சாணார்(நாடார்) என்ற இனம் – எட்கர் தர்ஸ்டன்.

சாணார் என்றோ நாடார் என்றோ ஒரு இனம் பண்டைய தமிழகத்தில் கிடையாது.இவர்கள் குறிஞ்சி முல்லை மருதம் நெய்தல் பாலை என்ற ஐந்து திணைகளிலும் கிடையாது.ஏனெனில் இவர்கள் தமிழகத்தின் இனத்தில் இவர்கள் இல்லை.பின்பு இக்குடியினர் எப்படி எங்கிருந்து வந்தனர்?. ஆனால்.பல்லவ மற்றும் இடைக்காலத்தில் ஈழவர் என்ற மக்கள் காணப்படுகிறார்கள்.பல்லவ மன்னன் மகேந்திரவர்மன் காலத்தில் இலங்கையின் மீது தமிழகத்திலிருந்து படையெடுப்பு நடந்தது.

அப்படையெடுப்பில் பலர் சிறைபிடிக்கப்பட்டு தமிழகத்திற்குக் கொண்டு வரப்பட்டனர்.அதேபோல்,இராசராச சோழன் இலங்கை மீது படையெடுத்தான்.சோழமன்னன் இரண்டாம் குலோத்துங்கன் இலங்கை மீது படையெடுத்து பலரை கைது பண்ணி இங்கு கொண்டு வந்தான்.இவ்வாறான படையெடுப்புகள் மூலம் தமிழகத்திற்கு வந்தவர்கள்தான் ஈழவர் என்று சொல்லக்கூடிய நாடார் இனமக்கள்.படையெடுப்பில் கைது செய்யப்பட்டு தமிழகத்திற்கு கொண்டுவரப்பட்டவர்களில் பலர் படை வீரர்கள் இருந்தார்கள்.அவ்வாறாக வந்தவர்தான் ஈழச்சான்றோன் என்று சொல்லக்கூடிய ஏனாதிநாதர்.

அவர்  பயிற்சி கொடுக்கும் பணியில் ஈடுபடுத்தப்பட்டார்.மற்ற மக்கள் ஆற்றுக்குக்கரை அமைத்தல்,படையெடுப்பின்போது கொடி சுமந்து செல்லுதல் மற்றும் கள் இறக்குதல் போன்ற பணியில் ஈடுபட்டார்கள்.பெரும்பாலான மக்கள் கள் இறக்குதலில் ஈடுபட்டனர். இதற்கு வரலாற்றில் ஆதாரங்கள் உள்ளன.இன்றுவரை அது தொடர்கிறது. நாடார் தான் தமிழகத்தின் உண்மையான மூவேந்தர் இனம் என்றும் சொல்வது உண்மையில் தமிழகத்தின் வரலாற்றைத் தலைகீழாக திருப்பிவிடும்

இன்றும் இவர்களது இன மக்கள் இலங்கையில் துருவர் என்ற பெயரில் தென்னை,பனையேறிகளாக வாழ்ந்து வருகிறார்கள்.சாணார் ஆகிய இவர்கள் ஈழவர் என்ற இனத்தின் பெயரில் தமிழகத்துக்கு இறக்குமதியானவர்கள். சேரமன்னன் தென்னை,பனை பயிரிடுவதற்காக ஈழ மன்னனை வேண்டி சாணார் குடிகளை பெற்றான்.தேங்காயை கொழும்புக்காய் என்று அழைக்கப்படுவது கண்கூடு.இந்த தென்னை,பனை மரங்களை தமிழகத்துக்கும் கேரளத்துக்கும் அறிமுகப்படுத்தியது நாடார்கள் என்று தற்போது கூறிக்கொள்ளும் சாணார்கள் தான்.பனைமரத்தை தெய்வமாகவும் அது தரும் பொருளை பனையமுது என்று பெருமையாக அழைக்கும் வழக்கம் இவர்களிடமே உள்ளது.

சாணார் என்பது நட்டாச்சி செய்த நாடார்களாம் ஆனால் 14-ஆம் நூற்றாண்டு சங்கரங்கோவில் பராக்கிறம பாண்டிய தேவர் கல்வெட்டில் நாடார் என குறிப்பிடாது சாணார் எனவே குறிப்பிடுகின்றது. இதில் சாணாருக்கும் பறையருக்குமான சண்டையில் பாண்டியர் அழித்த தீர்ப்பை பற்றிய கல்வெட்டு. எஸ்.இராமசந்திரன்,பிரவாகன் இவர்கள் கூறட்டுமே எங்கே பாண்டிய நாடார் என உள்ளது.

