They appear to follow makkatayam (descent from father to son) in some places, and marumakkatayam (inheritance in the female line) in others. Their pollution period is ten days, and their purification is performed by the Talikunnavan (sprinkler), who belongs to a somewhat degraded section of the caste." The affairs of the caste are managed by headmen called Uralans, and the caste barber, or Pothuvan, acts as the caste messenger. Council meetings are held at the village temple, and the fines inflicted on guilty persons are spent in celebrating puja (worship) thereat. When a girl reaches puberty, the elderly females of Uralan families take her to a tank, and pour water over her head from small cups made of the leaves of the jak (Artocarpus integrifolia) tree. She is made to sit apart on a mat in a room decorated with young cocoanut leaves. Round the mat raw rice and paddy (unhusked rice) are spread, and a vessel containing cocoanut flowers and cocoanuts is placed near her. On the third evening, the washerman (Peruvannan) brings some newly-washed cloths (mattu). He is presented with some rice and paddy, which he ties up in a leaf, and does puja. He then places the cloths on a plank, which he puts on his head. After repeating some songs or verses, he sets it down on the floor. Some of the girl's female relations take a lighted lamp, a pot of water, a measure of rice, and go three times round the plank. On the following day, the girl is bathed, and the various articles which have been kept in her room are thrown into a river or tank. Like many other Malabar castes, the Chaliyans perform the tali kettu ceremony. Once in several years, the girls of the village who have to go through this ceremony are brought to the house of one of the Uralans, where a pandal (booth) has been set up. Therein a plank, made of the wood of the pala tree (Alstonia scholaris), a lighted lamp, betel leaves and nuts, a measure of raw rice, etc., are placed. The girl takes her seat on the plank, holding in her right hand a mimic arrow (shanthulkol). The Pothuvan, who receives a fanam (coin) and three bundles of betel leaves for his services, hands the tali to a male member of an Uralan family, who ties it on the girl's neck. On the day before the wedding-day the bridegroom, accompanied by his male relations, proceeds to the house of the bride, where a feast is held. On the following day the bride is bathed, and made to stand before a lighted lamp placed on the floor. The bridegroom's father or uncle places two gold fanams (coins) in her hands, and a further feast takes place.