Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Panisavan

by Edgar Thurston

Panisavan.— Panisavan is defined in the Salem Manual as "a corruption of paniseygiravan (panisaivon), literally meaning one who works (or does service), and is the caste name of the class, whose business it is to carry news of death to the relations of the deceased, and to blow the thārai or long trumpet." According to Mr. H. A. Stuart,*^[1] Panisavan appears to answer among the Tamilians to the Dāsaris or Tādas of the Telugus. It is a mendicant caste, worshipping Siva. Unlike the Tādas, however, they often employ themselves in cultivation, and are, on the whole, a more temperate and respectable class. Their priests are Brāhmans, and they eat flesh, and drink alcoholic liquor very freely. The dead are generally burned.

There are two classes of Panisavans, of which one works for the right-hand section, and the other for the left. This division is purely professional, and there is apparently no bar to intermarriage between the two classes. The insignia of a Panisavan are the conchshell (Turbinella rapa) and thārai, which he supports from the ground by means of a bamboo pole while he blows it. At marriage processions, it is his duty to go in front, sounding the thārai from time to time. On such occasions, and at festivals of the village goddesses,the thārai is decorated with a string bearing a number of small triangular pieces of cloth, and tufts of yak's hair. The cloth should be white for the right-hand section, and of five different colours for the left. At the present day, the Panisavan is more in request for funerals than for weddings. In the city of Madras, all the materials necessary for the bier are sold by Panisavans, who also keep palanquins for the conveyance of the corpse in stock, which are let out on hire. At funerals, the Panisavan has to follow the corpse, blowing his conch-shell. The thārai is only used if the deceased was an important personage. When the son goes round the corpse with a pot of water, the Panisavan accompanies him, and blows the conch. On the last day of the death ceremonies (karmāndhiram), the Panisavan should be present, and blow his conch, especially when the tāli (marriage badge) is removed from a widow's neck. In some places, the Panisavan conveys the news of death, while in others this duty is carried out by a barber. In the Chingleput and North Arcot districts, the Panisavans constitute a separate

PANIYAN.

caste, and have no connection with the Nōkkans, who are beggars attached to the Palli or Vanniyan caste. In South Arcot and Tanjore, on the other hand, the name Nōkkan is used to signify the caste, which performs the duties of the Panisavan, for which it seems to be a

synonym. The Panisavans of the Tinnevelly district have nothing in common with those of the northern districts, e.g., Chingleput and North Arcot, whose duty it is to attend to the funeral ceremonies of the non- Brāhman castes. The main occupations of the Tinnevelly Panisavans are playing in temples on the nāgasaram (reed instrument), and teaching Dēva-dāsis dancing. Another occupation, which is peculiar to the Tinnevelly Panisavans, is achu vēlai, i.e., the preparation of the comb to which the warp threads of a weaving loom are tied. Socially the Panisavans occupy a lowly position, but they use the title Pulavar. Their other titles are Pandāram, Pillai, and Mudali.

1. * Manual of the North Arcot district; Madras Census Report, 1891.