Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s3.t2.1
Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s3.t2.1
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c48.s3.t2.1.1
In treating of the Brāhman, it was mentioned that whilst the post of priest in a family of a pure caste was one which could be occupied with credit by a member of the sacerdotal order, ministration in a temple was held to be a duty only to be undertaken by a degraded, or at least, one of the lower, sub-divisions of Brāhmans. The distinction, it was pointed out, lies probably in the divergence of the worship of the non-Āryan deities of the existing pantheon from the old Vedic sacrifices, still held in reverence, at least in theory, by all orthodox Brāhmans. There is also the risk, or perhaps the certainty, of contamination to be incurred in disposing of the offerings made in the course of these services. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, Brāhmans are found to perform the necessary offices before the god in the great majority of the temples of their creed. Equally low in the estimation of the order is the Brāhman who subsists upon the fees and offerings of pilgrims at the great centres of religious resort, and still lower, the Mahābrāhman, who takes part in funeral rites. All these, however, are included under the general title of Brāhman. Outside this designation are some small classes who claim to be Brahmans because they perform temple service, but who are recruited from the lay castes of the vicinity.
c48.s3.t2.1.2
The Pujārī and Bhōjkī, of the Panjāb Himālaya are cases of this kind, and, though repudiated by the Sārasvat Brāhmans to whom they have attached themselves, they seem to have all the position of the order among the people to whom they minister. The Bhōjak and Sēvak of west Rājputāna, again, who have been mentioned in connection with the Banyā, are held to be Brāhmans, albeit degraded by their connection with the Jain worship. The real reason for the lowness of their position is surmised to be their foreign origin, of which mention was made above. The impure castes, and, in the Dravidian country, a good many of the lower agricultural castes, employ their own caste-fellows for priestly duties outside the temple, whilst a few castes, in the south, officiate for not only their own body but for other castes of similar or slightly superior rank. Generally, however, these semi-priestly castes are themselves of low rank. The Paṇḍāram, for instance, is generally considered to be a branch of the Āṇḍi, a fraternity of Tamil religious mendicants; but there is one subdivision considerably above the average of the latter class, which is educated to a certain extent, wears the sacred thread, presides over monastic and temple establishments, and officiates as priests to the great Veḷḷāḷan peasantry and the castes immediately below and above it.
c48.s3.t2.1.3
Some of the Dāsari, too, in the Telugu country, rise far above the rest, and do service in temples and with respectable families of any caste below the Brāhman. The Vaḷḷuvan, once the priests of the Pallava dynasties, now officiate for the Paḷḷan and Paraiyan and have lost much of their former position by so doing. Like several low castes in various parts of India, the Vaḷḷuvan have produced a widely popular poet, Tiruvaḷḷuvan, who is said to have married into a Veḷḷāḷan family. It is conjectured that the sacerdotal functions of this caste were superseded by those of the Brāhman, when the latter found his way into the Dravidian region. Now, besides their employment by the castes above mentioned, the Vaḷḷuvan have to look to astrology and herbalistic medicine for their living, and here they enjoy the custom and confidence of far higher castes. In some villages, indeed, the Vaḷḷuvan is on the staff, and receives his annual quota of threshed grain from each household. It may be remarked that they do not ever intermarry with the castes to which they act as priests, unless they belong to the pure section. The Tambaḷa, a small caste of temple-priests in Telingāna, hold almost the rank of Brāhmans, and where they have taken to cultivation are still quite in the upper line. It is said that their name, the local rendering of Tamil, is due to their having been sent up from the south by the great reformer, S'aṅkarācārya, to labour on the Coromandel coast.
c48.s3.t2.1.4
As they are mostly worshippers of S'iva, many have joined, it is said, the Liṅgāyat community in the inland districts. The true priests of the latter, however, are the Jaṅgam, a caste of considerable influence in the Karnatic. It seems to have been called into being to satisfy the desire of the converts of Basava to retain priests for their Dravidian forms of worship after they had split from the Brāhmans. In the tracts where Liṅgvantism is most powerful the Jaṅgam are subdivided into the usual monastic and secular sections. The former, in turn, are either stationary in monasteries, or put in charge of a circle of villages, each of which they visit in turn, imparting doctrine and counsel. In the outlying parts of the Karnatic, the Jaṅgam is not unfrequently a wandering mendicant of a religious type, living upon doles from every class of the population. The secular Jaṅgam, again, is often a trader or money-lender. The Census returns of this caste, though possibly fairly accurate in the aggregate, are defective in detail. In the south Dravidian districts, that is, the term Jaṅgam is used of any Liṅgāyat, whilst in the north on the contrary, many Jaṅgam are returned as Liṅgāyat or as Vīrs'aiv Brāhman. A small caste corresponding somewhat to the Vaḷḷuvan, is found in Gujarāt and the north Dekkan, called the Gāruḍā, which serves the leather-working castes as priest.
c48.s3.t2.1.5
In some parts they eat with their clients, but in Gujarāt they are generally superior to the latter in education and physical appearance. From one of their subdivisions it might be surmised that they are the descendants of a superior class driven out of Rajputāna, like so many others in the west. The Gāruḍī of the Marāṭhā country is of a lower type altogether, and belongs to the Māṅg caste.