History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c21.42

v2.c21.42

The so-called untouchables were not entirely excluded from worship. When it is said (as in Yāj. I. 93 or Gaut. IV. 20)⁴¹⁵ that the cāṇḍāla is outside all dharma, the meaning is that he is outside such Vedic rites as upanayana, not that he cannot worship the Hindu deities nor that he is not bound by the moral code. He could worship images of the avatāras of Viṣṇu (vide note 364 above). The Nirṇayasindhu quotes a passage of the Devīpurāṇa that expressly authorizes antyajas to establish a temple of Bhairava. The Bhāgavatapurāṇa⁴¹⁶ X. 70. 43 says that 'even the antyāvasāyins are purified by listening to the praises or names of Hari, by repeating the names of Hari and by contemplation on Him, much more therefore will those ( be purified ) who can see or touch your images’. This however shows that to the author of the Bhāgavata it never occurred that an untouchable could see or touch the image of Viṣṇu enshrined in a temple of caste Hindus. In south India among the famous Vaiṣṇava saints called Āḻvārs, Tiruppāṇa Āḻvār was a member of the depressed classes and Nammāḻvār was a Veḷḷāla. The Mit. on Yāj. III. 262 remarks that the pratiloma castes (which include cāṇḍāla) have the right to perform vratas.⁴¹⁷