Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/222

KANIYAN Others. It must be written on the same plate as the other yantram. Sūlini. — For protection against sorcery or devils, and to secure the aid of the goddess. Māha Sūlini. — To prevent all kinds of harm through the devils, chief of whom is Pulatini, he who eats infants. Women wear it to avert miscarriage, Ganapati. — To increase knowledge, and put away fear and shyness. Sarasvati. — To enable its possessor to please his listeners, and increase his knowledge. Santāna gopalam. — As a whole it represents Sri Krishna. Used by barren women, so that they may bear children. It may be traced on a metal plate and worn in the usual way, or on a slab of butter, which is eaten. When the latter method is adopted, it is repeated on forty-one consecutive days, during which the woman, as well as the Panikkar, may not have sexual connection.

Navva. — Drawn in ashes of cow-dung on a new cloth, and tied round the waist. It relieves a woman in labour. Asvarūdha (to climb a horse). — A person wearing it is able to cover long distances easily on horseback, and he can make the most refractory horse amenable by tying it round its neck. It will also help to cure cattle. "The charms," Mr. Fawcett explains, "are entirely inoperative, unless accompanied in the first place with the mystic rite, which is the secret of the Panikkar." Many Kaniyans used formerly to be village school-masters, but, with the abolition of the old methods of teaching, their number is steadily decreasing. Some of them are clever physicians. Those who have no pretension to learning live by making palm-leaf umbrellas, which gives occupation to the women. But the industry