Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Pillai

by Edgar Thurston

Pillai.— Pillai, meaning child, is in the Tamil country primarily the title of Vellālas, but has, at recent times of census, been returned as the title of a number of classes, which include Agamudaiyan, Ambalakāran, Golla, Idaiyan, Nāyar, Nōkkan, Panisavan, Panikkan, Paraiyan, Saiyakkāran, Sembadavan and Sēnaikkudaiyāns. Pilla is further used as the title of the male offspring of Dēva-dāsis. Many Paraiyan butlers of Europeans have assumed the title Pillai as an honorific suffix to their name. So, too, have some criminal Koravas, who pose as Vellālas.