Pdewan at 21:57, 18 April 2014

2014-04-18T21:57:42Z

Pdewan: /* Paraiyan */

2014-04-18T21:54:26Z

‎Paraiyan

Pdewan: Created page with " {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|
This article is an excerpt from
''' Castes and Tribes of Southern India '''
By '' Edgar Thurston,..."

2014-04-07T08:41:05Z

Created page with " {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%"> This article is an excerpt from<br/> ''' Castes and Tribes of Southern India ''' <br/> By '' Edgar Thurston,..."

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 The Paraiyans or, as they are commonly termed, Pariahs of the Tamil country number, according to recent census returns, over two million souls, and a large proportion of those who returned themselves as Native Christians are said also to belong to this class. For the following note I am mainly indebted to an account of the Paraiyans by the Rev. A. C. Clayton.
 The late Bishop Caldwell derived the name Paraiyan from the Tamil word parai a drum, as certain Paraiyans act as drummers at marriages, funerals, village festivals, and on occasions when Government or commercial announcements are proclaimed. Mr. H. A. Stuart,  however, seems to question this derivation, remarking  that “it is only one section of Paraiyans that act as drummers. Nor is the occupation confined to Paraiyans. It seems in the highest degree improbable that a large, and at one time powerful, community should owe its name to an occasional occupation, which one of its divisions shares with other castes. The word Paraiyan is not found in Divākaram, a Tamil dictionary of the eleventh century A.D., and the word Pulayan was then used to denote this section of the population, as it is still in Malayālam to this day.” In the legend of the Saivite saint, Nandan is, in the prose version of the Periya Purānam, called a Pulayan, though a native of Shōlamandalam, which was a distinctly Tamil kingdom. Mr. W. Francis writes  that “the old Tamil poems and works of the early centuries of the Christian era do not mention the name Paraiyan, but contain many descriptions of a tribe called the Eyinas, who seem to have been quite distinct from the rest of the population, and did not live in the villages, but in forts of their own. Ambūr and Vellore are mentioned as the sites of two of these. They may perhaps have been the ancestors of the Paraiyans of to-day.”
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 No name, indicating virtue or merit, is given, lest the wrath of malevolent spirits should be aroused.
 At the census, 1891, 348 sub-divisions were returned, of which the following were strongest in point of numbers :—Amma found chiefly in Tanjore and Madura; Katti in Salem and Trichinopoly; Kīzhakkatti (eastern) in Salem; Kōliyan (weavers) in Chingleput, Tanjore and Trichinopoly; Konga in Salem; Korava in Coimbatore; Kōttai (fort) in South Arcot; Morasu (drum) in Salem; Mottai in Madura; Pacchai (green) in Coimbatore; Sāmbān in South Arcot; Sangidum (sanku, conch, or chank shell) in Coimbatore; Sōzhia (natives of the Sōzha or Chōla country) in Tanjore and Madura;  Tangalān in North and South Arcot, Chingleput, Salem, and Trichinopoly; and Valangamattu in South Arcot. The members of the various sub-divisions do not intermarry.
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 It has been suggested to me that the Morasu Paraiyans, included in the above list, are Canarese Holeyas, who have settled in the Tamil country. In the south their women, like the Kallans, wear a horsehair thread round the neck. As additional sub-divisions, the following may be noted :—
 Aruththukattātha, or those who, having once cut the tāli-string, do not tie it a second time, i.e., those who do not permit remarriage of widows.

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:54, 18 April 2014
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	In a kindly note on the Paraiya classes, Surgeon-Major W. R. Cornish sums them up as follows. “A laborious, frugal, and pleasure-loving people, they are the very life-blood of the country, in whatever field of labour they engage in. The British administration has freed them, as a community, from the yoke of hereditary slavery, and from the legal disabilities under which they suffered; but they still remain in the lowest depths of social degradation. The Christian missionaries, to their undying honour be it said, have, as a rule, persevered in breaking through the time-honoured custom of treating the Paraiya as dirt, and have admitted him to equal rights and privileges in their schools and churches, and, whatever may be the present position of the Paraiya community in regard to education, intelligence, and ability to hold a place for themselves, they owe it almost wholly to the Christian men and women who have given up their lives to win souls for their great Master.”		In a kindly note on the Paraiya classes, Surgeon-Major W. R. Cornish sums them up as follows. “A laborious, frugal, and pleasure-loving people, they are the very life-blood of the country, in whatever field of labour they engage in. The British administration has freed them, as a community, from the yoke of hereditary slavery, and from the legal disabilities under which they suffered; but they still remain in the lowest depths of social degradation. The Christian missionaries, to their undying honour be it said, have, as a rule, persevered in breaking through the time-honoured custom of treating the Paraiya as dirt, and have admitted him to equal rights and privileges in their schools and churches, and, whatever may be the present position of the Paraiya community in regard to education, intelligence, and ability to hold a place for themselves, they owe it almost wholly to the Christian men and women who have given up their lives to win souls for their great Master.”
		+	=See also=
		+	[[Paraiyan]]
		+
		+	[[Paraiyans of Malabar, Cochin and Travancore]]

Paraiyan - Revision history

Pdewan at 21:57, 18 April 2014

Pdewan: /* Paraiyan */

Pdewan: Created page with " {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"| This article is an excerpt from ''' Castes and Tribes of Southern India ''' By '' Edgar Thurston,..."

Pdewan: Created page with " {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|
This article is an excerpt from
''' Castes and Tribes of Southern India '''
By '' Edgar Thurston,..."