Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 89

THE PARIAH CAST
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are looked upon as almost another race of beings, altogether
and they are perfectly ready
outside the pale of society
;
to acknowledge their own comparative inferiority.
The
best known and most numerous of these castes is the
Parayer, as it is called in Tamil, the word from which the
European name Pariah is derived l
The particulars which
I am about to give of this class will form most striking
contrasts with those I shall relate subsequently about the
Brahmins, and will serve to demonstrate a point to which
I shall often refer, namely, how incapable the Hindus are
of showing any moderation in their caste customs and
.
observances.
Their contempt and aversion for these social outcastes
are as extreme, on the one hand, as are the respect and
veneration which they pay, on the other, to those whom
their superstitions have invested with god-like attributes.
Throughout the whole of India the Pariahs are looked upon
as slaves by other castes, and are treated with great harsh-
Hardly anywhere are they allowed to cultivate the
ness.
soil for their own benefit, but are obliged to hire themselves
out to the other castes, who in return for a minimum wage
exact the hardest tasks from them.
Furthermore, their masters may beat them at pleasure
the poor wretches having no right either to complain or
to obtain redress for that or any other ill-treatment their
masters may impose on them. In fact, these Pariahs are
the born slaves of India
and had I to choose between
the two sad fates of being a slave in one of our colonies
or a Pariah here, I should unhesitatingly prefer the former.
This class is the most numerous of all, and in conjunc-
tion with that of the Chucklers, or cobblers, represents at
It is painful to think
least a quarter of the population.
that its members, though so degraded, are yet the most
useful of all.
On them the whole agricultural work of the
country devolves 2 and they have also other tasks to per-
forin which are still harder and more indispensable.
;
;
,
Parayen means one that beats the drum [parai).— Ed.
This is the case only in certain districts of Southern [ndia, such as
Chingleput and Tanjore. An appreciable percentage »>! the Pariah-,
has now migrated to the towns, where they serve as domestic servants
in European and Eurasian households.— Ed.
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