# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Pattanavan

​Pattanavan.— The fishermen on the east coast, from the Kistna to the Tanjore district, are popularly ​called Karaiyān, or sea-shore people. Some Karaiyāns have, at times of census, returned themselves as Taccha (carpenter) Karaiyāns.
Pattanavan means literally a dweller in a town or pattanam, which word occurs in the names of various towns on the sea-coast, e.g., Nāgapattanam (Negapatam), Chennapattanam (Madras). The Pattanavans have two main divisions, Periya (big) and Chinna (small), and, in some places, for example, at Nadukuppam in the Nellore district, exogamous septs, e.g., Gengananga, Pēyananga, Kathananga (children of Ganga, Pēyan, and Kathanar), and Kullananga (children of dwarfs). In the Telugu country, they go by the name of Pattapu or Tūlivāndlu.
Some Pattanavans give themselves high-sounding caste titles, e.g., Āriyar, Ayyayiraththalaivar (the five thousand chiefs), Āriya Nāttu Chetti (Chettis of the Ariyar country), Acchu Vellala, Karaiturai (sea-coast) Vellāla, Varunakula Vellāla or Varunakula Mudali after Varuna, the god of the waters, or Kurukula vamsam after Kuru, the ancestor of the Kauravas. Some Pattanavans have adopted the title Pillai.
The Pattanavans are said to be inferior to the Sembadavans, who will not accept food at their hands, and discard even an earthen pot which has been touched by a Pattanavan.
Concerning the origin of the caste, there is a legend that the Pattanavans were giving silk thread to Siva, and were hence called Pattanavar, a corruption of Pattanaivor, meaning knitters of silk thread. They were at the time all bachelors, and Siva suggested the following method of securing wives for them. They were told to go out fishing in the sea, and make of their catch as many heaps as there were bachelors. Each of them ​then stood before a heap, and called for a wife, who was created therefrom. According to another story, some five thousand years ago, during the age of the lunar race, there was one Dasa Rāja, who was ruling near Hastināpura, and was childless. To secure offspring, he prayed to god, and did severe penance. In answer to his prayer, God pointed out a tank full of lotus flowers, and told the king to go thither, and call for children. Thereon, five thousand children issued forth from the flowers, to the eldest of whom the king bequeathed his kingdom, and to the others money in abundance. Those who received the money travelled southward in ships, which were wrecked, and they were cast ashore. This compelled them to make friends of local sea fishermen, whose profession they adopted. At the present day, the majority of Pattanavans are sea-fishermen, and catch fish with nets from catamarans."Fancy," it has been written,* "a raft of only three logs of wood, tied together at each end when they go out to sea, and untied and left to dry on the beach when they come in again. Each catamaran has one, two or three men to manage it; they sit crouched on it upon their heels, throwing their paddles' about very dexterously, but remarkably unlike rowing. In one of the early Indian voyager's log-books there is an entry concerning a catamaran: 'This morning, 6 A.M., saw distinctly two black devils playing at single stick. We watched these infernal imps about an hour, when they were lost in the distance. Surely this doth portend some great tempest.' It is very curious to watch these catamarans putting out to sea. They get through the fiercest surf, sometimes dancing at their ease on the top of the waters, sometimes hidden under ​the waters; sometimes the man completely washed off his catamaran, and man floating one way and catamaran another, till they seem to catch each other again by magic." In 1906, a fisherman was going out in his catamaran to fish outside the Madras harbour, and was washed off his craft, and dashed violently against a rock. Death was instantaneous. Of the catamaran, the following account is given by Colonel W. Campbell.* "Of all the extraordinary craft which the ingenuity of man has ever invented, a Madras catamaran is the most extraordinary, the most simple, and yet, in proper hands, the most efficient. It is merely three rough logs of wood, firmly lashed together with ropes formed from the inner bark of the cocoanut tree. Upon this one, two, or three men, according to the size of the catamaran, sit on their heels in a kneeling posture, and, defying wind and weather, make their way through the raging surf which beats upon the coast, and paddle out to sea at times when no other craft can venture to face it. At a little distance, the slight fabric on which these adventurous mariners float becomes invisible, and a fleet of them approaching the land presents the absurd appearance of a host of savage-looking natives wading out towards the ship, up to their middle in water." "A catamaran," Lady Dufferin writes,† in an account of a state arrival at Madras, "is two logs of wood lashed together, forming a very small and narrow raft. The rower wears a 'fool's cap,' in which he carries letters (also betel and tobacco), and, when he encounters a big wave, he leaves his boat, slips through the wave himself, and picks up his catamaran on the other side of it. Some very large deep barges (masula boats), the planks of which are ​sewn together to give elasticity, and the interstices stuffed with straw, came out for us, with a guard of honour of the mosquito fleet, as the catamarans are called, on either side of them; two of the fool's cap men, and a flag as big as the boat itself, on each one." The present day masūla or mussoola boat, or surf boat of the Coromandel Coast, is of the same build as several centuries ago. It is recorded,* in 1673, that "I went ashore in a Mussoola, a boat wherein ten men paddle, the two aftermost of whom are the Steers-men, using their Paddles instead of a Rudder: The Boat is not strengthened with knee-timber, as ours are; the bended Planks are sowed together with Rope-yarn of the Cocoe, and calked with Dammar so artificially that it yields to every ambitious surf. Otherwise we could not get ashore, the Bar knocking in pieces all that are inflexible." The old records of Madras contain repeated references to Europeans being drowned from overturning of masula boats in the surf, through which a landing had to be effected before the harbour was built.