சானார் என்றால் மரமேறுபவர் என்று பொருள்.

சாறு=குழை தழுவிய தென்னை (அ) பனை மரம் என்று பொருள்(சுரா தமிழ் அகராதி).

சாறு+ஏறான்=மரம் ஏறுபவன்.

சாறெரான்=சானாரான் என்று திரிந்துள்ளது.

இது தான் உண்மை பொருள்.

.இவர்களை கண்ணால் காண்பதே தீட்டு என்று ஒரு காலத்தில் ஒடுக்கப் பட்ட இனமாக இருந்ததில் இருந்து மீண்டு,முன்னேறி இன்றைக்கு தமக்கொரு குலப்பெருமை வேண்டி போலியாக

தென்னை மரமேறி சாணார்=தெட்சிண மாற சத்திரிய நாடார்
பனை மரமேறி சாணார்= பாண்டிய குல சத்திரிய நாடார்
ஈச்ச மரமேறி சாணார்=ஈத்தாம் பொழில் சத்திரிய நாடார்

என்று மாற்றிக்கூறிக் கொள்கின்றனர்.சாணார் என்று கூறிக்கொள்ள அசிங்கமாயிருந்தால் அதற்கு சமமாக நாடாவி என்றும் ஈழ நாடார் என்றும் கூறிக்கொள்ள வேண்டிய சாணார்கள் சத்திரிய நாடார் என்கின்றனர்.921 ஆம் ஆண்டிலிருந்து நாடார் இனமக்களின் பெரிய மனிதர்கள் தங்கள் இனத்தை போலியாக உயர்த்திக்கொள்ள பல முயற்சிகள் செய்து கொண்டிருக்கிறார்கள். இதைப் பற்றி பல வரலாற்று அறிஞர்கள் சுட்டிக்காட்டியுள்ளனர்.அப்படி வந்த ஒரு சொல் தான் தாங்கள் சத்திரியர் இனம் என்பது

The Durave or toddy tapper castes are related to the Ezhavas of Kerala or the Nadar or Tamil Nadu. Mangala Samaraweera, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, one time member of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party and fired by President Rajapakse belongs to the Durave caste.

 https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/caste-and-exclusion-in-sinhala-buddhism/

கடந்த 200 வருடங்களாக பல போராட்டங்களை கடந்து ஆங்கில அரசின் ஆதரவை பெற்று இவர்களுக்குப் போலியாக இனப்பெருமை கோர,என்றே அறிஞர்களையும் வளர்க்கின்றனர்.இவர்களைப் பிடித்து வந்து வளர்த்தவர்களின் இனமாக ஆண்ட பரம்பரையாக கூறிக்கொள்கின்றனர்.இன்று மூவேந்தர் என்ற புதுப்பெயரினை கோரி வருகின்றனர்.தங்கள் முதல்வர் காமராஜர் மூலமாக பொருளாதாரமுன்னேற்றம் அடைந்த இவ்வினத்தினர்.இன்று தம்மை மன்னர் வம்சம் என்று கோர,கட்டுக்கதைகள் எழுத பல வரலாற்று ஆசிரியர்களை வளர்த்து உருவாக்கி வரலாற்றை திருத்தி எழுதிக்கொண்டுள்ளனர். நாடார் வரலாற்று ஆசிரியர்கள்

ச.இராமச்சந்திர ஐயர்(sishri.org,thinnai.com,maanilavan@gmail.com)
நெல்லை நெடுமாறன்
கணேசன்.2001 இல் முனைவர் எஸ்.டி. ஜெயபாண்டியன் எழுதிய நாடார் வரலாறு, தூரன் நல். நடராசன் ஆனால் இவர்கள் சத்திரிய இனமாக கூறிக்கொள்ள என்ன என்ன விஷயங்கள் செயதனர் என எட்கர் தர்ஸ்டன் கூறுகிறார் என ஆங்கில கட்டுரை காண்போம்.

