Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/349

Rh pots of ordinary families may be placed in their houses, but those of the Umbalakārans and Servaikārans must be taken to the temple as representing the deity. Into these pots the flower spikes should be placed by some respected elder of the community. A week later, a small quantity of rice liquor is poured into other pots, which are carried by women to the temple car, round which they go three times. They then throw the liquor into a tank or pond. The pots of the Umbalakāran and Servaikāran must be carried by young virgins, or grown-up women who are not under menstrual pollution. One of the women who carries these pots usually becomes possessed by the village deity. At the time of the festival, cradles, horses, human figures, elephants, etc., made by the potter, are brought to the temple as votive offerings to the god.  Valli Ammai Kuttam.— A synonym of the Koravas, meaning followers of Valli Ammai, the wife of the God Subrahmanya, whom they claim to have been a Korava woman.  Vallōdi.— The name denotes a settlement in the Valluvanād tāluk of Malabar, and has been returned as a sub-division of Nāyar and Sāmantan, to which the Rāja of Valluvanād belongs.  Valluvan.— The Valluvans are summed up by Mr. H. A. Stuart* as being "the priests of the Paraiyans and Pallans. Tiruvalluvar, the famous Tamil poet, author of the Kurāl, belonged to this caste, which is usually regarded as a sub-division of Paraiyans. It appears that the Valluvans were priests to the Pallava kings before the introduction of the Brāhmans, and even for some time after it † In an unpublished Vatteluttu 