Paraiyar
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| India (Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry) | |
| Languages | |
| Tamil, Malayalam | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism, Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Tamil people |
Paraiyar or Parayar (formerly anglicised as Pariah and Paree) is a caste group found in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They are also known as Adi Dravida ("Original Dravidian"), which was a title encouraged by the British Raj as a substitute for Paraiyar because the British believed that their colonising of the country had ended slavery in India.
The Indian census of 2001 reported that in Tamil Nadu the Adi Dravida population was about 5,402,755 and the Paraiyar population was 1,860,519.
Robert Caldwell and several other writers derive the name of the community from the Tamil word parai ("drum"). According to this hypothesis, the Paraiyars were originally a community of drummers who performed during flood time, war, auspicious events like festivals, weddings and also funerals. As their population increased, they were forced to take up occupations that were considered unclean, such as burial of corpses and scavenging. Because of this, they came to be considered as an untouchable caste. M. Srinivasa Aiyangar finds this etymology unsatisfactory, arguing that beating of drums could not have been an occupation of a large number of people. Some other writers, such as Gustav Solomon Oppert, derive the name from poraian, the name of a regional subdivision mentioned by ancient Tamil grammarians.
The Sangam literature (c. 300 BCE–300 CE) contains references to the caste system of Tamil culture, which contained certain "low-born" groups referred to as Pulaiyar. They were believed to be associated with magical power and kept at a distance, made to live in separate hamlets outside villages. However, their magical power was believed to sustain the king, who had the ability to transform it into auspicious power. Thus the pulaiyar performed a ritual function by composing and singing songs in the king's favour and beating drums. They were divided into subgroups based on the instruments they played. George L. Hart believes that one of the drums called kiṇai later came to be called paṟai and the people that played the drum were paṟaiyar (plural of paṟaiyan).
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