Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/460

MALAYALI eldest son (Periyanan), whose name was Sadaya Kavundan, selecting the Shevaroys in Salem, the second son (Naduvanan, the middle brother) the Pachaimalais, and the youngest (Chinnanan) the Kollaimalais. They married women of the country, Periyanan taking a Kaikōlan, Naduvanan a Vēdan, and Chinnanan a 'Dēva Indra' Pallan. They gave their sister in marriage to a Tottiyan stranger, in exchange for some food supplied by him after their battle with the men of the country. Some curious customs survive, which are pointed to in support of this story. Thus, the women of the Pachaimalai Malaiyālis put aside a portion of each meal in honour of their Vēdan ancestors before serving their husbands, and, at their marriages, they wear a comb, which is said to have been a characteristic ornament of the Vēdans. Bridegrooms place a sword and an arrow in the marriage booth, to typify the hunting habits of the Vēdans, and their own conquest of the country. The Malaiyālis of the Kollaimalais are addressed by Pallan women as brother-in-law (macchān), though the Malaiyālis do not relish this. It is also said that Tottiyan men regard Malaiyālis as their brothers-in-law, and always treat them kindly, and that the Tottiyan women regard the Malaiyālis as their brothers, but treat them very coldly, in remembrance of their having sold their sister 'for a mess of pottage.' "

The account, which the Malaiālis of the Javādi hills in North Arcot give of their origin, is as follows.* "In S.S. 1055 {1132 A.D.) some of the Vēdars of Kangundi asked that wives should be given them by the Karaikkāt Vellālas of Conjeeveram, They were scornfully refused, and in anger kidnapped seven young Vellāla maidens,