Ritual Purity
This account from a Hindu village in Tamil Nadu, South India, shows the importance of ritual purity and pollution in maintaining the high status of the Brahmans in the Hindu caste system.
Brahmin jathi [occupational] groups in the village adhered strictly to the rules of vegetarianism, auspicious time (raaku kaalam) and menstrual tabu. The Beri CeTTiar followed the rules more scrupulously than other non-Brahmin jathi groups, but all non-Brahmin jathi groups indulged in the consumption of meat and fish—foods that were considered to be kavacci or polluting. The jathi groups who ranked second to the Beri CeTTiar such a Mutaliar, Saliar, Kanakkar, ITaya, Kammaalar and Baljia NaiTu, paid greater attention to the rules than did the next-ranking jathi groups such as Vanniar, NaaTaar, Kusavar, AmbaTTar, Pandaaram, Itayar, NaaTTaar, PaTTanava and Karayaar. Villiar and Harijan jathi groups paid the least attention to the rules of ritual abstinence and tabus.
Source: Ebenezer T. Jacob-Pandian (1972) Dravidianization: A Tamil Revitilization Movement. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 113.
This complete Brahman contains 163 words. This
article contains 858 words (approx. 3 pages at 300
words per page).
