Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/77

Rh by tame female elephants. As astrologers they had rivals amongst the Dravidians. The Brahmins were called in Tamil Pârppâr or “Seers” and the Dravidian astrologers were called Arivar or “Sages.” These sages like the Brahmins pretended to read the future by consulting the positions of the heavenly bodies and fixed auspicious times for celebrating marriages or other important domestic and public ceremonies.

The Ayar or the cowherd race was distinct from the other races above mentioned. Their name Ayar is derived from the Dravidian word Â meaning a cow. They were known as the Abhiras in Puranic history. In northern India they are still called Ahirs. In the Tamil land they were also called the Pothuvar or Commons (from the Dravidian word Pothu meaning common) apparently because they professed friendship to the Nagas and Tamils alike. Originally they appear to have had their own petty Kings, in the Chola country, but Karikal-Chola is said to have exterminated their line of kings. The Ayar in the Pandyan dominion had a tradition that they came into the Tamil land, along, with, the founder of the Pandyan family. They worshipped ordinarily the Yakshas. Their favorite deity was however their national hero Krishna whose liaisons with shepherd girls and feats celebrated in the Mahaharata formed the theme of their festive songs. The shepherd lads and lasses who resided in Madura are represented as personating in their dances Krishna and his brother Bala.Rama, Asothai the mother of Krishna and his wife Pinnay. They were familiar with all the legends regarding the boyish freaks of Krishna, who stole the butter churned by the shepherdesses, and concealed their clothes, while they bathed and sported in the Jumna. They had a peculiar custom among them of selecting husbands for their girls from the victors of a bull-fight. A large area of ground is enclosed with palisades and strong fences. Into the enclosure are brought ferocious bulls