SHANAN-CASTE AND TRIBES OF EDGAR THURSTON

SHANAN ” ” 364 riots in prominence owing to the Tinnevelly 1899. These were,” the Inspector-General of Police writes,* due to the pretensions of the Shanans to a much higher position in the religio-social scale than the other castes are willing to allow. Among other things, they claimed admission to Hindu temples, and the manager of the Visvanatheswara temple at Sivakasi decided to close it. This partial victory of the Shanans was keenly resented by their opponents, of whom the most active were the Organised attacks were made on a number of the Shanan villages the inhabitants were assailed houses were burnt and property was looted. The most Maravans. ; ; ; serious occurrence was the attack on Sivakasi by a body of over five thousand Maravans. 102 dacoities, in Twenty-three murders, and many cases of arson were registered connection with the riots in Sivakasi, Chinniapuram, and other places. Of 1,958 persons arrested, 552 were convicted, 7 being sentenced to death. One of the ring-leaders hurried by train to distant Madras, and & made a clever attempt to prove an alibi by signing his name in the Museum visitor’s book. During the dis- turbance some of the Shanans are said to have gone The men shaved their into the Muhammadan fold. heads, and grew beards in ; and the women had dress. to make And, in the case of boys, the operation of circumcision was performed.” The immediate bone of contention at the time of sundry changes their the Tinnevelly riots was, the Census Superintendent, ” the claim of the Shanans to enter the 1901, writes, temples, in spite of the rules in the Agama Shastras that toddy-drawers are not to be allowed into Hindu them ; but the pretensions of the community date back * Administration Report, 1899. SHANAN Travancore, because female Christian converts belonging to it gave up the caste practice of going about without an upper cloth.” On this point Mr. G. T. Mackenzie informs us * that ” in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the riot from 1858, when a occurred in female converts to Christianity in the extreme south ventured, contrary to the old rules for the lower castes, to clothe themselves above the waist. This innovation was made the occasion of disturbances. for threats, violence, and in series Similar disturbances arose from the thirty same cause nearly years later, and, 1859, Sir Charles Trevelyan, Governor of Madras, interfered, and granted permission to the women of the lower castes to wear a cloth over the breasts and shoulders. The was issued by the Maharaja of following proclamation Travancore hereby proclaim that there is no objection tQ Shanan women either putting on a jacket : We like the Christian Shanan women, or to creeds dressing in coarse cloth, selves round with it as the Mukkavattigal (fisherwomen) do, or to their covering their bosoms in any manner of all Shanan women and tying them- ” of high castes.” Shortly after 1858, pamphlets began to be written and published by people of the caste, setting out their claims to be whatever, but not like women In 1874 they endeavoured to establish a Kshatriyas. right to enter the great Minakshi temple at Madura, and they have since claimed to be allowed to wear the sacred thread, and to have palanquins at their but failed, weddings. They say they are descended from the Chera, in Chola and Pandya kings Kshatriyas legal ; they have styled themselves labelled their schools papers ; ; Kshatriya academy got Brahmans * of the less particular Christianity in Travancore, 1901. SHANAN kind to do purohit’s work ; 366 for had poems composed on their kingly origin gone through a sort of incomplete parody of the ceremony of investiture with the ; them sacred thread ; talked much in but ignorantly of their to sign documents on festive occapalanquins at Nazareth in Tinnevelly, for sions.” [During my stay the purpose of taking measurements of the Shanans, I gotras ; and induced needy persons agreeing to carry them received a visit from some elders of the community from arrived in palanquins, and bearing weapons of old device.] Their boldest stroke was to aver that Kuttam, who the coins commonly known as Shanans’ cash were struck ‘ by sovereign ancestors of the caste. The author of a pamphlet entitled Bishop Caldwell and the Tinnevelly Shanars states that he had met with men of all castes who say that they have seen the true Shanar coin with their own eyes, and that a Eurasian gentleman from ‘ Bangalore testified to his having seen a true Shanar The coin referred coin at Bangalore forty years ago. to is the gold Venetian sequin, which is still found in considerable numbers in the south, and bears the names of the etc.) Doges (Paul Rainer, Aloy Mocen, Ludov Manin, cross, and a ” palm. If,” which the Natives mistake for a toddy Mr. Fawcett writes,* ” one asks the ordinary Malayali (native of Malabar) what persons are represented on the sequin, one gets for answer that they between them a cocoanut tree. Every Malayali knows what an Amada is it is a real I have never heard or imitation Venetian sequin. any are Sita : ; Rama and explanation of the word Amada in Malabar. The Amada was the confollowing comes from Tinnevelly. sort of Bhagavati, and he suddenly appeared one day * Madras Museum Bull., Ill, 3, 1901. 367 before a Shanar, and SHANAN food. demanded The Shanar said he was a poor man with nothing which he gave in a palmyra leaf. Amada drank the toddy, and performing a mantram (consecrated formula) to offer but toddy, turned into gold coins, which bore on one side the pictures of Amada, the Shanar, and the tree, and these he gave to the Shanar as a reward for over the leaf, it his willingness to assist him.” In a petition to myself from certain Shanans of Nazareth, signed by a very large number of the com” Short account of the munity, and bearing the title Cantras or Tamil Xatras, the original but down-trodden royal race ” of Southern India,” they write as follows. humbly beg to say that we are the descendants of the Pandya or Dravida Xatra race, who, shortly after the universal deluge of Noah, first disafforested and colonized this land of South India under the guidance of Agastya Muni. The whole world was destroyed by flood about We B.C. 3100 (Dr. Hale’s calculation), when Noah, otherwise called Vaivasvata-manu or Satyavrata, was saved with his family of seven persons in an ark or covered ship, which rested upon the highest mountain of the Aryavarta country. rapidly replenished Hence his the whole earth was by descendants. One of his grandsons (nine great Prajapatis) was Atri, whose son Candra was the ancestor of the noblest class of the Xatras ” ranked above the Brahmans, and the first illustrious monarch of the post-diluvian world.” Apparently,” the Census Superintendent continues, “judging from the Shanan’s own published statements of their case, they rest their claims chiefly upon etymological derivations of their caste name Shanan, and of Nadan and Gramani, and names are, their two usual titles. Caste titles little however, of recent origin, and

