Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Pōndan
Pōndan. — "There are," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,*[1]"only twenty-eight persons of this caste in Malabar, and they are all in Calicut. These are the palanquin-bearers of the Zamorin. They are in dress, manners, customs, and language entirely Tamilians, and, while the Zamorin is polluted by the touch of any ordinary Tamilian, these Pōndans enjoy the privilege of bearing him in a palanquin to and from the temple every day. Now there is a sub-division of the Tamil Idaiyans by name Pogondan, and I understand that these Pogondans are the palanquin-bearers of the Idaiyan caste. It seems probable that the founder, or some early member of the Zamorin, obtained palanquin-bearers of his own (cowherd) caste and granted them privileges which no other Tamilians now enjoy."
- ↑ • Madras Census Report, 1891,