None of the subdivisions intermarry or eat in each others' houses. Málas eat beef and are consequently almost at the bottom of the social scale. They are not allowed to enter the Hindu temples; no other caste (not even excluding the Mádigas) will eat in their houses; and they pollute all Súdra castes by touching them or entering their houses, and a Bráhman by even approaching him. Even the Mádigas pretend to be polluted if a Mála enters their houses; but the Málas return the compliment. The ordinary barbers will not work for Málas and they either shave each othei- or have their own barbers. The ordinary washermen will wash their clothes if these have first been given a preliminary soaking. A peculiar ceremony at their weddings (which is also observed by the Mádigas) consists in burying handfuls of different kinds of grain, and sacrificing a fowl over the spot.
They have their own beggar castes, namely the Máshtigas, who are gymnasts, the Pambalas, who are musicians, and the Kátikápus, who are jugglers. Round Tuni the jungle tribe there called Chentzus are also included among the Mála beggars.
Their special caste deity is Gontiyálamma, the mother of the five Pándava brethern. They say (it is not an edifying story) that Bhima, one of the five, threatened to kill his mother, who accordingly took refuge under an avirédi pot (the painted pot used at weddings) in a Mála house. For this, she was solemnly cursed by her sons, who said she should remain a Mála woman for ever. In commemoration of this story, a handful of growing paddy is pulled up every year at the Dasara, and eight days later the earth adhering to its roots is mixed with saffron and milk, made into an image of the goddess, and hidden under an avirédi pot. For the next six months this image is worshipped every Sunday by all the villagers in turn, and on the Sivarátri night it is taken in procession round the village, accompanied by all the Málas bearing pots of rice and other food carried in a kávidi, and is finally thrown with much ceremony into a river or tank. This rite is supposed to mean that the goddess is the daughter of the caste, that she has lived with them six months, and that they are now solemnly sending her back with suitably gifts (the rice, etc) to her husband. A common form of religious vow among Málas is to promise to send a cloth and a cow with the goddess on the last day of the rite, the gifts being afterwards presented to a married daughter. The part played by the image of Gontiyalamma in the Málas' rain-making ceremonies has already (p. 47) been described. Both Málas and Mádigas hold a feast in honour of their ancestors at Pongal — an uncommon rite.