SHANAN 368 can be inferred from them, whatever their meaning may be shown to be. Brahmans, for example, appear to have borne the titles of Pillai and Mudali, which are now only used by Sudras, and the Nayak kings, on the other hand, called themselves Aiyar, which is now To this day exclusively the title of Saivite Brahmans. the cultivating Vellalas, the weaving Kaikolars, and the semi-civilised hill tribe of the Jatapus use equally the title of Mudali, and the Balijas and Telagas call themselves Rao, which is properly the title of Mahratta Brahmans. exercised. literature at Regarding the derivation of the words Shanan, Nadan and Gramani, much Shanan all. is ingenuity has been not found in the earlier Tamil In the inscriptions of Rajaraja Chola (A.D. 984-1013) toddy-drawers are referred to as Iluvans. According to Pingalandai, a dictionary of the loth or names of the toddy-drawer castes are To these the ChudaPalaiyar, Tuvasar, and Paduvar. mani Nikandu, a Tamil dictionary of the i6th century, century, the nth adds Saundigar. Apparently, therefore, the Sanskrit word Saundigar must have been introduced (probably by the Brahmans) between the nth and i6th centuries, and is a Sanskrit rendering of the word From Iluvan. Saundigar to Shanan is nqt a long step in the corruption The Shanans say that Shanan is derived of words. from the Tamil word Sanrar or Sanror, which means the learned or the noble. But it does not appear that the Shanans were ever called Sanrar or Sanror in any of the Tamil works. The two words Nadan and Gramani mean the same thing, namely, ruler of a country or of a village, the former being a Tamil, and the latter a Sanskrit word. Nadan, on the other hand, means a man who man who lives in the country, as opposed to Uran, the title resides in a village. The of the caste is 369 SHANAN it Nadan, and the villages. it seems most probable that refers to the fact that the Iluvan ancestors of the caste lived outside (South Indian Inscriptions, vol. II, part But, even if Nadan and Gramani both mean rulers, i.) it does not give those who bear these titles any claim If it to be Kshatriyas. did, all the descendants of the many South Indian Kshatriyas.” ” Poligars, or petty chiefs, would be Superintendent, 1891, states that the Shanans are in social position usually placed only a The Census above the Pallas and the Paraiyans, and are considered to be one of the polluting castes, but of late many little of them have put forward a claim to be considered Kshatriyas, and at least 24,000 of them appear as Kshatriyas in the caste tables. is This is, of course, absurd, as there riya. But at it is no such thing as a Dravidian Kshatby no means certain that the Shanans tribe, for were not one time a warlike we find traces of a military occupation among several toddy-drawing castes of the south, such as the Billavas (bowmen), Halepaik (old foot soldiers), Even the Kadamba kings of ‘ Kumarapaik Mysore are (junior foot). said to have The Kadamba tree appears to be been toddy-drawers. one of the palms, from which toddy is extracted. Toddythe special occupation of the several primitive tribes spread over the south-west of India, and bearing drawing is different names in various parts. They were employed and bodyguards, being ordinarily by former rulers as foot-soldiers ‘ noted for their fidelity.* The word Shanan is ; derived from Tamil saru, meaning toddy but a learned missionary derives it from san (a span) and nar (fibre or string), that is the noose, one span in length, used * Rice. Mysore Inscriptions, p. 33. vi-*4 SHANAN by the Shanans derivation It is is 370 in climbing palm-trees.” The latter also given by Vellalas. worthy of note that the Tiyans, or Malabar toddy-drawers, addressione another, and are addressed by the lower classes as Shener, which form of Shanar.* is probably another The whole Shanans is story of the claims and pretensions of the out at length in the judgment in the case (1898) which was heard on appeal Kamudi temple And I may approbefore the High Court of Madras. set priately quote from the judgment. ” There is no sort even suggests a probability that the Shanars are descendants from the Kshatriya or warrior castes of Hindus, or from the Nor is there Pandiya, Chola or Chera race of kings. of proof, nothing, say, that we may any distinction to be drawn between the Nadars and the ‘ ‘ Shanars. Shanar is the general name of the caste, just as Vellala and Maravar designate castes. Nadar is a assumed by certain members or families of the caste, just as Brahmins are called Aiyars, Aiyangars, and Raos. All Nadars are Shanars by caste, unless indeed they have abandoned caste, as many of them have by becoming Christians. title, mere more or less honorific, ‘ ‘ The Shanars have, as a class, from time immemorial, been devoted to the cultivation of the palmyra palm, and to the collection of the juice, and manufacture of liquor There are no grounds whatever for regarding them as of Aryan origin. Their worship was a form of demonology, and their position in general social estimation appears to have been just above that of Pallas, Pariahs, and Chucklies (Chakkiliyans), who are on all from it. hands regarded as unclean, and prohibited from the use * Madras Census Report, 1901.

