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Parayar community in Tamil Speaking South India:

Structural Transformation and Caste Conflicts Manuvelraj Ponnudurai

Introduction

The Tamil Speaking South India (hereafter as TSSI)1 or popularly known as “Tamil Nadu’2 has a

historical continuity of almost more than two millennia. To a foreigner the TSSI is famous for its

unique culture, Hindi agitation and the plethora of Brahmanical Hindu temples. This common

perception may partly be true because the so called Tamil culture neither belongs to the

Paarpanar3 nor the Tamil speaking caste Hindu Shudra Dravida (hereafter as Tamil Shudra)4

groups. On the one hand the Tamil culture has a history of brutal violence against Buddhist

monks5 and Scheduled Caste people (hereafter as SC community);6 on the other hand, this region

is infamous for Tamil identity, Kaveri river water dispute,7 and an assassination of Rajiv

Gandhi.8 There is no unique culture as such Tamil culture because this was forcefully mounted

since the non-Brahmin movement gravitated to the caste arrogance, often prompting the benefit

of particular Tamil Shudra caste groups. It is claimed that TSSI vehemently protested when

Hindi was proposed as a mediatory language between North and South or vice-versa and this

episode is portrayed as ‘one Tamil unity’. Essentially, these protests were politically staged.

Evoking jingoist sentiments, the Tamil Shudra comprador politicians found a mileage for their

selfish ends in the newly carved state.9 Most of the so called Brahmanical Hindu temples of TSSI

were originally Buddhist, Jain viharas and temples.10 Though it is not clear that these so called

Tamil people ever had a tendency towards unity and integrity ever before. Like other parts of

India, historically the Tamil country had been divided into many small regions with political

rulers of their own territorial control such as Chera, Chola, Pandya and Pallava but they had

ironically time and again fought among themselves for petty reasons.

The history of TSSI maintains continuity but a challenging analysis will unfold the distorted and

biased history. Most of the scholars while discussing about the history of TSSI heavily depends

upon the Śangam literature nonetheless, the period of Śangam age is still ambiguous.11 In fact

those who compiled, edited and published these Śangam works from palm leaf manuscript, and

 

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wrote colorful description belongs to Paarpanar-Tamil Shudra caste groups,12 and they while

defining the word Śangam, it seems heavily depends upon either Sanskrit or Tamil root and in

consequence their views become biased. However the Imperial historian Burton Stein proved

that there, in the city of Madurai, an academy was convened with the purpose of producing an

anthology of extant Tamil poems, hence, the academy took as its name Śangam from the Pali

word Sangha of the Buddhist order, which suggests the influence of Buddhists and Jainas in the

culture of these early Tamils.13 Therefore that the origin and the meaning of the word Śangam

closely associates with Buddhism and in one way or other it appears that the Śangam literature

was influenced by Buddhist ideas or philosophy.

Though practicing untouchability, and caste atrocities (human rights violation) against SC

community in TSSI is a very common phenomena or daily events, this paper explores the real

cause of the atrocity against Parayar community in Dharmapuri district of TSSI: where on 7th

November 2012, in the remote villages of Dharmapuri around 268 Parayar houses were burnt

down by the members of Tamil Shudra called Vanniyar community and the mob

assaulted/ransacked the houses and robbed the valuables worth crores of rupees (hereafter

Dharmapuri atrocity). To properly understand the nature of the atrocity against the untouchables

and the caste based society of TSSI, however, it is relevant to raise few questions such as who

are considered as Tamils, their identity including their historical background. Who are the so

called untouchables in TSSI, particularly in this case the ‘Parayars’ and then the role of language

and religion which it has been till now believed that uniting them all?

Therefore this paper tries to answer the above questions in respect of atrocities against the

Parayar community and while exploring, it intend to trace out the genealogy of the Parayar

community which severely suffered during the Dharmapuri atrocity as well as this study also

mapping out the overall atrocities perpetuated by the Tamil Shudra groups against the entire SC

community of TSSI. The paper will analyse the structural transformation as well as the socio-

economic transformation of Parayar community which directly influences the Tamil Shudra

groups.

 

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The origin of the Untouchability in TSSI:

In TSSI the SC community has divided into three major sects (sub-castes) such as Pallar

presently referred as   Devendira Kula Velalar, Paraiyar also known as Adi-Dravidar and

Arunthathiyar formerly known as Sakkiliyar and all three sub-castes have been encountering the

same violence in the name of untouchability which is being perpetrated by the Tamil Shudra

groups and these three SC community neither came together for any common cause nor under a

single leadership.  Since,   the aim of   this paper is to explore the Paraiyar community and the

atrocities confronted by them and to avoid confusion the discussion on atrocities against other

two sub-castes have been restricted.

In India the caste factor decides everything and in fact the Indian caste system consists of two

unchangeable, unbreakable and enduring components of ‘Hinduism’ and ‘Untouchability’.

Therefore when we think of India according to Nicholas Dirks it is hard not to think of caste and

he further asserted that caste has been seen as always there in Indian history, and as one of the

major reasons why India has no history or at least no sense of history.14 This view of Nicholas

Dirks is partially true since caste has a long history and the Indian history is nothing but a

distorted history written by a particular scholarship to fulfill the interest of a particular

community.

During the British period, particularly in the early Twentieth century Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and

M.K. Gandhi raised their voices for the atrocities against untouchables. Though Ambedkar was

born as an untouchable, personally experienced the problem of untouchablity paradoxically

Gandhi claimed himself as an untouchable and invented a new nomenclature as “Harijan”, for

the untouchable community which was vehemently rejected by the Parayar community. With

regard to the question of the ‘Untouchables’ and ‘Untouchability’ Ambedkar and Gandhi were at

opposing poles. Gandhi, for whom Hinduism and the caste system were not negotiable, believed

that untouchability is an evil within Hinduism, to be reformed by Hindus.15 Ambedkar rejected

both Hinduism and the caste system and wanted caste to be completely purged from Hinduism.16

 

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To unravel the myth of untouchability in the context of Hinduism Ambedkar on the basis of his

dedicated detailed research wrote a book on The Untouchables: Who were they? And Why they

became Untouchables? and particularly at the last chapter he tries to fix an approximate date for

the origin/creation of untouchability and discussed about the historical background of the

untouchability in which he argued that:17

Untouchability is an act of social psychology. It is a sort of social nausea of one group against another group. Being an outgrowth of social psychology which must have taken some time to acquire form and shape, nobody can venture to fix a precise date to a phenomenon which probably began as a cloud no bigger than man’s hand and grew till it took its final all-pervading shape as we know it today. When could the seed of Untouchability be said to have been sown? If it is not possible to fix an exact date, is it possible to fix an approximate date?18

Though Ambedkar while analyzing the origin and the problems of untouchability posed several

questions to fix an approximate date and to strengthen his theory he referred Rig veda,

Manusmriti, Bana’s Kadambari, writings of Chinese pilgrims Fa-hiyan, Hiun Tsang and Dr. D.R.

