MALABAR.

197

under the head of Poorooshandrum, to a certain
share of the property left by deceased Moslems, but
the prevalent opinion seems to be that in such cases
there was no fixed sum payable, and, moreover, that
it was not claimed from all, but only from those
individuals who held situations or enjoyed privileges
dependent upon the will and favour of the Rajah.
This tax, so similar to one of our feudal sources of
revenue in the West, often reached the extent of
one thousand two hundred fanams.

3. Polyatta Penna, or degraded women, were
another source of profit to the Rajah, who exacted
various sums from Brahman families for the main-
tenance of such females, and for saving them from
further disgrace. These persons became partial
outcastes, not slaves in the full sense of the word ;
and yet the rulers used to sell them to the Chetties,
or coast merchants. Their offspring always married
into families of the same degraded class, and, after
a few generations, the memory of their origin was
lost in the ramifications of the race into which they
had been adopted.

4. Kaleecha—another feudal tax, answering to
the Nuzzuranah of Mussulman India. It consisted
of presents made by all ranks of people to the
ruler on such occasions of congratulation and con-