Vaniyan.--The Vaniyans are, Mr. Francis writes, [108] "oil-pressers among the Tamils, corresponding to the Telugu Gandlas, Canarese Ganigas, Malabar Chakkans, and Oriya Tellis. For some obscure reason, Manu classed oil-pressing as a base occupation, and all followers of the calling are held in small esteem, and, in Tinnevelly, they are not allowed to enter the temples. In consequence, however, of their services in lighting the temples (in token of which all of them, except the Malabar Vaniyans and Chakkans, wear the sacred thread), they are earning a high position, and some of them use the sonorous title of Joti Nagarattar (dwellers in the city of light) and Tiru-vilakku Nagarattar (dwellers in the city of holy lamps). They employ Brahmans as priests, practice infant marriage, and prohibit widow marriage, usually burn their dead, and decline to eat in the houses of any caste below Brahmans. However, even the washermen decline to eat with them. Like the Gandlas they have two sub-divisions, Ottai-sekkan and Irattai-sekkan, who use respectively one bullock and two bullocks in their mills. Oddly enough, the former belong to the right-hand faction, and the latter to the left. Their usual title is Chetti. The name Vanuvan has been assumed by Vaniyans, who have left their traditional occupation, and taken to the grain and other trades." "The word Vanijyam," Mr. H. A. Stuart informs us, [109] "signifies trade, and trade in oil, as well as its manufacture, is the usual employment of this caste, who assert that they are Vaisyas, and claim the Vaisya-Apuranam as their holy book. They are said to have assumed the thread only within the last fifty or sixty years, and are reputed to be the result of a yagam (sacrifice by fire) performed by a saint called Vakkuna Maharishi. The caste contains four sub-divisions called Kamakshiamma, Visalakshiamma, Ac'chu-tali, and Toppa-tali, the two first referring to the goddesses principally worshipped by each, and the two last to the peculiar kinds of talis, or marriage tokens, worn by their women. They have the same customs as the Beri Chettis, but are not particular in observing the rule which forbids the eating of flesh. A bastard branch of the Vaniyas is called the Pillai Kuttam, which is said to have sprung from the concubine of a Vaniyan, who lived many years ago. The members of this class are never found except where Vaniyans live, and are supposed to have a right to be fed and clothed by them. Should this be refused, they utter the most terrible curse, and, in this manner, eventually intimidate the uncharitable into giving them alms." In the Census Report, 1891, Mr. Stuart writes further that the Vaniyans "were formerly called Sekkan (oil-mill man), and it is curious that the oil-mongers alone came to be called Vaniyan or trader. They have returned 126 sub-divisions, of which only one, Ilai Vaniyan, is numerically important. One sub-division is Iranderudu,