37 1 of the SHANAN Hindu temples, and below that of Vellalas, Maraclasses vans, and other the Hindu temples. admittedly free to worship in In process of time, many of the Shanars took to cultivating, trade, and money-lending, and to-day there is a numerous and prosperous body of Shanars, who have no immediate concern with their the immemorial calling of they own much caste. In many villages of the land, and monopolise the bulk of With the increase of wealth they the trade and wealth. have, not unnaturally, sought for social recognition, and to be treated on a footing of equality in religious matters. The conclusion of the Sub-Judge is that, according to the A^ama Shastras which are received as authoritative O by worshippers of Siva in the Madura district, entry into a temple, where the ritual prescribed by these Shastras is observed, is prohibited to all those whose profession the manufacture of intoxicating liquor, and the climbNo argument was ing of palmyra and cocoanut trees. is addressed to us to show that this finding we see no reason to think that it is so is . incorrect, . and . . No doubt many of the Shanars have abandoned their hereditary occupation, and have won for themselves by educarespectable positions as traders and merchants, and even as vakils (law pleaders) and clerks and it is natural to feel sympathy for their tion, industry and frugality, ; efforts to obtain social recognition, and to rise to ; what is regarded as a higher form of religious worship but such sympathy will not be increased by unreasonable and unfounded pretensions, and, in the effort to rise, the Shanars must not invade the established rights of other castes. They have temples of their own, and are numerous enough, and strong enough in wealth and education, to rise along their the institutions VI-24 B and without appropriating or infringing the rights of others, and in lines, own SHANAN 372 so doing they will have the sympathy of all right-minded men, and, if necessary, the protection of the Courts.” In a note on the Shanans, the Rev. J. Sharrock ” have writes * that they risen enormously in the social by their eagerness for education, by their large adoption of the freedom of Christianity, and by their Many of them have forced themselves thrifty habits. ahead of the Maravars by sheer force of character. scale They have still to learn that the progress of a nation, or a caste, does not depend upon the interpretation of words, or the assumption of a title, but on the character of the’ individuals that compose it. Evolutions are hindered rather than advanced by such unwise pretensions resulting in violence but evolutions resulting from intellectual ; and will social development are quite irresistible, continue to advance by its own efforts if any caste path in the of freedom and progress.” Writing in 1875, Bishop Cal dwell remarks f that the great majority of the Shanars who remain heathen wear their hair long and, if they are not allowed to ” ; enter the temples, the restriction to which they are subject is not owing to their long hair, but to their caste, for those few members of the caste, continuing heathens, the who have adopted of the caste kudumi generally the wealthiest are as temples as those much precluded from entering the who retain their long hairs. A large the majority of the Christian Shanars have adopted kudumi together with Christianity.” By Regulation XI, 1816, it was enacted that heads of villages have, in cases of a trivial nature, such as abusive language and inconsiderable assaults or affrays, power to confine the offending members in the village * Madras Mail, 1901. f I nd A nt -> IV l8 ?5- 373

