Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/238

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TSALLA OR CHALLA
202

headman called Gatamdar. On the last day, a goat or sheep is sacrificed to the marriage pots. Liberal potations of toddy are given to those who attend the wedding.

The Tsākalas have a caste beggar called Mailāri, or Patam, because he carries a brass plate (patam) with the figure of a deity engraved on it. He is said to be a Lingāyat.

Tsalla or Challa (butter-milk). — An exogamous sept of Māla.

Tsanda or Chanda (tax or subscription). — An exogamous sept of Kamma and Mēdara.

Tulabhāram. — In his description*[1] of the Tulabhāram or Tulapurushadānam ceremony performed by the Mahārājas of Travancore, Mr. Shungoony Menon explains that the latter word is a compound of three Sanskrit words, tula (scales), purusha (man), and dānam (gift, particularly of a religious character). And he gives the following description of the ceremonial, for the performance of which a Tulamandapam is erected, wherein the scales are set up, and the weighing and other rites performed. On the eighth day "after worshipping and making offerings, the Mahārāja proceeds to the Tulamandapam, where, in the south-east corner, he is sprinkled with punyāham water. Then he goes to the side room, where the 'nine grains' are sown in silver flower pots, where the achārya anoints him with nine fresh-water kalasas. Thence the Mahārāja retires to the palace, changes clothes, wears certain jewels specially made for the occasion, and, holding the State sword in his right hand and the State shield in his left, he proceeds to the pagoda; and, having presented a bull elephant at the foot of the great golden flagstaff, and

  1. • History of Travancore, 1878.