northernmost tāluk of the Malabar district, and in the adjoining Kasargōd tāluk of South Canara, Mārāyans are barbers, serving Nāyars and higher castes; in the Kottayam and Kurumbranād tāluks they are barbers and drummers, and also officiate as purōhits (priests) at the funeral ceremonies of Nāyars. In the latter capacity they are known in those parts also as Attikurissi Mārāyan. Going still further south, we find the Nāyar purōhit called simply Attikurissi, omitting the Mārāyan, and he considers it beneath his dignity to shave. Nevertheless, he betrays his kinship with the Mārāyan of the north by the privilege which he claims of cutting the first hair when a Nāyar is shaved after funeral obsequies. On the other hand, the drummer, who is called Mārāyan, or honorifically Mārār, poses as a temple servant, and would be insulted if it were said that he was akin to the shaving Mārāyan of the north. He is considered next in rank only to Brāhmans, and would be polluted by the touch of Nāyars. He loses caste by eating the food of Nāyars, but the Nāyars also lose caste by eating his food. A proverb says that a Mārāyan has four privileges: —
- 1. Pāni, or drum, beaten with the hand.
- 2. Kōni, or bier, i.e., the making of the bier.
- 3. Natumittam, or shaving.
- 4. Tirumittam, or sweeping the temple courts.
"In North Malabar a Mārāyan performs all the above duties even now. In the south there appears to have been a division of labour, and there a Mārāyan is in these days only a drummer and temple servant. Funeral rites are conducted by an Attikurissi Mārāyan, otherwise known as simply Attikurissi, and shaving is the duty of the Velakattalavan. This appears to have been the case for many generations, but I have not attempted to distinguish between the two sections, and have classed all as