Bandarkar, through which he concludes that: We can, therefore, say with some confidence that Untouchability was born some time about 400 A.D. It is born out of the struggle for supremacy between Buddhism and Brahmanism which has so completely moulded the history of India and the study of which is so woefully neglected by students of Indian history.19

Likewise in TSSI is concerned it has not been clearly established the exact period of the origin of

the untouchability however according to J Devakumar, untouchability existed even in the

Śangam period but it was not based on birth and in controst the Tamil Shudra commentators

wrongly depicted that untouchability existed in the Śangam period.20

Therefore as defined by Dr. Ambedkar, around or after 400 A.D. the practice of untouchability

possibly inculcated in TSSI because during the same period this region witnessed the emergence

of bhakti movement. In the bhakti movement the Tamil Shudras were the elite peasant

landowners, who fell outside the varna system and through the bhakti movement an alliance was

made between them and the Paarpanars.21 This alliance has systematically degraded the

Parayar community and this has been elaborately discussed by Burton Stein:

 

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Bhakti movements served to forge an alliance between Brahmans and elite peasant landowners, who in South India fell outside the varna system; and to bring serf laborers as untouchables under political and ideological domination. Elite peasant landowners, such as Vellalars, were considered Shudra, the lowest varna, by Brahmans. By extolling bhakti and Shudra bhakti saints who attained great heights of religiosity, despite their lower varna, elite peasant landowners could be on a more equal footing with Brahmans, and thereby find Hinduism more attractive. Legends about untouchable bhakti saints would then serve to underscore, even more emphatically, a religious potential of lower persons. It would also serve to draw powerless persons and groups into the Hindu system as untouchables.22

Thus, the bhakti movement paved the way for the atrocities against the followers of Buddhism

who were historically degraded as untouchables and caste consciousness also increased among

the Tamil Shudras. On the other hand, the construction of Tamil culture by the Tamil Shudra

caste groups has its origin from the bhakti movement. Due to the impact of British rule the

existing system of power factor degraded and those who below the Paarpanar in the social

ladder eager to establish their power as well as position and as a result they formed “Dravidian

movement” and this movement influenced the educated Tamil Shudra scholars.23 In recent times,

the assertion of ‘Tamil pride’ has been noticed in public sphere. This assertion is manifested in

the political understanding wherein regional identity has been invoked as Dravida identity. In

this regard, ancient Tamil texts were re-visited and re-interpreted for the benefit of certain Tamil

Shudra caste groups.

The so called Tamil culture is also infamous for traditionally treating their fellow men as

untouchables, allotting separate settlements for them as “Paraicheri” at the outskirts of the

villages of TSSI. Although untouchability is illegal and those who practice it are supposed to be

punished for the crime, the fact remains that the practice is still prevalent in the nook and corner

of TSSI. The provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act are violated by the State

Police itself, in league with the Tamil Shudra groups.

Before analyzing the atrocities against the SC community as a part of untouchability, and the

caste consciousness of the Tamil Shudras it would be helpful if we know the history of the

Parayar community.

 

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The history of Parayar community

From 17th century onwards European scholars, Christian Missionaries and the British

Administrators visited TSSI and took keen interest to study the Parayar community, their history

and culture more particularly how and why they become untouchables. Bishop Robert Caldwell

(1814-1891),24 Rev. A.C. Clayton, the British origin missionary of Pope George Uglow (1820-

1908) popularly known as G.U. Pope,25  and Rev. T.B. Pandian,26 tried to reconstruct the history

of Paraiyars. During the British period, the Chingleput District Colloctor J.H.A Tremenheere

submitted a report A Note on the Pariahs of Chingleput District (1891) which discussed about

the condition of the Parayar community and their land rights. The British Ethnographer Edgar

Thurston (1855 – 1935), who in 1909 brought out seven volumes of monumental work entitled

‘Caste and Tribes of Southern India’ in which he discussed about the Parayar community.

Buddhist revival movement and its impact on Parayar community in TSSI: By the late 19th century, TSSI witnessed the revival of Buddhism with the efforts of Henry Steel

Olcott (1832 - 1907) and Pundit K. Iyothee Thass (1845 - 1914) (hereafter Iyothee Thoss).27 H.S.

Olcott had been a Colonel in the American Army, who founded the Theosophical Society,

Adyar, Madras. He sowed the seeds of Buddhist revivalism in the Madras Presidency, and who

established free schools for the children of Parayar community in Madras.28 Iyothee Thoss the

native Siddha doctor with the support of Olcott established South Indian Sakya Buddhist

Association in Madras, and he wrote on history of Buddhism, history of the origin of the caste,

and the Sakya identity. To spread awareness among the SC community in general and the

Parayars in particular about their original identity and culture he launched a weekly magazine

titled ‘Tamilan' from 1907-1914. Moreover, he constructed a Buddhist identity called Sakya by

reinterpreting history, religion, literature, tradition, etc.

