149 



Paraiyan (Thurston, VI, 8[). In Travancore v/heii a 

 headman or kaikkaran of the Paraiyans settled there 

 happens to die, a chank-shell is buried with the corpse 

 (Thurston, VI, 134.) 



- The chank sometimes has a place in the death cere- 

 monies of castes which are not Hinduised. Thus among 

 the Cherumans of Malabar and Cochin, a caste of 

 agricultural serfs, according to Mr. Ananthakrishna Ayyr.r 

 (Thurston, II. 81) " the son or nephew is the chief 

 mourner, who erects a mound of earth on the south' side 

 of the hut, and uses it as a place of worship. For seven 

 days, both morning and evening, he prostrates himself 

 before it, and sprinkles the water of a tender coconut on 

 it. On the eighth day, his relatives, friends, the Vallon, 

 and the devil-driver assemble together. The devil-driver 

 turns round and blows his conch, and finds out the posi- 

 tion of the ghost, whether it has taken up its abode in the 

 mound, or is kept under restraint by some deity. Should 

 the latter be the case, the ceremony of deliverance has to 

 be performed, after which the sp'rit is set up as a house- 

 hold deity." 



How far the conch is used in funeral rites outside the 

 Madras Presidency, I am not in a position to say, except 

 in regard to Thibet, where as already incidentally men- 

 tioned, it is a custom to sound it as the body of a monk or 

 a nun is being conveyed from the place where death 

 occurred. 



(//) Totems. 



Totems as the distinctive signs of exogamous se| ts 

 must have been at one time universal among tribes of 

 Dravidian origin. To-day a well developed totemistic 

 system characterises the tribal organization of the Santals 

 and Oraons who retain lano-uao-es distinct from those of the 

 surrounding peoples, know nothing of the caste system, 

 and who continue to worship non-Aryan Gods. Among 

 the Santals 91 septs are known, and one of these is known 

 as Sankh. The members of this sept may not cut, burn, 

 nor use the shell, nor may the women of this sept wear it 

 in personal adornment. 



Above these still primitive tribes and between them 

 and the fully Hinduised peoples who are split up into 

 castes, are a large number of partially Hinduised tribes 



