Indian Antiquary Vol 61

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 220

196
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[OCTOBER, 1932
customs, retain patrilineal succession and the bride-price, as befits the scions of the preKottayam rulers of the Wynad. So, too, do the Paniyarg34 and Urali Kurumbars; like other pre-Dravidian communities in S. India.
The land tenure of the Wynad is also modelled on that of Malabar, the perplexing privileges of overlordship (janmam), which distinguish Malabar from the rest of S. India, being recognized by the Madras Government, and even extended to non-Malayali proprietors who had no shadow of right to them.35
Of Wynad cults and shrines little of value is known. The Tirunelli temple is served by Embrândiri Brahmans of Gokarnam in N. Kanara, and managed by Mûssad936 of Malabar. The riverside Vallûr-Kávu, near Manantoddy, with its sacred carp, traces its origin to Cranganore, in Cochin State.37 The Mani-Kunnu shrine (near Kalpatta in S. Wynad) is served by a Nambûdri of Calicut.38
There is, however, reason to believe that these cults, in their present form, have been superimposed on something older. The Tirunelli shrine, for instance, is sacred to Vishnu ; and it was so in the days of Bhaskara Ravivarman. But one of his grants imposes penalties on any local chief who may thereafter offer sacrifice without employing Brahman priests. This implies that at one time the cult was not Brahmanic. Moreover, not far from the Vishnu temple is a small cave temple, sacred to Siva, of very archaic type, which suggests & Jain or Buddhist origin and to which local tradition assigns a far older date.39 At VallûrKavu, again at the annual festival, the Paniyars are allowed liberties which they dare not take in ordinary life; they are free to jostle people of all castes and, it is said, they are the first to be fed from the boiled rice offerings.
In social matters Brahman influence seems notably rare. Only the Chettis are reported as employing Brahmans in domestic ceremonies; in the case of the Edanadans the officiant is a Vaishnava Brahman of S. Mysore. The Uridavans and Tên Kurumbarso appear to be under the spiritual authority of Vira-Saivas, the Pathiyans1 under Jains.
The other communities are governed by headmen or councils of their kinsmen, the appointment being controlled with some by election with others by heredity, while the tribal officers of Paniyan and Adiyan serfs are nominated by their Malayali overlord. The council of the Wynadan Chettis consists of the heads of five families, each representing & definite territorial area under an arrangement prescribed by the Kottayam Raja. IV. Conclusion.
It is difficult to conceive that a tract so derelict as the Wynad was once a centre of thriv. ing civilization. Cession to the British brought no luck. The 'Pytchy' Raja again rebelled and was not brought to book till 1805. Another rebellion followed in 1812, when his ex. retainers, the virile Kuricchans and Kurumbars, were required to pay revenue in cash instead of in kind. Then in the forties came the coffee boom, and the Wynad, for a time, enjoyed prosperity. But within a generation blight, bug, and borer broke it, and thousands of coffee estates relapsed to jungle. The gold boom of the eighties fared even worse. Parts of the Wynad are thick with ancient workings and in 1880 an effort was made to revive this industry.
34 On this point Mr. Gopalan Nair has slipped (p. 101). The Nilgiri Gazetteer (p. 160) says they are patrilineal and Mr. Cammiade has no hesitation in confirming this.
86 See Nilgiri Gazetteer, p. 280. 36 Temple servants of quasi-Brahmanic status ; Malabar Gazettcer, p. 108. Cf. Nair, pp. 115 mq. 87 Nair, p. 123. 38 Nair, p. 132.
30 So Mr. Cammiade, who adds that the Malay Alis claim Tirunelli as the true source of the sacred Cauvery, while the Mysoreans locate the true source in Coorg.
40 Nair, p. 87, Thurston, IV, 161. 41 Nair, p. 85.