Interestingly, Iyothee Thoss trace out the history of the Parayar community with the

deconstruction of the word “Pariah” while following the interpretation of Aswakosa.29 According

to Iyothee Thoss the culturally advanced original Dravidians (or the Buddhists) were gradually

degraded by the Puruseka (fire-worshippers) or the so called Brahmins who were always afraid

of the Dravidians wherever the Purusegas saw two or three Dravidians going together, they for

fear, used to cry out Parayappogurargal and Parayavarugurargal which literally mean the tale-

 

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bearers are going, the tale-bearers are coming and this word, by frequent application and usage to

their rivals became contracted into “Pariah” and hence it has come to mean a low born man.30

The community under discussion has different nomenclature such as Paraiyan, Parayan,

Panchaman, Sambavar and are also known as Sambavan or Samban and nowadays as Adi

Dravida but better known as the so called untouchables who come under the Scheduled Caste

category are a social group found in the TSSI, Kerala and in Sri Lanka.31 In TSSI though they

have been enumerated under three different caste names, they have generally been referred to as

Parayar. "Adi-Dravida" is a modern name of Parayar community and a prominent leader of this

community M.C. Rajah, who vehemently protested against using the terms ‘Panchamas’,

‘Parayar’, and ‘Harijan’ because according to him these people are the original inhabitants of this

land therefore they must be addressed as ‘Adi-Dravidar’.32 Because of his efforts in the year

1922, the Madras Government passed an act and referred this people to as Adi-Dravidar.33

During the same period Gopala Chettiar has also wrote a history of the Adi-Dravidar

community.34

To properly understand and to study the past of TSSI according to Iyothee Thoss the study of

Parayar community is vital because he strengthens and develops his argument on the basis of

two important historical personalities of TSSI such as Thiruvalluvar and Nandan because their

history have been downplayed in order to privilege a different kind of history in the mainstream.

The distorted history of Thiruvalluvar:

The saint poet Thiruvalluvar is also popularly known as Valluvan who had produced Thirukkural

which “is an integral painting of a civilization which is harmonious in itself and which possess a

clearly recognizable unity.”35 However, the birth place, period and the life of Thiruvalluvar are

on-going controversy but historically the name Valluvan was closely associated with the priests

to the Pallava kings before the introduction of the Paarpanars, and even for some time after it.36

According to Iyothee Thoss, Thiruvalluvar was not born to a Paarpanar father and a Pariaiyar

mother as popularly described by the Paarpanar and Tamil Shudra scholars, instead he was born

 

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to Kacchan, the King of Vada Madurai, near present Thirunelvelly, and Rahini. As his dynasty

followed Buddhism, Thiruvalluvar brought up as a Buddhist and learnt all Buddhist literature

and its philosophies and later composed his magnum opus popularly known as Thirukkural in

Tamil (Dravida Pasha) for the benefit of the Tamil people since many writings on Buddhism

were written either in Pali language (Magata Pasha), or Sanskrit (Sagata Pasha).37

At the same time the south Indian historian, K.A. Neelakanda Sastri stated that Thiruvalluvar

was ‘most probably a learned Jaina divine’ and he compared Thirukkural with the Brahmanical

works of Manu, Kautilya and Vatsyayana.38 On the other hand according to Vijaya Ramasamy

he was a Jaina weaver by caste.39 Interestingly, Stuart Blackburn while analyzing the

Thirukkural and its author has partially supports the Parayar origin.40

However, none of them could find any authentic information about his life, and the great merits

and continued influence of his work have naturally led to the growth of many popular legends

around his name. To understand the historical past of India, Y.S. Alone, whose intervention in

the discipline of Buddhist art is instrumental, emphasized that one must aware of the ideology of

the historian in general and the area in which part/section of history he is interested in

particular.41

The distorted history of Nandan:

History postulates that political revolutions have always been preceded by social and religious

revolutions. It is observed that the Buddhist heritage of the Indian past is relegated to obscurity

by Brahmanical scholarships, to defend the superiority of varnashramadharma over other

cultural practices. On the other hand most histories of TSSI have been informed and influenced

by the hegemony of Brahmanical materiality and the best example is the history of

Thirunalaipovar alias Nandanar42 or popularly known as Nandan. The medieval period Tamil

bhakti literature Periyapuranam where the name Nandan was first recorded in and as per this

work, Nandan an ‘untouchable’ lived in the Tanjore region of the Chola kingdom, displayed a

deep attachment for Lord Shiva and made a pilgrimage to Chidambaram (holiest of the Saiva

shrines), due to his degraded status unable to enter the temple and as suggested by the Lord

 

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himself he drowned himself in a pit of fire, dug by the Paarpanars before the gate of the temple

then he was believed to have attained his spiritual quest or mukti (salvation).

The Periyapuranam indirectly states that worshipping of Lord Shiva by an untouchable was

against the established socio-religious norms. Moreover in this work the condition of

untouchables was not portrayed as pathetic/pitiable in a way this has been accepted way of life

and the atrocities perpetrated by the Paarpanar and Tamil Shudra groups  were also not recorded.

There are many literary works on Nandan but interestingly the works of Paarpanars and Tamil

Shudra groups such as Gopala Krishna Bharathi,43 Pudumaipithan,44 and Indira Parthasarathy45

are in favour of protecting the varnashramadharma. On the other hand the British missionary

Rev. A.C. Clayton differs with the brahmanical narration while reconstructing the Nandanar

legend on the basis of the Periyapuranam since was sympathetic to the untouchable community,

particularly the ‘Paraiyan cause’ and explored the reasons for the untouchability.46

Nandan as a Buddhist King:

In contrast to the above stated studies Iyothee Thoss portrayed Nandan as a Buddhist king who

was treacherously murdered by the fanatic Hindu Paarpanars moreover the defeated Buddhist

subjects of Nandan became untouchables and on the basis of this theory he constructed the

history.47

It may also be possible that Nandan entered the Chidambaram Nataraja temple as a protest and in

the process he was murdered therefore it seems that Nandan had advocated the idea of the so

called temple entry movement. But in contrast in TSSI the temple entry movement has been

systematically portrayed that E.V. Ramasamy (EVR) advocated it. Indeed EVR involved with

the temple entry movement however it is observed that his protests indirectly strengthened the

Hindu caste system because earlier the Hindu temples were dominated by Paarpanars and later

with the impact of EVR (at present) came to be adminstred by the Tamil Shudra. At present most

of the Hindu temples are under the control of these dominant Tamil Shudra groups and

interestingly, each temple has agricultural lands and rich properties which are all again under the

 

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control of the same groups, who are the trustees and the board members of these temples. Thus

the temple entry movement is taking place and yet to achieve any solid result.

But till now the history of Nandan was not properly reconstructed by the historians as it was a

neglected/ rejected subject and this shows a lack of insincerity.

