Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s3.t2.1.3

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 It is conjectured that the sacerdotal functions of this caste were superseded by those of the Brāhman, when the latter found his way into the Dravidian region.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.