Their principal occupation is agriculture. They worship the two mountain deities Bhadrakali and Durga. In the Kirikkot muri of the Karikkod property there is a temple dedicated to Siva or Unnamalanathar, with a large amount of property attached to it. This belongs to the Tenkanchi Vellalas, and a Malayalam Brahman performs the priestly functions. The Kumbakonam Vellalas have their own temples, such as the Ankalamma koil, Annamala matam, Virabhadran koil, etc., and worship, besides the principal gods of the Hindu pantheon, such minor deities as Virabhadran, Karuppan, Bhairavan, Mariamman, and Muttaramman. The priests of both sections are East Coast Brahmans, who live in the Todupuzha taluk. As their profession is regarded by other Brahmans as degrading, they, especially in the case of the Kumbakonam Vellalas, perform their duties stealthily. The headman of the Kumbakonam section lives in the Periyakulam taluk of the Madura district, and, by his order, an image of Siva is worshipped at their homes. Divorce is not permitted on any ground, and, in ancient days, widow remarriage was forbidden. There is a legend that a woman of this caste, who was a friend of the daughter of a certain Vadakkumkur Rajah, was so aggrieved at the news of her newly married husband's death that, at her intercession, the Rajah issued a proclamation permitting the remarriage of widows. If no husband has been found for a girl before she reaches puberty, certain propitiatory rites have to be performed, at which one of her female relations represents her. On the fourth day of the marriage ceremony, the bride and bridegroom, before they bathe, rub each other's bodies with oil, and, going to a large caldron containing water, throw a gold and silver ring into it, and pick them out three times. Inheritance of both sections is from father to son (makkathayam). A sambandham alliance does not confer any rite of inheritance. The names of both sections are such as are unknown among Nayars, e.g., Sivalingam, Arunachalam, Chidambaram, Arumukham. The Tenkanchis are considered to be higher in the social scale than the Kumbakonam section, as they observe only twelve days' death pollution, whereas the latter are under pollution for sixteen days. The Tenkanchis may enter the temple, and, like Nayars, stand on the left side of the inner shrine, whereas the Kumbakonam Vellalas may proceed only as far as the balikkalpura, or out-house of the temple, and not enter the nalambalam. Again, butter-milk is freely received by Brahmans from the Tenkanchis, but not from members of the Kumbakonam section. While Pandi Vellalas will not receive food from the Tenkanchis, or give their daughters in marriage to them, the latter will not intermarry with the Nanchinad Vellalas.