Thus the missionaries, British administrators/scholars and ethnographers involved in writing the

new history of the Parayar community, tried to popularize the view that an individual’s social

standing was determined by one’s knowledge and action. In most of their writings, missionaries

and the scholar officials stressed that Parayar in the past had been an influential community and

had enjoyed a high status.48

The name Paraiyan in the opinion of Bishop Caldwell is that 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.49 The linguistic

analysis of the word of "Paraiya" would help to strengthen the argument. This word Paraiya

from is basically derived from the ancient language, Sakya nirutiya better known as Pali. This

word has two parts such as Pari + Ayya and Pari = Pariyo which means nobles. The root of the

‘Ayya’ comes from ariya which means the people who followed the eight fold path (attanga

magga). Therefore Paraiya means the noble people who followed the eight fold path.

In Pali language, the Sakya community was treated as noble people and hence they were called

ariyo/ pariyo for example Mari ayi or Mari amma is derived from Pali, means Noble mother and

theses words presently used in Tamil and Marathi.

Atrocities against Scheduled Caste communities and the Dharmapuri violence:

There are varieties of atrocities taking place every day all over TSSI and since, I focused

Dharmapuri atrocity as a nucleus case for the overall argument of this paper because in which

268 Parayar houses were torched and looted with the support of government agencies. All are

properly constructed concrete houses (some of the fact-finding members unable to believe that

these untouchable community has lived in such a houses with all infrastructure); within a 3 to 4

 

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hours all of them lost everything except their life, their dreams were shattered in front of them,

and suddenly they become on the road as beggars and this I find very serious in nature,

unimaginable and rarest of rare cases thus I gave important to this atrocity.

The word ‘atrocity’ can be defined as ‘the quality of being shockingly cruel and inhumane’ and

in respect of the untouchables and their sufferings as a part of their lower caste position in the

TSSI society has different connotation which has been defined by the writer and a civil rights

activist Anand Teltumde50 who visited the atrocity affected villages of Dharmapuri as a part of

fact finding team:51

 While atrocities on Dalits were integral with Dalit lives, they were committed mostly at the individual level for perceived defiance of the caste code. The political economy of the development followed by the Nehruvian regime that produced a class of rich farmers from among the shudra (BC/OBC) castes and inundated the rural India with capitalist relations that denuded Dalits of their traditional security provided by the jajmani system making them rural proletariat, accentuated the caste relations in rural areas. This gave rise to the new kind of atrocities which were committed by a shudra collective on a Dalit collective.52

The TSSI during the medieval period witnessed the annihilation of 8000 Jain and Buddhists

monks by Saivaite leaders.53 Hence, such attitude prevails with the Tamil Shudras in our times

and the same elements practice untouchability as well as systematic atrocities against the SC

communities.54

In the modern history of TSSI the first major atrocity, leaving a lasting impression on the psyche

of the SC community all over TSSI was the killing of Immanuel Sekaran; who belongs to the SC

(Pallar) community hails from Sellur village in Mudukulathur Taluk in Ramanathapuram district

of TSSI was a former Havildar in the Indian Army; he was murdered on September 11, 1957 for

fighting against social injustice meted out to SC people. During the British period of 1930s,

Ramanathapuram district was one of the notorious places for caste based discrimination and

Immanuel Sekaran, as a youngster, from Army defied the existing norms and fought for making

the SC’s as emancipated subjects. This organized form of rebellious resistance and work towards

the uplift of Scheduled Castes resulted in his murder.

 

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Followed by the murder of Immanuel Sekaran, forty two SC people were killed in Mudukulathur

in Ramanathapuram district. Considered as one of the worst caste clashes in the post-colonial

period, it marked a new phase in the struggle against caste-based oppression in which Scheduled

Caste people started to question their subjective position.

In the heels of Mudukulathur brutal killings of SC community, forty five SC (Parayar)

community people from Keelvenmani village of the erstwhile fertile Tanjore district were

torched to death in 1968 by Tamil Shudra landlords because they had demanded better wages.55

On the other hand, in the year 1997 in Madurai district a spate of massacres and persecution of

Parayar community Panchayat president took place.56 In September 1996, the village of

Melavalavu, in Madurai district was declared a reserved constituency and with several setbacks

February 1997, the election took place; Murugesan (35) won the presidency and the Tamil

Shudra dominant caste group called Amblakars or Kallars (under the banner of Thevars) were

boycotted the election, took vengeance and on June 30, 1997 in the broad day light killed

Murugesan and six of his Parayar community members.

The Melavalavu group murder of SC people has signalled that constitutionally mandated shifts in

electoral power to scheduled castes would not be tolerated by Tamil Shudra dominant caste

group and in this case the Kallars, who were displaced from their once secure elected positions.

This Melavalavu killings were clearly because "untouchability" was still ingrained in the social

system. The economic conditions in the village were abysmal, but the power was concentrated in

the hands of a few privileged. These people had hitherto enjoyed a hold over common properties

such as fish ponds, temple lands and forest produce and did not want to relinquish these

privileges to a Panchayat system run by the downtrodden. The violence was basically a result of

shift in the power equations from the haves to the have-nots.

In this light, the present SC community is no different from the Buddhist origin, which were

even targeted, humiliated, killed, torched and degraded by the same Tamil Shudra community.

 

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On top of all atrocities at the end of 2012 the TSSI has witnessed torching of SC community

houses which resembles the 1968 Keelvenmani atrocity but this time the heinous crime took

place in Dharmapuri and as per India Today magazine:57

Twenty-three-year old Illavarasan, a Dalit youth from Natham colony and 21-year-old Divya, a Vannier girl doing her nursing course in Sellankottai, Dharmapuri district fell in love and decided to marry. Convincing their families was next to impossible for both of them as Vanniers are considered top in hierarchy and Dalits are treated with disdain in the area. Illavarasan and Divya got married and approached the Salem range DIG for protection on October 15, 2012. The local panchayat, a khap type panchayat from Vannier side, called a meeting of both the communities and ordered the Dalits to return the girl. But Divya refused to return. In the meantime Divya's family and members of bride's village allege that her father Nagarajan was humiliated and teased by his fellow caste people for becoming a father-in-law of a Dalit. Unable to bear this humiliation, it is alleged, Nagarajan committed suicide on November 7. This created a huge furore among Vanniers and a mob of over 1,500 people entered the Nahtam colony, Anna Nagar Colony, Kondampatti old and New colonies - all Dalit hamlets and ransacked the houses. Nearly 300 Dalit families lost their homes and their belongings. On the other side the founder of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) Dr. S.Ramadoss - a party representing Vanniers started - a vociferous campaign against love marriages in the state and warns that Dalits are systematically targeting Vannier girls. He claims he has the support of not only Vanniers but also the support of all the other caste Hindus and termed the development as not just the Dalits vs Vanniers but Dalits vs others.58

