assisted by an accountant and a peon. All three are elected. The headman has the management of the caste fund, which is utilised in the celebration of festivals on certain days in some of the larger temples of the district. Among these Podunāttus, an uncommon rule of inheritance is in force. A woman who has no male issue at the time of her husband's death has to return his property to his brother, father, or maternal uncle, but is allotted maintenance, the amount of which is fixed by a caste panchāyat (council). Among the Valasu and Pendukkumekki sub-divisions, another odd form of maintenance subsists. A man's property descends to his sons-in-law, who live with him, and not to his sons. The sons merely get maintenance until they are married."
In the Madras Census Report, 1901, Pōndan or Pōgandan is recorded as a sub-caste of Idaiyans, who are palanquin-bearers to the Zamorin of Calicut. In this connection, it is noted by Mr. K. Kannan Nāyar *[1] that " among the Konar (cowherds) of Poondurai near Erode (in the Coimbatore district), who, according to tradition, originally belonged to the same tribe as the Gopas living in the southern part of Kērala, and now forming a section of the Nāyars, the former matrimonial customs were exactly the same as those of the Nāyars. They, too, celebrated tāli-kettu kalyānam, and, like the Nāyars, did not make it binding on the bride and bridegroom of the ceremony to live as husband and wife. They have now, however, abandoned the custom, and have made the tying of the tāli the actual marriage ceremony."
The typical panchāyat (village council) system exists among the Idaiyans, and the only distinguishing feature is the existence of a headman, called Kīthāri or Kīlāri,
- ↑ • Malabar Quart. Review, II, 1903.
