Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Goundan

by Edgar Thurston

Goundan.— It is noted, in the Salem Manual, that " some of the agricultural classes habitually append the title Goundan as a sort of caste nomenclature after their names, but the word applies, par excellence, to the head of the village, or Ūr Goundan as he is called." As examples of castes which take Goundan as their title,the Pallis, Okkiliyans, and Vellālas may be cited. A planter, or other, when hailing a Malayāli of the Shevaroy hills, always calls him Goundan.