practice often indiscriminately applied to the same class of people. Pandārams are usually Vellālas by caste, but Āndis are recruited from all classes of Sūdras, and they consequently have various sub-divisions, which are named after the caste to which the members of each originally belonged, such as the Jangam Āndis, meaning beggars of the Jangam caste, and the Jōgi Āndis, that is, Andis of the Jōgi caste. They also have occupational and other divisions, such as the Kōvil Āndis, meaning those who do service in temples, and the Mudavāndis orthe lame beggars. Āndi is in fact almost a generic term. All Āndis are not beggars however; some are bricklayers, others are cultivators, and others are occupied in the temples.They employed Brāhman priests at their ceremonies, but all of them eat meat and drink alcohol. Widows and divorcees may marry again. Among the Tinnevelly Āndis, the sister of the bridegroom ties the tāli (marriage badge) round the bride's neck, which is not usual."
In the Madras Census Report, 1891, the Āndis are summed up as "beggars who profess the Saiva faith. They may be found in all the Tamil districts, begging from door to door, beating a small gong with a stick. The Āndis differ from most other castes, in that a person of any caste may join their community. Some of them officiate as priests in village temples, especially when large sacrifices of goats, buffaloes, and pigs are made. They usually bury the dead. They have returned 105 sub-divisions, of which the most important are the following:—Jangam, Kōmanandi, Lingadāri, Mudavāndi, and Uppāndi. Kōmanam is the small loin cloth, and a Kōmanāndi goes naked, except for this slight concession to decency. Mudam means lame, and the Mudavandis (q.v.) are allowed to claim any deformed child belonging to the Konga Vellala caste.
