--- layout: default title: "Full Text: Religious Legitimation and Delegitimations of Social Relations of Power (of Caste): The Case of the Dalits in Historical Perspective" description: "Complete verbatim text of A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel's essay 'Religious Legitimation and Delegitimations of Social Relations of Power (of Caste): The Case of the Dalits in Historical Perspective', first published in Religion and Society (December 1993)." permalink: /amaa/religious-legitimation-delegitimations-social-relations-power-full-text/ categories: [A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel, Full text] date: 1993 created: 2026-05-13 --- The **full text of the [Religious Legitimation and Delegitimations of Social Relations of Power (of Caste): The Case of the Dalits in Historical Perspective](/amaa/religious-legitimation-delegitimations-social-relations-power/)** is reproduced here verbatim from the original paper by [A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel](/amaa/). This article first appeared in *Religion and Society*, Volume XL, No. 4, December 1993. This version preserves the original wording, structure, and formatting as presented in the source document. ## Contents 1. [Introduction](#introduction) 2. [Religious Legitimation of Relations of Power](#religious-legitimation) 3. [Religious Delegitimation of Social Relations of Power](#delegitimation) 4. [The Ministry of the Church](#ministry) 5. [Notes](#notes) ## Introduction {#introduction} The Dalits who constitute 15% of the Indian nation are said to be marginalised in the sense they are powerless as a social group in relation to the rest of the population. The absence of power in their case is a historical product of our civilisation, the roots of which are to be found in ancient racial and ethnic conflicts, tribal prejudices, military defeats, loss of territory and eventual enslavement to the victorious group. At present they experience it in the form of absence of material resources like land, education and jobs. This situation in turn creates a number of deprivations like the inability to follow their own course and interest in life, both as individuals and as a social group. They become dependent in many areas of their life, such as, economic, educational, socio-political and religio-cultural, on the decisions taken by the powerful in the society. The characteristic feature of this powerlessness is that traditional religion and morality of the dominant section was defined within the existing relations of power at that time. In other words, the conditions of the Dalits were legitimised on religious grounds, leading to their marginalisation. This is an attempt to outline the nature of such religious legitimation as well as delegitimation of their condition as it is also rooted in religion in the evolution of our composite society and civilisation. ## Religious Legitimation of Relations of Power {#religious-legitimation} The religio-cultural tradition which is generally referred to as 'Hindu' or 'Brahmanical' has a decisive influence in shaping the nature of our civilization. In this tradition, the earliest reference to religious legitimation of social power is the creation myth or the myth of origin of the society which we read in the 10th book of the Rig Veda, known as the Purusha-Sukhta hymn. It says: "the Brahman was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rajanya made. His thighs became the Vaisya, from his feet the Sudra was produced."¹ According to some authors, this hymn was part of the sacrificial ritual of the Vedic society. The priest gave by means of this hymn 'a sacred character' or 'a religious mould' to the raw fact of relations of power and various social functions, which existed in that society. As in all organised societies, class differences had come about in the Vedic society in the course of which, force and strength of arms, ability to control wealth and people, racial and ethnic prejudices, family and class loyalties, individual aptitudes, all played their natural and varying roles. But a social situation produced by such natural and material cause was given a sacred character, a holy status by the priest. The Vedas also speak in a number of texts about the Aryan battles with a people named 'Das or Dasyu' and other ethnic groups. It describes them as being 'non-Aryan', 'noseless', 'black-beings', 'inhabiting in mountains', 'without religious rituals', 'conducting guerilla fights against them'. The Aryans involved their god Indra to destroy Dasyus or praise him for killing them in thousands. Sometimes Dasyu is used to refer to a particular ethnic group; sometimes it stands for any enemy people in general. These enemy people did not constitute a part of the Vedic religion and its Brahmin-led society. They were an excluded people. Manu says: "All those tribes in this world, which are excluded from (the community of) those born from the mouth, the arms, the thighs and the feet (of Brahman) are called Dasyus, whether they speak the language of the Mlecchas (barbarians) or that of the Aryans."² Manusmriti names some of those tribes and the professions they engage in.³ It lays down rules regarding their dwelling places, things they are allowed to possess, their dress, food, their ornaments, their movements and duties which the king has to enforce.⁴ Anthropologists and archeologists generally understand them as the dark-skinned indigenous tribes, the original inhabitants of the country. One is not entirely mistaken if one considers that the social section of Brahmanical literature later on describes as avarnas, adsudras, antyajas, panchamas, or candalas, namely today's Dalits have their origin in those first excluded people of Dasyus, Mlecchas which term itself later on acquires its new meaning 'slave' in the place of the original meaning 'enemy.' The empirical fact that the great majority of today's Dalits and tribals both in the North Indian plains and in the South are dark-skinned, belong predominantly to the Proto-Austroloid racial stream with admixtures of different races. They were lost in the struggle for economic and cultural development in the Brahmin-led civilisation. This hypothesis supports and corresponds to the traditional self-understanding of the Dalits as Adi Andhra, Adi Kannada and other adi-people, namely, the original inhabitants of the country. In other words, a situation primarily produced by force and strength of arms is legitimised by religion either by a sacred hierarchy corresponding to class differences or by outright exclusion from the society. The religious myth inculcating such social hierarchy and social exclusion is repeated in different versions with minor variations in the Brahmanas, Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas. However, the raw fact of history is that these religious discriminations were enforced by