For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. F. R. Hemingway. The Ambalakkarans or Muttiriyans are more numerous in the Trichinopoly district and Pudukkottai than in any other part of the Presidency. Though they have been treated as separate castes, they appear to be one and the same in this district, generally calling themselves Muttiriyan in the Trichinopoly taluk, and Ambalakkaran elsewhere, and having no objection to either name. They admit they are called Valaiyans, but repudiate any connection with the caste of that name, and explain the appellation by a story that, when Siva's ring was swallowed by a fish in the Ganges, one of their ancestors invented the first net (valai) made in the world. As relics of their former greatness they point to the thousand-pillared mantapam at Srirangam, which is called muttarasan koradu, and a big matam at Palni, both of which, they say, were built by their kings. To the latter every household of the caste subscribes four annas annually. They say that they were born of the sweat (muttu, a pearl or bead of perspiration) of Parama-siva. The caste is divided into a number of nadus, the names and number of which are variously given. Some of these are Ettarai, Koppu, Adavattur, Tirampalaiyam, Vimanayakkanpalaiyam in the Trichinopoly taluk, and Amur, Savindippatti, and Karungali in Musiri taluk. Widow remarriage is allowed in some of these nadus, and not in others. They use the titles Muttiriyan, Ambalakkaran, Servaikaran, and Kavalkaran. They admit their social inferiority to the Vellalans, Kallans, Nattamans, and Reddis, from all of whom they will accept meals, but consider themselves superior to Pallis, Uralis, Uppiliyans, and Valaiyans. Their usual occupation is cultivation, but they have also taken to petty trade, and some earn a living as masons and kavalgars (watchmen). They wear the sacred thread during their marriages and funerals. They have panchayats for each village and for the nadu, and have also a number of the Patnattu Chettis, who are recognized as elders of the caste, and sit with the head of the nadu to decide cases of adultery, etc.
Ambalavasi.--This is summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as "a generic name applied to all classes of temple servants in Malabar. There are many sub-divisions of the caste, such as Poduval, Chakkiyar, Nambiyassan, Pidaran, Pisharodi, Variyan, Nambi, Teyyambadi, etc., which are assigned different services in the Hindu temples, such as the preparation of garlands, the sweeping of the floor, the fetching of fire-wood, the carrying of the idols in procession, singing, dancing, and so on. Like most of the temple servant classes, they are inferior to the lower Brahmans, such as the Mussads, and food will not be taken from the hands of most of them even by Nayars."
