ete: 
for there the numbers of chank-ebangle wearers greatly 
exceed those found in any other district. -The Collector 
reports eleven castes and sub-divisions as following this 
custom, viz. :— 
(1) Pala Vellalas. 
2) Puluvans (so-called Puluva Vellalas). 
) Konga and Golla Idaiyans. 
) Konga Shanans. 
) Konga Vannans. 
) Thotti Chukkiliyans. 
) Sangu, Konga, Sangudu or Sanguvalai Para‘yans. 
(8) Thottiya Naiks. 
(9) Okkilians (not universal). 
(10) Kurumbars. 
(11) Lambadis in parts of Kollegal and Gobichettipalaiyam 
divisions. 
The custom is associated particularly with those 
caste sub-divisions whose territorial cognomen indicates 
a long settled residence in the Kongu country (Coimba- 
tore and Salem). The Konga sub-divisions of the 
Idaiyar, Paraiyar, Vannar and Shanar castes have this 
custom in common and as several other castes in Coimba- 
tore also adhere to it, we may infer that at one time the 
custom was general in the Kongu country among at 
least the generality of the lower castes. 
_ Another caste sub-division where the women wear 
chank bangles is that of the Sangukatti Idaiyans. 
Among them the marriage ceremony requires, as in 
Bengal, the placing of a chank bangle on one of the 
bride’s wrists. 
Among Coimbatore castes the chank bangle is 
worn always upon the left wrist, usually singly but occa- 
sionally a pair in certain cases, e¢.g., among the Konga 
Paraiyans. 
The wearing of these bangles is considered as a 
symbol of the permanence of the marriage tie, a belief 
probably derived from the custom of breaking the bangle 
after the death of the husband. The Collector of 
Coimbatore states that a widow discards her bangle one 
month after her husband’s death. He adds that if a 
woman accidentally breaks her bangle, she thinks it 
unlucky and regards it as an omen that her husband will 
chance on some evil ; when the husband is sick the wife 
prays that it may be her good fortune to wear the bangle 
during her whole life. A woman considers it improper 
to appear before her husband or in public without the 
( 
(3 
(4 
(5 
(6 
(7 
