44 
The reply of Nakkirar was ‘‘ Chank-cutting is indeed 
the calling of my caste; of that I am not ashamed. 
But of what caste is Sankara? (one of the many names 
of Siva.) We earn our livelihood by cutting chanks; 
we do not live by begging as he did,”—an allusion to 
the fable popularized by the Brahmans wherein Siva is 
represented as a mendicant seeking alms with a skull in 
his hand as begging bowl. 
(FHemw Os HET HOCH FHeTC)TS CH BGeovlb 
une OF OFner@e UIpstGn—eE Hong 
whégpoor® etipGar wr@e0 Bex ure 
al 7% gor) auTipes Hevea), 
Dharmi’s description of a chank-cutter’s trade is 
wonderfully vivid in the original Tamil; ina dozen words 
he paints a realistic word-picture of a cutter’s workshop 
—the men seated on the ground with the knees widely 
spread and depressed outwards almost to the ground to 
give free play to the great crescentic two-handled saw 
monotonously droning a single note as it cuts its way 
laboriously through the hard substance of the shell. 
Tradition has it that Nakkirar, the chank-cutter 
President of the Sangam, was a Parawa by caste. It 
would be most appropriate if this be correct aswe have 
already seen that at the beginning of the Christian era 
chank fishing and chank cutting were among the import- 
ant trades carried on in Korkai, the chief settlement of 
the Parawas in early days. 
No Parawas to-day are engaged in chank cutting 
although they still largely monopolize the shore industries 
of Tinnevelly where they continue as from time imme- 
morial to provide the contingent of divers required for 
the exploitation of both the pearl and the chank fisheries 
of the Gulf of Mannar. 
It isnoteworthy that though their women do not now 
wear chank bangles their children from four months to 
about two years old are often given roughly-made chank 
bracelets to wear in the belief that such will protect 
them against the baleful influence of the evil eye, from 
vomiting and froma wasting disease called chedz which 
appears to be rickets and reputed to be caused by the 
touch or near approach of a woman during her menses ! 
This custom has now been abandoned or is perfunctorily 