political power as we have already seen from the text of Manusmriti. It is also a matter of recent history that the Dalits were denied the right to own property, to get educated, to build houses, to draw water from the village pond, to enter temples and places of worship, to wear ornaments and to use footwear or umbrellas. They were bound to certain occupations and professions. There were restrictions about their food, manners, dress and speech. Any violations of the customary laws of behaviour was severely dealt with, often with decapitation, a situation which continues even today in some parts of the country. All these were done, or being done under the cover of religious laws, customs and traditions (maryada) of the village. The theological or religious, ideological basis for this marginalisation of the Dalits, namely, the philosophy of the caste society, is enunciated succinctly in the classic religious text, Bhagavad Gita. > Better to do one's own duty-'dharma' void of merit than to do another's dharma, however well performed. Doing the works - 'Karma' - that in here in one's own condition - 'Svabhava-niyata' one remains unsullied. One should not lay aside the works that are inborn in each of us, even though they involve evil - 'Sandosa' - for all enterprises are associated with 'Sandosa' as is fire with smoke.⁵ Then again in another verse the Lord says, "The system of four varnas was generated by me together with guna and karma attached to each."⁶ This doctrine in Hindu theology is known as adhikara bheda. It emphasises the innate differences between human beings, and asserts that different human beings should pursue different religio-moral ways which suit their respective innate qualities and capacities. Dharma, as the Gita understands it, is irrevocably tied up with varna and ashrama. Saral Jhingran a Hindu author, explains this doctrine in the following words: > Nothing happens without a cause and the cause here is to be evaluated in ethical terms. This is to say, the moral quality of our deeds, thoughts and desires not only condition our future character, but also manipulate the natural world order, so that we are thrown into external circumstances that are most suited to materialise or effect the kind of reward and punishments which our moral character deserves. The law of Karma is thus an explanatory hypothesis, meant to explain and rationally justify the inequalities found in men's characters, capacities and circumstances. This hypothesis has very far-reaching ramifications for Hindu morality. On the one hand, it provides an excellent motive for righteous conduct. Man should act righteously in his own interest, as it is ensured by the world's moral order that every evil action would sooner or later come back to the evil doer and make him miserable. It teaches man to be honest and assume the responsibility or accountability for his deeds, as also to be content and at peace with himself. On the other hand, the law of Karma is an extremely individualistic hypothesis which encourages man to be self-centred and indifferent to others, since the misfortunes of others are easily explained as the result of their own past karma, and hence they themselves deserve. It is also repeatedly affirmed that each man must suffer the good or bad fruits of his actions and that no one else can suffer for him or help him truly.⁷ The power relations legitimised by 'sacred' texts, the temple cult of purity and pollution, philosophical ideas like Karma, svabhavaniyata and adhikara bheda are further strengthened in popular religious consciousness by myths and ritual practices associated with Folk gods, village festivals and domestic rites. I give an example of each of these practices which show the influence of these on the religious consciousness of the ordinary people: A mother goddess is worshipped in villages in South India under different names. The 'untouchable' also joins in doing so. The myth associated with this goddess is as follows: > Once upon a time a handsome and bright Madiga youth left his home and came across a Brahmin teacher. The teacher being impressed by the youth took him as his disciple without knowing that he was an untouchable. Eventually the Brahmin married his daughter to the young man and the couple continued to live in the village with their children. One day the mother of the young man came to the village in search of him. The young man told his mother, "Mother I am living here as a Brahmin. No one knows my true identity. I will take you to my wife and children if you pretend that you are deaf and dumb and promise that you will not reveal your caste." The mother agreed and she went to his house with him. The daughter-in-law was very glad to entertain her mother-in-law and served her with sweetmeats. The old woman while relishing the food exclaimed, "This tastes like roasted beef". The daughter-in-law was furious. She at once understood the woman was of Madiga origin. In her anger she killed her husband and set fire to the house and burnt herself and her children in the fire, uttering the curse, "Madigas should always live in poverty, ignorance and slavery." This Brahmin girl is the mother deity known as Arunjyoti. The buffalo sacrificed to the deity is the Madiga youth. The other animals like goats and chickens, etc., sacrificed to her are her children.⁸ Here again the god-symbol is used to legitimate the caste division and caste hierarchy and caste-based unequal relations of power. There are also rituals practised in the village wherein demeaning and lowly roles are given to the Dalits. Given below is an incident reported in Deccan Herald on Tuesday, August 15, 1989. The headline of the report is 'Ritual boycott divides a village'. The incident occurred in Benche village in Sira taluk, Karnataka. It has a population of about 1000 people. Vokkaligas dominate the village both in number and money power. The ritual is part of the festival in honour of the village deity, Maari. The Vokkaligas sacrifice goats and sheep during the festival. The Dalits are expected to scatter rice mixed with the blood of the sacrificed animals around the village in the belief that this would protect the villagers from misfortune. In 1989, the Dalits refused to play this demeaning caste role. As a result there was a social boycott of the Dalits by the rest of the village. Shopkeepers refused to sell provisions and Dalits were denied employment. According to the reporter, in Benche village, as in hundreds of other villages in Karnataka, the Dalits are not allowed to enter restaurants. They are served outside and they themselves have to wash their soiled glass tumblers after drinking tea or coffee. The third example is an incident I came to know of during my field study in the Malabar region. A Dalit postman was on his usual rounds, delivering letters. As he entered the gate of one house and was about