SHANAN choultry (lock-up) for a time not exceeding twelve hours or, if the offending parties are of the lower castes ; of the people, on whom it may not be improper to inflict so degrading a punishment, to order them to be put in the stocks for a time not exceeding six hours. In a case which that came before the High Court ” it was ruled by ” lower castes were probably intended those In a case which castes which, prior to the introduction of British rule, were regarded as servile. appeal before the High Court in 1903, it the Shanars belong to the lower classes, came up on was ruled that who may be punished by confinement in the stocks. With the physique of the Shanans, whom I examined at Nazareth and Sawyerpuram in Tinnevelly, and their skill in physical exercises I was very much impressed. of sports, which were organised in honour, included the following events : The programme my Fencing and figure exercises with long sticks of iron-wood (Mesua ferrea). Figure exercises with sticks bearing flaming rags at each end. Various acrobatic Feats tricks. with heavy weights, rice-pounders, and pounding stones. Long jump. Breaking cocoanuts with the thrust of a knife or the closed fist. Crunching whiskey-bottle glass with the teeth. Running up, and butting against the chest, back, and shoulders. Swallowing a long silver chain. Cutting a cucumber balanced on a man’s neck in two with a sword. Falconry. SHANAN One 374 of the good qualities of Sir Thomas Munro, formerly Governor of Madras, was that, like Rama and Rob Roy, his arms reached to his knees, or, in other words, he possessed the kingly quality of an Ajanubahu, which is the heritage of kings, or those who have blue blood in them. I This particular anatomical character have met with myself only once, in a Shanan, whose 173 21 cm.). height was (-{- and span of the arms 194 cm. Rob Roy, it will be remembered, could, cm. without stooping, tie his garters, which were placed two inches below the knee. For a detailed account of demonolatry among the Shanans, I would refer the reader to the Rev. R. Tinnevelly (afterwards Bishop) Caldwell’s now scarce Shanans (1849), written when he was a young and impul’ ‘ sive missionary, and the publication of which I believe that the learned and kind-hearted divine lived to regret. Those Shanans who are engaged in the palmyra (Borassus flabellifer) forests in extracting the juice of the palm-tree climb with marvellous activity and dexterity. a proverb that, if you desire to climb trees, you must be born a Shanan. A palmyra climber will, it has been calculated, go up from forty to is There fifty trees, each forty to is The story told by high, three times a day. Bishop Caldwell of a man who was fifty feet sitting upon a leaf-stalk at the top of a palmyra palm in a high wind, when the stalk gave way, and he came down to the ground safely and quietly, sitting on the leaf, which served the purpose of a natural parachute. Woodpeckers are called Shanara kurivi by birdcatchers, The Hindus,” because they climb trees like Shanars. the Rev. (afterwards Canon) A. Margoschis writes,* * Christianity ” and Caste, 1893. 375 ” SHANAN observe a special day at the commencement of the palmyra season, when the jaggery season begins. Bishop Caldwell adopted the custom, and a solemn service church was held, when one set of all the implements used in the occupation of palmyra-climbing was brought to the church, and presented at the altar. in Only the day was changed from Hindus. that observed by the The perils of the palmyra-climber are great, fatal and there are many accidents by falling from trees forty to sixty feet high, so that a religious service of the kind was particularly acceptable, and peculiarly appropriate to our people.” The conversion of a Hindu into a Christian ceremonial rite, in connection with In the dedication of ex votos, is not devoid of interest. a note * on the Pariah caste in Travancore, the Rev. Mateer narrates a legend that the Shanans are descended from Adi, the daughter of a Pariah woman at Karuvur, who taught them to climb the palm tree, and S. prepared a medicine which would protect them from The squirrels also ate some falling from the high trees. of it, and enjoy a similar immunity. It is recorded, that in the Gazetteer of ” the Madura Shanan toddy-drawers employ Pallans, Paraiyans, and other low castes to help them transport the liquor, but Musalmans and Brahmans have, in district, several cases, sufficiently set aside the scruples enjoined by their respective to liquor own Musalmans at least) to serve their customers with their own hands.” In a recent note,t it has been stated that ” against dealings in potent retail shops, and (in the case of some faiths L.M.S. Shanar Christians have, in many cases, given up tapping the palmyra palm for jaggery and toddy as a * Journ. Roy. As. Soc., XVI. t Madras Mail, 1907. SHANAN ; 376 profession beneath them and their example is spreading, so that a real economic impasse is manifesting itself. The writer knows of one village at least, which had to send across the border (of Travancore) into Tinnevelly to procure professional tree-tappers. Consequent on this want of professional men, the palm trees are being cut down, and this, if done to any large extent, will impoverish the country.” In the palmyra forests of Attitondu, in Tinnevelly, I came across a troop of stalwart Shanan men and boys, marching out towards sunset, to guard the ripening cholum crop through the night, each with a trained dog, with leash made of fibre passed through a ring on the neck-collar. The leash would be slipped directly the dog scented a wild pig, or other nocturnal marauder. Several One of the dogs bore the marks of encounters with pigs. of the party carried a musical instrument ‘ ‘ made of a bison The horn picked up in the neighbouring jungle. Shanans have a great objection to being called either Shanan or Marameri (tree-climber), and much prefer Nadan. By the Shanans of Tinnevelly, whom I visited, the following five sub-divisions were returned 1. : Karukku-pattayar (those of the sharp sword), which is considered to be superior to the rest. In the Report, 1891, the division Karukku-mattai (petiole of the palmyra leaf with serrated edges) was Some Shanans are said to have assumed the returned. Census name of Karukku-mattai Vellalas. Kalla. Said to be the original servants of the Karukku-pattayar, doing menial work in their houses, 2. and serving as palanquin-bearers. 3. Nattati. Settled at the village of Nattati near Sawyerpuram. 377

