Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/418

SERVAI old house-name Picchi Kaya (water-melon: Citrullus vulgaris) has been changed to Desimarada, and eating the melon is tabu. A list of the house-names and gōtras is kept by the headman for reference. The Conjeeveram Sēniyans are Lingayats, but are not so strict as the Canarese Lingāyats. Jangams are respected, but rank after their own stone lingams. In the observance of death rites, a staunch Lingāyat should not bathe, and must partake of the food offered to the corpse. These customs are not observed by the Sēniyans. Until quite recently, a man might tie a tāli (marriage badge) secretly on a girl's neck, with the consent of the head-man and his relatives, and the girl could then be given in marriage to no other man. This custom is said to have been very common, especially in the case of a man's maternal uncle's or paternal aunt's daughter. At Conjeeveram it was extended to girls not so related, and a caste council was held, at which an agreement was drawn up that the secret tāli-tying was forbidden, and, if performed, was not to be regarded as binding. The priest of the Conjeeveram Sēniyans is a Vellāla Pandāram, who is the head of the Tirugnāna Sambanda Murti mutt (religious institution) at Conjeeveram.  Sērvai.— Sērvai, meaning service, has been recorded as the title of Agamudaiyans and Valaiyans. Sērvaikāran or Sērvaigāran (captain or commander) is the title of Agamudaiyan, Ambalakāran, Kallan, Maravan, and Parivāram. It further occurs as the name for a headman among the Vallambans, and it has been adopted as a false caste name by some criminal Koravas in the south.  '''Servēgāra. —'''The Servēgāras are a caste found in South Canara, and to a small extent in Bellary. " They are said to be a branch of the Konkan Marāthis of Goa, 