Of the Sembadavans of the North Arcot district, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes [161] that they "act as boatmen and fishers. They have little opportunity of exercising the former profession, but during heavy freshes in big rivers they ferry people from bank to bank in round leather-covered basket coracles, which they push along, swimming or wading by the side, or assist the timid to ford by holding their hands. At such times they make considerable hauls. During the rest of the year they subsist by fishing in the tanks." "The Sembadavans of the South Arcot district," Mr. Francis writes, [162] "are fresh-water fishermen and boatmen. Both their occupations being of a restricted character, they have now in some cases taken to agriculture, weaving, and the hawking of salted sea-fish, but almost all of them are poor. They make their own nets, and, when they have to walk any distance for any purpose, they often spin the thread as they go along. Their domestic priests are Panchangi Brahmans, and these tie the tali at weddings, and perform the purificatory ceremonies on the sixteenth day after deaths." The Sembadavans consider themselves to be superior to Pattanavans, who are sea-fishermen. They usually take the title Nattan, Kavandan, Maniyakkaran, Paguththar, or Pillai. Some have assumed the title Guha Vellala, to connect themselves with Guha, who rowed the boat of Rama to Ceylon. At the census, 1901, Savalakkaran (q.v.) was returned as a sub-caste. Savalalai or saval thadi is the flattened paddle for rowing boats. A large number call themselves Pujari, (priest), and wear the lingam enclosed in a silver casket or pink cloth, and the sacred thread. It is the pujari who officiates at the temple services to village deities. At Malayanur, in the South Arcot district, all the Sembadavans call themselves pujari, and seem to belong to a single sept called Mukkali (three-legged). Most of the Sembadavans call themselves Saivites, but a few, e.g., at Kuppam in North Arcot, and other places, say that they are Vaishnavites, and belong to Vishnu gotram. Even among those who claimed to be Vaishnavites, a few were seen with a sandal paste (Saivite) mark on the forehead. Their explanation was that they were returning from the fields, where they had eaten their food. This they must not do without wearing a religious emblem, and they had not with them the mirror, red powder, water, etc., necessary for making the Vaishnavite namam mark. They asserted that they never take a girl in marriage from Saivite families without burning her tongue with a piece of gold, and purifying her by punyavachanam.