to give the letter to the addressee the man said, "Leave the letter at the gate!" As the Dalit postman suspected that the addressee was unwilling to take the letter directly from his hand because of untouchability he refused to deliver the letter and filed a case against the addressee on the basis of the 'Untouchability Offences Act' now known as 'Civil Rights Enforcement Act'. In the court, the addressee pleaded that he was not guilty of the offence as on that day he was preparing to offer pitr pinda to his ancestor. If he had taken the letter he would pollute himself and would not be in a position to perform the ritual. ## Religious Delegitimation of Social Relations of Power {#delegitimation} While the religion presided over by the Brahmin priest legitimated the relations of power in the ancient society by means of its doctrine and rituals, there was a counter-religious movement in the same society in the tradition of the Sramanas. The Sramanas were anti-priests. They rejected the authority of the Vedas and of the Brahmins. They came from all ranks of society and set up independent schools of thought. They preached a religion based on their own inner experience and empirical observations; they ridiculed the complicated rituals and Brahmanical explanations of them. Though our knowledge of them comes from the extant traditions of the Buddhists, Ajivakas, Lokayatas, Jainas and Ajanas who flourished around the sixth century B.C., it was an ancient tradition parallel to the priestly Brahmanical tradition, which could also be traced back to the Indus Valley Civilisation of the Dravidians and others. It is the meditative and speculative tendency in the religion of the period which produced the Upanishadic literature. The Sramanas belong to this religious stream, but their rejection of the earlier poets and the hereditary priesthood of the Brahmins set them apart as a religious group heretical to the Brahmanical priestly traditions incapable of being absorbed into it, as it was in the case of the authors of the Upanishads. According to the Sramana tradition, one should become a Brahmin by virtue and not by heredity. For instance the great Buddha taught: > Not by birth does one become an outcaste not by birth does one become a Brahman, by deeds one becomes an outcaste by deeds one becomes a Brahman.⁹ To the argument of the Brahmins that they were originally born of Brahma and are his legitimate heirs, Gautama replies, based on his empirical observation: "Do we not daily see Brahmin women with child and bearing sons just like other folk? How can they say that they are born of God?"¹⁰ Buddha also accepted into his Order people of all ranks. We have the story of the conversation of Upali, the barber who is referred to as the chief authority after Gautama himself, on the rules of the Order. So is Sumita a candalapukkusa, a low social class, whose occupation was to sweep the streets.¹¹ Other members of the Order about whom we read are the untouchables Sopaka and Suppiya, the peasant Sumangala, the slave Channa, the potter Dhanhiya, the beggar Kappa-kura, the leper Supparabuddha, Sati the fisherman, Nande the cowherd and the two Panthakas born out of wedlock to a girl of a high caste family through intercourse with the slave Kappa. Also the daughter of a deer-stalker, Punna and Punnika - slave girls, Sumangalamata, daughter of a basket weaver; Subha, daughter of a smith; and Prakriti, a chandala woman.¹² All these enter the Buddha's Order of Bhikkus and Bhikkunis. In all such stories there is the reversal of Brahminic values of karma svabhava niyata and adhikara bheda by which human beings are inherently determined by their nature. For instance, in the story of the scavenger Sumita, when questioned by heroes, the Buddha said: "As on a rubbish-heap on a highway cast, a lily may grow fragrant and sweet, so among rubbish-creatures, worldlings blind by insight, shines the very Buddha's child."¹³ In the story of the Upali, the barber, we read the Sakyan (Buddha) as saying: > We Sakyans, Lord are haughty. And this Upali, the barber has long been an attendant, Lord, upon us. May the Blessed one admit him to the Order before us, so that we may render him respect and reverence and bow down with outstretched hands before him as our senior and thus shall the Sakyan pride be humbled in us.¹⁴ Hindu epics and the Puranas on occasions contain the ascetic traditions though they are in conflict with the general character of such books. Klaus K. Klostermaier writes, > Throughout the history of Hinduism, on the one hand, there is an insistence of performing the prescribed ritual to achieve and maintain one's status within the varnasramadharma and on the other hand, the clearly expressed conviction that rituals alone are not sufficient and the purity they effect is not enough to reach the ultimate aim of life, moksha. Numerous Hindu saints and singers, denounced ritualism and ridiculed the belief that ritual purity would win a person entry to the realm of God. Personal virtues as well as social engagement, genuine devotion and service to God are stressed as means to reach purity and to gain merit.¹⁵ For instance, in the Aranyakaparva of the Mahabharata we have this conversation: > Birth and erudition do not make a man a Brahmin, only good conduct does. No matter how erudite a man may be, if he is the slave of bad habits, he is no Brahmin. Even if he is well versed in the four Vedas if he has bad habits he belongs to low class.¹⁶ The Upanishadic teaching on the identity of the self and the Brahman, on seeing the Brahman in every being which also finds its place in the composite character of Bhagavad-Gita, contradicts as well the traditional doctrine of caste and caste dharma. In South India there existed a class of ascetics known as Siddhar (Cittar), for which we have literary evidence from about the sixth century A.D. They were certainly influenced by Buddhist and Jain ideas. But they could have been continuing the ancient traditions of the Dravidians and the dark-skinned, original inhabitants of India because for the most part they came from the so-called low and untouchables section of the population. They rejected the authority of Brahmanical scriptures and of Brahmins and taught a religion of universal human brotherhood. For example, Tirumular who lived in the sixth or seventh century A.D. sang, "Mankind is one and God is one."¹⁷ Another Siddha saint, Sivavakkiyar, almost repeats the words of the Great Buddha when he asks, "Who is an untouchable woman and who is a Brahmin woman? Is there any mark put on their flesh, skin or bone? Is the sexual desire of the untouchable woman different from that of the Brahmin woman? The difference between an untouchable woman and Brahmin woman is only in your mind."¹⁸ The Tirukural is considered to be the bane of the Tamil Brahmin priests. Some lines from it are given here as example:

