In the Census Report, 1901, the Valaiyans are described as "a shikari (hunting) caste in Madura and Tanjore. In the latter the names Ambalakaran, Servaikaran, Vedan, Siviyan, and Kuruvikkaran are indiscriminately applied to the caste." There is some connection between Ambalakarans, Muttiriyans, Mutrachas, Uralis, Vedans, Valaiyans, and Vettuvans, but in what it exactly consists remains to be ascertained. It seems likely that all of them are descended from one common parent stock. Ambalakarans claim to be descended from Kannappa Nayanar, one of the sixty-three Saivite saints, who was a Vedan or hunter by caste. In Tanjore the Valaiyans declare themselves to have a similar origin, and in that district Ambalakaran and Muttiriyan seem to be synonymous with Valaiyan. Moreover, the statistics of the distribution of the Valaiyans show that they are numerous in the districts where Ambalakarans are few, and vice versâ, which looks as though certain sections had taken to calling themselves Ambalakarans. The upper sections of the Ambalakarans style themselves Pillai, which is a title properly belonging to Vellalas, but the others are usually called Muppan in Tanjore, and Ambalakaran, Muttiriyan, and Servaikaran in Trichinopoly. The usual title of the Valaiyans, so far as I can gather, is Muppan, but some style themselves Servai and Ambalakaran." The Madura Valaiyans are said [95] to be "less brahmanised than those in Tanjore, the latter employing Brahmans as priests, forbidding the marriage of widows, occasionally burning their dead, and being particular what they eat. But they still cling to the worship of all the usual village gods and goddesses." In some places, it is said, [96] the Valaiyans will eat almost anything, including rats, cats, frogs and squirrels. Like the Pallans and Paraiyans, the Valaiyans, in some places, live in streets of their own, or in settlements outside the villages. At times of census, they have returned a large number of sub-divisions, of which the following may be cited as examples:-- Monathinni. Those who eat the vermin of the soil. Pasikatti (pasi, glass bead). Saragu, withered leaves. Vanniyan. Synonym of the Palli caste. Vellamputtu, white-ant hill. In some places the Saruku or Saragu Valaiyans have exogamous kilais or septs, which, as among the Maravans and Kallans, run in the female line. Brothers and sisters belong to the same kilai as that of their mother and maternal uncle, and not of their father.