Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/424

SHANAN can be inferred from them, whatever their meaning may be shown to be. Brāhmans, for example, appear to have borne the titles of Pillai and Mudali, which are now only used by Sūdras, and the Nāyak kings, on the other hand, called themselves Aiyar, which is now exclusively the title of Saivite Brāhmans. To this day the cultivating Vellālas, the weaving Kaikōlars, and the semi-civilised hill tribe of the Jātapus use equally the title of Mudali, and the Balijas and Telagas call themselves Rao, which is properly the title of Mahrātta Brāhmans. Regarding the derivation of the words Shānān, Nādān and Grāmani, much ingenuity has been exercised. Shānān is not found in the earlier Tamil literature at all. In the inscriptions of Rājarāja Chōla (A.D. 984-1013) toddy-drawers are referred to as Īluvans. According to Pingalandai, a dictionary of the 10th or 11th century, the names of the toddy-drawer castes are Palaiyar, Tuvasar, and Paduvar. To these the Chudamani Nikandu, a Tamil dictionary of the 16th century, adds Saundigar. Apparently, therefore, the Sanskrit word Saundigar must have been introduced (probably by the Brāhmans) between the 11th and 16th centuries, and is a Sanskrit rendering of the word Īluvan. From Saundigar to Shānān is not a long step in the corruption of words. The Shānāns say that Shānān is derived from the Tamil word Sānrār or Sānrōr, which means the learned or the noble. But it does not appear that the Shānāns were ever called Sānrār or Sānrōr in any of the Tamil works. The two words Nādān and Grāmani mean the same thing, namely, ruler of a country or of a village, the former being a Tamil, and the latter a Sanskrit word. Nādān, on the other hand, means a man who lives in the country, as opposed to Ūrān, the man who resides in a village. The title of the caste is