Note 106 — B (continued 4)

The Mārakas are thus described by Mr. Lewis Rice.106 “A caste claiming to be Brāhmans, but not recognised as such. They worship the Hindu triad, but are chiefly Vishnuvites, and wear the trident mark on their foreheads. They call themselves Hale Kannadiga or Hale Karnātaka, the name Marka107 being considered as one of reproach, on which account also many have doubtless returned themselves as Brāhmans of one or other sect. They are said to be descendants of some disciples of Sankarāchārya, the original guru of Sringēri, and the following legend is related of the cause of their expulsion from the Brāhman caste to which their ancestors belonged. One day Sankarāchārya, wishing to test his disciples, drank some toddy in their presence, and the latter, thinking it could be no sin to follow their master’s example, indulged freely in the same beverage. Soon after, when passing a butcher’s shop, Sankārachārya asked for alms; the butcher had nothing but meat to give, which the guru and his disciples ate. According to the Hindu shāstras, red-hot iron alone can purify a person who has eaten flesh and drunk toddy. Sankarāchārya went to a blacksmith’s furnace, and begged from him some red-hot iron, which he swallowed and was purified. The disciples were unable to imitate their master in the matter of the red-hot iron, and besought him to forgive their presumption in having dared to imitate him in partaking of forbidden food. Sankarāchārya refused to give absolution, and cursed them as unfit to associate with the six sects of Brāhmans. The caste is making a strong effort to be readmitted among Brāhmans, and some have recently become disciples of Parakālaswāmi. Their chief occupations are agriculture, and Government service as shānbogs or village accountants.” It is recorded, in the Mysore Census Report, 1891, that “some of the more intelligent and leading men in the clan give another explanation (of the legend). It is said that either in Dewān Pūrnaiya’s time, or some time before, a member of this micro-caste rose to power, and persecuted the people so mercilessly that, with characteristic inaptitude, they gave him the nickname Māraka or the slaughterer or destroyer, likening him to the planet Mars, which, in certain constellations, is astrologically dreaded as wielding a fatal influence on the fortunes of mortals. There is, however, no doubt that, in their habits, customs, religion and ceremonials, these people are wholly Brāhmanical, but still they remain entirely detached from the main body of the Brāhmans. Since the census of 1871, the Halē Kannadigas have been strenuously struggling to get themselves classified among the Brāhmans. About 25 years ago, the Srīngēri Math issued on behalf of the Smarta portion of the people a Srīmukh (papal bull) acknowledging them to be Brāhmans. A similar pronouncement was also obtained from the Parakāl Math at Mysore about three years later on behalf of the Srīvaishnavas among them. And the Local Government directed, a little after the census of 1881, that they should be entered as Brāhmans in the Government accounts.”