Vol. X, No. 9.] Marriage Customs of the Cochin Castes. 297 



[N.S.] 



they must be inside the caste. According to the Hindu Sis- 

 tras, persons who are related as Sapindas J cannot marry. 

 This relationship extends to six degrees, where the common 

 ancestor is a male ; but there is a difference of opinion as to 

 the rule when the common ancestor is a female. To this res- 

 triction is also added another rule, that the parties to the 

 marriage should not be of the same gotra or pravara, i.e., they 

 must not be of the same family, nor invoke the same ancestor. 

 Conjugal relationship between the first cousins is seldom 

 allowed/ Among the Nambuthiri Brahmans, the members of a 

 vedic family avoid matrimonial alliances with those of anon- 

 vedic; but among their various sections, intermarriage is 

 generally in vogue, and marriage among the various sub-divi- 

 sions of the non- vedic community is endogamou^. Among the 

 Tamul and Konkani Brahmans also, the same gotra and pravara 

 restrictions prevail Among the latter, a young man may 

 marry the daughter of his maternal uncle or paternal aunt. 



Among the high caste Sudras (Nayars), marriage is hyper- 

 gamous, while among the low caste Sudras it is endogamous. 

 This is the general rule, though exceptions may sometimes be 

 found. A Nayar is allowed to form matrimonial alliance with 

 a woman either in his own sub-division or one lower in the 

 social scale than himself, but his womenkind in the latter 

 case are prohibited from exercising the same liberty. This 

 is called Anulomam and Pharthilomam. Dr. Gundert derives 

 Anulomam, from Anu with lomam or romam, hair, going 

 with the hair or grain. According to this usage, a Nayar 

 woman consorting with a man of the higher caste, follows the 

 hair, purifies the blood, and raises the progeny in social esti- 

 mation. By cohabiting with a man of lower sub-division, clan 

 or caste, she would be guilty of Prathilomam ; and if the differ- 

 ence of caste were admittedly great, she would be turned out 

 of her family to prevent the whole family being boycotted. In 

 many cases, the Nambuthiris, Embrans, Pothis, and Tamul 

 Brahmans, Kshatriyas and Ambalavasis form alliances with 

 Nayar women; but the latter and their children cannot touch 

 their husbands and fathers without polluting them. Children 

 of this union belong to the mother's family. In the clan sys- 

 tem, descent was at first reckoned in the female line; uterine 

 ties alone constituted kinship. The father was not regarded as 

 related even to his children, nor was he considered as a mem- 

 ber of the family. In this system, all the children bear the 

 clan name, and the clan name becomes the test of blood rela- 

 tionship. Among the Nayars, Ambalavasis, and Malay ali 



1 Beginning from the bride or bridegroom, and counting exclusive of 

 both six or four degrees upward according as the relationship with the 

 common ancestor is reached, with the aforesaid degrees — od both sides, 

 the person so related are known as sapindas. 



