Aiyar river, only two are now recognised. These are the Serkudi nadu in Namakkal taluk and the Omandur nadu of Musiri. The Yelur (seven villages) Vellalas are very few and far between. There is a small colony of Tuluvas, engaged in dyeing, at Illuppur. The Malaikandas are only found near the Ratnagiri hill in the Kulittalai taluk. They take their name from the fact that they are required to look at the Ratnagiri hill when they get up in the morning. They are devotees of the god there. The Kaniyalans (landowners) are scarce, but widely distributed, since the man who carries the pot of blood, when animals are sacrificed at festivals to the village goddesses, must belong to this sub-division. The Kodikkal Vellalans are so-called from their occupation of betel cultivation, which they still pursue largely." The Konga Vellalas differ so strikingly from the rest in many of their customs that a separate account of them is given. (See Konga Vellala.) It is noted by Mr. Hemingway that some Vellalas "observe a curious custom (derived from Brahmans) with regard to marriage, which is not unknown among other communities. A man marrying a second wife after the death of his first has to marry a plantain tree, and cut it down before tying the tali, and, in the case of a third marriage, a man has to tie a tali first to the erukkan (arka: Calotropis gigantea) plant. The idea is that second and fourth wives do not prosper, and the tree and the plant are accordingly made to take their places." A peculiar ceremony, called Sevvai (Tuesday) Pillayar, is performed by some Vellala women. It is also called Avvai Nonbu, because the Tamil poetess observed it. The ceremony takes place twice in the year, on a Tuesday in the months of Thai (February-March) and Audi (August-September). It is held at midnight, and no males, even babies in arms, may be present at it, or eat the cakes which are offered. A certain number of women club together, and provide the necessary rice, which is measured on the back of the hand, or in a measure similar to those used by Madras milk-sellers, in which the bottom is fixed high up in the cylinder. At the house where the ceremony is to be performed the rice is pounded into flour, and mixed with leaves of Pongamia glabra and margosa (Melia Azadirachta). The mixture is then made into cakes, some flat, and some conical, to represent Pillayar (Ganesa). Flowers, fruits, betel, turmeric, combs, kunkumam (red powder), and other articles required in connection with the Pillayar worship, are also taken to the room in which the rites are performed. Of these it has been impossible to gather an account, as the women refused to describe them, lest ruin should fall on their families. Some say that, during the ceremony, the women are stark-naked.