Pallar paraiyar forced slavery documents

 Slavery is a social evil that its origin in time immemorial. “Slavery”says Toynbee is anon-voluntary system of personal reaction resting wholly upon force. The Tamil term for slave is a „Adimai‟.Slavery is closely associated with the caste system. Historically the caste systemin India defined communities into endogamous hereditory groups called „Jatis‟. „Jatis‟ were grouped by the Brahminical text under the four well known caste categories viz Brahmins,Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras. Certain people were excluded altogether ostracized by all other castes and treated as slaves.The scheduled casteis sometimes referred to as untouchables and Dalits.

UNTOUCHABLES AS SLAVES AS SEEN IN INSCRITIONS AND PALM-LEAF DOCUMENTS

I shall now examine Paraiyas and Pulaiyas as slaves (adimailadiyär) appearing in the fourteenth-century Tamil inscriptions. One inscription from Tiruppalatturai (Sil, viii, 590) in Tiruchirapalli District records 

the transfer of the adiyärs of Vellälas and Pulaiyas. According to the inscription, a local magnate granted to a lady and her son pieces of land (nine and odd veli) and a house, together with three Velläla adiyärs and seven Pulaiya adiyärs. It seems that the lady was a concubine of the magnate and the son was his son, and that the house was the one in which she gave birth to the son.10 The seven Pulaiyas, whose names were also recorded, were a family consisting of the parents, their daughter and four sons. They had been engaged in farm labour (pättattil ninra) in Nangaipuram before they were purchased by the magnate from their previous owner. This gives substance to Pulaiyas being objects of transfer. It may also be noted that the Pulaiyas in this case were Pallas (see below) as the parents are mentioned as Palla and Palli. Another interesting aspect of this inscription, however, is that the Vellälas, a superior caste, were also transferred as slaves from one owner to another. 

Another inscription from Tirukkalukkundram (AR 1933-171) in Chingleput District records the sale of land (three and odd veli), houses and slaves. Among the slaves there were three Vellälas and 16 

Paraiyas. In the latter case, the name of only their representative was given.11 While in the case of Tiruppalatturai inscription it seems impossible for seven Pulaiyas to cultivate by themselves the land of nine and odd veli it may have been possible in the case of the The Untouchables in Tamil Inscriptions 

Tirukkalukkundram inscription for 16 Paraiyas to cultivate the three and odd veli of land. The Pulaiyas and Paraiyas appearing in these inscriptions seem to have been engaged not in leather working but in 

cultivation or in some other agricultural labour. Lastly, I shall examine the conditions of the Pallas by using for reference some palm-leaf documents of the nineteenth century, though the period of their appearance is much later than the Chola and Vijayanagar periods. Pallas were a community who lived mostly in Thanjavur and Tiruchirapalli Districts and further south, being engaged mainly in agricultural labour. According to Thurston,12 they were generally regarded the same as Paraiyas and were, therefore, compelled to live in the outskirts of villages. During the village survey conducted 

jointly by Indian and Japanese scholars in Tiruchirapalli District in 1979-81, some 64 palm-leaf documents were discovered from Nerinjalakudi village.13 Seven out of those 64 documents record lease deeds made by Pallas.14 The Pallas living in Mandurai received on lease some land for cultivation from Ramachandra-rayar, a Maratha Brahmin landlord of the village, promising him to pay a fixed amount of crops (paddy) together with some other payments. The Pallas are said to have lived in pallädi-cheri (the residential area of Palla slaves), and to have been pannai-pallan of the landlord who owned their houses too. The term pannai-pallan is similar in purport to the term pannalyäP5 mentioned in British records and later. The fact that they received land on lease, the condition of which is stipulated in the palm-leaf documents, promising to pay a certain amount of crops and others to the landlord, may suggest that those Pallas were actually 'tenants' and not 'slaves'. However, one document 

(No. 31) records clearly that the four Pallas who appeared in the documents had been purchased together with families by Ramachandra-rayar as his adimais from their previous owner. Another 

document (No. 51) recorded that a Pallan of the pannai of Ramachandra-rayar borrowed some money from the latter for the marriage of his son, under condition that his son and the son's family would become slaves of the moneylender and work on his farm (pannai-adichchu ). In the beginning of the nineteenth century the Raiyatwari land settlement was introduced in Tamil Nadu and the Slavery Abolition  Act was enacted in 1843, which must certainly have effected some change in the conditions of the adimai and pannaiyäl The records of their transactions examined earlier may have reflected to some extent 

 Caste System, Untouchability and the Depressed 

the new situation which appeared in that century, but the conditions of the pannai -Pallas do not seem to have been much different from those of the Pulaiya and Paraiya adiyärs of the fourteenth century.Sir Ellis, a British officer in India in the 19th century, mentioned in his accounts certain castes were known as slave castes, they were the pallē, the pallan and the paraiyan. These castes were forever linked with their status of slavery and they were often bought and sold with the lands they cultivated (Hjejle 80). The status of being a serf is passed down from one generation to another, such a status diminishes the opportunities for personal growth and no matter how talented a person might be he is expected to live by his family’s plight of servitude.  When a serf borrows a sum of money, which is lent to him at exorbitant interest rates, fails to pay back the debt in the given time, and becomes unfit to provide any more labour he passes off his status to some other person in line. As Palomba and Joseph states that “it happens very frequently that a worker, after some years of “service” passes off his bonded status to the family members, often younger siblings” (Palomba and Joseph 12). Consequently, a woman can be brought in as a serf when she is married into the family of serfs. The painful and exploitative experience of servitude can be transferred through generations wherein the family in authority remains in the position of authority and the exploited family continues to toil ceaselessly. Viramma was married into serfdom though her parent’s family too was a family of serfs.  

