Note 47 — S (continued 2)

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that Shānān toddy-drawers “employ Pallans, Paraiyans, and other low castes to help them transport the liquor, but Musalmans and Brāhmans have, in several cases, sufficiently set aside the scruples enjoined by their respective faiths against dealings in potent liquor to own retail shops, and (in the case of some Musalmans at least) to serve their customers with their own hands.” In a recent note,47 it has been stated that “L.M.S. Shānār Christians have, in many cases, given up tapping the palmyra palm for jaggery and toddy as a profession beneath them; and their example is spreading, so that a real economic impasse is manifesting itself. The writer knows of one village at least, which had to send across the border (of Travancore) into Tinnevelly to procure professional tree-tappers. Consequent on this want of professional men, the palm trees are being cut down, and this, if done to any large extent, will impoverish the country.”