Note 16 — P (Continued)

The Pallis, Mr. Francis writes further,16 “as far back as 1833 tried to procure a decree in Pondicherry, declaring that they were not a low caste, and of late years they have, in this (South Arcot) district, been closely bound together by an organisation managed by one of their caste, who was a prominent person in these parts. In South Arcot they take a somewhat higher social rank than in other places—Tanjore, for example—and their esprit de corps is now surprisingly strong. They are tending gradually to approach the Brāhmanical standard of social conduct, discouraging adult marriage, meat-eating, and widow re-marriage, and they also actively repress open immorality or other social sins, which might serve to give the community a bad name. In 1904 a document came before one of the courts, which showed that, in the year previous, the representatives of the caste in thirty-four villages in this district had bound themselves in writing, under penalty of excommunication, to refrain (except with the consent of all parties) from the practices formerly in existence of marrying two wives, and of allowing a woman to marry again during the lifetime of her first husband. Some of the caste have taken to calling themselves Vannikula Kshatriyas or Agnikula Kshatriyas, and others even declare that they are Brāhmans. These last always wear the sacred thread, tie their cloths in the Brāhman fashion (though their women do not follow the Brāhman ladies in this matter), forbid widow remarriage, and are vegetarians.”