Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/9

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CASTES AND TRIBES

OF SOUTHERN INDIA.

VOLUME II.

CANJI (gruel).—An exogamous sept of Padma Sālē. Canji is the word "in use all over India for the water, in which rice has been boiled. It also forms the usual starch of Indian washermen."*[1] As a sept of the Sālē weavers, it probably has reference to the gruel, or size, which is applied to the warp.

Chacchadi.—Haddis who do scavenging work, with whom other Haddis do not freely intermarry.

Chadarapu Dhompti (square space marriage offering).—A sub-division of Mādigas, who, at marriages, offer food to the god in a square space.

Chākala.— See Tsākala.

Chakkān.—Recorded in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as "a Malabar caste of oil-pressers (chakku means an oil-mill). Followers of this calling are known also as Vattakkādans in South Malabar, and as Vāniyans in North Malabar, but the former are the higher in social status, the Nāyars being polluted by the touch of the Vāniyans and Chakkāns, but not by that of the Vattakkādans. Chakkāns and Vāniyans may not enter Brāhman temples. Their customs and manners are similar to those of the Nāyars, who will not, however,


  1. * Yule and Burnell. Hobson-Jobson.