Edgar Thurston - Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 2 of 7

Castes and Tribes
of
Southern India

By
Edgar Thurston, C.I.E. ,
Superintendent, Madras Government Museum; Correspondant tranger, Socit dAnthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa, Romana di Anthropologia.
Assisted by K. Rangachari, M.A. ,
of the Madras Government Museum.

Volume IIC to J
Government Press, Madras
1909.

C anji (gruel).An exogamous sept of Padma Sl. 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. As a sept of the Sl 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 Mdigas, who, at marriages, offer food to the god in a square space.

Chkala.See Tskala.

Chakkn.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 Vattakkdans in South Malabar, and as Vniyans in North Malabar, but the former are the higher in social status, the Nyars being polluted by the touch of the Vniyans and Chakkns, but not by that of the Vattakkdans. Chakkns and Vniyans may not enter Brhman temples. Their customs and manners are similar to those of the Nyars, who will not, however, marry their women. Chakkingalavan appears as a synonym for Chakkn.

Chakkiliyan.The Chakkiliyans, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, to be considered to be of the very lowest status. In some parts of the district they speak Telugu and wear the nmam (Vaishnavite sect mark) and are apparently immigrants from the Telugu country. Though they are Tamil-speaking people, the Chakkiliyans, like the Telugu Mdigas, have exogamous septs called gtra in the north, and klai in the south. Unlike the Mdigas, they do not carry out the practice of making Basavis (dedicated prostitutes).

The correlation of the most important measurements of the Mdigas of the Telugu country, and so-called Chakkiliyans of the city of Madras, is clearly brought out by the following figures:

The Chakkiliyan men in Madras are tattooed not only on the forehead, but also with their name, conventional devices, dancing-girls, etc., on the chest and upper extremities.

It has been noticed as a curious fact that, in the Madura district, while the men belong to the right-hand faction, the women belong to and are most energetic supporters of the left. It is even said that, during the entire period of a faction riot, the Chakkili women keep aloof from their husbands and deny them their marital rights.

In a very interesting note on the leather industry of the Madras Presidency, Mr. A. Chatterton writes as follows. The position of the Chakkiliyan in the south differs greatly from that of the Mdiga of the north, and many of his privileges are enjoyed by a sub-sect of the Pariahs called Vettiyans. These people possess the right of removing dead cattle from villages, and in return have to supply leather for agricultural purposes. The majority of Chakkiliyans are not tanners, but leather-workers, and, instead of getting the hides or skins direct from the Vettiyan, they prefer to purchase them ready-tanned from traders, who bring them from the large tanning centres. When the Chuckler starts making shoes or sandals, he purchases the leather and skin which he requires in the bazar, and, taking it home, first proceeds with a preliminary currying operation. The leather is damped and well stretched, and dyed with aniline, the usual colour being scarlet R.R. of the Badische Anilin Soda Fabrik. This is purchased in the bazar in packets, and is dissolved in water, to which a little oxalic acid has been added. The dye is applied with a piece of rag on the grain side, and allowed to dry. After drying, tamarind paste is applied to the flesh side of the skin, and the latter is then rolled between the hands, so as to produce a coarse graining on the outer side. In making the shoes, the leather is usually wetted, and moulded into shape on wooden moulds or lasts. As a rule, nothing but cotton is used for sewing, and the waxed ends of the English cobbler are entirely unknown. The largest consumption of leather in this Presidency is for water-bags or kavalais, which are used for raising water from wells, and for oil and ghee (clarified butter) pots, in which the liquids are transported from one place to another. Of irrigation wells there are in the Presidency more than 600,000, and, though some of them are fitted with iron buckets, nearly all of them have leather bags with leather discharging trunks. The buckets hold from ten to fifty gallons of water, and are generally made from fairly well tanned cow hides, though for very large buckets buffalo hides are sometimes used. The number of oil and ghee pots in use in the country is very large. The use of leather vessels for this purpose is on the decline, as it is found much cheaper and more convenient to store oil in the ubiquitous kerosine-oil tin, and it is not improbable that eventually the industry will die out, as it has done in other countries. The range of work of the country Chuckler is not very extensive. Besides leather straps for wooden sandals, he makes crude harness for the ryots cattle, including leather collars from which numerous bells are frequently suspended, leather whips for the cattle drivers, ornamental fringes for the bulls forehead, bellows for the smith, and small boxes for the barber, in which to carry his razors. In some places, leather ropes are used for various purposes, and it is customary to attach big coir (cocoanut fibre) ropes to the bodies of the larger temple cars by leather harness, when they are drawn in procession through the streets. Drum-heads and tom-toms are made from raw hides by Vettiyans and Chucklers. The drums are often very large, and are transported upon the back of elephants, horses, bulls and camels. For them raw hides are required, but for the smaller instruments sheep-skins are sufficient. The raw hides are shaved on the flesh side, and are then dried. The hair is removed by rubbing with wood-ashes. The use of lime in unhairing is not permissible, as it materially decreases the elasticity of the parchment. The Chakkiliyans beat the tom-tom for Kammlans, Pallis and Kaiklans, and for other castes if desired to do so.