annually. They say that they were born of the sweat (muttu, a pearl or bead of perspiration) of Parama-siva.The caste is divided into a number of nādus, the names and number of which are variously given. Some of these are Ettarai, Kōppu, Adavattūr, Tirāmpālaiyam, Vimānayakkanpālaiyam in the Trichinopoly tāluk, and Amūr, Savindippatti, and Karungāli in Musiri tāluk. Widow remarriage is allowed in some of these nādus, and not in others. They use the titles Muttiriyan, Ambalakkāran, Sērvaikāran, and Kāvalkāran. They admit their social inferiority to the Vellālans, Kalians, Nattamāns, and Reddis, from all of whom they will accept meals, but consider themselves superior to Pallis, Urālis, Uppiliyans, and Valaiyans. Their usual occupation is cultivation,but they have also taken to petty trade, and some earn a living as masons and kāvalgars (watchmen). They wear the sacred thread during their marriages and funerals.They have panchāyats for each village and for the nadu, and have also a number of the Patnattu Chettis, who are recognized as elders of the caste, and sit with the head of the nādu to decide cases of adultery, etc.
Ambalavāsi.— This is summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as "a generic name applied to all classes of temple servants in Malabar. There are many sub-divisions of the caste, such as Poduval, Chākkiyar, Nambiyassan, Pidāran, Pishārodi, Vāriyan, Nambi, Teyyambādi, etc., which are assigned different services in the Hindu temples, such as the preparation of garlands, the sweeping of the floor, the fetching of firewood, the carrying of the idols in procession, singing,dancing, and so on. Like most of the temple servant classes, they are inferior to the lower Brāhmans, such as the Mūssads, and food will not be taken from the hands of most of them even by Nayars."
