A Nayar should not come nearer than six paces to a Nambutiri, a man of the barber caste nearer than twelve paces, a Tiyan than thirty-six, a Malayan than sixty-four, and a Pulaiyan than ninety-six. Malabar is, indeed, the most conservative part of Southern India. The man of high caste shouts occasionally as he goes along, so that the low caste man may go off the road, and allow him to pass unpolluted. And those of the lowest castes shout as they go, to give notice of their pollution-bearing presence, and, learning the command of the man of high caste, move away from the road. It is common to see people of the inferior castes travelling parallel to the road, but not daring to go along it. They do not want to. It is not because they are forced off the road. Custom clings to them as to the Nayar or to the Nambutiri. But even this is undergoing modification. In connection with marriage, three chief rules are observed. The contracting parties must not be of the same gotra; they must not be related to each other through father or mother; and the bridegroom must be the eldest son of the family. It is said that there are seven original gotras, called after the sages Kamsha, Kasyapa, Bharadvaja, Vatsya, Kaundinya, Atri, and Tatri; and that other gotras have grown out of these. Relationship is said by some to cease after the fourth generation, but this is disputed. The bride's dowry is always heavy. The wife joins her husband's gotra, forsaking her own altogether. Women may remain unmarried without prejudice. Needless to say, this has the reverse of favour with Brahmans outside Malabar. But the Nambutiri girl or woman, who has not been married, is not allowed to disappear altogether from the world without at least the semblance of marriage, for, at her death, some part of the marriage ceremony is performed on her person. The tali is tied. In like manner, a dead Toda girl is not allowed to go to her last rest unmarried. Infant marriage, which is the rule with other Brahmans, is said to be unknown among the Nambutiris. Mr. Justice K. Narayana Marar, however, writes [95] that he is "not prepared to assert that infant marriage is unknown among Nambudris, and that marriages are always celebrated before puberty. There are instances, though rare, of infant marriages among them." When a girl is ten years old, or a little more, her father thinks of finding a husband for her. Property alone is the real thing to be considered. Every detail bearing on advantage to the family through the alliance is carefully thought out. Among the Malayalis generally, the young man with University degrees has command of the marriage market, but to the Nambutiri these are of no account. When the girl's father has fixed on a likely young man, he gets his horoscope, and confers with a Vadhyar concerning the suitability or agreement of the young man's horoscope with that of his daughter. Should the decision of the Vadhyar be favourable, the young man's father is