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AUGUST, 1922)
PRATHAMASÂKHA BRAHMANS OR "MID-DAY PARAIYANS"
159
The story struck me as so curious that I communicated with my brother, Mr. J. J. Cotton, L.C.S., now Judge of Coimbatore. When he informed me, in reply, that one of the copyists in his office was a "Mid-day Paraiyan," and that he had requested him to furnish his account of the tradition, I felt that I was on the track of an explanation. The response, however, took the form of a transcript of a petition presented in 1912 to Mr. F. R. Hemingway, I.C.S., then Collector of Coimbatore, by a number of “ Prathamasagai Brâhmans of Mannargudi, Tanjore District." The petition is in these terms:
" When your honour was the head assistant collector in the Tanjore District, we were designated as "Prathamasagai Madhyana Paraiyans" in the District Gazetteer, which was then being published once in five years, and now once in ten. We do not belong to such a class of Brahmans, but to the first class among Brahmans of the world. The other class of Brâhmans are called Thithari Brâhmans, who form the major portion of them. Our “ Yajar-veda Guru "is one Yakyavalkiyar, a rishi, who learned our veda from the sun and applied it to us. In Tamil we used to be styled as "Brâhmans of the first class," and in Sanskrit "Prathama-sagai Brahmans." The guru of the other classes of Brâhmans is one Vaisampayanar. Our above-named guru vomited all the vedas which he had learned in former days. Vaisampayanar took the form of a thithari bird, fed on the vomited matter, and thus learned the
vedas. So this class of Brahmans are called " Thitharisagai Brahmans." Those who have learned these details in books ( are ) used to respect us : while others ignorant
of these matters [are used to scorn us by calling us " Madhyana Paraiyans." The petition concludes by stating that false information was given while the gazetteei was in course of preparation, and that it was not verified by calling upon the informants to produce their authority. A request is made that the names may be furnished of the persons responsible for the publication of the scandal," and proceedings taken against them.
Endorsed upon the petition is a note to the following effect, signed by Mr. K. C. Manavedan Raja, on behalf of the Collector and dated April 25, 1912:
"Mr. Hemingway regrets he cannot now give the names of his informants. He assures petitioners that he was not aware that the passage they refer to would hurt
their feelings, and he regrets that it should have done so." Can any reader of the "Indian Antiquary” throw any further light upon this eccentric development of the caste-system? The "explanation," it will be seen, does not help the enquirer in any way to understand why the designation of “ Mid-day Paraiyans "should have been applied to this class of Brahmans. It may be that the story told to the compiler of the Tanjore District Gazetteeris a malicious invention: but the version offered for acceptance by the petitioners is hardly more credible.
[The petition confirms the story given to Thurston in a most interesting manner. Prima facie both story and petition is a fresh instance of a very old habit amongst castes or tribes seeking to better ' their social position by a "tale of origin". It is to be found everywhere in Rajputâna and wherever Rajpûts abound, usually in the form of a 'birth-story'. The hero is generally a foundling, who turns out to be of very high birth by caste or other social position, or he is the son of such a person by a foundling girl. Another common form is the commission of a 'caste ''fault by the eponymous ancestor. This story belongs to the latter class. The earliest instance I know of such a story being given to a European enquirer is that quoted by Barbosa (early 16th century) and given in Dames ed. (Hak. Soc.) vol. II, p. 57, about the Kasavans or Kuyavans, potters of Malabar. They told Barbosa that they did not differ from Nayars, " yet by reason of a fault they committed, they remain separate from them."-ED.)
