Tara. The tara was the smallest unit in the ancient government system, which, for want of a better term, we may style feudal. It was not exactly a village, for the people lived apart. Each tara had its Nayar chieftain, and also its Tiyan chief or Tandan, its astrologer, its washerman, its goldsmith, and other useful people, each serving the community for the sake of small advantages. Each tara was its own world. Changati (friend). The friends of both parties which negotiated the marriage. Porutham (agreement). Examination of the horoscopes of the boy and girl makes it possible to ascertain whether there is agreement between the two, and the union will be propitious. Illam. Here intended to mean the father's family. Kulam. The name, derived from kula a branch, here denotes the mother's family. Twelve illams, ten kiriyams. The word illam, now used exclusively for the residence of a Nambutiri, is supposed to have been used in days of old for the house of a person of any caste. And this supposition is said to find support in the way that a Tiyan coming from the south is often greeted in South Canara. Thus, a Malabar Tiyan, travelling to the celebrated temple at Gokarnam in South Canara, is at once asked "What is your illam and kiriyam?" He has heard these terms used in the foregoing formula during his own or another's marriage ceremony, but attached no meaning to them. To the man of South Canara they have genuine meaning. One should be able to answer the question satisfactorily, and thus give a proper account of himself. If he cannot, he gets neither food nor water from the South Canara Tiyan. This also holds good, to some extent, in the case of a southern Tiyan visiting the northern parts of the Cherakal taluk of Malabar. The ten illams of South Malabar are as follows:-- Tala Kodan. Nellika (Phyllanthus Emblica). Paraka or Varaka. Ala. Ten Kudi or Tenan Kudi. Padayan Kudi. Kannan. Varakat. Kytat inferior. Puzhampayi or Bavu The illams of North Malabar are said to be-- Nellika. Pullanhi. Vangeri. Koyikkalan. Padayam Kudi. Tenan Kudi. Manan Kudi. Vilakkan Kudi.