Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/164

PARAIYAN the bride in procession, and is led to a wooden seat in the centre of the pandal, where he is joined by the bride, who seats herself on his left. He then ties the minnu (marriage badge) round her neck, and retires with her to the maniyara, or bedroom, where they remain together for some minutes. On the final day of the ceremonies, the bride is bathed. When a Kaikkāran dies, a conch shell is buried with the corpse. Once a year, and on some new moon day, offerings are made to all the deceased ancestors. The Paraiyas have a dramatic entertainment called Paraiyan Kali, in which the performer plays his part, standing on a mortar, to the accompaniment of music. Paraiyas are required to keep at a distance of 128 feet from Brāhmans, i.e., double the distance required of a Pulaya. But they will not receive food at the hands of the Pulayas.

In a further note on the "Paraiya Caste in Travancore," the Rev. S. Mateer writes as follows.* "They were formerly bought and sold like cattle, starved, flogged * like buffaloes,' made to work all day for a little rice, and kept at a distance as polluted; and they still are in a position of subservience and deep degradation, not vitally differing from that of the Pulayas and Vēdars. One particular characteristic of this caste, and most offensive to others, is that they eat the flesh of bullocks and cows left dead by the roadside. They cut it up, and bear it away; what they leave the vultures and dogs devour. This disgusting practice is to a great extent disappearing among the Christian castes. The Paraiyas of Nevandrum (Trivandrum ?) district live in clusters of huts, and eat the putrid flesh of dead cattle, tigers, and