Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/275

Rh Concerning the Nāttukōttai Chettis, Mr. P. R. Sundara Aiyar writes as follows.* "The first and chiefest aim of a Nāttukōttai Chetti is to make as much money as possible. He does not regard usury as a sin. As a little boy of ten or twelve, he begins to apply himself to business, learns accounts, and attends the shop of his father. As soon as he marries, his father gives him a separate home, or rather compels him to live separately, though often in the same house as his parents. This makes him self-reliant, and produces in him a desire to save as much money as possible. He is given a certain allowance out of the paternal estate, but, if he spends more, he is debited with the excess amount. Every one consequently tries to increase his stock of individual savings. Even the women earn money in a variety of ways. Every rupee saved is laid out at as high a rate of interest as possible. It is commonly stated that a rupee, laid out at the birth of a child at compound interest at 12 per cent., will amount to a lakh of rupees by the time he attains the age of a hundred. The habits of a Nāttukōttai Chetti are very simple, and his living is very cheap, even when he is rich. So strict are the Chettis in pecuniary matters that, if a relation visits them, he gets only his first meal free, and if he stays longer, is quietly debited with the cost of his stay."

The Nāttukōttai Chettis † are said to employ Kammālans, Valaiyans, Kallans, and Vallambans as their cooks. They are permitted to enter the interior of Hindu temples, and approach near to the innermost doorway of the central shrine. This privilege is doubtless accorded to them owing to the large sums of money