Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/513

Rh '''Palissa (shield) Kollan. —''' A class of Kollans in Malabar, who make leather shields. It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that, at the tāli-kettu ceremony, "the girl and manavālan (bridegroom) go to the tank on the last day of the ceremony. The girl, standing in the tank, ducks her whole body under water thrice. As she does so for the third time, a pāndibali or triangular platter made of cocoanut fronds and pieces of plantain stem and leaf plaited together and adorned with five lighted wicks, is thrown over her into the water, and cut in half as it floats by an enangan, who sings a song called Kālikkakam. Lastly, the girl chops in two a cocoanut placed on the bank. She aims two blows at it, and failure to sever it with a third is considered inauspicious. Among Palissa Kollans and some other castes, the lucky dip ceremony is performed on the last day (called nālām kalyānam or fourth marriage). An enangan, drawing out the packets at random, distributes them to the manavālan, the girl, and himself in turn. It is lucky for the manavālan to get the gold, and the girl the silver. A significant finish to the ceremony in the form of a symbolical divorce is not infrequent in South Malabar at all events. Thus, among the Palissa Kollans the manavalan takes a piece of thread from his mundu (cloth), and gives it, saying 'Here is your sister's acchāram' to the girl's brother, who breaks it in two and puffs it towards him. In other cases, the manavālan gives the girl a cloth on the first day, and cuts it in two, giving her one half on the last; or the manavālan and an enangan of the girl hold opposite ends of a cloth, which the manavālan cuts and tears in two, and then gives both pieces to the girl."  Paliyans of Madura and Tinnevelly. In a note on the Malai (hill) Paliyans of the Madura district, the 