Brāhmans. Pānāns and Kaniyans pollute one another if they touch, and both bathe should they happen to do so. They are their own barbers and washermen. They live in the vicinity of the Izhuvans, but cannot live in the Nāyar tharas. Nor can they take water from the wells of the Kammālans. They cannot approach the outer walls of Brāhman temples, and are not allowed to enter the Brāhman streets in Palghat."
In the Census Report, 1891, Pānān occurs as a sub-division of the Paraiyans. Their chief occupation as leather-workers is said to be the manufacture of drum-heads.*[1]
Panasa.— The Panasas are a class of alm seekers in the Telugu country, who are said to ask alms only from Kamsalas. The word panasa means constant repetition of words, and, in its application to the Panasa, probably indicates that they, like the Bhatrāzu bards and panegyrists, make up verses eulogising those from whom they seek alms. It is stated in the Kurnool Manual (1886) that "they take alms from the Bēri Kōmatis and goldsmiths (Kamsalas), and no others. The story goes that, in Golkonda, a tribe of Kōmatis named Bacheluvāru were imprisoned for non-payment of arrears of revenue. Finding certain men of the artificer class who passed by in the street spit betel nut, they asked the artificers to get them released. The artificers, pitying them, paid the arrears, and procured their release. It was then that the Kamsalis fixed a vartana or annual house-fee for the maintenance of the Panasa class, on condition that they should not ask for alms from the other castes." The Panasas appear every year in the Kurnool district to collect their dues.
- ↑ * A. Chatterton. Monograph on Tanning and Working in Leather, 1904.
