monsoon, 442, i; ann. 1506: 8. v. Sambook, 595, ii. Colocynth; 519, i, footnote.
Colles; ann. 1563: s. v. Vanjārās, 88, i, twice,. 8. v. Cooly, 192, ii; ann. 1598 8. v. Cooly, 192, ii, twice.
Coloen; ann. 1420-30: s. v. Malabar, 412, ii; ann. 1430 8. v. Quilon, 570, i.
Colliaud; ann. 1760 s. v. Swamy-house, 672, i. Collicuthiam; ann. 1430: s. v. Calicut, 113, ii. Collijs, ann. 1553: 8. v. Cooly, 192, ii. Collis; ann. 1644: 8. v. Cooly, 192, ii, twice. Collocalia linchi; s. v. Birds' Nests, 72, ii. Collocalia nidifica; 8. v. Birds' Nests, 72, ii. Collodham; ann. 1760: 8. v. Coleroon, 181, ii.
Colom; ann. 1503 s. v. Cranganore, 211, ii. Colombi; ann. 1420-30: s. v. Malabar, 412. ii; ann. 1430 8. v. Quilon, 570, i. Colombino; ann. 1343: s. v. Ginger, 287, i, 3 times.
(To be continued.)
NOTES AND QUERIES.
THE LIFE OF THE PALLIYARS.
THE Palliyår occupy a somewhat higher place in the Hindu social scale than other hill-men like Irulers, Kaninkars and Uralis who are generally looked upon with suspicion and a feeling of contempt and loathing, by the dwellers in the plains. There are only a few families of Palliyårs in the Achinkoil Valley and on the hills above British Chokkampatti, all these places being adjacent to Shenkotta, the frontier township of Travancore on the Tinnevelly side of the Western Ghats. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the Palliyars are not known to exist anywhere else in Travancore or British India.
Their origin does not point to a very remote period. It is most probable that some low-country people from Tinnevelly took refuge in the hills uring the Poligar Wars at, the end of the eighteenth century or during the stress of some famine. I lean to this theory, because when such separations from the parent stock take place, after a considerable while a new dialect gradually evolves itself, which differs perceptibly from the original language. In the case of the Palliyårs this is not so. The members of the little clan speak Tamil, and Tamil only, and with no particular accent. They account for their origin by saying that at some very remote period in the past an Eluvan -a caste which is fairly widely distributed all along the Eastern foot of the Western Ghâts, and one which differs naturally from a caste of the same name in Travancore - took
refuge during a famine in the hills, and there took to wife a Palliyar woman (Pallichi) and that the Palliyârs are descendants from these two.
However this may be, there is no doubt that the social position of the Palliyårs is just a shade
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lower than the Eluvans. The Palliyâr is permitted to enter the houses of Eluvans, Elavanians (betel-growers) and even Marcvars, and in the hills, where the rigour of the social code is relaxed to suit circumstances, the higher castes mentione? will even drink water given by Palliyars, and eat roots cooked by them.
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Their marriage ceremony is a very simple affair, and resolves itself into a presentation of a cloth to the bride, a small feast and the tying of thalt made of white beads threaded together. The alliance is terminable at will, and if there are childrer, the husband takes the boys and the wife the girls. This arrangement is rarely objected to. Girls are married soon as possible, and boys at seventeen or eighteen years of age.
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Corpses are not cremated, but buried promptly, and with little or no ceremony. Mourning, if the absence of any particular form of it can be called mourning, is over on the sixteenth day.
The Palliyårs regard sylvan deities or Bhutains with great veneration. Kurupuswami is the tribes' tutelary god, and when a great haul of wild honey is made offerings are given at some shrine. Palliyârs pretend to be followers of Siva, and always attend the Adi Amavasai ceremonies at Kuttalam (Courtallam). Intoxicating drink is common to all when it is obtained, but, curiously for hill-people, only the males smoke tobacco.
There are wandering hill-men of sorts, but the Palliyâr surpasses them all for his restlessness. Though in touch with civilisation, the Palliyars cannot point to a single village or hamlet which they can call a "home." No house shelters him in the most inclement weather. and the monsoon