354 



Report 071 tlie Mackenzie Manuscripts. 



[April 



ducting marriage ceremonies. Plurality of husbands; and consequent 

 manners, of great laxity. Modes of proceeding, consequent on the 

 death of any one of the parties. Modes of dress. The Nayanmars have 

 lengthened ears, like the Maravas of the Tinnevelly country; and, like 

 them, wear jewels in their ears. (This custom on enquiry I find to be 

 peculiar, in Malayalam, to the Nayara). Other deiails concerning 

 the intercourse, of the most licentious kind, between the wives of the 

 Nayars, and the Namburi Brahmans. Modes of subsistence. The 

 iV"ay«r5 sometimes officiate as accountants ; but they disdain any trad^ 

 ing, or trafficking, employment. They eat flesh, and drink strong liciuors. 

 They are debauched, and irregular, in their liabits. They are destitute 

 of honesty and moral principle ; so much so, that their word merely is 

 never taken ; and people will trust to nothing but written security from 

 them. Their morning and evening meals ; uiensils, habitations, and 

 connected matters. Depraved, and polluted, as this class are stated to 

 be, yet it is observable that if one of a lower caste, or if an outcaste, 

 trespass in even so small a degree the prescribed distance of approach, 

 the Nayar must bathe in order to wash away the contamination ; thus 

 following a very common error of making a ceremonial contamination a 

 matter of greater magnitude than moral turpitude. Some other details 

 follow, concerning the modes of proceeding by parents, in marrying out 

 their children. Means employed of providing for children, who have 

 lost one, or both, of their reputed parents. 



The customs of the Polermr are stated. They are a class of Brah- 

 mans, and have their own custom^s. Some of these indicate their having 

 come from the Tiduva country; that is, the most northern division of 

 Malayalam. 



Remark. —The foregoing paper affords further attestation of the affini- 

 ty, as to origin, between the Maravas and Nayars ; heretofore observed 

 in a note on a paper formerly abstracted. 



Sections 2 to 16. Are entirely occupied with minute details, as to al- 

 lowances daily to temples; revenue proceeds ; and the like ; of no con- 

 sequence whatsoever; and therefore passed by, without being re-copied, 

 and not susceptible of ab^^tract. 



Section 16. Boundaries of Pww^«/(im. — From a slight mistake of my 

 directions the writer copied this section: as it is somewhat more con- 

 nected than preceding matter, but it is of no consequence. 



Section 17. Account of the fane of Maliadeva, at Pu7iialam. — The 

 etymology of the word Puntalam, is from pu a flower and Si^Iiafa, 



