Vannān
This article is an excerpt from Government Press, Madras |
Vannān
The Vannāns are washermen in the Tamil and Malayalām countries. The name Vannān is, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, “derived from vannam, beauty. There is a tradition that they are descendants of the mythological hero Vīrabadra, who was ordered by Siva to wash the clothes of all men, as an expiation of the sin of putting many people to death in Daksha’s Yāga. Hence the Tamil washermen are frequently called Vīrabadran. Having to purify all the filthy linen of the villagers, they are naturally regarded as a low, unclean class of Sūdras, and are always poor. They add to their income by hiring out the clothes of their customers to funeral parties, who lay them on the ground before the pall-bearers, so that these may not step upon the ground, and by letting them out on the sly to persons wishing to use them without having to purchase for themselves. In social standing the Vannāns are placed next below the barbers. They profess to be Saivites in the southern districts, and Vaishnavites in the north. The marriage of girls generally takes place after puberty. Widow remarriage is permitted among some, if not all, sub-divisions. Divorce may be obtained by either party at pleasure on payment of double the bride-price, which is usually Rs. 10–8–0. They are flesh-eaters, and drink liquor. The dead are either burned or buried. The Pothara (or Podora) Vannāns are of inferior status, because they wash only for Paraiyans, Pallans, and other inferior castes.”
It is noted, in the Madura Manual, that those who have seen the abominable substances, which it is the lot of the Vannāns to make clean, cannot feel any surprise at the contempt with which their occupation is regarded. In the Tanjore Manual, it is recorded that, in the rural parts of the district, the Vannāns are not allowed to enter the house of a Brāhman or a Vellāla; clothes washed by them not being worn or mixed up with other clothes in the house until they have undergone another wash by a caste man.
It is on record that, on one occasion, a party of Europeans, when out shooting, met a funeral procession on its way to the burial-ground. The bier was draped in many folds of clean cloth, which one of the party recognised by the initials as one of his bed-sheets. Another identified as his sheet the cloth on which the corpse was lying. He cut off the corner with the initials, and a few days later the sheet was returned by the washerman, who pretended ignorance of the mutilation, and gave as an explanation that it must have been done, in his absence, by one of his assistants. On another occasion, a European met an Eurasian, in a village not far from his bungalow, wearing a suit of clothes exactly similar to his own, and, on close examination, found they were his. They had been newly washed and dressed.
The most important divisions numerically returned by Vannāns at times of census are Pāndiyan, Peru (big), Tamil, and Vaduga (northerner). It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that Vannān “is rather an occupational term than a caste title, and, besides the Pāndya Vannāns or Vannāns proper, includes the Vaduga Vannāns or Tsākalas of the Telugu country, and the Palla, Pudara, and Tulukka Vannāns, who wash for the Pallans, Paraiyans, and Musalmans respectively. The Pāndya Vannāns have a headman called the Periya Manishan (big man). A man can claim the hand of his paternal aunt’s daughter. At weddings, the bridegroom’s sister ties the tāli (marriage badge). Nambis officiate. Divorce is freely allowed to either party on payment of twice the bride-price, and divorcées may marry again. The caste god is Gurunāthan, in whose temples the pūjāri (priest) is usually a Vannān. The dead are generally burnt, and, on the sixteenth day, the house is purified from pollution by a Nambi.” Some Vannāns have assumed the name Irkuli Vellāla, and Rājakan and Kāttavarāya vamsam have also been recorded as synonyms of the caste name.
The Vannāns of Malabar are also called Mannān or Bannān. They are, Mr. Francis writes, “a low class of Malabar washermen, who wash only for the polluting castes, and for the higher castes when they are under pollution following births, deaths, etc. It is believed by the higher castes that such pollution can only be removed by wearing clothes washed by Mannāns, though at other times these cause pollution to them. The washing is generally done by the women, and the men are exorcists, devil-dancers and physicians, even to the higher castes. Their women are midwives, like those of the Velakkatalavan and Vēlan castes. This caste should not be confused with the Mannān hill tribe of Travancore.” It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that “the Mannāns, a makkattāyam caste of South Malabar, apparently identical with the marumakkattāyam Vannāns of the north, are a caste of washermen; and their services are indispensable to the higher castes in certain purificatory ceremonies when they have to present clean cloths (māttu). They are also devil-dancers and tailors. They practice fraternal polyandry in the south. Mannāns are divided into two endogamous classes, Peru-mannāns (peru, great), and Tinda-mannāns (tinda, pollution); and, in Walavanād, into four endogamous classes called Chōppan, Peru-mannān, Punnekādan, and Puliyakkōdam. The Tinda-mannān and Puliyakkōdam divisions perform the purificatory sprinklings for the others.”
