Volume 2 — C (continued 2)

At the census, 1871, some of the less fortunate traders returned themselves as “bankrupt Chettis.”

The following castes and tribes are recorded as having assumed the title Chetti, or its equivalent Setti:—

Balija. Telugu trading caste.

Bant. Tulu cultivating caste.

Bilimagga, Dēvānga, Patnūlkāran, Sāliyan, Sēdan, Seniyan. All weaving classes.

Dhōbi. Oriya washermen.

Gāniga. Oil pressers.

Gamalla. Telugu toddy-drawers.

Gauda. Canarese cultivators.

Gudigar. Canarese wood-carvers.

Jain.

Janappan. Said to have been originally a section of the Balijas, and manufacturers of gunny-bags.

Kavarai. Tamil equivalent of Balija.

Kōmati. Telugu traders.

Koracha. A nomad tribe.

Kudumi. A Travancore caste, which does service in the houses of Konkani Brāhmans.

Mandādan Chetti.

Mēdara. Telugu cane splitters and mat makers.

Nāyar. Occupational title of some Nāyars of Malabar.

Pattanavan. Tamil fishermen.

Pattapu. Fishermen in the Telugu country.

Sēnaikkudaiyān. Tamil betel-vine growers and traders.

Shānān. The great toddy-drawing class of the Tamil country.

Sonar. Goldsmiths.

Toreya. Canarese fishermen.

Uppiliyan. Salt-workers. Some style themselves Karpura (camphor) Chetti, because they used to manufacture camphor.

Vāniyan. Tamil oil-pressers.

Wynaadan Chetti.

He who thinks before he acts is a Chetti, but he who acts without thinking is a fool.

When the Chetti dies, his affairs will become public.

She keeps house like a merchant caste woman, i.e., economically.

Though ruined, a Chetti is a Chetti, and, though torn, silk is still silk.

The Chetti reduced the amount of advance, and the weaver the quantity of silk in the border of the cloth.

From his birth a Chetti is at enmity with agriculture.

Chevvula (ears).—An exogamous sept of Bōya and Golla.

Cheyyakkāran.—A Malayālam form of the Canarese Servēgāra.

Chikala (broom).—An exogamous sept of Tōttiyan.

Chikka (small).—A sub-division of Kurni.

Chikkudu (Dolichos Lablab).—An exogamous sept of Mūka Dora.

Chilakala (paroquet).—An exogamous sept of Bōya, Kāpu and Yānādi.

Chilla (Strychnos potatorum: clearing-nut tree).—An exogamous sept of Kuruba, and sub-division of Tōttiyan.

Chīmala (ant).—An exogamous sept of Bōya and Tsākala.

Chimpiga (tailor).—Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a Lingāyat sub-caste of Rangāri. In the Mysore Census Report, 1901, Darjis are classified as follows:—”(1) Darji, Chippiga, or Namdev; (2) Rangāre.” The first three, known by the collective name of Darji, are professional tailors, while the Rangāres are also dyers and calico printers.

Chimpiri (rags).—An exogamous sept of Bōya.

Chinērigādu.—A class of mendicants connected with the Padma Sālēs. (See Dēvānga.)

Chinda.—Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a small caste of Oriya cultivators in Ganjam and Vizagapatam.

Chinese-Tamil Cross.—Halting in the course of an anthropological expedition on the western side of the Nīlgiri plateau, I came across a small settlement of Chinese, who have squatted for some time on the slopes of the hills between Naduvatam and Gudalūr and developed, as the result of alliances with Tamil Pariah women, into a colony, earning a modest livelihood by cultivating vegetables and coffee.

The measurements of a single family are recorded in the following table:—

Cephalic length. Cephalic breadth. Cephalic index. Nasal length. Nasal breadth. Nasal index.

Tamil Paraiyan. Mother of children. 18.1 13.9 76.8 4.7 3.7 78.7

Chinese Father of children. 18.6 14.6 78.5 5.3 3.8 71.7

Chinese-Tamil Girl, aged 18 17.6 14.1 80.1 4.7 3.2 68.1

Chinese-Tamil Boy, aged 10 18.1 14.3 79 4.6 3.3 71.7

Chinese-Tamil Boy, aged 9 17 14 82.4 4.4 3.3 72.7

Chinese-Tamil Boy, aged 5 17.1 13.7 80.1 4.1 2.8 68.3

The father was a typical Chinaman, whose only grievance was that, in the process of conversion to Christianity, he had been obliged to “cut him tail off.” The mother was a typical dark-skinned Tamil Paraiyan. The colour of the children was more closely allied to the yellowish tint of the father than to that of the mother; and the semi-Mongol parentage was betrayed in the slant eyes, flat nose and (in one case) conspicuously prominent cheek-bones.

To have recorded the entire series of measurements of the children would have been useless for the purpose of comparison with those of the parents, and I selected from my repertoire the length and breadth of the head and nose, which plainly indicate the paternal influence on the external anatomy of the offspring. The figures given in the table bring out very clearly the great breadth, as compared with the length, of the heads of all the children, and the resultant high cephalic index. In other words, in one case a mesaticephalic (79), and, in the remaining three cases, a sub-brachycephalic head (80.1; 80.1; 82.4) has resulted from the union of a mesaticephalic Chinaman (78.5) with a sub-dolichocephalic Tamil Paraiyan (76.8). How great is the breadth of the head in the children may be emphasised by noting that the average head-breadth of the adult Tamil Paraiyan man is only 13.7 cm., whereas that of the three boys, aged ten, nine, and five only, was 14.3, 14, and 13.7 cm. respectively.

