"Both men and women are employed as astrologers and doctors, and are often consulted by all classes of people. In many villages they have the privilege of receiving from each ryot a handful of grain during the harvest time." *[1] Of three Valluvans, whom I interviewed at Coimbatore, one, with a flowing white beard, had a lingam wrapped up in a pink cloth round the neck, and a charm tied in a pink cloth round the right upper arm. Another, with a black beard, had a salmon-coloured turban. The third was wearing a discarded British soldier's tunic. All wore necklaces of rūdrāksha (Elceocarpus Ganitrus) beads, and their foreheads were smeared with oblong patches of sandal paste. Each of them had a collection of panchangams, or calendars for determining auspicious dates, and a bundle of palm leaf strips (ulla mudyan) inscribed with slōkas for astrological purposes. Their professional duties included writing charms for sick people, preparing horoscopes, and making forecasts of good or evil by means of cabalistic squares marked on the ground. Some Valluvans would have us believe that those who officiate as priests are not true Valluvans, and that the true Valluvan, who carries out the duties of an astrologer, will not perform priestly functions for the Paraiyans.
The most important sub-divisions of the Valluvans, returned at times of census, are Paraiyan, Tāvidadāri, and Tiruvalluvan. From information supplied to me, I gather that there are two main divisions, called Arupathu Katchi (sixty house section) and Narpathu Katchi (forty house section). The former are supposed to be descendants of Nandi Gurukkal, and take his name
- ↑ * Madras Census Report, 1891.