In 1907, two Madras fishermen were invested with silver wrist bangles, bearing a suitable inscription, which were awarded by the Government in recognition of their bravery in saving the lives of a number of boatmen during a squall in the harbour.
The following are the fishes, which are caught by the fishermen off Madras and eaten by Europeans: —
    Cybium guttatum, BL Schn. Seir.
    Cybium Commersonii, Lacep. Seir.
    Cybium lanceolatum, Cuv. & Val. Seir.
    Sillago sihama, Forsk. Whiting. ​
    Stromateus cinereus, Bloch. —
       Immature, silver pomfret.
       Adult, grey pomfret.
    Stromateus niger. Bloch. Black pomfret.
    Mugal subvirldis, Cuv. & Val. Mullet.
    Psettodes erumei, Bl. Schn. ' Sole.'
    Lates calcarlfer, Bloch. Cock-up the begti of Calcutta.
    Lutjanus roseus. Day.
    Lutjanus marginatus, Cuv. & Val.
    Polynemus tetradactylus, Shaw.
    Chorinemus lysan, Forsk.
    'Whitebait.'
The Pattanavans are Saivites, but also worship various minor gods and Grāma Dēvatas (village deities). In some places, they regard Kuttiyāndavan as their special sea god. To him animal sacrifices are not made, but goats are sacrificed to Sembu Vīrappan or Mīnnodum Pillai, an attendant on Kuttiyāndavan. In Tanjore, the names of the sea gods are Pāvadairāyan and Padaithalaidaivam. Before setting out on a fishing expedition, the Pattanavans salute the god, the sea, and the nets, In the Tanjore district, they repair their nets once in eight days, and, before they go out fishing, pray to their gods to favour them with a big catch. On a fixed day, they make offerings to the gods on their return from fishing. The gods Pāvadairāyan and Padaithalaidaivam are represented by large conical heaps of wet sand and mud, and Ayyanar, Ellamma, Kuttiyāndavar, Muthyāl routhar and Kiliyēndhi by smaller heaps. At the Māsimakam festival, the Pattanavans worship their gods on the sea-shore. The names Jāttan and Jātti are given to children during the Jātre or periodic festival of the village goddesses. ​The Pattanavans afford a good example of a caste, in which the time-honoured village council (panchāyat) is no empty, powerless body. For every settlement or village there are one or more headmen called Yejamānan, who are assisted by a Thandakāran and a Paraiyan Chalavāthi. All these offices are hereditary. Questions connected with the community, such as disrespect to elders, breach of social etiquette, insult, abuse, assault, adultery, or drinking or eating with men of lower caste, are enquired into by the council. Even when disputes are settled in courts of law, they must come before the council. Within the community, the headman is all powerful, and his decision is, in most instances, considered final. If, however, his verdict is not regarded as equitable, the case is referred to a caste headman, who holds sway over a group of villages. No ceremony may be performed without the sanction of the local headman, and the details of ceremonies, except the feasting, are arranged by the headman and the Thandakāran. In the case of a proposed marriage, the match is broken off if the headman objects to it. He should be present at the funeral rites, and see that the details thereof are properly carried out. It is the duty of the Chalavāthi to convey the news of a death to the relations. Should he come to the shore when the fishes are heaped up, he has the right to take a few thereof as his perquisite. The Thandakāran, among other duties, has to summon council meetings. When the members of council have assembled, he ushers in the parties who have to appear before it, and salutes the assembly by prostrating himself on the floor. The parties take a bit of straw, or other object, and place it before the headman in token that they are willing to abide by the decision of the council. This formality is called placing the agreement (muchchilika). ​The consent of the maternal uncles is necessary before a pair can be united in matrimony. When the wedding day has been fixed, the bridegroom's party distribute grāma thāmbūlam (village pān-supāri or betel) to the headman and villagers. The marriage milk-post is made of Mimusops hexandra, Erythrina indica, Casuarina equisetifolia, the green wood of some other tree, or even a pestle. In one form of the marriage