Udayavar laid down the duties of the following groups of Brahmana servants:

Brahmin servants:

(1) The Tiruppatiyar: These were outsiders, i.e.; those not belonging to
Srirangam but who became the disciples of Udayavar and settled down there
and were assigned duties in the temple by the acarya. These were assistants to
the arcakas or priests and their main function was the lighting and
maintenance of lamps in the main and subsidiary shrines in the first three
enclosures.

(2) Tiruppani-saivar or the Kodavar: The main function of this group of

servants was the inspection of the streets through which the deity was taken in
procession during festivals. They accompanied the row of Srivaisnava
hymnists.

(3) The Bhagavata Nambis: the Bhagavata Nambis installed the flag on the flag
staff during the ceremony of dhvajarohanam, seated the images for a
procession.

(4) The Todavatti-tuimaraiyor or Ullurar: These were the original Srivaisnava

inhabitants of Srirangam with their duties mainly in the sanctum and
connected with the pujas. They opened doorway of the sanctum, cleaned and
kept ready the pancapatras and other vessels required for puja, kept in their
custody the washed clothes for decorating the images, offered the amudu or
the divine food (consisting of rice, etc.) mirror, jewels and ornaments, kasturi
and tiruman whenever they were required, restoring the jewels carefully to the
Sribhandara or treasury after use, honoured the Srikaryam with parivattam,
sandal paste and prasadam during festivals, added scent to the water for
abhisekam held during festivals, added scent to the water for abhisekam held
chaures and pearl-umbrellas when the utsava heras were bathed, carried the
Satakopan behind processions keeping it on their chests and offering it to
those who deserved it, performed some duties when the deity was worshipped
in mantapas outside the main shrine during festivals, brought pancakavyam
from the kitchen, and performed puja on behalf of the Senapati durantara.

(5) The Vinnappam-saivar or the Arayar: were the musicians and choristers of
the temple. Early in the morning they played on the vina in the mukhamantapa
before the gates of the sanctum were opened, recited the appropriate verses
from the prabandas during the morning, noon and night pujas and during
tirumanjanam recited the prabandas.

(6) The Tirukkaragakkaiyar: The word means ‘holy water pot carriers’. It was
their duty to fetch water from the Kaveri in silver pots or kudams placed on
the back of an elephant, make a store of them and fill up the pancapatras and
other vessels in the sanctum with the sacred water for all pujas beginning with
that at dawn.

(7) The Stanattar or Talaiyiduvar: These were the bearers of the procession
images seated on the mounts or in the capra or palanquin. They bore on their
 shoulders the long poles to which the palanquin or the vehicle was tied. After
the Muslim occupation, according to the Olugu, they gave away their function
of bearing the images to sudra servants and kept to themselves the privilege of
directing the procession, i.e., “stationing themselves at the head of the poles of
the palanquin in order to secure evenness of motion”. They also had the
privilege of holding the umbrella from behind the back of the elephant but this
was given away to a Nambi by an agreement:

(8) The Bhattal: While the Arayar or the Vinnappam saivar recited the Tamil
verses of the Nalayirapprabandam, the Bhattal recited mainly the Sanskrit
pieces, selections, according to the Olugu, from “the itihasas, the Sriranga
Mahatmyam the Asvalayana sutra, the Bodhayana sutra the Mimamsa sutra,
the vyakarana, the Nalayira Prabandam, the Alavandar stotram, the
Sribhasyam, the Gitabhasyam, the Gadyatrayam, and the paneangam”. These
recitations were done by Periakoil Nambi before the coming of Udayavar.

(9) The Arya Bhattar: These were the watchmen and guards of the temple. As
their name indicates they seem to have come from North India.

(10) The Dasanambis: These were the providers of flowers and flower
garlands. They laid out flower-gardens, made varieties of flower garlands and
bunches called vagaccal, killimalai, kiliccendu, tandaimalai, kottumalai,
kudamalai, etc., decorated the palanquins with the flowers for processions,
held the torches in the divine presence near the doorway of the sanctum, and
bore the Sanaimudaliar and the Dasamurtis in procession during festivals. For
these services they were honoured with tirtam, prasadam, parivattam and a
single garland.

(11)The Vettirapanis: The Vettirapanis or mace-holders were the orderlies of

the temple. With the aid of two gold rods, two silver rods and two canes, which
were also the symbols of their office, they kept order in and near the sanctum
during the starting of the procession, went in advance and made way for it in the
streets, kept watch outside the tirumantapas whenever the Perumal was stationed
there during festivals, admitted the Srivaisnavas according to their qualifications
to the presence of the deity to receive tirtam, prasadams etc.

