Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.37.4

c48.s2.37.4

Ethnographic inquiry, therefore, past and present, has never yet succeeded in touching the bottom, or in finding a waif for whom no recognised place exists within the fold, albeit without the village. Possibly, in the course of time, public opinion may crystallise round one of the nomad castes, who know nothing of their past, and recruit and eat as circumstances dictate. Meanwhile, the scavenger fills this situation in the village life with which this review is at present concerned. Now, the Paraiyan is a caste the position of which is at all events clearly defined, and it has a past which it cherishes. Low as he is, excluded from everyday communion with those above him, "le morne Chandal" will no more admit the polluting presence of a Brāhman into his hamlet than the latter will allow the Paraiyan's shadow to fall upon his water-pot. Some of the most celebrated and exclusive temples are thrown open to the Paraiyan on certain days of the year, and for the time he lords it over the Brāhman. At certain festivals again, especially those connected with S'iva or a local goddess, it is one of this caste who takes his seat alongside of the image in the procession, or ties the symbolic marriage-thread round its neck.