Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/242

NAMBUTIRI BRAHMAN by infliction of penance, fasting, or doing special pūja to the gods. Graver offences are dealt with by excommunication from the caste. Against the decision of the Smarta there is no appeal. Adultery between a Nambūtiri woman and a man of inferior caste is perhaps the most serious of all caste offences. The enquiry into cases of adultery is described as follows by Mr. Subramani Aiyar. "It is conducted by the Smarta, and hence arises the name (smartavichāram) by which it is known. Whenever a Nambūtiri woman's chastity is suspected, she is at once handed over to society for enquiry, no considerations of personal affection or public policy intervening. The mother or brother may be the first and only spectator of a shady act, but feels no less bound to invite, and generally pay very heavily for a public enquiry by society according to its recognised rules. The suspect is at once transferred to an isolation shed in the same compound, variously called by the name of anchampura or fifth room (outside the nalukettu or quadrangle), or the pachchōlappura, a new shed with green thatch roofing put up for the occasion. She may be seen here by her husband, his father and uncles, her father, father's father, father's maternal grandfather, and their sons, but by none else. Once a prohibited member sees her, the brand of infamy indubitably settles on her, and the smārtavichāram is considered foreclosed. For beginning a smārtavichāram, the sanction of the ruling Rāja has to be obtained. The matter is carried to his ears, after a preliminary enquiry, called dāsivichāram, has been gone through. For this, the woman's male relations, in conjunction with the Brāhmans of the neighbourhood, interrogate the Dāsi or Nāyar maid-servant attached to the suspected woman. Along with the application for