Tiyar, from the Singhalese Twar, an islander ; the Ponan race in Malabar. They are a branch of the Ilivar or Tir from Ceylon. They inherit from the father.
Parayer, also Pula Parayar, also Todinvar, a low-caste predial slave race of Malabar, who are stone-cutters, who are supposed and believe them selves to be wizards and witches. Vengeance and fear have occasionally led to their being cruelly treated.
Paniker, a race dwelling amid the forests and jungles of Malabar, who roughly clear the ground, and raise crops of coarse rice and other grains during the monsoon, and move to another place. They also collect forest products,—cardamoms, beeswax, gums. Their sole implement is a kind of adze. They are of diminutive stature. There is a small race called Kaniar Panikar, who prac tise astrology and necromancy. They calculate eclipses, cast horoscopes, and foretell the times and seasons, sell charms for all purposes, love philters, discover treasure, cure disease.
Cheramar, one of the predial slave races of Malabar. They are supposed to be descendants of the race conquered by the Chola kings. They are of very diminutive stature, very black skin, and not unfrequently woolly hair. Wilson derives the name from Chera, the soil. They follow the rule of Marumakkatayam.
Nagadi, an abject race in Malabar, beggars and thieves. They are of diminutive form, of the deepest black in colour, features brutish, hair thick and curly.
Bakadara and Betadara, two rude slave races in Tulava, who worship a benevolent deity named Buta, represented by a stone, kept in every house. They, too, believe that the spirits of the dead become Paisachi, and they offer sacrifices to Buta to restrain the Paisachi from troubling them.
Holier women, until towards the middle of the 19th century, used to visit Mangalore with no other covering than thick bushy branches before and behind, hung from their waists.
Bant, a tribe in Canara who worship the Pal sachi or demons, and believe that persons who die a violent death become Paisachi.
Bunter, a race in Canara, the original land owners, who follow the rule of female descent. They marry, and the wives reside with their husbands, but do not interfere in the house management.
The Kurumbalen are a slave race who worship the hill god Malai-deva, and the spirits of deceased ancestors. They burn their dead if good men, and bury them if bad; and they believe the latter to become demons, requiring to be conciliated by sacrifice.
Languages spoken in Travancore :— Hindustani, . . . 3,037 , Konkani, . . . 10,703 Telugu, . . . 3,352 Cutebi, . . . . 353 Mahrati, 1 383 Nagaram, . . . . 809 Tamil, . . . . 439,565 English 1,060 Gujerati, . . . . 571 Arabic, 606 Canarese, . . 774 Portuguese, . . 707 Maleali, . . 1,937,454 Hebrew, Tulu, 664 , Others, 22 Maleali is spoken by about 4,847,681 people along the Malabar coast, on the western side of the ghats or Malaya range of mountains, from the vicinity of Chandragiri near Mangalore, where it supersedes Canareso and Tulu, to Trerandrum, where Tamil begins to be spoken ; but all along that coast Tamil intertwines with Maleali, which is a very ancient form of Tamil. The Rama Charita is the oldest existing Maleali poem.
Tulu or Tuluva is destitute of a literature in the proper sense of the term, and never had any character of its own. The only books printed in Tulu have been by the Basle missionaries. It is one of the most highly developed languages of the Dravidian family. It is spoken by about 300,000 people between the Chandragiri and Kalyanapuri rivers. It is written with the Malealam characters; it differs widely from Tamil, less so from Canarese, and less again from Georg. Tulu is said to mean meek, humble.