The most important divisions numerically returned by Vannans at times of census are Pandiyan, Peru (big), Tamil, and Vaduga (northerner). It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that Vannan "is rather an occupational term than a caste title, and, besides the Pandya Vannans or Vannans proper, includes the Vaduga Vannans or Tsakalas of the Telugu country, and the Palla, Pudara, and Tulukka Vannans, who wash for the Pallans, Paraiyans, and Musalmans respectively. The Pandya Vannans have a headman called the Periya Manishan (big man). A man can claim the hand of his paternal aunt's daughter. At weddings, the bridegroom's sister ties the tali (marriage badge). Nambis officiate. Divorce is freely allowed to either party on payment of twice the bride-price, and divorcées may marry again. The caste god is Gurunathan, in whose temples the pujari (priest) is usually a Vannan. The dead are generally burnt, and, on the sixteenth day, the house is purified from pollution by a Nambi." Some Vannans have assumed the name Irkuli Vellala, and Rajakan and Kattavaraya vamsam have also been recorded as synonyms of the caste name. The Vannans of Malabar are also called Mannan or Bannan. They are, Mr. Francis writes, [113] "a low class of Malabar washermen, who wash only for the polluting castes, and for the higher castes when they are under pollution following births, deaths, etc. It is believed by the higher castes that such pollution can only be removed by wearing clothes washed by Mannans, though at other times these cause pollution to them. The washing is generally done by the women, and the men are exorcists, devil-dancers and physicians, even to the higher castes. Their women are midwives, like those of the Velakkatalavan and Velan castes. This caste should not be confused with the Mannan hill tribe of Travancore." It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that "the Mannans, a makkattayam caste of South Malabar, apparently identical with the marumakkattayam Vannans of the north, are a caste of washermen; and their services are indispensable to the higher castes in certain purificatory ceremonies when they have to present clean cloths (mattu). They are also devil-dancers and tailors. They practice fraternal polyandry in the south. Mannans are divided into two endogamous classes, Peru-mannans (peru, great), and Tinda-mannans (tinda, pollution); and, in Walavanad, into four endogamous classes called Choppan, Peru-mannan, Punnekadan, and Puliyakkodam. The Tinda-mannan and Puliyakkodam divisions perform the purificatory sprinklings for the others."