*People without love think only of themselves;* *People who have love free themselves of themselves for the sake of others.* *Heaven and earth are not enough reward for a friendly service that is given without any thought of gain.* *The joy of the revengeful lasts but a single day, but the peace lover's joy lasts forever.* *Those who fast and mortify themselves are great, but greater are they who forgive wrong doing.* *This is wisdom supreme: do not repay with evil, for the evil done to you.*¹⁹

Scholars have shown that the roots of the Bhakti movements which arose in South India and later on spread to North India should be traced back to the autochthonous traditions of the indigenous people.²⁰ It is not correct to say that the Bhakti movement had thrown open its doors to all castes. In fact it originated with humble souls from the low castes and untouchable castes and women, for example, Nammalwar, Tiruppan, Andal, Appar and others. The more educated and intellectual Brahmins brought about an amalgamation of the movement within the varnasrama dharma.²¹ But history tells us that it was the later poets and their separate or sectarian movements and the saints belonging to the untouchables and other low ranking communities who had taken the movement to its logical conclusion against social hierarchy of castes and gender discrimination. Saints like Ravidas, Chokkamela, Dadu, Kabir, Tukaram, Kanaka Das, Vemana, and a host of others from the medieval period onwards upto Narayana Guru and others of our modern period, preached a religion with one God and one humanity based on common universal values against varnasrama dharma of the Brahmanical priestly class. So far scholars have not studied the cultural history of the traditional untouchable communities as a whole, integrating regional material in their inter-relationships so that we could speak of some general characteristic features. All the same we could indicate certain features largely based on regional material: 1\. While they have gods and goddesses with myths and stories often legitimising their low caste status and untouchability, there are also gods and goddesses who condemn caste and preach a religion of Malabar. Here I give part of the dance song of Pottan which is a powerful indictment of caste on the basis of a caste person and God Pottan. It begins with a caste man asking Pottan to get out of his path:

