Note 104 — P (Continued) (continued 3)

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that “Pura Pothuvāls are of two classes, Chenda Pothuvāls or drum Pothuvāls, and Māla Pothuvāls or garland Pothuvāls, the names of course referring to the nature of the service which they have to render in the temple. The Chenda Pothuvāls would appear to be closely connected with the Mārārs or Mārayārs, who are also drummers. Māla Pothuvāls follow marumakkattāyam (inheritance in the female line), their women having sambandham (alliance) with men of their own caste or with Brāhmans, while the men can have sambandham in their own caste, or with Nāyar women of any of the sub-divisions below Kiriyattil. Their women are called Pothuvārassiar or Pothuvāttimar.” It is further recorded104 that, in some cases, for instance among Māla Pothuvāls and Mārārs in South Malabar, a fictitious consummation is an incident of the tāli-kettu ; the girl and manavālan (bridegroom) being made to lie on a bed together, and left there alone for a few moments. Amongst the Māla Pothuvals this is done twice, once on the first and once on the last day, and they apparently also spend the three nights of the ceremony in the same bed-chamber, but not alone, an Enangatti sleeping there as chaperone. In these two castes, as in most if not all others, the ceremony also entails the pollution of the girl and her bridegroom. Amongst the Mārārs, they are purified by a Nambūdiri after they leave their quasi-nuptial couch. Amongst the Māla Pothuvals, they are not allowed to bathe or to touch others during the wedding till the fourth day, when they are given māttu (change of cloths) by the Veluttedan.”