Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Chakkān

by Edgar Thurston

Chakkān.—Recorded in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as "a Malabar caste of oil-pressers (chakku means an oil-mill). Followers of this calling are known also as Vattakkādans in South Malabar, and as Vāniyans in North Malabar, but the former are the higher in social status, the Nāyars being polluted by the touch of the Vāniyans and Chakkāns, but not by that of the Vattakkādans. Chakkāns and Vāniyans may not enter Brāhman temples. Their customs and manners are similar to those of the Nāyars, who will not, however, marry their women." Chakkingalavan appears as a synonym for Chakkān.