“In cases of small-pox, one who has had this disease is called in to attend. He takes the patient to a temporary hut in a lonely place, and is well paid, and supplied with all that he requires. Through fear, none of the relatives will go near. Should the patient die, the attendant buries him on the spot, performing the ceremonies himself, then comes to the house, repeats mantras, and waves his hands round the head of each to remove further alarm. If a woman with child dies, she is buried at a great distance away. Occasionally the remains of an aged man are burnt on a funeral pile, as being more honourable than burial, and providing some merit to the soul.
“Let us pay a visit to one of the rural hamlets of the Kōlām Paraiyans, a considerable sub-division of this caste. The cattle manure is saved, but handed over to the Sūdra farmers. The Paraiyas plant a few trees around their settlement as otti (mortgage) and kurikānam (a kind of tenant right), then pay a sum to the Sūdra landowner to permit them to enjoy the produce, as it is so difficult for them to get waste lands registered in their own name. Some have cleared lands, and possess a few cocoanut and betel-nut palms, mangoes, etc. They may have a few cattle also, and let out a milch cow to the shepherds at one rupee per month. They grow some vegetables, etc., in waste valley lands temporarily cleared and cultivated. They work in the rice fields, sowing, planting, and reaping, for which they are paid in paddy. During the slack season they work at making mats of Ochlandra Rheedii, for which the men bring loads of the reeds from the hills, and the women do the work of plaiting. This art they are said to have learnt from the Kanikar hill-men.
“Some Paraiyas in Nanjinād have enjoyed ancestral property for six generations, and a few still have good properties. Titles were purchased for money of the Rājas of Travancore, e.g., Sāmbavan, an old name for Pāndi Paraiyas. The Rāja gave to such a headman a cane, and authority to claim a double allowance of betel, etc. He, however, had in his turn to give double at funerals and festivals to his visitors. This head Paraiyan would be met with drums and marks of honour by his people, and the arrangement would enable the Government to rule the Paraiyas more easily. It is said that some Rāja, fleeing in war, hid himself in Paraiya huts at Changankadei, and was thereby saved, for which he gave them a small grant of land producing a few fanams annually, which they still enjoy. They have a tradition that, in M.E. 102 (A.D. 927), one Vanji Mannan Rāja granted privileges to Paraiyas. During the war with Tippu, proclamation was made that every Paraiyan in this district must have a Nāyar or master, and belong to some one or other. All who were not private property would be made slaves of the Sirkar (Government), which was greatly dreaded on account of the merciless oppression, and obliged to cut grass for the troops, and do other services. Many, therefore, became nominally slaves to some respectable man, asking it as a kindness to free them from Government slavery. Several respectable families begged the Nambūri high priest, visiting Suchindram and other temples, to call them his slaves, for which they paid him one fanam a head per annum. This payment is still kept up. This priest conferred upon them additional benefits, for in their troubles and oppressions, he wrote to the Government, requiring from them justice and proper treatment. The slaves of the Nambūri would also be treated with consideration on account of his sacred position and rank. These families, ‘Potty slaves,’ still intermarry only among themselves, as in this case the wife could not be claimed by a different owner from the husband’s.
Parava devil-dancer.
“Lastly, as to the Paraiyas of North Travancore. Their condition seems lowest of all, as they enter further into the Malayālam country, and enjoy fewer opportunities of escape from caste degradation and from bitter servitude. ‘Their own tradition,’ the Rev. G. Matthan writes,[72] ‘has it that they were a division of the Brāhmans, who were entrapped into a breach of caste by their enemies, through making them eat beef. They eat carrion and other loathsome things. The carcases of all domestic animals are claimed by them as belonging to them by right. They frequently poison cows, and otherwise kill them for the sake of their flesh. They are also charged with kidnapping women of the higher castes, whom they are said to treat in the most brutal manner. It is their custom to turn robbers in the month of February, in which month they pretend the wrong was done them, to break into the houses of the Brāhmans and Nairs, and to carry away their women, children, and property, to which they are actuated more by motives of revenge than of interest, and to justify which they plead the injury their caste had received from these parties. In former times, they appear to have been able to perpetrate these cruelties almost with impunity, from the fear of which the people still betray great uneasiness, though the custom has now grown into disuse.’”
Pārasaivan.—A title of Ōcchans, who are Saivites, and priests at temples of Grāma Dēvatas (village deities). In the Malayālam country Pārasāva occurs as a title of Variyar, a section of Ambalavāsi. The word indicates the son of a Brāhman by a Sūdra woman.
Parava.—The Tulu-speaking Paravas of South Canara are, like the Nalkes and Pombadas, devil-dancers, and are further employed in the manufacture of baskets and umbrellas. Socially, they occupy a higher position than the Nalkes, but rank below the Pombadas. The bhūthas (devils) whose disguise they assume are Kodamanitaya and the Baiderukalu, who may not be represented by Nalkes; and they have no objection to putting on the disguise of other bhūthas. Paravas are engaged for all kinds of devil-dances when Nalkes are not available. (See Nalke.)