Soon after the Dharmapuri atrocity many non-government organization visited the affected

villages, interacted with the victims, collected data and necessary information and submitted

petition to the state and central government for immediate action against the culprits and relief

measures to the affected SC community. Since there were several NGO’s took part in the fact

finding as well as relief operation a joint venture of all the organization comes under a single

banner called the National Dalit Human Rights Monitoring Team (NDHRM) has been formed

which submitted its interim assessment report to the Dharmapuri district collector on 22

December 2012 after surveying the affected villages.59

The NDHRM team in its interim report has stated that though certain positive measures have

been initiated by the District Administration, it is unfortunate that these are merely of relief in

nature and that even these have been delivered at a rather slow pace.60 Further the NDHRM team

has also advised the TSSI government that it is of utmost importance that the District

Administration comes up as early as possible with a comprehensive and integrated plan that

ensures right to full rehabilitation, right to safety and protection, right to enjoy an environment of

prevention of atrocities and right to delivery of justice in punishing the guilty.61

 

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After the Dharmapuri atrocity, till date there are several atrocities took place against the SC

community in TSSI. The prime victims of the Dharmapuri atrocity such as Elavarasan and Divya

were separated through Court and soon after the verdict the body of Elavarasan found near a

railway track with the head injury. The state police have claimed that he was hit by a speeding

train and died on the spot and wind-up the case in the name of suicide. However, a common

doubt persists as regards the end of Elavarasan that how come a human body is in full shape after

a hit by a speeding train?

The migration of the Parayar community for employment opportunities:

The medieval period of TSSI being considered as inhuman society where the Paarpanar – Tamil

Shudra groups got hold of majority of the cultivable lands and with their economical as well as

muscle power and in the name of untouchability they wantonly treated the untouchable

community as adimai, pannaial, padiyal or in short slaves or bonded laborers.

Dharma Kumar while analyzing the problems of caste and the landlessness has stated that there

were two Tamil terms which the administrators might have used: pannaiyal (permanent farm

servant or unfree labourers) and padiyal, or hired farm servant62 receiving wages in kind; the

pannaiyal were sold and mortgaged.63 But they preferred to use the names of the agricultural

labour castes - palli, pallan and pariah with the significant evidence of the functional role of

caste in the erstwhile TSSI districts.64

The inhuman condition has been forced the untouchables to look for better economical

opportunities which lead for their migration. Raj Sekhar Basu in his book on Nandanar’s

Children: The Paraiyans’ Tryst with Destiny, Tamil Nadu 1850 – 1956 particularly in the third

chapter entitled “Search for Fresh Pastures: Overseas and Internal Migration Patterns of the

Tamil Paraiyans in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries,” examined how migration and

adoption of new professions brought about a change in the economic conditions of a section of

Paraiyans in Tamil Nadu.65

 

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Therefore because of the prolonged atrocities, deprived of basic amenities and for the socio-

economic upliftment the untouchable community looks for other options in which the better was

the migration. Since the beginnings of 1800’s to till date this community has been migrating and

in the contemporary they are living in many parts of the world. Though among them a small

percentage has economically emerged but majority of them are still suffering in the villages of

TSSI. Thus their migration as well as economical empowerment indirectly affected the Tamil

Shudra groups which lead to the structural transformation of the Parayar community in the caste

ridden society and the enduring caste conflicts.

The Structural transformation of the Parayar community and Caste conflicts

It has been deliberately portrayed that the so called Tamil culture is a great culture which has a

genealogy with the Sangam literature and if we able to deconstruct that Tamil culture that reveals

nothing but the Paarpanar – Tamil Shudra caste culture. According to B. Velusamy, “Generally

the history of TSSI from the past 2000 years has been time and again portrayed as a ideal culture

having a just society where all enjoyed the welfare measure of government of the Tamils but in

reality everything based on rights on the land and controlling the people. These are all the

cunning handiworks of the Brahmin-Shudra caste Hindus for their benefit; because lands belong

to Saiva-Vaishnava temples which were highly income generated ultimately these were enjoyed

by the Brahmin-Shudra caste Hindus.66 Therefore lands were under the control of Paarpanar –

Tamil Shudra groups and the practice of untouchability was reduced the untouchables as a

dependent of the Paarpanar – Tamil Shudra groups. In the beginning of 1800s the condition of

untouchables further degraded as slaves and this has been described in detail by Dharma Kumar

which follows:67

The modes of dependence in the Tamil districts during the early nineteenth century spanned a wide range, from near-freedom to near-slavery. Fundamentally, this was because the agrarian structure of Tamilnad was still in the process of transition. But though many things had changed, the connection between occupational status and caste was still firm. For example, the Collector of Coimbatore pointed out in 1819 that in many places where there was no slavery, the pallan were in debt slavery to their masters. The Collector of Madura wrote in 1819 that while slavery was not so common in his district as in the neighbouring districts, the system was in full swing during the Nawab's time, when the pariah sold themselves or their relatives to the ryots; this custom had probably been withering away in the British period because the Courts did not encourage it. On the strength of this contemporary evidence there can be no doubt that slaves and serfs were a sizeable proportion of the total population in many areas at the beginning of the nineteenth century.68

 

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At the same time the arrival of Europeans, wider spread of missionary activities are gradually

created awareness among the Parayar community. It is the establishment of the British

government which ultimately helped (somehow) this community for their migration to overseas

and joined British army, got petty jobs in the households of the British officers and this

development has been studied by Iyothee Thoss which is found in a reply to the Inspector

General of Registration, Madras who was a Paarpanar.69 According to Iyothee Thoss during the

British period the Christians in TSSI is divided into Catholics and Protestents in their respective

churches the Parayars were seated separately and particularized as ‘Paraya Christians’.70

It is observed that due to the impact of the British government a tiny section of the Parayar

community and their socio-economic condition improved but the so called non-Brahmin

movement has systematically degraded them because this movement’s major concern is to

emancipate the Tamil Shudra groups. Another major setback to the untouchable community was

the so called freedom struggle where again the Paarpanar – Tamil Shudra groups dominated and

their interest to protect the varnashramadharma. After the independence the Dravidian political

parties with the support of government forces attacked the untouchables.

