(1) Personal hygiene.--Bathing. (2) Eating.--The rules about food, either regarding the cooking or eating of it are very religiously observed. Absolute fasting is unknown in Malabar. (3) Worship of the Gods and manes.--The anniversary of a person's death is regulated not by the age of the moon at the time, but by the star, unlike on the other coast. Again, a birth pollution has priority over other observances, even death ceremonies. A son who has to perform the funeral ceremonies of his father is rendered unfit for that solemn function by an intervening birth pollution. An adopted son is not, as in other parts of India, relieved of the sraddha obligations to his natural parents. Sectarian controversies in regard to Siva and Vishnu are strictly tabooed. The establishment of Hinduism on a non-sectarian basis was the sacred mission of Sankaracharya's life. A single triple string (sacred thread) is worn irrespective of civil condition. This is contrary to the usage of the other coast, where married Brahmans wear two or three triplets. Sprinkling water is an essential purificatory act after the use of the broom. An isolated rule requires dead bodies to be burnt in private compounds, and not in consecrated communal sites, as among the east coast people. (4) Conduct in society.--Chastity is jealously guarded by the imposition of severe ostracism on adulterers. Formal salutation, and even namaskaras and anugrahas, or prostration before and blessing by seniors, are prescribed. This is a striking point of difference between Malabar and the rest of India, and is probably based on the esoteric teaching of universal oneness. (5) Asramas or stages of life.--It is distinctly prescribed that a Brahman should formally conclude the Brahmachari asrama, and that presents or dakshina to the gurus should be the crowning act. The asura or bride-sale form of marriage is prohibited--a prohibition which, in the case of the Nambutiris, is absolutely unnecessary as matters now stand. An injunction in the reverse direction against the ruinous tyranny of a bride-penalty would be an anxiously sought relief to the strugglings of many an indigent bride's father. The special law of Malabar, under which the eldest son is alone entitled to be married, has already been referred to. The anchorite stage comes in for regulation by the Manu of Kerala. The eyes of a Sanyasin should never rest on a woman even for a second. This rule, which, if it errs at all, only does so on the side of safety, is not observed elsewhere, as the stage of a Sanyasin is expected to be entered only after the complete subjugation of the passions. No aradhana (worship) sraddhas are performed for them, as is done in other parts. The soul of the Sanyasin is freed from the bondage of Karma and the