Note 57 — P (Continued)

Sometimes the latter is called by the fuller title parachēri (Anglice parcheri, parcherry), i.e., the gathering place of the Paraiyans. In the grāmam live the Brāhmans, who sometimes dwell, in a quarter by themselves known as the agrahāra, and also other Hindus. In the parachēri live the Paraiyans. The parachēri and the grāmam are always separated, at least by a road or lane, and often by several fields. And not only is it usual thus to find that, in every village, the Paraiyans as a community possess a house-site, but there are many cases in which more than one chēri is attached to a grāmam. This seems to repudiate the suggestion that at some period or periods the higher castes relegated the Paraiyans to these chēris. Indeed, in some cases, the very names of the chēris suggest what appears to be the more correct view, viz., that the chēris had a distinct origin. For instance, the whole revenue village of Teiyar near Chingleput consists of one Sūdra grāmam and seven Paraiyan chēris, each with a name of its own, Periyapillēri, Komanchēri, etc. In other cases, e.g., Ideipālayam in the north of the district, and Varadarājapuram near Vandalūr, only Paraiyan hamlets exist; there is no grāmam. In South Arcot there are at least two villages, Govindanallūr and Andapet, inhabited only by Paraiyans, where even the Maniyakkāran (munsiff or village headman) is a Paraiyan. Other instances might be quoted in proof of the same opinion. And, when the ceremonial antipathy between Brāhman and Paraiyan is examined, it points in the same direction. It is well known that a Brāhman considers himself polluted by the touch, presence, or shadow of a Paraiyan, and will not allow him to enter his house, or even the street in which he lives, if it is an agrāhāra. But it is not so well known that the Paraiyans will not allow a Brāhman to enter the chēri. Should a Brāhman venture into the Paraiyan’s quarter, water with which cow-dung has been mixed is thrown on his head, and he is driven out. It is stated57 by Captain J. S. F. Mackenzie that “Brāhmans in Mysore consider that great luck will await them if they can manage to pass through the Holeya quarter of a village unmolested, and that, should a Brāhman attempt to enter their quarters, they turn out in a body and slipper him, in former times it is said to death.” Some Brāhmans consider a forsaken parachēri an auspicious site for an agrāhāra. A very peculiar case is that of the grāmam founded for, and occupied by the clerks of the earliest Collectors (district magistrates) of the jagir of Karunguli from 1795 to 1825 A.D. These clerks were Brāhmans, and it was called the agrāhāram. It was deserted when the head-quarters of the Collector were removed to Conjeeveram. It is now occupied by Paraiyans, but is still called the agrāhāram.