Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Ernādan

by Edgar Thurston

Ernādan.— In the Madras Census Report, 1901, the Aranādans are described as a hill tribe in Malabar, who kill pythons, and extract an oil from them, which they sell to people on the plains as a remedy for leprosy. These are, I have no doubt, the Ernadans, concerning whom Mr. G. Hadfield writes to me as follows. They are a small jungle tribe, found exclusively in Malabar, and are considered to be the lowest of the jungle tribes by the inhabitants of Malabar, who consider themselves polluted if an Ernādan approaches within a hundred yards. Even Paniyans and Pariahs give them a wide berth, and they are prohibited from coming within four hundred yards of a village. One of their customs is very singular, viz., the father of a family takes (or used to take) his eldest daughter as his second wife. The Ernādans use bows and arrows, principally for shooting monkeys, to the flesh of which they are very partial. They are not particular as to what they eat, and are, in fact, on a par with jackals in this respect, devouring snakes and the putrid flesh of various animals. They are fond of collecting the fat of snakes, and selling it. Muhammadans employ them in felling timber, and cultivating fields. Their clothing is exceedingly scanty, and, when hard up, they use wild plantain leaves for this purpose.

Through Mr, Hadfield's influence with the tribe, Mr. F. Fawcett was able to examine a few members thereof, who appeared before him accompanied by their Māppilla master, at a signal from whom they ran off like hares, to attend to their work in the fields. Their most important measurements were as follows: —

	Max.	Min.	Av.
Stature (cm.)	156.6	150.6	154.5
Cephalic index	85	77	81
Nasal index	108.8	71.1	88.4

The Ernādans, according to these figures, are short of stature, platyrhine, with an unusually high cephalic index.