Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/54

KAIKOLAN curious ceremony, in which the planting of a bamboo post takes part. From the top of this pole the Mahānāttan pronounces his decision, which must be acquiesced in on pain of excommunication." From information gathered at Conjeeveram, I learn that there is attached to the Kaikōlans a class of mendicants called Nattukattāda Nāyanmar. The name means the Nāyanmar who do not plant, in reference to the fact that, when performing, they fix their bamboo pole to the gōpuram of a temple, instead of planting it in the ground. They are expected to travel about the country, and, if a caste dispute requires settlement, a council meeting is convened, at which they must be present as the representatives of the Mahānādu, a chief Kaikōlan head-quarters at Conjeeveram. If the dispute is a complicated one, the Nattukattāda Nāyanmar goes to all the Kaikōlan houses, and makes a red mark with laterite * on the cloth in the loom, saying " Āndvarānai," as signifying that it is done by order of the headman. The Kaikōlans may, after this, not go on with their work until the dispute is settled, for the trial of which a day is fixed. The Nattukattāda Nāyanmars set up on a gōpuram their pole, which should have seventy-two internodes, and measure at least as many feet. The number of internodes corresponds to that of the nādus into which the Kaikōlan community is divided. Kamātchiamma is worshipped, and the Nattukattāda Nāyanmars climb up the pole, and perform various feats. Finally, the principal actor balances a young child in a tray on a bamboo, and, letting go of the bamboo, catches the falling child. The origin of the performance is said to have been as follows. The demon Sūran was troubling the Dēvas and men, and was