"Give way, give way, Chinna Pulaya." But out came the retort. "I have my child on my arm And pot of toddy on my head On one side of the road You see the thorn. On the other side, you see the thicket How can then we give way? When Chovar rides an elephant We ride a buffalo, If so, why quarrel over caste? When your body or ours is hurt It is human blood that gushes out. The blood is the same Why then quarrel over caste? When Chovar wears a garland of lotus We wear a garland of Poothali When Chovar dances holding the bronze idol We dance holding vessels of prawns And the rice they eat, and the rice we eat Isn't it of the same stuff? Why then, do Chovars quarrel over caste distinctions? Suppose Chovar and we break a coconut shan't we find inside the same kernel? The knives of the Chovar are sharp And so also are our knives. When you are wounded blood comes out When we are wounded blood comes out When we are wounded too blood comes out Why then do they quarrel over caste distinctions? We planted a plantain tree In the heap of refuse. With the fruit thereof You make offerings to God Yes, we planted a Tulasi In the heap of refuse. With the leaves and flowers thereof You make offerings to God. If so what distinctions are there Between us? The time when they planted Thirty-three trees, Three trees didn't flourish But I remember The flower of the trees, If so what difference is there between them and us? When a boat comes from the other bank to this bank, Another boat goes from here to the other bank. Aren't we too going in the same boat? The boat will move Whether it be you who row, or whether it be we. If so what difference is there? As we cross the river and reach the other side We may see a Valluvan in bliss."²²

