at the fifth and seventh months of pregnancy. His formal permission is required before the carpenter can cut down the areca palm, with which the little shed in which the tali is tied is constructed. In cases of divorce, his functions are important. When a new house is built, there must be a house-warming ceremony, at which the Tandān officiates. Fowls are sacrificed, and the right leg is the Tandan's perquisite. He is a man of importance, not only in many affairs within his own caste, but also in those of other castes. Thus, when a Nāyar dies, it is the Tandān's duty to get the body burnt. He controls the washerman and barber of the tara, and can withdraw their services when they are most needed. He officiates, moreover, at marriages of the artisan class — carpenters, braziers, goldsmiths and blacksmiths.
A group of taras forms what is called a dēsam, the koyma or "sovereignty" of which is represented by a Nāyar tarwad. It is through the head or Karnavan (really the chieftain) of this tarwad that the Tandān approaches the Rāja in matters of appeal, and the like. The Tandān is to some extent under his guidance and control, but he must provide the Tandan with a bodyguard of two Nayars on occasions of marriages. In the old days, it may be mentioned, the Tandāns of the taras within the rule of the Zamorin were always appointed by his senior Rāni. The term Tāndan must not be confounded with the Tandars, a people of the Palghāt tāluk, who appear to be allied to the Izhuvans. These Tandars observe the custom of paternal polyandry, while the Izhuvans abhor it.
The procedure observed in the examination of horoscopes is as follows. The Tandān of the bride's tara gives a grass or palmyra palm leaf mat to the astrologer