Despite of all the above hindrances the Parayar community has emerged on their own in respect

of economical empowerment that is because of very few leaders such as Iyothee Thoss and

Ambedkar. With the sincere efforts of Ambedkar this community got the constitutional remedies,

reservation in the government services and other benefits. Due to the implementation of the

reservation policy a small section of this community got structural transformation.

Conclusion

In fact there are several Tamil dialects which are central in TSSI, which also contributes to the

communicational fallacy that has been the outcome of many dialects. There is always a rift

between the Tamils of North and Tamils of South and above all till date these Tamils are divided

into numerous caste and communities. Whether it may be anti-Hindi agitation, or supporting the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)71 issue, the victims, sacrificed – self immolated people

always belongs to SC community. The Tamil Shudra groups never considered this SC

 

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community as Tamils and sadly they are still living at the outskirts of villages. Moreover these

people were prohibited to enter into the so called great temples in the name of untouchability and

in contrast they are also portrayed as Hindus. Therefore the Tamil culture is nothing but the

Paarpanar – Tamil Shudra caste culture and the present Parayars are former Buddhists.

It is observed that in most of the cases, the state administration, acts in a biased manner against

the SC community and is fully complicit in the discriminatory practices. The general attitude of

the Police is to refuse to lodge First Information Report (FIR) in cases of atrocities against SC’s

and rather insist on compromises with the Tamil Shudras. If the SC victims insist on FIRs,

counter cases against them are also lodged on the basis of false charges, those witnesses are

terrorized and forced to retract.

It is observed that most of the caste violence and atrocities against SC community were triggered

by the resistance by that community against inequality and the demand of just compensation for

their hard labour and the Dharmapuri atrocity reminds us that the entire SC community in some

respects collectively failed to understand the existing grim reality and until and unless if they are

unable to find out their mistakes I am afraid, such kind of atrocities may continue.

In my view the lesson for SC people from the caste atrocity is to unity among the three sub-

castes (Pallar, Parayar and Sakkiliyar) because once in TSSI Kallar, Maravar and Thevar were

in very backward condition however with the effort of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar all the

three sub-castes united together and become known as “Mukkulathor”. With the broad title of

Mukkulathor remarkably played prosperous role and the most backward communities emerged in

every respect and particularly in the TSSI politics. If the Pallar, Parayar and Sakkiliyar happen

to be united under one banner/umbrella that would be a triumphant victory for the dreams of the

Scheduled Caste forefathers. That would be an ultimate force which cannot even break by the

Tamil Shudra group in general and the government in particular.

 

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Acknowledgements: I am grateful to Dr. Vincent Manoharan, Former General Secretary, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), New Delhi and Prof. Y. S. Alone, School of Arts & Aesthetics, JNU, New Delhi for the discussion I had with them on the contribution of Dr. Ambedkar and the current socio-political condition of the SC community in India which immensely helped my thoughts to shape this paper. I would like to record my indebtedness to Mr. Sakya Umanathan Shanmugam (USA), Prof. P. Muthukumar, Presidency College, Madras, and Adv. M. Maruthasamy for their thought provoking ideas on Buddhist revival movement and the SC community of TSSI. I would like to particularly thank Dr. Rahul Dev, SAA, JNU who gone through this manuscript edited systematically and made valuable comments.

Notes and References

                                                                                                                         1 In this research work instead of Tamil Nadu I have mentioned Tamil speaking South India (TSSI) and since I have very strong reservation about the expression of 'Tamil Nadu' due to not only contradictory opinions about the origin of Tamil language but also the application of nomenclature of Tamil Nadu itself. ‘Nadu’ refers as a country but ‘Tamil Nadu’ today is a state in Indian Republic then how can we call it as Tamil Nadu as ‘Nadu’ refers to a ‘country’ and not state as such. Therefore, I would prefer to mention Tamil speaking South India instead of ‘Tamil Nadu’ in this work but at the same time ‘Tamil country’, ‘Tamil region’ and ‘Tamil land’ are also used in lesser scale at limited places with regard to ancient period where political boundaries were considerably different than the existing state boundaries. 2 During the British rule, parts of South India was known as Madras Presidency which comprised of present Tamil Nadu, some parts of present Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala and after Independence, Madras Presidency got reorganized as the state of Madras. During the regime of the first Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Government in 1967, the state of Madras came to be known as ‘Tamil Nadu’ which excluded several parts of Andhra, Karnataka and Kerala. 3 In TSSI, the so called Brahmins are known as Paarpanar and they are generally divided in to Aiyar, Ayyanghar and those elite priests of the Hindu Brahmanical temples. In this research, I preferred the popular term Paarpanar. 4Though the term ‘non-Brahmin’ is in regular parlance for quite a long time, and if translate this term into Tamil pirāmanarallātōr “other-than-Brahmins”. Since, no word corresponds to the putative entity “Non-Brahmin” in everyday linguistic usage, how can it be said that the concept structures Tamil political life? Can it really be the case that the concept, as well as the ideology based upon it — prevalent only in English and in translated form in the so called Tamil scholarly texts — could determine the politics of the entire Tamil populace? Furthermore, the fact that there is no Tamil word corresponding to “Non-Brahmin” suggests as well that the no identity “other-than-Brahmins” was ever constructed. Therefore according to me non-Brahmins are those who are neither Parpanar (Brahmins) nor SC community and certainly which excludes Muslims. These so called non-Brahmins in this study designated as Tamil speaking caste Hindu-Shudra-Dravidas and in short ‘Tamil shudras’, they comprised of Backward Class, Other Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes. 5 This region was infamous for the annihilation of 8000 Jain and Buddhists monks by Saivaite leaders. Please see: K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, Fourth Edition 1975, p. 424. 6   In this paper, I prefer the term Scheduled Caste (as SC community) to refer the former ‘Untouchables’ and deliberately avoided the existing popular nomenclature ‘Dalit’ since I have very strong reservation about the expression of ‘Dalit’ which means broken people. It is observed that there are contradictory opinions among the intellectuals/think tanks of SC community that this term was first introduced by Jyotiba Phule who somehow in favour of Shudra identity and in contrast majority of the atrocities committed against SC people are the caste Hindu Shudras and surprisingly in some cases they are also using the term ‘Dalit’ to address themselves in a larger perspective. Moreover, SC community does not come under the Vanrnashramadharma therefore, I feel the term ‘Dalit’ again put them under the draconian Hindu caste fold.  

