"Some," Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar writes in a note on the Nayars of Travancore, "believe that Nayar is derived from Naga (serpents), as the Aryans so termed the earlier settlers of Malabar on account of the special adoration which they paid to snakes. The Travancore Nayars are popularly known as Malayala Sudras--a term which contrasts them sharply with the Pandi or foreign Sudras, of whom a large number immigrated into Travancore in later times. Another name by which Nayars are sometimes known is Malayali, but other castes, which have long inhabited the Malayalam country, can lay claim to this designation with equal propriety. The most general title of the Nayars is Pillai (child), which was once added to the names of the Brahman dwellers in the south. It must, in all probability, have been after the Brahmans changed their title to Aiyar (father), by which name the non-Brahman people invariably referred to them, that Sudras began to be termed Pillai. We find that the Vellalas of the Tamil country and the Nayars of Travancore called themselves Pillai from very early times. The formal ceremony of paying down a sum of money, and obtaining a distinction direct from the Sovereign was known as tirumukham pitikkuka, or catching the face of the king, and enabled the recipients to add, besides the honorary suffix Pillai, the distinctive prefix Kanakku, or accountant, to their name. So important were the privileges conferred by it that even Sanku Annavi, a Brahman Dalava, obtained it at the hand of the reigning Maharaja, and his posterity at Vempannur have enjoyed the distinction until the present day. The titles Pillai and Kanakku are never used together. The name of an individual would be, for example, either Krishna Pillai or Kanakku Raman Krishnan, Raman being the name of the Karanavan or the maternal uncle. A higher title, Chempakaraman, corresponds to the knighthood of mediæval times, and was first instituted by Maharaja Marthanda Varma in memory, it is said, of his great Prime Minister Rama Aiyyan Dalawa. The individual, whom it was the king's pleasure to honour, was taken in procession on the back of an elephant through the four main streets of the fort, and received by the Prime Minister, seated by his side, and presented with pansupari (betel). Rare as this investiture is in modern times, there are many ancient houses, to which this title of distinction is attached in perpetuity. The title Kanakku is often enjoyed with it, the maternal uncle's name being dropped, e.g., Kanakku Chempakaraman Krishnan. Tambi (younger brother) is another title prevalent in Travancore. It is a distinctive suffix to the names of Nayar sons of Travancore Sovereigns. But, in ancient times, this title was conferred on others also, in recognition of merit. Tambis alone proceed in palanquins, and appear before the Maharaja without a head-dress. The consorts of Maharajas are selected from these families. If a lady from outside is to be accepted as