OF BHAEATAVAESA OR IJfDIA. 
105 
She rushed to the spot and saw, to her surprise, a beautiful 
child lying on the ground, protected by a cobra. She had 
compassion on it, and nursed it like her own child. The 
appearance of a cobra intimated to her the divine origin 
of the infant. This belief proved true, for the child was an 
incarnation of Visnu, As soon as the Eaja of Travancore 
heard of this wonderful event, he built a shrine on the spot 
where the baby had been found, and dedicated it to Padma- 
nabha. This is the origin of the Padmanabha temple at 
Trivandrum. The Pulayar round Trivandrum assert to 
this day that in former times a Pulaya king ruled and had 
his castle not far from the present capital of Travancore.^^ 
This constant connection of individuals belonging to the 
lowest population with the worship of the Hindu gods is 
indeed a very peculiar and significant circumstance. 
While the Pallar on the East Coast and the Pulayar on 
the Malabar Coast are mostly agricultural labourers, the 
Pulaiyar and the Palliyar {Falliar) in Madura are on the 
other hand mountaineers. The former are regarded as the 
aboriginal inhabitants of the Palani Hills^ and have been 
the bondslaves of the Kunnuvar. The Palliyar dwell on 
the hills also in Madura and the adjacent districts, avoiding 
as much as possible any intercourse with strangers. 
Related to the Pallas by kinship, and bearing also a 
similar name, are the Balla (Bala, Valla, Vella) and Bhdlla 
{Bhilla or Bhll). 
It is now impossible to decide or explain when and 
why the original name Palla became thus diversified ; but 
after these dialectical variations had once come into use, it 
was advisable to retain rather than to drop them. 
68 The god Padmanabha rests witli his head at Tirmallam and with his feet 
at Tirupdlapur or Tirupadapur. The chief Namburi priest of Travancore 
comes from Cochin and is called Aluvanceri Tamburakal. See also Eev. 
. Mateer's Land of Charity, p. 161, and Native Life in Travancore, p. 34. 