2\. While we find among them rituals and social practices legitimising caste hierarchy we also find rituals denouncing caste and proclaiming one human community. For instance, among the Madigas there is a kind of Sakti worship among those known as Chemanists. People belonging to Brahmin and other caste groups also are members of this secret sect along with the Madigas. This is how Rauschenbusch-Clough describes the ritual in her book, While Sewing Sandals:

As midnight approaches, the Guru enters the house of meeting; the rest follow, one after another. After all are seated, the Guru goes around with a vessel containing sarai, and lets each one take a sip. In the other hand he has a piece of meat, and touches the tongue of each. He himself finally eats meat and drinks Sarai. The nine kinds of meat, previously cooked, are passed around: fowl, pigeon, pig, goat, cow, donkey, cat, dog and buffalo. Each one puts a little of each on a plate made of dried leaves and eats it, while the sarai flows plentifully. While eating all sing: "We have now severed both caste and family connections. We have joined together both ruling caste and servant. We desire to be saved by the Guru. This is the time." The piece of meat, which touches the tongue of each, seems intended to wipe out every social distinction between them.²³

3\. The Pariahs in Kerala believe that their great ancestor is Pakkanar who is the son of Vasishta who was himself the son of Urvasi and husband of Arundhati (Akshamata) a Chandala Woman.²⁴ Pakkanar teaches the Brahmins that the goddess Ganges is everywhere. Pakkanar's shrine is at Trittla, near Pattabi Railway Station in North Malabar. Pakkanar's brother is Narayana Branthan, a philosopher in folk stories. He is believed to have mingled with all castes and eaten with them. When he was asked by a Brahmin for an auspicious time to hold the Upanayanam ceremony of his son, Pakkanar advised him to hold the ceremony at midnight on the new moon day in the month of Karkadam: A time inauspicious according to popular belief. The untouchable communities have proprietary right and priestly privileges associated with gods and temples which are now under the caste control, which shows that once they were their own masters, and were their own priests. Even now among them their elders or a particular section of them called Valluvan, act as priests. 4\. There are many anti-Brahimical proverbs among them, for example:

"Blood suckers there on earth there be, the bug, the Brahmin and the flea." "O God let me not be reborn as a Brahmin priest, who is always begging and is never satisfied." "A village with a Brahmin in it is like a tank full of crabs."

All of which prove that there is an anti-caste cultural ethos both in the ancient classical tradition as well as in the popular cultural tradition of the untouchables themselves. ## The Ministry of the Church {#ministry} The Dalits have entered a new stage in history. They are now a decisive force in the political future of our country. As their presence becomes more and more prominently felt in our political and economic life, the old cultural values of legitimation of their oppression and discrimination have to give way to a new religious cult and philosophy. It was the ascetic tradition of India which always resisted the ideology of caste, power and status with a religious vision of universality. Perhaps the revitalisation within the churches of the ascetic and Sanyasic resource of India may be the direction for the churches to overcome the cancer of caste consciousness in Dalits as well as in non-Dalit Christians, in the churches and in the wider society. The search for roots in terms of theological-ideological resources for a people's ministry in our civilisation therefore lies in gathering the positive cultural traditions and values counter to the Brahminic hierarchial values of legitimation of the old power relations. In the scattered, popular traditions of the powerless, namely, the Dalits, the tribals and the women, one comes across such resources, though their traditions on the whole existed within the dominant structures and their values. ## Notes {#notes} 1. Ralph T.H. Griffith, *The Hymns of the Rigveda*, tenth book, hymn 90, verse 12, Vol.II, Second ed. E.J. Lazarus and Co. Benares, 1897, p.519 2. Manusmrti, X45. trans.by George Buhler, Vol.25 in *The Sacred Books of the East*, ed. F. Max Mueller, reprint by Motilal Banarsidass. 3. *Ibid.*, X 47-49, 1964, p.413 4.

Ibid., X 50-56. The Arthashastra also lays down the rule that "The King shall enforce the laws regarding slaves and bonded labour", Kautilya. The Arthashastra. 2.1.25

The King is asked to see that every one comes out with the duties of the Varnas and asramas to which he belongs as laid down in the Trayidharma or the vedic way of life, that is, the king has to support i.3.4.,16-17

1.3.16-17 - lays down the duties of different varnas.