ceremony, which varies in detail according to locality, the bridegroom, on the arrival of the bride at the pandal (booth), puts on the sacred thread, and the Brāhman purōhit makes the sacred fire, and pours ghī (clarified butter) into it. The bridegroom ties the tāli round the bride's neck, and the maternal uncles tie flat silver or gold plates, called pattam, on the foreheads of the contracting couple. Rings are put on their second toes by the brother-in-law of the bridegroom and the maternal uncle of the bride. Towards evening, the sacred thread, the threads which have been tied to the marriage pots and the milk-post, and grain seedlings used at the ceremony, are thrown into the sea. Some Pattanavans allow a couple to live together as man and wife after the betrothal, but before the marriage ceremony. This is, however, on condition that the latter is performed as soon as it is convenient. The remarriage of widows is freely permitted. No marriage pandal is erected, and the bridegroom, or a female relation, ties the tāli on the bride's neck within the house. Such marriage is, therefore, called naduvīttu (interior of the house) tāli. When a woman, who has been guilty of adultery, is remarried, a turmeric string is substituted for the golden tāli, and is tied on the bride's neck by a woman.
PATTANAVAN.
pyre. At the third round, the Panisavan or washerman makes holes in the pot, and it is thrown away. On the day of the funeral, all the agnates shave their heads. On the following day, they go to the burial or burning ground with tender cocoanuts, milk, cakes, etc., and Arichandra, who presides over the burial-ground, is worshipped. Milk is then poured over the grave, or the remains of the bones, which are thrown into the sea. On the night of the fifteenth day, Panisavans blow the conch and horn, and red cloths are presented to the widow of the deceased by her relations. At about 4 A.M., a white cloth is thrown on her neck, and the tāli string is cut by an old woman. The tāli is removed therefrom, and dropped into a new pot filled with water. Hence, a form of abuse among Pattanavan women is, May your tāli be snapped, and thrown into water. The tāli is removed from the pot, which is thrown into the sea. The tāli is laid on a dish containing milk, and all those who visit the widow must set eyes on it before they see her.
In the city of Madras, the Pattanavans have the privilege of supplying bearers at temples, and the atmosphere surrounding them as they carry the idols on their sturdy shoulders through Triplicane is said to be "redolent of brine and the toddy shop."
In a judgment of the High Court of Judicature, Madras, it is recorded that, in the eighteenth century, some boat-owners and boatmen belonging to the Curukula Vamsha or Varunakula Mudali caste, who ​were residing at Chepauk in the city of Madras, had embraced Christianity, and worshipped in a chapel, which had been erected by voluntary contributions. In 1799 the site of their village was required for public purposes, and they obtained in lieu of it a grant of land at Royapuram, where a chapel was built. Partly by taxes levied on boatmen, and partly by tolls they were allowed to impose on persons for frequenting the Royapuram bazar, a fund was formed to provide for their spiritual wants, and this fund was administered by the Marine Board. In 1829, a portion of the fund was expended in the erection of the church of St. Peter, Royapuram, and the fund was transferred to Government. The administration of the fund has been the source of litigation in the High Court.*
It is noted by Mrs. F. E. Penny that some of the fisherfolk "adopted Xavier as their special patron saint, and, as time passed, almost deified him. In the present day, they appeal to him in times of danger, crying 'Xavier! Xavier! Xavier!' in storm and peril. Even if they are unfortunate in their catch when fishing, they turn to their saint for succour."
As a numismatist, I resent the practice resorted to by some fishermen of melting old lead coins, and converting them into sinkers for their nets.
* ↑ * Letters from Madras. By a Lady, 1843.
* ↑ *My Indian Journal, 1864
* ↑ †Our Viceregal Life in India,1889
* ↑ * Roe and Fryer. Travels in India in the seventeenth Century
* ↑ * See Civil Suit No. 102 of 1880.