There were several classes known as designation of Chachadis (Tsachadis), Chakkilis (Cobblers), Chamaris, Chandalas, Godaris, Holayas, Madigas, Malas, Mochis, Paidis, Pallas, Pallis (in Nellore), Panus, Pariahs, Polayas, Rellis, Totis and Valluvars are almost same to each other, and these groups of people were treated  in the departmental records as constituting one general class under  the  category of “Pariahs and kindred races”.37 

In Viramma’s case her son Anban got some education, however, she didn’t allow her son to dress well, or to talk back in front of the Reddiar because of her family’s position with the Reddiar. Viramma says, 

“We’re poor. We are Pariahs. We live from day to day. We only eat if we’re given work. Those people from the ur employ us. We have to be humble more humble than them. If you go around dressed like that, they’ll say, “What a nerve that Pariah’s got to come and work for us in trousers and a shirt!” No, Appa, be humble and let’s live like we used to!” (Viramma 168). A person’s education, his qualification cannot transcend his caste, in a rural setup where everyone knows everyone, a person is reminded of his caste at every possible instance and low caste is reason enough to act humble and modest at all times.  

Slavery is a social evil that its origin in time immemorial. “Slavery”says Toynbee is anon-voluntary system of personal reaction resting wholly upon force. The Tamil term for slave is a „Adimai‟.Slavery is closely associated with the caste system. Historically the caste systemin India defined communities into endogamous hereditory groups called „Jatis‟. „Jatis‟ were grouped by the Brahminical text under the four well known caste categories viz Brahmins,Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras. Certain people were excluded altogether ostracized by all other castes and treated as slaves.The scheduled casteis sometimes referred to as untouchables and Dalits.

Factors that led to the emergence of slavery in South Travancore

 The caste system was unknown in South Travancore in the early years, and her people shared with it a common cultural heritage. With the coming of the Brahmins into Travancore around the 10th century A.D. the whole scenario changed. From then on caste has been the dominant factor in the economic and cultural life of South Travancore. Society was divided into two large sections, the high and the low caste or the pure and the polluting caste. Brahmins were the only caste exempted from all social and religious disabilities. The kings of South Travancore regarded it their sacred duty to please the Brahmins and to rule the country in accordance with the advice of the Brahmin scholars. The lowest section in the society was the slave caste. The government, the temples and the rich high caste landlords owned them.There were also several kinds of slaves. During famines parents used to sell their children into slavery. Debtors who found it difficulty to pay back loans, sold themselves to creditors and served them till the liability was over.

 Status of Slaves in Society Pulayas: 

One of the slave castes was 'Pulaya'. Pulaya is derived from 'pula' which means 'ceremonial pollution'. They were the backbone of agriculture, in this country where the economy centered on agriculture to a very large extend. They worked from morning till night in the rice field. In spite of the commendable social services rendered by them what they got in turn was contempt and neglect. The houses of the pulayas were miserable, huts formed of sticks cut off of the woods, with walls of mud and thatched with grass or coconut leaf. They had no admission to the markets and they had to stand apart at some distance and make purchases or sales as well as they could. The pulayas were not permitted to wear gold or 257 Research Paper e-ISSN 2320 –7876 www.ijfans.org Vol.11, Iss.12, Dec 2022 © 2012 IJFANS. All Rights Reserved, UGC CARE Listed (Group -I) Journal silver ornaments. Their dress and habits were extremely filthy as no one is willing to wash for them and no washerman of their own, like other caste. Public street was inaccessible to them.

 Parayas: 

Another caste to which of the slaves belonged to South Travancore was Parayas. Paraiyan is not only associated with drumming but also with several menial works. They were bought and sold like cattle. When a cow or bullock died it was left where it fell and only the Parayas would cut it up and carry it away. The paryas had to live in crowded 'paracheris' beyond the village limits under unhygienic condition away from the habitation of the higher caste people for whom they laboured. The slaves could not even speak the language of the ordinary people. The slave had to address his master and even the very young male members of his family as yejaman (master) and refer to himself as 'adiyen' (servant) and his own children as 'monkeys' and 'calves'. His master's house he referred to as 'illam' (mansion) while his as 'madam' (hut). The lower castes were banned from entering the temples and even the roads leading to them. They were compelled to render grievous uliyam services (work without pay) to the sirkar. They were not allowed to carry umbrellas, to carry pots of water on the hip.