Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/240

PISHARATI of Pishārakal plus Odi, Pishārakal being more mysterious than Pishārati itself. " It is suggested by him that Pishārati is a corruption of Bhattāraka-tiruvadi. According to the Jati-nirnaya, the Bhattārakas are a community degraded from the Brāhmans during the Trētā Yūga. As far as we are able to gather from mediaeval Travancore inscriptions, an officer known as Pidara-tiruvadi was attached to every temple. It is known that he used to receive large perquisites for temple service, and that extensive rice-lands were given to the Bhattakara of Nelliyur. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that "the traditional etymology of the name Pishārodi refers it to a Sanyāsi novice, who, deterred by the prospects of the hardship of life on which he was about to enter, ran away (odi) at the last moment, after he had been divested of the pūnūl (thread), but before he had performed the final ceremony of plunging thrice in a tank (pond), and of plucking out, one at each plunge, the last three hairs of his kudumi (the rest of which had been shaved off). But the termination 'Odi' is found in other caste titles such as Adiyōdi and Vallōdi, and the definition is obviously fanciful, while it does not explain the meaning of Pishār." The houses of Pishāratis are called pishāram. Their primary occupation is to prepare garlands of flowers for Vaishnava temples, but they frequently undertake the talikazhakam or sweeping service in temples. Being learned men, and good Sanskrit scholars, they are employed as Sanskrit and Malayālam tutors in the families of those of high rank, and, in consequence, make free use of the title Asan. They are strict Vaishnavites, and the ashtākshara, or eight letters relating to Vishnu, as opposed to the panchākshara or five letters relating to Siva, forms their daily hymn of