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OCTOBER, 1874.]
NOTES ON CASTES IN SOUTHERN INDIA.
287
भवेदापि तु सावधानेनेत्युक्तं भवति । अस्माकमिति बहुवचनाद- | प्रतिविधातुम् । कदाचित्परमर्षयो योगजधमोत्पन्नसामाद्यथान्येषामपि सहाध्यायिना ग्रहणसामर्थ्य बोधितम् । मया तु तदनु- वदान्पश्यन्तः सिद्धान्तमभिधानुमलमिात शोभते ये वारुरुच्छेदायायमुपनिवन्धः कृत इन्यात्मनो बहुमानः प्रकटितः॥ | क्षवः प्राथमकल्पिकाभ्यासमालनचित्तवृत्तयः शास्त्रादेवातीतानानन्वेतावानेवार्य काण्डद्वयमोक्तो व्याकरणागम इत्याशझ्याह। गतव्यवहितपदार्थस्वरूपं निश्चिन्वन्ति तेषां नानागमोपसेवयवावर्त्मनामत केषांचिद्वस्तुमात्रमुदाहृतम् ।
नुप्रसीदति भगवती प्रतिभेति ॥ काण्डे तृतीये न्यक्षेण भविष्यति विचारणा।। ८ ।
युक्तमेतदेव निरूपयितुमाह । अत्रास्मिन्वाक्यकाण्डे काण्डद्वये वा केचिदेव न्यायवर्मनां
तत्तदुत्प्रेक्षमाणानां पुराणरागमैर्विना । वस्तुमान वीजमात्र प्रदर्शितमवशिष्टे तु नृतीये 5 स्य ग्रन्थस्य
अनुपासितवृद्धानां विद्या नातिप्रसीदति ॥ १० । पदकाण्डे काण्डद्वयनिष्यन्दभूने न्यक्षेणादरविशेषेण स्वसिद्धा- प्रतिष्ठामुपगतः पूर्वैरागमेहुविधेविनाश्रयमेव तत्तदित्ययथायन्तपरसिद्धान्तवार्ता विचाराणां युक्तायुक्तविचारपूर्वकं निर्णीति- थमेवोत्प्रेक्षमाणानां विकल्पयता प्रतिपतृणां शास्त्रोपज्ञमेधाविरभविष्यति । ततो नायमेतावान्व्याकरणागमसंग्रह इति ॥
| हिणां पण्डितंमन्यानामभिमानाग्रहावृतानां तेषां भगवती विद्या ननु तत्तच्यायप्रस्थानमार्गाभ्यासेन किं कृत्यं स्वदर्शनमेव |
विशुद्धप्रज्ञा प्रतिभालक्षणा न प्रसीदत्यत्यर्थम् । किं तार्ह । वृद्धोसुनिश्चितं किं न विचार्यत इत्यह।
पसेवाशालिनामागमजुषां विगलिताभिमानानामभिजातानामेवैषां प्रज्ञा विवेकं लभते भित्रैरागमदर्शनैः।
भगवती प्रज्ञा प्रसादमुपयात.ति सिद्धम् ॥ कियद्दा शक्यमुन्नेतुं स्वतर्कमनुधावता ॥९॥ . The London and a Benares Ms. which I have botla नानाविधरागमदर्शनरागमसिद्धान्त : खनु प्रज्ञा विवेक लभते
compared read वैजिसौभव.. वैशारद्यमानोति । ततव निःसंदिग्धं स्वसिद्धान्तमेव स्पष्टीक २ Ms. ते खलु. भिन्नागमदर्शनेः शक्तिर्जायते । अदृष्टपरकीयागमस्वरूपेण प्रति- ३ MS. न्यक्षेणा.. MS. सपरीकतुं. पन्ना सोन्मेक्षामेव तेषु चावस्थानेष्वनुसरता कियच्छक्यमुन्नेतुं- ५ Ms. तेयु. M8. पश्यन् सि..
NOTES ON CASTES IN SOUTHERN INDIA.
___BY J. A. BOYLE, M.O.s. There are some extraordinary instances among separated from social intercourse and from interthe castes of Southern India of the self-insulat- marriage with other families of the great Vel. ing tendency, which, beginning it may be with 18 !ar caste, perhaps the most numerous caste the eccentricity of an individual, passes into the in Southern India. distinctive habits of a family, and thence into The traditional origin of this tribal or family the social status of a race or tribe. It may be | settlement is dated 950 years ago, when the instructive to note one mode in which, in ancestors of the Kottei Vellalar were special circumstances, new castes may form driven by a political revolution from their home themselves almost before our eyes, and so to in the valley of the Veigwy, to settle in catch a glimpse through the past of the manner the far south, where Para krama Pandya in which old castes split themselves off from the offered them a home and protection. mass, and become fossilized into insulated units. Under the Påndya dynasty of Madura I will begin with the case which shows the most these Vellalar were, they allege, the chamcomplete caste-insulation that has come under berlains or treasurers, to whom belonged the my notice.
hereditary dignity of crowning the newly sucIn the centre of the town of Srivậigun- ceeded king; and this traditional dignity is tam, in the delta of the Ta mbrapûrni still commemorated by an annual ceremony, river, in Tin neveli, there is a small fort, performed in one of the Tin neveli teenples, enclosed by a wall about 150 yards square and | whither the heads of the family still repair, and 10 feet high. Though called a fort (kottei), it crown the head of the Svâ mi. Par akrama has no strategical strength, and is simply a mud Pånd ya is represented to have been a local enclosure, containing the houses of about thirty chieftain, and was probably the political suzerain families, known as Kottei Vellalar,' or the of the fief of Korkhei, hard by, who welVellålar who live in the fort.
comed industrious and well-equipped settlers These people constitute a caste completely, to his remote valley. But however much of
