Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/212

KANIYAN with a thatched roof over it. A lighted lamp is placed at all times on the platform, and in front of it astrological calculations and predictions are made, for it is believed that those who made such calculations there will have the aid of the spirit of their dead Brāhman ancestor, who was so learned in the science that he could tell of events long past, and predict even future birth. As an instance of the last, the following incident may be given. Once the great Brāhman ascetic Vilwamangalath Swāmiyar was suffering severely from pains in the stomach, when he prayed to the divine Krishna for relief. Finding no remedy, he turned to a Brāhman friend, a Yōgi, who gave him some holy ashes, which he took, and which relieved him of the pains. He mentioned the fact to his beloved god Krishna, who, by the pious adoration of the ascetic, appeared before him, when he said that he would have three births in the world instead of one which was destined for him. With an eager desire to know what they would be, he consulted the Bhattathiripad, who said that he would be born first as a rat-snake (Zamenis mucosus), then as an ox, and thirdly as a tulsi plant (Ocimum sanctum), and that he would be along with him in these births. With great pleasure he returned home. It is also said that the astrologer himself was born as an ox, and was in this form afterwards supported by the members of his family. The incident is said to have taken place at Pazhūr, eighteen miles east of Ernakulam. The members of the family are called Pazhūr Kaniyans, and are well known throughout Malabar, Cochin and Travancore, for their predictions in astrology, and all classes of people even now resort to them for aid in predictions. The Kalari Panikkans in the northern parts of the Cochin State have a different account of the origin of the caste.