Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/370

VANUVAN Vanuvan.— A name assumed by Vāniyans who have abandoned their hereditary occupation of oil-pressing, and taken to trade in grain and other articles.  '''Vārakurup. —''' Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a title of Malayālam Paravans.  Varige (millet). — An exogamous sept of Kāpu.  Vāriyar.— For the following note on the Vāriyar section of the Ambalavāsis, I am indebted to Mr.N. Subramani Aiyar. The name is believed to be derived from Parasava, which, according to Yajnavalkya and other law-givers, is the name given to the son of a Brāhman begotten on a Sūdra woman, and suggests the fact that the Vāriyar is no Brāhman, though the blood of the latter may course through his veins, and though such marriages were regarded as sacraments in early days. This is the derivation given by Pachumuttalu in his Kēralavisēshamāhātmya, who adds that the chief occupation of the Vāriyars is to sweep the floor of the temples. In some of the Asauchavidhis (works on pollution) of Kērala, the commentator explains the word Parasava as Vāriya. Many Vāriyars add the title Parasava to their name, when writing in Sanskrit. Some derive the word from varija or one born of water, in accordance with a tradition that Parasurāma created from water a class of persons for special service in temples, and to take the place of Sūdras, who, being meat-eaters, were ineligible for the same. Others again, like the late Professor Sundaram Pillay, would take Vāriyar as being derived from varuka, to sweep. Recently, some ingenuity has been displayed in splitting the word into two words, giving it a meaning equivalent to pseudo- Aryan. The title Asan, or teacher, is possessed by certain families, whose members have held the hereditary position of tutors in noblemen's houses. In 