Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Pidāran

by Edgar Thurston

Pidāran. — A section of Ambalavāsis, who, according to Mr. Logan*^[1] "drink liqour, exorcise devils, and are worshippers of Bhadrakāli or of Sakti. The name is also applied to snake-catchers, and it was probably conferred on the caste owing to the snake being an emblem of the human passion embodied in the deities they worship."

1. * Manual of Malabar.