The word Kanikaran means a hereditary proprietor of land. There is a tradition that there were once two hill kings, Sri Rangan and Virappan, whose descendants emigrated from the Pandyan territories beyond Agastyakutam under pressure from a superior force, and never returned to the low country. The following legend is current among the Kanikars. "The sea originally covered everything, but God caused the water to roll back, and leave bare all the hills. Then Parameswara and Parvati made a man and woman, whose descendants were divided into fifty-six races, and multiplied exceedingly, so that a sore famine invaded the land. In those days men were hunters, and lived by snaring animals and plucking wild fruits off the trees. There was no corn, for men did not know how to sow rice, and cultivate it. The cry of the famine-stricken reached Parameswara and Parvati, and they visited the earth in the form of a pair of hamsam (the bird which carries Brahma), and alighted on a kanjiram tree. While seated there, the god and goddess noticed a pair of dragon-flies, which paired together, and they too, their hearts swelling with love, embraced each other, and, taking pity on mankind, willed that a field of rice should sprout on the low-lying land near the sea-shore. The Paraiyans and Pulayans, who witnessed the rice growing, were the first to taste of the crop, and became prosperous. This was in Malabar, or the far north of Travancore. The Maharaja, hearing of the new grain, sent seven green parrots to go On a journey of discovery, and they returned with seven ears of rice. These the Maharaja placed in a granary, and gave some to the Paraiyans to sow, and the grain miraculously increased. But the Maharaja wanted to know how it was to be cooked. The parrots were accordingly once more brought into requisition, and they flew away, and brought back eighteen varieties of cooked rice which a Paraiyan's wife had prepared. Then the Maharaja, having got some rice prepared by his cooks, fell to and eat heartily. After eating, he went into the yard to wash his hands, and, before drying them on a cloth, wrung his right hand to get the last drops of water off. A valuable gold ring with three stones fell therefrom, and, burying itself in the dust, was never recovered. The Maharaja was sore distressed by his loss, but, Parameswara, as some recompense, caused to grow from the ground where the ring fell three trees which are very valuable in Travancore, and which, by the sale of their produce, would make the Maharaja wealthy and prosperous. The trees were the dammar tree, the resinous gum of which is useful in religious ceremonies, the sandal-wood tree so widely used for its perfume, and lastly the bamboo, which is so useful and necessary to the well-being of the Kanikars."