Vālan.— For the following note on the Vālan and Katal Arayan fishing castes of the Cochin State, I am indebted to Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Aiyar.
The name Vālan is derived from vala, meaning fish in a tank. Some consider the word to be another form of Valayan, which signifies a person who throws a net for fishing. According to the tradition and current belief of these people, they were brought to Kērala by Parasurāma for plying boats and conveying passengers across the rivers and backwaters on the west coast. Another tradition is that the Vālans were Arayans, and they became a separate caste only after one of the Perumāls had selected some of their families for boat service, and conferred on them special privileges. They even now pride themselves that their caste is one of remote antiquity, and that Vedavyasa, the author of the Purānas, and Guha, who rendered the boat service to the divine Rāma, Sita, and Lakshmana, across the Ganges in the course of their exile to the forest, were among the caste-men.
There are no sub-divisions in the caste, but the members thereof are said to belong to four exogamous illams (houses of Nambūtiris), namely, Alayakad, Ennalu, Vaisyagiriam, and Vazhapally, which correspond to the gōtras of the Brāhmans, or to four clans, the members of each of which are perhaps descended from a common ancestor. According to a tradition current among them, they were once attached to the four Nambūtiri illams above mentioned for service of some kind, and were even the descendants of the members of the illams, but were doomed to the present state of degradation on account of some misconduct. Evidently, the story is looked up to to elevate themselves in social status. I am inclined to believe that they must have been the Atiyars
