Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/132

MŪSSAD may be amply found in their manners and customs. A fresh colony of Sivadvijas is believed to have been invited to settle at Tiruvanchikkulam in Cranganore from Chidambaram by one of the Perumāls of Kērala, in connection with the establishment of Saivite temples there. They have preserved their original occupation faithfully enough down to the present day. The houses of Mūttatus are known as illams and mattams, the former being the name of all Nambūtiri houses. They are generally built beside some well known shrine, with which the inmates are professionally connected. The dress of both men and women resembles that of the Nambūtiri Brāhmans, the injunction to cover the whole of the body when they go out of doors being applicable also to the Manayammamar. Girls before marriage wear a ring and kuzal on the neck, and, on festive occasions, a palakka ring. The chuttu in the ears, and pozhutu tāli on the neck are worn only after marriage, the latter being the symbol which distinguishes married women from widows and maidens. Widows are prohibited from wearing any ornament except the chuttu. In food and drink the Mūttatus are quite like the Nambūtiris.

The Mūttatus are the custodians of the images, which they take in procession, and wash the stone steps leading to the inner sanctuary. They live by the naivedya or cooked food offering which they receive from the temple, and various other emoluments. It may be noted that one of the causes of their degradation was the partaking of this food, which Brāhmans took care not to do. The Mūttatus are generally well-read in Sanskrit, and study astrology, medicine, and sorcery. The social government of the Mūttatus rests wholly with the Nambūtiris, who enforce the smartavicharam or enquiry into a