4. SHANAN Derived from kodi, a flag. Standard-bearers of the fighting men. According to another Kodikkal. version, the word means a betel garden, those who were betel cultivators. 5. in reference to Mel-natar (mel, west). Those who in live in the western part of Tinnevelly and Travancore. At the census, 1891, Konga (territorial) and Madurai were returned as sub-divisions. The latter apparently receives its name, not from the town of Madura, but from a word meaning sweet juice. At the census, 1901, Tollakkadan (man with a big hole in his was taken as being a sub-caste of Shanan, as who returned it, and sell husked rice in Madras, used the title Nadan. Madura and Tinnevelly are eminently the homes of dilated ear-lobes. Some Tamil traders in these two districts, who returned ears) the people themselves as Pandyan, were classified as Shanans, as Nadan was entered as their title. In Coimbatore, some Shanans, engaged as shop-keepers, have been to adopt the title known name of Chetti. In Coimbatore, too, the title, or elder, meaning headman Ambalakaran, Valayan, and other castes. In the Sudarman, Senaikkudaiyan, Tanjore Manual, the Shanans are divided into Tennam, Panam, and Ichcham, according as they tap the cocoa- Muppan is occurs. This also used by the nut, palmyra, name or wild date (Pkcenix sylvestris). The Enadi for Shanans is derived from Enadi Nayanar, a Saivite saint. But it also means a barber. The community has, among owners, and graduates in the arts. Nine-tenths of the Native clergy in Tinneare said to be converted Shanans, and velly Tinnevelly claims members, landtheology, law, medicine, and its Native missionaries working Natal, Mauritius, and the Straits. in Madagascar, occupations The SHANBOG of those 37 8 I whom saw at Nazareth were merchant, culti- vator, teacher, village munsif, organist, cart-driver, and cooly. The Shanans have established a school, called Kshat- This is a riya Vidyasala, at Virudupati in Tinnevelly. free school, for attendance at which no fee is levied on the pupils, for the benefit of the Shanan community, It is but boys of other castes are freely admitted to it. maintained by Shanans from their mahimai fund, and the teachers are Brahmans, Shanans, etc.