Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/404

SEKKAN them to keep their measures inverted by hanging them on pegs, so that they will drain without being turned upside down. The case illustrates well how important a knowledge of the superstitions of the people is in the administration of their affairs. The Segidis do not draw the liquor from the palm-tree themselves, but purchase it from the toddy-drawing castes, the Yātas and Gamallas.

They have a caste headman, called Kulampedda, who settles disputes with the assistance of a council. Like other Telugu castes, they have intipērulu or house names, which are strictly exogamous. Girls are married either before or after puberty. The custom of mēnarikam is practiced, in accordance with which a man marries his maternal aunt's daughter. A Brāhman officiates at marriages, except the remarriage of widows. When a widow is remarried, the caste-men assemble, and the Kulampedda ties the sathamānam (marriage badge) on the bride's neck. The dead are usually cremated, and the washerman of the village assists the chief mourner in igniting the pyre. A Sātāni conducts the funeral ceremonies. The Segidis worship various village deities, and pērantālammas, or women who killed themselves during their husbands' lives or on their death. The more well-to-do members of the caste take the title Anna.  Sekkān (oil-man). — A synonym of Vāniyan.  Sembadavan.— The Sembadavans are the fishermen of the Tamil country, who carry on their calling in freshwater tanks (ponds), lakes and rivers, and never in the sea. Some of them are ferrymen, and the name has been derived from sem (good), padavan (boatmen). A legend runs to the effect that the goddess 