Note 3 — M (Continued)

“The development of this caste,” Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,3 “is interesting. In Chirakkal, the northernmost tāluk of the Malabar district, and in the adjoining Kasargōd tāluk of South Canara, Mārāyans are barbers, serving Nāyars and higher castes; in the Kottayam and Kurumbranād tāluks they are barbers and drummers, and also officiate as purōhits (priests) at the funeral ceremonies of Nāyars. In the latter capacity they are known in those parts also as Attikurissi Mārāyan. Going still further south, we find the Nāyar purōhit called simply Attikurissi, omitting the Mārāyan, and he considers it beneath his dignity to shave. Nevertheless, he betrays his kinship with the Mārāyan of the north by the privilege which he claims of cutting the first hair when a Nāyar is shaved after funeral obsequies. On the other hand, the drummer, who is called Mārāyan, or honorifically Mārār, poses as a temple servant, and would be insulted if it were said that he was akin to the shaving Mārāyan of the north. He is considered next in rank only to Brāhmans, and would be polluted by the touch of Nāyars. He loses caste by eating the food of Nāyars, but the Nāyars also lose caste by eating his food. A proverb says that a Mārāyan has four privileges:—