(12) The Ekangis: The duties of drawing on the cloth screen during food offering
or nivedanam and drawing it off when it is over, keeping watch at the doorway
during puja, acting as the guard of the deity in the tirumantapa in the night, fetching
provisions like ghee, jaggery, cardamum, frankincense, camphor, sandal paste and
kumkum from the store house, etc., were done by the Ekangis, who were brahmana
bachelor servants (i.e., unencumbered by families.17 (Now the term is applied to
non-brahman servants with duties outside the sanctum)
THE TEN SUDRA GROUPS OF TEMPLE SERVANTS:

(1) The Vellalas: The temple accountant was also a Vellala and was called
Vilupparaiyan. The term Vellala commonly refers to cultivators and the Olugu
obviously has not included the cultivators of the temple lands in the villages,
far and near, among the temple servants. According to this chronicle
Udayavar wanted to entrust the accounts to a Brahmana but was pursuaded by
the local dignitaries to let the Vellala remain.

(2) The Saluvar: The Koil Olugu next mentions the duties of the group of
servants called the Saluvar. They had miscellaneous functions like the ilanir
kainkaryam or offering the water of the tender cocoanuts to the god, setting up
the circular platform for the holy bath, adorning the horse vehicle of the god
during brahmotsavas and fanning the deity with camaras stationed on either
side of the vehicle, blowing the conch and the trumpets, offering clay for
sealing the locks of doorways, removing the used fuel from the kitchen and
bringing plantain leaves from the gardens. Later they acquired the function of
climbing up the Karttikai dipastambha and setting alight the dipa.

(3) The Emberumanadiyar or the Devadasis: Female servants of God were

the dancing woman attached to the temple. The following were their duties:
dancing the sporting in front of the decorated elephant carrying the sacred
water to the temple from the Kaveri, performing the kinds of dances like
malaippu, kelikkai, ulamadal, ammanai, etc., during the tinuandikkappu and
the festive processions, enacting the appropriate episodes during the
Vasantotsava, enacting the rasakrida on the day of Krisnajayanti and on
special occasions, dancing in honour of each divine vehicle during the ritual
of bheritatanam in the brahmotsavas and performing the malaippu from
behind the Arayar.

(4) Tiruvelakkarar: These were entrusted with the functions of watch and
ward. They guarded the store house, the room containing the canopies, drums
and umbrellas, the hall of the divine vehicles (vahanasala) etc., brought the
grains, jaggery, and other provisions from the adjoining villages and deposited
them in the granary or the store house and waited along with the parijanas
when the procession started.

(5) The Kammalas: The sculptors, masons and metal workers were grouped
under the artisan class called the Kammalas. The sculptor-mason called
silpacari attended to masonry repairs of the gopuras, decorated the kalasa on
the vimana, made images of stucco, carved out stone images and painted
figures on the walls of the mantapas etc. The goldsmith repaired the jewels
and ornaments of the deities, polished them frequently, made “the seven
ornaments appropriate to the seven days of the week,” attended to the duties
connected with the Jyestabhisekam and provided the divine vehicles with a
covering of gold plates. The copper smith and the bell-metal worker made the
plates and pots used in worship, cast lamp stands, bells and gongs and
provided artistically decorated coverings for steps, stairs and pedestals.
Casting of metal images was obviously an expert’s job and when a need arose
skilled professionals were employed for the purpose.
(6) Needle workers: The needle-workers or tailors, carpenters and silk-
weavers formed one group. The first stitched a few items of the divine dress
like the kabai or full frock and adorned them with pearls, prepared the
ornamental and embroidered borders and pieces of cloth required in the
decoration of the ceiling and stitched the canopy and the blankets. The second
made the divine umbrellas, the huge round fans, the birudas or badges of
honour and parts of the palanquins and decorated the dhwajastamba and the
mantapas with tinsel. The last made garlands of silk thread, bunches of loose
silks and tassels, all for the decoration of the vehicles of the god.

(7) The Washermen:These washed and dried the divine garments, offered the
cloth called the tiruppavadai for spreading the taligai or rice offering to the
god and, whenever necessary, dyed the clothes used in the decoration of the
ceilings of the mantapas.

(8) The Potters: As it was (and still is) the practice in the Srirangam temple to
prepare the prasadams in fresh earthern vessels daily the potters made a daily
supply of fresh cauldrons, vessels, etc., to the temple kitchen for the
preparation of the taligai and other prasadams. They carried the pots in which
a few kinds of cereals were sown for the ceremony of ankurarpanam and
prepared the earthen lamps for display during the Tirukkattikai festival.

(9) The Boatmen: As Srirangam is skirted by the twin rivers, the Kaveri and
the Coleroon, the service of the boatmen was necessary. When the rivers were
in floods they brought to the temple milk and other provisions from the
villages nearby. They served as rowers during the Teppotsavam or float
festival and supplied, like leaves, stems, mats, baskets and floats and also
fruits like oranges and lime, which were all grown on the river banks.

(10) The Musicians: These were all instrumentalists like the pipers, the
drummers, etc. The nattuvar or dance-masters were also included in this
group. The former, said to belongs to the Alagiyamanavalan group, were
“masters of the five kinds of musical instruments”, and they played to the tune
of the Arayar during the ceremonies like the padiyerram and when dances
were performed by the temple dancers. On these occasions they also played
individually the five kinds of talam, “mattalam, suttalam, celli-mattalam,
vagai and avijam.”20 (Ibid., pp.99-100)