Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/248

UDAIYAN kāni or sept to which the family belongs, and the child is usually taken to that village to be named. Marriage is infant or adult. Widow marriage is forbidden. Brāhmans are employed for ceremonies, but these are not received on terms of equality by other Brāhmans. Both cremation and burial are practised. Vellālas will eat with Nattamāns. The caste title is Udaiyān." Another title is Nayinar, which is also used by Pallis and Jains. There is a proverb " Nattumuththinal Nayinar ", i.e., when the Nattamān ripens, he is a Nayinar. At the census, 1901, some Nattamāns returned themselves as Natramiludaiyān, meaning the repository of chaste Tamil; and Ūr-Udaiyān (lord of a village) was given as their caste name. Nattamān also occurs as a sub- division of the Pallis.

Under the name Nattamādi, the Nattamāns are described in the Tanjore Manual as "peasant population. Some are ryotwari land-holders in their own right and possess large estates. The word is derived from nattam, village, and is used in three forms, Nattamakkal, Nattamar, and Nattamādi. A considerable proportion are converts to the Roman Catholic religion, and, in the neighbourhood of Vallam, there are very few who profess any other faith." In the Madura Manual, the Nattambādiyans are further described as being "usually respectable cultivators. They are said to have emigrated into the Madura country not more than about eight years ago. They are an interesting class of Tamils, in as much as very many of them have adopted the Roman Catholic faith under the leadership of the Jesuit missionaries. They are said to be a fine race physically; finer even than the Vellālans. They are also called Udaiyans, and tradition says that they came from the Toreiyur nādu or district in Tanjore, from a village called Udeiyāpāleiyam. They