The Vannans of Malabar are also called Mannān or Bannān. They are, Mr. Francis writes,*[1] "a low class of Malabar washermen, who wash only for the polluting castes, and for the higher castes when they are under pollution following births, deaths, etc. It is believed by the higher castes that such pollution can only be removed by wearing clothes washed by Mannāns, though at other times these cause pollution to them. The washing is generally done by the women, and the men are exorcists, devil-dancers and physicians, even to the higher castes. Their women are midwives, like those of the Velakkatalavan and Vēlan castes. This caste should not be confused with the Mannān hill tribe of Travancore."
It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that "the Mannāns, a makkattāyam caste of South Malabar, apparently identical with the marumakkattāyam Vannāns of the north, are a caste of washermen; and their services are indispensable to the higher castes in certain purificatory ceremonies when they have to present clean cloths (māttu). They are also devil-dancers and tailors. They practice fraternal polyandry in the south. Mannāns are divided into two endogamous classes, Peru-mannāns (peru, great), and Tinda-mannāns (tinda, pollution); and, in Walavanād, into four endogamous classes called Choppan, Peru-mannān, Punnekādan, and Puliyakkōdam. The Tinda-mannān and Puliyakkōdam divisions perform the purificatory sprinklings for the others."
The services of the Mannān, Mr. T. K. Gopal Panikkar writes,†[2] "are in requisition at the Nāyar Thirandukaliānam ceremonies on the attainment of puberty by a girl, when they sing ballads, and have to bring, for the girl's use, the māttu or sacred dress.
