Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.8.4

c48.s2.8.4

Like the latter they worship their own gods and demons, and employ for the purpose priests drawn from the lower castes, but for ceremonial other than that of the temple, they call in Brāhmans. Their head is the Zamīndār of Rāmnād, to whom the Toṇḍamān and other local magnates do obeisance when they meet. The Agamuḍaiyān again, are closely connected with the Maṟavan, with whom they intermarry under rules which in the Brāhmanic system would imply hypergamy in favour of the latter. Nevertheless, the Agamuḍaiyān is the only caste of the three which has been substantially Brāhmanised, and in many ways it comes near the Veḷḷāḷan in practices and beliefs.