The two titles, generally applied to Kaniyans, are Panikkar and Asan. The former is said to be a common title in Malabar, but in Travancore it seems to be restricted to the north. The word Panikkar comes from pani, or work, viz., that of military training. The fact that most of the families, who own this title at present, were once teachers of bodily exercises, is evident not only from the name kalari, literally a military school, by which their houses are usually known, but also from the Keralolpatti, which assigns military training as a duty of the caste. Asan, a corruption of the Sanskrit Acharya, is a common title among Kaniyans in South Travancore. Special titles, such as Anantapadmanabham, Sivasankaran, and Sankili, are said to be possessed by certain families in the south, having been conferred on them by kings in olden times. Some Kaniyans in the north enjoy the surname of Nampikuruppu. Kaniyans are divided into two endogamous sections, viz., Kaniyar and Tinta (or polluting). The occupations of the latter are umbrella-making and spirit-exorcising, while the others remain astrologers, pure and simple. A few families, living at Alengad, are called Vattakan Kaniyans, and are believed to have come there on the eve of Tipu Sultan's invasion. The women of the Kaniyans proper do not eat with them. According to tradition, eight sub-septs are said to have existed among the Kaniyans, four of which were known as kiriyams, and four as illams. The names of the former are Annavikkannam, Karivattam, Kutappilla, and Nanna; of the latter Pampara, Tachchazham, Netumkanam, and Ayyarkala. These divisions were once endogamous, but this distinction has now disappeared.