Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/420

SHANAN prominence owing to the Tinnevelly riots in 1899."These were," the Inspector-General of Police writes,* "due to the pretensions of the Shānāns to a much higher position in the religio-social scale than the other castes are willing to allow. Among other things, they claimed admission to Hindu temples, and the manager of the Visvanathēswara temple at Sivakāsi decided to close it. This partial victory of the Shānāns was keenly resented by their opponents, of whom the most active were the Maravans. Organised attacks were made on a number of the Shānān villages; the inhabitants were assailed; houses were burnt; and property was looted. The most serious occurrence was the attack on Sivakāsi by a body of over five thousand Maravans. Twenty three murders, 102 dacoities, and many cases of arson were registered in connection with the riots in Sivakāsi, Chinniapuram, and other places. Of 1,958 persons arrested, 552 were convicted, 7 being sentenced to death. One of the ring-leaders hurried by train to distant Madras, and made a clever attempt to prove an alibi by signing his name in the Museum visitor's book. During the disturbance some of the Shānāns are said to have gone into the Muhammadan fold. The men shaved their heads, and grew beards; and the women had to make sundry changes in their dress. And, in the case of boys, the operation of circumcision was performed." The immediate bone of contention at the time of the Tinnevelly riots was, the Census Superintendent, 1901, writes, "the claim of the Shānāns to enter the Hindu temples, in spite of the rules in the Agama Shāstras that toddy-drawers are not to be allowed into them; but the pretensions of the community date back