Quite as strongly marked is the effect of paternal influence on the character of the nose; the nasal index, in the case of each child (68.1; 71.772; 7; 68.3), bearing a much closer relation to that of the long-nosed father (71.7) than to the typical Paraiyan nasal index of the broad-nosed mother (78.7).

It will be interesting to note hereafter what is the future of the younger members of this quaint little colony, and to observe the physical characters, temperament, fecundity, and other points relating to the cross breed resulting from the blend of Chinese and Tamil.

Chinna (little).—A sub-division of Bōya, Kunnuvan, Konda Dora, Pattanavan, and Pattapu, and an exogamous sept of Māla. Chinna, chinnam, and chinnada, denoting gold, occur as exogamous septs of Kuruba, Padma Sālē, Toreya, and Vakkaliga.

Chintala (tamarind: Tamarindus Indica).—An exogamous sept of Ghāsi, Golla, Mādiga, and Māla. Chintyakula, or tamarind sept, occurs among the Kōmatis; chintaginjala (tamarind seeds) as an exogamous sept of Padma Sālēs, and of Panta Reddis, who may not touch or use the seeds; and Chintakai or Chintakayala (tamarind fruit) as an exogamous sept of Bōyas and Devāngas.

Chirla (woman’s cloth).—An exogamous sept of Kamma.

Chitikan.—A synonym of Mārān, indicating one whose occupation relates to the funeral pyre. A Chitikan, for example, performs the funeral rites for the Mūssads.

Chiti Karnam.—A name of the Oriya Karnam caste. A vulgar form of Sresta Karnam (Sreshto Korono).

Chitra Ghāsi.—The Chitra Ghāsis, for the following note on whom I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao, are a class of artisans, whose name, meaning Ghāsis who make artistic things, bears reference to their occupation. They are employed in the manufacture of brass and bell-metal jewelry, such as is largely worn by the tribes inhabiting the Jeypore Agency tracts, and are generally found attached to Kond and Savara villages. They are a polluting class, and their dwellings are consequently situated at some distance from the huts of the villagers. Their language is a corrupt form of Oriya.

Girls are usually married after puberty. A man can claim his paternal aunt’s daughter in marriage. When such a marriage is contemplated, his parents take a little rice and a pot of liquor to the home of the paternal aunt. If they are accepted, it is taken as a sign that the match is agreed to, and the jholla tonka (bride-price) of twelve rupees is paid. After some time has elapsed, the bride is conducted to the home of her future husband, and the marriage is there celebrated. A younger brother may marry the widow of an elder brother, and, if such a woman contracts a marriage with some other man, her second husband has to give a cow to the younger brother who has been passed over. The dead are burnt, and death pollution is observed for three days, during which the caste occupation is not carried on. On the third day, the ashes are collected together, and a fowl is killed. The ashes are then buried, or thrown into running water.

Chitrakāra or Chitrakāro.—The Chitrakāros of Ganjam, who are a class of Oriya painters (chitra, painting), are returned in the Census Report, 1901, as a sub-caste of Muchi. In the Mysore Census Report, 1891, the Chitragāras are said to be “also called Bannagāra of the Rāchevar (or Rāju) caste. They are painters, decorators and gilders, and make trunks, palanquins, ‘lacquer’ toys and wooden images for temples, cars, etc.” At Channapatna in Mysore, I interviewed a Telugu Chitrakāra, who was making toys out of the white wood of Wrightia tinctoria. The wood was turned on a primitive lathe, consisting of two steel spikes fixed into two logs of wood on the ground. Seated on the floor in front of his lathe, the artisan chucked the wood between the spikes, and rotated it by means of a bow held in the right hand, whereof the string was passed round the wood. The chisel was held between the sole of the right foot and palm of the left hand. Colours and varnish were applied to the rotating toy with sticks of paint like sealing-wax, and strips of palm leaf smeared with varnish. In addition to the turned toys, models of fruits were made from mud and sawdust, cane cradles made by Mēdaras were painted and idols manufactured for the Holi festival at Bangalore, and the figure of Sidi Vīranna for the local pseudo-hook-swinging ceremony. The Chitrakāras, whom I saw at Tumkūr, had given up making toys, as it did not pay. They manufacture big wooden idols (grāma dēvata), e.g., Ellamma and Māriamma, and vehicles for various deities in the shape of bulls, snakes, peacocks, lions, tigers, and horses. They further make painted figures of Lakshmi, and heads of Gauri, the wife of Siva, decorated with gold-leaf jewels, which are worshipped by Brāhmans, Vakkaligas, Kōmatis, and others at the annual Gauri pūja; and mandahāsa (god houses) with pillars carved with figures of Narasimha and conventional designs. These mandahāsas serve as a receptacle for the household gods (sālagrāma stone, lingam, etc.), which are worshipped daily by Smarta and Mādhva Brāhmans. These Chitrakāras claimed to be Suryavamsam, or of the lunar race of Kshatriyas, and wear the sacred thread.

Chitravaliar.—A synonym of Alavan.

Chōgan.—See Izhava.

Chōlapuram or Shōlavaram.—A sub-division of Chetti.

Chōliya Pattar.—A name for Pattar Brāhmans in Malabar.

Chondi.—See Sondi.

Chōutagāra.—A corrupt form of Chaptēgāra.

Chōvatton.—Priests of Mūttans and Tarakans.

Chuditiya.—See Kevuto.

Chunam (lime).—A sub-division of Toreyas, who are manufacturers of lime. Chunam, made from calcined shells, limestone, etc., is largely used for building purposes, and the chunam plaster of Madras has been long celebrated for its marble-like polish. Chunam is also chewed with betel.

Chuvano.—Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a small Oriya cultivating caste, supposed to be of Kshatriya parentage.