 

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       7 The Kaveri (Cauvery) river water dispute, primarily between TSSI and Karnataka, dates back to the 19th century. For detailed chronology of this dispute please refer The Hindu, 16th July, 2013. 8 According to T. S. Subramanian, the former Prime Minister of India Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, on May 21, 1991 and for more information please refer Frontline, Vol. 16, Issue 26, December 11 – 24, 1999. 9 For more comprehensive reading refer to: Mohan S. Kumaramangalam, India’s Language Crisis, Madras, 1965, p.71; Jyotirindra Das Gupta, Language Conflict and National Development, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1970; K. Kailasapathy, The Tamil Purist Movement: A Re-Evaluation, Social Scientist, Vol. 7, No. 10 (May, 1979), pp. 23-51, Published by: Social Scientist, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3516775 ; Sumathi Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil India, 1891 – 1970, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997; Vijaya Ramaswamy, Historical Dictionary of the Tamils (Chronology section p. xxxiii), The Scarecrow Press, Inc., Maryland, USA, 2007 10  Dr. Ekambaranathan in his paper on Kanchipuram and Buddhism – An Archaeological Approach concludes that some of the temples in Kanchipuram were dedicated to the Buddhist Gods and Goddesses and afterwards converted into Hindu shrines. He also asserts the fact that the temple of Kamatchi was originally a Buddhist shrine. According to Paul Younger, during the Bhakti movement most of the Buddhist, Jain sacred sites particularly their temples, vihars/monasteries were forcibly converted/modified or misappropriated as Hindu temples and there are possibilities that the Chidambaram Nataraja temple must be previously a Buddhist vihar. (for more information see: The Home of Dancing Sivan, OUP, New Delhi, 1994).  

11 B. Velusamy, Koovil – Nilam – Caati (Temple – Land - Caste); Essays in Tamil, Kalachuvadu, Nagercoil, 2007, p. 20. 12 Ibid. 13 Burton Stein, A History of India, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK, 1998, 102. 14 Nicholas B. Dirks, Castes of Mind, Source: Representations, No. 37, Special Issue: Imperial Fantasies and Postcolonial Histories (winter, 1992), Published by: University of California Press, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2928654. 15 J Devakumar, Caste Clashes and Dalits Rights Violations in Tamil Nadu, Source: Social Scientist, Vol. 35, No. 11/12 (Nov. - Dec., 2007), pp. 39-54 Published by: Social Scientist, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27644251. Accessed: 18/11/2012 03:13. 16 Ibid. 17 For more information see: The Untouchables: Who were they? And Why they became Untouchables? by B.R. Ambedkar, Amrit Book Company, Connaught Circus, New Delhi, 1948. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 J Devakumar, Caste Clashes and Dalits Rights Violations in Tamil Nadu, Source: Social Scientist, Vol. 35, No. 11/12 (Nov. - Dec., 2007), pp. 39-54 Published by: Social Scientist, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27644251. Accessed: 18/11/2012 03:13. 21 M. G. S. Narayanan, The Role of Peasants in the Early History of Tamilakam in South India, Source: Social Scientist, Vol. 16, No. 9 (Sep., 1988), pp. 17-34, Published by: Social Scientist, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3517170. Accessed: 25/11/2013 05:45. 22 See Burton Stein, Peasant State and Society in medieval south India, Chapter II., Delhi/NewYork: OUP, 1980. 23 B. Velusamy, Koovil – Nilam – Caati (Temple – Land - Caste); Essays in Tamil, Kalachuvadu, Nagercoil, 2007, p. 21. 24 He was the eminent scholar of comparative study of Dravidian languages, and the author of A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidians or South Indian Family of Languages, (Ist ed.1856), 2nd Edition, London, 1875. 25 His contribution for the development of Tamil language and literature is tremendous. He has translated Thirukural, Thiruvaachagam and Naaladiyaar into English, wrote commentary on Cilappathikaram, Manimekalai and Thevaram; author of 'Tamil Poetical Anthology with grammatical notes and a vocabulary'. 26 For detailed description see the works of Rev. T.B. Pandian, Pandian and Pariahs (Being Comprehensive Account of Mr. T.B. Pandian’s Visit to England in the Interest of Pariahs), Madras, 1895; and The Slaves of the soil in the Southern India (With an introduction by J.E. Vedanayakam Pillay), Madras, 1893.

 

