Note 43 — P (Continued)

Panisavan.—Panisavan is defined in the Salem Manual as “a corruption of paniseygiravan (panisaivon), literally meaning one who works (or does service), and is the caste name of the class, whose business it is to carry news of death to the relations of the deceased, and to blow the thārai or long trumpet.” According to Mr. H. A. Stuart,43 Panisavan appears to answer among the Tamilians to the Dāsaris or Tādas of the Telugus. It is a mendicant caste, worshipping Siva. Unlike the Tādas, however, they often employ themselves in cultivation, and are, on the whole, a more temperate and respectable class. Their priests are Brāhmans, and they eat flesh, and drink alcoholic liquor very freely. The dead are generally burned.