Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/336

KOLAYAN masons. It has two endogamous sections, Āyan or Kōl-Āyan, and Māariyan or Erumān "(Erumā, a cow-buffalo). It is further noted, in the same report under the heading Erumān, that "the people of the caste were originally buffalo drivers and keepers, and still follow their traditional occupation in the Kasaragōd tāluk of South Canara. In North Malabar, they are masons and bricklayers." The masonry work of temples is done by Kōlayans.

The name Kōlayan has been said to be derived from Golla and Ayan, meaning cowherd. Golla is, however, a Telugu word not used in the Malayālam country.

Members of the two sections, Kōlayan and Erumān (or Eruvān), are said not to intermarry. Women of both sections may affect sambandham (alliance) with Nāyars. Children born of such unions are regarded as somewhat inferior to those born of Kōlayan parents, and are not allowed to worship at the temples. The priests of the Kōlayans are called Mūthavan or Poduvan, and are usually elected by Rājas. Kōlayan girls go through the mangalam or tāli-kettu ceremony before they reach puberty. On an auspicious day fixed by the Kanisan (astrologer), the girl sits on a plank in the middle room of the house, and four lamps are placed near her. Her father throws rice and flowers over her head, and ties the tāli (marriage emblem) on her neck. The girl, four women, and four girls, are fed in the middle room. On the following day, a priest (Vāthiyan) places rice, paddy (unhusked rice), tender cocoanut, betel leaves and areca nuts, before the girl. Men and women of the priest's family wave rice, cocoanuts, etc., in front of her both in the morning and afternoon. Finally, towards evening, a Vāthiyan woman waves the rice and other articles thrice, calling out