Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/480

BRAHMAN and the only means of effecting a settlement of the dispute is to ascertain how the idol itself is marked, whether as favouring the Vadakalai or Tenkalai. But this has been found hitherto impossible, I am told, for instance at Conjeveram itself, the head-quarters of these disputes, owing to the unreliable and contradictory-character of the evidence produced in the Courts."

The Hebbar and Mandya sections belong to the Mysore Province, in which the former are very numerous. The latter are few in number, and confined to Mandya and Melkōte. Some families have settled in the city of Madras, where they are employed as merchants, bank clerks, attorneys, etc.

The Mandyas say that they migrated to Mysore from some place near Tirupati. Though both the Hebbar and Mandya Brāhmans speak Tamil, some details peculiar to Carnatakas are included in the marriage ceremonial.

The Vaishnava Shōliars are considered somewhat low in the social scale. Intermarriage takes place between Smartha and Vaishnavite Shōliars. The Vaikhānasas and Pāncharatras are temple priests (archakas). Both use as their title Dīkshitar. Sometimes they are called Nambi, but this term is more used to denote Sātāni temple servants. Reference may here be made to the Pattar Brāhmans, who are Tamil Brāhmans, who have settled in Malabar.The name is said to be derived from the Sanskrit bhatta. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that " the Pattars present no peculiarities distinguishing them from the ordinary East Coast Brahmans. Like the latter, they engage in trade and business, and form a large proportion of the official, legal, and scholastic classes. With the exception of one class known as Chōzhiya