Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/72

PANIKKAR the Tamil Vallambans, and Pāndu as a Tamil synonym for Kāpu or Reddi.  Panikkar.— Panikkar, meaning teacher or worker, has been recorded, in the Malayālam country, as a title of barbers, Kammālan, Mārān, Nāyar, Pānān, and Paraiyan. In former times, the name was applied, in Malabar, to fencing-masters, as the following quotations show: — 1518. "And there are very skilful men who teach this art (fencing), and they are called Panicars." — Barbosa.

1553. "And when the Naire comes to the age of 7 years, he is obliged to go to the fencing-school, the master of which (whom they call Panical) they regard as a father, on account of the instruction he gives them." — Barros.

1583. "The maisters which teach them be graduates in the weapons which they teach, and they be called in their language Panycaes." — Castaneda.

A class of people called Panikkan are settled in the Madura and Tinnevelly districts. Some of them are barbers to Shānāns. Others have taken to weaving as a profession, and will not intermarry with those who are employed as barbers. "The Panikkans are," Mr. Francis writes,* "weavers, agriculturists, and traders. They employ Brāhmans as priests, but these are apparently not received on terms of equality by other Brāhmans. The Panikkans now frequently call themselves Illam Vellālas, and change their title in deeds and official papers from Panikkan to Pillai. They are also taking to wearing the sacred thread and giving up eating meat. The caste is divided into three vagais or endogamous classes, namely, Mitāl, Pattanam, and Malayālam, and 