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Paraiya
Paraiyar, Parayar or Maraiyar (IPA: [pɐrɐ(i̯)jɐɾ], formerly anglicised as Pariah /pəˈraɪ.ə/ pə-RY-ə and Paree) is a caste group found in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and in Sri Lanka.
Robert Caldwell, a nineteenth-century missionary and grammarian who worked in South India, was in agreement with some Indian writers of the same period who considered the name to derive from the Tamil word parai (drum).
According to this hypothesis, the Paraiyars were originally a community of drummers who performed at important events like weddings and funerals.
M. Srinivasa Aiyangar, writing a little later, found this etymology unsatisfactory, arguing that beating of drums could not have been an occupation of so many people.
Sociologist Karthikeyan Damodaran also challenges the notion that the Paraiyars were primarily drum beaters, arguing they are the largest caste group in Tamil Nadu and engaged in diverse occupations like agriculture and weaving. He contends that the name's history is misleading, with some scholars even linking its etymology to the Malayalam word 'paraiy' (to speak). Damodaran asserts that their shared experience of untouchability, stemming from the "menial" perception of their various jobs, was the unifying factor.
Some other writers, such as Gustav Solomon Oppert, have derived the name from the Tamil word poraian, the name of a regional subdivision mentioned by ancient Tamil grammarians, or the Sanskrit pahariya, meaning "hill man".
More recently, George L. Hart's textual analysis of the Sangam literature (c. 300 BCE – 300 CE) has led him to favour Caldwell's earlier hypothesis. The literature has references to the Tamil caste system and refers to a number of "low-born" groups variously called Pulaiyar and Kinaiyar. Hart believes that one of the drums called kiṇai in the literature later came to be called paṟai and the people that played the drum were paraiyar (plural of paraiyan).
Paraiyar as a word referring to an occupational group first appears in the second century CE writings of Mangudi Kilar.[citation needed]
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Paraiya
Paraiyar, Parayar or Maraiyar (IPA: [pɐrɐ(i̯)jɐɾ], formerly anglicised as Pariah /pəˈraɪ.ə/ pə-RY-ə and Paree) is a caste group found in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and in Sri Lanka.
Robert Caldwell, a nineteenth-century missionary and grammarian who worked in South India, was in agreement with some Indian writers of the same period who considered the name to derive from the Tamil word parai (drum).
According to this hypothesis, the Paraiyars were originally a community of drummers who performed at important events like weddings and funerals.
M. Srinivasa Aiyangar, writing a little later, found this etymology unsatisfactory, arguing that beating of drums could not have been an occupation of so many people.
Sociologist Karthikeyan Damodaran also challenges the notion that the Paraiyars were primarily drum beaters, arguing they are the largest caste group in Tamil Nadu and engaged in diverse occupations like agriculture and weaving. He contends that the name's history is misleading, with some scholars even linking its etymology to the Malayalam word 'paraiy' (to speak). Damodaran asserts that their shared experience of untouchability, stemming from the "menial" perception of their various jobs, was the unifying factor.
Some other writers, such as Gustav Solomon Oppert, have derived the name from the Tamil word poraian, the name of a regional subdivision mentioned by ancient Tamil grammarians, or the Sanskrit pahariya, meaning "hill man".
More recently, George L. Hart's textual analysis of the Sangam literature (c. 300 BCE – 300 CE) has led him to favour Caldwell's earlier hypothesis. The literature has references to the Tamil caste system and refers to a number of "low-born" groups variously called Pulaiyar and Kinaiyar. Hart believes that one of the drums called kiṇai in the literature later came to be called paṟai and the people that played the drum were paraiyar (plural of paraiyan).
Paraiyar as a word referring to an occupational group first appears in the second century CE writings of Mangudi Kilar.[citation needed]