Paraiyar - Paraiyar and Brahmin Connection Legends

Paraiyar and Brahmin Connection Legends

In a note on the Paraiyans in the Gazetteer of Trichinoply District, it written as follows.

They have a very exalted account of their lineage, saying that they are descended from the priest SalaSambavan, who was employed in a Siva temple to worship the god with offerings of beef, but who incurred the anger of the god by one day concealing a portion of the meat, to give it to his pregnant wife, and was therefore turned into a Paraiyan. The god appointed his brother to do duty instead of him, and the Paraiyans say that Brahman priests are their cousins. For this reason they wear a sacred thread at their marriages and funerals. .... It is a curious fact that, at the feast of the village goddess, a Paraiyan is honoured by being invested with a sacred thread for the occasion by the pujari (priest) of the temple, by having a turmeric thread tied to his wrists, and being allowed to head the procession. This, the Paraiyans say, is owing to their exalted origin.

In the Census report of 1891, it is mentioned that

The Valluvans(Paraiya priests) were priests to the Pallava kings before the introduction of the Brahmins, and even for some time after it.

A.C. Clayton records that

he saw a Brahman women worshipping at Paraiyan shrines in order to procure children, and then a Paraiyan exorciser treating a Brahman by uttering mantrams (consecrated formulae), and waving a sickle up and down the sufferer's back, as he stood in a threshing floor.

The following extract is taken from a note on the Paraiyans of Travancore.

In the Keralolpathi, they are classed as one of the sixteen hill tribes. Concerning their origin the following tradition is current. They were originally Brahmans, but, on certain coparceners partitioning the common inheritance, the carcase of a cow, which was one of the articles to be partitioned, was burnt as being useless. A drop of oil fell from the burning animal on to one of the parties, and he licked it up with his tongue. For this act he was cast out of society, and his descendants, under the name of Paraiyas, became cow-eaters. The Paraiyars of Northern Travancore held a traditional belief "that they were a division of the Brahmans, who were entrapped into a breach of caste by their enemies, through making them eat beef."

A subdivision of Tamil Brahmans as Madyana Paraiyans.

Prathamasaki:These Brahmans were sometimes called Prathamasaka, In the Tanjore district, the Prathamasakis are said to be known as Madyana Paraiyans. The following quaint legend is recorded in the Gazetteer of that district: " The god of the Tiruvalur temple was entreated by a pujari of this place (Koiltirumulam) to be present in the village at a sacrifice in his (the god's) honour. The deity consented at length, but gave warning that he would come in a very unwelcome shape.He appeared as a Paraiyan (Pariah) with beef on his back, and followed by the four Vedas in the form of dogs, and took his part in the sacrifice thus accoutred and attended. All the Brahmans who were present ran away, and the god was so incensed that he condemned them to be Paraiyans for one hour in the day, from noon till 1 P.M., ever afterwards. There is a class of Brahmans called midday Paraiyans, who are found in several districts, and a colony of whom reside at Sedanipuram five miles from Nannilam. It is believed throughout the Tanjore district that the midday Paraiyans are the descendants of the Brahmans thus cursed by the god. They are supposed to expiate their defilement by staying outside their houses for an hour and a half every day at midday, and to bathe afterwards; and, if they do this, they are much respected.

and

In Kerala the most important Legend of Parayi petta panthirukulam, Pakkanar (Paraiyar) was one of the twelve children of a great Brahmin Vararuchi and his low caste wife. The story or myth states that During Vararuchi's travels along the Nila river, his wife had given birth to twelve children. The children left out in the forest were subsequently found, adopted and raised by families belonging to different communities, recognised one another as they grew up. Those twelve sons were: Mezhathol Agnihothri (Brahman), Pakkanar (Parayan), Rajakan (Washerman), Naranath Bhranthan (Elayathu, a lower class Brahman), Kaarakkal Maatha (high caste Nair), Akavoor Chaathan (Vysyan), Vaduthala Nair (Nair Soldier), Vallon (Thiruvalluvar of Tamil Nadu), Uppukottan (Muslim), Paananaar (Paanan, a low caste of country musicians), Perumthachan (carpenter), Vaayillaakkunnilappan (deity).