The social order should be in conformity with the Varnasrama system- 13.3.17.

"Any disturbance of this order is not to be tolerated, as that would lead to samkara or a confusion of the varnas and their duties which might result in the destruction of society and by implication of the state itself (1.3.14-15). The preservation of the vedic social order is thus a duty laid on the ruler."

R.P. Kangle, *The Kautiliya Arthasastra*, Part III, a Study, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, First edition 1965, reprint ed.1986, p.119.

5. *The Bhagavad Gita* 18.47-48, Trans.R.C. Zaehner, Oxford University Press, 1969, pp.394-395. 6. *Ibid.*, 4.13 *Aspects of Hindu Morality* p. 186. 7. Saral Jhingram, *Aspects of Hindu Morality*, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1989, p.34. 8. The story is a popular adaptation of Matangi Arundhati, the mother deity of Madigas found in the Vedas, Puranas and law books of the Hindus. 9. *Vasalasutta*-27, *Sacred Books of the East*, ed. F. Max Mueller Vol. 10 Part II, Second edition 1898 p.23. The whole Sutta defines an outcaste according to ethical and moral values. 10. *Ambattha Satta, Dialogues of the Buddha*, Trans. from Pali, T.W. Rhys Davids, Part I, Luzsac Company Ltd., London, 1969, p. 106. 11. *Ibid.* 12. *Ibid.*, pp. 102-103. B.R. Ambedkar, *The Buddha and His Dharma*, Part VI, "Conversion of the Low and the Lowly" 1-5, Siddarth Publication, Bombay, 3rd ed. 1984. 13. B.R. Ambedkar, *Ibid.*, p.129. 14. *Ibid.*, p.130. 15. Klaus K. Klostermaier, *A Survey of Hinduism*, State University of New York Press, Albark, 1959, p. 163. 16. This is part of a conversation between Yaksha and Yudhisthira appearing in the Aranyakaparva chapters 295-98, as quoted by Klaus K. Klostermaier, *Ibid.*, p.82. 17. K. Kailaspathy, "The writings of the Tamil Siddhas," in the *Saints, Studies in the Devotional Tradition of India*, ed. Karine Schomer and W.H. McLeod, pp.385-411. 18. Ta Koventan, *Cittar Patalkal* (Siddar songs) Pumpuhar Prasaram, Madras, 1976, verse 10, p.4 as quoted by Eugene F. Irschick, *Tamil Revivalism in the 1930s* Cre-A Madras, p.14. 19. *The Tirukkural* (in Tamil) with translations in English by G.U.Pope, W.H. Drew, J. Lazarus, and F.W. Ellis, South India Saiva Siddhanta Works Publishing Society, Tinnevelly 1962. 20. Ted J. Solomon, "Early Vaishnava Bhakti and its Autochthonos Heritage" in *History of Religions*, Vol. 10 No. 1 University of Chicago Press. 1970. 21. The story of the acceptance of Nammalvar's Tiruvaymoli into Vaishnavism of Ramanuja illustrates this point cf. *The Tamil Veda, Pillan's Interpretation of the Tiruvaymoli* by John Carmen and Vasuda Narayanan, University of Chicago Press, 1989. 22.

A.M. Abraham Ayrookuzhiel, The Sacred in Popular Hinduism CISRS-CLS 1983, pp.179-180.

In some versions the conversation between the great Sankaracharya and the God Pottan is a later adaptation of the story of Pottan. This version is used when Pottan Teyyam is danced by the Pulayas. In the outer court of big caste Hindu temples.

23. Emma Rauschenbusch-Clough, *While Sewing Sandals or Tales of a Telugu Pariah Tribe*, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1899, pp.104-195. 24.

L.K. Anantha Krishna Iyer. "The Tribes and Castes of Cochin," Vol. 1, in The Parayas, Cosmo Publications. pp. 68-69, 1891.

A tradition confirmed by classical texts of Brahminism of Manusmriti, IX 23,: see also Buhler's commentary in the footnotes.

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