into existence so early as the sixth century B. C. ? The above tradition, therefore, seeins to us a post facto concoction of the Canarese people; and in the whole range of Tamil literature, especially of the early period, there is no reference to this 'ancient' social division, though it was of such vital importance. Further, there is not the slightest vestige of the matriarchal system in South India except in Kerala and in the Pendukku Mcykki sub-caste of the Idaiyans of the Madura District.
In the Dravida country, as everywhere else, the lowest castes and the hill and forest tribes are the least affected by, or are very slow to adopt, the Aryan civilisation, and even amongst them the matriarchal system was unknown. Malabar and Travancore are no exceptions to this principle. Here the transition from the patriarchal to the matriarchal state is in various stages. Most of the polluting castes and all the aboriginal tribes follow the Makkatayam system as in the other parts of India, while the Ambalavasis, Saliyans, Tiyans and others, who may be said to be in a state of transition, follow both the Makkatayam and the Marumakkatayam system of inheritance. This is doubtless due to the influence of the Nayars and to a desire to imitate the custom of higher castes. Among the non-polluting (by distance) castes it is only the so-called Kshatriyas and the Nayars, whose females had and still have Sambandam or marital relationship with the Nambudri Brahmans, that have adopted completely the
