Karaiyalan (ruler of the coast). — A title of Maravans, also taken by some Idaiyans.
Karaiyān.— A name for Tamil sea-fishermen, who live on the coast (karai). The fishing section of the Palles is known as Palle Kariyālu. See Pattanavan.
Kārālan.— In the Census Report, 1891, the Kārālans (rulers of clouds) are returned as a tribe of hunters and cultivators found in the hills of Salem and South Arcot. In the Report, 1901, Kārālan is given as a synonym for Vellāla in Malabar, and also as a name for Malayālis. At the census, 1901, many of the Malayālis of the Shevaroy hills in the Salem district returned themselves as Vellālas and Kārālans. And the divisions returned by the Kārālans, e.g., Kolli, Pacchai, Periya, and Perianan, connect them with these Malayālis (q.v.).
Karepāku.— Karepāku or Karuvepilai is a name for Koravas, who hawk for sale leaves of the curry-leaf plant (Murraya Kœnigii).
Karichcha. — Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a sub-division of Nāyar.
Karimbarabannaya (sugar-cane sept). — An exogamous sept of Kēlasi.
Karimpālan.— The Karimpālans are a small hunting and cultivating forest tribe in Malabar. They are "punam (shifting) cultivators, hewers of wood, and collectors of wild pepper, and are found in all the foot hills north of the Camel's Hump. They wear the kudumi (hair knot), and are said to follow the marumakkatāyam system of inheritance in the female line, but they do not perform the tāli kettu ceremony. They are supposed to have the power of exorcising the demon Karuvilli, possession by whom takes the form of fever." *[1]
- ↑ * Gazetteer of the Malabar district.
