On the first of every month, a ceremony called kalasam is performed on behalf of the spirits of the departed. Fish, cooked meat, rice, parched grain, plantain fruits, cocoanuts, toddy, and other things, are placed on a leaf with a lighted lamp in front of it. A prayer is then uttered, expressing a hope that the ancestors will partake of the food which has been procured for them with much difficulty, and protect the living. One man, becoming inspired, acts the part of an oracle, and addresses those assembled. The following story is narrated concerning the origin of the Elankunnapuzha temple on the island of Vypin. When some Paraiyas were cutting reeds, one of them discovered a remarkable idol and fell into a trance, under the influence of which he informed the Raja of Cochin that the idol originally belonged to the Trichendur temple in Tinnevelly, and that he must build a shrine for it. This was accordingly done, and to the Paraiyan who discovered the idol a daily allowance of rice, and a larger quantity of rice during the annual temple festival were given. In return, he had to supply cadjan (palm leaf) umbrellas used at the daily procession, and bamboo baskets required for washing the rice offered to the idol. These allowances were received by the Perum or big Paraiyan up to a recent date, even if he is not receiving them at the present day. When a Paraiyan woman is delivered, she is secluded for two weeks in a temporary hut erected at a short distance from the dwelling hut. On the tenth day, some male member of the family goes to his Brahman or Nayar landlord, from whom he receives some milk, which is sprinkled over the woman and her infant. She can then come to the verandah of her home, and remains there for five days, when she is purified by bathing. The temporary hut is burnt down. The dead are buried, and the corpse, after being laid in the grave, is covered with a mat. The Paraiyas are engaged in the manufacture of wicker baskets, bamboo mats, and cadjan umbrellas. They also take part in all kinds of agricultural work, and, when ploughing, will not use buffaloes, which are regarded as unclean beasts, the touch of which necessitates a ceremonial ablution. Many Paraiyans become converts to Christianity, and thereby receive a rise in the social scale, and a freedom from the disabilities under which their lowly position in the social scale places them. In 1829 several natives of Malabar were charged with having proceeded, in company with a Paraiyan, to the house of a pregnant woman, who was beaten and otherwise ill-treated, and with having taken the foetus out of her uterus, and introduced in lieu thereof the skin of a calf and an earthen pot. The prisoners confessed before the police, but were acquitted, mainly on the ground that the earthen pot was of a size which rendered it impossible to credit its introduction during life.