M

Maci (Tm): February–March.

mahanam, mahanadu (Tm): a small revenue division, similar to a taluk .

makimai (Tm): 1. religious tithe. 2. tithe paid to Nakarattar rest house (nakaravituti ).

maniyam (Sk): tax-free land given for services to king or temple (cf. inam ).

mantakappadi (Sk): right to organize a religious ritual.

mantapam (Sk): an open pavilion where religious rituals are performed.

Maravar (Tm): in the precolonial era, a Tamil caste of warriors residing in Ramnad, now comprised primarily of cultivators.

Mariamman (Tm): important village and regional goddess in South India, strongly associated with smallpox, drought, and blindness.

Markali (Tm): December–January.

marrvan nampikkai (Tm): trust.

maruntu kutital (Tm): ritual performed during pregnancy, involving drinking of sacramental water (synonym: tirttam kutittal ).

maryatai (Sk): honor; literally, "boundary."

matam (Sk): monastery, seminary (synonym: atinam ).

Meenakshi (Tm): the goddess of Madurai, an incarnation of Parvati.

melal (Tm): agent of a Nakarattar banking firm.

melvaram (Tm): an agricultural tax in kind; literally, "upper share," meaning the king's or government's share (cf. kilvaram ).

mempanan (Tm): Nakarattar bank's liabilities, deposits other than proprietor's; literally, "surplus funds."

mirasi (Ur): hereditary privileges including shares in land and in temple rituals.

moi (also moy : Dumont 1957b) (Tm): wedding gift from anyone who attends a wedding, registered in a special book (moippana etu ) with reference to kinship distance.

moippana etu (Tm): a book that registers gifts of moi .

mokam (Tm). See moksa .

moksa (Sk): release of soul from cycle of rebirths.

moturpha (Ur): a tax on trade.

muchalika (Ur): legal agreement.

mudal panam (Tm): the proprietor's own capital investment in his firm.

mudalal (Tm): first assistant to the agent (melal ) of Nakarattar firm.

mudali (Tm): principal or proprietor of Nakarattar firm.

Mudaliar (Tm): Vellalar subcaste; literally, "first ones."

Mudukkulattur (Tm): collective name for three warrior castes of Tamil Nadu: the Kallar, Maravar, and Agamudaiyar.

murai (Tm): 1. affinal gifts from wife's family to groom's family, given on a regular basis for the life of a marriage alliance. 2. obligation, turn.

Murugan, Murukan (Tm): Siva's second son, Skanda; other names: Velayuda, Arumukan.

mutal panam (Tm). See mudal panam .

mutalal (Tm). See mudalal .

mutali (Tm). See mudah .

Mutaliar (Tm). See Mudaliar .