Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/191

Rh conducts their ceremonies. Their titles are Maniyagāran and Sērvaigāran. The latter is also used by the Agamudaiyans."

The title Sērvaigāran or Sērvaikāran indicates that members of the caste do servai, or service, and the further title ūliyakkāran is a sign that they do ūliyam, or menial work. Sērvaikāran is also a title of the Tamil Ambalakārans, Agamudaiyans, Kallans, and Maravans, and the Canarese Toreyas, some of whom have settled in the Tamil districts of Madura and Coimbatore. It also occurs as a synonym of the Canarese Kōtēgaras. The illegitimate offspring of Maravans, Kallans, and Agamudaiyans, are said to become members of the mixed Parivāram caste.

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that the Parivāram caste "is divided into two endogamous sections; the Chinna Ūliyam (little services) who are palanquin-bearers, and have the title Tēvan, and the Periya Ūliyam (big services), who are called Maniyakāran. The Kōmbai Parivārams, who are the servants of the Kāppiliyan Zamindars of Kōmbai and Tēvāram in the Periyakulam tāluk, are a separate community, and do not intermarry with the others. When a girl attains maturity, she is kept for sixteen days in a hut, which is guarded at night by her relations. This is afterwards burnt down, and the pots she used are broken into very small pieces, as there is an idea that, if rain-water collects in any of them, the girl will be childless. Some of the ceremonies at weddings are unusual. On the first day, a man takes a big pot of water with a smaller empty pot on top of it, and marches three times round the open space in front of the bride's house. With him march the happy couple carrying a bamboo, to which are tied in a turmeric-coloured cloth