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       27 Pundit K. Iyothee Thoss was a scholar of Tamil classical literature, great commentator on contemporary politics, who can able to read, write and speak Tamil, English, Sanskrit and Pali. He belongs to the Paraiyar Community. 28 Stephen Prothero, Henry Steel Olcott and "Protestant Buddhism", Source: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Summer, 1995), pp.281-302. Published by: Oxford University Press, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1465402. Accessed: 22/09/2013 05:38. 29 A Unique Petition, addressed to Colonel H. S. Olcott, F.T.S, Adyar, Madras [from (by) Pundit Iyothee Thoss] Dated 8th June, 1898, Rayapettah, Madras (Ref. Journal of the Mahabodhi Society, Vol. vii, No. 3, pp. 23 – 24). 30 Ibid. 31 For more data and detailed description on SC community of TSSI please see: K. S. Singh, The Scheduled Castes, Anthropological Survey of India, OUP, New Delhi, First published in 1993, Third impression 2012. 32 Sivashanmugam Pillai, Perunthalaivar M.C. Rajah Sinthanaikal [Collected works of M.C. Rajah: Tamil translation of selected M.C. Rajah’s writings, speeches, Assembly debates, News paper clippings and ‘The life, select writings and speeches of Rao Bahadur M.C. Rajah MLA] pp. 134-138, Edited by V. Alex, Ezhuthu, Pasumalai, Madurai, 2009. 33 Ibid. 34 For more information please see: Gopala D. Chettiar, Adi Dravida Poorva Charitam (Tamil), Madras, 1920. 35 G.U. Pope, The Sacred Kurral of Tiruvalluva-Nayanar with Introduction, Grammer, Translation, Notes, Lexicon, and Concordance. English Translation London: H. Frowde, 1886. 36 Edgar Thurston, Castes and Tribes of Southern India, vol. VI, Madras, 1909. 37 Ibid, pp.455-456. 38 K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, Fourth Edition 1975, p. 367. 39 Vijaya Ramaswamy, Historical Dictionary of the Tamils, The Scarecrow Press, Inc., Maryland, USA, 2007, p. 283. 40 Stuart Blackburn, Corruption and Redemption: The Legend of Valluvar and Tamil Literary History, Source: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2 (May 2000), pp. 444 – 482, Published by: Cambridge University Press, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/313071. 41 Y.S. Alone, Historicism: Confrontations and Inquiries, from Ambedkar in Retrospect Essays on Economics, Politics and Society, Edited by Sukhadeo Thorat and Aryama, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, Rawat Publications, New Delhi, 2007, pp. 261-262. 42 He is one of the 63 Nayanmars of the Tamil Bhakti movement Saivaite sect of brahmanical Hinduism. 43 For detailed description, see Thirunalaipovar Ennum Nandanar Sarithira Keerthanai (in Tamil) by Aanai Thandapuram Gopala Krishna Bharatiyar, published by B. Rathina Nayakar Sons, Chennai – 1, (year not mentioned). 44 Pudumaipithan wrote Pudiya Nandan (New Nandan), a Tamil short story (1930) which recorded the E.V. Ramasamy’s Self Respect Movement, freedom struggle under the leadership of M.K. Gandhi. 45 On the midnight of 25th December, 1968 in Keelvenmani village of the erstwhile Tanjore district, 45 paraiyar community people were burnt alive and this heinous crime was portrayed in a different way in yet another Nandan story written by Indira Parthasarathy. 46 Raj Sekhar Basu, Nandanar’s Children: The Paraiyans’ Tryst with Destiny, Tamil Nadu 1850 – 1956, Sage, New Delhi, 2011. 47 Iyotheethasar, Indirar Thesa Sarithiram (The History of Indirar Country), Chapter 20 Iyotheethasar Sinthanaigal – Vol. I, Edited by G. Aloysius, Published by Folklore Resources and Research Centre, St. Xaviers College, Palyamkottai, Tamil Nadu, India, September 1999. pp. 600 – 679. 48 Robert Deliege, The World of the Untouchables: the Paraiyars of South India. Delhi: OUP, 1997. 49 Edgar Thurston, Castes and Tribes of Southern India, vol. VI, Madras, 1909. 50 Dr Anand Teltumbde is writer and a civil rights activist with CPDR, Mumbai. 51 Anand Teltumbde (For the Fact Finding Committee), Attack on Dalits of Dharmapuri: A Fact Finding Report, dated 6 December, 2012. Also available at http://www.countercurrents.org/teltumbde061212.html 52 Ibid. 53 K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, Fourth Edition 1975, p. 424.

 

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       54 For detailed description on atrocities against SC community in TSSI, please see: Vishwanathan S., 'Caste based mobilization and violence', Frontline, November 6, 1998, p.46; Thyagi- Emmanuel murder report, Mudukulathur, 1957, p.8; Vimalanathan, J. et al., Status Report of Dalits in Tamil Nadu, an Overview, Bangalore: ICRA (undated), p. 13; Samuel Jesupatham, Dalits under Structural Violence, National Council of Churches Review, 2001. Journal vol. No. 121, Issue No. 03, p. 239; State Human Rights Commission: Report on prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled castes (Tamil Nadu) 2004, p.9; Sandhya Rao, 'Caste Clashes in the South, Frontline, 9, December 1995, p.41. 55Deerag, Gentlemen Killers of Keelvenmani, Economic and Political Weekly, 26 May 1973. 56 For more information on Melavalavu massacre please see: N. Ram, Editor "Melavalavu violence due to shift in power equations," The Hindu, August 16, 1997, p.4; George Mathew, 'The meaning of Melvalavu ', The Hindu, Sept., 30, 1997, p.6; 'Human rights panel visits Melavalu,' Indian Express, August 6, 1997, p.7; Hugo Gorringe, Untouchable Citizens Dalit Movements and Democratisation in Tamil Nadu, Sage Publications, New Delhi,2005, pp135-136. 57 R. Ramasubramanian, Inter-caste marriage triggers violence in Tamil Nadu district, India Today, 26 November 2012. 58 Ibid. 59 For detailed description see: An Interim Assessment Report of the National Dalit Human Rights Monitoring Team on the present situation of the affected Dalit community 21-22/12/2012 titled as Barbaric assault of Vanniyar caste mobs on the Dalit community of Natham Colony, Anna Nagar & Kondampatti hamlets of Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu on 07th November 2012. A copy of the same is in the possession of the writer. 60 Ibid. 61 Ibid. 62 Pannai, a farm; padi, a fixed daily allowance of food; al, a labourer. 63 Dharma Kumar, Caste and Landlessness in South India, Source: Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Apr., 1962), pp. 337-363 Published by: Cambridge University Press, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/177526, Accessed: 30/05/2009 07:01. 64 Ibid. 65 Raj Sekhar Basu, Nandanar’s Children: The Paraiyans’ Tryst with Destiny, Tamil Nadu 1850 – 1956, Sage, New Delhi, 2011. 66 B. Velusamy, Koovil – Nilam – Caati (Temple – Land - Caste); Essays in Tamil, Kalachuvadu, Nagercoil, 2007, p. 14. 67 Dharma Kumar, Caste and Landlessness in South India, Source: Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Apr., 1962), pp. 337-363 Published by: Cambridge University Press, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/177526, Accessed: 30/05/2009 07:01. 68 Ibid. 69 For detailed description of the conditition of the untouchables during the British period please see: An Argument Against Conversion, addressed to the Hon. S. Srinivasa Raghava Aiyangar, Dewan Bahadur C.I.E., Inspector General of Registration, Madras: from (by) Pundit K. Iyothee Thoss, Dated probably in 1894, S1, Ammaiappa Mudaly Street, Rayapettah, Madras (Ref. Iyotheethasar, Iyotheethasar Sinthanaigal Vol. II, edited by G. Aloysius, Published by Folklore Resources and Research Centre, St. Xaviers College, Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu, India, September,1999). 70 Ibid. 71 The LTTE is being considered as a “terrorist organisation” by the Government of India in association with the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.