The services of the Mannān, Mr. T. K. Gopal Panikkar writes, “are in requisition at the Nāyar Thirandukaliānam ceremonies on the attainment of puberty by a girl, when they sing ballads, and have to bring, for the girl’s use, the māttu or sacred dress. Then, on occasions of death pollution, they have a similar duty to perform. Among the Nāyars, on the fourth, or rarely the third day after the menses, the woman has to use, during her bath, clothes supplied by Mannān females. The same duty they have to perform during the confinement of Nāyar females. All the dirty cloths and bed sheets used, these Mannān females have to wash.” Mr. S. Appadorai Iyer informs us that those Mannāns who are employed by the Kammālan, or artisan class, as barbers, are not admitted into the Mannān caste, which follows the more honourable profession of washing clothes. The Mannāns perform certain ceremonies in connection with Mundian, the deity who is responsible for the weal or woe of cattle; and, at Pūram festivals, carry the vengida koda or prosperity umbrella, composed of many tiers of red, green, orange, black and white cloth, supported on a long bamboo pole, before the goddess.
It is recorded by Bishop Whitehead that, in various places in Malabar, there are temples in honour of Bhagavati, at which the pūjāris (priests) are of the Vannān caste. “There is an annual feast called gurusi tarpanam (giving to the guru) about March, when the hot weather begins, and the people are at leisure. Its object is to appease the wrath of the goddess. During the festival, the pūjāri sits in the courtyard outside the temple, thickly garlanded with red flowers, and with red kunkuma marks on his forehead. Goats and fowls are then brought to him by the devotees, and he kills them with one blow of the large sacrificial sword or chopper. It is thought auspicious for the head to be severed at one blow, and, apparently, pūjāris who are skilful in decapitation are much in request. When the head is cut off, the pūjāri takes the carcase, and holds it over a large copper vessel partly filled with water, turmeric, kunkuma, and a little rice, and lets the blood flow into it. When all the animals are killed, the pūjāri bails out the blood and water on the ground, uttering mantrams (sacred lines or verses) the while. The people stand a little way off. When the vessel is nearly empty, the pūjāri turns it upside down as a sign that the ceremony is ended.
During these proceedings, a number of Vannāns, dressed in fantastic costumes, dance three times round the temple. During the festival, processions are held round the various houses, and special swords with a curved hook at the end, called palli val (great or honourable sword), are carried by the worshippers. These swords are worshipped during the Dusserah festival in October, and, in some shrines, they form the only emblem of the deity. The Tiyans have small shrines in their own gardens sacred to the family deity, which may be Bhagavati, or some demon, or the spirit of an ancestor. Once a year, Vannāns come dressed in fancy costume, with crowns on their heads, and dance round the courtyard to the sound of music and tom-toms, while a Tiyan priest presents the family offerings, uncooked rice and young cocoanuts, with camphor and incense, and then rice fried with sugar and ghī (clarified butter).”
In an account of the Tiyans, Mr. Logan writes that “this caste is much given to devil-charming, or devil-driving as it is often called. The washermen (Vannān) are the high priests of this superstition, and with chants, ringing cymbals, magic figures, and waving lights, they drive out evil spirits from their votaries of this caste at certain epochs in their married lives. One ceremony in particular, called teyyāttam—a corrupt form of Dēva and āttam, that is, playing at gods—takes place occasionally in the fifth month of pregnancy. A leafy arbour is constructed, and in front of it is placed a terrible figure of Chāmundi, the queen of the demons, made of rice flour, turmeric powder, and charcoal powder. A party of not less than eighteen washermen is organized to represent the demons and furies—Kuttichāttan (a mischievous imp), and many others. On being invoked, these demons bound on to the stage in pairs, dance, caper, jump, roar, fight, and drench each other with saffron (turmeric) water. Their capers and exertions gradually work up their excitement, until they are veritably possessed of the devil. At this juncture, fowls and animals are sometimes thrown to them, to appease their fury. These they attack with their teeth, and kill and tear as a tiger does his prey. After about twenty minutes the convulsions cease, the demon or spirit declares its pleasure, and, much fatigued, retires to give place to others; and thus the whole night is spent, with much tom-tomming and noise and shouting, making it impossible, for Europeans at least, to sleep within earshot of the din.”
