Pōndan. — "There are," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,*[1]"only twenty-eight persons of this caste in Malabar, and they are all in Calicut. These are the palanquin-bearers of the Zamorin. They are in dress, manners, customs, and language entirely Tamilians, and, while the Zamorin is polluted by the touch of any ordinary Tamilian, these Pōndans enjoy the privilege of bearing him in a palanquin to and from the temple every day. Now there is a sub-division of the Tamil Idaiyans by name Pogondan, and I understand that these Pogondans are the palanquin-bearers of the Idaiyan caste. It seems probable that the founder, or some early member of the Zamorin, obtained palanquin-bearers of his own (cowherd) caste and granted them privileges which no other Tamilians now enjoy."
Pondra.— Pondra, or Ponara, is a sub-division of Māli.
Ponganādu.—Ponganādu and Ponguvān have been recorded, at times of census, as a sub-division of Kāpu, A corrupt form of Pakanāti.
Ponnambalaththar. — A class of mendicants, who have attached themselves to the Kaikōlans.
Ponnara.— Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a sub-division of Nāyar.
Poruvannurkāran.— A class of carpenters in Malabar.
Poroja. — The Porojas or Parjās are hill cultivators found in the Agency tracts of Ganjam and Vizagapatam. Concerning them, it is noted, in the Madras Census Report, 1871, that "there are held to be seven classes of these Parjās, which differ from each other in points of language, customs, and traditions. The term Parjā is, as Mr. Carmichael has pointed out, merely a corruption
- ↑ • Madras Census Report, 1891,
