Note 13 — S

“Tradition,” writes the Travancore Census Superintendent (1901), “traces the Sāmantas to the prudent Kshatriyas, who cast off the holy thread, to escape detection and slaughter by Parasu Rāma. They are believed to have then fled to uninhabited forests till they forgot the Sandhyāvandana prayers, and became in certain respects no better than Sūdras. Thus they came, it is said, to be called Amantrakas, Sāmantrakas, Sāmantas, or having no mantra at all. Referring to this, Mr. Stuart says13 ‘Neither philology, nor anything else, supports this fable.’ From the word Sāmantra, Sāmanta can, no doubt, be conveniently derived, but, if they could not repeat mantras, they should have been called Amantras and not Sāmantras. In the Kērala Māhatmya we read that the Perumāls appointed Sāmantas to rule over portions of their kingdom. Taking the Sanskrit word Sāmanta, we may understand it to mean a petty chief or ruler. It is supposed that the Perumāls who came to Malabar contracted matrimonial alliances with high class Nāyar women, and that the issue of such unions were given chiefships over various extents of territories. Changes in their manners and customs were, it is said, made subsequently, by way of approximation to the Kshatriyas proper. Though the sacred thread, and the Gāyatri hymn were never taken up, less vital changes, as, for instance, that of the wearing of the ornaments of the Kshatriya women, or of consorting only with Nambūtiri husbands, were adopted. Those who lived in Ernāt formed themselves by connections and alliances into one large caste, and called themselves Erātis. Those who lived in Valluvanāt became Vallōtis. The unification could not assume a more cosmopolitan character as the several families rose to importance at different times, and, in all probability, from different sections of the Nāyars.”