Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/99

Rh Outsiders are theoretically not received into the caste, but a weaver caste boy and girl who were starving (in the famine of 1877, as far as I can make out), and deserted on the hills, were adopted, and, when they grew up, were allowed the full privileges of the caste. Since then, a 'Thotiya Naicker ' child was similarly adopted, and is now a full-blown Muduvar with a Muduvar wife. On similar occasions, adoptions from similar or higher castes might take place, but the adoption of Pariahs or low-caste people would be quite impossible. In a lecture delivered some years ago by Mr. O. H. Bensley, it was stated that the Muduvars permit the entry of members of the Vellāla caste into their community, but insist upon a considerable period of probation before finally admitting the would-be Muduvar into their ranks.

If any dispute arises in the community, it is referred to the men of the village, who form an informal panchāyat (council), with the eldest or most influential man at its head. References are sometimes, but only seldom, made to the Mūppen, a sort of sub-headman of the tribe, except, perhaps, in the particular village in which he resides. The office of both Mūppen and Mēl Vāken is hereditary, and follows the marumakkatāyam custom, i.e., descent to the eldest son of the eldest sister. The orders of the panchāyat, or of the headman, are not enforceable by any specified means. A sort of sending a delinquent to Coventry exists, but falls through when the matter has blown over. Adjudications only occur at the request of the parties concerned, or in the case of cohabitation between the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, when, on it becoming known, the guilty pair are banished to the jungle, but seem nevertheless to be able to visit the village at will. When disputes between