Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/107

Rh called by its own name. It had then two sub-divisions, the Nesavu or weavers, and Ulavu or ploughmen. The caste had even then its own hamlets, wells and burning-grounds. There are certain privileges possessed by Paraiyans, which they could never have gained for themselves from orthodox Hinduism. They seem to be survivals of a past, in which Paraiyans held a much higher position than they do now. It is noted by Mr. M. J. Walhouse* that "in the great festival of Siva at Trivalūr in Tanjore the headman of the Parēyars is mounted on the elephant with the god, and carries his chauri (yak-tail fly fan). In Madras, at the annual festival of Egatta, the goddess of the Black, † now George, Town, when a tāli is tied round the neck of the idol in the name of the entire community, a Parēyan is chosen to represent the bridegroom. At Mēlkotta in Mysore, the chief seat of the followers of Rāmānuja Achārya, and at the Brāhman temple at Bēlur, the Holēyas or Parēyars have the right of entering the temple on three days in the year specially set apart for them." At Mēlkote, the Holeyas and Mādigas are said to have been granted the privilege of entering the sanctum sanctorum along with Brāhmans and others on three days by Rāmānuja. In 1799, however, the right to enter the temple was stopped at the dhvajastambham, or consecrated monolithic column. At both Bēlur and Mēlkote, as soon as the festival is over, the temples are ceremonially purified. At Srī- perumbudūr in the Chingleput district, the Paraiyans enjoy a similar privilege to those at Tiruvalūr, in return for having sheltered an image of the locally-worshipped