Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/335

Rh Kshatriyas (Tirumulpāts) for that duty. The word Atiyōti has sometimes been derived from Atiyān, a slave or vassal, the tradition being that the Kattanat Rāja, having once been ousted from his kingdom by the Zamorin of Calicut, sought the assistance of the Rāja of Chirakkal. The latter is believed to have made the Kattanat Rāja his vassal as a condition for his territory beinof restored. The Unnittiris are not found in Travancore, their place being taken by the Unyātiris, who do not differ from them materially in any of their manners and customs. The word Unnittiri means the venerable boy, and is merely a title of dignity. The word Pantāla comes from Bhandārattil, meaning 'in or belonging to the royal treasury'. They appear to have been once the ruling chiefs of small territories. Their women are known as Kōvilammamār, i.e., the ladies of palaces or rānis. The Erāti, the Vallōti, and Netungāti are British Malabar castes, and receive their names from the localities, to which they may have been indigenous — Ernāt, Valluvanāt, and Netungānāt. The Zamorin of Calicut is an Erāti by caste. [In 1792, the Joint Commissioners wrote that 'the Cartinaad and Samoory (the principal families in point of extent of dominion) are of the Samanth or Euree (cowherd) caste.'] * Some of these Erātis, such as the Rāja of Nilambūr, are called Tirumulpāts. The only peculiarity with these Tirumulpāts is that they may tie the tāli of their women, and need not call other Tirumulpāts for the purpose, as the rest of the Sāmantas have to do. A title that several Sāmantas often take is Kartāvu (agent or doer), their females being called Koilpāts, meaning literally those who live in palaces. The Sāmantas of Manchēry and