Note 65 — V (continued 2)

The Malabar Vēttuvans are said to have a fantastic legend, showing that they were not originally as low as they are at the present day in the social scale. “It is related that one of their tribe went and asked a high-caste Nāyar to give him a daughter in marriage. The Nāyar offered to do so on condition that the whole tribe would come to his place and dance on berries, each one who fell to be shot with arrows. The tribe foolishly agreed to the condition, and went and danced, with the result that, as each one tripped and fell, he or she was mercilessly shot dead with arrows. A little girl who survived this treatment was secretly rescued, and taken away by a compassionate Nāyar, who married her into his family. From this union, the present day Vēttuvans affirm their origin is to be traced. Up to this day they hold the caste of that particular Nāyar in very great veneration.”65 The costume of these Vēttuvans has been described as follows.66 “The men wear a short loin-cloth, secured round the waist by a belt which is also used as a sling during hunting expeditions. They also wear brass ear-rings, and grow a bit of moustache, and a little stumpy beard. The dress of the women consists of three clusters of long leaves, suspended from the waist and tied on by a cheap girdle. According to a tribal legend, when, in the morning of time, costumes were being distributed by the deity to the various races of the earth, the Vettuva women, being asked to choose between a costume which needed to be changed daily, and one which needed to be changed only yearly, readily expressed a preference for the former, and the deity, considering this an unpardonable piece of vanity, decreed that thenceforth the women should dress in leaves gathered fresh every morning. Whenever it is suggested to them that they should adopt some more lasting apparel, the Vettuva women answer that they are carrying out the mandate of the deity, and can abandon their present dress only if the deity appears in person, and sanctions a change.”