to village hawk i no- glass bangles generally carry a few. 

 The demand for them is very restricted for though it is 

 compulsory upon the women of the chank section to 

 wear them, they usually require only a single one 

 in the course of their life and this even may have 

 come to them from the mother or other female rela- 

 tive. The same bangle may be worn by two or even three 

 orenerations in succession. The usual cost of such a 

 bangle is four annas but in cases of emergency when one 

 is broken accidentally, the bereft may willingly pay 

 even a rupee to have it replaced. 



The district where this custom was actually observed 

 by Mr. Govindan in operation among Vellalans and 

 Idaiyans was Coimbatore and so far as I have been able 

 to ascertain no chank-bangle wearing sub-division of 

 either of these castes is found outside the district named. 

 The Collectors of Salem, Tanjore, South Arcot, Madura 

 and Trichinopoly, who have been kind enough to insti- 

 tute enquiries in the various taluks of their respective 

 districts, agree in stating that they can find no evidence 

 of any section of the Vellalar and Idaiyar castes following 

 this custom ; with regard to Tinnevelly, my own experi- 

 ence is that only children of various lower castes wear 

 chank-bangles and that solely as amulets. 



The practice is more general among low castes. 

 The Collectors of Madura and Trichinopoly both inform 

 me that among Paraiyans, Chukkiliyans (leather workers, 

 etc.), Oddans, Koravas and the Naick sections known as 

 Kavaraja and Thottiya Kambalathans together with the 

 wandering tribe of Lambadis, the custom of wearing 

 chank-bangles is found to prevail here and there in both 

 districts. There appears to be no general observance of 

 the custom — in some villages and taluks none among the 

 women of the castes named wears chank-bangles ; else- 

 where, as in the Namakkal Taluk (Trichinopoly District), 

 a definite section of the Paraiyan caste called Sengudimi 

 Paraiyans adopts this ornament as a distinguishing sept 

 distinction, while in other parts of the country, the women 

 of these various low castes wear it chiefly if not entirely for 

 its ornamental value. The custom appears to be dying 

 out, as witness the vagueness of the people who still 

 adhere to its observance as to the reason for so doing, 

 its partial and sporadic geographical distribution in the 



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