Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s3.t2.1.4

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.