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NAMBUTIRl BRAHMAN
the Panniyūr Grāmakkar, and the Payyanūr Grāmakkar or the Ammuvans (uncles), so called from their matriarchal system of inheritance, form other sections of Nambūtiris."
It is recorded, in the Cochin Census Report, 1901, that "certain special privileges in regard to the performance of religious rites and other matters of a purely social nature serve as the best basis for a sub-division of the Nambūtiris in the order of social precedence as recognised amongst themselves. For this purpose, the privileges may be grouped under two main classes, as given in the following mnemonic formula: —
A
- 1. Edu (the leaf of a cadjan grandha or book): the right of studying and teaching the Vēdas and Sastras.
- 2. Piccha (mendicancy symbolic of family priests): the right of officiating as family priests.
- 3. Othu (Vēdas): the right of studying the Vēdas.
- 4. Adukala (kitchen): the right of cooking for all classes of Brāhmans.
- 5. Katavu (bathing place or ghāt): the right of bathing in the same bathing place with other Brāhmans, or the right of touching after bathing, without thereby disqualifying the person touched for performing religious services.
B
- 1. Adu (sheep): the right of performing holy sacrifices.
- 2. Bhiksha (receiving alms): the right of becoming a Sānyasi.
