Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/250

NAMBUTIRI BRAHMAN Tantri Ādhya, the title Nambūtiri is added to his name. Again, if there are in a house two Nambūtiris, one of them being the father and the other the son, the father, whenever he writes, subscribes himself as the Achchan Nambūtiri or father Nambūtiri, while the son subscribes himself as the Makan or son Nambūtiri, In Malabar there were two poets called Venmani Achchan Nambūtiri and Venmani Makan Nambūtiri, venmani signifying the name of the illam. It is only in documents and other serious papers that the proper name or sarman of the Nambūtiri would be found mentioned." When addressing each other, Nambūtiris use the names of their respective illams or manas. When a Nambūtiri is talking with a Nāyar, or indeed with one of any other caste, the manner in which the conversation must be carried on, strictly according to custom, is such that the Nambūtiri's superiority is apparent at every turn. Thus, a Nāyar, addressing a Nambūtiri, must speak of himself as foot-servant. If he mentions his rice, he must not call it rice, but his gritty rice. Rupees must be called his copper coins, not his rupees. He must call his house his dung-pit. He must speak of the Nambūtiri's rice as his raw rice, his coppers as rupees, and his house as his illam or mana. The Nāyar must not call his cloth a cloth, but an old cloth or a spider's web. But the Nambūtiri's cloth is to be called his daily white cloth, or his superior cloth. The Nāyar, speaking of his bathing, says that he drenches himself with water, whereas the Nambūtiri sports in the water when he bathes. Should he speak of eating or drinking, the Nāyar must say of himself that he takes food, or treats himself to the water in which rice has been washed. But, should he speak of the Nambūtiri eating, he must say that he tastes ambrosia. The Nāyar calls his sleeping