Elucidation on the word "paraiyars"

Another take on this issue, albeit from an academician. I agree with him that we should approach this from a scholarly point of view rather than putting emotions first. 10 centuries of privileged position is a long time.

It would be interesting to see how Interlok will evolve when this saga is over.

Amplify’d from www.nst.com.my

Who are ‘Paraiyars’, really?

WHILE in India recently, I bought a translation of Moeurs, institutions et cérémonies des peuples de l’Inde (Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies: The Classic First-Hand Account of India in the Early Nineteenth Century) by Abbé Dubois. What interested me was the proximity of the year the book was first published — 1905 — to the period that is narrated by National Laureate Datuk Abdullah Hussain in his book Interlok. The index pages showed an entry of the word “pariah”, which in Malaysia has been reduced to a mere letter for some reason. The book throws new light on the subject.

Contrary to stereotypical beliefs, for about 10 centuries, the Paraiyar “enjoyed a privileged position in the society of the Sangam period” from 3BCE to 3CE, the earliest period in the history of south India. Read more at www.nst.com.my

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